I think we could use just a general sounding board regarding Coronavirus...
How is it around you right now? What's going on? How worried are you?
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I'm in Iowa, we have only 8 cases so far so I'm not super worried about it yet. We have gotten a letter from school just letting us know they're being extra vigilant about cleaning / reminding us to keep kids home from school.
Several retirement homes are no longer allowing visitors.
Some hospitals/retirement homes are also preparing to have daycares in the building in case daycare centers would close.Thats about it for us.
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I am a few minutes away from the New York containment zone so we are definitely keeping a close eye on the situation. We have been doing so for weeks now and preparing. Really tired ...
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We've had 43 known cases in my county and 1 death (I'm in CA). Our daycare actually closed last week when they found out a teacher had been officially diagnosed. They deep cleaned over the weekend and opened again yesterday. They've been really good about having teachers take sick days if they are not feeling well. The teacher that was diagnosed had been out for over a week by the time she was formally diagnosed.
We've been diligent about washing hands and I'm working from home this week and possibly next week. School events have been cancelled but they haven't closed the schools yet. I'm actually more worried about school closures than the virus itself!
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My husband had a work trip to DC for later this month that got cancelled. He works for surgeons so they have to be hyper vigilant and cautious.
I have relatives in New Rochelle which just went under quarantine.
I am in Chicago and we had a few cases earlier but they recovered. Today, we have new cases in the state.
I am interested in following the coverage/spread as I used to teach about infectious diseases. I'm not super concerned for me or my family as none of us are immunocompromised, but I worry about others in my community who are.
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Only the crazy general panic is affecting me. My daughter got hand foot mouth disease last week, so I wanted some more lysol wipes for my house and we couldn't get any. I'd like to do my general once a month costco shopping, but the lines are ridiculous and I don't have time for that. This is sort of annoying to me. I'm sure I'd feel differently if it was ebola or something else spreading around fast or if I knew for sure it was a form of terrorist attack. Until then.. meh. I'm not panicking yet.
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I work for a university so we are actively working on our contingency plan for delivering courses online if needed. We are not inundated with cases (less than 50 total) yet but our location indicates that it is on its way here. Personally, I am not too worried, but feeling like having a plan in place helps to alleviate some of the overall worry. I'm going to stock up on things like mac and cheese or other easy meals to have in case we can't leave our house.
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I'm a professor. No cases here yet, but we've been asked to get ready to take all our teaching online if it comes to that. I've never taught online, nor do I think our infrastructure can support all of us going online at once. It's going to be interesting if it comes to that, especially since daycare will also be closed then...
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@KT326: We’re in the same county!
Our school was one of the first in the country to close, we missed 2 weeks in Feb but we’re open now. It’s only a matter of time though. Last time the online learning platform was really a challenge (I needed to devout a lot of time I didn’t have) but if we close again or for longer I need to take that more seriously. So yeah, more concerned about school closures then catching it. I’m pretty sure we will get it but I’m expecting it to be mild for our age and health.
Otherwise I’m a little stressed about upcoming domestic trips and about running out of toilet paper.
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I also work for a university and we are moving to online only classes for the rest of the academic year. Students have been given a short period to vacate their dorms. Our daycare is university affiliated, and I am expecting it to close indefinitely.
While the odds of healthy people having a severe case are not super high, they are much higher than healthy people of the same age range having a severe case of the flu (we think). So I do still worry about it, and also about having another health emergency during a period when our health system is likely to be overwhelmed. Also of course even more concerned about elderly relatives and friends... Then there's working remotely with two young kids and no childcare, I feel bad to the extent that my inability to do much will affect others, but there's not much I can do about that...
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We just had our first confirmed case in our state. I thankfully had my daughter 2 weeks ago, if I would have gone to my due date my son and most other visitors would have been restricted from coming to the hospital. I'm on leave now, but the hospital I work for just enacted a no one under 12 allowed unless they're there for treatment at any of our campuses.
Otherwise we're dealing with the general panic buying of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, bottled water, and Lysol/Clorox wipes. Also the hospital I work at is starting to deal with face mask shortages along with other supplies.
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I live in seattle and work as a provider a hospital that has patients with COVID19. We have a hand sanitizer and mask shortage as well as long waits for the test results. My husband is a professor and this week they are doing all online classes for at least the next 2 weeks. I’m not really worried about my immediate family’s health but do worry about all of my immunocompromised patients and community members. The CDC estimates that there were 61,000 flu deaths in 2018-2019 with numbers approaching that for this year, so I’m trying to keep perspective at this point.
