TrulyGrace

"Hi please inform our gang that on sunday 3/22 at 6pm on cspan there is a special on our own MEADOWCROFT-titled american artifacts-thanks-Pete"

I didn't have a chance to see this Meadowcroft special, but I did watch the POTUS, et al. press conference which preempted all 6:30 PM news shows.

I also---earlier---sent an email to Rep. Doyle and Senators Casey and Toomey re: the COVID-19 economic relief legislation for emergency assistance through June 2020. Apparently, the SUN AM version of the legislation did not include assistance to non-profit museums. I have been encouraging citizens to contact their congressperson and senators to insist that assistance to non-profit museums be included.

Also Sunday afternoon and evening, I spent ~4.20 hours on a prop/ask for ~As, both school-year and Summer programs.
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SUN, ~ 4.30 EMail to the Cousins:
Here's my update:

me/ G
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MON 23 MAR 2020- 
Since then, WA and k responded to the prompt from Derek.
And then, I wrote to my relatives again at ~14.30 MON
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me/ G

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Yesterday morning and this morning I exercised on a bike. Great fun. Math problem: If I start out exercising 5 minutes a day and double my  time bicycling every day, how long will it take before I am bicycling all day and night during one day?
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This morning I chatted with MM. This afternoon, I used my computer to take care of some items. 
M and I prepared dinner, which was Delmonico steak and clam and onion omelette, fresh green beans in black bean sauce, rice, and a few leftovers, too. All three of us watched Jeopardy!

TUE 24 MAR 2020- Who would have thought even two weeks ago that we would be living the way we are, here in the USA? 
Today I spent 10 minutes bicycling. After lunch went to D and M, helped out, worked on the computer.
Chatted with SNHI about the remote work assignment given to us this afternoon. Helped out with dinner. Watched Jeopardy! with them.

WED 25 MAR 2020- No bicycling today. Headed over, finished first draft of the remote work assignment after chatting this afternoon with S, NHI. 
Thanks to MM, watched a video about safe food transfer into your home, by a physician in Michigan. Great and useful.
Grocery shopping safety video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjDuwc9KBps&feature=youtu.be  

THU 26 MAR 2020- Chatted with two friends at home, one locally and another, K in CT. After I finished a writing piece, I chatted with a coworker, SN, while computing, then sent the piece along its way. Went for a walk to the mailbox, and this 70 Fahrenheit sunny-and-blue-sky day, I walked by the yet-to-bloom flower beds...and marveled at the utter lack of traffic at 16.30, rush hour on a major thoroughfare through the city. Figured out how to have a televisit with my doctor later. Sorted out my bills for the next two weeks. Dark now, after dinner (leftover afritada) and after watching Jeopardy! Did the dishes (as usual lately). 

FRI 27 MAR 2020- Woke very early this morning. Chatted briefly with a friend this morning. Lunch at home; reworked my critique from yesterday at the computer then sent it to PH and ML. Went back for the delivered mail, Caught up on email communications. Prepared tuna salad and eggs for egg salad for dinner Hawaiian sliders. Watched NBC Nightly News and Jeopardy! Time to head back.

SAT 28 MAR 2020- I went to BIg BIrd's palenke yesterday to go grocery shopping for my parents and for me. It was somewhat crowded, with taped lines on the floor in front of the registers and plexiglass sneeze guards up at the rolling tables at the registers, all to remind us to keep "social distancing."

I texted DKF regarding the fact that the virus lasts up to 24 hours on cardboard...and to consider the date we will retrieve our Easter fundraising items based on that. He thought it was a good idea to consider.

I also wrote, at ~17.00 to friends and family in Europe:

Dear EU friends and family,

I hope that this email finds you and your loved ones well. 

I know Europe has been hard-hit by the novel Coronavirus. Here, just at the end of this week, COVID-19 cases in the US surpassed those in any other country (100,000+ cases, as of Friday night 27 March 2020).

Before there were any detected cases in all but the Easternmost part of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh mayor instructed us to shut down and to "shelter in place." This started on the 14th of March. Businesses were operating normally until then (I even bought theater tickets on 10 March, which I cancelled on 12th March.) Everywhere I work, volunteer, play, or pray was closed by the 14th of March. I have been working and volunteering remotely, exercising and doing my physical therapy at home, and watching Sunday church Mass services on television. Every afternoon ... we make dinner together.

There is only enough remote paid work for me until tomorrow, when I will be "temporarily furloughed." Then most of us at the museum group here can receive unemployment compensation insurance. Congress and the president have approved legislation: An economic stimulus package that gives most adults in the USA $1,200.

Families with children receive an additional $500 per child. Things are okay, for now.

The only people I have been within 2 to 3 meters of since the 14th are [here]. I go grocery shopping  occasionally, and to the drugstore, too. There are signs by certain products---"limit of 2," but at least there are products on the shelf.

There is a possibility that we may have to stay home for another two months.

I have Zoomed with my parents, siblings and their families present/logged in during a session this week.

I am also on Skype. If you would like to communicate, I am open to both Skype or Zoom. Email me!

Feel free to send me an update.

