6 years since COVID… lest we forget.

[Lumpy1106]

fears were already low key circulating in our community well ahead of the official declarations. in late January of 2020 our state had the first diagnosed case in the u.s. but what informally put our region 'on notice' was in february was the local news reported that the cdc/usdhs and other fed agencies were co-ordinating transporting via a California military base through our local airport's private secured terminal 4 confirmed cases to a local hospital (one of 10 hospitals in the country with secured airborne infection isolation rooms). it was surreal watching the local news-civilians being transported by the military through a base? secured private terminal arrival? this was identical to a highly publicized event a couple of years earlier when that hospital was used as a site to do a simulated ebola response-same tarmac, same motorcade, same security, hazmat suits... it was...scary.

it's difficult for me to think of any 'highs' about the official shutdowns but in hindsight it did bring to attention the absence/lack of reliable internet to many of our even not so rural areas. the schools initially thought they could flip the switch to remote learning until they realized that years of student/parent reports that homework which required internet access was near impossible due to these issues not being (as the districts had claimed) 'just baseless excuses not to do homework' when they had to dispatch mobile units with internet just to communicate assignments (forget about zoom classes). there have been some great inroads made in this respect (thank you starlink).

That's a double-edged sword. I agree that advances in internet connectivity had the ability to be a plus, but we already knew that social media was dangerous BEFORE COVID, and we essentially forced kids onto social media instead of setting up safeguards we knew we needed, making it 100 times worse. And "asynchronous learning"? What a joke. Find me a kid that was able to thrive learning on-line and I guarantee you they were cheating. I saw it with my own eyes. That's not a critique of teachers - the good ones hated it as much as I did. I had one kid who refused to cheat, fell behind and grades plummeted. My other kid had friends who knew how to find the answer sheet and completed assignments online a had no such issues.

 

[tink2424]

I'm guessing that @NannyBeBe meant that it didn't automatically mean you were going to die. Almost everyone in the world has gotten COVID at this point and the vast majority are still living. At the time the world was shutting down that was not how the media was making it sound.

 

[VGCgroupie]

We were in Disneyland the week before the historic closing. Came home and nobody got sick. Actually we didn't get Covid until 2024.

I will add my son was due to start school during that time. We made the choice to homeschool because of Covid and I am beyond happy that I made that choice. We still homeschool to this day.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Worst case of COVID my family got was in Dec. 2019 before they knew what to call it.

 

[Kitty 34]

Yes OP, it's been 6 years and yes I doubt NO one will forget

 

[NotUrsula]

Financial hardship, and endless hours sitting in my car outside ice rinks.

We were in Providence, RI for the synchro figure skating nationals competition on the final weekend in February, chaperoning over 100 children and teens. Unbeknownst to us, one of the first known super-spreader events happened in Boston that weekend, the Biogen Conference, from which 120 attendees passed through Logan Airport that Sunday as they returned to homes all over the world, mostly taking the virus with them.

Luckily, one of our coaches was an experienced med-surg nurse, and she was following the story about the China lockdown and the early California cases closely. Her spidey senses went off, and she took a cab to a medical supply store that Friday and bought 6 boxes of regular hospital masks and a couple of cases of small hand sanitizer bottles; enough for every person associated with our teams to get two. On Saturday she decreed that all of our skaters would wear a mask any time they were on busses or moving in crowds, and she strongly suggested that we parents wear them as well, any time we were in the stands or on public transit. She told us all to be extra-vigilant about keeping our hands clean and away from our faces whenever possible. We passed through Logan and flew home that Sunday already masked, and for once, none of the skaters came home with respiratory symptoms. We dodged a bullet, because the Biogen conference was later determined to have been the ultimate source of 1.9% of all COVID infections worldwide.

Three days later the company I work for had us all pack up our work and take it home, initially for 2 weeks., but we mostly stayed remote, and eventually it became the default for most administrative staff. My DD's school closed that Friday and didn't reopen for over a year; they originally planned to go back after Spring break, but it never happened, and school just ended 2 months early, while the teachers went into training to teach virtually. Our ice rinks remained open for individual practice slots only, so I cranked up my mobile office, and we went to the rinks for hours every day: DD skating her anxiety away, and me sitting in my car working. DH' boss decided he didn't believe it was a hazard for their small firm, and they didn't change anything, except that they no longer went to court in person because the courts went virtual. Several off his co-workers got serious cases of COVID that spring, but luckily none of them died, though 2 of them lost spouses. My son had just graduated from college and started a new job; he got laid off immediately, but finally found phone work 6 months later; to this day he has a spotty employment history because he was caught in COVID-era layoffs 3 times.

