Day 1, Friday, March 13: Mick was working at the hospital. He is a float pool nurse. I stayed at home.
I saw rumors online that stores were overrun with people buying tons of food and toilet paper, so I was glad I'd gone to the store the day before!
Rachel arrived in the afternoon from Kansas City and we went for a walk in Forest Park with Drummer, our dog. We saw a few other people and dogs walking. Drummer usually lasts 1 mile walking, maybe 2 at the most, since he's 13 years old, but he was so excited about his trip in the car to the park and being in a new environment that he showed no signs of slowing down. We walked for 3 miles, came back, and had dinner at home.
Our church sent an email detailing social distance protocols that would take place during the service on Sunday and letting us know communion would be served individually wrapped.
Day 2, Saturday: Rachel and I talked about going to a movie, but saw online that theaters were only selling half the number of tickets as normal, and we'd thought of another movie we could watch at home later. So we went to the London Tea Room, which we'd also been planning to do. The place seemed as full as it normally would've been (pretty much every table was taken, though it dwindled towards the end of the time we were there). I wondered if we actually should have gone, but no directions that we knew of had been given that we weren't supposed to go out. People just knew at this point that no schools were opening on Monday.
In the evening, we went out with Mick to Webster Wok. We were the only people sitting in the restaurant the whole time. We only had interaction with our server. The food was delicious as always. The server was also on the phone with people, writing down take out orders. A couple of people came in to pick up their food. We played the board game Survive with Rachel when we got home in the evening.
We also got an email from our church saying the service was cancelled for the next day and there would be something online instead. Rachel got a similar email from her church in Kansas City. Rachel was pondering whether she should cancel her individual piano lessons for the following week. Her music store had given no guidance related to the virus situation.
Day 3, Sunday: We had breakfast with Rachel, and then she headed back to Kansas City. When I talked to her later that day, she had decided to cancel her piano lessons. Her music store seemed to think she was overreacting.
Mick and I watched our pastor's online sermon later in the morning.
I talked to a friend in Wisconsin that afternoon, Charis. She had been planning to come visit the following weekend but decided it was best to stay home. Many of her students attend a church where there was already a known case of the virus, so she could've been exposed. Wisconsin schools were supposed to close by Wednesday and teachers would have 2 days to figure out how to bring their classes online, and then their spring break would start. In the middle of the conversation, Charis found out only teachers would go to school on Monday, to prepare for the transition. This semester, she's doing action research for her master's thesis. Thankfully she'd done an assessment on students the previous Thursday, since now she would have no more opportunity to do so. She had just barely the data she needed to finish writing her thesis, but it was sufficient.
Day 4, Monday: I was asked to attend a meeting on campus for TAs, to discuss how the classes we were helping teach would transition to online moving forward. I doubted the wisdom of meeting in person to discuss this, and I was peeved I had to drive all the way to Illinois to the university campus for a 1 hour meeting. The information definitely could have been passed along through email and questions answered in that way. It felt ironic too because we already knew from emails over the weekend that we'd be using Zoom to communicate with students. Why couldn't this meeting have been conducted through Zoom? Or at least over email? But the teacher in charge prefers face to face meetings, I already knew that. He didn't seem concerned about the virus either, wanting to go out for lunch afterwards, but that wasn't an option since Illinois had chosen that day to close its restaurants. It had become clear though that this week really was a spring break extension for students, and that time was being given to faculty to figure out how to transition their classes to online.
Day 5, Tuesday: I set up Zoom sessions in Blackboard for my future TA meetings with students during regular class time, to start the following week.
Mick worked his regular 12 hour shift as a nurse at the hospital. When he came home, he took a shower and wiped down his wallet, keys, and phone with alcohol pads. There was a patient on the floor he worked on that day being tested for Covid-19 since his flu tests had come back negative. Mick had no direct contact with the patient, but other nurses on his floor that day had, and they were sent home until the test results would come back later in the week. Mick did have contact with those nurses that were sent home.
I started playing the cello again! It's been something like 2 years since I've really played it.
Day 6, Wed: We stayed home except, Mick had to get something notarized, which didn't take long. Our community group didn't meet on Wednesday, since some people were on spring break, and while we waited to see what we should do going forward.
Day 7, Thurs: I went to the grocery store on Thursday morning. I was pleased to see that most things were in stock, though there were less choices. There were only a few tomatoes laying around. All the avocados were very unripe. The bananas were fully stocked, but were all extremely green. There were only medium red potatoes, no other potatoes of any kind, including sweet potatoes, which I'd wanted. But there was an abundance of different kinds of onions. Bags of onions were on sale. The shredded cheese aisle was fully stocked and all kinds of shredded cheese were 60% off. I bought us a bunch of shredded cheese. The blocks of cheese were seriously depleted. There were less eggs than normal, but still plenty. I got a dozen. All the oatmeal was out of stock. There was still some peanut butter in stock, but very few choices. Same for bread, but a bit better. Basically I got some version of everything I needed, including meat and milk. I came home and washed my hands.
