What HAVE we done?

I have done a lot more to accommodate those I love.  I didn't go visit my parents until my dad went in the hospital and was in the center of it.  Tested negative and now I go visit when I can (6 hours away).  I have done a tremendous amount of extra work at my job (pastor) to accommodate all ages.  I'm doing 2 extra Bible studies a week online for those who can't get out.  I preach an extra service outside in 90 degree heat for those who only feel they can come to a drive-in service rather than in sanctuary.  I abided by governor's stupid rules with the league I ran this summer even though I did not agree.  I wear a mask when I go to a restaurant my wife wants to go to who requires a mask.  Other than that I don't wear a mask or go to a business or restaurant that requires one.  Last but not least I've listened to some people that I would never listen to before who have crazy arguments on the fact that sports teams can't play and people can't go to church and restaurants and businesses have to wear masks but thousands of people can gather together and riot and burn stuff but they don't have to wear a mask.  When a person can be arrested for going to church without a mask or when they are told not to but thousands can riot and protest without being arrested our world has lost it's mind.

That's it?  Well, @PitchingFan, that's not near enough.  You are the very reason why we can't get back to normal.  Shame on you.  [Overt sarcasm alert!]

With all sincerity, thank you for your contributions.  They should not go unnoticed.

I’m a germaphobe and always wanted to avoid getting sick/the flu, so I’ve been social distancing, over washing my hands and avoid touching my face long before it was fashionable 

Had to console my daughter as she could not celebrate her college graduation.  Instead we created  video message collage that will last a lifetime.

I try my best to take the high road when trying to explain to my 2 college aged kids why they need to spend another semester at home, rather than enjoying their college experience.

I’ve seen my father once since March.  No Easter brunch, Fathers Day or birthday celebration with him.

My uncle and godfather passed away 3 weeks ago in Florida of a sudden heart attack, but none of us could gather to celebrate his life, or console my 94 year old grandfather who just lost his only son.

I wear my dreaded mask

I have never tipped takeout cashiers and servers as much as I do now

I got tested when I travelled to be sure I didn’t impact anyone 

I keep quiet when I see/hear hypocrisy from those whose actions don’t match their words.

@CTbballDad posted:

 

My uncle and godfather passed away 3 weeks ago in Florida of a sudden heart attack, but none of us could gather to celebrate his life, or console my 94 year old grandfather who just lost his only son.

 

 

Sorry for your loss and thank you for what you are doing — or in some cases, not doing.

I have really struggled with some of these recent threads.  Notions like, "we don't deserve ..." seem like a lot of entitlement.  When  I was born, we were the poorest family in the school.  My mom and dad were sharecroppers and we lived in a one room sharecropping shack that few could believe.  In fact, 7 of us lived there.  I watch my parents and grandparents battle every day to put food on the table.  I've seen my dad torn apart from an accident with a 8 inch cut across his face and head go to work the next day.  So what, we don't have sports now.  Do you have your health?  If so, that is a blessing.  Are your loved ones healthy?  If so, that is a blessing.  Sports are games.  Sure they serve an important part of our society.  However, in the larger game of life, there are so many more important things.  I look forward to being able to watch sports but until then, I'll count my Blessings and give thanks each night for another day.  

Thanks @CoachB25, but you’re posting on the wrong thread. I created this one to celebrate all the things we HAVE done to help put this thing down. All the sacrifices people HAVE made to help everyone else out. Please respect that. Calling out what YOU perceive as entitlement belittles LOTS of efforts and sacrifices people have made. 

I’ve followed the rules and no more. I don’t like wearing a mask. But I don’t fight it. I hold it over my face when I enter the store. I hold it in my hand if I’m not near anyone. Once, a women ran down the aisle I was in and started screaming at me. She’s the only person I’ve been resistant towards.

When I’m working in the morning I’m home alone. I haven’t seen my better half  for five months now. She’s with her 92yo mother in Florida. I can’t travel down and walk in the house. She has to be careful about walking out.

I prefer dining outdoors as soon as it’s warm enough. I’ve dined out every week in either Maine or Massachusetts. My friends aren’t taking day to day risks as I’m not. A mask is only needed at the hostess station. If Dunkin was open inside I would be in  with my regular acquaintances. I’ve always sat a table away. They’re long time buddies. I read news and join the conversation at times. We sit at the picnic tables outside. I stay away from the one person who is proving to the world he’s not wearing a mask anywhere. On rainy days I’m sitting in Panera. It’s never busy. 

