-----
On Saturday morning I rolled out of bed, turned on my little portable radio, shoved earbuds into my ears, and listened to the morning newscast on our all-news station. Among the news items: health officials announced that a new case of Coronavirus has been reported in Illinois. As it happens, the patient lives in a suburb adjacent to mine.
One of my kids is a nursing student. Most of the students in the program (including him) also are working as nursing assistants or in similar low-rung health care jobs. One of his classmates works at our local community hospital. She came into class today and told the instructor she had been exposed to a Coronavirus patient (quite possibly the very same one that made the newscast last weekend). She asked the instructor what she should do. My son reported that the instructor gave her a facemask, sent her home and told her to go get herself checked out.
So, as my wife noted, I've now been exposed to someone who has been exposed to someone who has Coronavirus.
Upon learning this, I immediately washed my hands, because I heard somewhere that that's a good precaution. Then, thinking that additional precautions couldn't hurt, I also flossed, put on sunscreen and went out and got an extra flu shot.
In other Coronavirus-related developments, our pastor spoke at a couple of our masses this weekend. He noted that the diocese south and west of ours, the Joliet Diocese, no longer is offering the cup during mass. He stated that our archdiocese has not yet offered any guidance; but he urged folks to use good judgment: it would be prudent for those who are ill to refrain from partaking of the cup. He also pointed out that one is not obligated to shake hands, hug or kiss during the sign of peace. For our last mass of the weekend, we had a visitor priest, with whom I was assigned as deacon. As the pastor was not celebrating that mass, and it's not the visitor's place to tell the parish what and what not to do, it fell to me to make the don't-drink-from-the-cup-if-you're-sick speech. As I talked, I watched everyone; if there were any signs of incipient panic, I missed them. Later during that mass, when I invited everyone to offer one another the sign of peace, I saw plenty of handshaking going on. Still later, when I was giving communion, I tried to see if I could do it without making bodily contact. It's fairly easy to do when giving communion in the hand (for no particularly good reason, deacons in our parish offer the host rather than the cup), but takes a bit of dexterity for communion on the tongue. I managed to touch the top row of teeth of one person, which disconcerted at least one of us.
I don't know yet if this is something to snicker at and have fun with, or something that should be topping me up with dread. Maybe the fact that panic isn't ensuing already means that we're not especially bright. For now, I'm watching and learning. But it seems fair to say it's getting closer to home.
Update March 3, 2020 8:37 am CST: The Chicago Archdiocese has emailed out health safety guidance to priests and deacons. As of this morning, I wasn't able to find the details on the archdiocesan website. But here's a quick summary:
- Anyone giving communion must wash hands before and after communion, using an "alcohol-based anti-bacterial solution" (or, to utilize a verb which apparently has now entered common usage, we must "Purel"). (Actually, I don't know if Purel fulfills this requirement; maybe Clorox wipes are what is recommended?)
- Don't offer the cup to the congregation during communion
- The congregation will be asked to receive the host in their hands rather than on the tongue
- After the vessels used for communion have been ritually purified, they should also be washed with soap and water
- Don't make physical contact during the Lord's Prayer or the Sign of Peace
- Don't use holy water fonts. This one is somewhat complicated for us because our baptismal font is at the main entrance into the worship space, and many people use it as a holy water font. I suppose we could actually drain the font; during Lent we don't do baptisms anyway. And this particular year, we don't have anyone in RCIA to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. When we start doing baptisms again, we could set up a temporary font using fresh water which could be used afterward to water the plants outside. But the symbolism of the baptismal font is attenuated, to say the least, if it isn't filled with water
Also: a second patient in this area is now infected - it is the spouse of the person about whom we learned this past weekend. He's in the hospital; she's quarantined at home. Both are in their 70s and are reported to be doing well.
I am already making plans not to go either to Mass or the grocery store after the end of March until maybe June or July. I have been auditing a course at the community college. Spring break is next week, I don't plan to go back. I have already dropped choir practice.
ReplyDeleteThe virus seems to ready transmit in families and other close quarters like the cruise ship in Japan and the church in Korea.
