In working in your genealogy, have you ever wondered what an adze was, or what it meant when your ancestor was consumptive, or what in the world a futtock was for? (Okay, stop giggling.)
Well, in the past month or so, we have been introduced to a number of new words and phrases pertaining to COVID-19. Here are some of them:
Shelter-in-Place: Basically, stay home! Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are for people to stay home and not make contact with other people in large groups, to avoid exposure and thereby prevent the spread of the disease. Going out infrequently for essential items (groceries, medications, and such as these) can be done, but carefully.
Self-Quarantine: As it involves the word "quarantine," it connotes a more severe severing of contact with people in groups. It also is applied to people who have tested positive for the disease (these tests being few and far between, and unfortunately less available in some states than in others), or who exhibit symptoms. Rather than a means of avoiding exposure for those who are not yet infected, as shelter-in-place is, self-quarantine is a means of preventing those who have active cases from infecting others. It is voluntary, rather than mandatory.
Flatten the Curve: The possible rate and intensity of the spread of COVID-19 is expressed as a Bell curve. The idea behind shelter-in-place (or self-quarantine) is to reduce the potential rate of the spread of the disease so that the Bell curve will not be as high as it would if people did congregate in large groups, infecting each other.
Senior Hour: An hour, usually the first of the business day, for essential commercial establishments (mainly grocery stores) to be open to older people, who are most vulnerable to the spread and effects of COVID-19.
Social Distancing: Avoiding close contact with others by maintaining at MINIMUM a distance of six feet between you and other people. Avoiding large crowds. One meme on Facebook says that "Social distancing" is a boring term. It's much more exciting to say "exiled for the good of the realm." (Which actually would apply more to shelter-in-place or self-quarantine than to social distancing.)
Covidiot: A person who does not follow the CDC guidelines for handwashing, sheltering-in-place, and more. A person who congregates in large groups with other people. A governor of a state, who does not implement the proper and rational precautionary measures to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 in his or her state. Basically, any person who acts counter to his or her rational self-interest in this time of pandemic.
So, these days, people are encouraged to Shelter-in-Place and go out only for Senior Hour or to obtain essential supplies (for younger folks), practice Social Distancing, and generally not to be a Covidiot!
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Work in the Time of COVID-19
With the ever-rising infection rate of the COVID-19 virus, more and more people are being required to work at home.
No hard-and-fast rule has come from the federal government as of 26 March 2020. The CDC is only issuing "recommended" guidelines for personal separation to prevent contagion. On social media, people talk about staying six feet away from others.
Some states have gone much further than the federal government. Kentucky, for example, proclaimed a state of emergency on 6 March 2020. The governor then proceeded to take steps to close schools, restrict restaurants to call-in and pick-up rather than dining-in, recommend that vulnerable segments of the population stay home, and other measures to prevent the spread. The result is that the infection rate has been slowed in Kentucky.
In contrast, Tennessee's governor did nothing. Their infection rate continues to climb.
In Florida, the governor has done little. He did not close the beaches and did not prevent Spring Break gatherings of students in large groups, with the result that students returned to their homes and schools infected by COVID-19. Cities in Florida have taken their own measures. Jacksonville's mayor proclaimed a state of emergency on 13 March 2020, closed the city's beaches, and issued a requirement for all commercial concerns doing business in the city that can make provisions for employees to work at home to do so. Our younger daughter works for an essential business -- food distribution. She was told yesterday to prepare to work at home. Before that, while she was still commuting from her home in another county to Jacksonville, she had been issued a letter by her employing company stating that she works for an essential business and that she be allowed to travel county-to-county in case counties started closing their borders.
All over the country, people are gearing up to work at home. Some couples living in small apartments have had to come up with novel methods and physical arrangements. Children, sent home from school, need supervision, instruction, and entertainment. Some people have become inventive in that area; on Facebook there is a video of a four-year-old progressing through an indoor obstacle course constructed by his father!
When the personal computer first came on the scene, there was a lot of talk of "the paperless society" and how computers would radically change the way people work. For many years, not much seemed to be happening to bring these conditions about. There was still an awful lot of paper circulating. This disease and its severity may just change that.
No hard-and-fast rule has come from the federal government as of 26 March 2020. The CDC is only issuing "recommended" guidelines for personal separation to prevent contagion. On social media, people talk about staying six feet away from others.
Some states have gone much further than the federal government. Kentucky, for example, proclaimed a state of emergency on 6 March 2020. The governor then proceeded to take steps to close schools, restrict restaurants to call-in and pick-up rather than dining-in, recommend that vulnerable segments of the population stay home, and other measures to prevent the spread. The result is that the infection rate has been slowed in Kentucky.
In contrast, Tennessee's governor did nothing. Their infection rate continues to climb.
In Florida, the governor has done little. He did not close the beaches and did not prevent Spring Break gatherings of students in large groups, with the result that students returned to their homes and schools infected by COVID-19. Cities in Florida have taken their own measures. Jacksonville's mayor proclaimed a state of emergency on 13 March 2020, closed the city's beaches, and issued a requirement for all commercial concerns doing business in the city that can make provisions for employees to work at home to do so. Our younger daughter works for an essential business -- food distribution. She was told yesterday to prepare to work at home. Before that, while she was still commuting from her home in another county to Jacksonville, she had been issued a letter by her employing company stating that she works for an essential business and that she be allowed to travel county-to-county in case counties started closing their borders.
