Day 36: Covid Strikes Again!
This morning I will attempt to write slowly and neatly enough that Google Lens can accurately transcribe my writing, thereby saving me significant time on the back-end if I can to snap a photo of my handwritten pages and instantly transcribe them with a high degree of accuracy. Two clicks and it goes right to my computer's clipboard? Yes, please.
On when my brain moves faster than my hand (not the case this early morning), I can scrawl my messy cursive or better still, use a tape recorder, and transcribe later.
Now, 36 days into my writing challenge, I feel fantastic about my progress. I sought to write for 1 hour per day, or 36 hours so far, and by the end of this session I will have docked 35.5. Not too shabby! I plan to make up the extra 1/2 hour later today or tomorrow — and the 35.5 hours does not include multiple hours for editing and publishing.
I sought to assemble a writer’s toolbox, and I am beginning to do just that. Now, I can write via notebook and electronically transcribe notes rather quickly, write in script and retype, or (in a very high-tech, time-saving strategy) type directly onto my laptop! (Though I must admit to being too cheap to purchase a license for Microsoft Word — so this blog is coming to you straight from Apple Pages!)
At some point, I will search our drawers for a tape recorder, so I will have four methods of recording my words and ideas — not bad for 36 days!
Plus, I began indexing daily entries in my notebooks so I can see what I wrote at a glance. And I am making some progress on my Family Meeting Handbook, which I am excited to share.
Thanks to my Buy Nothing friends, I am flush with new, free pens (cha-ching!) and I am feeling excellent.
About the writing challenge.
About everything else, especially the current Omicron Surge, not so much.
It turns out my family was recently exposed to someone who tested positive for Covid (not shocking, as nearly every one I have spoken to since has a similar story to share). Currently, more than 400,000 people per day officially test positive in the US! This official count leaves out anyone who home tests, anyone asymptomatic, and anyone who chooses not to test. All the friends I have heard of recently who tested positive have been fully vaccinated, and in most cases boosted.
So, G-d willing our friend’s illness will be, in fact, mild, but this exposure throws my family into a very uncomfortable holding pattern. In addition to missing out on much anticipated visits with beloved family members (we all shed tears over this), dozens of questions now arise for us moving forward into a possible return to in-person school in two days.
First, when should we test? How should we test? Where can we find home testing kits?
On hot tip from social media, we found a stash of tests at a local CVS. Jesse and I each purchased the max allowable and now, we wait. Is the home testing kit enough? Should we try to undergo an official rapid test elsewhere? If so, when should we do both things?
I have heard the tests sometimes do not turn positive (even with symptoms present) until day 6, at which point all four of us will have exposed large groups of people if we go back to school and work. But, if by Tuesday we all remain asymptomatic and have one negative test, can we safely assume we do not have Covid and go about our business?
I have teacher-specific questions as well. How can I go back if I risk infecting my students’ and their families? Can I stay out due to an abundance of caution, knowing how many teachers have already tested positive and must stay home? I know no substitutes will enter our school building at this point, so the in-person situation could look like anything. Sigh.
Further, if I do have Covid, what will happen to my class?
What lesson plans can I send without knowing if they will stay in my classroom with one substitute, receive coverage from a multitude of teachers in 45-minute increments, or combine with another class entirely? Who considers this situation, which could easily last up to 2 weeks, instructionally sound or even physically safe?
Should I lean harder on the powers that be for a switch to virtual learning, knowing that A) I have exactly zero control over that outcome and B) virtual learning itself feels toxic for so many children, including my own at home?
No answers exist in this, the 5th Covid surge. Only terrible questions, impossible trade offs and so many things lost.