I am so far behind in keeping this blog up to date it may appear as if I have forgotten all about it. That, however, is not the case. I just don’t know what has been going on to keep me from at least doing a little bit of updating. I haven’t even put in the cruise to Bermuda in October but I will be adding to that in another posting. I have kept a few notes on just what we did while we were there.
Just to give a quick run through of what has been missing in the past several months:
October: 7 night Bermuda Cruise.
November: Booked a 15 night back to back cruise to East and West Caribbean, booked air flights to Miami for cruise.
December: Heather and Hareth had a baby boy, Rakan, on 07 December.
Heather’s birthday
Adrian’s birthday
Novel corona virus detected in China
January: novel coronavirus in China spreading rapidly..
more on corona in March and up to date stats at bottom
Hareth’s parents arrive from Abu Dhabi
Wendy’s birthday
February: Mieka to France on school exchange
schools in Ontario closed for an additional 2 weeks after March Break
cancel cruise and air fare
WHO renames novel coronavirus to COVID-19
March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic
US bans flights from Europe
Canada closes border except to Americans and returning Canadians
Canada/US close border except for essential travel.
Restaurants and bars closed except for take out, drive through or delivery
Prime Minister is in self-isolation because his wife tested positive
All sports are put on hold or cancelled
Royal Caribbean cancels all cruises
Air lines beginning to stop overseas flights
Prime Minister Canada telling overseas Canadians and‘Snowbirds’ to get home, some evacuation flights
Most countries are locked down
Ottawa universities and community college telling student residents to move out.
Self-isolation is the word and social distance
Tokyo Olympics suspended until 2021
That kind of wraps up in a very small nutshell what has been happening since last October.
We are all practicing self-isolation which is not to hard for Wendy and I as we kind of self-isolated as a normal part of daily life. I think that kind of goes along with being retired.
Heather has been off work, on maturity leave, since Rakan was born. So there were the four of us hanging around. We each had our own things that kept us busy outside of the home but now they have all been cancelled. Hareth is still going to work.
With Mieka coming home early and having to self-isolate she is staying at “The Farm” with Shereene while Don and Adrian have moved in with us for the 14 days. Luckily we have the room to accommodate everyone.
Both Don and Shereene can work from home so that is good for them. There are so many businesses that have closed down and people are out of work. The criteria for obtaining Unemployment Insurance has been cut to zero days if the cause is COVID-19. While I am not much of a fan of either our Prime Minister or Premier of Ontario they both have stepped up to the plate to try and get a handle on what is happening. They seem to have taken a page out of China’s notebook by implementing social distancing and border closures.
That is much different than what is happening south of the border. President Trump was denying the existence and devastation that COVID-19 is causing. Even now he wants people to get back to work to save the economy! He is more interested in the sinking economy that he is in the health of his people. And the economy is really taking a hit. The stock market is tanking so there goes most of the savings in my RIF.
I have been trying to get out for a run on a more or less daily basis. If I don’t get a run in I do try and do a walk. What we all have noticed is it seems as if there are more people out walking or running than before. If they are in groups it seems to be a family and not just a random group of friends. Although, some groups seem to be well separated.
One of the major down sides of this pandemic and being told to self-isolate at home is the number of people hoarding food and supplies. For some reason people have been stocking up on years and years supply of all things; toilet paper. This virus does not cause diarrhea so why are people hoarding that? Herd mentality? That seems to be about the answer.
There is also so much false information floating around - even from the President of the US. POTUS gives an update, and not very often, and then an expert is on next and contradicts what Trump has just said. Trump does not seem to take any notice of the experts he has around him and comes up with his own spin on the situation. But, that is no different than what is his usual modus operandi. Even though doctors are saying to keep things closed down and locked up Trump wants everything back up and running full steam by Easter!
Mieka departed in February for a 9 week student exchange in France to enrich her French language. She would be living with a family, going to school and commuting only in French. Sadly, because of the virus she had to return early and arrived back home on Saturday 21 March. When the PM was telling people to return to Canada several of the other students decided to come home early but Don and family decided that it may have been just as safe for Mieka to stay as come home. However, when the airlines were saying they were going to cancel service that was the notice to get Mieka home. She is going to be missing her new friends.
STATISTICS FROM covidly.com AT 16:00 EDT 24 MARCH 2020.
This website seems to be keeping a very accurate and timely update on the current number of cases of COVID-19 world wide.
TOTAL CASES: 414,422 +42,440 DEATHS: 18,545 +2,224
RECOVERED: 105,543 +4,217 TOTAL ACTIVE: 290,334 +37,076
AFFECTED REGIONS: 196/255
CANADA: TOTAL CASES: 2,578 DEATHS: 25 TOTAL ACTIVE: 2,441
47.9% increase in the past 24 hours. Ranked 15th world wide
ONTARIO: TOTAL CASES: 588 DEATHS: 7 TOTAL ACTIVE: 581
38.3% increase in the past 24 hours. Ranked 2nd in Canada, Quebec 1st with 1,013 cases.
OTTAWA: TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES: 25 At least one under the age of 18.
U. S. A.: TOTAL CASES 51,898 DEATHS 672 TOTAL ACTIVE 50,857
23.5% increase in past 24 hours. Ranked 3rd world wide
CHINA still ranked 1st world wide with 81,242 cases, 4,806 active and a -7.7% decrease in number of new cases in the past 24 hours.
