Captain's Log #50 – Covid-19, Day 0.2

First, you must tell me how much weight you've gained and what are your favorite foods to cook (and eat.) Are you supporting your local restaurants by ordering take-out? I'm afraid to step on the scale but all my waistbands are shrinking!  We've ordered take-out a couple of times, it's been delicious, and the business owners so appreciative. If you have a regular income, I encourage you to support your local businesses, if you can.

Still no virus here, yet. Our county supervisor says it will peak in Sonoma County in two months. Ugh, so distant? I'd just as soon get it, get over it and move on, except for the real possibility of dying. Speaking of which, sort of, here's a link to Chris Cuomo's How to Beat the Coronavirus:  https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2020/04/07/closing-argument-secret-kicking-coronavirus-chris-cuomo-cpt-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/  Basically, he says to stay inside, get up, move around, stretch, drink plenty of fluids and keep your temperature down with your favorite fever-reducing meds. This advice is counter to what we tend to do: close the curtains, stay in bed (and, in this case, rot from the inside.)  Er... moving right along, I hope you don't have the opportunity to try Chris' recommendations but it's worth knowing. Forewarned is forearmed.

In the last issue I said we had one case on our campus, it turns out that was an error. Still no cases, yet. The administration is doing a noble job of preparing - someone somewhere is thinking this through. Because I sit across from the woman who handles the after-death process I get to hear some interesting things, for example, this is the third time in a couple of months that, in her haste, the night shift nurse has called the wrong mortuary to pick up a body. It kinda' pisses the mortuary people off, big time. Come on folks, there's no hurry, the guy's not going anywhere, slow down and follow the well documented procedure. This past December we had 16 deaths. Recently we've had 3 or 4, not related to Covid, including Mr. Blue Eyes :-(   In fact, the last four deaths have been people I've admitted recently, es no bueno. 

In addition to putting employees at the entrance to take people's temperatures as they come in, and record the names of members going out, there is talk of installing a gate. If it would cut down on the number of people having to staff the entrance, it would be a good thing, but we don't have a fence around the place (yet.) If someone really wanted to leave they could drive their car across the adjoining golf course. Ha! that would get a fence installed pronto. The administration has emptied one ward by shuffling people around and moving some people out of the hospital to another residential building. We have all the PPE that we could possibly need, the administrator says. Each of us have been given an N-95 mask (we'll be given a new one once a week), our office has been provided with a box of masks to be handed out to members if they come in without one, and a spray bottle of some super-cleaner, as well as a large package of sanitizing wipes. She is convinced the virus will come in with an employee because we mix more broadly in the community. We'll see. She also said if someone in our household comes down with it, as long as we are asymptomatic, we can come to work if we wear a mask all day. I asked about this because I had read that you are supposed to keep yourself quarantined, and anyone you see regularly, like your co-workers, should also self-quarantine. That would empty our office and the staff at the facility pretty quickly, thus wearing a mask is acceptable, she said. (What else can you do?)

The other problem that the administration is only now waking up to is that half of our members, about 350 people, don't have pre-paid funeral arrangements. Recently we've had two bodies that neither the family member, or county, would pay for and we've had to absorb the $1,800 cremation cost, times two. So far this has been paid for out of our donation fund. Many members don't have the money and are not willing to make installment payments. "Hey, when I'm dead it's not my problem."  I am sympathetic to this point of view, but it does have unfortunate consequences for others. I'm told they believe the federal VA will step forward; maybe they will, maybe they won't, we'll see. We do have a cemetery on campus: rent a refrigerated truck, a bulldozer and operator, hire a land surveyor and plant our former members in a mass grave. New York is doing it, 25 a day, I read. It might be cheaper. Desperate times... and these are desperate times.

Context

I had been griping (to myself and you) about having to do data entry all day, every day, so I signed up to do some extra duties around the facility due to our crisis mode. I thought working in the Command and Control room would be interesting but sitting around a computer monitor with 5 'strangers' in an ice-cold room (I'm told) does not sound terribly attractive. Instead they assigned me to monitor the exit gate. I was to write down the names of the residents who were leaving campus. The whole world is locked down and these guys are sashaying off campus, without a mask, to do a bit of shopping or get a coffee. I was initially assigned a 12-hour shift from 7am to 7pm. What?! Are you kidding?! I got it cut down to 6 hours, 7am to 1pm.  Dutifully I showed up at 7am and relieved someone. It's dark at 7am, and very cold. I was dressed warmly enough, I thought. I brought along a stack of New Yorker magazines and got to watch the local Canada geese interacting, it's relationship building time. It was an imposition when someone interrupted me to leave, in the beginning. After 2 hours I reflected that this was the longest and coldest 2 hours of my entire life. Should I leave? As I was debating this someone came along to relieved me. I was relieved! In the end I decided that parking a 66-year old woman out in the cold for hours on end was not a healthy idea. I have since declined the opportunity to volunteer and am as happy as a (warm) bug in a rug doing my data entry. Just when it seems like it couldn't get worse, it can, says the happy bug.

In other news, a pair of Bluebirds have set up housekeeping in the bird box in the front yard.  In the backyard the Pacific Iris are blooming like crazy and the Sweet Peas and Roses have plump buds. It's full-on, full-throated Spring here, ready or not. 

Let me know how you are dealing with these times, and your weight gain :-)

Many blessings,

Karla, k.j. and mom