People Stay Busy With Schools, Some Businesses Closed During Coronavirus Outbreak
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A bike ride. A run. Helping with the housework.
The first Monday with widespread school and office closures due to COVID-19 forced North Texans to alter routines and find new ways to spend the day, while also trying to keep their distance from too many people.
In North Richland Hills, Fred and Liz Covitz were working from home, and used their lunch break to go for a bike ride with their daughter Bella.
"The biggest concern I think I have is how do I keep her from going stir crazy," said Liz. "Because she doesn't have anything to do. There's no online school or anything. So how do I make sure she's not watching YouTube videos all day every day?"
Bella admitted, unable to connect with friends her only idea for the moment was to play video games.
GameStop's Mark Qualls, a vice president of store operations, said store managers had noted an increase in customers coming in.
While that's natural when schools go on break during holidays, spring and summer, in this case he noted it could be people looking for a way to stay connected through games online, if they're not able to do it in real life.
Tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering were also popular choices, he noted.
Parents sent in pictures to CBS11 of crafts they were trying to create for their kids, or having them help with cleaning the house.
In Bedford, junior high friends Ali Landreth and Emily Owens were going for a run at a park, not fazed at all by the prospect of no school for weeks.
"Really not at all," Owens said. "We were just kind of glad to be off school. No one we know was sick."
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