I’ve been notified five times I’m in a COVID trace line. Every time it’s been the 20 something adult kid (or one of their friends) of my friends who tested positive. None of my friends (my contacts) have tested positive.

As always I’ve done a lot of biking. I started earlier this year and I’m biking further and faster. It’s driving me nuts I have to take off two weeks. I was in an accident last week when a car decided the bike lane could be used as a passing lane. Fortunately, I know how to fall. I only broke two fingers and tore finger ligaments enough I’m in a soft, taped cast. Maine had an order people had to wear masks off their property. After a week of hassling cyclists they stopped. 

As I’ve gone back and forth between Maine and Massachusetts I’ve told my Maine friends I’ve been in Massachusetts. No one has objected to seeing me. I’ve told them not to be afraid to tell me not to get together. I haven’t gone into the city or been on public transportation. The three town area I’m in on the North Shore of Boston  (Nahant, Swampscott, Marblehead) is less populated than the area I’m cruising in Maine (Falmouth, North Windham, Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth). But, while Maine has only had 120 deaths Essex County alone has had 1,200.

One thing having MLB to watch has reminded me is how boring MLB baseball can be if your team isn’t a contender to win it all. I won’t watch the NBA since it’s a social justice rally with basketball as a side show. Fortunately the Stanley Cup playoffs start tomorrow. 

Other than not seeing my significant other or traveling to see my kids every two or three months life is mostly back to normal. I had to cancel a trip to Israel and Jordan. But, we’ll go next year.

Thank you for starting this thread. It is a reminder of how much we have in common, and that people are good, even people we don’t agree with. 

I am with Coachb25 here.

We are still only half way to the number of people ding that are killed by medical professionals each year.  That's right estimates are medical mistakes kill about 275,000 people each year.  Yet here we are thinking the plague has arrived among us and we must "show" we are doing something to defeat it.

This thing is awful - but far from the end of the world.  Darwin might even observe this is a necessary thing to cull the heard - because it can be argued we have too many lumpy excuses for people - I am one of them.  

Our great-great grandparents from the 1800's had 50-60 year life expectancies died in huge numbers from TB and dysentery.  They dug holes to crap in lived in the dark when the sun went down.  I am sure they are laughing at us wishing they had our problems.  I would if I were them. 

Suck it up and press forward.  Hopefully our great-great grandchildren will be as grateful to us as I am of mine.  Do what you think you must but if you have stopped living and gone to ground - I think that is not really living at all.  The entire history of human beings is to face the hazard and overcome.  At some point a generation will come along and fail - I hope we are not it.

My wife and I have lost a number of relatives, friends and acquaintances to this virus.   Most of the relatives were older and didn't know what was going on.   The sad part is they are sitting in a morgue somewhere, and there has been no celebration of their lives or opportunity for the family to grieve together.  My mother in law is in a senior home by herself and essentially not allowed to leave her place.   Her husband was gathered up by his sons and daughters and taken away from her to live with them two hundred miles away because they thought he was on deaths door.   He was never asked if he wanted to go live with them .  Now, they can't return him without a 14-day quarantine.

We've done everything to protect ourselves during this pandemic.  Mostly, we've had to "lay it on thick" to my oldest son and daughter in law who moved to New Jersey during the height of the pandemic in the NYC area.  When they left Virginia, my son kept telling me this thing will pass quickly and they'll be okay.   A couple weeks later he called me to tell me how serious this is in NJ/NY/CT and he is taking every precaution.   So, at the least I'm glad I opened his eyes.   My middle son's wedding is still scheduled for late October, but not sure how that is going to work out.   He may end up going to the justice of the peace, and throwing a small party (with masks) in his backyard instead.    My youngest is in the military and they have an interesting process of testing, protecting their soldiers.   

My parents live in a very nice retirement community an hour away.   I haven't seen them since Christmas.  My wife had to cancel a trip to the Galapagos with her sister in March, we've cancelled our trip to Ireland in September.  I was really pissed about that, but we've made other domestic trip plans.    The Europeans have wisely chosen not to let Americans in, and made controlling the spread job #1 across multiple independent countries.   Well done Europe, and I would have done the same thing if I were you.

Bottom line is this has to be a country wide effort.   Many parts of our society are doing the right things, and not allowing it to spread in certain areas.   However, the bottom line is it has to be everyone (young & old, north & south, east and west) doing there part or it doesn't get done.  Everybody has to make this job #1, and stick with it.

