"Reopening" Thoughts

When this whole "reopen" movement started and it came out that it was astroturfing rather than an actual grassroots movement, my first thought was, what if whoever's behind this wants companies to be forced to reopen so that people are no longer eligible to receive unemployment or assistance? Around the same time, I saw a post from a small business owner who said basically the same thing - if they're forced to reopen to no customers, now it's their problem and not the state's.

I also had said that if people are protesting anything, they should be protesting for better protection from the government during this time, not for the "right" to go back to work and put themselves and others in harm's way. I'm seeing now that there are more protests being organized by Amazon, Instacart, etc. ("essential" people who have been working this whole time).

Among my friends on Facebook I see more and more people growing frustrated, referring to their governors as "kings" who are overreaching, calling out inconsistencies in what has been deemed essential, etc. And yeah, it sucks, but do you want everyone to get sick and die from a totally baffling disease? I don't!

So I don't know what to do. I guess just keep staying home, since I have that luxury. Sorry to everyone who's already been forced back to work, or soon will be (I'm sure without any consideration for people with underlying conditions or in risk categories, or those who have close contact with them...)

They're also predicting meat shortages coming, since the supply chain has started breaking down and farmers are culling their animals because there's nowhere to send them for processing. Of course, now that they've announced that, people will start hoarding meat like they've been hoarding toilet paper...

Great news for people who aren't me!

Though I'm in generally good health and the condition is well controlled with daily medication, I do have an autoimmune disease. Early on in this pandemic I was very concerned that this underlying condition would impact my prognosis if I contracted COVID-19. There wasn't much research yet about outcomes for people with my condition, but one thing that did seem clear was that the type of medication I'm on does not increase my chances of contracting the disease, which was reassuring. Some people treat with immunosuppressants, which as the name suggests, suppress your immune system and make it harder to fight off infection; these people were at elevated risk of catching the disease, but the recommendation was to continue your medication because letting that condition flare up would be even worse.

So for the past months I've been living as if I had the same chances for contracting and surviving the disease as anyone else. Obviously, I'd like to avoid getting it at all, which is why I take precautions like staying home, getting things delivered, washing every item that comes into my house, etc.

In the past few weeks, it seems there have been more reports of relatively young, healthy people having really bad outcomes from COVID-19. One of the things that was recently discovered is that the disease can cause blood clots to form all over the body, which can lead to other problems and even death during treatment. Many patients are dying of stroke, for example. Some hospitals are putting all COVID-19 patients on blood thinners, though even that doesn't always prevent it. I've had a fear of blood clots for many years (probably because I've been on birth control, with clots a common side effect, for almost half my life), so this whole development was very scary to me. Also, I recently had some family members who were dealing with stroke and other clotting issues.

The second bar from the top is what I take

Last night, I saw the thing that has probably upset me the most recently. In a Facebook group about my autoimmune disease, someone posted a chart of COVID-19 outcomes for people on various types of treatments. It was shared with a cheerful caption like, "Great news for those of us on immunosuppressants!" Not so great for me, though: the type of medication I'm on has the second worst outcome. Now, there's a lot this chart doesn't tell us - did the people on this type of medication have more active disease, or additional medical conditions? Were they generally older than people on other forms of treatment? Was their outcome typical, but the immunosuppressant medication the other patients were on was actually a benefit to their recovery? (This has already been suggested and is being tested right now to help fight the cytokine storm caused in some COVID-19 patients.) We can't tell from the data that's available right now. So I don't want to read too much into this chart. But it really re-triggered my anxiety since I saw it.

All I can do is just continue taking the precautions I have been...

Updates from Outside

This week's Imperfect Foods delivery came this morning. There was one thing I had ordered that I didn't receive, but I also received something I didn't order, so I guess it evens out 🤷‍♀️ Overall, I'm still extremely happy with the whole service. My brother uses it too, but his deliveries apparently come from a different warehouse, and he's been having lots of issues the past few weeks 😞

The weather is perfect today, so in an effort to keep my car battery from dying again, I took a quick drive around town with my windows open. Some notes from the trip:

• Costco had a good amount of open parking, and I didn't see anyone waiting outside to enter, though they may have been inside in the vestibule; there was some kind of white tent by the entrance
• the mall is closed, but there were a lot of cars in the parking lot near the drug store; it has its own entrance, so I guess is still operating
• parking lot at the plant where they make satellites is totally full
• movie theater parking lot was empty, except for a handful of cars right next to the building (security/maintenance?)

I'm trying to be better about keeping in touch with people, so I've been going through my phone contacts and just texting friends. I had a bunch of conversations going last night and today, and am glad to hear they're all able to work from home, though people with kids are really frustrated with the intense schedule and assignments of online school...

Open Office

My company uses an outside contractor to staff our site cafeterias, provide janitorial services, catering, etc. I was worried about those folks as there is no work for them while our offices are closed. However, it looks like our company is still paying them, so they can safely stay home without having to worry about a paycheck. That makes me so happy and proud 😊 The vendor company just put together a sweet video with photos and videos of some of their staff thanking us, and it was nice to see some familiar faces from the cafeteria and conference center at my site.

I also have some updates from my Wuhan colleagues. The one who had been stuck quarantined with his family out of town for several months was finally able to travel back home to Wuhan a couple weeks ago when they reopened the city. The long drive took even longer than usual, as there were lots of people trying to get back in.

