Is this really happening?
I'm just going to write what comes to mind. Not edit. Not think too much.
The past few days the changes have been coming thick and fast. Overwhelming and surreal.
On Thursday evening last week a parent WhatsApp group I belong to started buzzing about a school district meeting. A parent was present at the meeting to 'live-WhatsApp' to the group about new allowances that would allow parents to keep their kids home from school if they chose. California has very strict policies about what qualifies as an 'excused absence' - has to do with school funding, yada yada, not important right now but an interesting thing to write about sometime.
For context: once it became clear there was community transmission in Silicon Valley, the public health departments started banning public gatherings - first 1000 people or more were outlawed. Then it went down to 250 or maybe less, I can't remember now. At some point the schools cancelled all sports, music practices, concerts etc. Concerts all around the bay area were getting cancelled. A lot of parents in the WhatsApp group had already been keeping their kids home because of concerns about the virus and many parents had written letters, circulated petitions, and so on to try and get the district to close schools or to at least allow excused absences related to concern about the virus. This group of parents is pretty intense. Formidable in fact. From organizing complex school PTA events and fundraisers to setting up and teaching after school debating and robotics clubs, to even getting a teacher's entire lesson plan for a semester revised- they know what they want and they get it done! Shutting down a school district seemed easily within their purview! Incidentally, this group call the virus 'the beast'.
On Friday morning I awoke somewhere between 4am and 5am, as has become my habit lately, and padded quietly through the house to grab my phone to check on the latest news of the beast. There was an email from the School District Superintendent announcing that 'Flexible Learning Options' would be available for the next few weeks if we chose to keep our kids home from school. The WhatsApp-ers had partially succeeded!
I then spent my usual two hours reading COVID-19 news and texting my sister and a friend in the UK to find out how things are going there. My UK friend had a scary week where she developed a fever and a cough that exacerbated her asthma. She tried calling the NHS helpline but found that she would only be tested if she had travelled recently or had been in contact with a confirmed case. Proof of the official UK policy that seemed, at that point, to be in complete denial that the beast was ALREADY in the community in the UK. My sister's situation is that my nephew has a severely compromised immune system but again the official advice was 'carry on as normal'.
When Richard woke up I told him about the new email and we talked about whether to send the kids to school that day. Here's the thing: I have an autoimmune disease and take medications that modulate my immune system. A few days before my doctor told me I should consider myself within the group of 'individuals with underlying health conditions' who could be more at risk of developing serious problems if infected with COVID-19. Basically I should think of myself as an elderly man with a lung problem. And my family should think of themselves as living with an old man. You can imagine the jokes.
Since hearing this news from my doctor, I'd been attempting to properly self-isolate and practice social distancing. A week earlier TechGiant had already told its employees to work from home if possible - so Richard was home. And I was trying to stay home, I really was, but I was still popping to the kids school, to shops, to see friends - it is easy to bend the rules one sets for oneself.
But my wake up came on Tuesday, March 10. That afternoon I drove our youngest (ThingTwo) to her circus class as usual but decided to wait in the car during the hour-long class. I lasted about half an hour before I got antsy. The class is in a performing arts center next to a Safeway and I suddenly remembered we were getting low on milk. I can just pop in and grab the milk and literally not touch anything - I've been using my phone to pay for things for a few months now and mostly I just have to wave it at the checkout. Head down I scurried to the milk aisle, opened the doors with my elbow, grabbed the carton, headed back and was standing at the checkout feeling like all was groovy gravy when suddenly boom! An employee had just reversed into me - full body contact. He was walking backwards looking up at a display of cereal boxes he was arranging. He was apologetic and I must have looked completely freaked. I paid, got back to the car and hand-sanitized like mad. The man was not obviously sick but it just hit me: rather like skiing, it doesn't matter how good a skier you are, you can't avoid getting crashed into by someone up-mountain that you didn't see coming.
