why did this never post ...last week.

We're being very cautious too. Here, bars and restaurants are going to re-open tomorrow but we can't imagine who would want to go and eat in one. Perhaps the younger people.....I'm going to work tomorrow but the conditions are very strict and I have been well reassured that all necessary measures are in place.....

Sleeve, we're north of you and just started phase 2 of reopening. My BF broke a tooth right after the shutdown and couldn't go to dentist to have it checked until phase 1... Needs a root canal and they aren't allowed to do it yet. Not sure when that can happen.

I'm not even ready to go back to Los Angeles, due to the riots. We were planning to go back this Saturday and stay for a week, but we may decide to postpone that. I don't want to go if the National Guard will still be there, but it's hard to imagine that this can go on for an entire week. We will wait and see.

Things down here have been open for a couple of weeks. We still only go out just to get groceries or prescriptions but we've noticed the restaurants that are open are always full. Nope. My son & his family are kicking around the idea of getting away for a few days, like maybe to Gatlinburg. Wish they wouldn't. If they do, we will have to stay away from them for at least 2 weeks once they're back. I refuse to spend another night in a hospital bed!

I need to do a few low contact things, but I keep pushing them back.

I've had several medical tests done recently that, by necessity, had no distancing whatsoever... masks - yes, distance - no. My Pod has already been invaded by another Pod... with my permission. While i think my semi-isolation has pretty much ended, I have to admit that I'm not quite ready to go out into the world as I once did.

I did have to go to the doctor today. I considered cancelling the appointment, but it was one that had been cancelled in March due to the Coronavirus. Therefore, decided I needed to go. Still practicing self-isolation here. Other than picking up meds and groceries curbside, this was the first time I have been out since early January, when a friend in Korea alerted me to what was happening there and she knew would be coming here. It truly felt strange. The doctor's office is certainly taking safety precautions: Entry door locked, and a masked person came out to take temperature and ask specific questions, before I was allowed in. Then I was told to use the hand sanitizer and to sit in a specific chair while the door was being relocked. Once called back to the doctor's office, temp was taken again. Everyone was masked. I truly appreciated the precautions they were taking.

Actually, it was a relief to get back home.

Not ready here either, and wishing I could stay home more than I do now. I've been going back and forth between my and my mom's houses (we're 5 minutes apart by car) and haven't slept in my own bed since she returned home from rehab in early April. I am so relieved that my job is allowing me to mostly work remotely and only go into the building on weekends and after hours, when nobody else is around. I was dreading having to go back, and this has helped my anxiety levels go down quite a bit.

I went inside Target today to get my 2nd hepatitis shot, and was rather apprehensive, seeing how many cars were in the parking lot. The store was nowhere near as crowded as in the past, but still more than I was comfortable with because although most people were wearing masks like me, and of course all the employees, there were a number of non-masked families with kids walking around and not distancing from others. Luckily the pharmacy area was empty of other customers.

Too many people here are acting as if the need for distancing and masks is over - including the staff at work. We had an on site training on Friday. They seem to think that disinfecting surfaces is sufficient and gathered quite close to each other with not a mask in sight - I'm the only one taking such precautions, which is why I am relieved I don't have to go near them again 😟

@Party, it seems dentists opened NY statewide today. I will call tomorrow and see what their precautions are. I'm guessing any medical establishments are taking precautions.

@Lars. Disturbing the rioting. I did not predict that at all. I support peaceful demonstrations but burning and looting is criminal. So sad.

Kate, we need medical. And safely. Medical settings now seem the most safe. They seem to know and are informed about our safety and theirs.

My only concern is public masks, though mandatory, are not worn properly. The nose is often not covered. At least the exhale if from the mouth is covered when talking....but most non-talking is via the nose.

Two other posts have not appeared yet. A very helpful post about a state-by-state list of farms that might need help in your area.

The other was about mask design. The nose bridge using all things around the home like the bendy closure on coffee bags. So many things around the home to seal that nose bridge. Any mask is better than nothing...could be better with public/news media announcements.

Someone might be flagging me, like ann_t last spring. She had a, what I call a 'tail-gating' ....she was flagged. then posted under a different name. Then flagged for gorgeous bread. Great foods, lovely. Flagged for other posting.

Shame if someone is 'tail gating' me. Ann-t is on my other forum so I get her gorgeous foods photos.

We did go to our routine dentist appointments. Mine was near the beginning of this stuff - before stay at home orders but we were already self-isolating. Our dentist office is small, just a semi-retired dentist, his dentist daughter and sometimes a dental assistant and a receptionist. It's in it's own building and there weren't any other patients in the waiting room.

Our doctor's did video visits for annual check-ups and ordered labs but said to wait to go in. Kaiser has started doing lab appointments so they can keep numbers down for social distancing.

My video visit was just after they started relaxing stay at home orders so we talked about that.

I said that we intended to keep with staying at home, delivery or curbside pick-up. He said that was wise. That it could take 3 or 4 weeks tell whether there is a resurgence due to opening back up.

I would like to go for an eye appointment because it's been seeming lately that my eyes have shifted enough to benefit from a new lens prescription. I don't notice it more with my computer glasses than with my progressive lenses. I'll hold off on that for a while.

Here are the precautions my dentist has taken:

• HEPA Filtration- We have added a HEPA filtration system to each operatory and the waiting room. HEPA 13 filters are considered medical grade and filter 99.97% of the air particles down to 0.1 micron. These units will exchange 100% of the air in the operatories every 15 minutes.

• Hypochlorous Acid Disinfection (HOCL)- In addition to disinfecting all high touch areas using our normal protocols, we have added HOCL disinfection. HOCL is made in the office using water and salt so safe for use while being a highly effective disinfectant. HOCL will be applied by way of a fogger throughout the day.

