Older daughter (in the tourist industry in New Orleans) has tested positive for the Corona virus.
Oh no! How old is she? Is she generally healthy?
I had to retrieve a vehicle that was at the mechanic for a while requiring more work than I had expected. DesertRoomie is high risk and refusing to leave the house at all so I asked if they could send a driver; they opted for Uber instead.
The Uber driver confirmed my suspicions: People rides are way down but Uber Eats is way up. I left a $5 bill, saying, “I dunno if the garage will tip or not, so just in case…” He appreciated it.
The garage being on the other side of town where I used to live, I stopped at the CostCo there to see if their selection was different. They had a few items the one closest to me does not carry even in the best of times. Still no paper goods or cleansers, though. Any hitches in the water delivery pipeline have been resolved; Kirkland bottle water was not only in its regular spot in the usual quantities, there were pallets stacked to five-feet high the full length in two of the three frozen/refrigerator aisles.
One of my daughter’s childhood friends died yesterday in Memphis from the virus. He was a healthy 27 year old.
So sorry for both of you.
Update I still don’t feel that great but nothing that severe. No coughing now and I still don’t have a fever. I don’t know; I think I am going to go nuts over-analyzing every little idiosyncrasy my body has that might be a symptom. I already have anxiety issues so this whole thing is exacerbating my mental issues; I have talked to my psychiatrist and he increased my medicine so hopefully that will help.
According to the lady who works the front desk, someone in the testing department where I work called in yesterday morning claiming to have been exposed to the virus. Rumors immediately started flying that various people who were out that morning had also been sent home due to having been around this test technician. (I know one of these ended up being false – the guy had started out for work on his motorcycle, realized he would be driving in extremely crappy weather, and went back home to get his truck.)
I was at work for only three days this week; I’m working from home starting today. Desktop computers were definitely not meant to be moved this frequently; I’ve already had to replace one of my monitor cables due to damage caused from repeated plugging and unplugging.
squeegee, any progress?
Update: It’s still mostly a slight lifestyle downgrade; otherwise no large impacts. It’s a bit tedious, sure. MrsRico and I could take a couple more months like this without major bother. Snow has melted; Weatherbug forecasts upper fifties Fahrenheit this week so we may be drawn outside if bears stay away. We still have no idea when or where to take the little RV for relief. We miss bargain-browsing. But we’re only slightly subnormal. Yay!
Oh, I’m so sorry. 
That’s more or less where I have been for the past month. A middle school kid (from a town with infections) coughed on me. She sort of put up her elbow, but I actually had spittle on my face. About 4 days later I came down with a “cold”. It actually started with a sneeze, which isn’t typical for covid. But I still haven’t shaken this damn cold. I get better and worse. At first my temp ran a little high (99+, instead of my usual 97.4) but it’s just been fatigue and thick phlegm in my lungs and a nasty taste in my mouth and a (not that dry) cough, alternating with feeling pretty okay.
I haven’t been sick enough to do anything more than get some extra sleep and some guaifenesin when it was worst. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to kill me, but it feels more worrisome than usual.
Yesterday afternoon, I got word from my school, which happens to be a boarding school, that 9th and 12th grades would resume on campus instruciton in May. The 12th grade would return on 10 May and the 9th grade would return on 11 May. This decision is, AFAICT, being driven by the idea that on campus instruction will help the students with preparing for the gaokao (national college entrance examination). Odd thing is that students from my school, as they follow one of three foreign curriculums, do not take the gaokao. The government announced the return dates* as 12th grade on 27 April and 9th grade on 11 May. My school already had a scheduled term break which ends on 10 May, so 11 May makes sense in that way (and only in that way).
*This link includes resumption dates throughout China, including Taiwan but not Hong Kong and Macao, oddly enough.
Yesterday the Beijing Education Commission also released FAQ on restarting school. Scroll down to FAQ 30:
Okay. The announcement and the FAQ are leaving out a few key points to consider.
