Plague, Part 15, 3/18/20

~ Laura

11:44am — The podcast, The Daily, has been amazing. Listen to today’s interview with Gov. Cuomo.

*****

10:30am — In preparing for this virus, somethings I did right, other’s not so much.

In the right column — I started buying food several weeks ago before the supermarkets went bananas. I bought printer ink and paper from Staples ahead of time (lots of printing out worksheets for school). I bought wine and cookies, because we all need treats.

In the mistake column: We didn’t get haircuts before all this happened. I’m going to have some very interesting streaks in my hair soon. Ugh. I just bought some emergency color stuff from Amazon. We’ll see how that works.

****

10am — Day Five of complete social isolation here. Some things are working; others not so much.

Ian’s online education system is a train wreck. I’m having trouble keeping my sanity around all that. I have chosen simply to totally ignore the whole thing. If he gets some work done, great. If not, who the hell cares? I may stop opening all teachers’ emails, in order to remain mentally healthy.

Going for walks during the day is excellent. We’re doing long trips as a family, and solitary treks, too. I will head out for a two mile walk in a bit. I’ll hook up the earbuds and listen to The Daily on my walk.

To keep the boys from getting too stressed out, we’re not keeping the tv on all day. In fact, I’m getter better info from Twitter than CNN, so that is working for me.

I’ve been trading lots of texts with family and friends in NYC. Things are going to south very soon there. Some are finding escape routes today. Others are committed to sticking it out. The hospitals are going to overrun very soon. I’m very worried.

I’m hearing stories about college dorms being emptied out with the plans to turn them into makeshift hospitals if necessary.

The states are frantically trying to pass a bunch of emergency legislation to bailout schools and set up emergency plans for food and shelter for the poorest.

I’m going for a walk. Will be here and on twitter all day.

Published by Laura

17 thoughts on “Plague, Part 15, 3/18/20”

  1. https://nypost.com/2020/03/18/millennials-may-be-at-a-higher-risk-for-catching-coronavirus-official-says/

    A top official on the White House coronavirus task force issued an ominous warning on Wednesday, declaring that more millennials in Italy and France had gotten sick than anticipated.

    “There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill, and very seriously ill, in the ICU,” Dr. Deborah Birx said at the White House daily briefing on the pandemic.

    My husband is furious when he sees photos of stupid spring breakers in Florida.

    My adult children report friends-of-friends are getting sick (high fever, all the symptoms.) Young adults are not immune. This virus is still so new, we know very little about it.

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  2. Our county just got its first batch of positive Coronavirus results.

    Two of the positives were apparently an academic couple who had spent spring break in NYC. All of the reported cases seemed associated with travel.

    On a happier note, I’ve just ordered some fabric markers for the 1st grader. She has a plain white t-shirt to work on, and I’ve also ordered a pair of plain white canvas sneakers for her to decorate. I’m also ordering some new art stuff for our 12th grader.

    I need to have a word with our 9th grader with regard to growing some herbs for our home cooking this spring.

    We’ve just been informed that homeschooling officially begins Monday and will continue until April 6. School says that they are trying to limit school work to 15 hours a week–but with more work for AP kids. Hopefully, the elementary school will have more moderate expectations.

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    2. S counted up all the hours she spent traveling (planes, trains) from Thursday to Monday, and the number was 46 hours. That is about 2 full days out of 5. So far, she is not running a fever or showing any symptoms.

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      2. “S counted up all the hours she spent traveling (planes, trains) from Thursday to Monday, and the number was 46 hours. That is about 2 full days out of 5.”

        Wow, that is a lot.

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      3. I haven’t really talked about her ill-considered trip to Vienna on the 12th-14th. *facepalm* This is why I drink.

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  3. I had my regular hair appointment last Saturday. I took the dogs to get their nails trimmed today.

    She I was at the store there wasn’t any yeast. *shrugs* I’m making sourdough starter.

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  4. I plan to venture out to the supermarket this weekend. I’ll replenish my fresh stuff and see what I can find for the food pantry. I imagine anyone relying on that is feeling pretty nervous.

    A friend, a PhD chemist offered to make hand sanitizer. He has a home lab (complete with hood!) and lots of isopropyl alcohol and glycerin.

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    1. Tell us what you see. I grabbed milk yesterday. Eggs, potatoes, and cleaning products, including laundry detergent, were gone

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    2. Tulip said, “A friend, a PhD chemist offered to make hand sanitizer. He has a home lab (complete with hood!) and lots of isopropyl alcohol and glycerin.”

      SO MANY QUESTIONS!

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    1. Tulip,

      I’m going to be really charitable and assume that she’s talking about the difficulties of rebuilding Germany during the post-war period.

      But, wow. Really bad mental images.

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    2. It’s like the Aussie politician–I don’t know if everyone saw that one–who recently stated that his proposal was the “final solution” to the immigration question.

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