Everything my family has done is pretty much the same as what most of you have posted. I will say, the saddest moment of this whole thing for me was my annual guy's trip to the Boston area with my son. We've been doing it for 8 years now and have created some neat traditions. Couldn't do any of the things we normally do in Boston, including a trip to Fenway. That was disappointing, but nowhere near as bad as the visit to see my grandmother. She's 92 and healthy but has asthma. She lives with my aunt and uncle. My aunt had us sit on one side of the porch with masks and my grandmother on the other. Grandmother kept asking us to sit closer and to give her a hug. She went on about she didn't care about the virus and she wouldn't want to die in a few months and not being able to hug us one last time. I've always been very close with her and it killed me to not break the rules my aunt made. 

I spoke with her the other day and she seems very depressed. My aunt and uncle have basically separated the parts of the house so they don't really interact other than talking through a door. or window. 

TerribleBPThrower, this is the part that is sad.  I have kids of our Senior Adults that have put so many restraints on them that they have said this is not living.  The kids are so afraid of the virus that they won't let their parents do anything.  One couple has not left their house or seen anyone other than by technology which they can't use very good in going on 6 months.  The man told me over the phone that he is sick of this.  The daughter is such a germophobic that her father in law has it even though he has shown no symptoms but was tested positive.  She has quarantined herself and her husband for 3 weeks now even though both tested negative.  How do people get this afraid of something?  I don't want to die but I also love to live.  I choose not to go places that restrict my ability to live. I understand if others choose to live this way but I refuse to completely change how I live and yet am adamant I protect those who are vulnerable most of the time by staying away unless they want me to come see them.  I have several senior adults who say give me a hug or shake my hand. 

I appreciate this topic, DanJ thank you. 

Fenway, excellent post.   To everyone who has lost friends and family, I am sorry. As many are aware, I live in one of those 3 hot bed counties in South Florida.  I also live in a retirement community, which has been very strict regarding masks and social distancing. Of the thousands that live here, only a few have passed away, only about 30 have become ill.  I am fortunate enough to have not lost any family member or friend from the virus. I have had 2 COVID tests as well as serum for antibodies. It's offered and encouraged in my community to control the spread of the virus and paid for by my Medicare part B. Yes, I am one of those people often talked about, how we should stay inside and let the young live their lives!

My husband almost died from kidney failure in early February. He had double pnuemonia, hospitalized three times, the last because his kidneys were failing due to all the prednisone he was on.  He is a severe asthmatic. So because of that, he stays close to the house, I have had to be very careful where I go and who I see. My husband is a Medicare representative, some very elderly now, so we make sure that we speak to them regularly and in some cases my husband speaks to  their family members who are far away from their parents. He has not lost 1 client.  He also is a Life Coach and speaks to homeless vets he has found homes for, and makes sure they take advantage of their benefits.  I spend part of my days making sure my elderly neighbors, who are alone are ok. I was suppose to work the polls this year, but that can't happen.  We do our part to help the greatest generation have something to look forward to daily. Even a phone call is appreciated.

I have worn a mask, since day 1.  We see our kids regularly, we sit on our catwalk outside and have dinner, drinks, laughs.  But we stay apart and wear masks, as mandated by our community. We often go to my daughter's who has a beautiful home and a beautiful patio so social distancing is easy, but we still wear masks. They have 2 teens so we don't go inside. They both have their circle of friends they are close with so they are careful where they go and who they see as well. Son is back to work, and preparing for the team to come back in a few weeks. We don't go to the gym but we find ways to exercise outdoors but it is extremely hot these days.  No vacations this summer and my daughter and I canceled our annual birthday trip. 

I don't sleep well at night, I feel like I am in a nightmare and can't wake up.  My last memory before this began, arriving at the stadium for a game against Penn State, seeing everyone, their players and parents crying because there season was over and they could not play the game. I felt terrible, little did I know that the next day all sports would be canceled. I am very disappointed in how poorly our government  has handled this nightmare.

I am in agreement with Fenway, we are in this together  and we all need to do our part. Everywhere. I am amazed how simply wearing a mask makes some people fill with anger and rage.

To those who comply, thank you.

We are lucky (?) Our lives haven't changed much — mostly because my husband and I worked from home before the pandemic. My business hasn't suffered because I provide information about our town of 15,000 and people are hungry for it, including the daily COVID counts I provide.

I have a small group of friends, including my 80-year-old father. After weeks of drinking together over Zoom, we now gather in a backyard once or twice a week. It's BYOE (bring your own everything), from chair to beverage to snacks.

