Hindsight 2020

November 2020

After assisting the Forsyth County Board of Elections with a few post election tasks, I finally took time to rest and recharge my batteries. Within a few days we learned that Biden won the presidential election by a significant margin, both in popular votes as well as Electoral College votes. Despite false allegations of voter fraud, Biden continued winning again and again as dozens of weak legal challenges were rejected.

Greg and I babysat our 2 year old granddaughter Alex several days. Playing with her was joyful medicine for our souls! However, when we realized son Austin wasn’t being as COVID careful as us, we let him know child care services would be paused indefinitely to avoid risk of possible coronavirus exposure. We felt conflicted though he said he understood, without guilt tripping us.

As COVID cases and deaths continued to increase, Dr. Fauci urged people to stay home for the holidays and to cancel large family gatherings. Some family and friends modified their holiday plans by scaling back, quarantining ahead of time, or eating outside. Others disregarded CDC guidance completely. We heeded Dr. Fauci’s advice.

For Thanksgiving we ordered a Honey Baked Ham online and I picked it up curbside a few days early to avoid crowded lines. At home we prepared a variety of sides and desserts including family favorite recipes of broccoli bread, cornbake, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pies, and ham and bean soup made with the ham bone. Then we packed up half of our bounty and scheduled contactless delivery to share with Greg’s Aunt Debbie and Uncle John. In exchange, they shared half a pound cake with us. 

December 2020

COVID spiraled out of control with more than 1,000 Americans dead of coronavirus complications each day. Vaccines were announced in early December and vaccinations began a few days later with priority consideration for health care workers, people in nursing homes, and government officials. The vaccine rollout began slowly so we figured it likely would be several months before we would be eligible. 

We hunkered down for the winter, avoiding people as much as possible, and double masking (KN95 plus cloth mask) when we had to go out for food and supplies. We cooked and ate our meals at home, except for a few McRib sandwiches I picked up from McDonalds drive-thru during the limited time they were available. 

For Christmas dinner we prepared enough to share with Greg's Aunt Debbie and son Austin, though we delivered their meals to them (contactless drop off) rather than host a traditional family dinner. 

Our holiday decorations were befitting our scaled down and simple lifestyle: needlepoint stockings, a small table top glass tree that had belonged to Greg’s mom, a tiny mistletoe scented candle, and a mini Elf on a Shelf which Greg and I took turns hiding from each other. I had purchased the elf last year as a gag gift for Greg. This year we finally named him: Fauci. 

Though we made it through the holiday season unscathed, we didn't feel up to celebrating. All things considered, we were just grateful to be alive and relatively healthy. Knock wood. 

  

27 Dec 2020	Cases		Deaths		Recovered
17:32 GMT*	Sun 9/27	Sun 12/27	Sun 9/27	Sun 12/27	Sun 9/27	Sun 12/27
World	33,101,265	80,927,784	999,425	1,768,884	24,452,178	57,117,746
US	7,288,094	19,447,257	209,180	340,146	4,524,383	11,312,108
#1     CA	807,578	2,124,399	15,587	24,218	411,134	825,306
#2     TX	768,869	1,671,790	15,826	27,129	663,408	1,363,469
#3      FL	698,682	1,264,588	14,023	21,135	276,975	719,190
#4     NY	488,970	954,087	33,206	37,232	391,607	469,937
#11   NC	206,090	513,930	3,440	6,526	176,422	403,488
#34    CT	56,587	172,543	4,501	5,791	41,822	51,014

 *Worldometers     Johns Hopkins     https://ncov2019.live/ 

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 doubled again. Nearly every nation on the planet has been impacted while 4 countries (the US, India, Brazil, and Russia) account for roughly half of all cases.

Globally, 4% of closed cases resulted in death. A moment of silence for all the souls we’ve lost to coronavirus, including the first 100 in the US, the first 100,000  and others documented by the Faces of COVID project and the NY Times.