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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Reluctantly, we decided to send our children to their usual summer day camp -- retooled to follow COVID-era precautions: questions and temperature checks at drop-off, no buses to/from camp, which is a good 1/2 hr away from where most kids live, brown-bag lunches, socializing only in tight groups/pods, masks on staff (but not kids), no late nights or overnights, no hand-clap games, backrubs, or usual camp hugging, touching, or roughhousing. As I write about these restrictions they sound awful. And yet the kids are THRILLED to go there every day. They get away from their cranky and exhausted parents, from the perfectly comfortable house (with a playroom! and a backyard!) where they've been stuck since March, from zooms and screens and nagging and chores. They're swimming in the pool, fishing in the lake, doing dance routines at flagpole, making lanyards and friendship bracelets, and building wooden boxes in woodworking. And they come home filthy and sweaty at the end of each day. It's not normal camp -- for sure. But this little taste of summer is such a blessing, and a gift. This week, Tropical Storm Isaias pummeled the coast and sent them home early one day, only to be stuck at home the next because of power outages and storm damage. In anticipation of the storm, our little one came home with this piece of art yesterday -- marker on a hunk of wood from the woodshop -- and told us it represents a tropical storm. It's chaotic, and beautiful, and a testament to the fact that in this CRAZY time of asinine and criminal political leadership, economic freefall, deeply embedded racism, environmental destruction, etc., little kids are absorbing this mad world -- and, sometimes, refracting it back to us as a place of beauty.
August 10, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Yesterday morning, I called [...] to have [T.] and [K.] added to the automated notification for Mom, too. A new receptionist answered the phone after 2 rings. It was a pleasant surprise to have someone answer the phone since it normally rings 10 or more times and you must call back when the phone system disconnects the unanswered call. I asked if more residents became infected and how often they tested them for COVID-19. She said no residents, but 2 more staff members tested positive. They are now testing residents multiple times per week. She said 18 residents and 19 staff members were positive. I received an automated call [...] at 4:27 stating 28 residents and 19 staff members were positive for COVID-19. At 6:17 I got a call [...]. I had a sinking feeling that I knew why they were calling. Even though Mom was asymptomatic and had a 98.5-degree temperature, she tested positive on a rapid test and was moved to the COVID wing. She had been in contact with a staff member who has COVID-19. They will get the PCR lab test results today to confirm the diagnosis. I asked what they were doing for her such as extra vitamins D and C or peroxide in a nebulizer. [M.] didn't know and told me to ask the nurse in the COVID wing. I do not understand why was Mom moved so quickly. If they weren't sure she had the virus and need to wait for the lab results, why didn't they just close the door to her room and let her stay there in isolation? Now that she is in the area with the people who have COVID-19, she will almost certainly get it and die. I looked at Facebook around 10 and saw that my cousin's spouse died. [L.] was 63 years old and in ICU for 16 days. I feel so bad for my cousin to lose the love of her life to a virus that nobody understands.
November 20, 2020