That one interaction changed everything - no more going to stores or to the schools. I did continue to walk in the neighborhood with a friend or Richard each day. We called them 'anti-anxiety' walks but really we talked about the virus the whole time and our frustration with the US reaction. Not enough testing, not enough distancing and isolation. Did we end up less anxious? I'm not sure. One thing that was reassuring was the response of the neighbourhoods around us, people setting up systems to help elderly folks, people clearly looking out for each other, looking for ways to volunteer. Yes, apparently gun sales in the US are up but there are also people like this wonderful woman we saw standing at an intersection on Saturday afternoon:
So now we had the option to keep the kids home from school - and we hesitated. Why? I can't remember now what exactly caused that hesitation other than this feeling of 'is this really happening?' But for more context: we knew COVID-19 was here in Santa Clara County. At that point I think there were maybe 70 confirmed cases but very little testing going on- and the scary thing was that about 40 of those confirmed cases were community transmission i.e. no clear pathway for how the person got infected. Without proper testing available it was impossible to know how many people were already infected, but I heard estimates of 1000-1500, maybe more. Santa Clara County has a population of 1.9 million but of course it isn't an island, it is adjacent to other counties that also had rising rates of confirmed cases. Seattle was happening, Italy was happening... and China and South Korea were stabilizing.
So again, why the hesitation to keep our kids home? More context: the official message from the school district and state was that kids didn't get appear to get the virus or to not get seriously unwell if they did get it, that keeping kids home would mean huge disruption and cause hardship in families that couldn't find childcare, that it would cause hardship or keep healthworkers home, and finally a big one that 40% of children statewide depended on free school meals. All good reasons, but not insurmountable.
Then two things happened. I read an update from the San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow. I'd heard from the New York Times that his reports had gone viral for his unusual style - this guy did not mince words. To the point that high-ups were trying to get him to tone down his language and he refused to let anyone edit his briefings. I read the report and it had quite a profound effect on me. You can read the report here and see what I mean (this takes you to the general page but look for updates from the county health officer). This is how public officials should speak! Suddenly I thought about the whole school situation from the teacher's perspective. We had felt huge relief when TechGiant allowed Richard to work from home. Why shouldn't teachers be afforded the same abundance of caution? And the big point that Dr. Morrow made was that there is so much we still don't know about this virus. That clinched it - the kids were staying home. Funny how sometimes it is easier to make the decision you want for yourself when you frame it in terms of benefiting others.
All was moot by noon when Gavin Newsom - Governor of California - announced schools would close starting Monday March 16.
Over the weekend new edicts came into place - gatherings off 35-100 now outlawed, people over 65 urged to stay at home (so that was us but somehow it didn't feel like it was really us).
And then today, Monday, it all went kablooie. At 1pm the Governor announced 'shelter in place' to go into effect for six of the bay area counties. Essentially: stay home.
Not quite a 'lockdown' and the whole testing situation still seems to be a mess - it is still unclear what happens if you do get sick - if you can be tested or if you should go back home if you test positive. BUT a real step in line with the theory of 'flattening the curve' and spreading out the stress on the healthcare system.
My feelings the first moments after hearing the news? I sort of stood up and sat down and stood up again. I had this strong urge to run outside. I was shocked, and then shocked at the fact that I was shocked. Most of all I just want this all to go away. Sounds petulant and pathetic, but it is true.
But then came relief. I was glad these measures were being taken - it takes a lot of the decision making away from me and my own particular situation.
But my prevailing though was still 'is this really happening?' I texted the news to Richard who was working in the spare-room. He wandered out and we didn't really say anything, just sort of looked at each other. A rare moment where we didn't make a joke of a big situation. But then a kid popped in and asked if it was lunch time. Someone walked by the house with a dog. A car drove by. It just seemed like a normal Monday afternoon. The world continued to turn. As it does during wars, as it does during zombie apocalypses. Here are the latest three emails in my inbox:
The New York Times: Coronavirus Briefing: 10 People
Saratoga Union School District: Important Instructions: Shelter in place will begin tonight
Univercity Parents Group: Looking to buy a hula hoop...
As Hanks said - one day at a time. We wait to see what happens next, with the hope that it is a great big anti-climax.
