Last Thursday it was announced that school would close for three weeks. By Friday we had cancelled Atticus's weekend birthday party. By the weekend, things had gotten even more serious and social distancing had started for real.
I have decided to keep a diary of sorts on this blog to chronicle how our family (and, to some extent, the city of Columbus, as well as the entire state) is dealing with these changes. It's a crazy, scary time. While news is flying fast, we are doing our best to keep some bit of normalcy for our family while also trying to keep us all healthy and safe.
I expect to update this blog every Tuesday like normal, although I may add some other posts in between if I have a lot to say. Here's how COVID-19 is affecting our family so far.
Day 1: Saturday, March 14
I dyed my coat. I'd been meaning to re-dye it for awhile, and what better time than while we were encouraged to stay inside. Just before noon I also learned that Columbus had its first case of the coronavirus, and the person had recently come back from a cruise. Our family has a cruise booked this summer, and its not looking good. It seems we will be able to get refunds or credits for our cruise, flights and hotels, but we haven't cancelled anything yet. The businesses are working with customers who have more immediate reservations, so we're trying not to even think about it at the moment.
I also finished my first book, although I was already half done before all of the cornovirus announcements. The Columbus library system announced Friday that it would close at 6 p.m. that day for three weeks -- preparing for the kids being home, I visited the local library before the announcement and checked out a stack of books for us all to add to the ones we already had at home. Now I'm wondering if it will even be enough. Later that afternoon, there were pictures floating around Facebook of the library's empty shelves.
Day 2: Sunday, March 15
We watched Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on CNN this morning saying that school could possibly be out for the rest of the year. Now I'm starting to be concerned about this enforced "homeschooling," worried about how I can keep my kids from falling behind. Edith came home from school on Friday with five weeks worth of papers (in case the closure goes beyond three weeks) and a log-in for a computer program they use at school. But if this goes on even longer ...
Later in the day DeWine announced that bars and restaurants would be take-out only starting at 9 p.m. Hoping to help one of our favorite bars in the neighborhood, Paul went to Lineage Brewing and bought 15 32-ounce crowlers. We kept four and sent emails to our neighbors selling the rest for $5 apiece, the price we bought them for. Paul also left a big tip. Hoping an infusion of cash will help them withstand the issues to come. It felt good to do something concrete to help.
Day 3: Monday, March 16
Started the day with a call to the pediatrician. Edith began coughing at suppertime the night before. At any other time it would be off to school for her -- it's not that bad, and she played outside in the cold air for an hour or so on Sunday. But with everything going on, we wanted to be safe. Paul was on hold for 20 or 30 minutes and talked to a nurse -- she doesn't have a fever or any known exposure, so she's fine. Paul got the all-clear to go to work. (Later in the day, Edith also got a runny nose, which seems not to be a coronavirus symptom, so I'm not terribly worried. We're staying inside for a while out of an abundance of caution.)
I'm not thrilled that Paul is going to work, but I'm not freaking out about it either. He has his own office with four walls and a door, so he is pretty secluded, or can be. There's also not too many people who work at his building, maybe a dozen or two. He's also preparing to work from home if needed. As a commercial banker, he's expecting a busy week. A few busy months, actually.
Today was our first day of homeschooling. As I write this at noon on Monday, everything is going well. I spent this weekend making out a daily schedule, and so far we've followed it well. (Right now, it's recess.) But how long will I play at teacher? Believe me, I did NOT sign up to homeschool for a reason!
Ohio had 37 confirmed cases as of early this morning, with 50 as of the governor's afternoon press conference. The widely repeated number, however, is that some 1% of the state's population could be infected, or 100,000 people.
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