MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2020 - COVID-19

 MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2020

The Last Monday of 2020!!!

COVID-19

First - some background:

“The new virus was found to be a coronavirus, and coronaviruses cause severe acute respiratory syndrome. This new coronavirus is similar to SARS-CoV, so it was named SARS-CoV-2 The disease caused by the virus was named COVID-19 to show that it was discovered in 2019.

An outbreak is called an epidemic when there is a sudden increase in cases. As COVID-19 began spreading in Wuhan, China, it became an epidemic. Because the disease then spread across several countries and affected a large number of people, it was classified as a pandemic.”

*****

Now, my perspective.

AHH - what a year to be alive!!!  What a year to be a human.  And, what a year to have a pandemic!!

DATES (of meaning to me) 

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Today was Bridgebrat Bridge day (I gave the term “Bridge Brats” to our group - and I write a weekly blog - the Bridgebrat Bulletin).  By-the-way, this is a social group - that sometimes plays the bridge card game!!

There was discussion at bridge that morning about this strange illness that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere.  We didn’t seem too worried about it.  It would die down quickly.  The media needed to tell us something - but like many news stories, it would quickly peak and die away.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

This was our dress rehearsal for the Williamson County Symphony Orchestra.  We set up at the First United Methodist Church in Round Rock.  This group generally plays two concerts in a row in two different locations.  Williamson County is growing quickly and by playing two (free) concerts we allow people to hear orchestra music.  Our Friday night concert was to be at that church, and the Saturday night concert was to be at the Georgetown High School Auditorium.  

The rehearsal was to start at 7 and we were just going to run through the program to make sure we were ready for the next two nights.

BUT - the first hour of the rehearsal time was spent on talking about should we or should we NOT play the concert because of this coronavirus.  Like most groups of adults - everybody had their opinion.  (And, some are much more vocal than others).

The orchestra decided we would still play the next two nights anyway, but if somebody didn’t want to play because of the illness, they would be excused without retribution.  

We played through our music and finished at about 9:15 or so.

BUT … the next day, Williamson County (and Travis County - to the south of Williamson County and home to Austin Texas) went on alert for the coronavirus - and we did end up canceling our two concerts (kind of).

We did play on Saturday night at an empty Georgetown High School Auditorium - for recording purposes.  (Not that I have seen the video, but I assume it exists).

Friday, March 13, 2020

The start of the scare.  With the local communities suggesting we stay safe, and with the national news telling of incidents of the spread of the pandemic, this (at least to me), was the real beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

The panic of the pandemic became evident today.  We did have our regular church service and after the service, the coffee hour seemed to be centered on this pandemic.  And, this was our LAST church service for a while.

Sunday, March 15,2020

A couple, a widow, and I met at the widow’s house to play bridge.  We had a great time talking and playing.  We decided that night we would cancel our bridge group until we had a better idea.  Our bridge group is all seniors - and many with other physical issues.

Monday, March 16, 2020

This was to be the day that Spring Break ended for the local schools, but instead, Spring Break got extended another week (and eventually for two weeks) because of COVID-19.  

About this time, there started the various theories and finger-pointing.  Some speculated that China had developed this pandemic and tested it out in Wuhan China (and it seemingly was potent there).  Others were more rational and suggested that varieties of coronaviruses had arisen over the years and while Wuhan seemed to have the biggest first outbreak, it wasn’t a man-made virus.  (That issue seemingly hasn’t totally disappeared).

We went into isolation.  For me, that meant: no more driving seniors to their appointments, no Williamson County Symphony Orchestra rehearsals or concerts, no more Granny Basketball practices or games; no more Bridgebrat games, no more regular church services.  

Since I didn’t have television, I missed a lot of the finger-pointing and posturing among governments and agencies.  Sports were canceled, schools moved to 100% online classes (which had to be hard for some classes - it is hard to have choir and band online!!!).   Finished your high school and college degrees became interesting - generally without a graduation ceremony.  

Some questioned if the government could really make us stop having religious services (in particular Passover and Easter).  Was that an issue of the government interfering with our Constitutional Privilege of Freedom of Worship?

Restaurants closed, people got laid off (or outright fired), the economy did “go to hell in a handbasket”!!  

The finger point got worse - some thought the President and other world leaders did the right things, others thought such leaders were not doing enough to get over this scourge, and yet others thought that the whole thing was largely made up.  There were lots of home remedies - gargling with a strong antibacterial mouthwash, washing our hands with alcohol-based liquids.  There was the “masks faction” - and the “no-masks faction” - where wearing a mask was important and in our best interest and NOT wearing a mask was our personal prerogative. Ideas popped up all over the internet on how to make a mask out of handkerchiefs or other solutions.  Air Transportation came to a (general) halt; cities somewhat closed down.

There was a shortage of toilet paper (I’m not quite sure why).  Some functions were considered to be vital and thus employees were allowed to work.  Grocery stores had shelves empty faster than a predicted blizzard in the Northeast or a predicted hurricane in Florida.  I waited 45 minutes outside my local grocery store only once.  Hours were cut, security people watched the doors and kept track of how many people were inside - somebody had to leave for another person to enter!!  Signs went on the floor telling people to keep a six-foot “social distancing”.  

And, eventually, people wanted to relax some of the restrictions and then the number of COVID-19 cases went up again because people were gathering. 

I had worked for the Super Tuesday early voting in my county.  That finished before COVID became significant.  But there were a few political races that needed runoffs (such as four people sought one position and no one person got 50% so the top two needed to be in a run-off.  That was to be in April - and finally happened in July.  

Summer was a mix of “you can do that”, and “you can’t do that”.   My particular church started to have services on Mother’s Day - but with limited seating, whole rows taped off, pews sprayed down between services, everybody had to wear a mask, everybody had to clean their hands with alcohol sprays.  The Georgetown Recreation Center opened in June, the library opened in June - and closed again in November.  Restaurants had take-out only - and then with some in-house dining.  

People got tired of quarantining - and forgot about social distancing - and started to gather in crowds, college students started to party (again), and the numbers went up.  People gathered for Thanksgiving - and the numbers went up.  While it was only last week, it seemed like many also gathered for Christmas - and again, social distancing disappeared!!!

Vaccines have been developed in an extraordinarily short time.  It seems like the immovable force is going to hit the unmovable wall soon.  Will COVID-19 be history in 2021?  We can only hope!!   At one point, I worried that with the rapid development, that the vaccines might have possible side-effects that wouldn’t show up until later.  That still may be the case, but when my opportunity comes, I will get the vaccine.

Will we still need to wear masks, keep social distancing, and isolation? Time will tell!!!

I do know that LOVE WINS (and at times, death is a victory)

HUGS!!!

Karen