Week of March 8
My Covid-19 attention over the weekend was a fascination related to how people were coping in quarantine on cruise ships. I found Twitter feeds highlighting daily meals and in-cabin yoga routines. Our weekend proceeded like any other weekend; we went to stores, we spent some time (pre-arranged) with some of short-term exchange students from Japan, we went to indoor soccer games, we planed with friends.
At the beginning of the week there were three reported cases; all in Johnson County and related to people who had been on a cruise to Egypt.
Tuesday, March 10
The topic for today’s Tech Lab was Information Literacy; we broke from the exercises I’d planned and instead I asked students to document everything they’d heard of Corona Virus to date on our white board and we used our knowledge to rate the degree of accuracy of each rumor.
By mid-afternoon we read the announcement that Grinnell College had cancelled the remainder of their semester; no sports, no concerts, no graduation, classes would move online after a two week period. The provost, associate dean, and I met for a first take on how Coe might move online.
We had previous plans to go to Grinnell with our good family friends for their son’s (a first year student at Grinnell) birthday. Our trip became dual purpose: go out for dinner to celebrate Jack, and pick up some of his stuff to move him home. We had a great dinner in a local restaurant. It did not occur to me at the time that this would be my last dinner out
I had heard rumors of stores selling out of hand sanitizers and toilet paper. On our way out of town, we stopped at the Walmart to get hand sanitizer; there are 8 bottles left and we buy them all. In addition, there are about 20 travel-size packages of Clorox wipes. We buy these, too. I distribute them to people at Coe and neighbors.
Wednesday, March 11
Coe announces a one week extension to spring break. Many other colleges have announced a similar plan. Some are reporting a short move to online class work after (so two weeks of spring break and two or so weeks of online learning, then back to campus).
13 confirmed cases in Iowa.
Thursday, March 12
WHO declares Covid-19 a world pandemic. One thousand cases in the U.S., 19 in Iiowa.
Faculty meeting lasts almost two hours with lots of questions and concerns for how we will deal with online courses if it comes to that.
Friday, March 13
Cam’s soccer tournament scheduled for Saturday is cancelled, as is the rest of the AYSO indoor practice schedule. As of today, ASYO indoor core games are still on (they cancel the last three weeks of the indoor season on 3/14).
I spent the day holed up in my office working on online contingency planning or popping into meetings with the provost and associate dean. At the end of the day, I call around to see what’s going on: Jamey is out for a beer with a friend, Willa and friends are out for pho at a local restaurant, Cam is home, but playing a game, tried two other friends….no answer. So I pop into the fitness center and run a couple of miles on the treadmill, and spend 20 minutes in the sauna sweating away the day. It’s dead, everybody is taking off for spring break.
Weekend of March 14-15
Most group activities are being cancelled, including St. Patrick’s Day parades all over the nation. Willa and I grocery shop, but don’t feel panicked about “prepping” like some people. I note I spend a little more than the usual weekly trip, but we’ve bought flour, sugar, and extra baking supplies (for spring break baking). We make a trip to Barnes & Noble for some titles we couldn’t find in the library or elsewhere, and we get a new puzzle.
Stro @ Coe 