If you are elderly like myself the best thing is to isolate oneself until this is over. The gardening season is starting, and Headlands Beach where I walk has few people and much space. That should prevent cabin fever.
Although I am in the black center of the virus's target -- well over 65 and with COPD -- I haven't changed anything. Kiss of peace still at Mass this morning. I am at the end of my annual Florida-induced allergy, which occurs every January but was a little late this year. Dry cough. Doesn't seem to scare anybody. It's almost over. If I get sick I'll turn myself in. Any excuse to hit the sack.
ReplyDeleteI am high-risk (chemo), but consider myself low priority. I get flu shots to protect others. Ditto hand washing etc. with corona. I will avoid unnecessary gatherings, but still have to go to the grocery and drug stores. I have told Raber I don't want to hog a hospital bed or respirator that a young healthy person needs. I have replenished the "flu kit" with extra Tylenol and Gatorade. If I gotta go from corona, it would likely be less protracted than the cancer.
ReplyDeleteTip from my Uncle Tyle, who went through flu pandemic during WWI in Belgium: Stay half drunk. He worked in a mortuary, where staff imbibed alcohol freely. He thinks that killed all the germs, as none of them got sick.
I was reading that the first symptoms of Covid 19 typically are a dry cough and a fever, which distinguishes it from an ordinary cold onset, which would be a runny nose and/or sore throat.
ReplyDeleteAt our parish after Father read the recommendation from the archdiocese we didn't have much sign-of-peace physical contact except among family members. A little girl of about 5 yrs reached around and shook my hand, which didn't worry me at all.
As for Communion on the tongue we typically have about 2% of the congregation who receive that way. I guess the logic is that unanointed hands should not touch the Eucharist. But when I am an EMHC I get one or two of them. My hands are definitely not anointed. Maybe it is just an act of devotion. Hopefully they will consider not doing it that way for awhile.
It is interesting that at the training session for being an EMHC they told us to make contact with the person's hand when you give them the Host because it is more personal that way. So we will have to be careful about that, too. Kind of depressing that we're all poison now.
DeleteThe people who regularly receive on the tongue in our parish are the mothers who are home-schooling and their kids. They all come on Mondays. They also receive ONLY from the priest, which leaves a deacon and two EMHCs standing like statues as they bring up the rear. It's nice that they are going to such extremes to save their chidren from bad influences. It would be nicer if more than just the one family could get to church before the homily. (The daughter of the one family that arrives on time does the readings on Monday.) Also, most of the moms wear chapel veils. Coo.
DeleteTom - "coo" - is that short for "Coo, guv'nor"? :-)
DeleteKatherine - "we're all poison now" - yes, that's been on my mind, too. We all have cooties. Which, I guess, is sorta the idea of the Coronavirus.
I've been trying to recall the early days of the AIDS epidemic. This feels different to me. My recollection about AIDS, which might be wrong, is that by the time it reached the general public's consciousness, the modes of transmission were fairly well understood. Am I remembering that correctly?
Jim, I think you are right that the mode of transmission of AIDS was well understood by the time the public was aware of it. It was actually not nearly as contagious as something like the corona virus. It required close contact with bodily fluids, including sexual contact and blood transfusions. The sexual connection was what gave AIDS almost a leprosy stigma. That and the fact that it was incurable. Now there are effective drugs which make it a manageable disease.
DeleteOne thing which both AIDS and the corona virus have in common is that they were both believed to have originated from animal to human transmission, involving consumption of non-domestic animals as food (or folk "medicine"). Likewise Ebola.
I see in our local paper that there is a wild meat potluck coming up in a neighboring town, a fund raiser for some outdoor sports organization. Yum, possum stew in a crock pot. Not! Maybe they should be rethinking that kind of stuff.
