Life Changes because of the coronavirus in the United States and First Death in Virginia

In our area of the state of Virginia there are no reported cases but you can not get tested unless you are symptomatic and it sounds like that is even hard to do. This makes everyone very suspect of the health of others. I've not seen anyone wearing masks in Charlottsville but I'm sure it's coming. Virginia announced the first patient death from Covid-19 today located in the Hampton Roads area.

I occupy myself in the garden!

We basically live in a college town and unless it's Summer or Spring Break stores are busy and traffic is thick. It's a very odd feeling to drive out in Charlottesville to find the streets nearly bare and stores not crowded and some even shuttered! A decision was made last week to host classes online at the University of Virginia.

CSSE at Johns Hopkins tracks COVID-19 worldwide and allows you to zoom and click on your area. As test kits are made available in the US, the numbers will drastically increase. I do believe we will see a significant rise that will reflect the extensive spread of this virus in our country.

I've also noticed an occasional ambulance siren more often on the nearby street which I rarely ever heard before coronavirus. One can imagine an elevated sense of fear could cause all sorts of related problems. I know I've been on edge.

Running joke are his hat variations, going Smurf w this one.

My husband is a computer programmer and he has been working from home since Thursday. He is very lucky to be working for an online retailer so hopefully his job will not be in jeopardy. It's unbelievable to think that a month ago we could not fathom such changes! I don't know that the seriousness of the repercussions have really set in. Best to just take one day at a time and first priority is to take measures to protect ones family from getting sick!

First honeybee spotted in the garden on my Peach tree!

The best way to do this is to limit trips out unless absolutely necessary. I've always planned all my business for one day of the week so staying home for an ever greater time is not much of a change for me. A lot of planning does come into play and some sacrifices need to be made. I can't just run to the store to grab a pint of ice cream. I need wait until I REALLY run out of items before I risk going out.

I've been stocking the pantry for weeks so have a nice supply of a variety of items. This allows me to not have to buy a bunch of things when I go out, I simply replace what we've used.

I just sold this adorable daffodil tea cup in my shop.

Things have not changed much for me as I sell online and have worked from home for 10 years. I do miss my weekly coffee meetup with friends as for now, I'm staying as far away from humans as I can. It was my luck to have to take my cat to the vet office and the vet was wearing a mask because of a sore throat!! I feel sniffly with some throat weirdness but my mother reminded me that it's allergy season and the pollen count is high! Hoping this soon will pass. Gulp.

~Rebecca