In the last four months, Senay Imre and Robert Kris, both 34, have had to contend with travel bans, quarantines, flight restrictions, safety distancing and a rescinded curfew order — all ramifications of the coronavirus — before they finally married June 9 in Istanbul.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, officiated at the Florya lstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in Florya.
“Marrying Robert certainly required a good deal of patience,” said Ms. Imre, who was born and raised in Istanbul. She met Mr. Kris, who is from New York’s Upper East Side, in September 2018 on his first day working as a diplomat at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul.
Mr. Kris, who worked in the consulate’s political/economic section, was on the job for only a few minutes when Ms. Imre, who joined the consulate the year before, walked down a flight of stairs and into his life.
“She was gorgeous,” Mr. Kris said, “and we had this immediate connection.”
Ms. Imre, now a cultural affairs specialist at the consulate, had spent eight years in Manhattan, from 2006 to 2014. During that time, she graduated from Marymount Manhattan College and earned a master’s degree in international affairs from the New School.
“I love New York,” she said. ”Such a beautiful and busy place, much like Istanbul.”
Mr. Kris, who graduated from Georgetown, became fast friends with Ms. Imre, who soon took on an unofficial role as his tour guide and translator.
It wasn’t long before Mr. Kris was asking Ms. Imre to be his girlfriend. She twice refused, even though family members and close friends were telling her that Mr. Kris was a keeper.
A potential romance between them seemed virtually impossible when they went out to dinner one night and the couple seated next to them asked Ms. Imre, in Turkish, about her “foreign spouse,” and she quickly told them that Mr. Kris was just her ‘buddy.’”
Disappointed but still not dissuaded, Mr. Kris continued as friends with Ms. Imre, who slowly began to change her mind about the two of them.
In October 2018, on a trip to the city of Eskisehir, Ms. Imre was suddenly seeing Mr. Kris through romantic eyes. “I came to realize that Robert is a really wonderful, loving and unique person,” she said. “He’s honest, ethical, handsome and polite, just too good to be true.”
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Updated June 24, 2020
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Is it harder to exercise while wearing a mask?
A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.
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I’ve heard about a treatment called dexamethasone. Does it work?
The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.
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What is pandemic paid leave?
The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.
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Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.
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What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
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How does blood type influence coronavirus?
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
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How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
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How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
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What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
Though Mr. Kris’s assignment was to conclude in August 2019, he opted to stay at the consulate by agreeing to fill in for his supervisor, who was expecting a child.
During his extended stay, their relationship blossomed. In August 2019 Mr. Kris’s parents, Mary Ellen Kris and Mark Kris, who live in New York arrived in Istanbul to visit their only son and Ms. Imre. They all went on a boat ride on the Bosporus.
The couple was soon making wedding plans, and chose May 14 as the day they would marry, with their ceremony and reception to take place at the Florya lstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, with 150 guests in attendance.
But the presence of the coronavirus changed those plans. Although they were able to keep their venue, the couple’s wedding date was moved back to June 9, and with safety-distancing in mind, they invited just 21 guests, including the bride’s parents, Aziz Imre and Hayriye Imre of Istanbul.
“We were a little disappointed,” Mr. Kris said. “But the most important thing is that we’re married now, and though the ultimate plan is to live in New York, there’s still a long road ahead, so we’ll see where it takes us.”