AIDS: I was at the Hastings Center when attention began to be paid, but attention was quite diffuse. I remember reading a report in the New England Journal of Medicine about a group of men hospitalized for Karposi Sarcoma, a rare cancer. As I recall, there was no mention of how it was transmitted nor who might be susceptible. The fact that they were all men and the report was from San Francisco raised interest among the staff. If I am recalling correctly, it took a long time for matters to become clear, partly because of discrimination against gays. Later in NYC, a public health decision to close down bath houses confirmed at least one mode of transmission. But then the crack epidemic and use of needles pointed to other modes of transmission and a far larger population with AIDS... including pregnant women and inevitably the complications of treating "Crack Babies," who were suffering from AIDS. A sad and sorry story.
DeleteTUESDAY: Two cases of Covid-19 found in Florida. In a giant sneeze the Chancery Office sprayed decrees of NO Communion cups, NO holy water, NO touching at the kiss of peace. I don't know about the other things in the Chicago diktat.
ReplyDeleteWe already had one case of near broken arm by a lady mindlessly reaching into an empty holy water font. More to come, no doubt.
Hand sanitizer is interesting. For years, EMHCs conspicuously sanitized their hands before Communion (right under the huge 1st station of the cross showing Pilate doing ditto). Then, suddenly, it was decreed (for a good reason I no longer recall) that we'd have no more of that. Maybe more of that is coming. Not yet this morning.
Yes, as in "coo, guv'nor."
P.S. We used to empty the holy water fonts for Lent and replace the water with sand. Desert experience, and all that, get it? We were told to cease and desist because hoy water is a sacramental to which the laity have a right, period. So there.
DeleteAlso, something worse than a virus is coming to town Friday. Another multi-million dollar weekend getaway for the man who claims he has everything and doesn't need a paycheck. The noon Mass will have double the number of latecomers due to road blocks so he can play golf.
Awhile back someone mentioned a motion sensor holy water spritzer that they have in Italy in some churches. Maybe we could do that here. The kids would like it.
Delete"For years, EMHCs conspicuously sanitized their hands before Communion (right under the huge 1st station of the cross showing Pilate doing ditto)."
DeleteThat is very funny! And thought-provoking ... pace Freud who once insisted that sometimes a cigar is only a cigar, liturgical actions have symbolic meanings, even when they are not intended.
Hand sanitizer gel has almost assumed the standing of a sacramental here. The EMHCs pass it around after the sign of peace, but before "O Lord I am not worthy..."
DeleteI used to be afraid that I would hurt someone's feeling if I dug the sanitizer out of my purse after the sign of peace Now I guess it's just SOP (what sign of peace?)
Jim, I don't know what people who have had possible "community exposure" are advised to do. This would definitely include your son's classmate, perhaps also your son, perhaps also you? I don't know what the guidelines are for people with possible community exposure. Watch for symptoms? Voluntarily withdraw from activities that could transmit disease in the (somewhat remote) chance of infection from third degree exposure?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it seems coronavirus panic is setting in to at least a small degree. I have been waiting for a confirmed case in the DC area, because of the large numbers of people here who are foreign nationals, and/or who travel a lot internationally. Dozens of embassies, probably thousands of embassy staff. Huge international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. Lots of smaller international agencies, and lots of corporate types who travel, as well as lots of foreign lobbyists. Our own community has attracted large numbers of Chinese immigrants in the last 10-15 years also - about 35% of the public high school student body has Chinese heritage. The owner of a suburban MD Chinese restaurant says his business has plummeted and he is laying off staff. He is grateful though to his frequent lunch guests from two very close neighbors - the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed Hospital complex. They still come in to have lunch!
I did my periodic Trader Joe's run yesterday. I always go on a weekday, but it's random as to which day I go. I go when I need things that I buy there. The shelves were cleared of a lot of things I buy there. I asked a worker if it was because it was a Monday and they hadn't restocked from the weekend. She told me the store was over-run on the weekend. She said that some customers had already been to Costco and told her that it was a total madhouse there.
So far - there has not been a single case reported in DC, Maryland, Virginia or Delaware (considered the local area - DELMARVA) although a couple of people are being tested now. A few have already been tested with negative results - even with a much higher average number of foreign born residents, and workers whose jobs routinely involve international travel.
