Eight weeks ago I left Vancouver for San Francisco. masks and wipes in hand, with fervent hopes of avoiding COVID-19. Happily, all went well and I had a wonderful visit with my daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons. I am now back in Vancouver, self-isolating for 14 days in my apartment.

As my departure approached, I worried about being able to physically distance at the airport, and about the safety of the two-hour flight home. I needn’t have fretted about the San Francisco Airport. As the photo in the header of this post shows, the post-security concourse to eighteen Terminal 3 gates was almost empty.

I minimized my exposure to others by selecting a window seat in the back row of the plane. This turned out to be a good choice. The back row aisle seats are reserved for flight attendants if necessary – not necessary on my flight – so I had my row of three seats to myself. United Airlines boarded the plane by row from the back; I got seated and set with almost no one on the plane.

Deplaning was done by rows from the front. I left the plane last and well back of the person in front of me. The silver lining of waiting til the end was that my suitcase was already on the luggage carousel by the time I reached it. And I was the only person in the taxi line-up for my trip home.

Since the Canadian government requires a 14-day quarantine of travellers from other countries, I had to file a federal government isolation plan via an app on my phone, and a provincial government isolation plan through a website. The plans asked if I had somewhere to isolate, could I stay distanced in my living quarters from anyone with underlying health issues or over 60 years of age, could I arrange for grocery and medicine delivery without going to stores. Yes, yes and yes. On the plane, I filled out a further form for Customs and Immigration for contact tracing purposes.

The only glitch was a conflict in the isolation instructions from the federal and provincial governments. The federal government says pretty clearly that quarantining means staying home.

The provincial government instructions are much more permissive.

A phone call to the federal government’s COVID-19 help line cleared up the conflict. In spite of the fact that disobeying the federal guidelines could result in a fine of $1,000,000 or jail time, I am to obey the provincial government rules. Hmmm. I hope the feds remember that if I am caught out and about with my camera documenting these weird, but increasingly normal-feeling times.

So now it’s a waiting game. Will I develop COVID-19 symptoms over the next 14 days? I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks!

While in San Francisco, I continued to take photos of the effect of this pandemic. Here are some of my favourites.