Day 8, Friday, March 20: Mick heard that the test came back negative for the patient who was being test for Covid-19 at the hospital. Because of this, we and a couple friends felt comfortable having dinner and playing a game together at our apartment. Maybe we shouldn't have, but it sure was nice to actually see some people and laugh together. Most of our dinner conversation was about Covid-19 and how various family members are dealing with it.
Day 9, Saturday: Mick worked at the hospital today. I gave myself a day off from trying to do stuff for online classes. I got out a super old cross stitch project that I bought in Wuxi, China in 2009. I worked on it for several months then and it seemed like I barely made any progress because of the size of the project and the fact that it has 42 colors in it. It will be lovely if it's ever finished though. I worked on it for most of the day while re-watching Stranger Things 1 and 2. It now has 3 colors on it and 2 of the colors I'm not finished with yet. I took Drummer on a walk. The streets seemed rather deserted, though I saw a few cars and a few other people walking their dogs. I saw a mom and her little daughter running together down the sidewalk. :)
When Mick came home from work, he told me there are now 6 patients in the hospital with Covid-19, kept on a separate floor and being cared for by ICU nurses. So he won't have contact with those patients since he doesn't do ICU. There were 7 patients with the virus, but one was sent home because the symptoms had improved so much. Another patient in her 30's had to be resuscitated, but is still hanging on.
Day 10, Sunday, March 22: Mick was working again. Online church was encouraging and I felt a little bit of connection to that community. While we were singing the doxology and receiving the benediction at the end of the service, it was snowing giant puffy snowflakes outside! I worked on the cross stitch project again for a lot of the day. When I took Drummer on a walk, the streets seemed even more deserted. I saw a few people taking walks, and a lady standing in her yard drinking white wine while talking to a friend about 10 feet away.
Mick has been taking a shower every day immediately after he comes home from work, just to be safer. Though he washed his hands, etc, all day long, like nurses usually do. He said he may start wearing a mask at work just to safer too, even though he isn't working with the Covid-19 patients. He has the next 3 days off before going back to work Thursday and Friday.
I saw rumors online that stores were overrun with people buying tons of food and toilet paper, so I was glad I'd gone to the store the day before!
Rachel arrived in the afternoon from Kansas City and we went for a walk in Forest Park with Drummer, our dog. We saw a few other people and dogs walking. Drummer usually lasts 1 mile walking, maybe 2 at the most, since he's 13 years old, but he was so excited about his trip in the car to the park and being in a new environment that he showed no signs of slowing down. We walked for 3 miles, came back, and had dinner at home.
Our church sent an email detailing social distance protocols that would take place during the service on Sunday and letting us know communion would be served individually wrapped.
Day 2, Saturday: Rachel and I talked about going to a movie, but saw online that theaters were only selling half the number of tickets as normal, and we'd thought of another movie we could watch at home later. So we went to the London Tea Room, which we'd also been planning to do. The place seemed as full as it normally would've been (pretty much every table was taken, though it dwindled towards the end of the time we were there). I wondered if we actually should have gone, but no directions that we knew of had been given that we weren't supposed to go out. People just knew at this point that no schools were opening on Monday.
In the evening, we went out with Mick to Webster Wok. We were the only people sitting in the restaurant the whole time. We only had interaction with our server. The food was delicious as always. The server was also on the phone with people, writing down take out orders. A couple of people came in to pick up their food. We played the board game Survive with Rachel when we got home in the evening.
We also got an email from our church saying the service was cancelled for the next day and there would be something online instead. Rachel got a similar email from her church in Kansas City. Rachel was pondering whether she should cancel her individual piano lessons for the following week. Her music store had given no guidance related to the virus situation.
Day 3, Sunday: We had breakfast with Rachel, and then she headed back to Kansas City. When I talked to her later that day, she had decided to cancel her piano lessons. Her music store seemed to think she was overreacting.
Mick and I watched our pastor's online sermon later in the morning.
I talked to a friend in Wisconsin that afternoon, Charis. She had been planning to come visit the following weekend but decided it was best to stay home. Many of her students attend a church where there was already a known case of the virus, so she could've been exposed. Wisconsin schools were supposed to close by Wednesday and teachers would have 2 days to figure out how to bring their classes online, and then their spring break would start. In the middle of the conversation, Charis found out only teachers would go to school on Monday, to prepare for the transition. This semester, she's doing action research for her master's thesis. Thankfully she'd done an assessment on students the previous Thursday, since now she would have no more opportunity to do so. She had just barely the data she needed to finish writing her thesis, but it was sufficient.
