My spidey sense is saying the same thing. I told my husband to call his hair cutter, and have her come do a haircut outside in our backyard, with masks and gloves. Our pantry is still well stocked because I've been replacing what we use on the weekly shopping trips, and I'm keeping my eyes peeled for things that disappeared but are still hard to find (Lysol, bleach, rubbing alcohol...).
I don't know if it is a spidey sense or if I am just being logical. When I go to the store, if I see products that tend to be difficult to find, I buy some. I like having some back -up product. Trader Joes has been really good about having toilet paper, paper towels. small hand sanitizers and flour which are still out most places. It is my preferred place to shop. They are on top of limiting the amount of people in store, having most everything I need, having the most shoppers wearing masks about 80%, (not required in my state) and all employees wearing them. They were the first to put up plexiglass barriers at check-out stands where I live and they always have someone at the check out area move your cart to the next available register. Their marked space boxes and arrows on the floor are easily understood ( where to go or stand). Another good thing about Trader Joes, they are still getting new seasonal products in which I always look forward to. They are also getting in brand new items such as my new favorite find, organic watermelon fruit spread. They also play calming music and the staff is helpful.
My daughter cut her boyfriend's hair the other day with clippers he owns. First time ever and she did a good job. I think she might need to borrow them and do do her father's hair too. Her boyfriend is the only person outside of our family that she sees, and his family is working from home and also social distancing.
My state is pretty much open but my home isn't. We are still in shelter at home, essential trip mode.
@jessi1978 One thing that really frightens me is that Trump will try to force a vaccine down the throats of the whole USA population before it's been properly and fully tested for effectiveness and safety. That would be one of the worst of all possible outcomes.
Donald Trump wants a very easy quick-fix that gets him off the hook quickly for any further political fallout related to COVID-19. He is extremely impatient for such a quick-fix. He is not and never has been concerned about the best interest of Americans. He is interested only in maintaining and increasing his existing power and money and getting his oversized ego constantly flattered.
Don't forget he wants a Nobel Prize. If he endorses a vaccine that vaccine I will avoid. Just like his precious hydroxychloroquine which has now been linked to many deaths.
Now the my state has re-opened it has happened.
I decided to watch my local news on tv tonight and there they were. New commercials advertising businesses that have re-opened. They are telling me about their safety precautions and what they are doing to keep me safe., trying to get me to go INSIDE their buildings.
Well, I don't think visiting a casino, a furniture showroom, or an appliance store is in the cards for me or a lot of people anytime soon.
On a different note, it saddens me that Doctors Without Borders needed to go to the Navajo Nation to help care for people due to the virus. They are true light works and do incredible work around the world.
But...why are are we continuing to fail the Navajo Nation, a truly disenfranchised group of people? Why are we not able to take care of our own citizens properly?
Lastly, some professional sports in Europe are returning now without fans. Nascar is returning without fans too.
This is a long overdue gratitude post. Insomnia can bring benefit. Thank you all so very much. Please forgive me if I don't remember names of everyone. The spiritual generosity of members of this site is staggering in the best of ways. @jeanne-mayell, @Lawrence and so many others that were supportive when I was struggling with fear of COVID 19 coming to our unit a few weeks back. I experienced quite a bit of intuitive phenomena related to this healing support. I felt the support quite literally.
I was floated to a special pathogens unit and learned so much. The person I cared for did die some time after that day. They did redesign our unit and clear beds for folks with the virus only to realize our unit was not needed. We were re opened to our original purpose. I am still willing to float to the units that are caring for C19. They are trying to leave it to our choice for as long as it is feasible. There is still risk of folks with C19 getting through our entry screening processes as not everyone presents typically. We realize this may change as the reopening takes place.
As many of the wise ones here have noted, it will be quite the while before this is in our rear view per my physician colleagues.
