COVID-19: March 2020 Archives

I'm proud to tell you that an article my wife and daughter co-authored has been published by The Stream. The article "DON'T PANIC: A Homeschooler's Guide to the Quarantine" contains their advice to parents who suddenly find their kids at home because of the CCP Bat Virus, needing to be taught. Mikki has been homeschooling one or another of our children for nearly 13 years, as part of Tulsa's first Classical Conversations community, and Kat was homeschooled through middle school, and she also taught her younger brother how to read. Their tips address the opportunity for togetherness as well as ways to create needed physical and mental space.

They also suggest lightening up the school day, not trying to cram everything in right now.

Lighten up your school day. School at home is different. Thank heavens! You choose the start time. You might be finished in 3 or 4 hours, and that is just fine. (Well, Latin and Logic add some time here.) PJs and cozy blankets work fine! Math probably needs progress to move on to next year's level, but many courses stand alone. Relax about those. Consider Life Skills 101 as a new Unit Study. Cooking is a great way to learn fractions and to feed your family. There are a lot of math card games out there.

(UPDATE: An appendix to the article is an annotated list of links to online resources for homeschooling that our family has found useful.)

That would probably resonate with Karol Markowicz, who complains in her latest New York Post column that schools are overwhelming parents with their distance-learning demands:

My own schedule for our three children, ages 4, 7 and 10, included morning yoga, baking banana bread and listening to a science podcast. We pulled out a world ­atlas and started learning about countries in alphabetical order. My kids are now experts on ­Afghanistan....

Now, I'm just crying. It turns out distance learning is nothing like my cozy little homeschool­ ­program.

Now there is a constant barrage of links, passwords, Google classroom, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. It's too much: We get messages from their music teachers, their art teachers, librarians, even their gym teachers. They take attendance strictly....

A friend described it as suddenly becoming an administrative assistant to the busiest, and tiniest, CEOs....

But we need the education system's permission to loosen up with our children right now. This should be a time of baking banana bread and listening to mildly educational podcasts. This shouldn't be a time of overscheduling and intense Latin lessons.

I don't know. I always think anytime is a good time for intense Latin lessons.

The weekend was lovely, just about my favorite time of year in Oklahoma. Redbuds were at their peak, dogwoods starting to bloom. One of our redbuds has developed clusters of blossoms along its trunk, which is quite fetching. Azaleas are starting to pop. There are magnificent purple draperies of wisteria around the city; one of them overhangs the westbound lanes of the Broken Arrow Expressway at the bend just west of the Harvard Avenue exit.

A new and stricter shutdown was announced last Saturday, effective that night, so I thought I'd better pick up the items I needed for a couple of home repairs while I could.

I made the mistake of going to a home improvement superstore, thinking I could get everything at once. The parking lot was quite full, and the store made no effort to meter the number of customers entering the building. It seemed like most of the other customers hadn't heard of social distancing or didn't care.

As it happened I couldn't find everything I was after, but I went to wait in line for the self-checkouts for the items I had. There are four self-checkout registers, two on each side, without much space between them. They really ought to close the near one on the left and the far one on the right to provide the proper distance. The proper six-foot distances had been marked on the floor with painter's tape, so I was waiting with my cart across the front transverse aisle from the registers. As soon as a register opened up, a couple of women swooped in to claim it, not noticing me.

After I checked out, there was a traffic jam at the exit, as customers, a couple with two carts, were talking to the supervisor about something doubtful on a receipt. I abandoned my cart and squeezed through with my purchases. Someone needed to be directing traffic, but no one was.

Sunday I still needed those items I couldn't find. I drove past a competing superstore. Their parking lot was packed. I didn't go in.

