There is now a confirmed Coronavirus case in my town diagnosed at my local ER. I'm in the house until this is over. My roommate still goes to work. Hoping they switch him to work from home. I keep disinfecting door knobs, light switches and stuff, but still. The first thing he does is wash his hands. He uses hand sanitizer and wipes at work, but still. I would feel better to quarantine the household.

I am gathering facts to have my rheumy write a letter allowing me to reschedule a flight I was to take on 3/30 for the purpose of a court pre-hearing conference. Here is what I found:

*** As of 3/11/2020, the CDC recommends that individuals in high risk groups avoid attending public events with greater than 10 people. ****

American College of Rheumatology on RA and COVID-19

A Message from the ACR about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
https://www.rheumatology.org/announcements

There is a good chance the court may close. Have you called to check the status? Florida is in full blown panic mode. They are shutting down everything. Everybody is working from home for at least two weeks. The stores look like we are prepared for a hurricane. Disney only closed for a cat 5 hurricane and 9/11. Cat 3 hurricane and that thing stays open. I'm not sure your courthouse is going to be open for non-essential cases. CNBC leads people to believe that airlines are allowing cancellations at will without penalties. I can't believe someone is making you go to this kind of trouble to reschedule the hearing. If it is being run by an attorney, not the court, then I understand the problem.

FL Supreme Court just suspended all face to face legal proceedings in the state.

https://www.floridasupremecourt.org

Scroll down to see the order. There is a PDF copy. The attorneys should be honoring this order, I would think.

A couple of more thoughts...

1. Thanks for your post WG. Dealing with the fears of uncertainty is definitely apropos of what everyone is dealing with these days. It's not just the fear of a a difficult to conceptualize pandemic, but the realities of economic crisis, in general, and more specifically, the loss of jobs, the fear of not being able to get food, and the worries for loved ones.

2. I read something yesterday, that was very striking. Normally, in times of crisis (ok, that's pretty oxymoronish), people tend to gather, share their pain, comfort each other. In this crisis, we are counseled, probably rightfully so, to remain isolated from others, crowds, especially. How sad is that?

3. My son called me today and half-jokingly, asked me if I had enough toilet paper to last for 2 weeks. He's worried about his parents, the old folks who seem to be most affected by this virus. There's been a run on stores, and people are going crazy.

4. How are all you folks? Please stay safe and sane.

At this point things have exploded. A person that works at DMV in NH has been identified. She was there for five days (? with symptoms, unclear why they only mentions that she was there for five days).
So consider the number of people that one person might come in contact with at the DMV during a five day period, multiply that by the number of people that those people might come into contact with and.....explosion.
All of the schools in the area (and most of the state) are closing.
We are basically isolating. This is very scary. Having an autoimmune illness, in my opinion, not only means that you could be immunocompromised but also that our immune systems behave differently. Not trying to scare anyone but just think that it is a risk factor, especially if you have other risk factors to begin with.

Positive cases are in my county and in my town. Yes it's exploding and Dr Fauci - THE expert - says it WILL get worse before it gets better. NYC has closed all schools and issued a curfew. Not sure what the later accomplishes. NY is a ghosttown with all Broadway theaters closed.

My congregation is holding virtual worhsip services. My court date for pre-trial conference was posponed to July. Hoping frontier airlines lets me reschuled without a fee and also trying to reshcedule AirBNB.


We need to physically isolate but we've got each other here and this is a safe way to feel less isolated and alone. Facebook too, any social media you can use!

Sending great big warm VIRTUAL HUGS to EVERYONE!!

I stay home a LOT normally, so it's no biggie for me.

BUT, for gosh sake the only thing on TV now are press conferences about COVID-19, re-runs. Late Night shows without audiences suck! They'd be better with canned daughter.

This is just doubly Not Fair!

But I can't complain. So many things worse. St. Patrick's Day Parade cancelled and sports are basically cancelled. MSNBC had a segment for people to email in questions about Corona and one poor guy was worried about getting his kidney dialysis! Schools are closed and many parents can't afford daycare.

Puts it all perspective!

We vote today in Florida. I went at 1pm. My ballot was number 208 for the day. This is going to be one messed up election, but they couldn't cancel because of lawsuits. I expect Florida to go in to a full blown closure after the polls close.

So interesting re-reading this thread, and watching it go from "not a problem" to a real pandemic, and dangerous for us, esp. I'm counting on Plaquenil, right now. If it is the cure, and I get sick, I will just take it.

@WG - glad everything got cancelled for you. But not so much liking the reasons that led to the cancelations!