I wear a mask everywhere I go outside of the house, and honestly, now find it comforting. I feel safer behind it. After a few weeks of high case counts, my community hasn't had a case since Friday. Our county had just two yesterday. Our county fair held livestock shows two weeks ago. My husband and I live streamed all the shows to help keep attendance down. So far, no outbreaks from it.

Our year-round school started last week and reported one case at the end of he week. Our college has athletes showing up this week. They have laid good plans, now we'll see how they work out.

Despite all of the things that are the same, it all feels so different. I feel safe behind my mask and in my car. The world seems like a lonelier place.

@luv baseball posted:

We are still only half way to the number of people ding that are killed by medical professionals each year.  That's right estimates are medical mistakes kill about 275,000 people each year.  Yet here we are thinking the plague has arrived among us and we must "show" we are doing something to defeat it.

 

I don’t like posting on these threads, but I feel like it’s necessary when information is inaccurately presented as “facts”. One legitimate study by a surgeon at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine used insurance claims related to medical mistakes from 2000-2008 to estimate 250,000 deaths annually from medical mistakes. No other study supports that number, or even comes close. Medical mistakes are real, but most other studies put the number at less than 10% of that. Using real data from CDC, COVID-19 will be the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020 after Heart Disease and Cancer.

I wanted to add. Please if you can, give to your local food bank,  churches collecting food, thousands have lost their unemployment and have families to feed. 

Interesting topic.

As to what we have done to beat the virus, nothing really changed much for us.  I had already been working from home for two years.  Wife and daughter's jobs were classified as "essential" so they still had to go to work.  At one point the offices were the wife works were closed to the public and everything had to be done via email or online.   She is employed by a storage company.  A month ago when the state entered into phase 3, the offices have been reopened to the public and she has to wear a mask whenever a customer enters the office.

Daughter works at the local McDonald's.   They closed the lobby to eat-in dining and are drive thru only.   She has to have her temperature checked prior to starting her shift and must wear a mask.

The only real change for me was not going to church early in the shutdown.  Our services have since resumed, but are abbreviated with very little singing or verbal responses.   Sunday school is still suspended.   I still go to the store as needed and ferry my daughter to work.  And go to the dump every 3-4 weeks as needed.  I do wear a mask when entering an establishment.   At first many dine in restaurants had their lobby's closed, but have reopened them under the phase 3 guidelines (50% capacity).  We have resumed going out once or twice a week, but not all restaurants have reopened their lobby's.

Fortunately we live in a rural county = population ~25,000.   To date only 124 confirmed cases and only 4 deaths.

The schools restart on August 17th, but will be virtual only.  The school district has been reaching out to see who has high speed internet and who may need computers/laptops to get online.  If all goes well, the children will be allowed to attend school sometime in October.

VHSL (Virginia High School League) has postponed all fall sports until December.  IF I have remembered correctly, fall sports will be from December - January, winter sports from February to March and spring sports from April to June.  Subject to change.  Probably no playoffs and doubtful a normal full schedule.  I imagine, but I don't know for sure, but public attendance to games (namely football and basketball) may be limited.

We've done a lot but accomplished very little. Americans were told they needed to flatten the curve, and so we shutdown like other countries. Problem is this - shutdowns are designed to do two things: 1) slow the spread and 2) give society time to organize widespread testing AND a robust contact tracing program that determines the contacts of an infected person. After shutdown lifts, the state can quarantine folks who have tested positive and the rest of us can get back to it.  

If you don't do the second bit, all you've done is slow the curve and delay the next spike in numbers.

Dozens of countries managed to do this in a reasonable way. We didn't.

I am overseas for work and did not come home for my younger daughter's Big 10 Championship game, my father's death or funeral, to move my older daughter into her first apartment for her senior year, or to see all of the fun things happening for my son this summer like the Ultimate Baseball Championship and East Coast Pro. My son and husband returned from GA this morning and will test and quarantine per the requirements of our governor since they were in states with an incident rate of more than 10%. Here in Mozambique, we primarily work from home, wear masks and wash our hands before entering office, stores or any public places. I am praying that things will have stabilized enough by September for me to be able to see my family and to go to the PGAA Classic in OK if it happens. Having said that, my kids and my husband and my Mom are all healthy and well. Technology allows us to stay in touch much better than would have been possible even 5 years ago and my three kids got to spend months of quality time together which hasn't happened in years because of their normally busy schedules. It has been hard for us and harder for others but there have been COVID rainbows and I am grateful.