I headed to Midtown True Value Hardware, a little (7,000 sq. ft.) locally owned hardware store on 31st Street at Sandusky, a few blocks west of Yale. They've got nearly everything you need for home repair, home maintenance, and lawn and garden. Brooms, hammers, screws, drawer pulls, light bulbs, batteries, wire, zipties, bypass pruners, hoes, shovels, grass seed, mulch, top soil -- you name it. And they can sharpen blades, cut keys, cut glass, fix window screens, ship UPS packages, rewire lamps, and locate vintage hardware. If you know exactly what you need, you can go in, get your items, and get out in a few minutes, without fighting the crowds at the big-box stores. They're offering curb service as well during the current crisis.

We used to have a bunch of these neighborhood hardware stores in Tulsa. Swinney's in Whittier Square always had a good stock of plumbing supplies. (They had a notary, too. I got my last-minute declaration of candidacy for my 1998 run for city council notarized there.) There used to be one across Harvard from Lanier Elementary. Between Midtown, Harvard, and Swinney's I could usually find what I needed. Of the three, only Midtown is still open. Dawson Hardware, near White River Fish Market on N. Sheridan, is the only other locally-owned hardware store that comes to mind. The owner of Best Electric and Hardware at 37th and Peoria announced earlier this month his intention to liquidate his stock and close the doors; Best wasn't open when I drove through Brookside on Sunday; a sign says they're closed to the public, but available by phone.

The last item I needed that Midtown Hardware didn't have, I was able to find at Westlake Ace Hardware at 41st and Peoria. It's part of a Kansas-based chain with stores in 12 states, and here in the Tulsa area, they have a number of stores in former Safeway/Homeland supermarket buildings. At about 38,000 sq. ft., Westlake is about a quarter the size of Lowe's, and it was not at all crowded. This one took the place of our local grocery store when we were newlyweds in the neighborhood. They have erected acrylic sheet partitions as cough and sneeze guards at each register to protect cashier and customer from one another.

One of my worries about these decrees to shut "non-essential" businesses is that small, locally owned businesses will suffer at the expense of big-box stores and online ordering, and that public health will be the worse for it. Which is better for avoiding contagion: Everyone packing into Lowe's to buy flats of pansies and seedling trees, because they're still open for browsing, or smaller numbers of people going to neighborhood nurseries and garden stores like Ted and Debbie's or Rancho Flores to get some items for beautifying the yard where they're spending much more of their time than usual? Which is better for reducing community spread of the CCP Bat Virus: Amazon hiring more workers to crowd into their fulfillment centers to ship office supplies, toys, and craft materials, or local "non-essential" shops serving customers with private browsing by appointment or curbside pickup of phone orders?

By the way, many local "non-essential" retailers I've been worried about have indeed found ways to continue to serve customers. Ted and Debbie's Flower and Garden at 39th and Harvard has expanded delivery service to include garden materials: "For A Small Fee We Will Deliver Flats of Pansies, Mulch, Potting Soil & Everything Available In Our Green Houses." They also offer curbside pickup -- call in an order, drive over, and they'll bring it to your car. They are open 9 to 6 weekdays, 8:30 to 6 Saturdays, and 12:30 to 5 Sundays.

A block north, Kiddlestix, a wonderful locally owned toy store that carries Lego, Playmobil, wooden train sets, games, books, and much more, is also offering online or phone ordering with touch-free curbside pickup, and they will deliver orders over $50 within 5 miles of the store. Kiddlestix is open 10-4, Tuesdays through Saturdays. (They carry Magformers, a favorite building toy with our kids, which consists of colorful magnetized shapes, safe to have around toddlers, and mesmerizing for hours.)

Kiddlestix says, "If you don't see something you're looking for on our website, give us a call! We are constantly getting in new toys and games and are working very hard to get as much as we can online." One silver lining of the current crisis is that it is prompting small retailers to improve their online presence and be better placed to compete with the big-box stores and online behemoths.

