S19 and I flew back from California yesterday. Thought the plane might be empty, instead it was packed since Delta was consolidating flights. Between the CA visit and flight, my husband decided to “isolate” us both for a few days. We are each confined to a bedroom (I’m in S21’s, he moved to bonus room) sharing a bathroom. Not allowed into rest of house (we can go out adjacent door to walk/run). Husband is on call for meals, snacks, etc, leaves them outside our doors. Overkill perhaps, because the absence of positives in our county means nothing in the absence of tests, and I really can’t see him keeping this up, but he is a vulnerable person. I have CC, Netflix, and my Kindle to keep me company.
My city started drive-up testing yesterday, with another drive-up clinic being held today from 8am to 5pm. Tests are free for everyone including those among the homeless population or whose immigration status is not resolved.
The testing rotates to a different area of the city every day and each day a different hospital system takes responsibility for the testing so the no one hospital is overburdened. The mayor has promised they will continue offer drive-up testing for as long as they have test kits available. He’s also dispatched police to the big box store to prevent fights breaking out over scarce consumer goods.
He’s being very proactive about closing things down and using public media to keep everyone informed. (I wonder if that’s because his aunt-in-law is the retired director of public health for the central region of the state and she’s giving him sound PH advice.)
(NOTE-not everyone who requests a test, gets one. Individuals need to first answer several screening questions about fever, cough, SOB, travel outside the US, travel to areas inside the US at high risk, or exposure to an individual who is known to be COVID-19 positive. But drive-up requesters are not required to have a physician order for the test.)
The public school system is offering lunches to all children under 18 whether they are enrolled in the public school system or not. Every public school in the city is now a lunch distribution site. Meals are for drive-by/walk-by only and cannot be eaten on the school grounds.
@SammoJ - I hear you. I just picked up my kid from the airport - handed her a mask, and she sat in the backseat and did not talk to me until we got home and I could be 6 feet away from her. She is social distancing for at least 5 days. My 16 year old will not be allowed to socialize IRL with his GF or his friends. No more tennis lessons or drills for him, either. The only person who will be going out is me, and I will be working in a mostly deserted office. And all three of us will basically be sequestered from everyone else.
Good on you both!
Ny friends daughter from NYC was in Waco for a big craft show at Chip and Joanna Gaines Silo. Her company makes some kind of handcrafted dolls celebs are crazy about for their kids. I forget the name though. . Anyway, show got cancelled so they broke down their booth and hightailed out on a flight on Thursday, I assume from Austin. There were only 15 people on the flight so they got to really spread out!
She is back in Brooklyn self isolating and working from home.
@WayOutWestMom How long a typical wait was the drive-up testing at your city?
I have to fly from GA to Rochester with S19. He came home for Spring break with nothing, not even books. They moved to online learning first extending SB another week., but RIT had said that those who wanted to could come back. So we were going to send him back , since he is healthy and at the time things had not escalated . Even if we did not send him back and bought him new text books and other things, we would have time to get his things. Now RIT wants the dorms cleared out unless you have extenuating circumstances. Since this week is still “SB” we have flying up to pack and put into storage. He has an expensive computer that we need to deal with that we are concerned about. After we return we will have to make extra sure we quarantine for 14 days and not leave the house. My DH and D17 will be home. Will have to figure out the social distancing.
Well we just made the executive decision that anyone who wants to see baby has to self-quarantine for 14 days before coming over. I hate that we have to do that, but since baby is going to be born with my immune suppression meds, it’s better safe than sorry. We could never live with ourselves if something happened because we were lax.
My parents are retired so they won’t have an issue. The only other people I’m interested in letting over soon afterwards are our immediate family and all are working from home except my FIL & MIL. Unfortunately, FIL & MIL are firm believers that this is a “hoax” so this is going to be a minefield :neutral:
Good idea, @romanigypsyeyes. There are many good reasons, not just the spectre of COVID-19, to limit visitors after the baby is born.
