Well, it has been a while since I have updated on COVID. As you know, our past month has been full of other things to worry about. And with this being a month since my last post, you can tell the numbers have really gotten big. 2,442,091
But, here's the stats to start:
9,6 million affected worldwide
2,442,091 confirmed cases in United States
124,410 deaths in U.S.; 663,562 recovered
131,917 cases in Texas;
2,296 deaths in Texas;
243 of 254 counties have had cases;
Brazos County has had 1,377 cases (ranks 21st in the state) with 684 recovered and 27 deaths.
Houston has 25,786 and Dallas has 18,135 cases.
Denton County has had 2,417 cases.
So, the numbers have really jumped! So, back in mid-may, they started opening up things a lot more. Right now, I feel like everything is open at some percentage. Restaurants might still be at 50% and some business at 50%. But, unless a business has chosen not to open back up yet (and some aren't because it's not financially smart to only be open for short hours or for few people until they can operate at 100%), then pretty much everything is open. Lots of things have been cancelled - as far as large events that would have lots of people. Kids camps are much fewer than usual. Church activities are at zero, except on Sunday mornings for big church worship and some Sunday school classes. Outdoor sports (like baseball and softball) are back up and running. NCAA has allowed practice to start again (or soon I think).
At first, everyone was wearing masks, but it's gotten more lax. I have felt good about us and we are healthy and social distancing for the most part. We are doing things with friends, but not in giant public places with people we don't know. The fear of "are we going to get it" has subsided personally. I go back and forth daily on what we should do or how I feel. I have felt really good this entire past month. I think Pa's funeral and being allowed to just be with family and not worry about COVID kind of put me in a place to feel comfortable with life again as far as COVID. We've had playdates and swim lessons and been to church and people's houses that we are close to. I took Atticus & Grace to Cracker Barrel recently after church (although it was terrible and we don't think we want to go again - haha!) and I even took them into Target that day to get some swimsuits, without masks. I run into Walgreens regularly to grab an item (or to get out of the house for a little bit) and have stopped wearing a mask. I went o HEB the other day and didn't wear a mask. I'm not against wearing them, but I've just felt comfortable. Also, I'm not touching things when I shop because I am going in for one or two things. So, no grocery cart touching, which makes me feel better. I use antibacterial wipes every time. And when we've gone to the park, I have the kids wipe their hands and wash good at home. We really aren't going anywhere that germs can be. I might do a drive-thru or a Target pickup, but we never get out of the car. Vic is still going to work; they wear masks unless they are in their offices. And he does HEB with a mask and any errands with a mask. I think he didn't this past week, but with cases being so crazy this week, he is back to it. He is back at Camp Gladiator, but it is 6 feet apart and outside. He is also back at the gym, but so few people go there and he wipes down everything he uses, plus I think he has to wear a mask too (? can't remember), so he feels good. We had date night at an indoor/outdoor patio restaurant with Chris and Katherine the other night AND had a babysitter for the first time (minus Hadyn who has been here twice, but we know they are being careful). So, we have just felt good.
Then, this week happened. Cases are everywhere! Students are slowly coming back for class or for summer; they are relaxed about it. People are traveling and doing sports and activities that have opened back up. And, of course, when this stuff happens, cases go up. We even had our mini slumber party with 11 girls the other night. So, good or bad, we kind of went agains the rules as far as having a party. Now, the difference is we have all been playing together anyways and our families are doing the best we can. It's slightly different than a bunch of college kids getting together and not actually taking precautions. But, who knows? We could have spread it amongst ourselves just on Tuesday night at our mini slumber party. I guess, in 2 weeks, we will know (can take up to 2 weeks to get it if you've been exposed). And I wasn't really stressed over it until yesterday when the governor came out and said we are pausing the re-opening of things and that people need to take this seriously and that we need to wear masks and social distance. He basically came out and said "do better or....". But, people are in full force right now and it will be harder to get people to follow instructions. Governor Abbott gave local authorities permission to enforce rules if needed. So, tonight our City Council for College Station voted to require mask wearing in all CS businesses starting this next Monday. That is good, but it will take 2-3 weeks to see if that helps our numbers, since the contagion lasts 2 weeks. So, we will go back to wearing masks everywhere; not that we have many places to get to go. And we will stay home as much as we can.
This leads me to Church Camp for Atticus. Last night, we had a Zoom Camp meeting for Camp Tejas. Renee Brady, our Children's Minister asked us to all social distance and stay healthy from now until camp starts. They really want kids to be able to go to camp healthy and enjoy it and come home healthy. So, she made it clear that if we are exposed to anyone with COVID or we get sick to stay home from camp this year. So, I decided we needed to stay put and not go anywhere or be with anyone the next 10 days. I REALLY want Atticus to go to camp. I think he needs to make friends at church and get to experience the Lord in a different way. Plus, I just think he is a great kid who deserves to have something to look forward to. School might be crazy this fall, and I want him to have a good memory. So, we are going to pray for camp and heathy kids and that camp doesn't get shut down keeping them from going July 6-10th.
