COVID-19 Chronicles: Highlights of July and August (Still on GCQ)

2020 July-August

Now that we're under General Community Quarantine (GCQ), we can now visit supermarkets together, as seen in the photo, taken when we went to our neighborhood supermarket, Savemore.  Let me tell you, it's easier to shop when there's someone to carry the groceries home with you.

But does that mean we take longer, not necessarily.  We're both aware that we just need to get our stuff done and go straight home.  The longer we are outside, the higher our chances of getting infected, so NO,  we don't loiter.

Anyway, here are the highlights between July and August of our time during lockdown :)

Hope you're all staying safe! :)

VISIT TO Dana's School

On July 14, I dropped by Dana's school to pay her tuition.  While her school adapted online payments, I needed to go to her school not just to pay her tuition but also to pick up the stuff in her locker that was left behind since March.  :)  As you can see, the school effectively placed disinfecting protocols as soon as you enter the premises.  There's a handwash station, disinfecting mats, sanitizers and temperature checks by the  security guards.  There weren't any people around when I went there.  

One of the school maintenance personnel accompanied me to Dana's room.  I should've taken photos but I was preoccupied with getting her stuff.  But, the classroom was messy and disorganized, like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie.  Obviously, students left in a rush, leaving behind art supplies, remnants of projects, books, notebooks and even lunches, intending to come back the next day.  But there was no longer a next day.  According to Kuya, they had to check every room for food that was left behind and there was a lot.  But the rest of the non-perishables they left intact.  After getting Dana's stuff, there were two bagfuls of it, I headed home.

WORKING at Home

Meanwhile, at home Dylan kept busy with worksheets and his books and his Ate Dana helped him with some of these tasks.

Also,  we had to get creative with what we do.  We needed to keep from getting bored but still enjoyed our time as a family.  So, here were were playing with cards.  First, it helped Dylan with developing his memory skills.  Second, it's a fun activity! :)

COVID-19 Scare

However, on July 20, we learned of staggering news, one of my Lolas was hospitalized and there, tested positive for COVID-19.  So while that in itself was a bit scary, what was even scarier was that the day before she was hospitalized, around 10 days earlier, I talked with her for a short while.  

Now, we knew that symptoms show up within 14 days.  Considering the timeline, I hadn't shown any symptoms yet but it made me nervous and scared.  But Dana reassured me saying I'm so paranoid about safety precautions that I should be okay  So that got me thinking of what I did when I met with her.  It was only about 3 minutes, because I just handed something over to her.  I had a mask on and maintained the requisite social distance.  But I remember that she didn't have a mask on because she was at home so that made me worry.  And worry I did, so much so that it probably triggered my asthma which made me worry even more!

It first started with a cold so I tried the "suob" (steam inhalation) method for about 3 days and stayed out in the sun around 7AM during those 3 days for Vitamin D.  But I never got better and it actually worsened what I was feeling.  Granted I didn't have any fever or cough, which somehow made me feel relieved.  When that didn't work, I resorted to my trusty nebulizer, double doses of Vitamin C and that made everything go away haha

However, I was informed that as I had contact with my Lola during a critical period, I had to be monitored by the barangay, the same with my Lola's family, all of them in the house.  We were told to take our temperatures twice a day and we had to tell them if we experienced symptoms, like cough and others.  During the 2 weeks of monitoring, I had normal temps and my cold disappeared.  Monitoring ended August 11.  After that, we were told we were okay, just to stay home to be sure.  So that was that! :)

Dana starts ONLINE CLASSES

For most schools, classes started on August 24.  However, the Department of Education (DepED) postponed the opening of classes in public schools nationwide to October 5 to give time for educators and administrators to prepare for online classes.  Since Dana is in private school, they were allowed to continue. So, on August 15, they had their first orientation for the new normal.

  

Their adviser discussed the different modes of teaching - synchronous (online), asynchronous (offline) and blended which just basically means there would be online teaching sessions with activities, homework and projects done offline and submitted within deadlines.  There would still be activities that could be done during the online sessions but everything is flexible - taking into consideration the Internet connectivity of the students and teachers participating.

On August 24, Dana started with her first online class session.  They were initially required to attend between 730AM-230PM for online classes with 30 minutes of recess and an hour of lunch break.  They also had to be in uniform for the duration of the class :)  However, the DepED announced that schools should only limit their online classes to 4 hours a day for the students' well-being.  So their schedule was changed to 730AM- 1230PM, Monday to Thursday.     

For the first week of classes, they mostly got to know their new teachers and were getting acclimated to the use of Google Classroom, Google Meet and Zoom.  I was a bit worried how Dana was doing but srurprisingly, I could hear her laugh out loud and giggle with her friends and classmates so I thought she was okay :)

Let's see how she will fare once classes start for real :)  Stay tuned! :)