All over the country, people are gearing up to work at home. Some couples living in small apartments have had to come up with novel methods and physical arrangements. Children, sent home from school, need supervision, instruction, and entertainment. Some people have become inventive in that area; on Facebook there is a video of a four-year-old progressing through an indoor obstacle course constructed by his father!
When the personal computer first came on the scene, there was a lot of talk of "the paperless society" and how computers would radically change the way people work. For many years, not much seemed to be happening to bring these conditions about. There was still an awful lot of paper circulating. This disease and its severity may just change that.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Social Life in the Time of COVID-19
The short version: There ain't no social life in the time of COVID-19.
No large meetings.
No going out to eat at a restaurant.
No going to sports events.
No taking classes.
No parties.
No church services.
The phrase these days is "social distancing." A nice term for, in some cases, social isolation. But there is the telephone. There is e-mail. There are social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and many others. People can "congregate" electronically, in what we refer to as "the virtual world."
Colleges and universities are offering their students their classes online.
Restaurants are trying to keep their heads above water by offering call-in and pick-up, rather than dining in.
Our nearest pet supply store is also offering call-in and pick-up.
Grocery stores have been ahead of the curve -- many have been offering such service for years before this pandemic began.
People are being encouraged, wherever possible, to work from home. Our son-in-law had been doing that part of the time for a few years now, maybe one or two days at home, and the other three at the office, or something like that. Now he's working from home, period, but had begun doing so before COVID-19..
Social media are full of funny photos and jokes about people working from home. It has caused many to become creative, as their children are also home as public schools have closed. But the upside, as stated in a number of jokes, stories, and photos, is that working from home allows the worker to do so in pajamas. Or less. One friend told of attending an online meeting dressed in shirt and tie, and pajama bottoms! Only what can be seen needs to be dressed up.
For my husband and myself, our lives are not very different. We have been homebodies all along, happy to stay at home, with visits with friends and family, occasional evenings going out to eat, or sometimes to a movie. We're not doing any of that now. People who traveled for business or pleasure are staying home. My major professor in graduate school goes to Seville, Spain every year to do research at the General Archive of the Indies. He's facing the prospect of not being able to go this year, as Spain has pretty much shut down.
So has Italy. So have a number of states here in the U.S.
I wonder how many of the changes being wrought by the need to avoid infection by this highly virulent virus will become permanent.
No large meetings.
No going out to eat at a restaurant.
No going to sports events.
No taking classes.
No parties.
No church services.
The phrase these days is "social distancing." A nice term for, in some cases, social isolation. But there is the telephone. There is e-mail. There are social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and many others. People can "congregate" electronically, in what we refer to as "the virtual world."
Colleges and universities are offering their students their classes online.
Restaurants are trying to keep their heads above water by offering call-in and pick-up, rather than dining in.
Our nearest pet supply store is also offering call-in and pick-up.
Grocery stores have been ahead of the curve -- many have been offering such service for years before this pandemic began.
People are being encouraged, wherever possible, to work from home. Our son-in-law had been doing that part of the time for a few years now, maybe one or two days at home, and the other three at the office, or something like that. Now he's working from home, period, but had begun doing so before COVID-19..
Social media are full of funny photos and jokes about people working from home. It has caused many to become creative, as their children are also home as public schools have closed. But the upside, as stated in a number of jokes, stories, and photos, is that working from home allows the worker to do so in pajamas. Or less. One friend told of attending an online meeting dressed in shirt and tie, and pajama bottoms! Only what can be seen needs to be dressed up.
For my husband and myself, our lives are not very different. We have been homebodies all along, happy to stay at home, with visits with friends and family, occasional evenings going out to eat, or sometimes to a movie. We're not doing any of that now. People who traveled for business or pleasure are staying home. My major professor in graduate school goes to Seville, Spain every year to do research at the General Archive of the Indies. He's facing the prospect of not being able to go this year, as Spain has pretty much shut down.
So has Italy. So have a number of states here in the U.S.
I wonder how many of the changes being wrought by the need to avoid infection by this highly virulent virus will become permanent.
Friday, March 20, 2020
A to Z Challenge -- Theme Reveal
Now that I have retired and have time on my hands, I'm getting back into doing my own genealogy.
So I'm trying to be a good do-bee and revive this blog. I am going to attempt the A to Z Challenge next month.
We are supposed to have a theme. Since my family has been nomadic for a long time, more on my father's side than my mother's, my theme is going to be On The Move. Let's see if I can come up with a post to match each letter of the alphabet with that theme!
It's funny -- we talk about "moving" from one place to another. "Migration" is what our ancestors did. But really, when we move from one part of the country to another, we are migrating.
So let's see what I can say about my migrations and those of my ancestors!
So I'm trying to be a good do-bee and revive this blog. I am going to attempt the A to Z Challenge next month.
We are supposed to have a theme. Since my family has been nomadic for a long time, more on my father's side than my mother's, my theme is going to be On The Move. Let's see if I can come up with a post to match each letter of the alphabet with that theme!
It's funny -- we talk about "moving" from one place to another. "Migration" is what our ancestors did. But really, when we move from one part of the country to another, we are migrating.
So let's see what I can say about my migrations and those of my ancestors!
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