Hunkering down,

G

I received a message late SAT night with a link to the Diocese of Pittsburgh--saying that the Bishop has requested that there not only not be any public Masses, but also that there not be any masses but those televised by the diocese of Pittsburgh. Our parochial vicar had contact with someone who tested positive for the virus on 27 MAR 2020, and is isolating, as he does not feel well now. Clergy teams were self-quarantining, and new directives were issued. For example, no baptisms, no confessions, no Masses, no confirmations, rare anointing of the sick, and no funeral or wedding masses. Wow. Virtually no sacraments.

SUN 29 MARCH 2020- Discussed various concepts with CJ from Nath's old bedroom....
1. 90% of people who test positive exhibit no symptoms/ are asymptomatic.
2. There is an incubation period in which people are asymptomatic yet contagious.
3. The death/ death toll is awful.
CJ's doctor stated that the discase becomes systemic, affecting perhaps the lungs before affecting the blood and vital organs.
Italy, Spain, and France have been hard hit, with thousands of people dying in each country.
We spoke of El Papa/Le Pape/ The Pope saying mass to an empty church in Rome.
She told me a bad joke that is circulating: Usually at Easter, Jesus comes down to us...this year, people are coming up to Him.
We talked about "social distancing"/ "la distance sociale"
I spoke about how everything was closed---except for the most essential: Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, (drive-through), etc. Her parents were resting at their home, and she was unable to get to Luxembourg to get to work on the 15rh, so is staying at her parents and helping out, as the nurse and the physical therapist is unable to visit. Her dad's sister, Anne-Marie, is in the hospital now...I am praying for all of them.

We tried watching the 10 AM Mass, and waited until 10.10---no luck, So we looked up the Mass, which is offered at noon from EWTN by the Franciscan missionaries. We enjoyed paksiw na pata made by mom in the pressure cooker for lunch today, with banana (lily) blossoms.

Afterwards, we heard  Adriano Espaillat, 
from the House of Representatives, representing New York's 13th congressional district and the first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress. the Bronx and other areas of NYC, stating to the House:
"New York is your future,"
meaning that what is happening in New York will be happening across the country [unless something is done about COVID-19].
Right after he spoke,  Brian Mast
the representative for the 18th district of Florida, from Port St. Lucie, FL, denigrated the supposed source of the virus, saying it was from a "disgusting market in China." 
I will type a letter from M to her grandchildren soon...

MON 30 MAR 2020- Awoke early, bicycled for 20 minutes, went to the local store to scope out rice. Turns out that they only had mostly big (5 to 15 pound) bags of various non-long-grain rices: brown, sticky, sweet sticky, and sushi. The brown rice was about 1.93 to $2 per pound! Everyone at that store wore masks. I went home, called M, and we decided against purchasing rice from there.
I had a virtual meeting with about 140-150 other colleagues. Lots of good informatiion. Those of us in the audience had our audio and video muted, to reduce bandwidth. Had a few small snacks, helped D and M around their home, and headed home to get some other work done and to make dinner (macaroni and cheese, with peas and carrots). Chatted on the phone with first DR, then KW, then MVK before calling it a night.
Found out around noon that our parochial vicar has tested positive for COVID-19. The other priests in his community are self-quarantining.

TUE 31 MAR 2020- Awoke early, worked on my To Do List, brought the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (which LS sent me from the R ng P, via NM) to D and M---D is gluing it to the background/ wooden box. Taking care of bills and correspondence.
Had lunch, sotanghon noodles with chicken and pork, and cabbage and carrot. Took care of administrative stuff and paid some bills. Called the grocery store  on C-- Street--- purchased two large bags of rice with some yogurt, luya, and tomatoes. Called M about the fresh, good okra. D and I drove home, happy, despite the fact that there were only ice cream pops (no tub ice cream).

17.45- Just heard on WPXI TV-11 {the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh} the US president talk about the effects of COVID-19. At the bottom of the television screen was this information: 4843 cases in Pennsylvania, 756 new cases diagnosed today in Pennsylvania. The president decided to listen to his scientific team and decided neither to have business back as usual nor to have crowds of people going to church on Easter Sunday---instead, he did decide to require people across the USA to quarantine in place for an additional 30 days (beyond the initial 2-week-long period). Dr. Birx spoke, with a visual of the current curve in Italy (# of cases vs. time). Dr Fauci then spoke about the importance of mitigation, to prevent a sharp spiking of the curve...and "additional 30 days to slow the spread." They mentioned the 17,000 National Guard troops that have been deployed across the country. Vice  President Pence spoke, as well.

A successive story on the NBC Nightly News showed medical personnel across the country, including a nurse who had quit her job in Chicago, over lack of equipment. One of the medical personnel noted the lack of "resources and equipment to do [your] job."

A medical personnel during this broadcast mentioned more screening [is necessary, because] some cases are going undetected.

There are 32/50 states which have stay-at-home orders.

The Pennsylvania Dept of Health  noted 4243 cases, with 3769 fatalities. Within Allegheny County there were 325 total cases to date, with 2 deaths.

Cases of COVID-19 confirmed by the World Health Organization to date: