My daughter told us a few days ago that she thinks her boys would like to play with our old kitchen set. It is a little stove and sink, made of wood and plastic, that my wife had as a child growing up, and our children played with. It has been sitting in a storage space under the stair among the Christmas decorations and other items for years. Earlier, our daughter had said they didn't have room for it at her house, but some rearrangement, and perhaps changes in the popularity of other toys, has made room. So she wants to come pick it up.
I would love to see her face to face, and her boys, too. I love playing with my grandsons, and watching them play. We haven't seem them live since maybe February, which could be the longest we've ever gone since the older boy was born. I really miss spending time with them. Crosby, the older one, is almost five, and seems to be maturing into a boy. He is less occupied with Arlo and his choices of activities, at least so it appears to me, and more a studious and very bright child, who does what he is interested in. I wish I could see him often, and maybe start reading longer books out loud to him. Arlo is three, and is adorable Arlo, as he has been since he arrived. I would still happily read board books with him, or others with a few more words. Alphabet books, maybe, with him naming the letters and starting to repeat the words on each page from memory. I don't know how much he can read at this point. It has been months since I sat down with him and a book.
But Crosby fell and got a nose bleed last week, and had a visit to Urgent Care to see if he broke anything. He didn't, but he was out among people. With Taylor, his father. My daughter sold her tiny house this week, and met with the buyers without anyone wearing a mask. My wife is still coughing some from her bronchitis in February. My mother-in-law is 82. She in very good health, but 82. I don't want them to get coronavirus. I don't want to get coronavirus. I don't know that it is safe for us to be in direct contact with our daughter and grandsons. And what if Taylor came along? He delivers food for a living. I don't know how much he is working, or what precautions he takes. None of them seem to have any symptoms of any illness, which is a big change from, well, most of the last year. Crosby and Arlo seemed to be always developing a cold, or just getting over one. Runny noses were pretty much expected. Stomach bugs were also known to go through the family. That hasn't happened in the last couple of months, giving more evidence to support germ theory of disease if it were needed. It's great that they have all been healthy since March, but a lot of people who get coronavirus don't have symptoms, so how do we know they haven't got it?
After the sales meeting, my daughter said she would probably have to postpone her visit to get the little kitchen for a couple of weeks. The actual incubation period of coronavirus isn't clear, which complicates things. I hope she doesn't get sick. I hope no one else gets sick.
I really want to spend time with my grandkids. And I don't want to get sick. And I really don't want Liz or Sharon to get sick. So I don't know what to do.
I will get the little kitchen out of storage and help clean it up, and then someone will decide what risks we should take, and I will go along, probably, and none of us will get the virus, probably. Unless one of us does, somehow.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
A Flat Curve
Ohio went well past the estimated death total of 500 from my post a month ago. It now stands at over 1600. We are seeing around 500 new cases a day in the state. Our hospitals and other health care infrastructure don't seem to be overwhelmed, and life goes on.
I find I rather like working here at home, and staying away from society in general. I like to read. I like to have a very flexible schedule. I like going for walks alone. I like staying out of the car for days at a time. I could adjust to this for the long term.
A lot of people in Ohio seem to feel differently about that. Some are clamoring for business to reopen. There have been protesters, some in front of Dr. Amy Acton's home carrying rifles.
It is true that the economy has been hurt by everyone staying home. We won't know the full extent of the effects on the economy for some time after businesses are all allowed to open, which is planned to happen slowly. The American system of unemployment, and government in general, has been shown to be dysfunctional and slow. Where other governments have taken on paying a share of lost income across much of their workforces, America has battles going on over relief programs for small business and unemployment benefits, because the current systems are incompatible with each other. It's a real mess, and will hurt, possibly destroy, a lot of small businesses.
But based on guidelines from the CDC and others, we're not ready to lift the lockdown. We still have 500 new cases reported each day. The rate of new cases went up, slowed a bit, went up really high for a week or so, came back down a little, and then became flat. Same numbers every day for a couple of weeks. Not trend up or down, really, just flat. So the virus is still spreading in the community, and opening up will probably cause big flareups in new cases, along with the associated deaths. I don't understand why Dr. Acton is on board with the current plans. It seems too early. But maybe the government has concluded the people of Ohio just aren't smart enough to follow the directions well enough for long enough to actually clear the infections from the community, so we may as well just accept our fate, and watch people continue to get sick and die.
I read an article that says most of the push to open up is from Trump fans. People who don't seem to notice how rarely he gets a fact right, or how little he has done, or even tried to do as president. Now they are lying about how bad the pandemic has been, saying the numbers are overstated, and it's really not that bad at all. There really aren't that many of them, but enough to make noise, and give excuses to some officials who are afraid of the political consequences of the economic problems.
So, once again, I'm just going to wash my hands.
I find I rather like working here at home, and staying away from society in general. I like to read. I like to have a very flexible schedule. I like going for walks alone. I like staying out of the car for days at a time. I could adjust to this for the long term.
A lot of people in Ohio seem to feel differently about that. Some are clamoring for business to reopen. There have been protesters, some in front of Dr. Amy Acton's home carrying rifles.
It is true that the economy has been hurt by everyone staying home. We won't know the full extent of the effects on the economy for some time after businesses are all allowed to open, which is planned to happen slowly. The American system of unemployment, and government in general, has been shown to be dysfunctional and slow. Where other governments have taken on paying a share of lost income across much of their workforces, America has battles going on over relief programs for small business and unemployment benefits, because the current systems are incompatible with each other. It's a real mess, and will hurt, possibly destroy, a lot of small businesses.
But based on guidelines from the CDC and others, we're not ready to lift the lockdown. We still have 500 new cases reported each day. The rate of new cases went up, slowed a bit, went up really high for a week or so, came back down a little, and then became flat. Same numbers every day for a couple of weeks. Not trend up or down, really, just flat. So the virus is still spreading in the community, and opening up will probably cause big flareups in new cases, along with the associated deaths. I don't understand why Dr. Acton is on board with the current plans. It seems too early. But maybe the government has concluded the people of Ohio just aren't smart enough to follow the directions well enough for long enough to actually clear the infections from the community, so we may as well just accept our fate, and watch people continue to get sick and die.
I read an article that says most of the push to open up is from Trump fans. People who don't seem to notice how rarely he gets a fact right, or how little he has done, or even tried to do as president. Now they are lying about how bad the pandemic has been, saying the numbers are overstated, and it's really not that bad at all. There really aren't that many of them, but enough to make noise, and give excuses to some officials who are afraid of the political consequences of the economic problems.
So, once again, I'm just going to wash my hands.
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