Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 25 Lockdown Limbo: Gotta Plan-Gotta Laugh!
Monday, April 20: SA Lockdown Day 25; C&K Quarantine Day 10
ONLY 25 ?????? Who am I to complain?
I know, right? When everyone in the US has been Self-Isolating/Safety-Distancing/ LOCKDOWN for a soooooooooo much longer than that! And WHOO-HOO! The curve in many places—Italy, China, Spain…California, Washington, New York is flattening. We are winning! Right! Right?
In SA, with 3,158 confirmed CoVid cases & 54 deaths they’re calling this Lockdown Limbo. That place of quiet between “Help! We’re gonna die!” and “Help! I’m going broke—let me out of here.”
In Jaws terms we’re in the boat with Sheriff Broady. Jaws has already killed, so we know what it can do; and its knows we’re here, stuck in the middle of the ocean with a dead motor, because it’s seen us and we’ve seen it. Duh…duh-duh… Do we wait? or Do we swim for it?
Or, if you prefer George Clooney over Roy Schneider (and who doesn’t) then we’re still out in the boat, in the middle of the ocean—during The Perfect Storm—drifting between swells.
We still have chance right?
It’s the anticipation that gets us.
It’s maddening not to be doing something…
So, I get why folks are getting restless, protesting—hollering at Governors & health officials “Let me Go!”
What am I doing? Barely visible over the top of my computer screen, conveniently close to the toaster, is a slightly softened stick of salted butter and jar of mixed berry jam… just to the right of that are chocolates (already unbagged and mounded into a tidy pile) I am weighing my options. Toast or candy? Toast or candy? Toast or candy…
And I’m planning. . . No matter what we wish, when officials free us from Lockdown CoVid will not be gone. Yet. There’s no telling when or if—as with polio, small pox, measles, TB—CoVid-19 will be just another bug to vaccinate against—please!
USA: About 755,000 CoVid cases; 40,000 dead. Yesterday was the 1st day since April 2 that the death toll in NY was less than 500.
We have to be vigilant and practical, i.e. Masking and Washing.
Which is why I’m reposting this simple doable grocery-washing procedure video by Dr. Jeffery VanWigen:
And through it all . . . We need to nourish a sense of humor and wonder, so I’m sharing a bit of both.
Wonder—as in wonderful seeing penguins tootling down the streets of Simons Town, SA.
Humor—Bravo! who thinks up these pandemic jokes!
Keep Smiling/keep shining/knowing you can always count on me….for corny songs.
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 12 Lockdown
April 7, 2020-Day 12 of SA Lockdown:
Worldwide: 1,348,628 confirmed CoVid-19 cases; 74, 816 deaths.
Italy: Death Rate has risen to 16, 523; China: No New Deaths for the First Time since January.
One day into the 2nd half of the 21-day SA Lockdown and I’ve hit the what now? place with a the dull thud. (Do not bother asking if we have news regarding evacuation; we have heard zip-ziltch-radio silence from our US Ambassador Lana Marks since Sunday.
And on the 12th Day, Kelly woke feeling like a cast member on The Truman Show* or Ground Hog Day. 7:00 am: Alarm goes off; 7:18 am: dress; 7:22 am Yoga; 7:23-8:59 Check Covid-19 News; 9:00 am: Greet Gloria; Another day in LOCKDOWN. (*& spiraled down rabbit holes like this on 20-years after The Truman Show.)
Cut! . . . and ACTION!
South Africa: 1 686, the death toll rising to 12; Nurses have tested positive sparking fears of increased patient transmissions in the country’s hospitals and clinics.
SA Bride & Groom Arrested Over Lockdown Wedding:
“All 50 wedding guests, the pastor who conducted the ceremony, and the newlyweds themselves were promptly arrested and taken to a police station outside Richards Bay.”—BBC News
USA: 367,758 CoVid-19 cases; 10,981 dead; NY: 130,689 cases; 4,758 dead.
Caregivers, facing contamination, coping with infection, illness & death—personal risk—work on…Citizens blow off the pandemic and carry on…& we click away in our walled castle. No wonder I feel like an extra in an outdated movie rerun.
Our daily routine feels like it’s become habit, parts of which—especially the 3-times-daily Huff & Puff & these Fishbowl post chats—I’m feeling good about and hoping to maintain. Then . . . I googled “How Long Does it Take to Form A Habit"?” Psychology Today shut me right down. Habits, Good & Bad, are not created or broken equally. When it comes to forming a bad habit, 2 days is enough:
“Order a doughnut with your coffee on Monday morning and Tuesday morning, and you’ll probably find it very hard to resist ordering a doughnut on Wednesday.”
Making a good habit, however, takes around 66 days. 66! Please don’t stretch Lockdown to 66 days!
