Thursday, November 19th, 2020
Today was day four of four of multi hour MS Teams meeting. I must say today’s was the best of the entire week as it was very interactive and some great content was presented on digital marketing. I feel like I have completed a marathon and it has finally come to an end. For those who know me: I am not a runner, but a swimmer. In fact, I hate running, which is why I never was much good at either tennis or squash.
Tomorrow I can focus on content work again. This means reviewing some 1.000 power point slides. Not exactly my idea of fun, but at least I learn a lot in the process and it is infinitely better than creating slides, especially with the laptop miniature screen.
I have not yet brought myself to buying a proper monitor even though the office will subsidize home office equipment like chairs, printers and monitors. Mostly because I do not want more stuff to clutter my house and I hardly ever work at my desk; I by far prefer to sit on one of the various couches (office, lounge, garden) moving around the house throughout the day. In hindsight I should have claimed that chair I bought for EM. Oh well.
Because of a rather entertaining virtual happy hour with a pub quiz and an error in a calendar entry I almost missed my lap lane. At the end I got there in the nick of time; missing two of the precious 30 minutes allotted to me.
The Y send out correspondence today in response to increasing infections in the DMV area, which sadly includes Montgomery County. The management explained that out of 144k visits a total of ten staff/ patrons have tested positive since the Y reopened in early July. That is amazingly few cases. They have also up the cleaning investing in UV cleaning equipment and so on. New safety protocols ban anyone who has travelled out of the DMV area for Thanksgiving from coming for two weeks after they return; this applies to staff and patrons alike. They will continue to offer training facilities (i.e. machines) outdoors, which is I think the only way I would even consider exercising on these. I will so not go into a gym or a room to work out. I am always flabbergast, when I see people in the Zumba room. We did receive an email once that someone had been there the same day as us and had tested positive. Since we had booked the outdoor pool and it was freezing cold and we had not interacted with anyone, we felt quite safe. Overall, I am impressed with the safety precautions the Y is taking.
Likewise, I feel very well informed and well taken care of by both the county and the State, who regularly post guidance on Facebook and send messages to residents. Over the holidays the county is offering 45 additional free testing sites. I had a test done today as runner up to Thanksgiving and EM and J will go tomorrow. From now until we travel (after the Thanksgiving holidays) we will do a test a week and avoid contact with anyone outside the bubble and as of December 6th leave the house only for COVID testing (and swimming).
Both county and state official repeat the mantra continuously: wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash hands, do not attend gatherings with family outside of your household for the holidays (we have made the Heron’s part of our household, so we should be good), do not travel for the holidays. Most colleges have told students who plan to travel to not return before the next semester. General guidance form the CDC is to avoid travel altogether; just stay put. For the Thanksgiving holiday that is our plan.
Generally, we are holing up again as cases continue to surge. The USA reported 172k new infections just yesterday to reach 12 million cases in total. With the world counting 55.6 million cases the US maintains its share of roughly a quarter of ll infections worldwide, even though their population share is less than 10% of the world populace. Authorities fear this may go up to 330k per day in the aftermath of Thanksgiving. What a shitshow this is.
Why is it so hard for people to keep each other safe?