The past few days the changes have been coming thick and fast. Overwhelming and surreal.
On Thursday evening last week a parent WhatsApp group I belong to started buzzing about a school district meeting. A parent was present at the meeting to 'live-WhatsApp' to the group about new allowances that would allow parents to keep their kids home from school if they chose. California has very strict policies about what qualifies as an 'excused absence' - has to do with school funding, yada yada, not important right now but an interesting thing to write about sometime.
For context: once it became clear there was community transmission in Silicon Valley, the public health departments started banning public gatherings - first 1000 people or more were outlawed. Then it went down to 250 or maybe less, I can't remember now. At some point the schools cancelled all sports, music practices, concerts etc. Concerts all around the bay area were getting cancelled. A lot of parents in the WhatsApp group had already been keeping their kids home because of concerns about the virus and many parents had written letters, circulated petitions, and so on to try and get the district to close schools or to at least allow excused absences related to concern about the virus. This group of parents is pretty intense. Formidable in fact. From organizing complex school PTA events and fundraisers to setting up and teaching after school debating and robotics clubs, to even getting a teacher's entire lesson plan for a semester revised- they know what they want and they get it done! Shutting down a school district seemed easily within their purview! Incidentally, this group call the virus 'the beast'.
On Friday morning I awoke somewhere between 4am and 5am, as has become my habit lately, and padded quietly through the house to grab my phone to check on the latest news of the beast. There was an email from the School District Superintendent announcing that 'Flexible Learning Options' would be available for the next few weeks if we chose to keep our kids home from school. The WhatsApp-ers had partially succeeded!
I then spent my usual two hours reading COVID-19 news and texting my sister and a friend in the UK to find out how things are going there. My UK friend had a scary week where she developed a fever and a cough that exacerbated her asthma. She tried calling the NHS helpline but found that she would only be tested if she had travelled recently or had been in contact with a confirmed case. Proof of the official UK policy that seemed, at that point, to be in complete denial that the beast was ALREADY in the community in the UK. My sister's situation is that my nephew has a severely compromised immune system but again the official advice was 'carry on as normal'.
When Richard woke up I told him about the new email and we talked about whether to send the kids to school that day. Here's the thing: I have an autoimmune disease and take medications that modulate my immune system. A few days before my doctor told me I should consider myself within the group of 'individuals with underlying health conditions' who could be more at risk of developing serious problems if infected with COVID-19. Basically I should think of myself as an elderly man with a lung problem. And my family should think of themselves as living with an old man. You can imagine the jokes.
Since hearing this news from my doctor, I'd been attempting to properly self-isolate and practice social distancing. A week earlier TechGiant had already told its employees to work from home if possible - so Richard was home. And I was trying to stay home, I really was, but I was still popping to the kids school, to shops, to see friends - it is easy to bend the rules one sets for oneself.
But my wake up came on Tuesday, March 10. That afternoon I drove our youngest (ThingTwo) to her circus class as usual but decided to wait in the car during the hour-long class. I lasted about half an hour before I got antsy. The class is in a performing arts center next to a Safeway and I suddenly remembered we were getting low on milk. I can just pop in and grab the milk and literally not touch anything - I've been using my phone to pay for things for a few months now and mostly I just have to wave it at the checkout. Head down I scurried to the milk aisle, opened the doors with my elbow, grabbed the carton, headed back and was standing at the checkout feeling like all was groovy gravy when suddenly boom! An employee had just reversed into me - full body contact. He was walking backwards looking up at a display of cereal boxes he was arranging. He was apologetic and I must have looked completely freaked. I paid, got back to the car and hand-sanitized like mad. The man was not obviously sick but it just hit me: rather like skiing, it doesn't matter how good a skier you are, you can't avoid getting crashed into by someone up-mountain that you didn't see coming.