My other colleague who was in Wuhan throughout the lockdown is remaining cautious. Residents are still only allowed out of their homes for a limited time. Her first trip out was to pick up food from a restaurant downstairs from her apartment - but I bet it was thrilling! It's been a couple weeks now, and she told me today she's also visited parks, and a government office to renew her ID - which was her first time in public without a mask! (Just for five minutes...)

It sounds like China has had a similar experience to what's happening in the US right now - some areas were hit harder than others, so some people were taking it more seriously than others. There are places in the US where they are protesting and don't understand why things are shut down, because they don't have that first-hand experience with themselves or their loved ones being sick and dying [yet].

We had a team meeting today to discuss what it would take for us to feel comfortable coming back to the office (and the head of our organization specifically said he would not require people to return before they're comfortable). People were talking about temperature checks at the door, immunity testing, putting up plexiglass between cubicles, improving ventilation. Most people were saying it would take a lot for them to feel comfortable returning to the office (especially if they have to commute via public transportation). One person shared how eager she was to return to the office and how much she hates being home alone. My opinion is: the office isn't going to be like it was for a long time - the office experience you return to is not going to be the same as when you left. The thing that's impacting the economy and productivity is people who need to be on site in order to do their jobs, and so aren't able to work right now. For everyone on our team, whether or not it's ideal in your personal circumstances and preferences, we are capable of doing our work remotely. So until we reach the point where we don't even have to consider these types of changes and accommodations, I do not expect to return to the office, and feel others should remain home if possible as well - for our own safety, as well as that of the people we do come in contact with (e.g. our families), and those who need to be on site in order to do their jobs. Not only do I love my job, I love my office and the people there and am very involved with activities on site. But I am not planning to be back there anytime soon...

What to Believe

It's hard to know what data to believe these days - there are so many ways to manipulate things, whether it's by hand-picking source data, or changing the units on a graph axis, or who knows what else.

I don't really trust the numbers of infections and deaths because so many people probably are infected but never got tested, so won't officially be counted. On the other hand, there are stories of doctors being told to count deaths as COVID-19, even when that hasn't been proven - these stories are coming from a very skewed source, so I don't know the exact circumstances (like, is it very likely the person died of COVID-19 or related complications, but they were never officially tested?), but either way, hopefully this just helps to balance out the people who aren't being counted...

Then there's the differences in numbers of infections and deaths between countries. Why do some countries look like they're impacted much more, or have a much higher rate of infection? A couple things that need to be taken into account are the overall population of the country, and the amount of testing they are doing. For example, a smaller country that tests a lot more people, might look like it has many more infections. In reality, it's probably just seeing a more accurate picture and because they're smaller, they can likely test a greater proportion of their population. Likewise, a large country like the US can have as many confirmed cases or deaths as a smaller country, but as an overall percentage of the population it isn't as much, which is why many people here aren't taking things as seriously, because they aren't really seeing the impact of the disease first-hand.

All I know is, I don't want to get sick, or get anyone else sick, and whether or not it's overkill, the one way I can try to do that is to stay away from other people and clean anything that has been around other people before it comes into my home.

Shopping

This morning I had my much-anticipated grocery pickup at the supermarket. Everything went great, and they are even doing some substitutions now, which is good, but I was still missing a lot of staple items. Oh well, I've already started a new order and added them to my cart. This time I only had to schedule 12 days out, instead of the full two weeks 😕

Since we're going to be home for a while, and I didn't want to live in my old holey sweatpants and stretched out t-shirts, a few weeks ago I ordered myself some new loungewear. Most arrived last week and I brought it up from its decontamination period in the basement today, so now I'm awash in yoga pants, comfy tees, and stretchy cardigans.

Some other recent online purchases:

• a new mouse wand toy for the cats (they destroyed their old one and it was their favorite)
• some heavy duty hand cream (for all that hand washing)
• dehydrated soup mix
• phone charging cables
• cloth face masks
• coffee and a French press (we have no coffee maker, and my husband left his coffee equipment at his office)

"Reopening" is a Misnomer

A friend shared this article* about "reopening" the country, which puts into words the thoughts that have been swirling around my head for months, while I just kept saying "it's going to be really hard for a really long time." Just because a governor announces an "opening date," that doesn't mean everything will be instantly back to the way it was the next day. The reopening comes with new requirements and restrictions, and many people will still be maintaining social distancing practices even after businesses are "open." And with fewer customers in various industries, and requirements for cleaning, distancing, etc., many may not be able to justify staffing and operating at the level they had been before. There are going to be far-reaching effects of a prolonged shutdown, that will continue even once a vaccine is available and widely administered. The world really is not going to be the same after this - some things just will not come back. For example:

📽 Is this the end of large groups of people going to theaters to watch a movie together on a big screen? Why bother, when actually operating theaters is so unprofitable, and people can watch the same movies from the comfort and convenience of their homes?

✈ Leisure travel is definitely going to be on vacation for a while (pun intended). And there are so many cities and whole countries whose economies rely primarily on tourism. If that shuts down, and the people who support it shut down, then the other local business that support them shut down, and so on...

I think the solution is that people are going to have to get really creative with modifying existing industries and starting new ones. Delivery and home-based services are going to be huge. Extra support will be needed in healthcare, of course. How about the people who will be installing partitions and more widely spaced seats in public spaces? Or even shifting people to process unemployment claims - my own state laid off many of these people in the last year due to falling unemployment, and the people who are left can't keep up with the huge number of claims now being submitted.

