wear a mask

Isolation Log: Covid Date 11.a.20

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Jude & Simon enjoy snuggling.

It’s like Christmas! March seems like it was 20 years ago, even though it was only 2 months. When everything was going into lockdown, I had ordered a bunch of supplies online. With the exception of the flour (mostly because I was out of flour), I completely forgot that I had ordered anything.

Last week, I finally received my order of allergy-friendly flour and allergy-friendly “milk.” I was overjoyed. This week, more packages have arrived that I totally do not remember ordering. But they have my name on them, and they are all things I use on a regular basis, so must be I did.

The only way for me to stay safe is to stay home. Unfortunately, people in my area are not being responsible. They are not wearing masks or social distancing. I wear a mask, but if other people do not follow the rules, then it is not safe for me to be out. I will stay home.

In focusing on essentials, the only things I need are food and to continue working.

For food, people have been stellar about bringing me food and filling my cooler. I do not like asking for help, and I do not like to put other people at risk, so I am trying to find a work-around so I do not have to go to the grocery store. I am also trying to find a work-around so that the amazing people who have been helping me can have a break. The doctor told me not to go to the stores, and I do not see the doctor again until July, so those are the instructions I’m following.

As mentioned in a previous post, I have decided to only grocery shop once per month now, similar to when my grandparents had the farm. Worst case scenario, I have to attempt to go to the store once a month at a low traffic time. Best case scenario, I try to figure out how to get things delivered to me. The challenge with delivery is that I cannot order fresh items.

Trying to figure out my new normal, I did find a local company has started to offer touchless food deliveries to people. I will be trying this service at the end of June to order my July groceries. If it goes well, I plan to use it for the foreseeable future. The service uses refrigerated trucks, so I can order fresh and frozen items. They have a “menu” from which to order. It is a company that traditionally services restaurants and schools and is now delivering locally to homes. If all goes well, I will use the service for as long as they provide it. 

I did have a friend drop-off supplies to my cooler today and I am so grateful. I would not be making it through this pandemic if not for so many people helping me. In adjusting to our new normal, I am trying to find other services to “help” me so that I am not taxing my informal supports.

It looks like having coolers in front of homes for food supply drop-offs is going to be a thing here for the foreseeable future.

In other news, I received an application for absentee voting a few weeks ago in the mail. I filled it out saying I need to vote by mail for every election for the rest of the year. Today, I received my first vote-by-mail ballot. It is for the local school board and school budget election. This is my first time voting in a school election. 

The reason why I am voting in a school election now is because the ballot was mailed to my house. It is so much easier for me to vote by mail than it is for me to vote in-person. I wish we could vote by mail for every single election all of the time.

One of the biggest surprises about the mail-in ballot is how easy it is to understand. Not only is voting in person a major pain, but it is difficult to understand the new electronic voting machines that they have at in-person polling places. I found it much easier to understand how to vote with the paper ballot than I do on the machine in person.

There are some throw-backs making a return with this pandemic that I am hoping will stay for the long-term. I am super excited to try this local company offering grocery delivery service at the end of June to obtain my July groceries. I also love voting by mail. It is so much easier and convenient than voting in person. A few weeks ago, I used the special orange envelope to get stamps through my maiboxl from the post office. My mailbox is my favorite accessory right now.

I am loving these services and so grateful to have them. These services are bright spots in a challenging time. Right now, I am super happy about anything that makes my life easier and limits my contact with other people. When I feel safe to interact, I will. It is still too soon and we have the second wave coming. 

What services have you found helpful in the pandemic?

Isolation Log: Covid Date 10.a.20

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Jude likes to snuggle on the couch.

One of my really good friends of over 20 years passed away from COVID this week. This is the fourth person in 9 weeks that I know who has died of COVID. This pandemic has been very hard for me emotionally, and the fact that I am surrounded by irresponsible and ignorant people is not helping. 

Last weekend I went into my work office and protesters were downtown wanting everything to reopen. I overheard one of the evil neighbor kids asking their parent what coronavirus was, and the parent responded “something people made up so you don’t have to go to school.” 

My local school district has been delivering lawn signs to congratulate graduating seniors. They are doing this in large groups of 15-20 staff where no one wears a mask or bothers to social distance. They were all milling around in the street and hugging. 

I will remember the irresponsibility and blatant disregard for safety displayed by my local school district by voting “no” on the school budget increase this year.

Everytime I see these things, not only does it make me terrified to leave my house, but it just plain makes me cry. I do not understand how people can be so ignorant and think that this is fake, when I have experienced such profound loss and death.

One person commented this week that everyone who is dying is elderly. This is not true. Of the four people I know who have died, they have all been in good health with no pre-existing conditions and under the age of 65. I have another friend whose 6 year old is currently in ICU with the disease.

How many more people have to die before people in my area wake up and take this seriously?

I am heartbroken and terrified.

Protesters complain about their “rights” and say they don’t have to wear a mask.

If you refuse to wear a mask, you should be charged with negligent homicide. 

That’s what it is. It is a very simple concept to understand. It is exactly like drinking and driving. If you are stupid enough to drive when you have been drinking, you can kill someone. If you are stupid enough to leave your house without wearing a mask and staying 6 feet away from people, you can kill someone. They are one and the same. The only difference is that a car accident is a quick death; COVID-19 is a slow, long, painful one. 

