I am starting this blog today. I got behind and still need to catchup on the other family blog, but I think I'll start fresh in 2020 with a new blog name and site. I love printing these out to keep on the shelf in my blog books, so I plan to finish up the year 2019 and print that book soon too. In the meantime, I will work on catching up January through now for 2020 and try to do this on a more daily or weekly timeframe. The kids are growing fast and with 4, the days pass quickly. So, I really do want to jot things down so I remember them. In fact, I'm not even sharing this blog with family yet, in case I don't stay on top of it. I always feel bad when I do not post, so I'll work on this now just for myself.
Let's start with the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, which is taking our entire world by storm. A quick history: back in December, China had an outbreak of this virus that had never been in humans before, It quickly spread and caused an epidemic in the country. They took it seriously, but not as quickly as they could have, because nobody knew how fast it would spread. Quarantines, travel bans, lock-downs, all happened in China. Then, it went to Italy and the same thing happened there. Now, it's in the US. And, actually, it's all over the world, but when it hit the U.S., it was finally named a pandemic. It's a respiratory virus that attacks and tends to hurt those that are older or have underlying problems or are immune-compromised the most. Others may get the flu-like symptoms, but recover quickly. One of the many problems is that you could have been exposed up to two weeks ago and not get any symptoms until the end of those 2 weeks. So, you may have spread to others even when you were feeling well. And, when this continues with so many people, then all of a sudden thousands are sick. The current problems in the U.S. and around the world are: 1) not enough test kits or medical supplies to test; 2) no vaccines or medicine to cure it - although scientists are working on this fast; 3); not enough hospital beds in ICU, or in general, when it goes out of control like it has in China and Italy. 4) people not taking it seriously and continuing to spread it.
So, while on Spring Break, (the week of March 9-13th), the kids were out of school and we'd been down to Orange Grove for Granny Irene's funeral. Before we even got back, A&M closed school for the following Monday and Tuesday after spring break. We got back and on Wednesday, the news was that people were starting to panic and stock up on toilet paper (amongst other things) in case it spread here and we couldn't get out to the stores. GG was on her way to College Station to celebrate Grace's 7th birthday, so just in case we couldn't get any toilet paper (and we were down to 2 rolls), she even brought some from her house. At first, it was easy to think people were over-reacting. However, we didn't have any groceries and we decided that we probably needed to get to the store. Vic went for normal things and said the stores were definitely low on items. I bought diapers and toilet paper at Target. Then, HLSR got shut down and my heart was broken for those hundreds of kids who wouldn't get to show their animals. Then within a day, schools started deciding that they would shut down the following week and we start learning all about "social distancing". Basically, China was showing us that if people just stay at home, then we could "flatten the curve" of the spike in this virus spreading to people and hopefully get rid of it sooner. It still seemed like a little panic and hysteria was setting in and I couldn't figure out why. NO cases were in our area and only a few in the metroplex's. So, it was very hard to wrap my mind around. By the way, I guess for BCS and our lives changing, Day 1 of this was on Friday, April 13th.
Vic came home on Friday from listening to lots of meetings about social distancing and what this virus could do. I do not like to panic and prefer to think things through and process before making decisions of magnitude. I also think being calm is important. Also, our school closed down for the following week. Texas A&M cancelled the entire rest of the semester and went to on-line classes. They cancelled Ring Day and Muster and Parent's Weekend and all sporting events all over the country were cancelled. March Madness and the entire NBA closed down. However, with no cases here, it was still really hard for me to understand why things were just halting completely. But, we decided to skip Grace's Build a Bear outing for her birthday at the following day. GG and Grace and Everly and I ventured to shop at Carters and Skechers and the little toy store next to Carters. But, we washed our hands and there were not many people in the stores. I went to HEB Monday and Wednesday to stock up on things we needed (mainly because I was curious about the store craziness and because if we stock up a little here and a little there, we wouldn't be making such a dent in what was available for others). I even went to the dentist for my last outing on Wednesday for a general cleaning. GG went home on Wednesday and then we settled into a couple of days at home with just our little crew of kids. Vic went to work, where they have a skeleton crew right now.
The school's and teachers were already providing some e-learning, but I was still hoping we would only be out for one week, so I was calling this a bonus spring break week. However, by Wednesday, I felt like we might need to prepare ourselves for a longer stay. And sure enough, by Thursday, they'd cancelled school for two more weeks. So, now we are waiting to learn more about returning after April 3rd. However, it's looking like it will be much longer.
