Jesse Bond likes to take long walks with his mom --- only now they don't walk on the same side of the road.
His mother Gina Young walks on one side while Bond walks across the road from her.
They're practising social distancing since the volunteer firefighter with Tay Township had to go into self-isolation after returning from a month-long trip to Morocco.
"I think I'm on day two," the 30-year-old said, adding he is healthy and has no symptoms.
"It would be nice if I could go out, I guess, but it's not that big a deal. People have been pretty good about offering help and dropping off groceries. Because I was gone for about a month, I didn't have much at home."
Back in early February when Bond left for vacation with a friend, he said news about the virus didn't indicate the seriousness of the situation.
"It was kind of big at the beginning when it first came out," he said. "You could see it on the news, but before I left it didn't seem like a big deal. I went away and kind of forgot about it."
Living in hostels and spending most of his time on the beaches in Morocco the Tay resident said he wasn't able to check the news as often. He had no idea how much the situation had changed by the time he was ready to come back.
"My mom texted me two days before I flew out," said Bond, who lives in Waubaushene and is a full-time firefighter with the Orangeville Fire Department. "She had assumed I was keeping up with all of it, but I had no idea. She asked me when I was coming home and if I would even be able to. I wasn't sure what she was talking about."
He said his mother didn't say much because she didn't want to alarm him, but then others from back home started texting Bond. And then some friends who had joined him from Europe couldn't get home because their flights were being cancelled.
"When I went to the airport, basically all the flights were being cancelled," he said. "Or they were all delayed. Mine was one of the only ones that was still on time. I got lucky (since) it ended up being one of the last flights out of Morocco to North America. A few hours after we took off, we found out they completely shut down the airport so I just got out."
Bond said Montréal–Trudeau International Airport, that served as his port of entry upon his return to the country, was actually pretty quiet.
"There weren't a lot of people there," he said. "There wasn't any screening process that we had assumed was going to be there. The airport staff wasn't even wearing masks or gloves like we had thought they would. They asked if I was feeling sick at all then handed out some literature and that's it. I saw a couple of the customs guys screening some people a bit more --- they were older and were coughing."
Now in self-isolation, Bond is using this time to complete some projects around the house.
"I'm just trying to use the time to wrap up some renovations," he said. "Just trying to put some stuff together and do some spring cleaning and do yoga and exercise at home and go for walks. The rest of the time I'm trying to catch up on some emails."
Bond said he also spends some time reading, watching documentaries or cooking. Living in a cottage, he said he doesn't have neighbours who are too close to him. He does run into the odd person when he goes out for walks.
"I find that most people are responsible and self-isolating," Bond said. "I find that people are observing social-distancing.
"(But) it's 2020, right, so it's not that difficult to stay in touch with people," he added. "My brother and my mom dropped off groceries on my porch, so I'm good for a week or so."
The only point of frustration for him is not being able to go to work.
"Most people understand the seriousness of it; I understand the importance of it," Bond said. "Obviously, it's going to affect people with low immune systems and the elderly, so we need to take it seriously. We also need to stop the spread. That's why it's important to take all these steps."
