The whole world has gone crazy. I never expected to have something like this happen in my lifetime and the feeling is very surreal. COVID-19 or Coronavirus is spreading around the globe, and nation after nation is closing down schools, restaurants, gyms and all other public places and asking people to isolate themselves from other people- to stay home- or to shelter in place. It seems so crazy and unreal. I was telling Jon that every time I've seen one of those apocalyptic disease videos, like Contagion, or when I've read about pandemics in history books, I've thought, 'there's no way that could ever happen again. We know too much, our medicine is too advanced, our technology and resources and global outreach are too great for this to happen again. Pandemics of this scale are a thing of the past, not the future.' I guess that might seem really naive to some people, and obviously it was- given what we are dealing with today. It has definitely been jolting to realize how vulnerable we are to something like this- despite how advanced we are today. Coronavirus- though bad- seems low on the scale of how viscous and deadly a disease turned pandemic could be. It makes me nervous that, next time, it could be far worse. I really hope there isn't a next time. I don't even know how we are all going to recover from "this time".
This virus is most dangerous to older people and people with a compromised immune system. It is similar to the flu but there is no current vaccine or medication for it and it has a higher spread rate. Even though it is less dangerous to younger people, they can be carriers of the virus and not even know it. Because it's so contagious and the symptoms can be very minor in some people, it is important for everyone to take it seriously in order to protect those who are most vulnerable. As of today (March 22, 2020) there have been 338,259 known cases of the virus world-wide and 14,457 deaths.
Thursday, March 12th, was the kids last day of school before Spring Break. Italy had announced they were going on lockdown in order to protect its citizens on March 9th and their death toll was rising rapidly. The day before, March 11, the WHO had officially declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic and the NBA had cancelled the entire season after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive. Katie and Colton were in a talent show at school Thursday morning and Jon and I were there to watch. As we looked around at all the students in the gym, gathered for the show, we both had the thought that this would likely be the last day of school for a long time. At this point the CDC had recommended no social gatherings of more than 250 people.
That same day the NCAA cancelled the March Madness tournament. We received a letter from the Church Headquarters (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) that all church meetings and activities were cancelled until further notice and we were asked to worship on our own at home. I don't think that has every happened on a world-wide scale. Things were starting to spiral and feel crazy!
*On March 13th, President Trump declared a national emergency and people were asked to practice social isolation- avoid going out unless absolutely necessary and be 6 feet away from other people.
*On March 15th the CDC reccomended cancelling all events or gathering of over 50 people.
*On March 16th President Trump asked people to limit their social gatherings and events to less than 10 people to help stop the spread.
This week has been very weird. We have stayed home- except to go out for groceries and we've only done that twice. Many things are gone or low on the grocery shelves, although it is not as bad here as it is in other places. Jon had a couple doctor appointments scheduled this week and he went to those as well but they asked him several questions before he came in to make sure he was healthy.
I had a dream earlier this week- it had the feeling of a nightmare. There was a disease spreading around and we couldn't stop it. No one could go anywhere or see anyone else and there was no end in sight. I woke up and, like most nightmares, expected to have that feeling of relief that it was just a dream. It was so disorienting and odd to realize it was pretty much real and there was no "waking up". I spent the day with a headache and troubled thoughts as a result. It was a really hard feeling to shake.
As expected school has been cancelled. In Iowa, school has been cancelled for the next 4 weeks. We took things easy this week since it was Spring Break anyway, but we will try to implement some learning time and a schedule next week. I am just thankful that my kids were doing well in school and ahead of their benchmarks, so I am not terribly worried about them missing school. I just really hope they are able to go back for some of this school year. Jon doesn't think they will though :/
I miss people and friends and the gym. I have come to really like teaching STEP classes at the gym and I miss it, and the people there. I miss real church but our "home church" has been fun. The first week was good, if a little rough, but this week we were in more of a rhythm and it went smoother. It is so nice that we are still able to worship and learn and have the sacrament in our home, despite what is going on everywhere else.
Jon and I have enjoyed doing a couple of group chats with other family members and even spent over 2 hours one night playing a board game over group chat! It really helped to chat and interact with other people. We are definitely planning to do more of this!
The kids have been handling it really well so far! I have heard very little complaining from them about the things they miss or are missing out on. Mostly its, "I hate this stupid Coronavirus!" (I know, they shouldn't say 'stupid') or "When Coronavirus is over I can't wait to..." I am so thankful my kids have each other to play with and keep each other company. It's such a blessing to have siblings. I even feel like Katie and Colton have gotten along a lot better this week than they typically do! Anticipating we might be stuck home for a little while, I bought some kites, some bubbles, and some sidewalk chalk for the kids to play with and they've had fun with those! Katie has also had fun building domino patterns to knock over and practicing her handstands.
We have spent the week doing projects around the house, I've totally caught up on my blog (YAY!), playing outside, going for walks, etc. We still see neighbors when we go out and that is nice to have a little company. We just tell the kids not to get close enough that they could touch any of the other kids and they are pretty good at listening. They still have fun riding bikes around or racing the neighbor boys in their toy gators.
Things are very uncertain right now and that can be very overwhelming, but we are choosing to focus on one day at a time- doing all we can do- and having faith. Things will work out. Christ loves us. He has a plan. We will be ok! I'm so grateful for my family, all the wonderful friends in my life, my nice house that I love, a beautiful place to live, and our health! Here's to another week of social isolation!