Just to give a quick run through of what has been missing in the past several months:
October: 7 night Bermuda Cruise.
November: Booked a 15 night back to back cruise to East and West Caribbean, booked air flights to Miami for cruise.
December: Heather and Hareth had a baby boy, Rakan, on 07 December.
Heather’s birthday
Adrian’s birthday
Novel corona virus detected in China
January: novel coronavirus in China spreading rapidly..
more on corona in March and up to date stats at bottom
Hareth’s parents arrive from Abu Dhabi
Wendy’s birthday
February: Mieka to France on school exchange
schools in Ontario closed for an additional 2 weeks after March Break
cancel cruise and air fare
WHO renames novel coronavirus to COVID-19
March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic
US bans flights from Europe
Canada closes border except to Americans and returning Canadians
Canada/US close border except for essential travel.
Restaurants and bars closed except for take out, drive through or delivery
Prime Minister is in self-isolation because his wife tested positive
All sports are put on hold or cancelled
Royal Caribbean cancels all cruises
Air lines beginning to stop overseas flights
Prime Minister Canada telling overseas Canadians and‘Snowbirds’ to get home, some evacuation flights
Most countries are locked down
Ottawa universities and community college telling student residents to move out.
Self-isolation is the word and social distance
Tokyo Olympics suspended until 2021
That kind of wraps up in a very small nutshell what has been happening since last October.
We are all practicing self-isolation which is not to hard for Wendy and I as we kind of self-isolated as a normal part of daily life. I think that kind of goes along with being retired.
Heather has been off work, on maturity leave, since Rakan was born. So there were the four of us hanging around. We each had our own things that kept us busy outside of the home but now they have all been cancelled. Hareth is still going to work.
With Mieka coming home early and having to self-isolate she is staying at “The Farm” with Shereene while Don and Adrian have moved in with us for the 14 days. Luckily we have the room to accommodate everyone.
Both Don and Shereene can work from home so that is good for them. There are so many businesses that have closed down and people are out of work. The criteria for obtaining Unemployment Insurance has been cut to zero days if the cause is COVID-19. While I am not much of a fan of either our Prime Minister or Premier of Ontario they both have stepped up to the plate to try and get a handle on what is happening. They seem to have taken a page out of China’s notebook by implementing social distancing and border closures.
That is much different than what is happening south of the border. President Trump was denying the existence and devastation that COVID-19 is causing. Even now he wants people to get back to work to save the economy! He is more interested in the sinking economy that he is in the health of his people. And the economy is really taking a hit. The stock market is tanking so there goes most of the savings in my RIF.
I have been trying to get out for a run on a more or less daily basis. If I don’t get a run in I do try and do a walk. What we all have noticed is it seems as if there are more people out walking or running than before. If they are in groups it seems to be a family and not just a random group of friends. Although, some groups seem to be well separated.
One of the major down sides of this pandemic and being told to self-isolate at home is the number of people hoarding food and supplies. For some reason people have been stocking up on years and years supply of all things; toilet paper. This virus does not cause diarrhea so why are people hoarding that? Herd mentality? That seems to be about the answer.
There is also so much false information floating around - even from the President of the US. POTUS gives an update, and not very often, and then an expert is on next and contradicts what Trump has just said. Trump does not seem to take any notice of the experts he has around him and comes up with his own spin on the situation. But, that is no different than what is his usual modus operandi. Even though doctors are saying to keep things closed down and locked up Trump wants everything back up and running full steam by Easter!
Mieka departed in February for a 9 week student exchange in France to enrich her French language. She would be living with a family, going to school and commuting only in French. Sadly, because of the virus she had to return early and arrived back home on Saturday 21 March. When the PM was telling people to return to Canada several of the other students decided to come home early but Don and family decided that it may have been just as safe for Mieka to stay as come home. However, when the airlines were saying they were going to cancel service that was the notice to get Mieka home. She is going to be missing her new friends.
STATISTICS FROM covidly.com AT 16:00 EDT 24 MARCH 2020.
This website seems to be keeping a very accurate and timely update on the current number of cases of COVID-19 world wide.
TOTAL CASES: 414,422 +42,440 DEATHS: 18,545 +2,224
RECOVERED: 105,543 +4,217 TOTAL ACTIVE: 290,334 +37,076
AFFECTED REGIONS: 196/255
CANADA: TOTAL CASES: 2,578 DEATHS: 25 TOTAL ACTIVE: 2,441
47.9% increase in the past 24 hours. Ranked 15th world wide
ONTARIO: TOTAL CASES: 588 DEATHS: 7 TOTAL ACTIVE: 581
38.3% increase in the past 24 hours. Ranked 2nd in Canada, Quebec 1st with 1,013 cases.
OTTAWA: TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES: 25 At least one under the age of 18.
U. S. A.: TOTAL CASES 51,898 DEATHS 672 TOTAL ACTIVE 50,857
23.5% increase in past 24 hours. Ranked 3rd world wide
CHINA still ranked 1st world wide with 81,242 cases, 4,806 active and a -7.7% decrease in number of new cases in the past 24 hours.
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