The virus has asked me to actively work with my fear in ways that are positively impacting many areas of life. Despite many years of meditation, there were parts of my nature relating to fear that weren't as clearly known to myself. This is an active process with still much to learn and work to be done. The virus has brought a new clarity that continues to grow. It also has inspired positive lifestyle changes that I hope will remain as habit. I've begun transitioning from a primarily vegetarian existence to whole foods plant based, no oil, reduced salt, no sugar. If I can get rock solid in habit with this, I am contemplating offering to go back to ICU. If my body has to contend with the virus, I want to give it the best chance possible.
Though I don't comment frequently please know I do regularly read the forum and have found it helpful. I've also prayed/practiced with everyone in mind and heart, but particularly those who have shared their challenges resulting from the virus.
I've experienced a bit of "imposter's syndrome" as I'm not certain of how I fit with the mission of this site. My intuitions are not factually predictive. I experience them as guidance when I'm in service to others. It can also manifest as seeing a person's feelings that I'm caring for in my mind's eye. It's usually visual. Mostly, it is in the liminal space between sleeping to waking. It's only every now and again, where I predictively "know" events. I don't control these experiences. Though I do pay attention when they occur.
This site, Jeanne's and all the members' work here, is quite a love offering to the universe and our world.
I remain so very grateful.
On the issues of vaccines; it has been reported in our newspapers that Dutch scientists are seeing success with a vaccine they have already been working on for years due to researching the SARS strains.
They say that *if* everything goes the way it should they could have some sort of a vaccine for Covid 19 within 6 months, but only if everything goes extremely well. My guess would be somewhere in 2021, since I doubt everything will go smoothly.
A practical question I doubt there is an answer readily available but how do we administer a vaccine to everyone once it is available? It seems like the vaccine would have to be driven around to everyone and administered block by block. I can see this becoming a real issue of equity.
Thanks for your insightful reflections. Your comment 'The virus has brought a new clarity that continues to grow' really resonates.
I've noticed the same thing. Yes, I think living in this life/death fear opens us up to face our other fears more easily. It has been quite profound. Several life long issues have seen true clarity in my life and I am profoundly grateful.
I'm happy to hear that you are taking care of yourself and growing. We will all rise from this period a better nation. And many of us will be better people too.
@jaidy They have social distancing already so I don't see what they couldn't have people showing up and waiting in line for a vaccine.
But a vaccine, while hopefully helpful, won't be a panacea either. Listening to an NPR segment with infectious disease specialists, I gathered that regular flu vaccines have been about 40% affective due to new strains of influenza that appear after the vaccines are administered. This virus is much more complicated, more infectious, and of course more dangerous to those who get it.
With gratitude to you for your sweet honesty, and in keeping with the 'mission' of this site, I feel that everyone here is a brighter light for the communion..... ??
Way up in this thread, I think I posted a link to an article, I forget where, that basically said "Get ready for the biggest gaslighting ever." First of all, EVERY commercial right now for EVERY thing, whether small or big company is full of b.s. "heartfelt sentiments" about how the company in question is "in this with you", "we got your back", with lots of phone video footage of people in their homes. That was the first wave of gaslightling. What you describe is the predicted second wave - "Come back! We've made is super safe!"
Yeah, well it's corporate America. They are not in this with us. They do not have our backs. Everything is not super safe. The NY Times reported that more than 60% of Americans believe it's not safe to reopen the economy, and of that 60% I think 80% said they had no intention of returning to consumer activities this year. No one has money to spend. Millions are out of work, and in most states the UI claims re filed but going unpaid for weeks or months at a time. Which means many more millions are also now uninsured. The NYT pointed out that you can open whatever you want, but you can't force people to shop, and that despite what we see on the "news" (e.g., people crowding bars and restaurants in Denver and Wisconsin), the vast majority of people have no intention of doing anything like that. The article also said that for those of us who are high risk, it's unlikely we'd even be able to return to such activities with bare minimum precautions.