Even though they're still in business, these local retailers are at a disadvantage when it comes to browsing and impulse purchases. People can still browse and buy garden materials, toys, camping equipment, electronics, craft and sewing supplies, and clothing at Walmart or Target because they also sell groceries and hardware. Retailers focused on one segment are closed to browsing. Prior to the more general stay-at-home orders, some jurisdictions allowed retailers to offer appointments to browse alone in the store, which seems to me to be a much safer alternative than everyone going to Walmart.

With more time on our hands, this is a good opportunity for all of us to recalibrate our instincts. Instead of reflexively opening your Amazon app or making a beeline for the big-box stores, take some extra time to find a local retailer who can meet your needs.

NOTE: I started writing this just after last weekend, but I finished and took photos today, Saturday, April 4, 2020. I left the date on the post so as not to have to change all the relative time references.

A large cluster of Chinese Communist Party Bat Virus cases has emerged in rural Arkansas, apparently the result of asymptomatic spread at a March 6-8 church event, before any novel coronavirus cases had been reported in Arkansas. Bill Barton, a 91-year-old member who served as greeter at the church, died March 24 from complications from the virus.

The sudden eruption of dozens of cases, including 6 hospitalizations, almost a week following the church gathering, appears to be an indication of the silent spread of the virus. The Greers Ferry outbreak may trace back to the headquarters of Assemblies of God World Missions, based in Springfield, Missouri. Several of the organization's leaders have been hospitalized with COVID-19, as has one of the speakers at the Greers Ferry event, who serves with the organization.

According to a report on Monday, March 23, 2020, in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, there were positive tests for the SARS-CoV-19 coronavirus for 34 people who had attended a "Kids Around the World Kids' Crusade," held on March 6-8 at First Assembly of God in Greers Ferry, Arkansas, 75 miles north of Little Rock. Posts by the church's interim youth directors, Shane and Kim Khoury, highlight a scavenger hunt and door prizes, a taste test of foods from around the world, and a pie in the face for one of the leaders as special features of the three-evening event, which seemed to have been aimed at teaching children about foreign missions.

Those affected were mainly members of the church, but the evangelists who were guest speakers for the event, Thomas and Angelia Carpenter, also tested positive, as did a child from another church attending the event. The Carpenters are based in Springfield, Missouri, serving with CompassionLink, the international compassion outreach of Assemblies of God World Missions, working with community development and health initiatives. According to a post on Angelia Carpenter's Facebook page, Thomas Carpenter has been hospitalized since March 18 and is on a ventilator.

The executive director of Assemblies of God World Missions, Greg Mundis, 69, was reported on March 17 as having pneumonia and a positive COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed the following day. Latest news on the AGWM website from March 23 is that "his kidneys have been responding and dialysis was to be stopped. His lungs were continuing to respond, but it is still an up and down process." His wife Sandie was also hospitalized and "continues to battle aches and fever." Dr. Greg Mundis Jr., their son, reported on March 25 that his mother was "feeling under the weather with classic flu type symptoms and low grade fever" and his father "is in stable critical condition": "Had to start dialysis again for a short while, but overall he is doing well. His lungs are doing about the same and he hasn't run a temperature."

In a March 25 interview on KMBZ radio, Mundis Jr., a spinal surgeon based in San Diego, went into detail about the course of his parents' illness and treatment. He stated that early in March his father had hosted some French visitors who later tested positive for COVID-19. His father began to have symptoms -- high fever and lethargy -- around the 12th. He was tested for flu around the 14th but was not tested for COVID-19 at that time. On March 16 he was tested, and upon his return home he experienced sudden onset of shortness of breath, went via ambulance to the hospital, and was put on a ventilator. Sandie Mundis went to the emergency room on March 18 with a high fever. Sandie, at high risk due to asthma and diabetes, was immediately placed on hydroxychloroquine and antibiotics to prevent secondary pneumonia, and she was allowed to return home on March 23. Greg Sr. is on a 10-day course of hydroxychloroquine that began on March 19.

