Before I dive into our current situation I’d like to back up a bit. I stopped blogging after the holidays because life just got pretty darn busy around here. The kids were doing well in school, Dave was on the WSF Board and active, we had PTSA activities and events, Girl Scouts, school events, work, and I finally joined my local Crossfit gym. The topics of conversation revolved around normal family activities, dinners and playdates, and other local things. We were getting a bit warmer weather so we were outside a bit more and itching for spring.
Some winter highlights (Jan – Feb) included, the Daddy daughter dance opt out. Instead Noomi choose to go to Art Unlimited and ice cream. We bought Noomi a new bike. She picked out a blue mountain bike. Ajax was in his play (Peter Pan) and had a small role onstage in the pirate band. He did great! We did some cookie booths and delivered cookies across the state.
Throughout this period we’d hear news stories about a virus slamming Wuhan Province and spreading throughout China. The WHO began issuing warnings and the CDC was trying to get information about it. In early March the news and people began noticing that the virus, now known as the Coronavirus (or COVID 19) had spread to several other countries with devastating effects. The number of confirmed cases was rising worldwide and so were the deaths. Hospitals were at capacity and people were dying for lack of ventilators. I must admit I was willfully ignoring all the evidence.
On Thursday, March 12th, the news seemed to exploded and the Coronavirius was touching many of the states (apparently the first cases to hit the US were in January in Seattle, but I don’t remember hearing much about it or not being remotely concerned about it). People’s anxiety went from a zero that morning (not worried at all) and by Thursday night the country was at an eleven. Folks immediately began hoarding supplies and cleared stores of toilet paper. I got up on Friday, March 13th, and went to my 5 am workout. By the time I got home I had several emails and text messages – the Governor closed all schools from March 16 – April 3rd (then spring break from April 6 – 10). We were told to “social distance.” Then in the course of an hour, the kids went from having a full day of school to a half day. By the time I got to the office businesses were organizing their workforce to work remotely. Both Dave and my offices went remote almost immediately.
Over that first weekend we tried to wrap our head around the sudden changes. People and kids continued to interact. Our kids played with the neighbors. No one was really social distancing and many were continuing their normal activities. All the while the numbers and deaths continued to climb in the United States.
On Monday, March 16th, the Governor closed all bars, nie-in restaurants, gyms, etc. By March 18th, large auto manufacturers were closing down and unemployment rates began climbing. On March 21st, the Governor shut down more businesses to reduce large numbers of people in one place in close contact (salons included). On March 23rd, the Governor issued a “shelter in place order” (similar to many other states). The order is for at least the next three weeks. Individuals may only leave their home or place of residence under very limited circumstances. Non-essential businesses are ordered to close and all workers that can must be remote.
So that brings us to today, March 24th. Currently the US is ranked 3rd in the world for active COVID 19 cases with the death count rising. Hospitals in metro-Detroit are near capacity and Michigan has over 1,300 current cases.
We are into our second week of everyone being home. Dave and I are trying to work and home school/occupy the kids all at once. Husker loves having all his people home. And it is overall, incredibly stressful and a lot of unknowns and uncertainty. The kids miss school and their friends. Ajax is bummed he won’t get a birthday party with everyone. I’ve been the only one going to the store and shopping and tensions are high and shelves are cleared. Most items have limits and for some reason toilet paper is the thing folks are hoarding the most.
I’ll share more about our days and schedules later. For now I just wanted to document what’s been happening. We keep wandering around the house saying, I just can’t believe this. You can’t help checking stats and numbers and the news. The President is a complete moron and we made the mistake of checking our retirement accounts.