I have a lot of family who work in medicine or in the hospitality industry; many lost jobs, some more than once, and several of the medical professionals developed PTSD. My natural frugality went into overdrive, and I'm still reluctant to spend so much as a dime; it was like re-living the 1930's, but with electronics. My life changed entirely and got a lot smaller, and now I still often go days without leaving the house. No one in my immediate family died, but several family friends did.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I will add my son was due to start school during that time. We made the choice to homeschool because of Covid and I am beyond happy that I made that choice. We still homeschool to this day.

Not sure why sad @hardcorestitch my son is thriving.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Honest question for the home schoolers; how do you do college applications? We put our kids in private school through middle school, but found that the private schools grade much harder than the public schools and are reluctant to let kids into the AP and honor's classes. This puts kids in private school at a significant disadvantage on their college applications - their reported GPA is much lower. Public school grade inflation is real; for both of my older kids graduating classes they had over 50 valedictorians; that's straight A's taking AP classes. For this reason (among others), we moved our kids back to public school for high school. Don't hate the player, hate the game - just wondering how you handle it.

 

[bcla]

I recall the Grand Princess docked in Oakland as they sorted out what to do.

My father came down with COVID during that time. Then got it again after quarantines were over. I’m pretty sure I got it from him. It wasn’t horrible, but I’d gotten vaccinated several times.

Back in 2022 my kid came down with respiratory symptoms. I immediately went to school and got an appointment for a free PCR test with my county health dept. including me. The school required a negative PCR test and no respiratory symptoms before returning. Getting the results was a chore though. I had to email them to produce a report.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Honest question for the home schoolers; how do you do college applications? We put our kids in private school through middle school, but found that the private schools grade much harder than the public schools and are reluctant to let kids into the AP and honor's classes. This puts kids in private school at a significant disadvantage on their college applications - their reported GPA is much lower. Public school grade inflation is real; for both of my older kids graduating classes they had over 50 valedictorians; that's straight A's taking AP classes. For this reason (among others), we moved our kids back to public school for high school. Don't hate the player, hate the game - just wondering how you handle it.

We haven’t crossed that bridge yet. He is now in 5th grade. There are resources for homeschool transition to college. We may have him go to public school for high school. We have not fully solidified that choice yet. We also still need to figure out what he wants in life, college isn’t the best choice for everyone. It’s possible trade school would be better depending on what he aspires to be. I have an adult daughter who went to college and currently isn’t using her degree, if you ask her today she resents me for pushing her to go to college. So we have that experience with traditional schooling and college attendance.

 

[3rd_time_the_charm]

Honest question for the home schoolers; how do you do college applications? We put our kids in private school through middle school, but found that the private schools grade much harder than the public schools and are reluctant to let kids into the AP and honor's classes. This puts kids in private school at a significant disadvantage on their college applications - their reported GPA is much lower. Public school grade inflation is real; for both of my older kids graduating classes they had over 50 valedictorians; that's straight A's taking AP classes. For this reason (among others), we moved our kids back to public school for high school. Don't hate the player, hate the game - just wondering how you handle it.

I stopped homeschooling when she entered 8th grade for various reasons, but one of them was her not having a difficult time getting accepted to the university of her choosing. The university in our county just announced free 4 year tuition for county residents - sure hope that’s appealing to her

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

I saved a TON of money. No more 35 mile hour long commute each way. No more 5 dinners out a week (ex husband always wanted to eat out). No more clothes shopping. I worked in Cuddl duds with costume jewelry. Bought 1200 resale points.

However, as I am on the <20 day countdown to WDW,I still expect there to be an event that cancels it all. I have felt that way for nearly ever trip anywhere since COVID.

 

[RedHead0186]

I'm guessing that @NannyBeBe meant that it didn't automatically mean you were going to die. Almost everyone in the world has gotten COVID at this point and the vast majority are still living. At the time the world was shutting down that was not how the media was making it sound.

It's easy to look back now and say that almost everyone in the world has gotten it and the vast majority didn't die from it. At the time, it was a novel virus: no one knew exactly how it spread or how to treat it. The mortality rates (percentage of those who had it and died from it) was very high. Yes, perhaps there was a bit of overhype on the media's part, but that is actually how a lot of healthcare professionals, including epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists felt.

Edited to add: that's also how science/medicine works. We get more information and we adjust. Early on we didn't know anything, but as we gathered data we updated guidelines, treatments, etc.

 

[AussieFan8]

However, as I am on the <20 day countdown to WDW,I still expect there to be an event that cancels it all. I have felt that way for nearly ever trip anywhere since COVID.

This is why I sadly no longer rent DVC points. Too anxious about a last minute cancel. I ended up having to cancel a trip to NYC in 2024 when I tested positive the day we were supposed to fly out.

 

[ctinct]

While I disagree with NannyBeBe’s daughters that schools should not have been closed (I worked in special ed at the time) I do wonder if perhaps her last statement has been misinterpreted.