Day 4, Monday: I was asked to attend a meeting on campus for TAs, to discuss how the classes we were helping teach would transition to online moving forward. I doubted the wisdom of meeting in person to discuss this, and I was peeved I had to drive all the way to Illinois to the university campus for a 1 hour meeting. The information definitely could have been passed along through email and questions answered in that way. It felt ironic too because we already knew from emails over the weekend that we'd be using Zoom to communicate with students. Why couldn't this meeting have been conducted through Zoom? Or at least over email? But the teacher in charge prefers face to face meetings, I already knew that. He didn't seem concerned about the virus either, wanting to go out for lunch afterwards, but that wasn't an option since Illinois had chosen that day to close its restaurants. It had become clear though that this week really was a spring break extension for students, and that time was being given to faculty to figure out how to transition their classes to online.
Day 5, Tuesday: I set up Zoom sessions in Blackboard for my future TA meetings with students during regular class time, to start the following week.
Mick worked his regular 12 hour shift as a nurse at the hospital. When he came home, he took a shower and wiped down his wallet, keys, and phone with alcohol pads. There was a patient on the floor he worked on that day being tested for Covid-19 since his flu tests had come back negative. Mick had no direct contact with the patient, but other nurses on his floor that day had, and they were sent home until the test results would come back later in the week. Mick did have contact with those nurses that were sent home.
I started playing the cello again! It's been something like 2 years since I've really played it.
Day 6, Wed: We stayed home except, Mick had to get something notarized, which didn't take long. Our community group didn't meet on Wednesday, since some people were on spring break, and while we waited to see what we should do going forward.
Day 7, Thurs: I went to the grocery store on Thursday morning. I was pleased to see that most things were in stock, though there were less choices. There were only a few tomatoes laying around. All the avocados were very unripe. The bananas were fully stocked, but were all extremely green. There were only medium red potatoes, no other potatoes of any kind, including sweet potatoes, which I'd wanted. But there was an abundance of different kinds of onions. Bags of onions were on sale. The shredded cheese aisle was fully stocked and all kinds of shredded cheese were 60% off. I bought us a bunch of shredded cheese. The blocks of cheese were seriously depleted. There were less eggs than normal, but still plenty. I got a dozen. All the oatmeal was out of stock. There was still some peanut butter in stock, but very few choices. Same for bread, but a bit better. Basically I got some version of everything I needed, including meat and milk. I came home and washed my hands.
Day 8, Friday, March 20: Mick heard that the test came back negative for the patient who was being test for Covid-19 at the hospital. Because of this, we and a couple friends felt comfortable having dinner and playing a game together at our apartment. Maybe we shouldn't have, but it sure was nice to actually see some people and laugh together. Most of our dinner conversation was about Covid-19 and how various family members are dealing with it.
Day 9, Saturday: Mick worked at the hospital today. I gave myself a day off from trying to do stuff for online classes. I got out a super old cross stitch project that I bought in Wuxi, China in 2009. I worked on it for several months then and it seemed like I barely made any progress because of the size of the project and the fact that it has 42 colors in it. It will be lovely if it's ever finished though. I worked on it for most of the day while re-watching Stranger Things 1 and 2. It now has 3 colors on it and 2 of the colors I'm not finished with yet. I took Drummer on a walk. The streets seemed rather deserted, though I saw a few cars and a few other people walking their dogs. I saw a mom and her little daughter running together down the sidewalk. :)
When Mick came home from work, he told me there are now 6 patients in the hospital with Covid-19, kept on a separate floor and being cared for by ICU nurses. So he won't have contact with those patients since he doesn't do ICU. There were 7 patients with the virus, but one was sent home because the symptoms had improved so much. Another patient in her 30's had to be resuscitated, but is still hanging on.
Day 10, Sunday, March 22: Mick was working again. Online church was encouraging and I felt a little bit of connection to that community. While we were singing the doxology and receiving the benediction at the end of the service, it was snowing giant puffy snowflakes outside! I worked on the cross stitch project again for a lot of the day. When I took Drummer on a walk, the streets seemed even more deserted. I saw a few people taking walks, and a lady standing in her yard drinking white wine while talking to a friend about 10 feet away.
Mick has been taking a shower every day immediately after he comes home from work, just to be safer. Though he washed his hands, etc, all day long, like nurses usually do. He said he may start wearing a mask at work just to safer too, even though he isn't working with the Covid-19 patients. He has the next 3 days off before going back to work Thursday and Friday.
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