So practicing social distancing… Tomorrow… Went to a movie for the Jewish Film Festival. It was sold out ticket wise but just like 15 people showed up. Not a great movie but that was telling to me.
Then the bars/Restaurants closed in Illinois and my wife heard 2 ladies saying “what will we do” and my wife said to her girlfriend “cook”… It was a joke but maybe these 2 older ladies don’t normally cook. Then we were watching the TVs in the movie theater since the news came on and there was news around the world about this pandemic. It was almost unreal and like watching a movie to me. This whole thing seemed unreal… There could be more severe lock downs happening and not just bars and restaurants… I am done going out except for going shopping, walking my dog and getting my kids from college etc. Oh, still have to go to work…
Have to find those board games we have here somewhere…?.
ok; I feel like I’m naive for asking this - but why the self quarantining after domestic flights? are airports just far worse than Costco? grocery stores? the mall? restaurants? I get it after coming in from somewhere international. But domestic? Are airports just worse than around your neighborhood? be gentle with me with your answers please.
Will they be giving every surface (including carts and baskets) a scrub with soap at the beginning of the special hours?
@bgbg4us, many cases in the United States now appear to be spreading from people who have been in what I call the “hot zones,” places like the New York City metropolitan area, northern California, and the Seattle area. So that’s part of it. Another part is that airplanes are notoriously germy.
This is what we will be doing after I saw a
Note From Ken Burns:
“With events canceled & so much closed, I asked @PBS
to stream BASEBALL for free so we can participate in the national pastime together. Watch at the link below or on any streaming device. And please look out for those with greater needs. Play ball. @MLB”
https://pbs.org/show/baseball/
Great Guy.
Watched the news, both local and national, with youngest and his wife this evening. Both H and I think this is the first time they’ve really grasped what is going on. They don’t pay attention to the news normally so just catch bits and pieces. Now they seem fully on board with trying to help.
I suspect not being able to grasp the situation is the problem with many youngsters. It’s why I explained what I did to my classes at school - several seemed to truly “get it” with that too.
As a nation, we might have to figure out how to get many in the younger generations to listen to the news for more than sound bites.
A coworker just announced she is self-quarantining because one of her young-adult sons had lunch early last week with a friend who has now tested positive. Location: Dane County, Wisconsin.
My 24 year old daughter lives 2,400 miles away. She works with tourists but generally outdoors.
For a few days she has been complaining about a sore throat. Today after work she was feeling crummy and took ibuprofen. she did not take her temperature then. Two hours later her temperature was 100. I asked her to text me her bedtime temperature but she hasn’t contacted me yet. She probably fell asleep.
My husband convinced her to call in sick for Monday work which she was reluctant to do but she listens to her dad. She takes a lot of pride in being tough.
Her boss is tracking her symptoms and I know her friends have her back.
I am trying to not have my imagination run wild. If she ends up getting tested, results from her island will take about 5 days.
Young, strong, otherwise healthy- odds are good it would be mild?
edited to add: Most of her island does not have street addresses so there is no way to get mail delivered. Yes, really, in 2020! The census worker came by yesterday and spent a half an hour filling out the forms with her. Now I am catastrophizing that the woman will carry it all over her neighborhood.
I have the same question. If you don’t go to hot zones, you should be ok, I would think. Even if you go hot zones, if you practice caution, you should be ok, too, I would think. The person to person in my town that I know of was from people who attended Bar Mitzvah in NY, big crowd in close proximity. I have a flight scheduled in two weeks. So far, it is still on.
UPDATE: I am happy to report that I have kindly helped a neighbor whose daughter’s Girl Scout troop cookie booth got cancelled, so they have a bunch to sell. Being the good neighbor, I was happy to buy 5 boxes of thin mints. Now maybe I can survive if stuck at home for a while.
@jym626… Have to figure out which families have girlscouts…for cookies… Love the peanut butter ones… Yum… Anything to help the troops. ?
Threw in a request for a box of trefoils too 
Anything to help a neighbor and the scouts