In the podcast, Greg Jr. explained at length the significant side effects of these drugs. Both Greg Sr. and Sandie developed a prolonged Q-T interval, a side effect of the drug, which creates a risk of sudden cardiac death, and the levels of medication had to be adjusted. Dr. Mundis was emphatic that hydroxychlorine is not a miracle drug and that the best treatment was to avoid catching the virus at all, by staying home and being diligent about hygiene.

Ron Maddux, director of AGWM's Northern Asia ministries, is also hospitalized with COVID-19. Maddux's son Sam Maddux reported that he went to the ER on March 13 with "some pain in his chest, fever, dizziness, headaches, and pain in his back," was tested on March 16 and was confirmed positive on March 17. After quarantining at home, on March 21 his oxygen levels dropped, and he was admitted to the hospital. He began hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on March 23. As of March 25, he is still in the hospital and on supplemental oxygen but has not had to be on a ventilator.

A March 25 update from Pastor Mark Palenske on the Greers Ferry First Assembly Facebook page reports that the number of positive cases is now 37, with a "small handful that are still waiting on test results."

In his first Facebook post about the virus on March 19, Pastor Palenske said that he and his wife Dena experienced strong symptoms -- "headache, followed by intense body aches and lethargy" then "waves of chills, sweating and nausea." His wife "had a very scary morning" with "a seizure of sorts" and had to go to the hospital. She improved and was released to recuperate in home quarantine.

Palenske's March 22 update reports that at that point 26 people connected with the church had tested positive, and 6 had been hospitalized. He mentions daily phone calls with the Arkansas Department of Health: "We spent hours on the phone together going over each detail of our story. Retracing every step and sharing more information than we could imagine. They took that information and scoured our community for more that might have been affected."

In a post the evening of March 25, Palenske writes, "Many of us are recovering from a long list of symptoms that seem to be common with this virus, and we certainly appreciate the hints of restored health that are headed our way."

According to Palenske, no one in the church had been outside of the state of Arkansas in the weeks leading up to this outbreak, and the children's ministry event concluded several days before there were any reported COVID-19 cases in the state.

Palenske urged his readers to pray, to take the virus seriously, to heed social distancing guidance, and to express gratitude for health care workers seeing us through this crisis.

I would love to have you take this medical threat more seriously. Maybe you assumed that it couldn't happen to you, just like I did. Please adhere to the social instructions that you are receiving locally and nationally. We must keep the affected population to as low a number as possible. Our singular act of stubborn independence can have far reaching effects on someone else's life. Respect and compassion for the people around us must dominate our self-discipline.

A timeline of events:

• March 4: 118 cases had been reported in 14 US states, 92 of them in California and Washington state. The nearest to Arkansas was one reported case in Texas.
• March 6-8: Kids' crusade hosted by Greers Ferry First Assembly.
• March 10: First symptoms noted by Mark and Dena Palenske, according to his March 22 post. In his March 19 post, Mark Palenske wrote that "there are people who have been sick longer than we have."
• March 11: Governor confirms first case, in Pine Bluff, and issues order declaring a public health emergency.
• March 11: Wednesday night service held at First Assembly; at this point no one in the church had tested positive. No further services have been held by the church. Palenske stated on March 19, "Even before positive results were returned, we had already followed medical advice and canceled services. We were convinced that whether it was Covid-19 or another virus, we assumed that no one wanted what we were dealing with and sought to confine ourselves."
• March 12: Greg Mundis starts experiencing symptoms.
• March 13: Ron Maddux goes to the ER with symptoms.
• March 16: Greg Mundis hospitalized.
• March 18: Thomas Carpenter hospitalized. Sandie Mundis goes to ER with high fever.
• March 19: Mark Palenske first Facebook post about the virus
• March 22: Mark Palenske Facebook update
• March 24: Death of Bill Barton.
• March 25: Mark Palenske Facebook update

If we assume that the virus traveled from AGWM HQ to Greers Ferry via the Carpenters, the virus was transmitted almost a week before AGWM leaders began to experience symptoms.