That One Time the Whole World was Quarantined

So I figured I should record what life is like right now, for posterity. Coronavirus has taken us all hostage! That seems a little dramatic. Okay, let me backtrack and give you a...

Timeline:
Back at the end of December we started to see news coming out of China about some kind of unknown pneumonia-like virus. In the beginning of January we learned that it was a novel coronavirus that they were naming COVID-19, it was spreading like wildfire, and the first person died from it on January 9th. Even though China locked down the region where it had started by Jan. 16th, and declared an outbreak level 1, the virus had already spread to Thailand and Japan. Public transportation started to shut down in China, and they started construction on make-shift hospitals, because there wasn't enough room for all the patients. Cases were being reported in other countries too - airline travel was carrying the virus to the world. By the last day of January, the death toll in China had reached 213, and Russia closed it's entire border to China. All of that happened in about ONE month. Fast forward to today. The virus is everywhere.

There have been 335,364 cases worldwide, and 14, 611 deaths. The newest catchphrase is "social distancing", and it seems like the whole world is on lockdown. Schools are closed. Churches and temples are closed. A lot of businesses are closed. In Nebraska there is a state mandate that not more than 10 people can congregate in one area. Different states have done different things. They recommend staying in your houses, all the time. If you have to go out, keep your distance from people. WASH YOUR HANDS!!! Why all the precautions? To flatten the curve of what is otherwise exponential growth. Here's a good video that explains that.

So, how did we get here? Why does it seem so bad?

What is COVID-19?:
There are actually many kinds of coronaviruses, including ones that cause the common cold, but COVID-19 is a "novel" strain because it has never been seen in humans before. Because it's new to humans, we don't have any antibodies for it, no vaccines, and we don't really know what works to fight it...yet. It's also dangerous because the gestation period for COVID-19 is a lot longer than for something like the flue or pneumonia. That means that you could have the virus for 2 weeks without showing any symptoms, but the whole time you're extremely contagious and you're spreading it around. And the most dangerous thing about this virus is that it goes straight for your lungs. At first it just looks like a cold - runny nose, cough, maybe a sore throat. But then as it gets worse, you get a fever and can start having respiratory problems. About 20% of people infected are hospitalized, and it is 10 times deadlier than the flu.

How this has affected the World, and our Community:
Yes, the world it getting more serious about "flattening the curve" now, but for some countries, like Italy, it was too late. There are only so many hospital beds. There are only so many ventilators. There are only so many doctors and nurses. When there's not enough, more people die. And as more people died, people started to panic - everywhere. And that's when the runs on the stores started. People were buying out cleaning supplies, soap, hand sanitizer, and for some inexplicable reason, water and toilet paper. Then dried goods, and then it seemed like everything else too. Shelves were emptied, even after stores started rationing things.

This has been going on for a couple of weeks, and it's crazy. Also, because people aren't going out, businesses are suffering, and people are losing their jobs. This whole thing could potentially have a devastating effect on the economy.

How is this affecting us Personally?:
 It's kind of surreal, and it's kind of hard to know how to write about it, because it's this weird, emotionally ambiguous existence. On the one hand I'm thinking, we're fine. We're going to be fine. Joe has a secure job for now. We have toilet paper. We'll do our part, and not go out as much as possible. I enjoy my family, and we'll have a lot of time together, and we'll make the most of it. Homeschool starts tomorrow. I've already been doing it with 1 kid, so why not 2 more? Cora isn't going in to work, but she knows she'll still get paid for at least 2 more week. And we've got plenty of memes to keep us entertained (more on that later).

On the other hand, it's a little scary - just the unknown of it all. We have no idea how long this will last. I worry that not enough people will take the social distancing seriously, and we'll end up like Italy. I worry that somebody I love will get the virus and maybe even die. I especially worry about Marie, because she's a nurse. I worry about the lasting ramifications of this whole thing. I don't feel panicked. I'm not losing sleep at night. The worry is just kind of tucked away in the back of my mind. But it's there.

