The Pandemic Response

[Ed Hurst]

Oklahoma is now officially in a panic state, in the sense that people are buying up all kinds of supplies without a clear idea why. Yesterday something clicked and the population of the state went nuts. All the school districts in the state were forced to cancel classes for today (Friday) because parents were pulling their kids anyway. Of course, next week is Spring Break, but it still puts a kink in official scheduling of things, along with budgets and movement of supplies, etc.

But with that kind of panic came the panic buying of whatever folks imagine will be hard to get sometime soon. Most of it is fuzzy thinking about a likely quarantine. The population as a whole has very little idea what kind of planning and decisions are part of government mandated quarantines. It made it tough shopping yesterday for stuff we buy regularly. We had to take into account the madness and how it affects our future shopping trips.

We could easily make this a prayer request for the nation, or even the world. Feel free to pursue that as you feel led, but my focus here is our covenant family. I'm going to post something on my Radix Fidem blog about this, but I also wanted to place it formally here on the forum. The disease will run its course according to the Lord's wisdom and will, but the wider human response is the real problem. This is part of the near-apocalypse the Spirit warned me about over the past few years. The shape of it comes as a surprise to me, but not the fact itself.

Be sure to pray for each other in this chaos. It may be useful to share our experiences here in this thread.

[jaybreak]

Things are heating up in Pittsburgh as well. We haven't had any local confirmed cases here yet; the closest ones are in OH and Philly. But there's a possible case in Pittsburgh that could have infected a ton more if it turns out to actually be covid-19.

Preparedness is (or was) a good idea but prayer is essential.

[forrealone]

Yes, prayer for each other is essential at this time.  We always do anyway, but the more we lift each other up, the more benefit it will have.

For years now, watching/observing the world as it is and more specifically the US, I have been prepared for whatever may come my way.  So, I didn't/don't have to "stock up".  I have never been a prepper or survivalist, just always thought/acted this way, especially since Hurricane Fran came our way in 1996.  Those in my circle or tribe are always welcome here.

May our Father grant us His peace, compassion and wisdom during this time.

Love you all!

[forrealone]

Well, I have made the decision to stay right here at home for now.  I have everything I could possibly need for weeks.  One exception will be my weekly trip to our "dump" and to pick up whatever fresh produce I can find.  Otherwise, I will not need to go anywhere.  I am grateful that is possible for me.

Our school district moved our spring break from Apr 10-17 to Mar 20-27.  There will be no school next week either and they have pegged the week as teacher workdays.  The actual date school will be re-opened is contingent upon the state of things.  Fortunately, the teachers expected this and sent home plenty of workbooks and assignments to keep all our kids busy.  There are also plenty of online opportunities for them as well.  I recently got my grandkids a new Dell laptop, so they will have that to connect with.

I trust all of you are "staged" to deal with whatever comes out of all this?

I am not surprised at the reaction of the general public.  I expected it.  Hence, I guess, my "always be prepared" motto.  He he

Please take care, you are in my prayers daily and I am here should anyone need me for anything!

[Ed Hurst]

Here in Oklahoma we also have some doubts about when schools may actually reopen. They have this next week of Spring Break to confer and decide. Yeah, we were ready for this, too.

[Ed Hurst]

The Oklahoma state board of education has mandates schools remain closed until April 6. However, the facilities will reopen next week for child nutrition programs (breakfast and lunch), just not for classes. Lots of state offices are following a similar schedule, looks like.

[IainH]

Hey, I'm gonna make this short Samaritans Purse employee tested positive for c19. I believe he had been to Italy. Graham works in Boone at Mast GS popular with locals and tourists. He never gets sick, he was over the weekend. I been in bed too weak. I know flu,, this ain't flu. It a bug some kind. Michelle and Megan ok. Ughh..I'm going to lay down l8r g8rs.

[Ed Hurst]

There's plenty of other maladies floating around. The CDC has been pushing cities and states to restrict certain kinds of businesses. Several large cities in OK have shut down bars, and restaurants can sell only take-out or drive-thru. The current end date is April 12. This is going to kill a lot of businesses because nobody is going to bail them out. Yep, we live in interesting times.

[IainH]

Hey, I'm gonna make this short Samaritans Purse employee tested positive for c19. I believe he had been to Italy. Graham works in Boone at Mast GS popular with locals and tourists. He never gets sick, he was over the weekend. I been in bed too weak. I know flu,, this ain't flu. It a bug some kind. Michelle and Megan ok. Ughh..I'm going to lay down l8r g8rs.

Phew...that was a rough couple of days but, I'm feeling much better. I was so weak yesterday I could barely get out of bed to take care of my necessaries. Low grade fever, aching all over and weakness. Classic winter crud. Our bed is an California King size and is about four inches wider than the length between the windows so, I opened the one on my side a little for fresh air and took mega doses of vitamin D. I got to go pick up my BP meds today so, I'm hoping they will have Coldeze. There have been runs on every conceivable thing even though the supply chain is not affected by the mass hysteria and our truckers are trucking.  I made a point of speaking very loudly in Walmart and the grocery store "I don't know why everybody is panicking, the trucks are rolling and it ain't like they're not going to get more stuff". I've even told managers "y'all need to remind people that you're supply chain is not affected and trucks are coming in all the time". They didn't seem to have a clue. Maybe it's because I have so many kinfolk and friends who are truckers. When it was becoming apparent what was fixing to happen, I did inventory and bought the stuff that I was low on mainly, ammo. There's a saying beans, bullets and bandages. I pray that y'all are well stocked. 
I went and bought several boxes of practice ammo about 10 days ago and my gun store had plenty but, I asked them "are you seeing a run on ammo yet?"..."not yet but, its coming".  By yesterday evening, they were out. Again, trucks are on the way, bringing more.

[Ed Hurst]

Glad you're doing better. It's getting crazier by the day.