Into the Unknown
March 9th, 2020, I chided some close friends about this Coronavirus stuff. Some were getting concerned about this flu-like virus spreading in China. I didn't think it would be a big deal because we've dealt with flu-like viruses all season...and all of our lives. And nothing extraordinary happened. People continued to warn but I thought there was NO WAY this would be a big deal. I had confidence we would weather it well, and not so much confidence in our ever-slanted, fake-news media.
On March 11th, Philip told me he heard rumors of school closings and certain cities cancelling gatherings (gasp!) and I was in complete and utter shock. I couldn't believe this was happening. Surely that was it, and that's as far as this would go. I mean, there's just no way! We can't shut the whole country down...right? I first considered the thought on this very day, of church closing. It was an odd thing to think about, and I wasn't really sure what my thoughts or opinions were. We don't close for the flu so why this? So many things happening so fast and I was struggling with the "whys".
Travel to Europe was halted for 30 days. The NBA suspended its season. Tom Hanks tests positive. First positive case near us-SBU student. A Pandemic is declared. Colleges suspend classes indefinitely. Disney CLOSED.
March 12th- KC declares state of emergency and declares any event over 1000 be shut down/cancelled. Number of people allowed somewhere drops to 250. It is on this day I first learn about "flattening the curve." The numbers coming out of Italy and other places at this point were showing rapid transmission. It was overwhelming hospitals who were then having to decide who lives or dies based on who had the best chance. An awful position. So the idea is that we don't stop the spread-because we can't-but we spread out the cases over as long of a period as possible so that as people need emergency intervention, it's available.
Concerts cancelled. And within 24 hours, all major sports had cancelled or postponed seasons indefinitely. Our borders were soon after closed to all foreigners. I'll be honest; a little bit of panic set in at this point. I began to realize we were, in fact, not going to "breeze" through this at all. But, I was still hopeful that we would mostly just have normal life and this would be as far as the "craziness" went.
I was about to find out the "craziness" wasn't so crazy after all, and was going to realize more of the reasoning behind all these weird rules and empty shelves that began to invade my life.
Within a day or two, as certain groceries began to disappear of the shelf, I realized something was going on, and even if it was nothing, it no longer mattered because people began to act on the fear welling within their hearts. Toilet paper and cleaning supplies were the first to go. Many jokes and memes were created around this fact, usually discussing the fact that toilet paper did not prevent the virus. I guess if you were to ask people what household item they are most scared of being without, they would tell you toilet paper. I guess I get that...because I can't imagine my kiddos running around with unwiped behinds, ha!
I made my first grocery run with the idea to shop for about a month's worth of food as we usually do 2-week increments. This was during the time they were suggesting no more than 250 people gathered for any reason...they moved to 50 shortly after.
March 13th-Rumors the entire US will shut down in 2 weeks. They begin to ask churches to close.
March 15th-Our last Sunday. I went alone because Philip had a cold and Evie had a fever. It's Philips birthday but everything feels so strange and unsure. The CDC has now said no gatherings above 50 people. I wanted to soak this day in. Good friends of ours were moving and I had to say goodbye. Another couple decided to get remarried and praise God! I was so thrilled to get to sit in on that! And then I returned home.
March 16th- Our last Bible study night. Some places are saying no more than 10 people. School is our until April. I didn't want to leave the church building because my heart hurt that I didn't know when we would be able to gather again. It was really hard to walk out of the doors that night not knowing when we would return.
March 17th-didn't even remember it's St. Patrick's Day. We aren't Irish anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter hah!
By this time, I had so many different thoughts and emotions running through my mind that I couldn't even begin to process them. I knew I would eventually NEED to start writing to get it out of my head, so here's the first of many!
On March 11th, Philip told me he heard rumors of school closings and certain cities cancelling gatherings (gasp!) and I was in complete and utter shock. I couldn't believe this was happening. Surely that was it, and that's as far as this would go. I mean, there's just no way! We can't shut the whole country down...right? I first considered the thought on this very day, of church closing. It was an odd thing to think about, and I wasn't really sure what my thoughts or opinions were. We don't close for the flu so why this? So many things happening so fast and I was struggling with the "whys".
Travel to Europe was halted for 30 days. The NBA suspended its season. Tom Hanks tests positive. First positive case near us-SBU student. A Pandemic is declared. Colleges suspend classes indefinitely. Disney CLOSED.
March 12th- KC declares state of emergency and declares any event over 1000 be shut down/cancelled. Number of people allowed somewhere drops to 250. It is on this day I first learn about "flattening the curve." The numbers coming out of Italy and other places at this point were showing rapid transmission. It was overwhelming hospitals who were then having to decide who lives or dies based on who had the best chance. An awful position. So the idea is that we don't stop the spread-because we can't-but we spread out the cases over as long of a period as possible so that as people need emergency intervention, it's available.
Concerts cancelled. And within 24 hours, all major sports had cancelled or postponed seasons indefinitely. Our borders were soon after closed to all foreigners. I'll be honest; a little bit of panic set in at this point. I began to realize we were, in fact, not going to "breeze" through this at all. But, I was still hopeful that we would mostly just have normal life and this would be as far as the "craziness" went.
I was about to find out the "craziness" wasn't so crazy after all, and was going to realize more of the reasoning behind all these weird rules and empty shelves that began to invade my life.
Within a day or two, as certain groceries began to disappear of the shelf, I realized something was going on, and even if it was nothing, it no longer mattered because people began to act on the fear welling within their hearts. Toilet paper and cleaning supplies were the first to go. Many jokes and memes were created around this fact, usually discussing the fact that toilet paper did not prevent the virus. I guess if you were to ask people what household item they are most scared of being without, they would tell you toilet paper. I guess I get that...because I can't imagine my kiddos running around with unwiped behinds, ha!
I made my first grocery run with the idea to shop for about a month's worth of food as we usually do 2-week increments. This was during the time they were suggesting no more than 250 people gathered for any reason...they moved to 50 shortly after.
March 13th-Rumors the entire US will shut down in 2 weeks. They begin to ask churches to close.
March 15th-Our last Sunday. I went alone because Philip had a cold and Evie had a fever. It's Philips birthday but everything feels so strange and unsure. The CDC has now said no gatherings above 50 people. I wanted to soak this day in. Good friends of ours were moving and I had to say goodbye. Another couple decided to get remarried and praise God! I was so thrilled to get to sit in on that! And then I returned home.
March 16th- Our last Bible study night. Some places are saying no more than 10 people. School is our until April. I didn't want to leave the church building because my heart hurt that I didn't know when we would be able to gather again. It was really hard to walk out of the doors that night not knowing when we would return.
March 17th-didn't even remember it's St. Patrick's Day. We aren't Irish anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter hah!
By this time, I had so many different thoughts and emotions running through my mind that I couldn't even begin to process them. I knew I would eventually NEED to start writing to get it out of my head, so here's the first of many!
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