We drove to Philly and back today to get my D. We were originally supposed to go yesterday but my husband needed special permission from his command to leave the area. It’s good to see her, but her teachers seem to be foundering a bit with setting up online learning- they don’t seem to realize that her classmates are now flung across a wide array of time zones. It’s fine for her, being so close, but they need to spend more time figuring it out instead of trying to rush into class on Monday (as some are doing).
Our local school districts have closed for a few weeks too. The schools are all emphasizing that closure only works in conjunction with social distancing and have requested that the families do not travel and do not maintain normal social contact etc as that weakens the intended impact. So no plays dates/teen socializing etc. let’s see how that plays out in practice.
When we picked up D19 from the airport last night, it was really empty - on a Friday evening! - and I reckon about 80% of the sparse arrivals were college kids coming home.
Picked S19 up yesterday and basically moved him completely out of his dorm even tho his school is only on an extended spring break now. The school hasn’t decided to close nor have they decided on short term online teaching. We decided even if students do go back, he will have at most, six weeks left so he can just bring back minimal stuff to finish out the year. While moving him out, we kept seeing friends who were also headed home - it was sad to listen to them saying their goodbyes and hoping that it’s not the last time until fall semester. S19 said so many kids were crying the day before after learning their sports seasons were over. The baseball team was at the airport about to get on a plane to FL when they got recalled back to campus.
We were about an hour from home when we got an email from school that a commuter (freshman) student had tested positive. They said all who had possibly been exposed (students in same classes, etc) would be notified separately. Thankfully S19 and none of his friends were contacted. I did notice when going in and out of S19’s dorm, there was a large hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall inside the vestibule. During our 5 hour drive home, I noticed S19 using my hand sanitizer a few times after we’d stopped for gas, etc. When I commented on it, as well as that I’d noticed the sanitizer at school, he said the school had installed them all over and his suite also had a large bottle they were all using. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that these 18-19 y/o boys were actually taking it seriously to wash hands and use sanitizer!
We are now trying to settle in to our hopefully short term “new normal.” My two high schoolers are home for two weeks with school closed but they still have online class every day starting Monday. I will try not to go crazy with their constant trips to the kitchen looking for something to eat.
I just read this article to try to figure out our “social distancing”. 3 experts, 3 varying opinions. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-what-does-social-distancing-mean/607927/
I believe that at this point everyone is very wary of saying “avoid restaurants” because that’s a death sentence for restaurants. We just took our college kids out to lunch. Tables were spread out, and if I hadn’t come within a couple of feet of a family coming out of the bathroom as I was heading in, I wasn’t really close to anyone. There weren’t many people in the restaurant. I could tell our server was keeping as much distance as she could.
I’m trying to puzzle out the 6 foot thing with what I’ve read about the virus not being airborne, as in not hanging out in the air. So is the 6 foot guideline to protect you if a person coughs or sneezes?
@TS0104 a lot of people are moving to take-out from restaurants here rather than going out to eat as such. A number of them are offering curbside pickup at the moment too. There is definitely a lot of awareness of not wanting to harm local businesses but also a lot of people who want to adhere as much as possible to distancing. Another suggestion has been to buy gift certificates from the businesses for later use.
And yes, my understanding of the 6 foot guideline is cough/sneeze droplets.
Tests are showing it does survive in the air.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/487110-tests-indicate-coronavirus-can-survive-in-the-air?amp#aoh=15840349423873
Also, they are finding that some of the most contagious people are asymptomatic.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread/index.html
A lot of the things that are true for other viruses are showing to not be true with this one.
We just got back from Midd with D19. Kids are really unhappy. They understand and support the action, but are really sad about suddenly leaving their very close friends - multiple tear were shed, etc. On top of it all, D19 is suffering from a nasty cold/bronchitis (productive cough, etc). So not coronavirus, but still one more thing on top of everything else.
She’s exhausted, stressed, sick, and extremely sad - not only has she moved away from her new very close group of friends at college, but, because we moved recently, she is also far from her friends from high school who are also all home. She is due for a lot of pampering - luckily there is a Japanese store here which sell sushi-ready raw fish, so tomorrow she is going to be treated to enough sashimi to satisfy a seal.
I’m struggling with figuring out how to move online - I haven’t taught for a few years, have never taught this course or at this university, so that will be lot’s a fun…
I really hope that the need for social isolation will not continue into next fall.
Went o Boston (Waltham) yesterday to pick up my D19. She arrived at 1:30am Sat morning at Logan from Florida. Thank goodness she had a wonderful Spring Break on a Bentley run Habitat for Humanity trip. At 8:30am yesterday morning we packed up 3/4 of her dorm room and headed back to CT. Two of her closest friends were packing up too. It was so painful to watch their tearful goodbye.