Boris is warning the Brits of a possibly very bad scenario. Is that smarter than trying to say it really won't get that bad?
I don't know, because nobody knows right now.
Trump shut down the WH office set up by Obama to plan for pandemics, and also cut CDC funding. But the scariest element for cutting off spread is that many people without decent health insurance may be reluctant to go in on the off-chance that their flu symptoms are the coronavirus instead of the "regular" flu.
The Bernie character on SNL made this point - "Now what do you think about the need for universal health coverage?" This isn't an issue in any other advanced economy - people who suspect a possible illness will not hold back from seeking medical help/testing because they don't have to worry about how they will pay for it.
At our EC church on Sunday, communion went on as usual, including the cup. Intinction is more common than sipping the cup; the bread is always in the hand. I don't know if the (EC) Bishop has issued any guidelines yet.
Yes,there is a breath of panic in the air. Which doesn't do any good. I saw something on Facebook yesterday about all the stores in Texas selling out of bottled water. Someone commented that they weren't aware that Covid 19 caused a water shortage! People can be irrational.
DeleteWhich brings up another question. Will the corona scare cause people to stay away from the polls in the primaries?
"The owner of a suburban MD Chinese restaurant says his business has plummeted and he is laying off staff."
DeleteSomeone mentioned to me that business is way, way down in Chicago's Chinatown, apparently because people perceive that one is more likely to catch Coronavirus in Chinatown (because the virus is from China, see?) I mentioned above that most people are sensible; I may need to retract that.
My wife went to Target and Costco last evening for her weekly commodities run. She reports that stores were very busy, shelves emptier than usual, and store employees predicting shortages of items like sanitary wipes.
We had Chinese take-out for dinner last night. The beans tasted a little old, but I don't think it was the virus.
DeleteOur Tuesday breakfast this morning was eaten with more than the usual number of empty tables around us. It was very noticeable (because we get together with friends at the same time every Tuesday), but I can't say for sure it is a trend.
DeleteWell, I read that "they" were recommending that people lay in at least a 3 weeks supply of food. That would be a heavy financial lift for a lot of people, not to mention storage and shelf-life issues. I remember similar recommendations around the time of the year 2000 turning. The ubiquitous "they." I have some food on hand, but not that much. I was already planning to do more Lenten food pantry donations. That makes more sense, if people are getting laid off at restaurants and retail, it will cause more need at the food pantries.
DeleteThe economic downturn becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Daughter in lower Manhattan reports the neighborhood cleaned out of clorox wipes; upper west side our neighborhood market had about five or six shelves of them (they come in different scents apparently). There are now two reported cases in Manhattan (or at least Manhattan involved).
DeleteWhat exactly drives the panic?
The speed of the virus around the world (even if there is still very low penetration, eg., here in NY);
The paranoia set in place by Trump's (no problem here) and the counter-reaction to it (Big Problem)?
I am not panicked, but I know people who are. Seems to be either people who are conscientiously panicked because that seems to be a patriotic duty and people who are scared that the government will continue to treat the incumbent's babble as law and kill us all.
DeleteThe Dow (and NASDAQ, and S&P) plummeting like a rock will induce panic in any set of circumstances.
DeleteJim, now that you mention it, you are the only one here who can explain why the Fed -- egged on churlishly by The Don -- lowered interest rates. How will that get the quarantined workers in China back on the job pumping out TV screens for the supply chain? Or is it supposed to lower the cost of the yet-to-be-confected shots for the coronavirus? Or (only other explanation I can think of) is it just recognition that steel-eyed investors think you can cure disease with a rising market?
DeleteTom - I haven't followed the market events too closely. I can tell you that the Fed's charter is to fight inflation and unemployment. I assume it lowered interest rates because there is widespread fear of a Coronavirus-driven recession, which would boost unemployment.
DeleteOne political thought that comes to mind: economically, the world is much more interconnected than it was a generation or two ago - probably considerably more inter-reliant than most people realize even today. If China essentially goes off-line because of the Coronavirus, the worldwide economic disruption will be substantial.