A few months ago Cora had purchased a plane ticket to South Korea. Joe's brother Bert and his family are stationed there right now, and she was going to go visit them for Spring Break, which was this past week. That was really disappointing, but at least she got her money refunded. All of the Liddells were planning on celebrating Joe's parent's 50th anniversary in June, but that's all up in the air now. Who knows how else it will affect us as time goes on.

But let's focus on some more positive things. One thing I've enjoyed is our worship services at home. That's been a special experience. And we've also gotten busy with a couple of home renovation projects.

I will post before and after pictures of all of that at a later date.

Now one really interesting thing to come out of all of this is a real sign of the times - MEMES! Oh my word. Thanks to Cora, we are on top of all the memes around here. She sends them to me constantly. I admit, there have been quite a few that had me laughing out loud. Again, for posterity, I will share some below. Gotta do my part, right? It will be interesting to see how this time in our history is remembered and recorded 20 years from now. For now, we're just getting through it one day at a time.

Opa!

For Valentine's Day, one of the ladies from our Friends Like Family group organized an outing to a Greek Orthodox church to learn about it, have a Greek dinner, and learn some Greek dancing. It was SO MUCH FUN! First of all, there are a lot of similarities to my own religion that I found fascinating. The church was absolutely beautiful! The dinner was delicious. The dancing was a workout, and hilarious. And the people who put the whole thing on for us were lovely and endearing. I would totally do it again, and it was the perfect date for Valentine's day.

The Week She Turned 19

For Cora's birthday, which was in February, we celebrated the entire week. This was partly because it might be her last birthday with us before she leaves on her mission, and partly because I felt bad for her and wanted to make her feel better. Why did I feel bad for her? For months she had been planning a trip over spring break to South Korea to visit Joe's brother's family, who are stationed there right now. But as February was coming to a close, it was looking less and less likely that she would be able to go because of what was going on with the Coronavirus, which I'll post about later. She had a non-refundable ticket, and so that wasn't looking great either, and she was super bummed. Anyway, each day of her birthday week I made an effort to do a little something special for her. Nothing big or grand, but just something to make her smile. The last day of the week I took her to the zoo, just me and her, because we love it. We visited our favorite things, and watched a video about sea turtles.

Here are 19 things about Cora right now.
1. She is working as a special education para at a local elementary school here (Alex is her favorite).
2. She wants to be a special education teacher, and she would be the best one ever.
3. She's taking some online classes at Metropolitan Community College.
4. She is a Primary Activities leader at church.
5. She loves woodworking. She's made some really awesome things.
6. She collects mugs, from everywhere we've traveled, and other random ones.
7. Legos + Harry Potter = Happiness. You're never to old for Legos.
8. She's planning on going on a mission in the fall. Still working on paperwork.
9. She would love to do the Disney college program, just for fun, after her mission.
10. If she could go anywhere in the world, it would be to Egypt.
11. Her favorite food is pasta.
12. She sends me a lot of memes. A LOT.
13. She has an amazing singing voice, but chose drama over show choir, which are apparently the only to choices here that have any recognized value ;)
14. She loves her dogs SO much, and considers herself to be their mom. She's a single mom.
15. She's now considered an adult in the state of Nebraska.
16. She is really good at math, and really good at explaining it. She could be a really good math teacher, but she doesn't want to be.
17. She loves binge-watching a good show as much as the next person.
18. She loves Danny Kay more than anyone her age, partly because nobody else her age knows who Danny Kay is.
19. Star Wars is the love of her life.

Smells Like Heaven

I keep getting behind on my blog. In my defense, I've actually been spending a lot of time turning my blog into books by year, so that's pretty exciting. But for now, I'll take a break from that, and get caught up on what's been happening this year so far.

2 years ago I started a book club here, and it has been really great. Some of the ladies from that group decided we should created another group for activities and outing each month, and we've been enjoying that for a few months now. We call it "Friends Like Family".

January was my turn to be in charge, and I arranged for us to go to the 35th annual Flower Festival at the Saint Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. This year the theme was "For Everything a Season", so all the flower arrangements were based on seasons of the year, seasons of life, or holidays. It was really lovely, and it smelled Heavenly (not as good as the Korean flower market, but still good). The cathedral was beautiful, and we all commented that we would like a tour of just the cathedral, and to learn more about its history.