As most of you know my S16 goes to Bentley too. It’s a big punch in the gut to know his senior spring semester is not going to happen on campus. So many wonderful senior traditions cancelled. Plus graduation - I’m not ready to accept that my son will not have a graduation ceremony after 4 years of college. Not called off yet but the writing is on the wall.
On a brighter note, here is a link to a video that summarizes - in a fun way - the Bentley Habitat for Humanity trip. Hope link works. It makes me smile when I watch it.
DH and D19 flew to Philadelphia yesterday to pack up her dorm room. Lots of kids shell shocked, crying in the dorm. D19 is devastated to lose her dorm family.
She has never taken online classes so that will be interesting. The disruption to her routine will be the biggest impact. She is so used to studying away from her dorm with friends and hallmates. They hold each other accountable. If the local university stays open, she might go there to study but she’s worried about running into the high school classmates that she worked so hard to get away from.
As far as how online learning classes will be delivered, those details are still a bit fuzzy. We know that at least one of her classes will be livestreamed at its normal time which will be tough for students like her who aren’t on eastern standard time.
Putting all my faith in science and hoping a vaccine is developed quickly so life can begin to return to normal. Sadly, the fallout in terms of lost jobs and revenue will be immense and felt for years to come.
D19 (at Parsons/the New School) is at her roommate’s place in New Jersey for a few days and coming home to Boston by bus tomorrow. The New School canceled classes at the end of last week and is now on its regularly scheduled spring break. Remote instruction after that until at least April 12. S22 is off until April 7 at least, given the closure of all Massachusetts schools. DW and I are working from home indefinitely, so we’ll have some extended family time together, anyway. Be careful and be well, everyone.
Wow, this all seems super depressing and scary. I spent the weekend in Nashville and D17 and I helped S19 move out of his dorm. It was so weird to think back to mid August and how happy we were moving him in. He has made so many great friends and the kids are so sad to have the school year end this way. All this uncertainty is pretty stressful. Plus, I found out last week that I have high blood pressure (it has always been normal or low) so the current situation isn’t helping!
@elena13 Me too with the “higher blood pressure”! I’ve always had low. I work out. Eat well. This was discovered about a month ago but my doctor is not concerned since she knows my lifestyle. She took it at the beginning of the appointment and then again at the end and it went down a little the second time. Sometimes blood pressure can be higher in the moment if you’re stressed and I have been feeling stressed for the last few months. Hope both of ours returns to our lower state soon but this virus is not helping the stress level.
My new concern is about my D’s dorm room. She didn’t pack it all up when we brought her home because we didn’t really have time, and because they told them they’re going back on April 5th, but I have my doubts about that. Now the base commander where we live has requested families not travel outside the immediate area until May 11, to pair with the official order that his Marines do the same. So if they close the remainder of the semester, we can’t go pack her room- hell, if they open back up we can’t go pack her room. School is over for the year before May 11th. Sigh.
NYU has just announced that all of the remaining semester will be online. For those students away on spring break they are urging to remain at home (or if traveling, to return home and not to college) and will arrange to have items left in the dorms packed and shipped.
At the same time as we were getting this news, it was announced that the Bay Area is effectively going into lockdown - shelter at home other than for essential services (like getting groceries). While everything else is grinding to a halt, Safeway is announcing it needs another 2000 employees in the NorCal area to help meet the hugely increased volumes due to coronavirus buying!
I’m actually not all that worried about the future. Like what happens during wartime, there will be a lot of disruption, unexpected changes in trajectory and plans. However, also like during war, there will also be a lot of innovation, a lot of new technologies, and, after sitting at home and in isolation for some months, a lot of pent-up energy.
There will also, hopefully, be a huge push to finally fix the broken healthcare system in this and other countries, after the widespread failures across the world. In fact, I hope that this will push for changes in many things, like paid sick leave and affordable healthcare (so that people don’t avoid treatment and go to work while sick).
Hopefully, this will once again teach people that science is not something that only works if you “believe in science”, and that your attitude towards science should not depend on your politics and religious beliefs. We’re already seeing that - many state governments of both parties are following the recommendations of virologists and epidemiologists and enacting the policies that are based purely on science-based methods of reducing the spread and severity of the pandemic, rather than based on paranoid conspiracy theories, or fears of political fallout.
I picked up my boys from Drexel last weekend, as they “had to be out by Sunday” with an extended Spring Break, and online classes “to be reviewed at the beginning of May”. They left their dorms ‘as is’ . They’re on a quarter system, and the third quarter doesnt start for a couple of weeks. Just received the news that they’re online for the whole 3rd quarter ( how does that work for architecture studio, and for music production?) and out of school until 9/21. They are beyond disappointed - but, the worst part is, they have to clear their dorms by Friday. Going to be a challenge - and could have been done so easily while I was up there LAST weekend! I know the situation is evolving daily, but SO frustrating.
