So How's Your Isolation Coming Along?

I feel like we are all pioneers in a new world with this Pandemic Isolation leading our lives at the moment.  There's been Pandemics before but not of this level in our life time.  There is a lot that is extremely sad and frightening of course but we still have to deal with our everyday lives.  I don't know about you, but I find the most common question most people have is simply "What day is this?"  Even those of us that are retired still had certain schedules that marked our days.  Maybe a class, a meeting or an appointment on certain days each week.  For many, Sunday was marked by weekly church gatherings.  Tom and I had a senior exercise class every Tuesday and Thursday morning and that helped to mark our week.  No more.  All of those designators of days are gone now.  Except one, very important day - for us that is Wednesday - Trash Day.  I am so grateful that these hard workers are still doing their jobs and I am equally grateful that service is giving us some method of designating at least one of our days.  Now for us, all the rest of the days can be a guessing game but we've got Wednesday covered.

How are you doing with maintaining your food and necessary supplies these days?  A simple trip to the grocery store has turned into a venture into the unknown.  It's a bit nerve rattling to shop for groceries not knowing if you'll be exposed to the virus from another shopper or if it is really safe to touch and pick up that can of green beans.  Now here in the U.S. the CDC has recommended we start wearing masks when we go out.  The last time we bought groceries we did wear masks and it just felt strange.  I've never worn a mask to the grocery store - what is happening in our world?  Of course the other shoppers had masks on too and that made it feel even more weird.  Yes, I think we've landed on some new planet and we are pioneers trying to tame and settle it.  We were buying groceries once a week and now we are trying to do it every two or three weeks.  And then when you get home you have to deal with all those groceries.  Are you trying to wipe them down in any way?  Here it has been recommended that we do that so we've been going over everything with a sanitizing wipe and hoping that is enough.

Are  you finding new things to do around the house now that you are staying home all the time?  How many jigsaw puzzles have you put together so far?  Okay, I know not everyone likes jigsaw puzzles but there has been a big rise in their popularity.  I read that puzzle sales in the U.S. are up nearly 400% in just the past two weeks.  And that is just in one country.  They said the surge in the demand for jigsaw puzzles is similar to what it was during the Great Depression.  That is something to think about.   

A puzzle I worked on recently

We all live in different places, big cities, small towns and even different countries.  Do you think where your home is located has much effect on you during this isolation?  If you are in a big city do you feel safer or more at risk?  And of course the same can be asked of someone living in a small town.  I live in a small suburban town of about 15,000 and for me I think it is easier.  Everyone pulls together for the most part.  Today we had a parade of all the school teachers drive around town honking their horns and just letting the kids know they are still here and still care about them and miss them.  Tonight at city hall the city officials will be passing out a free disinfectant cleaner/hand sanitiser to any citizens that need it.  And yes, many of us are still keeping those Teddy Bears in our windows for the kids to see and sometimes even count.  This morning a father and small son were walking around our neighborhood with a piece of paper noting and counting all the Teddy Bears in the windows they could find.  I love that.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to write a downer post because I don't really mean to do that.  We are all going through pretty much the same experiences and at least for me, it helps to know I'm not alone in all this.  Everyone take good care of yourselves!

Our World is Changing

I'm willing to guess that I am not the only one that feels like I am living in a bad sci-fi movie or maybe a Stephen King novel.  No, this is NOT the time to reread The Stand. 

I've tried to not write about it but I find that I seem to have a need to express my feelings in these very strange days in which we are living.  The speed of the growth of this thing is almost unreal.  A little over a week ago there were around 100,000 cases worldwide. There are today more than 500,000 worldwide.  If you are interested in tracking it you can do so here:  Covid-19 Global Cases  No, I'm not trying to scare anyone but I genuinely find it interesting to see this map and learn a little of the scientific side of this.

I live in the suburbs of Kansas City and we have seen the number of cases triple in less than a week.  We were under voluntary "stay at home" recommendations.  Well, that is history now.  As of the first of this week we are under "orders" to stay home and isolate except for going to the grocery store, pharmacy, or medical office.  There is even a phone number people can use to report persons not following this order and there can be a fine or even jail time for breaking it.  The police are not going around looking for isolation breakers but have the rules there to prevent large groups of people from gathering.  Not that there would be anywhere to go as all the theaters, restaurants, bars, etc. etc. are closed. 

We have seen many creative ways of dealing with this isolation in the community.  Some people are putting teddy bears in their windows and others are driving around with their children so the kids can count the teddy bears.  Apparently it is okay to drive around in your car within your town.  Things like this are fun distractions for the kids and actually, I kind of love teddy bears too.

I have plenty of jobs and hobbies to keep me busy so I do okay staying home.  We do need certain basics in groceries but we did not want to go out and empty the store shelves like some have done.  That is not fair to others that are shopping.  We figured it was safer to go out in the early days of all this, so we set up a plan to go to the store once a week starting three weeks ago.  Each trip we bought more than we normally would buy but we did not overdo it.  This morning was our last trip out for awhile.  We worked out a pretty good system for our shopping.  The stores open an hour early for people over 60 and those with health problems.  We tried that last week and the size of the crowd was ridiculous.  So today we went early but one hour after the early opening.  It worked out well as there were not many people in the store.  When we got home we followed the guidelines about handling our groceries.  We brought them all in and put the bags on our kitchen table and then washed our hands.  We then unbagged everything and wiped down what grocery items we could with sanitiser wipes.  This may sound silly but this is what authorities have  recommended we do.  I then put the groceries away and cleaned the table and all the surfaces in the kitchen.  I am also cleaning door knobs, light switches and such every day.  With a careful trip out once a week for the past three weeks, I feel like we are now stocked up enough to do fine for over a month if necessary.  I may take a solitary walk around the neighborhood or we might even take a drive in the country if we feel the need to go out.  Other than that, we are now in to stay and will avoid all public places. 
    
So much has happened and we have to take precautions.  It won't last forever but I think there will be some permanent changes as a result of all this.  How are you doing with all these changes in our world?