I remember watching maps with little red dots on them from day to day, and the red dots were spreading like wildfire. I remember seeing pictures of Wuhan erecting a new hospital as fast as they could, and wondering what they new that we didn’t. I think because we did not know much in the beginning, that we wondered that IF we caught covid, the probability was good that we MIGHT die. I’m going to choose to believe that that is what NannyBeBe was trying to say, because I think there was so much unknown in the beginning that it seemed so scary.

Actually I was just thinking of a difference between then and now that kind of illustrates my point. My daughter is a medical professional. In the beginning of the pandemic , she sent me
a picture of herself covered in PPE from
head to toe, with what looked like an astronauts helmet on, not a mask. Someone else had to help dress and undress her.
Not gonna lie- I was terrified for her. Fortunately , she never caught Covid during the height of the pandemic. She did, however, catch it recently——and she was expected to mask up and come to work! That blew me away.

 

[Simba's Mom]

My son is professional freelance musician in NYC, does lots of gigs on Broadway and wedding gigs. When Broadway shut down as well as weddings being either cancelled or held via zoom, he was basically unemployed. However, during that time, musicians got together remotely and performed separately in their homes, sounding like one large orchestra. Lots of examples on youtube.
For me, I'm retired and I was volunteering at the local hospital for the Ronald McDonald House. Suddenly, my supervisor called one Saturday night in March to tell me that the volunteer program had been suspended and the hospital only wanted their paid employees going forward. At the time, I was confused-until I read the paper the next day. The Ronald McDonald House was a victim of Covid and never returned. I miss it every day.

 

[Lumpy1106]

While I disagree with NannyBeBe’s daughters that schools should not have been closed (I worked in special ed at the time) I do wonder if perhaps her last statement has been misinterpreted.

I remember watching maps with little red dots on them from day to day, and the red dots were spreading like wildfire. I remember seeing pictures of Wuhan erecting a new hospital as fast as they could, and wondering what they new that we didn’t. I think because we did not know much in the beginning, that we wondered that IF we caught covid, the probability was good that we MIGHT die. I’m going to choose to believe that that is what NannyBeBe was trying to say, because I think there was so much unknown in the beginning that it seemed so scary.

Actually I was just thinking of a difference between then and now that kind of illustrates my point. My daughter is a medical professional. In the beginning of the pandemic , she sent me
a picture of herself covered in PPE from
head to toe, with what looked like an astronauts helmet on, not a mask. Someone else had to help dress and undress her.
Not gonna lie- I was terrified for her. Fortunately , she never caught Covid during the height of the pandemic. She did, however, catch it recently——and she was expected to mask up and come to work! That blew me away.

I actually was in agreement with NannyBeBe - except for the not dying part. People did die, that's tragic, but, wait a minute, name one person who has not gotten sick - we all have. Closing schools did not change that and did far more harm than good. Even the experts, the ones who made the decision, agree to this in hindsight. It's too bad they chose to vilify and ignore those of us who were begging for the schools to be open instead of listening to us and doing the right thing.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Random memories:
sewing masks, rewatching The Waltons on TV, making a big poster board egg for our front door for a town scavenger hunt, scrapbooking, playing online trivia on Zoom/Kahoot, taking walks and seeing people's chalk drawings, cooking more, reading a lot, being grateful to find toilet paper in stock at the store...

However, as I am on the <20 day countdown to WDW,I still expect there to be an event that cancels it all. I have felt that way for nearly ever trip anywhere since COVID.

This happened to me as well. We canceled a Universal trip that was supposed to happen right as things were shutting down, and it definitely affected me going forward. I used to love every detail of trip planning, but I became very hesitant, as if everything felt tentative after that. I'm slowly getting better about it, though.

And my DS definitely suffered the effects of his college experience going on line. I wonder sometimes what would be different about his life now if he hadn't have come of age at that exact moment.

However, during that time, musicians got together remotely and performed separately in their homes, sounding like one large orchestra. Lots of examples on youtube.

But I also agree with noticing things like this. People came up with some great solutions to problems and new ways to connect. Amazing art was created, communities invented new traditions, and families spent time together they wouldn't have carved out without that pause.

I personally became closer to far away family members because all of sudden it was normal to FaceTime people in for special days, to schedule weekly phone calls, etc. And as an introvert, my nervous system actually thrived on that slower pace. I learned a lot about myself during that time that I use to inform my decisions now.

Were these brights spots worth people dying for? - of course not! We would never have chosen to be hit by a global pandemic, but we were, so our only choice was to make the best of it. - To grieve as best we could, to comfort those who lost more than we did, and to acknowledge the ways we were changed by it all.

Everything that happens to us in life will have good and bad ripple effects. Some things are a huge cloud with a very hard-to-find silver lining, some things are wonderful blessings that come with unknown added stressors, and some things are a mix of good and bad. But I think one of the keys to a happy life is shining light on the good parts of whatever you're stuck with.

 

[dizneegirl]

...but, wait a minute, name one person who has not gotten sick - we all have.

I've never had Covid.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I've never had Covid.

Same.