COVID-19, western Massachusetts edition
Mar. 11th, 2020 10:54 amThere are moments I think I should be putting some of this on Dreamwidth, because there is SO MUCH batshittery happening all at once, and it is hard to wrap one's head around.
It does feel like Massachusetts is taking some parts of this more seriously than the rest of the country, certainly the small private colleges are. There is not a lot of info online which is surprising to me - The TV and newspapers, what remains of them, are doing their best, and honestly I learned of Amherst's closing from the Gazette, and of Smith's from a smith student I was supposed to meet with after break. I'm guessing we'll hear of more from UMass today, because there is a fair amount of pressure to line up with other schools in Mass and also with the five college crowd. Hampshire, or what's left of it, has not yet been heard from.
Weirdly, it seems like![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
siderea is one of the best sources online, both for preparing for the pandemic and for where it has reached and what stages her prep is at. I've been following her steadily, and also a map: Coronavirus map: Tracking cases in the U.S. and around the world - The Washington Post the Wikipedia page seems to be updated a couple times a day 2020 coronavirus outbreak in the United States - Wikipedia and honestly the rest of it feels like telling me to be worried, or not to be worried. which makes them instantly suspect.
The elder crow hears from their work what is happening within the hospital and some of the public health prep. The younger crow is still in Woods Hole, finishing the shore component for SEA, and still slated, so far as we know, to head to New Zealand March 25 to catch her ship. I did email a friend of the younger crow's who is from overseas and might be caught between UMass closing and quarantines/flight cancellations with no place to be. I love her dearly, having her here would be a delight.
I'm working on some pieces of set for PV Ballet, and I am not at all certain I should forge ahead - I don't want to do work they can't pay me for, and I don't want them to pay me for work that they can't use because their performances have been cancelled. It isn't clear what will be going on with the schools, although I heard from a reliable source that the spring musical at NHS was postponed/cancelled because of health concerns, which makes me deeply relieved I did not accept their offer to work on it this year.
My neighbors across the street are scheduled to go to South Africa on Sunday, if the flights are running, to see their daughter and grandchild. C is having fits because she can't decide how hard to plan for going if they might not go. I'm on deck for chicken care, which is easy to pick up as necessary, but other parts of their lives are not so easy to arrange. And un-arrange if they don't go.
This is such a weird, liminal space, where some people are taking things as they come, some are pre-worrying, and some are in full on panic mode. K said she keeps trying to remember the humans involved, and do right by them.
It does feel like Massachusetts is taking some parts of this more seriously than the rest of the country, certainly the small private colleges are. There is not a lot of info online which is surprising to me - The TV and newspapers, what remains of them, are doing their best, and honestly I learned of Amherst's closing from the Gazette, and of Smith's from a smith student I was supposed to meet with after break. I'm guessing we'll hear of more from UMass today, because there is a fair amount of pressure to line up with other schools in Mass and also with the five college crowd. Hampshire, or what's left of it, has not yet been heard from.
Weirdly, it seems like
siderea is one of the best sources online, both for preparing for the pandemic and for where it has reached and what stages her prep is at. I've been following her steadily, and also a map: Coronavirus map: Tracking cases in the U.S. and around the world - The Washington Post the Wikipedia page seems to be updated a couple times a day 2020 coronavirus outbreak in the United States - Wikipedia and honestly the rest of it feels like telling me to be worried, or not to be worried. which makes them instantly suspect. The elder crow hears from their work what is happening within the hospital and some of the public health prep. The younger crow is still in Woods Hole, finishing the shore component for SEA, and still slated, so far as we know, to head to New Zealand March 25 to catch her ship. I did email a friend of the younger crow's who is from overseas and might be caught between UMass closing and quarantines/flight cancellations with no place to be. I love her dearly, having her here would be a delight.
I'm working on some pieces of set for PV Ballet, and I am not at all certain I should forge ahead - I don't want to do work they can't pay me for, and I don't want them to pay me for work that they can't use because their performances have been cancelled. It isn't clear what will be going on with the schools, although I heard from a reliable source that the spring musical at NHS was postponed/cancelled because of health concerns, which makes me deeply relieved I did not accept their offer to work on it this year.
My neighbors across the street are scheduled to go to South Africa on Sunday, if the flights are running, to see their daughter and grandchild. C is having fits because she can't decide how hard to plan for going if they might not go. I'm on deck for chicken care, which is easy to pick up as necessary, but other parts of their lives are not so easy to arrange. And un-arrange if they don't go.
This is such a weird, liminal space, where some people are taking things as they come, some are pre-worrying, and some are in full on panic mode. K said she keeps trying to remember the humans involved, and do right by them.