COVID-19: How is it affecting you?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I was supposed to be in Japan right now for a conference but it was cancelled due to coronavirus, so I took the 2 weeks off from work anyway and just did a local trip for the first week and spent the second week playing mystery dungeon at home. I go back to work tomorrow. A lot has changed there since I left. No big meetings, everyone who can is being told to work from home and anyone returning from overseas is not allowed to return to work for 14 days. Most people at my work travel overseas 1-2 times a year to go to conferences, but all traveling has been banned and all conferences around the world seem to have been cancelled. Everyone lost a lot of money in flights/accommodation. It will be interesting to see what is like at work when I go back tomorrow.

Outside of work, I've made sure my grandparents have enough essentials so they can avoid leaving the house for a few weeks if there is a huge increase in cases. My mum works in aged care and has to wear full protective equipment now (goggles, mask, apron, gloves).

My dad decided to fly on a pre-booked holiday to New Zealand yesterday even though the prime minister said people shouldn't travel unless essential. The same day, New Zealand said anyone arriving into the country would need to be quarantined for 14 days. He just made it before the cut off... But just now Australia made the same rule so he will need to quarantine for 14 days when he gets back from his holiday... I think it was pretty dumb of him to go but he didn't want to lose the money from the holiday. I'm glad he will have to isolate as I don't want him to be around my grandparents when he gets back if possible (he was living with them for the moment).

It seems like the schools will shut at any time, which means lots of parents (including my boss and many others at work) will need to stay home. Unfortunately I can't do my job from home, so unless my work shuts down I'll have to go into the city every day. I ride my bike in at least, so I don't have to take public transport. I have lots of leave saved up so lucky I don't have to worry about being paid if there is a lockdown.

I think it's too soon to worry yet but the wave of cases will come eventually. I'm not scared of getting sick but the panic buying of everything in supermarkets makes me a bit anxious. I'm also worried about my grandparents getting sick.
@Desolate Divine that sucks that your hours are being cut so dramatically. Could you try doing more activities online or something for youth group? There have been plenty of forum events you could take inspiration from! And it would take time to plan, run etc so if the church was still willing to pay for your time, at least you'd have some work to do. I'm sure the kids and their parents would appreciate it too, especially if they close schools soon.

[[Desolate Divine]]

I was supposed to be in Japan right now for a conference but it was cancelled due to coronavirus, so I took the 2 weeks off from work anyway and just did a local trip for the first week and spent the second week playing mystery dungeon at home. I go back to work tomorrow. A lot has changed there since I left. No big meetings, everyone who can is being told to work from home and anyone returning from overseas is not allowed to return to work for 14 days. Most people at my work travel overseas 1-2 times a year to go to conferences, but all traveling has been banned and all conferences around the world seem to have been cancelled. Everyone lost a lot of money in flights/accommodation. It will be interesting to see what is like at work when I go back tomorrow.

Outside of work, I've made sure my grandparents have enough essentials so they can avoid leaving the house for a few weeks if there is a huge increase in cases. My mum works in aged care and has to wear full protective equipment now (goggles, mask, apron, gloves).

My dad decided to fly on a pre-booked holiday to New Zealand yesterday even though the prime minister said people shouldn't travel unless essential. The same day, New Zealand said anyone arriving into the country would need to be quarantined for 14 days. He just made it before the cut off... But just now Australia made the same rule so he will need to quarantine for 14 days when he gets back from his holiday... I think it was pretty dumb of him to go but he didn't want to lose the money from the holiday. I'm glad he will have to isolate as I don't want him to be around my grandparents when he gets back if possible (he was living with them for the moment).

It seems like the schools will shut at any time, which means lots of parents (including my boss and many others at work) will need to stay home. Unfortunately I can't do my job from home, so unless my work shuts down I'll have to go into the city every day. I ride my bike in at least, so I don't have to take public transport. I have lots of leave saved up so lucky I don't have to worry about being paid if there is a lockdown.

I think it's too soon to worry yet but the wave of cases will come eventually. I'm not scared of getting sick but the panic buying of everything in supermarkets makes me a bit anxious. I'm also worried about my grandparents getting sick.
@Desolate Divine that sucks that your hours are being cut so dramatically. Could you try doing more activities online or something for youth group? There have been plenty of forum events you could take inspiration from! And it would take time to plan, run etc so if the church was still willing to pay for your time, at least you'd have some work to do. I'm sure the kids and their parents would appreciate it too, especially if they close schools soon.

That sucks your trip was cancelled. I hope you didn't lose money if it was a work trip?

That answers one question about how aged care is being treated. I am guessing they are not allowing visitors? I have a relative in an aged care place that we usually visit weekly, but get the feeling that won't happen for a little while.

Yeah definitely a good thing if your dad isolated. My mum and stepdad were supposed to be touring Europe in the next few months starting with Italy, which is now down the tube.

The kids at youth group were told by their schools on Friday to empty their lockers in case things get worse, so I am expecting them to close soon.

It's tricky. I think it's more so a matter of good social media engagement. An example of that, is a youth group that has also closed nearby. They posted on their Instagram story a picture of Coronavirus transmission on different greetings. Handshake, high-five, fistbump etc, and had a shaka with 0%. So they told their kids to post a video to their story and tag them giving some random a shaka. Stuff like that is informal, keeps us in the minds of the kids, and is fun. I just gotta think of things like that.

They will hopefully still pay for my time in terms of youth work. I am still doing the work, but the focus is shifting from doing youth normally to figuing out how to do it differently in light of current events. The work that I am losing is physical setup work, eg setting up tables for a group of old ladies to do crafts of a Wednesday.