Here We Go Again and Decision Time.

 Well, the post-Thanksgiving covid surge is happening exactly as predicted if people didn't stay diligent.  The whole country is experiencing positivity rates, hospitalization rates and death rates well above the peak surge in the summer.  As I write we are losing in excess of 3,000 souls a day!  More, day after day, than those we lost in 9/11.  So, here we go again with shortages, closures and restrictions.

The county we are in in Georgia, Bartow, is spiking as a hot-spot and that's not good because access to advanced health care is minimal.  They are pretty much shipping covid cases to counties closer in to Atlanta.  The county I grew up in in Texas, Hutchinson, had been relatively unscathed until now.  Since this was home for both Cyndee and I our first thirty years of life we watch the local news and are in close contact with family and friends still there.  One of the things Cyndee keeps close tabs on is the obituaries.  There are three funeral homes in the area and between them average about six people a month combined.  In the first 12 days of December there are already twenty burials.  We are praying that our upper-80's family members can be careful and hang on until the vaccine is available.

The Corps of Engineers is taking note too.  The division headquarters in Mobile, AL has issued orders once again to work in a way that does not put people in close proximity to one another.  For us volunteers that means we are allowed to come into the office only for the purpose of getting keys to a vehicle and only then if it is to do something that will not put us in contact with people while doing our assignment.  And of course masks are to be worn at all times.  For the rangers this means there will be almost exclusive teleworking.  They have been told not to show their faces in the office until further notice.

But for Cyndee and I it is going to be none of the above.  In a previous post I mentioned that our oldest and her family have been extraordinarily diligent in their isolation.  So much so that Cyndee and I have not been allowed near their house or the grandchildren since March.  It has been an agonizing nine months of being so close to the grand kids but not able to be with them in person.  So, a couple of weeks ago we made the decision to quarantine ourselves for the two weeks leading up to Christmas so that we could be with them on Christmas day and at least a couple more after.  Our daughter and son-in-law agreed with the provision that we also take a covid home test.  We ordered two of them at $109 each.  We didn't just unilaterally decide to quarantine, there was a check with our volunteer coordinator.  Clearly we were not going to make our hours for the month with essentially being out of service from the 11th until after New Year's day.  But that turned out to be a positive experience as he was aware that we usually turn in 25% to 50% more hours than the minimum requirement.  He was perfectly fine with us taking a three week "vacation".

Quarantine started on December 11th.  We spent the 9th and 10th grocery and supply shopping.  With the recent surge in infection rates we had switched to the curb-side pickup that is now being widely offered.  Our pick-up at Walmart saw a cart with nine of those big blue totes come out, then there was Kroger and lastly, Publix.  When we got it all back to the camper we had food and household goods stacked everywhere.  Every cabinet was bulging, drawers would barely close and still the countertops and floor are covered.  And we don't know if we are sufficiently stocked to make it the two+ weeks.

As I write we are in day four of quarantine.  We've already watched more movies than we usually watch in a month.  We are both looking for books to download and I have been walking laps around the closed campground adjacent to the Volunteer Village.  I did three miles one day and two-and-half miles the next.  Unpleasant weather has kept me in the other two days.  As a bonus on my first day of walking I was treated to a bald eagle sighting.  I was not carrying a camera that was capable of shooting at the distance it was but I was sure to take my long lens the next day.  But of course the eagle was nowhere to be seen now that I had a capable camera in my hand.

Our volunteer neighbors know what we are doing and they have all (9 other rigs) offered to help with bringing in supplies we run out of, taking our trash to the recycle center and take our scheduled jobs.  Other than being in quarantine, we are in a good place.