A new strain of coronavirus (Covid-19) is running rampant now across nearly the whole world. Entire countries are on lock down and are begging their citizens to stay home. Thankfully the U.S. isn't on complete lockdown yet, but schools here are closed, restaurants are closing their dining rooms, and when possible people are being asked to work from home.
Steven and I are very blessed during this crazy time that we are both able to work from home. Steven's school generally does "virtual days" about once a month or so anyways so their curriculum is already set up for students to do their schoolwork from home. They have never done it for such an extended period of time before though. So this has been a true test in the effectiveness of their virtual days. He's been generally surprised at the participation of the students and only has a handful that haven't done anything since the school's been shut down (they originally shut down on March 13th). Their shut down was one of the first in the area as some of their students had come in close contact with the 2 Utah Jazz basket ball players that were then confirmed positive for Covid-19 after they had made contact with them. Most of the rest of the schools in the area only began closing down around March 17th-18th. As of today, I believe all the schools in our immediate area are shut down.
As for me and my work, we did a trial run of everyone working from home yesterday (March 19th) and we will return to the office today for any troubleshooting and for some feedback on how it went. It may be possible we will have to resort to all of us working from home for an extended period of time very soon. Currently, the governor of Idaho has only mandated isolation over 1 county that has now had it's first handful of cases that spread via "community spread" or from one person to another in the same area vs. traveling to an effected area. Thankfully this county is more centrally located in the state, however, we did have a confirmed case in Madison county by a BYU-I student who likely has now infected 3-5 other people in his apartment. The good news with this guy is that he showed symptoms before his return so he isolated himself immediately. So lets hope and pray that was effective enough to keep it contained to himself.
We are doing our best to practice "social distancing" and keeping mostly at home. We only go out if we need something at the grocery store or to take the dogs on a walk in the afternoons. I have dropped off supplies at a few peoples' homes but more often than not I just leave stuff on the doorstep as to not have close contact with anyone outside of Steven.
It's a trying time. Steven and I are enjoying being home all day with the dogs, but this week was supposed to be my Grandpa Tanner's funeral. Due to the virus restricting large gatherings, we had to postpone his service until later in the summer when it will be safe to get together. My mom and a few of her siblings, were able to get together Wednesday this week (March 18th) and do a small service to honor grandpa and dedicate his grave. Thankfully, my uncle was able to set up his phone on a Zoom conference call and a group of us that were not able to attend, were able to watch the small service. It definitely wasn't the same, but with the unfortunate situation right now this was the best we could do to honor him at this time.
On a different note, the church has closed and cancelled all church meetings and activities. This means we get to just do church at home. Thankfully, Steven has been authorized to administer the sacrament to us here in our home. We very much enjoyed that last Sunday and look forward to being able to do that again this coming Sabbath. This has greatly effected General Conference this spring. At first, they just recommended no one travel outside the country to attend live, then they closed it off to the public completely a short while later. Then Salt Lake County just released a law this week that if any group over 10 people gathers it is a misdemeanor by law. So now the choir will not sing live--they will show pre-recorded music--and the First Presidency will attend along with only those who are speaking in that session. This is all to be broadcast from a small room somewhere on Temple Square. Last General Conference, President Nelson did say this conference would be unique and unforgettable. I am not sure this is exactly what he had in mind, but we are rolling with the punches! This conference is to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the First Vision. I don't think this was the celebration we all had in mind (obviously it didn't surprise God), but we are so grateful for technology to be able to still participate in a worldwide conference that I think all of us need now more than ever to be inspired and lifted up during this sad time.
I worry about how this virus will effect the economy, but I'm trying not to dwell on that now. I'm just grateful and Steven and I have each other, we are still employed, we have plenty to eat, and we still have our faith. Everyday needs to be set in an attitude of gratitude so we can get through this--together.
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