This also leads me to beach vacations. That is the thing to do this year - everyone feels good about going to the beaches and being outside and feels that protects them from COVID. And Vic and I have felt the same way. About mid-May, we thought we should just book a Galveston trip. Then, we decided to save our money. Then, mid-June we decided we should just drive to Florida and do a beach vacation there - it was about the same price to rent a house or condo as Galveston, but we'd get prettier beaches. Then, we changed our minds because we don't know what to expect with the case counts. If they go up and we can't go, or they close beaches, we would lose our money and that would be terrible. So, we decided not to do it. And, I think we are glad. We will save our money and hopefully go next summer instead. We were not originally planning any kind of vacation, but we are both ready to just do something to get away from things so we thought we could make it work.
So, right now, we are going to lay low again. It's funny because the first time around (back in March and April), everything was taken very seriously and we were all closed up in our houses afraid to be close to people because we didn't know what this was and if we'd get it. I remember standing 6 feet away from my friends who would stop by to visit and they would stay in their car. And looking back. NOBODY around here had it. I mean - 2-3 cases per day? what? Now 116 cases were new today. So, while we did good and leveled the curve, now it's just going up. And of course we should expect that.
The part that hospitals are concerned about is that their beds will get too full, like New York's did. And we don't want that. This virus affects people differently. And, if my kids get it, and we have to admit them, we would want a bed. But, it's hard to think that way when you aren't sick. And I understand that. As of today, our hospitals in Brazos County are about 60% full, ICU is 60% full and ventilators are being used at about 30%. This includes COVID and non-COVID related illnesses. So, we don't want that to get higher or over-capacity. The governor did just put a pause on elective surgeries, as of tonight, in the larger counties. But, camps, daycares, churches, and local government operations are still ok to continues.
As he said, we don't want to shut everything down again, so let's put a pause on a few things and hope we see the surge in numbers go down.
And I agree - we DO NOT want to shut things down; it affects our economy and will just make people so mad. Also, it might affect our schools starting.
That also leads me to school updates; TEA is not providing any good guidance and I feel sorry for ISD's trying to make plans. TEA has said they think kids should be back in schools and do not need to wear masks. But, everything else is left up to the districts. So, thoughts of virtual learning, on-site learning, hybrid learning, doing M/W or T/Th or doing half days or how to clean or whether to allow the extra stuff like computer, art, music and PE and things like that are up in the air. Our superintendent sent us an email yesterday that said they wanted our input via a survey and would be letting us know plans mid to late July. So, we have a few weeks before we know more.
Vic and I would like to see kids back in school 5 days a week. If they have to split kids up to have less in school at a time, then I would like to see them go 3-4 hours a day all 5 days. I think 2 days a week is not enough routine or momentum and doing school at home will be tough. We can do it and I can't complain because I'm already a stay at home mom. But, working parents are going to have a tough time. And it is really tough to do school with Ev & Hazel also here. But, we could do it. I think the fear is that if we shut down again, because of so many cases (and they are expecting there to be much worse surge of cases this fall), then they want to be prepared to do school online. I dread that, but again - we can do it. I just want school to be fun! And teachers will do their best, but with limits of interaction and fun, it might be stressful for both teachers, kids and parents. But, fingers crossed!
Also, I think everyone will get this illness at some point. Maybe not - part of my gut says that we have not gotten the flu (any of our kids or us) ever (well, I got it in 4th grade). So, maybe we could avoid it. But, apparently, it's so contagious, so I just don't know. I don't want us sick. And the bad part is that they don't know enough about it yet. They are working on vaccines (but Vic and I don't want to be guinea pigs for those vaccines for sure, so we probably wouldn't get them right away -- and they are at least a year or more away from having one anyways). They don't know how much of an immunity your body builds to it; I don't think they have people getting it twice, but they also don't know the long term effect on people's bodies and lungs and systems. It's just a mystery illness in so many ways.
I have days of being confident and saying let's all go to school and I'm sending my little girls to preschool and we are just going to deal with the virus if we get it. Then, I have days of thinking I should keep the little girls home and do home school preschool with Everly.
Basically, it's out of my hands and control. I keep just feeling good about giving it to God to tell me how to handle here on Earth. Whatever our school district tells us to do, we will do. Whatever our government tells us to do, we will do. It won't be easy if we can't see friends and especially family, but we will do what we need to.
Oh and school starts August 13th now instead of the 18th. They needed to add a few days in to get summer funding from the state to help kids out next summer, in case they are behind.
OH! And, we decided to skip Hadyn's graduation party this weekend. I felt so bad telling Lindsay, but it's 50ish people and we don't know them all. And apparently, a good place to spread COVID is at a big party. So, not only with Atticus going to camp, but just in general, we decided that was not a good idea.
What a mess COVID is. We must surrender our plans to God and have him tell us what to do. We, of course, always want it in our favor. But, sometimes we have to let things that do not go our way teach us a lesson. So, that is the update on COVID right now - I'll keep you more posted as we go!
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