As for Breaking Bad? How many days do you think it takes: 3, 21, 30, 90, 120?
Is Binge Watching Kruger Safari a Good or Bad Habit?
According to my go-tos at curejoy.com it takes between 18 to 254 days to break a bad habit. So maybe and maybe…
Now, in the 2nd half of the 21-day SA Lockdown, the question is, what happens next? Where’s CoVid going to hit and when? Here’s the word from SA Officials:
If you live in an urban area where local health officials initiated early social-distancing orders, the peak of new cases could hit later this month. If you live in a rural area, the coronavirus spread will take longer and stretch limited hospital resources thin.
If, like me, during Life in the Time of CoVid, you are craving Some Good News, check out John Krasinski’s SGN:
Here & below is the link to SGN Episode #2. Ignore the ads—just click skip—and be sure to watch all the way to the dad using a leafblower to push his tot on a swing…and then….wait until you want the…well, watch for yourself!It made me smile, tear up, laugh aloud, share—SGN!
“No Matter How Dark it Gets There’s Always Good in the World,”- @johnkrasinski #SGN
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 11 Lockdown
April 6, 2020-Day 11 of SA Lockdown:
Worldwide: Since Dec 31 & April 5, 1 ,174 652 cases of COVID-19 “(in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries); 64 400 deaths.”
Italy (15 362), Spain (11 744), United States (8 501), France (7 560), United Kingdom (4 313), Iran (3 452), China (3 333), Netherlands (1 651), Germany (1 342),… South Africa (9), Cuba (6), Singapore (6), Trinidad and Tobago (6)…180 countries so far.
Woke to gloomy skies, rain forecasted an a note from the US Ambassador to South Africa, letting all of us awaiting evacuation (not sure how many we are) that they are developing “a viable alternative,” to the evacuation plan that fell through last week:
“(This was no small task — after the first set of charter flights arranged by DC fell through, Germany, Belgium, Canada, and Brazil all managed to schedule their flights ahead of ours.)” Marks ended the note with a smidge of promise: “We are getting closer to finalizing a solution, and I hope to have some good news to announce soon. All we are waiting on is for DC to sign the contract and remit.”
So, cues poised behind the eight ball—or, cases at the door—we go round and round and round in the waiting game. Thank you Joni!
USA: 312, 237 confirmed CoVid cases; Surgeon General Warns “Brace for our Pearl Harbor” moment.
For those unschooled in US involvement in WWII (or who didn’t see the movie,) Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese Kamazazi fighter planes bombed Pearl Harbor; “destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. “-Pearl Harbor History
It’s horrifying to have anyone comparing CoVid-19’s anticipated Armageddon with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which vaulted the US into the already raging WWII—a war in which 50 to 80 million people died—3% of the world’s population. What’s more, many maintain WWII, combined with FDR’s New Deal, ended the depression. Conversely, the economic ramifications of the CoVid pandemic seem to be rocketing us into depression. I don’t know how to end this thought.
It is not easy to corral 57 million people into doing something together for the sake of humanity-CoVid in SA
Heroes. I console myself by mining the news and Social Media for Heros. Sure, we expect health workers to “do their jobs” (after all they do get paid…) But, would we step up ourselves? Our daughter-in-law, Michelle: wife, daughter, mother of 2 sweet boys goes in every shift to help expectant mothers and fathers bring their newborns into this world. Some hospitals were restricting partners from coming into the hospital, but staffers, like Michelle, at additional risk to themselves, nixed that: humanity rules. Marty’s son, Stephen, a Urologist, husband & father of 4, wears a mask at home. Some, including a nurse, mother of a 1 year old, out of fear of contaminating her family has not been home since the outbreak. Instead, she’s sleeping at the hospital. These heroes and so many more, risking their health to help others. In comparison, how hard? Inconvenient? Uncomfortable? is it to stay home, and if out wear a mask?
Research shows the average infected person spreads the virus to about 2.2 others.
Heroes: People staying home, not going for a run, not walking the dog, not visiting friends, not within 6 feet of each other.
No Excuses: If you have a T-Shirt & Scissors: You have a Mask!
Heroes: People wearing masks & sanitizing, staying 6 feet apart, not littering, not spreading germs.
I want to be a hero.
Curtis and I are going to walk to the shops today—only because, with our evacuation delayed we need groceries.
WE PROMISE TO: Maintain a safe distance from others. Sanitize, Properly dispose of litter. And we will wearing masks.
(Charles suggested tampons & duct tape; Shona said we wouldn’t last.)
Not designer MLB masks or official surgical masks, either. Thanks to Shona sending the No-Sew Mask instructions, we sport spotty-but-clean T-shirt masks. Our eyes will be smiling.