I also just read this NPR article on when models say it will be safe to ease social distancing in each state. Their criteria is based on a rate of 1 new infection per million people, which is more strict than the proposal for my state of 50 new infections per 100,000 people over 14 days. And the results of the study recently conducted by New York that found that there may be far more asymptomatic carriers than previously suspected might change the recommendation as well. That said, based on this IHME projection, my state shouldn't relax distancing policies for at least another month. However, this is just looking at the state level - my governor has already said the policies will be regionally based. There are probably areas or counties of my state that could be relaxed sooner, whereas my "hotbed" area is probably looking at a much longer lockdown.

The problem with any of these "relaxing" policies is that people in areas with closures will just travel around to neighboring areas that are open, continuing to potentially spread the virus. The state of Georgia just opened some businesses like gyms, hair salons, and nail services, and I've already seen one social media post from someone in a neighboring state bragging about how she traveled to Georgia to get a pedicure 🙄

I keep swinging between thinking "everything is going to turn out fine" vs. "we are witnessing the slow ending of the human race." Humans are remarkably resilient. I'm hoping for the former, and I think everything will be fine, if people can be flexible and not stuck on the way everything used to be, because it's already changed forever.

* I'm not really familiar with this site or its ideological leanings, but it describes itself as "providing political analysis and reporting free from the constraints of partisan loyalties or tribal prejudice;" if anything, its officers and contributors seem to come from a republican background.

Dreams

I've been seeing articles about why people are having such vivid dreams during this time of social distancing. I think it has to do with the fact that your brain isn't getting as stimulated as usual, so your mind tries to make up for it in your sleep.

I don't often remember my dreams, but in the last week or so, I have had a couple very realistic and memorable ones. They mostly involve getting together with friends in a social situation, being celebratory and happy to see each other, and then realizing, "Wait, we should all be wearing masks! And social distancing! We shouldn't even be here!"

The other weird thing that happens is I wake up and for a split second I think it's a normal day, and I have to remind myself we're still in the same situation, the virus is still here.

Very Powerful Light

Oh boy... I don't even want to have to write about this, but in an effort to accurately capture each day's historic events... in a press conference last night, the president of the United States suggested that people could inject or consume disinfectants, or somehow take in ultraviolet light, in an attempt to "cleanse" the virus inside the body, the same way you might clean it off a surface.

The "camera 2" video below is what you'll want to watch for the exact quote and reaction from Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the Coronavirus Task Force:

Take Camera 2 pic.twitter.com/mV9oQAnExm

— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) April 24, 2020

I guess my biggest question is, why is a press conference being used as a brainstorming session? "Suppose" we do this or that? Shouldn't these events be for making explicit statements?

In other news that is surely disappointing to the president, a report was leaked(?) or released early(?) that states hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, which he has been promoting as potential cures, actually don't improve outcomes in COVID-19 patients. And the FDA just released a warning on hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, urging people not to take it on their own due to serious side effects. (Related: Lysol has also warned against internal use of its products.)

One final disappointing update to kick off your weekend: the Chinese city of Harbin is now under lockdown after a student returning from New York triggered a new outbreak. 1) If it hadn't happened already, I predict this will be the turning point where China starts claiming the virus was brought to them from overseas, rather than the other way around. (They're already forcing many foreigners [who have been in China this whole time] into unnecessary quarantine, at their own expense, but that's a whole other discussion.) 2) This is a glimpse of what the next several (at least) years will probably be like, with various cities and regions going under lockdown all the time as the virus continues to spread, resolve, and reemerge.

Battery

Today I went out to drop some food off for my mom a few minutes away. I drove over, sat the bag outside her building, got back in my car, her husband picked it up, and I went to leave... Car wouldn't start. My battery had died!  Luckily I had jumper cables with me, and my husband was able to come meet me and we got it running right away. I took the long way home to give it more time to charge, and everything seemed fine.

I thought a quick weekly drive was enough to keep it running, but I guess not quite! My husband has been suggesting I run the car more often, I guess I should have taken his more informed advice ... just like the people who want to reopen everything.

Red, Yellow, Green

Last night our governor provided more details on the phased reopening plan he announced earlier this week, which he plans to start May 8th. They're taking a "traffic light" approach.

The red/stop is the phase the entire state is in right now, with closures and restrictions. Life-sustaining businesses  and travel only, stay-at-home orders, schools closed, etc.

To reach the yellow/caution phase, the population (maybe this is by county?) needs to have an average of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 individuals over the course of 14 days. In this phase, some restrictions will be lifted, but there will still be limitations like schools closed, restaurants open for takeout/delivery only, and retail stores must take precautions to protect staff and customers. They are recommending gatherings of no more than 25 people, gyms stay closed, etc. Working remotely and doing curbside pick-up from stores is still recommended as much as possible.

For the green/go phase, there is no benchmark set yet, but it would involve lifting the stay-at-home order but continuing to follow CDC guidelines about masks, avoiding large gatherings, etc.

And if infections start to increase again, regions will back to isolation and restriction again. The Department of Health is supposedly working on tracking and contact tracing to enable that sort of monitoring to happen ... I feel like we would also need more widespread testing capabilities for this to be able to work, too.

Right now, the May 8th date that was announced before is a target for the corner of our state where nobody lives 😂 and there are already few infections. As I suspected, since this is being done regionally, my more populous "hotbed" region will probably be under lockdown for much longer...

Tuesday?

For the most part I am keeping track of the days, but I'm having the hardest time with Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I don't know why, because I literally keep a calendar sitting in front of me while I work. But last week I mixed up the days when giving a deadline (I asked for something by "tomorrow, Wednesday," when tomorrow was really Tuesday), and today I kept thinking tomorrow was Thursday when it's actually Wednesday...