There are over 15,000 cases in the U.S. right now and it's growing quickly. BCS only has 15, but as of a week ago, they had 0. So, we will see how this week progresses. The goal of everyone in our area (and everywhere) is to just stay at home. You are supposed to stay 6 feet away from people if you are out in public and make a big deal about hand washing, etc. The governor has closed all restaurants (take out only), bars, movie theaters and any other place that generally has more than 10 people in a group. They also told people to cancel events that had 50 or more people prior to that. This idea is that if everyone stays home, then only the sick ones come in to get tested and then isolate and they do not spread it either.
However, there are lots of people who still have to work, most specifically in the medical field. And the grocery stores and pharmacies. Dallas County just put on a "shelter-in-place" requirement so that all business must close unless they are grocery stores, medical facilities or places that produce supplies or things that are absolutely necessary. But, the governor won't issue that for Texas yet. He said he will leave it up to the counties. I am not sure what Brazos County will do yet. Right now, Vic is still working. TVMDL is tough because they can't work from home, like many people are doing. Lab equipment can't be taken home. And right now, they are not seeing a decrease in work. People are still caring for their animals at the vet, so samples are still coming in. But, they are still on a skeleton crew or staggered work schedule to keep people from being together. Vic is not sure how this will impact them if they are forced to stop working completely. They have to make money to pay people.
As far as the country goes, it's kind of chaotic. People are losing their jobs. Schools are closed. Congress is trying to pass a stimulus bill because the economy is not doing well and they are expecting tough times ahead. But, as of today, 5 senators are isolated or have coronavirus and can't be in person to vote. And, the law states that they must be in person to cast their vote for this bill. I'm sure they are going to find another way to amend the law to let them vote, but until then, they can't pass this bill to get money to people who really need it. President Trump was tested, but it was negative for now. When you look at the news, it is scary and crazy!
However, when I am in my house, I am not worried. I have my little people with me. Vic is being careful at work. I am enjoying everything being cancelled, although I hope it's only for a short time. I expect us to not have dance or recital this year. I don't think Everly will have any more preschool this year. I don't think the kids will go back to school until possibly late May, and I think that would only be if our country is almost over this virus and they just want to let the kids have a couple of weeks to say goodbye to their friends and end their year. I am hopeful we just take it 2 weeks at a time.
Right now, the kids are having fun. They are being so sweet to one another and Atticus is SO incredibly helpful and thoughtful. He is letting both little girls sleep in his room at night in his bed. They are crowded but this is night #2 and they like it. They play together; they draw together on these on-line videos. They have done a little schoolwork this past Thursday and Friday. We've had some family movie nights. They've done chores and we've taken walks and Atticus did Camp Gladiator with Vic in the garage. This last week seemed crazier because GG was here for the first few days and we were still on just fun time. Then, the next two days included some schooling, but no real schedule. Then we had the weekend.
My plan for this week is to get up (I've been doing a lot of sleeping in because that is not something I normally get to do and it is so glorious!) and get us moving for a walk in the mornings. Then, I want us to do some school work and help one another making meals. I want to have some one on one time with each kid doing their schoolwork in addition to the websites. I also think some things can be done together (like this science scavenger hunt and these math games that use a deck of cards). I want to watch more movies and do some exercising. And, I want to make sure we are reading. It is too much to think I can lead a bunch of school activities because Hazel needs me all the time. But, we will do our very best. The school is not requiring anything and only giving materials to reinforce things they've learned. So, no new concepts. And they are not taking any grades (which only Atticus gets right now). So, I think we are ok on our to do list for school. I want to enjoy the time we get together and honestly, the homebody in me has already loved this last week. It's a nice time to slow down, refresh, and connect with our kids. I hate that they are missing out on fun things, and I'm sure we will all have days of sadness that we can't be with friends or frustration over school or boredom or annoying each other, but I am still very much looking forward to it.
I am staying prayers for our entire country and leaders who are making decision and medical professionals who are dealing with this virus. We want it to go away, but China got up to 80,000+ cases before they are just now slowing down. And, they still have a way to go. And Italy is at 45,000. On March 29th, we will be at the same day that Italy hit 40,000 cases in their epidemic. So, I'm hoping that we are far beneath that because then our social distancing will be working. I'm actually hoping we do a "shelter-in-place" very soon to keep it at bay around here. I am also praying for Daddy because he works in the jail system and is around so many people. They are practicing all of the same methods for keeping it at bay. He gets terrible colds, so I don't want him to catch it and have a terrible situation. I'm praying for more kits to be made and more people to be allowed to be tested and the # of cases to decrease soon. As much as I love this time so far with my family, I definitely want this virus to go away.
Okay, I will keep us posted on here. Talk soon!
Here's GG who was with us when this whole thing began! She left on the 18th.
No comments:
Post a Comment