About the Photograph:
There is beauty to be found.
Today’s “Snowdrift” Amaryllis is an example.
I purchased the bulb online back in early December. It is just now finally blooming.
Watching it grow for the past 3 month has been "entertaining" and something that could be done without leaving home.
****************
We certainly need such beauty in today's world.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of when we first started our “Stay at Home” lifestyle as a couple. That was two days after the very first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Metro. Back in February 2020, I cancelled my February/March trip to Australia and New Zealand & also decided to avoid large crowds until things settled down. At the time, I thought this need for extra caution would only last a few weeks at most. I could stick close to home for a while, and then, I would soon be traveling again.
But once COVID popped up in our area, I decided that even more extra caution was needed for at least a few more weeks or so. So, starting March 1st, I stopped running routine errands & stayed at home for the week to see where the situation was headed. At that point, my husband was still going to his office at the hospital. That indicated that the medical community felt that things really wouldn’t get too much worse. That first confirmed case in the Metro was travel related; not community spread. So, everyone thought (hoped) the Metro would actually escape the worst of things. Just as Trump’s Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams was saying at the time about most all communities in the US. Nevertheless, although unknown at the time, there was already community spread of the novel coronavirus in the Metro by this date. Things were already on the way to becoming a whole lot worst.
Today one year ago, the hospital, where my husband works, abruptly went to tele commuting for all non medical, front line staff. March 9, 2020 was when our “Stay-at-Home” family, social isolation status became official. At the time, we expected life to return to a normal lifestyle within a month or so. After all, this is the USA…
However, history has sadly proven otherwise.
Although we have been some of the “lucky ones”, this past year has not been easy for our family. So much has been lost. I know that I will never be or think the same; even after the pandemic is history. But as, I said, we still have been far better off than a whole lot of other people. We’re alive, remain COVID free, have had enough to eat, and are not in danger of losing our home. That says a lot.
****************
COVID US News One Year Ago Flashback
March 9, 2020
HINDSIGHT
***************************
“US coronavirus cases rise sharply to more than 700 and cruise ship with 21 more patients arrives in port.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is still a lot that's unknown about the virus, "you almost have a fog of war about it," he added. "There's always that uncertainty that gets people very anxious."
From today, CNN is using the term pandemic to describe the outbreak. Neither the World Health Organization nor the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have done so yet, but many experts argue the world is already experiencing a pandemic, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
TODAY'S TOP TIP: march 9, 2020
Don't touch your face. All it takes is once to increase your chances of getting sick.
Los Angeles reports first possible case of community spread coronavirus.
China coronavirus cases are slowing, and schools and shops are reopening.
Officials provided basic age information in 18 of the 22 US death cases. Of those 18, seven were in their 70s, five were in their 80s, three were in their 90s, two were in their 50s and one was in their 60s. A 19th patient was described as “elderly,” but no age range was given.
2 coronavirus cases in Florida are related to an active cruise ship port. The Florida Department of Health has reported 13 cases of coronavirus in the state, including two deaths.
Trump's tweeting about coronavirus this morning.
Stocks plummet this morning as coronavirus fears grow.
US death toll is now at 22, with one new death in Washington. The other 3 deaths outside Washington happened in California and Florida.
Families should reconsider upcoming travel plans if they have "vulnerable people" in their family unit, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
***************************
Forward to the Present Time US COVID News
March 9, 2021
***************************
United States
COVID CASES: 29.2 Million
COVID DEATHS 527,000
CDC director to US business leaders:
“Now is certainly not the time to relax restrictions”
Nearly 1 in 10 people in US are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Nine out of 10 aren’t.
CDC advises even fully vaccinated people not to travel.
***************************
This is a constantly evolving story.
Meanwhile, there is normality still to be found in the everyday; such as with above photo.