There has of course been lots of discussion today following yesterday's protests and announcements, not just in our state but from others, too. People are posting really crazy stuff on social media, talking about how they'd rather die than give up their freedom, etc. They're not realizing that though it's easy for them to say, they could also be killing others they are close to by being a vector for the virus. Again, for people saying they'd rather take their chances, let people get sick and recover, and build up herd immunity, we don't know anything about this disease. This article I read yesterday suggests that having antibodies does not mean someone is necessarily immune. (They're saying it here more out of an abundance of caution, not because it's been proven, but it hasn't been proven either way!)

Tonight we're hosting a virtual online version of the Parents' Night presentation and meeting we usually hold to wrap up the student entrepreneurship program I help run. And tomorrow night my band is meeting virtually on Zoom (not to play, just to catch up). See, it's usually easier for me to remember what day of the week it is when I know which activity I'm going to that night.

The Protest

So today's protest in my state turned out to have hundreds or thousands of attendees, depending on your news source. Maybe I didn't see the full crowd, but I saw some photos and wouldn't say thousands, maybe a couple hundred.

Screenshot from WHTM news

I also watched a bit of a live video of one of the speakers asking the governor to allow all businesses to reopen because he trusts everyone to maintain appropriate hygiene and sanitizing practices. I don't! Look at these people already not following directions. The people at this event are saying they could take precautions and practice social distancing in their workplaces, but they can't do that for even one protest - nobody is distancing or wearing a mask! I don't trust anyone!

Following the protest, our governor had a scheduled press conference in which he said he planned to start reopening the state on May 8, slowly and by region, as our hospitals have not become overwhelmed. (See my previous post about removing your parachute before you've landed, but what do I know, I'm just someone who doesn't want to crash land.)

The governor last week proposed six standards for reopening the state:

• The approach will be data driven
• There needs to be enough protective gear and testing
• There will still be limitations on large gatherings
• Individuals, employers, and healthcare facilities will have guidance to follow
• Protections will remain for vulnerable people
• There must be monitoring so action can be taken quickly to contain the disease if needed.

So... I guess we suddenly have sufficient PPE, testing, and monitoring capabilities? That would be great, but it's news to me, and probably most others! Maybe we will have it in the next 2.5 weeks..?

Either way, my county is on track to run out of hospital capacity soon, despite the state as a whole remaining well under capacity, so I'm sure our "region" will remain under lockdown. Not that I was planning to go anywhere anyway!

Steak Dinner

Weekend catch-up:

• We had two different Zoom game nights - on Friday we played Quiplash and Drawful with the same friends as a couple weeks ago (plus one additional couple); on Saturday we played an online trivia contest one of my husband's friends put together, and ended up winning! (We did really poorly in most of the rounds, but crushed the Movie and Music categories 😂) 
• I made us a "fancy" dinner on Friday night of steaks, asparagus, and sauteed mushrooms, all courtesy of our last Imperfect Foods order. (I am loving this service, not only is it convenient, it gives us something fun to look forward to each week!)
• We hung new blinds in our family room - our cats had destroyed our original blinds, and I found a place online to order custom blinds at a good price. They were pretty easy to put up, and look great! So far the cats haven't messed with them 🤞
• The weather was beautiful, so we went for a nice long walk around the neighborhood to soak up some vitamin D. Lots of other people had the same idea, but luckily everyone is pretty respectful about crossing the street and keeping away from each other. My husband also took his car out for a little drive, since he hasn't been running it much. 
• I finished season 4 of Mad Men. There's 3 seasons left, so I'm still on track to finish the series before it's removed from Netflix.

Steak with parmesan roasted asparagus and garlic butter sauteed mushrooms

Our new blinds - we're very happy with them!

Liberation

Everyone is still asking when things can start to go back to "normal," and now there are protests being held in state capitols (although embarrassingly small), demanding that governors allow people to go back to work. The president even sent a series of tweets calling for the "liberation" of certain [blue] states. There are also "Reopen [State]" web sites, but apparently they were all created by a single person, in an attempt to make a small minority opinion appear to be a large grassroots movement 🤔

In my opinion, if people are protesting anything, they should be protesting for more funding and supplies for hospitals, support for businesses to prevent layoffs, support for people who have lost their jobs (economic support, food supplies, healthcare coverage, etc.), and better protection and compensation for those front line workers who don't have the choice to stay home to protect themselves and others.

Just a reminder to everyone calling for things to just reopen and allow infections to run rampant to build herd immunity: there are many things we don't know about this virus. For example, we're just learning now about the organs and systems it impacts and its long term effects. People are losing limbs, suffering neurological damage, and dying from heart, liver, or kidney issues. Or who knows, by the time everyone's had it, immunity may wear off and people could start becoming infected again.

There's no foolproof treatment or preventive medicine right now. The one thing we have control over at this point is to remove humans from the equation so the virus has nowhere to go. I understand some people are in roles that must put them in contact with others, and hopefully they are taking every precaution to minimize their own spread (for example, medical professionals around the world  are living away from their families in an effort to isolate themselves and avoid spreading it to them).

It's a sacrifice for everyone. If the biggest sacrifice you're being asked to make is to stay home and watch movies, I'd say you're pretty lucky. And if you disagree with that because you're concerned about bills or work or food, then you should be protesting to protect those, not protesting to go back  to work and put yourself and everyone else at risk.

Never thought I'd be more of a dog person than a cat person,
but in this case, I agree with the dog!

