@@ COVID-19 Thread for Preparedness and Talk

[pixy0stix]

Since it's getting intertwined with the other thread, and there are very specific @ things to talk about with school closures and what to tell kids, etc.

[pixy0stix]

I liked this article about what to talk about with older kids, and how they are dealing with childcare - www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/02/27/we-live-milan-heres-what-parenting-time-coronavirus-is-like/

[lemoncupcake]

I guess I should be thankful that we are currently way overloaded with toys from Christmas and birthdays. If they’re stuck at home for a significant period of time it will suck. I WFH but they’re too little (2 and 4) to be independent enough for me to get a lot done. If daycare closes for a long period of time it will be hard to juggle.

[icedcoffee]

I guess my biggest fear would have been my kids getting sick, but the research is saying it's not really too bad for kids so I'm not worried there. I am mostly worried about the prospect of being stuck at home for 2 weeks if daycare closes. OMG we would all go nuts. Thankfully we could still go in our yard to play. I could WFH if I really needed to.

The only things I'd really need to make sure we have on hand are enough diapers for the infant. The toddler could totally survive 2 weeks on mac and cheese so maybe I'll pick up a few extra boxes.

[ohgillian]

I checked our stocks of children's medications that i would use for the typical flu. We didn't have a backup of advil or tylenol beyond the currently-open bottles, so I picked up one of each.

DS is 9 and old enough to be hearing stuff on the news. He has asked me about coronavirus and did so again last night. I told him about a time when I was in high school and flu was so rampant that my school closed for several days - basically trying to give him the message that this stuff happens, I'm not worried, etc. (I'm a little worried, but....)

I feel fortunate that DH and I could take turns WFH if school closed. People on the margin -- hourly workers who won't get paid when they can't work -- would be hurt so badly.

[karinothing]

DS1 is old enough to hear things. We just talked about how it was like a cold/flu and sometimes they have to close things so other people don't get sick. He doesn't seem overly worried.

I am worried about being stuck in the house with my entire family but at least Dh and I can telework. I guess depending on how long it is I will need to print out school work for my kid so he doesn't just have a month of watching TV and playing video games.

[seeyalater52]

I'm 6 and a half weeks pregnant and while I'm usually pretty fucking chill about germ stuff, for some reason my anxiety is on overdrive. No idea what to do about it really except freak out internally and try to reassure myself that I'm hopefully being anxious about nothing.

[abs]

seeyalater52, eek I'm sending you so many good thoughts! I am super excited for you and really hope things go smoothly for you.

Our school district sent out something yesterday saying they were aware of the situation but as of right now there is no reason to worry. No cases have been reported anywhere near us (yet). I did stock up on extra OTC meds yesterday. I usually wait until we are almost out because I am procrastinator like that but I think they will be harder to come by soon because people are entering panic mode.

[lemoncupcake]

Feb 27, 2020 10:37:14 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

I'm 6 and a half weeks pregnant and while I'm usually pretty fucking chill about this stuff, for some reason my anxiety is on overdrive. No idea what to do about it really except freak out internally and try to reassure myself that I'm hopefully being anxious about nothing.

Congratulations!!! But I hate that there’s any extra worry being added to your plate - I hope it stays far away from you

[karinothing]

seeyalater52,i don't know if this is new information to anyone else but congrats! I liked your post for the pregnancy but not the anxiety.

[underwaterrhymes]

seeyalater52 - I’m so happy for you and your wife. How are you feeling?

(I totally understand the anxiety, but wanted to recognize your wonderful news.)

[mbcdefg]

I WFH for a Canadian company so my work schedule won’t be affected at all, I imagine, unless maybe our corporate office’s area is affected (but I imagine everyone has WFH capabilities).

If DD’s daycare closes it won’t change anything for me, except I’ll need to entertain her while I work. Hand washing is already a battle since she’s just a toddler so I’m trying to be vigilant about getting her to do it properly, rather than treating the sink as playtime. MH is a teacher (HS/college) so he’s being extra careful about hand washing and such.

I do need to restock on pull ups and some pantry staples anyway. I tend to go to the store most days in the week for one or two items, just to get out of the house during the day, and I haven’t seen a run on supplies yet, so hopefully I can get what I need this weekend. I also need to order pet food anyway and I’ll add a little extra to my order.

Hugs to you, seeyalater52. I wish you the very, very best.

[waverly]

There were only 2 cases in our area, and no spread. Yet. I am sure more is coming. We haven't done anything to prep physically. Mentally, I am staying on top of the CDC information more for work than personal life.

For example, I need to know if an employee comes into work sick what do I do, as a manager. I have located a state hotline, so I think they will handle it from there in terms of reporting cases.

For school closures, our office will likely still be open. I can either stay home with the kids (DH and I can trade off with me doing more of it), or I can bring the kids to work with me. I have a pretty large office that I could set them up at a table and they can watch iPads and read books. They can also go into a family friendly kind of play area/ reading area in the building, but if the point is to keep kids away from each other that will have to be monitored in terms of will my building close at all. Likely, I don't think it will, but we may have to cancel large gatherings at work.

