Covid-19
How do I even write about this?
In less than a week, our way of life has changed drastically.
In January, we started seeing stories on the news about a virus in China that reportedly jumped from a pig to a human. Then it spread. And spread...and spread. But it was far away in China and we didn't anticipate it impacting the US, so after a few weeks, I was scrolling on past those news stories.
Then it hit Europe. Italy went down fast. Cruise ships became floating petri dishes and countries began refusing them port of entry. I mean, c'mon....the buffet issue alone. yikes.
Then suddenly it was in Seattle. A cruise ship landed there and the passengers were immediately put into quarantine. Some recovered, but some died. Too many died. And they had infected other people. Then the virus popped up in California and New York and Colorado. We started to realize that people were being exposed in other countries, and bringing it back here. President Trump asked us to avoid being in groups larger than 250 people. No problem. I keep going to the gym and we talk about how crazy it all is.
We learned that an infected person is contagious for DAYS before showing any symptoms. So they don't even know that they are leaving a trail of danger everywhere they go....we all started washing our hands and avoided touching our faces. We figured it would pass us by, like so many other viral scares we've had over the years....SARS, H1N1, Ebola....
Last week, we read that we had 4 cases in Kansas...3 in our county. Then one man died. We started telling ourselves that it seemed the virus was dangerous only to the elderly and immuno-compromised. What kind of comfort is that? I love every single elderly person I know! I am definitely not up for losing them. And, by the way, even though it would seem that youth is some sort of protection against Covid-19...it doesn't stop us from spreading it all around and becoming angels of death to the vulnerable.
The church decides there wouldn't be anyone admitted to general conference. New missionaries would be trained online and sent directly to their missions. President Trump asks us not to gather in groups of more that 50. I plan on seeing a movie with Lauren the next day... after all, I already bought the tickets!
On Thursday, the high school band teacher sends out an email asking the kids to come back to the school that night, pick up their instruments and take photos of their music. It seemed to me that he knew something we didn't know. Sure enough, the school district followed quickly with an announcement that the kids would not go to school on Friday. They said they wanted to have an opportunity to disinfect and clean.
Friday came and went. The kids had a nice day off and slept in. We went on a double date with Martin and Mari...after all, we already made plans!
Saturday we received an email from the church. No more church meetings. Sacrament meeting and all activities cancelled.
Saturday night. Another email from local church leaders...girls camp is cancelled. We take the kids to see "Onward" at the theater...after all, it's Laney's birthday! We take disinfectant wipes and only eat food we bring with us. That's fine, right? But the movie theater feels empty.
Monday. The school district emails. They are trying to figure out what to do...they need patience and time....then later that day: School will be out until at least April 5th.
Tuesday. President Trump asks everyone to stop getting together. no groups over 10 people. Stay home. All food/entertainment businesses ordered closed until further notice. The movie theaters are shut down. Only those with drive-thru, curbside or delivery may remain partially open.
Tuesday....The school district makes the decision to close schools for the remainder of the school year. They don't know what that means. They need more patience and more time. Our hearts break for our seniors. No prom, no more time with friends, no more football games. Maybe no graduation.
Wednesday. There isn't a plan yet, but we start receiving emails from teachers...there will be an online curriculum sent out for the kids. They will finish the school year at home. I just became a homeschool mom. Oh...and we'll be doing seminary online as well. We continue our new normal...."social distancing", which in a nutshell means that we are not hangin with friends. We are in for some serious family time. At the house. We try to get out when the weather is nice....go for walks, look for an empty park. Walk a few trails and keep our distance when other families pass by. Its unnerving. We have all come to realize that chances are, most of us will get this virus. But if we can slow it down and not all get sick at once, we can keep the hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with those that get hit hard. The ones that need a hospital bed and a respirator. Because when we run out, we run out. And I don't want to think about how that would feel to know that we could have saved someone if we just had one more machine....one more doctor... one more mask.
So we're living this new normal. The borders are closed. People are losing their jobs. We have too many cans of beef stew in the pantry and not enough toilet paper.... Grocery shelves are empty and people are feeling nervous and worried about how much worse this will get. When will we start living again? When will we see our friends and visit our families? When will we have a book club, go to a movie or send our kids back to school?
There's no way to know any of that. So we will stay home. We'll keep our distance when we go out. I wipe my hands with disinfectant wipes after every possible outside exposure. I worry about running out of .....anything. Salt? oil? meat? ketchup?
But we are spending more time together. We are planning and working and learning together. We are COOKING TOGETHER! I admit. It took a global pandemic, but I am loving that we have so much time together. It feels pretty great to be more involved with my kids. They are lovely human beings. Even though they get crabby and I get crabby because, hey, this is big stuff.
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