This weekend I started seeing people posting the craziest stuff on social media. Like, when they create a vaccine for this, it will track everyone with microchips, someone found Bill Gates' patent for such a thing 🙄, people saying they will never take a vaccine, etc. First of all, we can't even get, like, self check-out cash registers to work right, do you really think we're going to have tracking microchips linked to your bank account mastered this decade? Second of all, a safe and reliable vaccine is the only thing that's going to get us out of this situation, so for all their protesting about getting back to work, they should welcome a vaccine or treatment that will allow that to happen sooner!

Removing the Parachute

The big topic this week is when to "reopen" the economy. It's only been a couple weeks in most places - in my area the lockdown has been over a month - but governors and legislators are starting to see the curve flatten, and want to get back to at least somewhat normalcy as soon as possible. However, the best analogy I saw for this is that it's like saying, "The parachute has slowed our decent, we can take it off now," before you've actually landed. If things reopen too soon, not only will it undo all the good that's been done so far, things will end up worse. The other analogy that keeps getting shared is from the 1918 flu pandemic: Philadelphia lifted their restrictions too soon, so they could throw a parade to raise morale for the war effort. Days later, every hospital bed in the city was full.

In some states people have been holding protests (without appropriate social distancing), and I've seen plans for more, including in my own state next week. I know people and businesses are suffering; states are running out of money for unemployment claims, and people are still waiting on their small stimulus checks that were promised weeks ago. There has to be some kind of creative way to resolve this and make sure everyone has the support they need. As I've been saying, it's going to be really hard for a really long time. But I feel like people will have even more to complain about if everyone starts getting sick and dying and can't get the medical care they need...

To Mask or Not to Mask

Yesterday I went to Target to do some shopping for my mom. After my good experience there last week, I was feeling pretty confident. This trip wasn't quite as flawless - it felt like there were slightly more people in the store, and more of them weren't wearing masks. Most people were masked, though, and respectful about maintaining appropriate distance from each other. There were also a lot of employees stocking things or reviewing what products were to be placed in different areas. As I went down the freezer aisle, an employee stocking product there said to me, "Looks pretty good, huh?!" I guess it was fairly well stocked. I wasn't able to find everything on my mom's list, though I did get some hard-to-find items like toilet paper (limit 1 package per customer), flour, and eggs.

I planned to use self-check out, but as I neared the registers, a cashier called me into her lane, and what was I supposed to say? "No, I'd rather wait and use the machine?" We both had masks on, so hopefully it was ok, even though she touched all my stuff and we were probably closer than 6 feet apart. (Also, no plexiglass dividers at Target, like they've added to some other stores.)

On my way out, I noticed that there were marks outside the door 6 feet apart, just like there are inside to wait in line. I guess this is in case people have to line up outside and wait to enter. I think the times I've been going are good - I never had to wait to get in or to pay, and there was no crowding in the aisles.

I went directly to my mom's place to drop off her items. She lives in a condo building and they're no longer allowing visitors inside, so I pulled up out front and put her things on a bench outside. Then I waited in my car until her husband came out with a cart and picked them up. We waved at each other, and that was all our interaction.

And now I don't plan to leave my house again for the rest of the month, except for walks!

The big news today is that in our state, businesses that are going to be open will have to require masks or face coverings for employees and customers. If you don't have a mask, you won't be able to go in. But places that provide food or medicine will have to have an alternate way of getting products to people if they don't have a mask. They also have to provide space for employees to take breaks while maintaining social distancing. Most people are wondering, "Where do I get my now mandatory mask?" Something as simple as a scarf could work. I have my homemade ones that have held up ok for a few public trips already, and I've ordered us some more professional looking fabric ones.

A couple groups of governors, including mine, have teamed up to make a plan for reopening the economy in their regions. Our state legislature passed a bill to allow businesses to reopen, but it probably won't become law. On one hand it would be good if people could work and earn money of course. But on the other hand if your employer reopens and you can't or won't go back to work due to health concerns, then you lose your job or can't collect unemployment, and that's not fair. I've now started seeing articles saying social distancing could be in place until 2022, or longer. I'm glad to see more and more realistic timelines being presented.

And worldwide infections have now passed 2 million, though that's just people they've confirmed with a test, so who knows what the actual number is...

Blogging

It's been over a month (and over 50 posts) since I started this blog. During that time, our situation has gone from "life as usual with maybe a few nervous glances," to near nationwide lockdown and upheaval.

I had mentioned a while ago some Americans living in Wuhan whose stories I'd been following. One was Rebecca Franks, who was posting great updates on Facebook - she's since transferred those to a blog where she is continuing to post new updates as Wuhan slowly opens back up for business.

She's the only person I've found who was really posting consistently about her situation. Do you know of any other bloggers documenting their lives this way right now? Can you share a link in the comments?

I would ask for vloggers too, but pretty much everyone I follow on YouTube has already adapted their videos to cover life during this situation. Some had pre-recorded videos earlier, to which they now have to add a disclaimer. Others are just getting kind of desperate for content 😂

Commercial Changes

It's been a while since I watched live TV without fast forwarding through commercials, but this weekend we were watching some shows, and I was surprised to see the shift in commercials ~1 month into the social distancing. My husband makes commercials for a living, so we've speculated about this and seen it a bit in the commercials he has done (e.g. buy a car, sight unseen, have it delivered!), but it was interesting to see it in person.

There are currently almost no commercials running that show non-related people gathered together. Instead, you see individuals and families, animations, or product/text only. If there are in-person gatherings, it's with narration like, "Someday in the future we'll be able to get together again."