We finally heard from S19’s school that they will start make the transition to online classes starting March 30. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it was pretty much expected, so I made the decision to completely move him out on Friday when I picked him up for spring break. The students knew this was a possibility before they left for spring break, but it wasn’t confirmed until today.
His school has a freshman parents’ FB page where, for several weeks, there has been all kinds of discussion about what might happen. Now there are several parents complaining and pissed off that the school waited so long to decide, and why didn’t they cancel last week like so many colleges did. The President’s letter to students and parents specifically stated that they didn’t want to rush to a decision as they really hoped to have the students finish out the year on campus if possible. There are at least two employees of the school who are also parents of freshen so they sometimes comment to dispel rumors or offer information when they can. So tonight this one mom/employee was defending the school, basically sayIng they were “damned if we did, damned if we didn’t” and that there were schools who canceled last week getting criticized for giving students only a couple days notice to move out.
I agreed with her and said we need to realize how unprecedented this is, etc. Next thing I know, the mom/employee responds to me, “BTW, I love having your son in my class, he’s a great kid.” Um wait, what? I thought she just worked in an administrative office - I had no idea she was a professor. So I text S19 and ask him who XXX is and he says she teaches his seminar and wants to know why I’m asking so I showed him what she wrote. Aww, made my day! She then said she asked S19 to work for her next semester (and it’s a paid position!). Of course, he never mentioned any of this to me.
I told dh in a couple of weeks after we’ve been cooped up at home and he’s getting on my nerves, I’ll have to remind myself of her compliments.
The sad thing about the way abrupt way this year is ending for S19 is that he was finally really settling in and enjoying himself. He had horrible roommate problems first semester that were making him so miserable, plus he had no free time due to playing a fall sport. Then he goes back, shocked to find out his roommate left school, gets along well with his new roommate, has a lot more free time to hang out with his friends after missing much of the social life first semester from his sport. And just when he’s finally having a good time, boom, sent home to be stuck at home bored out of his mind. I know everyone else’s kids are in the same circumstances but I’m just bummed that he didn’t have much time to enjoy his new environment.
S19 flew home Saturday. We had dinner at a popular restaurant on the way home from the airport. The place was packed but much less crowded than usual. (We started to have first positive cases in the city a few days ago.) But then I realized the demographics was quite different from usual. Most patrons were in their 20s. No families with young children, no seniors. I guess only young people living on their own dare to eat out. DH and I no longer belong to a lower risk group. 
I knew that it was unlikely that S19’s school will reopen (no confirmation yet though,) but there was not enough time for him to pack up, store, and ship his dorm stuff. So we will fly out at the end of the semester to do that as if it were a usual school year end.
S19’s summer internship program (REU) at a university in Massachusetts has been cancelled. He is a bit bummed, but we are glad. I was not quite ready for not having him home whole summer. So it’s bitter sweet.
Denison bit the bullet today and announced that classes will remain online for the rest of the semester and the dorms are being closed. We quickly booked a storage locker for S19 and rebooked his flight home to Tokyo for this Thursday. Lots of people offering to help him get packed up, drive him wherever he needs to go, etc., which made both of us feel better about the situation. Just after that, DH called to say that Japan is going to begin quarantining people arriving from Europe. That could happen with flights from the US as well the ways things are going. Thursday should still be fine, but I will be relieved when he gets home.
Just got back from moving D out of her dorm. It was a sad trip, kids all wandering around saying their goodbyes wth lots of tears. One bright spot was when I went to take a suitcase to the car and I heard music. I walked over to see what it was and it was a girl playing a french horn in a courtyard. There were a bunch of people sitting around watching wth a few holding their own instruments. Looked like they were trying to get their last class performances in before they had to leave.
It was a good time to get D out though (we had until this Sunday.) Last night New Orleans closed all bars and made restaurants delivery or take out only. Tulane added a rule that they can’t gather in groups larger than 10 people and said that includes off campus students as well. If they find anyone having house parties they would be subject to discipline including suspension. It would have been harder on both of us trying to pack up having al those restrictions.
We got home and decided to run to the grocery store to get some of the food D likes. The place was crazier than when a hurricane is coming! We managed to get most of what we needed by going to a few different stores though. Only thing I think she didn’t get was the frozen fried rice she likes from Trader Joes - the entire frozen food aisle was empty! So we got the sea salt chocolate covered graham crackers instead. 