• Upgraded PPE- All team members have received upgraded PPE. All clinical staff members will wear a N95 mask in addition to a level 3 surgical mask. Disposable gowns and face shields will also be used. All non-clinical staff members will wear a level 3 surgical mask as well.

In addition there will be new procedures for your visit. In the interest of allowing for social distancing we ask the following of our patients:

• Please arrive 5-10 minutes prior to your appointment time
• Please call from your car when you arrive, you will be informed by a team member when you can enter the office. Please DO NOT enter the office without calling first.
• Upon entering every patient and any companions will have their temperature checked using a contactless thermometer.
• After you have been checked in you will be escorted directly to your treatment room.
• We will temporarily be suspending the use of our waiting room.
• We kindly ask that any companions (other than those of a minor) please wait in their cars.

SD - I can pretty much guarantee this thread was hung up for review because of the “carp” word. I’ve had that be a trigger many times. The good thing is if you locate the trigger and remove/replace it, the post comes out of quarantine immediately.

And speaking of quarantine, back on topic, I noticed a lot more car traffic and seemingly more air traffic yesterday. I’m not ready to sit in a restaurant yet, still happy to see people wearing masks, but I’m done being paranoid to go shopping. We had dinner at my in-laws on Saturday any my parents Sunday. All four high risk, all four done with not hugging their grandchildren. We’re way down to early/mid March levels here in NY and continuing decline. Social distancing between me and my parents has been impossible due to health care issues anyway, and we made it through the worst. Hopefully I won’t regret being a bit flippant about it at this point. It does concern me when turning on the news, that covid seems so last week.

FOAS, I admire your Dentist's precautions! That's fantastic. Also, thanks for explaining about the usage of the word 'carp', and for that reason I'll delete my post with conjecture : )

Regarding dental in NY, my BF could only see a regular dentist as an emergency visit in phase 1 opening. They are not approved to do the root canal under phase 1, and so far, the governor hasn't approved it for phase 2 either. That's understandable because it's a time-consuming face-to-face procedure.

Another thing that screws up the indexing of posts is the use of a VPN. It allows you to use all the features of the forum, but can make you invisible to the posts lists, which is no big deal for comments, but can "lose" your original posts. If you can find your post and comment without the VPN, it'll show up in the index.

I have a teeth cleaning appointment. They have very rigorous protocols, more items than what FOAS posted. I think direct from the CDC. I don't blame them. They've always used PPE, but having your hands and face that close to someone else's, when there can be no symptoms at all, must be scary. I just hope I'll be able to breathe though it!

Going out into the world again? No. I will remain isolated in the woods for now. I don't want to see circles on the ground for 6 feet separations, masked strangers, plastic dividers, roped off entrances and outright urban warfare. I wish there was I way I could go back to the world I used to know.

All remains the same here on the compound.

Over here in Portland, SWMBO and I are getting oddly used to and comfortable with isolation.

I go to work every day, so I’m not actually stuck at home, and SWMBO was busy with some political campaigns, so she wasn’t feeling too isolated either. It has been tougher on DS, finishing his college freshman year living at home, and on DD, finishing her senior year in her apartment in Eugene. They’ve both been very carefully isolating all the same. DS has amazed me with his ability to spend 8-10 hours a day on school, instead of being a couch potato. DD has been furiously painting stuff for her BFA show, which sadly will be just some images on a website :-(

This level of social distancing can’t be maintained by our city for the long term, though. Businesses are starting to reopen in Oregon, though not yet in Portland. Some could not have survived a much longer shutdown. In Portland, we’ve lost a lot of restaurants already.

The demonstrations have brought tens of thousands of people onto Portland’s streets, as it has elsewhere. Locally, many are masked, but many are not.

Personally, I’ll wait and see what our new case trend looks like, before deciding whether to change my new found habits.

DD will stay in Eugene for some of the summer and then probably move home. She doesn’t have a job - like many other new college graduates, the pandemic and economic crunch has thrown everything into limbo. Most of her college friends graduated last year (since she did a BFA year), and many of them have now lost their jobs. For DD, art and writing adjacent jobs of the entry level variety have kind of evaporated. She hasn’t changed her goals of moving to NY or LA, but it might just take a little longer. In the meantime, she could probably bring her cooking chops to a local restaurant job, but I don’t want her to have that much exposure while living with us. But hey, she found out that she’s graduating Phi Beta Kappa, so there’s that!

DS will live here for the summer, then go back to school in Eugene. For the next few months, he wants to get a job or to volunteer using his EMT certificate, and I think those entry level positions are still around, but again there’s the exposure thing.

Hmm, writing this makes me realize my concern over keeping our house virus-free is in conflict with my kids doing productive and/or paying things in this difficult time. Maybe I can find a cheap rental for them. Or maybe my concerns are overdone.

Mulling it over.

FOAS my dentist sent us a letter with even more rigorous disinfecting than yours stated. As I'm sure is mandated!

I am lucky to live on a beautiful, very wide street that is shady in order to take a couple of walks per day (I miss my water aerobics, though!) People do a kind of choreographed dance/walk, where whoever is on the sidewalk to start gets the sidewalk and the others go into the street. I think people walking our street are even MORE polite than they used to be!

I'm finding almost all people in the grocery stores are wearing their masks (though I've e-mailed a couple of stores that employees were wearing their masks below their noses). I did ask an employee today with Aspergers syndrome to please wrap the cloth all the way around the art handle and not just clean the top ( mention the A Syndrome, because that was my job for several years before retiring, training Spec Ed young adults in job skills, and one of them was cleaning grocery carts!)

We did venture out to a local Mexican place that had a couple of outdoor tables for lunch the other day....not quite ready to go into a place to eat!

John Liu, congratulations to your DD on her Phi Beta Kappa!!