The political thought is that this plays into the hands of isolationist, America-first populists like Trump who argue that we're better off not relying on imports.
The market has been lurching around -- waaaaay up yesterday, quite a way back down today -- as if somebody thinks they know something. But low interest rates don't help if the borrower is self-quarantined, and the bank is closed because all the employees are sick.
DeleteBy the end of his week, promise, we may have as many test kits as South Korea has used each of the past three weeks. One of the TV docs said the CDC has a wonderful Web site. We have a world class Web site, but we do NOT have a world class health care system. Italy -- Italy! -- has tested more people than we have. Whether this is because The Don fired the people who were supposed to get us ready for epidemics, or whether it goes a lot deeper than that (my suspicion), low interest rates will not get us the test kits that we should have had two months ago.
Interest rate diddling makes me suspect The Don, the Munch and the Fed have a hammer and think the virus is a nail.
At the very least, I think Trump has made it abundantly clear that he cares more about the health of the stock market than the health of the nation and the world.
DeleteJust saw a news item that Pope Francis has been tested for coronavirus and it was negative. He just had a bad cold.
ReplyDeleteIf they are wise they will keep him well away from the usual crowd scenes. His immune system may not be at its best.
Jim, about which sanitizers are acceptable for their germ killing properties, there are two basic kinds available; the alcohol based ones, and the benzalkonium chloride ones. The recommended strength of the alcohol ones is 60-70%. That is also the strength of most of the available ones. I was not able to find the recommended strength of the benzalkonium chloride ones, but the standard concentration of the wipes and liquid is 0.1%.
ReplyDeleteAbout the water in the Baptismal fonts, in the old days pre-VII most of them had lids or covers. And they kept the water from one Holy Saturday vigil to the next. At least it was that way in my hometown. My Baptism date was March 17. My mom said there was green stuff in the water. Not a thing to reassure a young mother!
I should add that thhe green stuff wasn't in honor of St. Patrick's day. It was algae.
DeleteKatherine - Eewww!
DeleteOur font is sort of elaborate. It has two levels, one appropriate for pouring water over infants, and one more of a step-in wading pool size to (sort of but not really) simulate full immersion for adults - that's what's used on the Vigil. The two pools are connected to one another, and there is plumbing to circulate water - water is intaken in the upper, infant pool, and actually spills over the side to create a waterfall effect into the lower, adult pool. The waterfall sounds great in an otherwise-silent church - it really gives one the sense of living water. The water then drains from the adult pool. So the water is pretty fresh. Sacramentally, it raises the question of whether the water should be blessed during every baptism; I do it. After Easter, apparently I'll be doing it with a new translation ...
My husband ordered his new Baptism book. But it is back ordered. I guess there has been quite a demand for them.
DeleteWent to get my monthly blood test today. Lab tech said she expects that coronavirus will follow the flu pattern, which is to hit schools and nursing homes first and hardest, places where vulnerable people are in high density areas. If we're lucky, the flu will have moved put before corona hits.
ReplyDeleteTip: If you can't find hand sanitizer, mix three parts cheap vodka with one part aloe gel and put it in a hand pump bottle (so you don't get arrested for open intoxicants). I might try that. I hate the smell of Purell.
One possible side effect of everyone being vigilant about the spread of Covid 19 is that we might have a lighter flu season due to people staying out of crowds more.
DeleteI'll have to remember your sanitizer recipe. Some of the commercial ones do have an unpleasant smell. I used to like one that was grape scented. But they quit making it.
Why not just drink the three parts cheap vodka and forget it? ;-)
DeleteMore than the coronavirus, I fear the dimwittery of our president, who, for a stable genius, hasn't got more than a faint notion of how viruses work. Aaron Blake had a godawful story in WaPo covering a meeting in which CDC officials and drug company CEOs try to explain to Trump why we can't just use the flu vaccine on corvid-19 and how testing a virus is different from deploying it. "Trump's baffling coronavirus vaccine event"
ReplyDelete