I haven't really wrapped my head around a 2-4 week home quarantine yet, so no prepping there. If the weather warms than perhaps we will be allowed to go to 2 walkable parks. If people are not just isolated in their home, but in their town that would be fine. If we are isolated to our home that is when we would have a problem with groceries and things like that. We have city water, and I kind of feel like it would take all their workers getting sick for that to be affected, so I think that is unlikely. Of course, not any issue with having a few gallons of water around. If it is just us, then we could likely get grocery delivery. If it's the whole town, then local authorities might prevent that or scarcity/ supply and demand. So no, we really haven't gotten around to stocking food, water and toilet paper. We typically already have a stock of toilet paper, and unless it is the end of the week typically have enough food for a week. Unless we are having a 1-2 day blizzard we don't normally run out to the grocery store for anything else. We have bandaids, we have batteries, we have flashlights.

If anyone has a super reasonable prepper list let me know (not overly crazy). Some of it I feel like is just Karen going nuts at the grocery store. Instead of being rational about it.

[seeyalater52]

Feb 27, 2020 10:45:20 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

seeyalater52 - I’m so happy for you and your wife. How are you feeling?

(I totally understand the anxiety, but wanted to recognize your wonderful news.)

Thank you all.

TW loss:
I think my brain is just latching on to every possible anxiety. Baby has a nice strong heartbeat and we know from pre-implantation genetic testing that it has normal chromosomes (we lost a baby this summer with trisomy 16 so that is a big worry) but of course since this is my 5th pregnancy after 4 losses I'm a wreck and it feels like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.


For some reason the virus thing is just KILLING ME. I have an hour long train commute daily to and from work and everyone is all coughy and germy and sick and awful. If coronavirus takes off here I'm going to lose my mind. 

[icedcoffee]

Even though my H WFH if my kid's school is closed then I'm staying home too. If the whole point is to keep germs from spreading then I don't think I should be at work spreading stuff too. Fortunately I can WFH (if my kids leave me alone LOL).

A quarantine feels at a minimum weeks away. Maybe I'm not thinking rationally, but I really don't see it happening for weeks so stocking up today will just mean I need to do it again in a few weeks.

[pooh8402]

My biggest fear is being stuck in the house for 2 weeks with a 4 year old and (nearly) 1 year old. Christmas break just about broke me, and we were leaving the house then! My H WFH, so he would likely still be working.

Oh, and running out of milk.

ETA: actually, we're (DH, the baby, MIL, and I) traveling across the state next week for a couple weeks for school related reasons for me. My 4 year old will stay here with family. So that's a fear of mine too... being separated. We'll come back home for a weekend, then go back for another couple weeks. Rinse and repeat until I get my hours in. It's a lot of car travel and a lot of time away from my older child.

[mbcdefg]

Feb 27, 2020 10:58:08 GMT -5 waverly said:

If anyone has a super reasonable prepper list let me know (not overly crazy). Some of it I feel like is just Karen going nuts at the grocery store. Instead of being rational about it.

I have a few hurricane/earthquake prep blog posts bookmarked that are IMO pretty reasonable.

This is by someone who had to evacuate from a hurricane in 1999: www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2012/12/emergency-preparedness-week-2-food-water.html

San Francisco resident with an earthquake prep station: orgjunkie.com/2011/10/emergency-preparedness-kit.html

This guy is a full-on survivalist who teaches classes on the subject. But he offers a lot of options that less “intense” people can cherry-pick from: www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-bug-in-what-you-need-to-know-to-survive-a-grid-down-disaster/

The only extended natural disaster I’ve dealt with was Superstorm Sandy in NJ. And the biggest issue with us was getting gas for the cars. I lost power for three days and my mom’s was out for at least a week. There was always access to supermarkets, but going anywhere in a car was the big problem for most people I know.

[pixy0stix]

RE: Milk - I'm going to get some shelf stable milk. It lasts 6 months un-refrigerated, so at least we'll have some should we not be able to get to the store. My main worry is that we'll both get sick at the same time and still have a toddler to worry about. We've been pretty good about staggering our illnesses up to this point so that we have a functioning parent between us.

[Susie]

I can WFH as needed, and H has permission to telework 2 days a week (although he doesn't currently).  I assume that would be expanded beyond 2 days/week in the event of covid-19 reaching our area, so that would be pretty doable.  The hardest part would be trying to figure out how to get work done with a 9 month old and a 4 year old and no childcare.  With naps and Disney+, we could probably do it, if we traded off parenting when the kids are up, and we worked at every daytime, weeknight, and weekend opportunity when we weren't on kid duty or the kids were asleep.  It would be relentless and exhausting, but we could stay afloat I think.  The hardest part would be that our 4 yo is really high energy and goes bananas if she doesn't get out of the house.  