Many companies are also specifically referencing the current situation - either thanking their front-line, essential employees (bet those employees wish they would have gotten some kind of raise instead of paying for network air time...), or explaining the actions they're taking during this time. I've also seen public service announcements, paid for by various organizations, reminding people to stay home, wash their hands, etc.

QVC live on March 20

I've been really fascinated by the home shopping channel QVC. I don't watch often, but ever since local lockdowns went into effect, I was curious to see how they would be able to remain live on the air. Usually there would be a host (sometimes two), maybe a special guest to present their company's product, and sometimes a model to demonstrate a clothing or cosmetic item. But due to state mandates and CDC recommendations, the network quickly pivoted to all sorts of alternatives: one host in the studio and another calling in from home on a split screen; a host on TV with guest presenter calling in by phone; multiple people on set but remaining at least 6 feet apart and not touching. And I heard one host say they were doing their own makeup now instead of having makeup artists apply it for them.

One last area of advertising where I've noticed a change is online ads. Maybe it's because I was searching for mask patterns a couple weeks ago, but half the Instagram ads I get are for fabric masks! If it's not masks, I'm seeing ads all around the internet for places to order toilet paper and cleaning supplies, UV lights that will sanitize your electronics, some kind of plastic stick with a cover you can use to push elevator buttons, a cloth pocket I think you clip to your belt and put your hand in when you need to touch something (I didn't look too closely and why would you then want to keep that dirty cloth by your side?), and other contact-limiting tools.

Unfulfilled Promises

I don't really get into politics here. I have mentioned things that the president and other politicians have said or done, but don't usually interject my own opinions. However, an article has come out from NPR today checking on the status of the promises the president made in his Rose Garden address one month ago. I am very familiar with that address, because I watched it and wrote about it here. Turns out, most of the partnerships and tools being developed never came to pass. 

The problem with implementing any type of large-scale nationwide policies, or the type of national testing and tracking that would make reopening the economy possible, is that our government is currently run by a party that believes in the smallest government possible, minimal oversight, and "liberty," leaving things up to states and even individuals. The result is that states and municipalities are left scrambling to figure things out for themselves, without guidance and support or any kind of coordinated effort from the federal government. 

Another problem with not having a consistent national policy is that the US numbers for COVID-19 cases and deaths are misleading. For example, in areas that started a shelter-in-place policy earlier, cases actually seem like they're flattening at the moment. But nationwide, numbers are going up - because not everyone has been following the same guidelines the whole time. Infections will also spread through different areas at different times, but the speed of response plays a part in how quickly the curve flattens.

We're under a tornado watch here today. There are storms going up the whole east coast. I have friends in another state who had a tornado touch down just a few miles from their home early this morning. In other natural disaster news, the locusts in Africa are getting worse, the Krakatoa volcano erupted over the weekend, and radiation levels are spiking because Chernobyl is on fire.

Easter

Today I made us a delicious meal for brunch, then we had an Easter Zoom call with my family - the majority of the call was everyone figuring out how Zoom works, but it was still fun. Someone suggested we do it once a month!

Speaking of once a month, today was the president's original goal for reopening the country. He's now saying May, predicting that we are already at the peak of infections and numbers will be going down over the next couple weeks. Won't he be surprised if things are even worse in May? All the models I've seen predict a peak more like in June or July (and that's just in my area - some areas of the country started later and therefore will peak later). Covid Act Now is projecting mid-May here actually, with the curves for my county and my state looking pretty flat in the past week!

There was lots of promising news this week about progress in the development of treatments and vaccines. I read that some vaccines are in Phase 3 trials, which I find hard to believe, since last I saw most were in Pre-Clinical or Phase 1 studies. But the makers of a treatment I am tangentially related to released a statement saying it may be available in 6 months, rather than the 12 months they originally planned.

Saturday Night Live aired a special "SNL at Home" episode last night. It was actually pretty good - the sketches were either a single actor at home, multiple people on screen separately like a video chat, or animations. They even had a host (Tom Hanks, America's first celebrity infection), and a musical guest performance (Chris Martin). However, the end of the show, showing the credits rolling in front of an empty stage, instead of the usual scene of the cast all hugging each other and celebrating, kind of got me choked up.

I also ordered us some reusable masks. My homemade ones are ok for now, but they're not really comfortable or well made. And I have the feeling we'll be expected to wear masks in public for a long time to come...

Target

I've been trying to put together an order for pickup or delivery from our supermarket, or any local store, but there aren't any slots available to sign up for anymore. I don't care if I have to schedule it for a week or two out, but they just don't even show the slots. And I've heard of several people using other services who are able to get a delivery slot but then their order gets cancelled at the last minute.

So this morning I had a break in my work and decided I was just going to run to Target. It's about 5 minutes from my house, and in normal circumstances I probably went there at least once a week. I was never thrilled with them for regular grocery shopping, but I know they carry a couple specific items I needed (like the vitamins I take), so I decided it was worth a shot.

I got there around 11 AM, which seemed like a good time, after the first-thing-in-the-morning rush - very few people were in the store. I put my mask on in the car, then went inside and sanitized every surface of my shopping cart (I brought a couple of my own wipes, but there were also wipes there). An employee stood at the front of the store, I assume to help direct people or maybe count how many were entering so they could enforce limits if they had to. I smiled and said hi, but realized she couldn't see my smile under my mask 😂

Luckily I'm pretty familiar with the layout of Target and was able to go directly to the things I needed. They had everything on my list, although selection was limited for some items (for example, only one shape of pasta - though they did have plenty of that one type). I didn't really look at the availability of other products, though I did see the bread and canned soup areas were pretty empty, while there seemed to be a good amount of produce. Not sure about milk, eggs, or meat, and I didn't even go near the cleaning products.

