Covid 19 Pandemic

This virus (Coronavirus 19) and the pandemic have changed the world. 

 My friend, Zovia, who lives in the Bahamas now posted this on Facebook.  It describes the changes as of the beginning of April:

Just so I NEVER forget..... April 3, 2020

I am working from home
An emergency order is in place
Gas price a mile from home was $3.89 (That's in the Bahamas.  I just paid $1.79 here on April 30th)
All schools abruptly moved online.
Self-distancing measures on the rise.
Tape on the floors at stores to help distance customers (6ft) from each other.
Restaurants closed, take out only.
Limited number of people inside stores.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons cancelled.
All of Disney World Parks, closed.
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.
family celebrations, holiday gatherings- cancelled.
Weddings and Funerals limited to 10 people
No masses, churches are closed. Online only
No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less.
Children's outdoor play parks are closed.
Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towels, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer, no Lysol
Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.
Government closes the border to all travel.
Airline tickets are under $20 but we can't travel.
Fines are established for breaking the rules.
Stadiums and recreation facilities closed
Press conferences daily from the Prime Minister and Ministy of Health
Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
Government incentives to stay home.
Barely anyone on the roads.
People wearing masks and gloves outside.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.
"Flatten the curve" is a daily saying, along with "We are in this together," and "Lets meet on Zoom."

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!
Be thankful. Be grateful.
Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.

THE BIGGEST LESSON OF ALL “ ONLY WHAT IS DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST”.

JOHN 3:16

We are all one! ❤️

Here's a picture of the line to get into Trader Joe's on May 6th.  See the tape, 6th apart, on the sidewalk?  That's the recommended social distance.

  Most stores have limits on the number of people they will allow in at one time.  And there are limits on how many packs of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, isopropyl alcohol (used to make homemade sanitizer), etc. each person can buy.

During April people started making cloth face masks to donate to healthcare workers and nursing homes and wearing them when they went out in public.  At first things were closed down until March 30th.  Then April 20th.  Now stores here in SC are starting to open back up (first week of May) but school buildings are closed through the rest of the year.  The district is trying to figure out how to do graduations.   Right now state parks are reopened and we've reserved a site for Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully they will stay open and we will find enough outdoor activities to keep us busy for the long weekend.  Back in Jan. we reserved a campsite at Edisto Beach for our vacation in June.  Hopefully we'll be able to go and things will open up enough for us to have stuff to do for an entire week.

Seacoast will make a decision about summer camp by next week.  Daniel will be so sad if he has to miss his last year of camp. :-(  J.L. Mann high school (Daniel's school) is going to have a drive through Senior recognition night in 2 weeks so the kids can see their teachers one more time before the end of the year.

No one knows if colleges will open back up in the fall or everyone will be doing learning online still.  We really want Daniel to be able to "go away" to college.  He's supposed to start at Spartanburg Methodist college in August.  He had is advisory meeting in April to choose his major and classes for the fall via Zoom.  Most people hadn't even heard of Zoom before all this.  Now churches, schools, small groups, families, businesses are all using it to connect.

Life is so different.  I haven't worked since March 12th.  Project Hope has a plan for expanding services (and hopefully me returning to work) but it all depends on the government relaxing the social distancing rules.  Paul's continued working and been as busy as ever even though he's not supposed to go inside people's houses except for emergencies.  Builders are considered essential workers.  Jae still has his job at Goodwill. They were closed for shopping for a while but continued taking donations.

  I've been trying to use my extra time at home to get lots of projects done. One of those is to redecorate the RV.  Another is to make curriculum materials for teaching Isabela at church when this all ends.  I hope that her mom will still want me to take her to church a couple of times a month when this is all over.  I'm excited to see how the curriculum works and if she likes it.  But I have no idea when that will be possible.  People are saying that social distancing may need to continue for a year or more until a vaccine is available.  It's pretty impossible to social distance kids in a classroom so we don't know what that means for schools and churches.

We're all praying for wisdom and an end to this pandemic.