One week ago I was planning to pack for Hawaii next week, looking forward to going to a concert, skiing, soccer game.

I know in the past week everyone’s plans have changed. Freaking COVID is tearing through the entire population and here in Oregon we are dreading it landing here in full force— which is expected in the next 1-2 weeks. My immune system is probably slowly going down because of my last chemo cycle— the lowest it will be is next week, when likely we will be seeing an increase in virus cases here. Sooo…. I pulled my kids out of school and plan on not leaving the house or our yard for the foreseeable future. The stories out of already affected communities are terrifying, with resources and hospital capacities being the limiting factor in many cases leading to mortality. If you haven’t read about this stuff— then please do. The internet is exploding with information about it.

I’m not going to write a ton here, because I’d rather you read about COVID and how to slow the spread. The most important thing to know is that the more you avoid people NOW the better it will be. Stay inside. Don’t go out unless it is absolutely essential. The slower this spreads the less overwhelmed our medical system will be which means a better outcome for everyone.

My husband will be going to work and on the front lines when this hits. I’ll be staying home with the boys. We’ll be improvising and it will all be new. This is going to be hard, but I am going to try to not get sucked into the stress of what I cannot control. There is too much out of my control. What I CAN do is protect my family and myself by staying the eff home. We will cook and play and read and figure it out. I’ll share what works and what doesn’t as we move forward. I hope that you all are STAYING HOME too.

If you want to read more, but don’t know where to start, here are a few great articles to start with:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/who-gets-hospital-bed/607807/

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/5/21162138/vox-guide-to-covid-19-coronavirus

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html