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@periwinklebee: Wow, how hard to have to work from home with the kids! I worry more about schools/daycare closing than actually getting sick.
I never even thought about toilet paper, we've got plenty of food in our freezers, and well water, but wouldn't hurt to stock up on TP!
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I haven’t really been affected by it yet. We just got back from a trip to Disney World and I was more conscious about washing my hands (and totally enraged by the woman behind me in Starbucks at the airport who loudly announced to the family that she was FaceTiming that she’d taken her tamiflu prescription that morning and was feeling better - if you have to travel put on a mask, you a-hole) but otherwise I’m just keeping an eye on the news. Although I did go out today and buy enough dry goods and freezer stuff that we could go for two weeks if we needed to self-quarantine ourselves.
Oh, and my husband was doing some renovations this weekend and couldn’t find masks anywhere, he had to tie a shirt around his face so as not to inhale all the dust.
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I live two cities/one school district away from where they got hit the hardest in Washington State. I work in the schools and so far they have so many precautions (no volunteers, no visitors, parents are not allowed in the buildings, early pickups are called in and staff verifies IDs prior to calling students down). It’s CRAZY, but probably safer too. I clean ALOT more then I used to (every kid versus every other kid).
My husband works for a large company which has called for all non essential workers to work from home. Unfortunately he’s considered “essential”.
Daycare follows the district I work in thankfully! So if schools close, daycare will close too.
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@josina: It's hard for me to imagine that I'll actually get anything done. Which I feel really bad about, but at least it is due to circumstances clearly out of my control and my job is secure... I feel really horrible for people with insecure hourly jobs who are going to be hard hit in one way or another...
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NYC teacher here! Our number of confirmed cases here are growing and I have very mixed feelings on it. So far I have been firmly in the “not worried” camp and think it is just an overhyped cold, but the mixed messages from our officials and the lack of testing are concerning. I’m even more concerned now that all of Italy is on lockdown! I wonder what they know that we don’t. I’m not concerned about myself or the kids......more concerned that we will be carriers that infect our elderly parents.
In my school, our principal sent out a message letting the staff know that the custodians would be sanitizing desks and surfaces on Mondays and Thursdays in response to the Coronavirus outbreak in our area. (New rule that is citywide) When I came into work this morning, none of the classrooms on my floor were cleaned. I emailed the principal to let him know, and he said that it will be too much work for the custodians to wipe down every single desk in the school. 🤷♀️
We are okay work/pay wise in the event of a shut down. I am almost welcoming it. In the meantime we are still going forward with our normal plans. We have 2 outings in Manhattan next week (museum visit and concert) and we are hosting a kids birthday party in early April. I have noticed that the rsvps are trickling in slowly, which I attribute to Coronavirus nervousness. However.....life goes on!
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I keep spinning my wheels trying to figure out who will care for the kids if my husband and I are both hospitalized. And the answer is, no one. That's all.
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I’m also in Seattle and have been working from home a lot more than usual. Really missing my yoga classes but I feel like it’s best to stay away for awhile, and since the studio is near my office, I’m not nearby much anyway. I also stocked up on some additional dry/canned/frozen foods. DD’s school is still open and DH complains about it every day, but if she has to be home for a long stretch of time, it will be miserable so I’m trying to delay that for as long as possible. DH works in the performing arts field so closures of big events will really affect his employer...we’ll probably know in a couple days what the plans are.
All in all, we’re trying to keep things as normal as we can while also being very cautious. My poor hands are totally chapped from all the hand washing, though.
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I work at a university in CA and our county just got their first travel acquired case. As a result, my university has suspended all in class lectures through May. Everything will be online now. We've also implemented emergency leave policies, and work from home policies. Right now my son's preschool is still open. As far as I know they have no plans to close, but they did say they would voluntarily close if things change (my guess is if there are a bunch of community acquired cases). I'm lucky I have the ability to work from home, but I don't know how I will be able to get anything done with a young 2 year old. My husband also works from home so I imagine us arguing about splitting our time.
We also have a trip planned for April 4th to Vancouver Island and I'm not even sure if it will happen anymore. =[ I'm mostly tired and stretched really thin.
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I’m in WNY and it’s really not affecting us out here. I have a conference I’m supposed to go to in Albuquerque next month that I don’t have a plane ticket for, and my supervisor and I agreed to give it a week before I buy it in case the conference gets cancelled or travel gets limited. Governor Cuomo announced today that prisons will be making hand sanitizer to be provided to NY schools, hospitals, etc. which I think is pretty cool. My nephews go to Cornell and Miami of Ohio, both of which are switching to online classes after spring break. I understand Cornell since it has many international programs, but Miami of Ohio seems excessive.