Most people in the store were very respectful about distancing, for example waiting to enter an aisle until I left. Some people just blew right past each other though. Almost everyone was wearing a mask - I think I only saw one customer who wasn't. I'd heard some stores like Target and Walmart had roped off the clothing areas, so you could only buy groceries, but that wasn't the case here. They did have ropes in a couple places to help people form a line. For example, to check out, everyone formed a single line and went to the self-check registers (or there was one regular cashier open). There were tape marks on the floor for people to space out 6 feet. There wasn't any wait at the time I finished shopping.

It wasn't an exact science or even intentional, but I sort of ended up using my right hand to push the cart, pick things up, and touch the buttons at check out, and kept my left hand a little more clean to hold my shopping list or car keys, and grab my credit card.

When I got home, my husband helped me with the sanitization process - I wiped down each item and handed it to him to sort on the kitchen table. Plus I cleaned my shopping bag, purse, keys, credit card, door knobs, and anything else I touched. I changed my clothes and ended up washing my hands about 10 times during that hour!

Overall, I was pretty happy with the experience. It was definitely less nerve-wracking than my last time at a store - that was over 3 weeks ago and a lot has changed since then. Between this and a weekly delivery of fresh produce, we should be set for a while.

The other big news today: schools in our state are now officially closed through the end of the school year. Everyone knew it was coming, but until now they were still set to reopen after April 30. I'm glad they've stopped stringing everyone along with promises of going back to school, but feel so sad for the students I know, especially the seniors who were looking forward to prom, graduation, and all the fun things that come with the end of high school 😢

Imperfect

Daily new cases of COVID-19 are slowly reducing in my region, and in the "hot spot" of New York, but there are still many new diagnoses each day, and deaths are starting to mount as well - I just heard NY has passed 6,000 deaths? Dr. Birx said something today about my area being one of the next hot spots, but the consensus seems to be that she's looking at outdated information 🙄 We do keep hearing about more deaths... Hopefully people who weren't taking this seriously before will do so, as it starts touching them individually.

Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign for president. That means Joe Biden is likely the Democratic nominee, and that means a lot of people will probably not have the passion to vote 😕

I spoke to one of my colleagues in Wuhan today - their lockdown has indeed been lifted after many weeks! But there are still restrictions on the number of people who can go out from each household, and the amount of time they can stay out. I asked where was the first place she went, and she said she just picked up a takeout order 😂 We also had a little discussion on the change in mask guidance in the US - she offered to send me some, since they are easy to come by in China, which is so sweet! But probably not worth the cost of shipping them here.

This evening I received my first order from Imperfect Foods. It's a weekly produce delivery service, but you can also add on meats, dairy, pantry items, snacks, etc. I may have gone a little overboard, but we haven't gotten any fresh groceries for almost a week (I timed it this way). And some of these things are stock-up items that I won't need to replenish for a while. I'm mostly looking forward to guaranteed fresh vegetables every week. The prices are pretty good too, and I like that they are conscious about using minimal packaging. (If you'd like to try, this referral link will give you $10 off your order and give me a $10 credit!) I have so many meals planned for this already!

Doesn't look imperfect to me!

Test and Trace

One of my friends posted on Facebook that she was setting aside an hour every day for people to sign up to meet with her kids and have an interview, read a book, or teach them something. I signed up to teach a short lesson on the drug development process (i.e. "how medicine is made"). It went really well and I think they learned something - I know I had fun 🙂 There's probably a couple little tweaks I would make and changes to make it more interactive, but if any of my other friends set up something similar, I will definitely give my talk again, or I might just schedule a meeting on my own for people to join if they're interested.

The lockdown in Wuhan ended today - I haven't talked to any of my colleagues there yet, but hopefully they have good news the next time we meet!

Deaths from COVID-19 passed 3000 in New York today - that's more than in the 9/11 attacks. The US is leading globally in cases, and NY is the epicenter here. Other states, including California, are actually sending them ventilators, with the understanding that they'll send them back when the crisis spikes back there.

The question on everyone's mind is still "when can this end," and I read another article in The Atlantic today about how other countries are handling contact tracing via cell phone apps. Of course, besides the obvious privacy concerns brought up in the article, there's also the fact that not everyone has a smart phone, or a cell phone at all. What about kids? My 92 year old grandmother who can't work technology? Homeless people and people in poverty who just can't afford one?

Mask Making

Today I wore a shirt that says "Eat Well, Travel Often," to which my husband added "from room to room in the house."

I don't feel like I did too much today, but I cleaned the whole house, made 2 face masks, and finished season 1 of Mad Men (wow - and there's still 6 more seasons after this?!).

Everyone is making fabric masks right now and sharing patterns, so I combined a few of them to come up with my own design. I still messed up a bit, and misjudged some of the supplies I had - for example, I planned to bind the top and bottom edges with bias tape and extend it to make the ties, but the tape was too narrow, so the edges are kind of unfinished and then I had to add ribbon ties. I also used 3 layers: t-shirt, washcloth, and NWPP (the nonwoven material cheap reusable grocery bags are made from). The washcloth makes it very thick to sew over, so I may try another version with 2 layers of t-shirt instead. I'll keep playing with it.