Here in San Diego we are going to "Phase 2" of that state's plan for reopening. So here's the issue: some retail stores are allowed to reopen, as long as they have safety plans in place, which they do not have to submit to anyone for approval, and as long as they are providing curbside service only. Well, my husband noticed a shoe store and a furniture store, both re-opened, with signs about social distancing and masking, however people were inside shopping (he did say most were masked). As with everything else pandemic around here, there's no enforcement whatsoever. So I have zero trust in the reopening process, and hope the governor shuts things down again as soon as the resurgence spikes up.
I have NO intention of doing any of the following for the rest of this year, at least, and maybe not til 2022:
In-person retail shopping (except necessities)
Air travel
Staying in a hotel
Dining inside a restaurant
Taking any form of in-person group class, whether it's French or Dance
Attending any large public events (e.g., outdoor concerts)
Walking my dogs on busy city streets
Going to small parties of more than 6 people
Leaving my house unmasked
Elective medical visits that can wait
Using public transit
Using rideshare apps
I'm still waiting to hear ideas from y'all about what to do when my hubby has to start traveling again for business - we only have 1 bathroom in our tiny house and there's no way to isolate us from each other. We both are high risk (me more than him tho).
@5leafclover I suspect the first good vaccine will probably NOT come from a US manufacturer. (That's logic talking, not intuition--because there's no leadership or coordination here like there is in the more sane countries.)
Now, wouldn't that be a kick in the diaper for the current occupant of the WH?
Regarding trying to isolate when your husband returns to work -- I don't know if this would be possible given, but could you rent/buy a travel trailer? You can get a used one for under 20k and monthly payments could be as low 120/month. If you can rent one, even better.
That way, he could come home from work and go there to change/shower -- and even sleep/eat there.
Of course, that assumes you have a spot on your property to park one. And while it is fairly easy to get electric to the unit, I don't know how to swing the water issue. I assume you don't have a sewer hookup just waiting next to the house ? However, there are lots of RV groups on Facebook and I have found them to be very helpful.
That's all I got -- sorry it isn't a better suggestion.
Good idea, but We live in the city - nowhere to legally park a camper and no way to hook it up to electric or plumbing safely. Good thought for those in the suburbs, though.
In an ideal world, yes, but that's a costly and not practical solution. Also, there's a bit of a compliance issue with my husband. He lacks the OCD and paranoia that are serving me so well. He swears he'd wear a mask to travel, but who knows... it's more about how to isolate him on his return.
@laura-f Hi. I Love San Diego. I lived there until 2003 for almost 9 years and miss it still. We lived in a rental house for a bit in Scripps (Wish we had bought it when it was $285,00 instead of $650,000 now) We had a small patio that one could practically live on. I am thinking that you can put together some sort of outdoor living space with access to the bathroom in the garage? I know your daughter and BF are there. Super cleaning of the bathroom etc. There could be a lot of creative ways to set it up with privacy. I seem to remember lots of unusual outdoor spaces in PB and other beach communities. Just a thought....
Well, we do have decent outdoor space, but we're mostly living in it to feel less hemmed in. Also, by July it will get too hot to spend too much time out there. We are on an urban canyon, so we have a lot of wildlife coming through, so bathroom aside, I can't make my husband live in a tent out back.
The outdoor space is communal in that it allows us to spend time together while still socially distant, so certainly we could take all our meals out there. In fact, my husband will be starting up band practice in a few weeks. I can't make singers wear masks, nor guitarists wear gloves so we're going to rehearse outside. Our plan is to give the band access to the garage bathroom, which will be scrubbed before and after rehearsal, and we'll give daughter + BF the heads up to spend the afternoon at his mother's house.
I found this interesting. A group of small businesses is resisting the re-opening of Arizona and have signed a letter stating why it is too early to open the state back up. More business owners are signing the letter every day.
LA Times reiterates what we've been saying: wearing a mask isn't just to protect you, it's to protect everyone else, and it means you are considerate.
Masks aren't foolish. Here's proof.