Is your life returning to normal? If so, how and by how much? While we seniors no longer have kids in school, many of us have grandchildren or great-grandchildren of school age, and their parents might be facing the in-person vs. online schooling decision. I feel for those parents!
While I say that, I know exactly what I’d do if I had grade-school kids. I’d keep them home. I feel there is no way we can keep our most precious little ones or their teachers safe in an onsite school environment. I believe in and trust the science that supports this opinion. Wear a mask, keep your distance, and wash your hands.
But others are forging ahead, thinking that time makes the possible outcome somehow safer. We’re not in a safer place because a lot of time has gone by. We’re in a safer place only when the number of new cases and deaths go down and stay down for a period of time (two weeks? a month?), regardless of how much or how little time has elapsed.
In my neighborhood things are loosening up. Groups are getting together for BBQ’s and family gatherings and social hours. Many have decided we will be okay if we widen our social events just a tad, from like 3 or 4 people to 10 or so. Wearing masks is still hit and miss even in retail establishments that require them. No one is enforcing the mandate. How can they?
And yet the numbers in my county are increasing exponentially. For the first three months or so we reported none to 6 or 7 new cases every 24 hours. Now we’re showing on average 50-60 new cases a day – sometimes a 100 or more (114 new cases yesterday). We talk about the soaring numbers and shake our heads and go on doing what we feel okay doing, creeping slightly away from what we did in the beginning of things closing up.
Yes, we’re all tired of being faithful to mask wearing and washing our hands as often as we were three, four, or five months ago. Heck, I no longer wipe every piece of mail or package I receive with disinfectant. I don’t clean every grocery item that gets delivered. Plus, I’m aware of the terrifying circumstances where income to support yourself and your family is impacted. I don’t have all the answers, but I know there are some resources available, even if they’re not permanent.
How are things where you are? Are things changing? If so, how? How do you feel about those changes? What do you do today that you didn’t do three months ago?
If you had kids and were facing the onsite vs online school situation, what would you decide?
Times seem to be fraught with REALLY BIG questions. I’ve thought often that I’m glad I’m not a parent of school-age children now. It’s a tough call. My anxiety level is high enough that I would keep them home, but, remembering how I also disliked having to even help my kids with school work, I can’t imagine having to basically become a home-school teacher (which is required even with on-line school). I worry about their social development at all ages. I worry about all the kids in homes where they are either neglected or abused and there is no one to intervene. I worry about the kids whose parents are unable in some way or another to assist them with any time of school work. Worry worry worry. Life is worrisome.
As for the spikes in the Virus. It’s hard for me not to have disdain for those who have “given up,” or who, in the name of misplaced “freedom,” actually flaunt all healthcare advice. Thanks alot! It’s due to your inattention and lack of responsibility that the rest of us are in for the long haul. When I think about the crises my parents’ generation lived through and rallied to fight, it’s clear that our spirit as a country is broken. It’s no longer about “us” but about “me, me, me.” All empires have crashed and burned this way, and I don’t see much hope of us avoiding it, especially since the leadership in DC is non-existent or driving the negative force. So, Bah Humbug! at least for today!
Thank you, Christine, for expressing what so many of us are feeling. Our concern for those children who are forced to stay home in unhealthy environments (to say the least!) is also a huge factor this blog doesn’t even address, so I appreciate your mentioning it here.
For me, it’s Bah Humbug! one day, Pollyanna the next!
Look for Pollyanna to make her appearance here in two weeks. Stay safe!