coronaville

“What else can I do?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Several front desk people in my building frequently take off or pull down their masks (one in particular is wearing a mask maybe 50% of the time if we’re being generous). There are also many residents who never wear masks and the front desk people sit and chat with them and never remind them of the mask rules. (more…)

“Brooks Brothers back from the dead”

By Prince Of Petworth


1201 Connecticut Ave, NW

“Dear PoPville,

My office is in the Ring Building across from the Connecticut Ave Brooks Brothers. I stopped in today to gather mail and was surprised to look across the street and see Brooks Brothers back from the dead and open. The store had closed, they even had ‘For Lease’ signs in the windows as of last week. However, today the signs are gone and dressed mannequins are back in the windows.”

“I see a sad procession”

By Prince Of Petworth

“I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key’d bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,
As with voices and with tears.”

From Dirge for Two Veterans by Walt Whitman: Citizen of the District of Columbia (more…)

“My wife and I both recently tested positive for COVID and thankfully recovered. I thought we’d share our experience.”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by LaTur

“Dear PoPville,

My wife and I both recently tested positive for COVID and thankfully recovered. I thought we’d share our experience.

I applaud DC’s efforts to provide extensive and free testing. This program is the reason that we were able to quickly detect our infection and isolate from and protect our friends, neighbors, and co-workers. I know that residents in other states do not have this same resource.

However, after experiencing the full cycle of testing through quarantine, it is clear to us that DC’s exposure and tracing program is deeply flawed.

First, we both received our first phone calls from contact tracers approximately 48 hours after receiving our positive test results. By then, we had already spent hours online parsing through disparate guidance to figure out how to manage the quarantine. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for less media savvy residents (let alone essential workers, providing distance learning environments for their children) to find and implement the right guidance during the most infectious period of the virus.

Second, while the contact tracers were nice, they texted us links to a supposed DC Covid guide that was supposed to answer all of our questions. That link did not work for either of us. (more…)

“I’m hoping to crowdsource better options for rapid COVID testing or 24-hour turnaround tests.”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

I’m hoping to crowdsource better options for rapid COVID testing or 24-hour turnaround tests. My partner is a front-line worker, and as a result, I have gotten tested many times over the past seven months. The hospital does not provide easy testing options for their employees or spouses, so each time I need to get a test, I find myself in the same Google search spiral, only to wind up with the same options.

I’ve gotten tests at the DC firehouses, CVS, and Walgreens, as well as through Pixel by LabCorp and Let’s Get Checked. While I think all of these options have timing down to an average of 3-4 days, it remains incredibly difficult to find options for rapid tests or reliably faster turnarounds. (more…)

Peet’s Gone for Good on 14th Street

By Prince Of Petworth


1829 14th Street, NW

Thanks to Noa and others for sending: “The Peet’s Coffee on 14th was closed all of the pandemic and I just walked by today and it no longer looks like they might re open. All the signs of Peet’s are gone and the windows have paper in them.”

Sadly we learned that they’d be permanently closing over the summer. This Peet’s Coffee opened here, in the former Vastu space, back in 2016.

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