Masks

So the big news today is that the CDC, president, and our governor are now recommending that people wear masks when out in public. I heard last weekend that there might be a policy change on masks coming this week, but it took until Friday for it to become official.

This goes against the original guidance that we shouldn't wear masks because they wouldn't provide that much benefit, we'd be more likely to touch our faces messing with them, and most importantly, they need to be reserved for healthcare workers. Well, healthcare workers are already running low on protective equipment, but now the authorities are saying it would be worthwhile for people to just cover their faces, like with a scarf or homemade mask, when out in public. I actually had already come up with a plan to make us masks with materials we have at home, so that will be my project this weekend.

As a special treat tonight, we ordered takeout for dinner from one of our favorite restaurants (that is usually really hard to get into!). It took 40 minutes for them to bring out the order, and then I had to clean and reheat everything when we got home, but it was a nice break from cooking.

Vaccine Development

There's lots of promising news about vaccines and other treatments in development, some of which are already starting trials in humans. What people aren't understanding yet is that if a vaccine becomes available in a year from now, that is lightning speed. Even my husband asked me yesterday, "Can't they just do it faster and approve things faster?" They are. It normally takes an average of 12 years for a new drug to go from discovery to approval.

Even once regulatory agencies are satisfied that it is safe and effective, it will take time to produce it and deliver to patients. And we'll have to prioritize who gets it - a vaccine should first be given to people most at risk of infection, like medical professionals and first responders, and people with other conditions that put them more at risk of serious complications from COVID-19.

Just wanted to put that out there, as someone with a tiny amount of insight into this industry... If you want more details about the typical vaccine development process, I found a great article that explains it very clearly.

I talked today to my colleague who is currently recovering from COVID-19 - they are doing much better and never really got bad symptoms, but they were very exhausted and just starting to get their energy back now. I'm actually surprised they were able to work through their recovery. I heard today that I have another colleague who may have the disease (also located in somewhat of a "hotbed" area), and this person is on medical leave, though I heard they are also not in serious condition.

One Million

As of today, over one million people have tested positive for COVID-19.

Now here's some pretty trees I saw on our walk tonight:

Leading by Example

This afternoon, our governor finally extended the stay-at-home order to the rest of the counties in our state, restricting the entire state to only essential/life-sustaining activities. The stay-at-home order isn't really that strict, though. Lots of people are still getting together, maybe spacing their chairs out a little more. Stores and other services get crowded. And I just saw a photo tweeted by our county's department of public safety, showing their leadership team reviewing their emergency response plans - they don't look sufficiently distanced! (Several people have already called them out for it on Twitter - one asked if they were all isolating together indefinitely.)

Tweeted by county Dept of Public Safety 4/1/2020

I was looking at that COVID Act Now site again today, and not only were our state's restrictions less stringent than the rest of the region, it put us at hospital overload by April 24, if shelter in place wasn't implemented by April 9-14. Maybe the governor was checking the same thing. For states that have already moved to shelter in place orders, the site gives predictions for what will happen with poor compliance vs. strict compliance. The best plans in the world will be useless if nobody follows them...

The sun is out today for the first time since last week! 🌞 My husband and I went for a nice lunchtime walk around the neighborhood. I should start keeping track of the streets we've covered - by the end of this thing, we may have walked every foot of sidewalk on our side of town.

Contactless

No new post yesterday ... I guess no news is good news. It's starting to get hard to keep track of the various celebrity infections and deaths. We've been assured Betty White is safe and in quarantine, though 😂

Infections are starting to hit a little closer to home - I have a couple friends locally who are confirmed cases. A colleague has it (that was the person I mentioned last week as the first confirmed case I know - now that they've told us officially I will say it's a colleague), and another colleague's parent just passed away from it.

We had a big departmental [virtual] meeting yesterday where someone mentioned they attended a meeting earlier in March in New Orleans. Someone asked if they were concerned, since that area is becoming another "hotspot," and they very somberly said that they did come home with "something," and some other people they traveled with were sick as well. But tests weren't available then, so they'll have to look for antibodies when that test is available, to see if it was COVID-19.

My husband and I went out yesterday morning to pick up a grocery order. It was a much better experience than last time, because they've changed to completely contactless - the store worker just puts the bags in your car and you leave, there's no paperwork to sign. We got everything we ordered except for some jerkey my husband wanted, and any type of pasta. But we have plenty of fresh food for now, as well as packaged and frozen stuff. I signed up for a produce delivery service that starts next week (they also have meat, dairy, and some pantry things), so this Friday I'll be able to go in and customize my first order.

Band performance on 4th of July, 2017

I've been saying since all this started that it's going to be really hard for a really long time, but it's becoming more and more apparent to people that this isn't going to be over after a couple weeks or even a couple months. This is an excellent paper, from reputable sources, about what needs to happen before we can phase back into different aspects of normal life. (Even just the executive summary is worth a read!)

With the extension of school closures and large gatherings, we had to cancel my band concert, and it's looking like we won't be able to perform for any crowds this summer either, though none of our venues have cancelled yet. (If they're recommending groups of less than 50 people, our band alone is twice the legal limit.) We still received an e-mail today from our director about what to prepare for any potential summer performances.

And yes, if anyone is wondering, we finally succumbed to peer pressure and started watching the Tiger King documentary on Netflix.

Me: I can’t stop thinking about, talking about, or reading about the coronavirus

Netflix: let me introduce you to Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. #TigerKing pic.twitter.com/1Oamnc2vMF

— Mary (@maryyyyrosee) March 23, 2020