[list=a]Concerns for all schools in the city:
[ol][li]Almost all of the teachers for one section’s year group share an office with all the desks currently assigned to a teacher. There is no "social distancing possible in that situation. But see next bullet point.[/li][li]Some teachers do teach more than one year group. They may or may not be in an office that will be fully occupied. If they are not, then they will be the lucky few who can actually manage with “social distancing” in their office, except, of course, when they must enter the fully occupied office, negating whatever benefit they had.[/li][li]As mentioned just above, some teachers teach more than one year group. That means that for those, such as yours truly, who do so, they must conduct some classes on campus and others online.[/li][li]The number of students in the class varies greatly. Some classes have a around ten students, while others have around thirty. The classrooms are all the same size. There is no “social distancing” possible for the more populated classes.[/li][li]FAQ 30 is a major concern. There is a possibility the campus will be closed again. If that happens, the entire group on campus will be moved to quarantine, and not at home. And around and around we go![/li][/ol]
[li]Concerns for international schools:[/li][ol][li]Here’s a fun one. Almost all of the foreign teachers, and a few of the Chinese teachers, are stuck overseas. How will their assigned classes be handled. Expecting our students to observe an online presentation is wishful thinking at best. There must be a live human adult in the room to supervise them.[/li][li]For those who are overseas, when and if they get to return to China, they must be quarantined for the required fourteen day period at a central location. Yes, for certain rare exceptions, the returnees may be allowed to quarantine in their own home, but that is still extremely closely monitored (alarm on outside of door, neighborhood committee reps delivering food, etc.). And they will still have to conduct their online classes from that venue.[/li][li]Just a few days ago, in anticipation of an eventual announcement from the Beijing Education Commission, the school requested all the Chinese staff return to Beijing from wherever they were in China and enter the mandatory quarantine for those coming into the city now.[/ol][/list][/li]Sorry, folks. This does not really strike me as a good idea at the moment. IMHO, the best thing to do is to wait until it is safe to open the campus for all grades at one time, and to wait until at least two weeks after the foreign staff are permitted to return from overseas.
Oh, I didn’t touch on the major international schools here whose student bodies are mostly composed of foreign nationals. Many, if not most, of their students are stuck overseas.
Anyway, my school’s headmaster’s announcement inlcuded a statement that the school administration is working on a policy “so that everyone understands the requirements for their individual situation”. I’ll update this after they release that policy.
That seems like a really bad idea. 
Which idea, ThelmaLou, my suggestion or the entire “reopen the campus” plan as it is now?
By the way, after going through the quarantine two months ago, I’m not really looking forward to taking such a major chance on getting infected and then having to go into extreme lockdown especially while my wife is still stuck overseas.
It’s not me but my wife. AND pretty much every other woman I know.
They are starting to be frustrated that they cannot get their hair or nails done.
Yes, I know some will scream sexism but it is what it is and different people have different issues and the ladies I know LIKE their hair and nails to look a certain way and they go to their special person for hair or manicures and since the season for wearing sandals is coming up - pedicures.
Think this is a petty thing? Well they (women notice things like this) also are noticing all the women on the news media all have great looking, freshly cut and styled hair. And whats more - the woman mayor of Chicago is getting heat because she broke quarantine and had a hair stylist come to her home and do her hair.
Now personally, I think they could re-open salons but require the stylists to wear masks and gloves.
Sorry I was unclear. I meant open the whole campus now seemed like a bad idea.
Dude, open your eyes; she’s hinting around, she wants you to do her nails and hair.
Oh, that wouldnt go well.
I am hearing the stores are running out of home supplies like scissors for cutting hair, home perm kits, and home hair coloring kits.
That’s the sexism part, the overgeneralization. I do grant that your statement may be accurate for your social group. However, I know not one person (of any gender) who has complained about not being able to get their nails or hair done.
Yep, I was pretty annoyed today when I got an emailed shipping notification from Sally Beauty Supply that the scissors I ordered a week and a half ago, which are still listed as available on their website, are actually not available, and my only remedy is to place another order and hope something shows up. It would have been nice if the email even explained that, but instead I had to wait on hold for over an hour to find out.
(Yeah, I know, first world problem. But yeesh, at least put some text in the email that explains what’s going on with the portion of the order that isn’t included in the shipment! That can’t be the first time an item has been out of stock.)
I know one - my husband.