@KimHurts- good you were able to vote. The Conservative Party in Canada is supposed to have a leadership convention in June in Toronto. Right now is campaigning time, and they can't have rallies, or meetings, so many complaining and wanting to move it to Nov. I'm quite disenchanted with the party, not sure what I will do. Trudeau has totally mishandled this whole COVID-19, saying one day, it would be racist to close the borders, and WHO didn't advise it, 2 days later closing the borders and banning international flights. Except they are still coming daily from China.

I'm really bored and tired of this whole virus, but now is not the time to stop being vigilant!

Has anyone considered going off biological meds to keep us safer from COVID-19.

It's in my hometown. I'm going to discuss it with my rheumy.

I stopped my methotrexate last week. Still on Rinvoq which is a JAK like Xeljanz.

If Plaquenil becomes unobtainable, they may switch people who only take that to something like Imuran or Methotrexate until this crisis is over.

Things are about to get dicey. Try to get your Plaquenil refills now. Florida declared a State of Emergency so insurance would pay for early refills. It might be the same where you live.

i take my methotrexate on Fridays. I'm deciding on a week by week basis. My rheumatologist said if I get sick to stop it immediately, but how 'immediate' can you be if you load up a week at a time? Obviously if I could anticipate getting sick on a Saturday, I wouldn't take Friday's dose. I guess the best I can do is monitor things around me. Other than my plant customers, who are doing their purchasing completely socially-distant-compliant, I've had no contact with anyone but the grouchy husband for two weeks now.

Selling vegetable plants puts me in the 'essential business' category. I advertise through a closed group on Facebook, and those people have been wonderfully supportive. I customize their buying experience to suit their comfort level. One woman texted me a list and paid through PayPal, and I gathered her things and put them on a table beside the driveway for her to pick up. Others make individual appointments to shop and leave exact change in a box. I do have a few 'open sales' on weekends with the understanding that people will maintain a minimum 6 foot distance, but that's very easy to do when the plant tables and spread out outdoors over an acre or so.

My thinking has changed about my own eventual exposure to the virus as i learn more. This virus won't magically go away, presidential delusions to the contrary. Like other viruses, it will hang around, waiting for hosts and the right conditions to flare up. We are all going to be exposed to it at some point. I originally thought the goal was to avoid getting it, and as I became better informed I've realized that the goal is to not get it until later, when the system has dealt with the initial rush.

I want to wait until they've got this thing figured out, and I certainly don't want to contribute to the flooding of hospitals at a critical time.

It's also a good time to make sure I am in the best shape I can be in - which actually isn't very good when you get right down to it. I mean, my best-case-scenario is still pretty baggy and saggy compared to a lot of people.

But this is not the time to be bingeing on sugary snacks or sitting around on the couch all day. I can't change having RA, being 61, being overweight, having Type 2, and tendency toward high blood pressure. What I CAN do is keep the blood sugar controlled, get a lot of aerobic exercise to keep my lungs in good shape, lose a little bit of weight, track the environmental allergens that can give me seasonal congestion and medicate accordingly, stay hydrated, and keep myself centered and calm as much as I can. That's actually a full time job even if I didn't have everything in the greenhouse to deal with right now.

Grumpy Spouse and I have also started making low-key contingency plans in case we would both get sick at once. Someone has to take care of the dogs and the farm animals, and the greenhouse irrigation system is crucial - six hours of hot sun without the sprinklers being turned on could literally wipe out $30K worth of plants (but automated systems can overwater, if it's overcast, so it still needs human intervention.)

We've long ago done the living wills and the various other legal things one should have in place, and there's a binder with info about which bills are paid automatically and where various documents are kept.

This isn't morbid, it's just good planning. The houses nearest to us are all older folk now, and we have to be realistic. I feel better knowing that my son's ready, if not enthusiastically so, to take two enormous, constantly shedding goofball dogs into his house if necessary.

I think we'll know a lot more in the next 10-14 days. Hey, let's have a virtual party when this is over. We'll all sign on at once and celebrate.

WOW! Gonna have to re-read that a couple of times to take it all in. It's amazing, Katie. You are amazing. And a very good writer!

Seems you have thought of all contigencies. I am very impressed with how you are continuing to run your business and do what you need to do to keep yourself as healthy as you can.

Question: Is MTX all you take? Have you taken any other meds? I wonder if Zeljanz (which i am on) or Rinvoq are less toxic in terms of making us as vulnerbale to infection than MTX.

I sent you a friend request and a PM.

I'm sooo sick of celebs getting hydroxychloroquine and then touting how great they feel. Talk about entitlement unawareness!!!

I'm really sick of celebs getting hydroxychloroquine and then touting how great they feel. Talk about entitlement unawareness!!!

All this is beside sthe fact that people with Lupus can't get the drug!!