covid diary: day 131

that sky. that guy.

We spent the weekend as we've spent the past few weeks: worrying about school opening. Yes, we have plenty of other things to do and worry about, but it's hard to concentrate when you're trying to decide whether to send your children into the lion's den, so to speak.

Around the country, things are getting worse and worse. I've seen horrifying stories out of Florida, and especially out of McAllen, Texas, where there are field hospitals that are poorly staffed and with no PPE for nurses and very limited oxygen for patients who need it ... and worse. I even saw accounts today (with pictures) of patients crawling with ants in those field hospitals. Nurses have been leaving because they're so traumatized that they just can't report to work anymore, and it's hard to blame them. And a side note: officials in McAllen, Texas, need to get it together — this is also the place where migrant children have been separated from their parents and detained in absolutely inhumane conditions.

In Indiana, the curve is also going up and up and up. Yesterday, we had 916 new cases reported. Only one day has been higher: April 26, at the height of the initial surge, we had 946 new cases. And you can see that April 26 was an outlier; the days around it are all much lower in case numbers. That's not what's happening now. Every day, we're getting really high numbers. And it's only going to get worse once school opens.

In short, we're screwed. Friday afternoon, our school released a plan for reopening. As expected, it basically pledges to deal with positive cases on a case-by-case basis. It says that kid who do the virtual option aren't allowed to participate in extracurriculars. It says that kids need to have a mask on their person, and to wear them during passing periods, but it's up to the teachers whether they wear masks during each class. It says we have until Friday, July 24, to decide if we are going to enroll in the virtual option or send our kids in person.

Well. That lasted all of two hours before two important developments happened. First, the Marshall County Health Department issued a county-wide mask order, meaning everyone who is in public spaces needs to wear a mask at all times. Second, the IHSAA (the state sports authority) issued guidance to all athletic directors saying that student athletes who do virtual learning SHOULD be able to still participate in sports.

This afternoon, in an email, the superintendent announced that in light of the county mask order, kids will have to wear masks the entire time they're at school or on the bus. That's more than seven hours a day! It hasn't gotten much attention yet on social media that I've seen, but I expect parents to be shouting in outrage about this. The athletic department hasn't issued any revisions to sports participation yet, though. I sent an email to the athletic director making the case for why Liam should be able to play tennis. I guess we'll have to wait and see about that one.

In local news, Henry broadened his culinary skills by making homemade chocolate pudding, which the boys enjoyed after dinner. It could have used a little more whisking of the cornstarch, but it really was delicious. And the pasture is alive with wildflowers -- both the ones Mike planted and the ones that grow there naturally. It's really gorgeous, and it's too bad I was in a crabby mood when we were out there. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Nationwide cases: 3,831,405. Deaths: 140,909.