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@josina: My wife is a professor and her university also switched to online classes and banned all non-essential travel, international and domestic. I am currently on a work trip (lawyer) and no one at my firm seems to be freaking out yet. Our son has a two week spring break and after that - I hope schools opens as normal??!! The only major thing for us is I’m thinking we should cancel our upcoming Disney cruise because - yuck. But DS will be so disappointed. It’s been planned for 9 months. 🤷♀️
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I'm a middle school teacher in Phoenix. I'm a little wary, keeping an eye on the news and such, and trying to wipe down desks 2x a day and wash my hands regularly. I haven't noticed any increase in sickness or sick symptoms from students. We have only 6 confirmed cases but only 84 tests done. I'm betting there's a lot more untested cases.
My main worry is that I have a 10th-anniversary trip scheduled for Las Vegas next week, child-free, and it's supposed to be our first / only child-free vacation we've ever had or probably will have for the next 5 years. I already spent $1500 on the trip (hotel + show tickets) and I really, really want to go. I had a very difficult, very busy last 6 weeks and my mind is ready for a break. I know this may be #firstworldproblems but.... I think you all get why a 4-day child-free vaycay is almost priceless!
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I'm in Western Pennsylvania, all of our state's cases are on the eastern side, but it won't take long to get here. We went to Sam's last night and did a Walmart pickup tonight. My Walmart order had a ton of substitutions and cancellations.
DH works for a major international company with a very strong US presence. They have closed three of their US campuses until further notice (not his luckily).
I am asthmatic, DD and DS1 have heart defects, and DS2 is only four months. If any of us get sick it would be really scary.
But on a lighter note, I got a haircut today for the first time in over a year because with everything day to day, I figured I should get it done before it is too late and there are local quarantines.
So... I'm prepped and lookin' cute.
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We are in Eastern pa. Day to day is pretty normal since we homeschool. A few schools around us have closed. DH is working from home as a precaution, although that is common for us too.
I'm debating taking the kids to a museum in two days. We have membership gifts from Christmas that we have yet to use. I don't know if I should wait (who knows how long that would be) or go before there are more cases in the city.
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We’re up to 7 cases in my area but haven’t had it impact schools or businesses yet. We did have a lot of big conferences we were prepping hard for on my team that just recently got cancelled, so there’s been big shuffles related to that.
My biggest concern now is that I’m 34 weeks pregnant and worried about what will happen in the next 5 weeks. My hospital has their regular flu policy in place which excludes visitors under 12 though my friend said that doesn’t include older siblings of new babies. Though I suspect they may tighten it if it becomes a COVID precaution rather than a seasonal flu precaution. I am a small bit worried about what would happen if any of us became sick but the unknown of the next month is what’s causing the most stress.
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@Ms. RV: have your seen any data on asthma as a factor? I’ve been trying to find some since my son has viral-triggered asthma. The one slate article I found that mentioned it basically said that while there’s evidence children aren’t getting it severely, they do get it and they don’t know yet if kids with more lung inflammation would be worse off. Kind of scary ... he’s needed lots of albuterol today and that’s just a minor cold
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We had our first case in Louisiana yesterday, and are now up to 3. (Or maybe 4... I just read a news story about someone attending a conference in New Orleans with it, but it was unclear if the person was still there.)
We’re about an hour away from New Orleans and so far things are normal and haven’t closed or cancelled. Except for the fact stores are running low on things like Clorox wipes and toilet paper....
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@bhbee: I haven't read anything regarding asthma, but mine is similar where it flares up when I am sick. I can't remember the last time I got a chest cold that didn't result in albuterol and a steroid. If you happen to see anything, please post it!
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I am in Santa Clara county in CA - probably the worst place to be. I’m not worried though. I am usually the opposite of a germaphobe but now we enforce washing hands with soap whenever we get home from anywhere. I homeschool so I have a lot of control over where my children are. We are still going to our weekly homeschool “school” (30-something kids total), the park, the library, church (50-ish people) but avoiding big crowds.
Schools are only being shut down if there is/was an immediate threat (I.e. a teacher who was exposed) and many companies are implementing mandatory or voluntary work at home. My husband who is a water engineer at a water company is still going to work. He says bigger meetings are cancelled and there are way more bottles of sanitizer everywhere.
Last week we dropped by Costco and all the rice/bread/tp/cereal were gone.
