COVID19 Time Capsul

Today is Thursday, April 30, 2020

*Here in Utah we are roughly at day 45 of quarantine/social isolation.

*In the US alone, there are just over 1 million confirmed covid19 cases with 58,000+ deaths as of this evening. In Utah, we have had 4343 confirmed cases and only 45 deaths. 

*Schools have been closed since March 16, 2020 and are teaching remotely online. This will continue for the duration of the school year and some predict it will impact the start in the fall.

*There are lines and tape inside of stores on their floors to show people where to stand and how much space to leave 6 feet between.

*Restaurants are only open for takeout, home deliver and pick up.

*Parks, beaches, hiking trails, sports fields are not accessible to the public (in some areas - here in Lake Point we still have access to outdoor places with the exception of the playgrounds and school outdoor facilities like the track and tennis courts.) No visitors are allowed at hospitals.

*All major and minor league sports competitions have been cancelled as well as kids' sports. This impacted Nate who was just starting his senior tennis season as the number 1 singles player at Stansbury High School.

*All festivals, concerts and entertainment events have been banned.

*Weddings, family celebrations and birthdays have been cancelled.  Funerals limited to 10-20 people (church policy right now is very small funeral gathering of under 10 and no service except at the graveside.) Our beloved Bud Huggins passed away this week and will be having a graveside service only. People are doing drive by parades to celebrate birthdays.

*People are doing drive-by receptions and parades for birthdays and other special occasions.

*Young kids can't understand why they can only see grandparents and other extended family and friends on a screen or through a window if someone visits in person.

*All extra curricular/ volunteer/business meeting and other gatherings are now on virtual meeting platforms i.e.(Zoom, House Party, Go to Meeting, Whatsap, Webex, Google Duo) the list goes on.

*No hugs or kisses with anyone outside of your household.

*Churches are closed. We have been having home church since March 15. The last time we attended church was when my parents flew home from their mission. That was March 8.

*We have to stay away from each other, more than six feet. Every now and again the kids will "hang out" with their cousins. The other night they played football, touch football. It may not have been the smartest but it made my heart happy to see them outside playing again. Nate has hung with his friend Isaac a few times and has played tennis with cousin Scott. I have interacted with coworkers as we worked to get online schooling going. We believe in "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." So when our Governor asks us to stay home, we really tried our best. It was hard especially when others weren't following the rules as well as they could have.

*Shortage of disposable masks and gloves in hospitals. At first you could not find toilet paper, gloves, hand sanitizer, bleach, paper towels, cleaning supplies, flour, or yeast in stores unless you can shop the earliest hours and if you get lucky. It's gotten a little better. If you do find it, you can only buy 1. Same for a lot of the higher demand groceries, and depending on where I shop, there have been limits on things like meat, eggs, milk, etc. It made me grateful that I followed a commandment to have food storage. We've never had a lack at our house.

*Among the several empty/ picked over shelves at the stores are the shelves with good old fashioned board and card games and jigsaw puzzles are on back order! Good thing we are a puzzle family. We are well stocked in puzzles.

*Most people wear masks in public, some states REQUIRE them to enter any public area. People are wearing all sorts - bandannas, homemade masks with hair ties, hospital grades of all varieties and dust masks/filters. Many people are making them and donating them to first responders, hospitals and friends. Again, grateful I had a 72-hour kit where I had put some dust masks in. They came in handy when we needed to board a flight.

*Stores have limited hours to allow staff to clean and sanitize every night.

*Store check outs, some pharmacies and drive thrus have Plexiglas between employees and customers, you reach under or around to pay.

*Australia, USA, Canada and Europe have closed their borders.

-Some groups are protesting to reopen the economy, "my mask my body."

*Very VERY few people are traveling for leisure. Airports are virtually empty, lots of cancelled flights. I can attest to that when we flew to Phoenix to pick up a car. Tourism has the worst crisis in history. Everyone is cancelling and postponing trips and vacations until further notice. Our June girls trip to Hawaii has been postponed. We are still waiting to see about our trip to Atlanta/Florida in October. We have had girls camp, and Trek cancelled for the summer.

*Gas prices are under $2.00 and oil companies are in the negative. I paid $1.97 for gas the other day. Several of our vehicles now sit so we start them occasionally to make sure they will start.