It would sting that we'd probably have to keep paying $$$$ for daycare tuition x2 kids for care that we aren't able to use, but at least we'd still have income.  I'm sure many other parents at the center may not be as lucky.

I'm making sure we stay well stocked on diapers, OTC meds (especially bc DS is teething and going through a lot of Motrin even when he's healthy), food, etc.  I worry about what would happen to my BM supply (I'm still nursing) if I catch it, but I have a good freezer stash to fall back on.

It would be a rough go, but I keep reminding myself that it would ultimately be ok.  I am comforted by all the reports that it's not a huge deal in kids.

seeyalater52, congratulations on your pregnancy!  I read CEP more than I post, but I've been following for a long time and I'm so hopeful for you that this is it.  Sending you good wishes for both the pregnancy and that your anxiety eases as it progresses.

[pixy0stix]

seeyalater52, congrats!

[icedcoffee]

Feb 27, 2020 11:40:29 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

RE: Milk - I'm going to get some shelf stable milk. It lasts 6 months un-refrigerated, so at least we'll have some should we not be able to get to the store. My main worry is that we'll both get sick at the same time and still have a toddler to worry about. We've been pretty good about staggering our illnesses up to this point so that we have a functioning parent between us.

Yep--This is where most of my anxiety comes from in general.  My H and I both had norovirus (or something similar) at the same time and I basically just wanted to die while my 3 year old wanted to play and my infant wanted to nurse.  And my H wanted to call my parents to take care of the kids, but I just can't in good conscience possibly infect our aging parents.  Better to self contain the cesspool.  It's hell.

Also--we've bought the shelf stable milk before and it's great to have on hand or for travel.  My kid will drink it just fine. We buy the bigger sized carton as it's cheaper and less wasteful than the juice box version.

[ohgillian]

I don't really even know what shelf-stable milk is. I'm a little embarrassed about this. It's like those Horizon milk boxes?

[mbcdefg]

Feb 27, 2020 11:53:04 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

I don't really even know what shelf-stable milk is. I'm a little embarrassed about this. It's like those Horizon milk boxes?

I also wanted to ask what brands people are buying.

[pixy0stix]

Feb 27, 2020 11:46:26 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Also--we've bought the shelf stable milk before and it's great to have on hand or for travel.  My kid will drink it just fine. We buy the bigger sized carton as it's cheaper and less wasteful than the juice box version.

This is fantastic news. I thought that might be the case, but was also worried that it'd taste like ass.

[Poeticxpassion]

seeyalater52, congratulations! I’m sorry about your anxiety with the virus. Hugs.

[pixy0stix]

Feb 27, 2020 11:53:04 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

I don't really even know what shelf-stable milk is. I'm a little embarrassed about this. It's like those Horizon milk boxes?

Yup, exactly those.

www.dairydiscoveryzone.com/blog/everything-you-need-know-about-shelf-stable-aseptic-milk

[icedcoffee]

Feb 27, 2020 11:54:19 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Feb 27, 2020 11:53:04 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

I don't really even know what shelf-stable milk is. I'm a little embarrassed about this. It's like those Horizon milk boxes?

I also wanted to ask what brands people are buying.

ohgillian, I can't remember what brand we've bought before, but it's this stuff:


www.amazon.com/Natrel-Whole-Milk-Ounce-Pack/dp/B0748DYQT6/ref=pd_sbs_325_t_0/130-0752414-3664052?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0748DYQT6&pd_rd_r=64b9c527-f668-45b7-8dd8-8a99fd3455fa&pd_rd_w=iJsLl&pd_rd_wg=abqTK&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=J2D445DTM0YCCR4WD59R&psc=1&refRID=J2D445DTM0YCCR4WD59R

Popular brand used to be Parmalat.  Not sure if they're around anymore.  In the same aisle as soy milk, etc.


pixy0stix,  Just make sure it's cold if your kid drinks their milk cold.  I'd imagine it's gross room temperature.

[miniroller]

seeyalater52 Man oh MAN did that news help my day ❤️ I wish I could hug you/ you could hear my excited squeal upon reading!! Congratulations Lovely!!!
Sending the best vibes possible!

[picksthemusic]

Huge hugs and congrats, seeyalater52! Fingers crossed for a sticky, take-home baby for you. <3

I am not overly concerned. We are in the area where the first US case was diagnosed, and we're business as usual here. We're cautious, yes, but we had a possible case come in our clinic the other day, and everyone masked up and cleaned and washed hands and went about our day.

One of our local high schools is closed today due to a scare, but I feel like it's overkill.

My kids are basically oblivious, and I'm okay with that. If there's something they need to know, they will.

[meli554]

Meal planning and prepping for any given week is a major weakness of mine. The thought of trying to plan for not leaving the house for several days/weeks is beyond what I can manage! 😩