We dropped by Costco again a couple days ago and there were barely any people out shopping when it is usually PACKED with people. My husband and I were thinking al the people who were freaking out got their stash and are not going out now lol.
Also.. a random plus... traffic is awesome.....
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I'm in Seattle and it is not awesome. We have over 250 confirmed cases and schools are being closed, major corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, Expedia, and Boeing are asking people to work from home. I'm supposed to teach both my regular 4th grade class from home as well as facilitate my own children's 1st grade learning from home. Seattle is not a great place to be right now!
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There’s no cases in our province yet, but my company has started making plans for if people have to be quarantined. There’s two things I’ve been wondering about today. 1) I work for a pharmaceutical company. If people keep buying masks, leading to a shortage, how are we supposed to manufacture our drug products? Pharmaceutical manufacturing staff need to wear masks (among other things) to keep the product clean. 2) I wonder how long it will be before this just becomes something that is in the environment, like the flu? Because my gut says that it’s not going away (like SARS).
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I’m in the Bay Area and it’s bad. Lots of cases and many more to come. I work in health care so I can see it’s going to get worse before it gets better and we do not have the infrastructure to deal with it. My company said we should cancel non-essential travel and meetings but we aren’t supposed to telecommute because we are a health care system. But I could see that changing for some roles. My husband is being encouraged to telecommute. People are on edge I think. Some schools are closing based on known cases but it’s not widespread yet. I have a nanny and she takes the bus to get to us which stresses me out. She is still taking my DD to parks but no indoor places right now, except her weekly music class.
For me, I mostly hate how confusing it is to know what the right decisions are. The health department is encouraging social distancing but does that really mean no restaurants, coffee shops, etc? It’s already impacting the economy and low wage workers. It’s a stressful time!
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@meganmp: Can confirm, I'm in Snohomish county and it is definitely not awesome. Thinking that Inslee's press conference tomorrow is going to shut the state down.
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@mrs.kiwi: My main concern are first responders and the guys who work with the water.
I hope your husband doesn't get sick - for all our sakes!
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@agold: first responders, yes I agree.
As for the water guys... I don’t know. everyone is stocking up on bottled water but my husband is convinced the automated water system will operate perfectly during this kind of emergency, even if all the workers can’t work. So I guess that made me feel better.
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@JJ2626: yes I agree with it being stressful not knowing what the right decisions are. I stay home and I happen to homeschool my kids as well so I feel less impacted than many who have to worry about schools and daycares closing. But I imagine if I was in different shoes I would be confused what to do.
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@mrs.kiwi: thanks for the tid bit of info. I will absolutely sleep better tonight knowing there is an automated system. So far its only firemen I know that have had to self quarantine because of exposure due to transporting people. No cops.
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I'm in the DC area so we have cases. The first case in VA was 10 minutes from my house. I work for an organization that does a lot of public-facing events and training so work-wise I am ears deep in contingency planning for all the things we have coming up.
Personally, I'm not worried about getting it, we're pretty healthy, but I am starting to worry about whether my behaviors can create problems for others. IE, I have a girls trip to New Orleans planned this weekend (which only has one case I think, but airports/airplanes/etc) and I'm wondering whether I should go because if I do pick something up and bring it back and give it to my daughter or my coworkers unknowingly, they can spread it to a much larger, vulnerable population. I'm really torn because we've been planning this trip forever and my friends don't have kids and work in pretty contained environments so their potential impact is smaller than mine would be. Would love folks' thoughts if anyone wants to validate me either way lol
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We're in Toronto and live in a transportation hub neighbourhood (two subway lines connect, lots of buses, right off Yonge St, just a short distance from the main highway through the city). We also have a large Chinese and Iranian population. My gym was closed last week due to a case being reported in the building. We've been told at work to bring home our laptops every night, and we've been slowly (not hoarding or going crazy) adding to our grocery stash and staying on top of perishables (making sure we always have two milks in the fridge, replacing fresh fruits and veg every couple of days to maintain a decent supply). I'm not terribly worried, but Toronto is a huge city, fairly dense, and I ride the subway to work. I've been practicing WHO-standard handwashing with the kids and stocking up on my knitting supplies in case we're told to stay home
I read this post yesterday from a christian family in Wuhan. Even if you're not religious, I think the article points out a lot of positives that they've experienced by being stuck in quarantine. https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.a.franks.5/posts/10157150165746139
I hope your husband doesn't get sick - for all our sakes!
I read this post yesterday from a christian family in Wuhan. Even if you're not religious, I think the article points out a lot of positives that they've experienced by being stuck in quarantine. Subscribe to our newsletter
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