That one interaction changed everything - no more going to stores or to the schools. I did continue to walk in the neighborhood with a friend or Richard each day. We called them 'anti-anxiety' walks but really we talked about the virus the whole time and our frustration with the US reaction. Not enough testing, not enough distancing and isolation. Did we end up less anxious? I'm not sure. One thing that was reassuring was the response of the neighbourhoods around us, people setting up systems to help elderly folks, people clearly looking out for each other, looking for ways to volunteer. Yes, apparently gun sales in the US are up but there are also people like this wonderful woman we saw standing at an intersection on Saturday afternoon:
So now we had the option to keep the kids home from school - and we hesitated. Why? I can't remember now what exactly caused that hesitation other than this feeling of 'is this really happening?' But for more context: we knew COVID-19 was here in Santa Clara County. At that point I think there were maybe 70 confirmed cases but very little testing going on- and the scary thing was that about 40 of those confirmed cases were community transmission i.e. no clear pathway for how the person got infected. Without proper testing available it was impossible to know how many people were already infected, but I heard estimates of 1000-1500, maybe more. Santa Clara County has a population of 1.9 million but of course it isn't an island, it is adjacent to other counties that also had rising rates of confirmed cases. Seattle was happening, Italy was happening... and China and South Korea were stabilizing.
So again, why the hesitation to keep our kids home? More context: the official message from the school district and state was that kids didn't get appear to get the virus or to not get seriously unwell if they did get it, that keeping kids home would mean huge disruption and cause hardship in families that couldn't find childcare, that it would cause hardship or keep healthworkers home, and finally a big one that 40% of children statewide depended on free school meals. All good reasons, but not insurmountable.
Then two things happened. I read an update from the San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow. I'd heard from the New York Times that his reports had gone viral for his unusual style - this guy did not mince words. To the point that high-ups were trying to get him to tone down his language and he refused to let anyone edit his briefings. I read the report and it had quite a profound effect on me. You can read the report here and see what I mean (this takes you to the general page but look for updates from the county health officer). This is how public officials should speak! Suddenly I thought about the whole school situation from the teacher's perspective. We had felt huge relief when TechGiant allowed Richard to work from home. Why shouldn't teachers be afforded the same abundance of caution? And the big point that Dr. Morrow made was that there is so much we still don't know about this virus. That clinched it - the kids were staying home. Funny how sometimes it is easier to make the decision you want for yourself when you frame it in terms of benefiting others.
All was moot by noon when Gavin Newsom - Governor of California - announced schools would close starting Monday March 16.
Over the weekend new edicts came into place - gatherings off 35-100 now outlawed, people over 65 urged to stay at home (so that was us but somehow it didn't feel like it was really us).
And then today, Monday, it all went kablooie. At 1pm the Governor announced 'shelter in place' to go into effect for six of the bay area counties. Essentially: stay home.
Not quite a 'lockdown' and the whole testing situation still seems to be a mess - it is still unclear what happens if you do get sick - if you can be tested or if you should go back home if you test positive. BUT a real step in line with the theory of 'flattening the curve' and spreading out the stress on the healthcare system.
My feelings the first moments after hearing the news? I sort of stood up and sat down and stood up again. I had this strong urge to run outside. I was shocked, and then shocked at the fact that I was shocked. Most of all I just want this all to go away. Sounds petulant and pathetic, but it is true.
But then came relief. I was glad these measures were being taken - it takes a lot of the decision making away from me and my own particular situation.
But my prevailing though was still 'is this really happening?' I texted the news to Richard who was working in the spare-room. He wandered out and we didn't really say anything, just sort of looked at each other. A rare moment where we didn't make a joke of a big situation. But then a kid popped in and asked if it was lunch time. Someone walked by the house with a dog. A car drove by. It just seemed like a normal Monday afternoon. The world continued to turn. As it does during wars, as it does during zombie apocalypses. Here are the latest three emails in my inbox:
The New York Times: Coronavirus Briefing: 10 People
Saratoga Union School District: Important Instructions: Shelter in place will begin tonight
Univercity Parents Group: Looking to buy a hula hoop...
As Hanks said - one day at a time. We wait to see what happens next, with the hope that it is a great big anti-climax.
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