The COVID Chronicles #34: Statistical Updates & Routine Changes

In Arizona, there are now over 16,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 799 confirmed deaths. To put this into perspective, the estimated total population of Arizona 7,380,000 people. 

In our county, there have been 57 confirmed cases. 
  • 14 cases are still considered active, 
  • 42 have been released from isolation. 
  • There has been one confirmed death from COVID-19 in our county. 
  • To put this into perspective, in 2019, there was estimated population of nearly 126,000 people, with total area of the county at just over 6,000 square miles (16,000 square kilometers). 

The number of cases in our zip code is currently between 1-5 with the highest number of cases in our county being located in the zip code for the border town of Douglas, which is about 25 miles away from us. Wife and I are continuing to practice self-isolation and social distancing, even on this holiday weekend. 

I went back to working on campus this week, but my interaction with students was minimal. I was responsible for training a new member of our team and providing some remedial training to a recent hire who completed her training via Zoom after we were all sent home on March 26th. 

Social distancing measures were put into place that included everyone (except me) working in a large community room with work stations six feet apart. The work stations consist of 2 tables put together with a glass shield between the student and the advisor. Walk-in times are limited to 10am-2pm and students are otherwise seen by appointment via Zoom. Summer classes begin on Tuesday. 

Going back to work naturally created some changes to the routines Wife and I had developed over the past 6-7 weeks:
  • The first was the need to prepare and pack my lunch every morning before leaving for work. I/We were successful in this 4 of the 5 days this week. On Thursday I used the mobile app for Chipotle to order a burrito bowl from a location near the campus and picked it up during my lunch hour.
  • I did not complete a workout this week; either on the bike or using the body weight workout app I downloaded during the quarantine. My director commented that she thought I looked thinner and had lost weight during the quarantine. I will need to do better this week so I don't slip back into the slothful lifestyle I had before the quarantine.
  • I needed to bathe more often this week than I had been. Because our shower remodel project is still incomplete and needs the glass shower doors put on it, there were some mornings I was using our bathtub to clean myself up and wash my hair. Nobody commented that I needed a hair cut this week, but one of my co-workers did comment the first morning that my hair was "literally" as long hers, but of course it wasn't, just that it had grown as much as hers in the time we were away.  
All for this morning...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The COVID Chronicles #26: Quarantine (Is Not Quite Over)

Image
We are still holding at 39 cases in our county. 14 are still active cases while 25 have been released from isolation. The age group with most number of cases has been 20-44 years and not surprising, given the demographics of the county, the highest number of cases has been in the hispanic or latino community. Still no reported deaths from COVID-19 in our county. For the state of Arizona, we are currently at at 8,640 cases, with 276 new cases being reported yesterday. There are 362 reported deaths in our state as of this morning. This family has kept me entertained through all this.... The first thing Wife told me this morning was a friend of ours who lives in the northern part of the state, in a place I will refer to as "Red Rock City", had told her the stay at home order for AZ had been canceled. I looked up Google News and told her that was poppycock, aka "fake news", but that 2 county sheriffs were refusing to enforce the stay at home order. I just ques...
Read more

Lenten Fast Post #3

On Saturday, I fasted all day. I did have a breakfast in the morning after sunrise b/c I legitimately felt hungry, so I had 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal, some blueberries, an apple, 3 dates, and a banana. I did not eat again until well after sundown when I got some chicken nuggets and chicken fries from Burger King b/c I was waiting on a locksmith to let me in house b/c I had locked myself out.  Sundays are "feast days" in the Methodist tradition so I had a balanced breakfast and then did not eat until after 7pm, when I had spaghetti, salad, and 4 St. Louis style ribs.  I have eaten nothing today, so I'm very much looking forward to dinner, which I expect will be a roasted potato cubed with carrots, leftover ribs, and a salad. Prior to the breaking of the fast, I will of course offer up a prayer and then break the fast.  All for today. 
Read more

The COVID Chronicles #39: Hail Storm!

Image
We had about 30 minute hail storm yesterday here in Old Mining Town and it did a number on our vegetable garden. It also knocked out power for about an hour. Wife was home alone and took the video above.  It also did a number on our vegetable garden. Below is a picture of what is left of our volunteer squash plants. It looks like we had one already starting.  Here's what it looked like before: Here's the zucchini plants:  And the beans:  So tonight, I raked up the leaves that were torn off our apricot tree and buried them in the new compost bed. Then I lit a fire of dried grassroots (that were still very wet in the middle): 
Read more