(covid) I really hope this is over soon or....

It’s not going to “be over.” There may be steps forward and steps back.

wow

Ditto! I said wow as I scrolled down! 

I'm hopeful that at least some restrictions will be lifted by summer. Parks open, small private gatherings, playdates, things like that. Well if I'm being honest I hope medium sized events (like graduation and prom) will happen this summer too but at minimum I think smaller things will we be allowed.

Holy Toledo!

Speaking as someone who creates and runs a summer camp that has several different weeks and around 800 attendees each year, even if we're all in the clear in June or July healthwise, we have not been able to prepare to the necessary levels. We begin our planning in September, so we actually have all our activities planned and written up. We also have plenty of applicants for the jobs. However, this is the time of year when our year-round staff (of 4 plus a few occasional helpers) needs to meet regularly to finalize all kinds of details. We need to meet and go through our supply inventory - which is on the church campus which is closed to non-essential people. We need to place orders for hundreds of widgets and gidgets from Amazon and Sam's and various smaller independent retailers - which we can't really guarantee we can get what we need in time. Etc. etc., you get the point.

Even if we could run a week or two in late July or August, we'd only be able to get a fraction of our attendees and we'd be "wasting" all of our work for this past year on perhaps an eighth of what we normally have, and have to create a whole new camp for the next year. So we've made the decision to cancel for this year and we'll just be that much further along for next year.

I'm sure there are some camps that don't have that same level of customization each year that may be able to open if we're in the clear. But I can say that my daughter's Girl Scout camps are most likely cancelled and my son's gymnastics clinic is cancelled, and so on.

It's going to be a long, long summer...

I think it’s going to be a long few months. I figure they will slowly open things up but most will stay closed for a while longer. I’m really hoping we don’t have a second wave of covid. It sounds like many want to open things up again and we haven’t even hit our peak here. I am sick of staying home but I don’t plan to go out immediately when things open up. Luckily my son and I are introverts so don’t need to get out much. My husband I am sure is really missing getting out. Heck I know I want to just go browse in a store. I haven’t been in s store in more than a month - thank goodness for pickup and free shipping from Target and Sam’s club. It’s not fun but we are getting what we need. Our weather has stunk and I get reminders of things we did in the last few years on FB and wish we could be doing them now. I would love to go hiking or for a day trip in the mountains.

Dang. It IS going to be a long, long summer.


Now I’m wondering about MY summer activities, too. I’m signed up for a 4-day crop at the end of July. I talked to the store today and she said so far, their summer crops are still on. I guess we’ll see what happens. Our county is pretty rural and has the lowest COVID activity in the Bay Area, but who knows what any of it will look like by late July.

I already have it in my head that this summer will not be a "regular" summer of fun activities we are used to. I think announcements from local government will be made in the coming weeks what we should expect in May and June.

Just trying to be realistic but I highly doubt "Covid-19 pandemic" will be over soon. We have kept an open, honest conversation going in our household about this (our boys are 10 & 15)

All we can do right now is one day at a time.

I believe this too.

We need a vaccine.  Until that day, nothing will be back to normal.  My US friend in China said that nothing is normal yet and they had a very rigid lockdown.  People go to jail without a mask.  She begged me to tell everyone to wear masks everywhere.  She fled China due to virus, then went back because US people are not taking it serious as China does.  Her three year contract in China is over soon and she does not want to come back in fear.  

I am already making plans for homeschooling next fall, at least for the first semester.  

Things won’t be back to normal for 12-18 months when a vaccine is available. Normal summer activities won’t be happening.

It sucks. Totally.

First piece of advice is to let go of the screen-time limitations. It is what it is and sanity is important for everyone right now. Camp, etc., isn’t going to happen. It will be better when it is warm enough for the kids to play outside consistently.

No one is going to be the perfect parent over the next year to 18 months. It is okay, truly, to do the best that you can do and remain sane. It is more important to keep them physically healthy than it is to worry about t.v., video game, & computer time.

A friend and I were just talking about this today. She is a nurse at an ICU in Canada. She said the same thing, that the only reason we are locked down is to prevent an overload on the hospital systems around the world. She said everywhere would look like the areas in New York that are so overloaded if they didn’t lock us down. She said she believes this will go in waves. As they lift restrictions more people will get sick and then they’ll shut us down again on and on until there is a vaccine or until enough people have gotten it and recovered. Whatever method of herd immunity comes first.

We have a white water rafting trip scheduled in mid July. I’m not counting on being able to go. If we’ve had the virus, lived and they lift restrictions we will go. If we haven’t been sick, we will stay home. That’s the mentality we are having as to not be too disappointed when things don’t go the way we hope. I do better when I have a plan. That’s my plan at this point.

Those of you who send your children to camps please remember during the "good times" parents send their children to school/camps with ibuprofen in their system. This will happen. It will happen even more because the parents will want their kids out of the house. The kids will whine, cry and complain that they can't go to camps. It will be a huge mess if things return to "normal" over the summer.

I too think it will be at least a year before things are "better".

I'd plan family trips. Maybe even rent a camper and travel in that. I would start checking into one now. I'd at least educate myself as to how that would work. I wouldn't count on being able to go to monuments or historic places. I'd look for places I could visit and view on my own.

I was hoping my son could get a summer job, but I just don't see it happening. He is immunosuppressed and I don't think he should risk it. He has a friend who is also immunosuppressed who has a job at Walmart. When this all started he requested a shift change so he would be less exposed. His boss told him no. He needs that job so he figures he'll just "work until I get Covid and die"

I'm at least grateful that a job for DS is a want and not a need.