did I over-react?

[d0nnivain]

I'm taking baby steps.  I had a socially distant lunch with a friend yesterday at a picnic table by my office.  I'm going to an outdoor farmer's market this afternoon. 

I may hang in the back of an outdoor protest in my town today but only because the keynote speaker is a friend & I'd like to support him as well as the movement.  If the other protestors are not wearing masks, I'll probably not get out of my car.  The area where the protest will be is very large & open.  It's also a small town.  I have managed to stay 6+ feet away from others in that space during concerts, at other pre-covid rallies & on holidays which is why I'm going to try.    

We can't stay locked up forever but I will be vigilant with my own safety.  I just need DH to stop with the handshakes.  He agreed to refrain so we shall see. 

[preraph]

After the protests began in Dallas, 2 weeks later, we went from having plenty of hospital beds and ventilators to only having about 25% left, and a huge jump in the number of cases.

I have a sonogram in a small town scheduled next week and I found out they had 150 protesters, so I'm planning on canceling it. They have only one death in that county until now but they just had a very sharp spike in cases just the last three days. 

[d0nnivain]

Ugh oh.  I guess the media is not doing a good job of covering covid spikes.  I knew Texas was increasing but I thought it was everything:  no masks, protests plus no distance.  

In my county we have had 5 new cases this month & 9 deaths.  The 2 adjoining counties had 30 cases, unsure about the total # of new deaths.  This is across 1300 square miles so we have the space for distance.   

Now you are making me rethink the protest.  Maybe I'll just send money but its hard to figure out what's legit

Edited June 20, 2020 by d0nnivain

[Fresh_Start]

17 minutes ago, d0nnivain said:

Ugh oh.  I guess the media is not doing a good job of covering covid spikes.  I knew Texas was increasing but I thought it was everything:  no masks, protests plus no distance.  

In my county we have had 5 new cases this month & 9 deaths.  The 2 adjoining counties had 30 cases, unsure about the total # of new deaths.  This is across 1300 square miles so we have the space for distance.   

Now you are making me rethink the protest.  Maybe I'll just send money but its hard to figure out what's legit

If it's of any use to you, I've used this site to periodically track the numbers and see what direction things are trending: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I believe it updates at least twice per day.  Past the numbers for each state, some of which have embedded links that allow you to check individual counties (otherwise you can just google your state/county), there are graphs charting total and daily cases in the U.S. as well as total and daily deaths.  What's discouraging, but predictable, is that yesterday saw the highest spike in daily cases since May 1st.  The idiots who think that the end of the lockdown means the end of COVID-19 and don't bother to observe PPE and social distancing guidelines are going to end up creating a situation where a second lockdown is a distinct possibility.  

Like you, I live in the Northeastern United States and we have only just started to gradually reopen.  Nothing of any importance to me has been given the greenlight to reopen yet and the additional guidelines that are in place for my particular industry will have me continuing to work remotely for at least another few weeks.  I know that I personally will not stand for a second lockdown and I don't think our economy nor the mental health and wellbeing of our nation's citizens could withstand it either. 

My condolences for losing 20 people that you know to the virus.  That is a very tragic and mind boggling number of deaths to experience in such a short period of time.  Hang in there.   

[d0nnivain]

Thanks Fresh-Start.  My # went up to 21.  I just learned that a neighbor passed away.  We weren't close.  I'd only see her in the summer at the local lake beach.  Still she was part of my community.

I did go to the local protest but I was comfortable.  Everybody was wearing masks & social distancing.   

[Ellener]

5 hours ago, d0nnivain said:

Maybe I'll just send money but its hard to figure out what's legit

I sent mine to BLM local chapter. That's legit! I know some of the workers.

Sorry about your neighbour. We really didn't get a first wave here, we're getting ours now, but the Governor, Mayor and County Judge have disagreed on the reopening timeline. She wanted it to be way slower but the Governor accelerated it. In general people don't want to go back to lockdown so we are being asked to voluntarily stay home where possible for now. 

People won't have a choice once the unemployment runs out next month. The HEROES Act needs to be finalised. 

[BaileyB]

Donnivain, I don’t think I would leave my home except for groceries if I was living in your state. That’s an unbelievable number of people to know who have died from COVID. To each their one, but these kinds of events are just not worth risking my life, in my humble opinion. 

Please don’t feel badly about not going to these events. Even though they are outside, even though you are tired of isolating and you want to get back to some semblance of normalcy, even though, even though... there is still significant flu activity in your state and you don’t have to justify your decision not to attend any events. 

[preraph]

I'm sorry I didn't see this before.  He should have isolated himself for 2 weeks.  That's nuts.  Amends don't get it.  You're still in danger.  I'd say move to a hotel, but that would be dangerous too.  Maybe drive out in the country to a county that doesn't have it.  But then while you're gone, he might just go out and not tell you.

[preraph]

On 6/20/2020 at 9:15 AM, d0nnivain said:

Ugh oh.  I guess the media is not doing a good job of covering covid spikes.  I knew Texas was increasing but I thought it was everything:  no masks, protests plus no distance.  

In my county we have had 5 new cases this month & 9 deaths.  The 2 adjoining counties had 30 cases, unsure about the total # of new deaths.  This is across 1300 square miles so we have the space for distance.   

Now you are making me rethink the protest.  Maybe I'll just send money but its hard to figure out what's legit

It is everything, but we had by far the biggest jump two weeks after first protests.  I am really mad at people right now.  Sick that there are so many apathetic people, careless people, and even people who I think want to kill off the elderly, quite frankly.  

[dangerous]

OP, sorry I'm late to the party, just read your post. NO WAY did you over-react. I am a strong, fit individual, usually maverick in my attitude to societal norms, but this!... Unbelievable, irresponsible in the extreme on so many levels.

In retrospect, I don't think you should have gone at all, but once arrived, seeing what you did, I would have run away, and expected husband to back you up fully.

He has some groveling to do. 

And those, so called friends, who texted you criticising, they are not friends, ditch them.

I'm livid for you ❤️

[BaileyB]

I do appreciate the pressure you are feeling Donnivain, from your husband and your friends. This past week, I have been pressured to go to a restaurant and gather for father’s day with my family. The difference being, we have almost no cases here and we still observed social distancing/restaurant was taking precautions. If it had been different, I would have said no. And even at that, I’m not eager to do either again anytime soon. I’m falling into a hermitic existence, quite happily so... I’m happy to gather with my family outside, and we exercise outside. We are limiting our trips to the store, ordering things online, and limiting social gatherings. My work is resuming in person visits - but only when unable to do virtual appointments. And even then, with precautions - meeting outdoors whenever possible and wearing PPE. And this will be restricted again if/when the cases increase. So, don’t feel badly about listening to your inner voice that says - I’m not comfortable, I’m not safe. It isn’t just anxiety, these are difficult times and these are difficult decisions to make. Everyone has a different level of comfort and it’s ok to say, I’m not comfortable with this. Jeez, you know 21 people who have died! I don’t think I would go out until there is a vaccine. Hugs.