My greatest challenges are figuring out how to obtain food and working. As long as I can do those two things, I can manage everything else. The challenge is that I can only control myself. I cannot control people around me. If people around me refuse to wear a mask and social distance, then it is not safe for me to leave my house. That makes it very challenging for me to work.

My region of New York is reopening. Of course, it is too soon and people are acting stupidly. Our COVID rate has tripled since reopening started. But that’s ok. People in my county do not care if people live or die. I never thought I would live in a world where the value of a human life is nothing, but here we are. 

On to the good stuff for this week …

After waiting over 7 weeks on an order I placed back in March, the allergy friendly flour and allergy friendly “milk” I ordered finally arrived! I now have food to be able to eat breakfast again!

Once the flour and milk are gone, that is going to be it for a very long time. The factories that make my allergy friendly specialty items are closed. They estimate that when they do reopen, it will take them at least 2 months to get back to capacity. 

I currently have about 8 cups of allergy friendly flour. However, I am going to set about 2 cups of it aside to save for Christmas. I am anticipating that it will be a long time until I am able to obtain my speciality items again, and if I save 2 cups for Christmas, I can make something yummy to look forward to when we enter the second or even third wave of the pandemic.

I am so happy to be able to have breakfast again!

I have been working on minimizing my bathroom, and will be doing a minimalist bathroom post soon.

My neuro symptoms have been getting worse with the heat and I am relying on my rollator more. Luckily, I do not have to drive to work right now, so I am not a danger to anyone else when my vision goes and I am not balancing well. 

As challenging as the tech issues are, I am very happy to be able to work from home. I enjoy being with my cats. I feel safe here. I am also afraid of what will happen to my house once I do go back to work with all of the children running around unsupervised. It was Memorial Day weekend last year when someone took a baseball bat to the side of my house and traumatized my cats. 

Right now, I am taking one day at a time.

I am working from home with my cats where I am safe and very happy about it. I am so thankful to still have a job.

I would love to be able to go out and do something, but unfortunately, I am unable to do so because other people act stupidly. If everyone would wear a mask and abide by social distancing, I would be able to leave my house safely. I can only dream. 

After knowing so many people who have died recently, I don’t want to be next. I can’t leave orphans.

Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet away. 

Isolation Log: Covid Date 9.a.20

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Jolene is a happy baby.

Bubble space. It’s a pretty simple concept that I would teach to all my pre-school students back when I was teaching. I spent over a decade as head teacher in an inclusive classroom in the public school district.

An inclusive classroom meant that my class size was limited to 14 students, about 25% of them had some sort of disability (usually on the autism spectrum), and I had a dedicated teacher’s aide in the room with me at all times. In addition to the dedicated teacher’s aide, there would be other professionals such as occupational therapists, physical therapists and social workers who would frequently be in the classroom working with a particular student on a certain skill or with a topic.

My weekly lesson plans included not only the basics such as letter recognition, pre-reading skills, science, colors, numbers, but also social and emotional skills. We would use modelling and positive reinforcement to help teach kids how to be nice to others.

One of the big social emotional skills taught in my classroom was the concept of bubble space. As many of the children in my classroom were on the autism spectrum or had some sort of sensory disability, many of them did not like to be touched. 

I would teach all the students that they live in their own personal bubble. If you take both your arms and hold them out, that is your imaginary bubble space. If you measure fingertip to fingertip like that, it is also supposed to roughly equal your height, but I digress.

Kids were supposed to ask before entering someone else’s bubble space. For example, you should ask someone first if it is okay to hug them. This was also a great exercise in teaching kids the difference between good touch / bad touch for abuse prevention. If someone enters your personal bubble space in a way that is not okay with you, then you need to say something about it. Always tell two adults. This is in case the first adult does not do the right thing (report it), hopefully the second adult will.  

The point is, everyone has a personal bubble space.

Now, I have seen a marked decline in society since I stopped teaching pre-school. I’m not sure what has happened to people from the time they left my classroom at age 5 to adulthood, but it seems like the entire world has forgotten the concept of bubble space.

Do I need to go back to teaching pre-school and invite all of the adults? Get with the program, people! Bubble space!

Bubble space is essentially the same thing as social distancing. For some reason, many people, or, at least, many people in my area, are unable to social distance. Why do you not understand the concept of bubble space? Four year olds get it, but the adults have forgotten.

It’s not hard. Yet people do not seem to be able to do it.

I live in a bubble and I would appreciate it if people would respect my bubble space and not enter my bubble. 

Why is this concept hard?

Bubble space is no longer a part of the manners I teach to pre-school children. Bubble space is now a life and death concept for every human being on the planet.

This is a reminder from one of your educators to please remember what we taught you in pre-school and respect the bubble space. It’s not hard. I can’t get over the fact that 4 year olds get this, but somehow adults don’t. 

Did you get dumber as you got older? Or do you think once you hit the age of 5 this no longer applies?

Maybe someone needs to hire me to teach adults now instead. 

Wear a mask and stay 6 feet away from people.