First Day of the Big Ten Tournament - March 11, 2020
Our Last Hurrah?
Was this our last hurrah or was this the wake up call the world needed? Only time will tell I suppose...
I am fortunate. I still have a job. We have no debt. No one is ill and my entire family is together at home. The last few weeks have turned into an endless summer vacation. G said it best one morning. She had finally come out of her room at 2 pm and was fixing herself breakfast in the kitchen when my husband made a sarcastic comment about having breakfast at 2 pm. She noted that time had no meaning right now. It didn't matter when she slept or when she ate. There was no where to be and really no deadlines to meet. She's right. It's like the summer vacations we had when the kids were way little... before they had a hundred extra-curricular activities, places to be, assignments to do. When was the last time you had a vacation and the kids had no where to be?
It all started insidiously enough in January. Coronavirus was something in a far off country afflicting a far away population. Like Ebola. It wasn't coming here. We had already had SARS and MERS. Again, something in another part of the world. Didn't really come here or affect us. Sure, there was a report of someone in Washington State having it but he had recently traveled from Wuhan, China. It was an isolated case. That traveler was briefly admitted to the hospital but he recovered and went home. It was like a bad case of the flu. Travelers from China were now being funneled through select US airports and being screened. Everything would be OK...
February 3rd. A woman in one of my Facebook travel hacking groups posted. She is a writer. She and her husband were on the Diamond Princess. They had already been to Vietnam, Taiwan, and now Japan. Someone had come down with coronavirus and now the whole ship was quarantined in Yokohama. We followed her plight through the following days. February 12th - still stuck in Yokohama. She had travel insurance but Med Jet either couldn't or wouldn't come get her so she was still stuck and quarantined. February 16th - the US government finally arranged for US citizens to get loaded onto two cargo planes and flown out to two US military bases for 14 additional days of quarantine before being allowed to go home. Several people were found to be Covid positive after being cleared to get on the plane so they put up a plastic sheet around them. She published an article (HERE) in The Atlantic about her ordeal after she got home on March 5th. Meanwhile, in Washington State, more cases of coronavirus are being reported. Now it's in a nursing home. People are dying. Wasn't this suppose to be like a bad case of flu?
Mid-February. Now it's in Italy. Cases go from a handful to thousands in the course of two weeks and people are dying by the hundreds every day. OK, so this is worse than the flu. But it's Italy. Not here. For some reason we believe that the United States is somehow better and it can't happen here. We're a First World country for God's sake.
My husband and I went to Florida the last week in February. Most concerning to us at the time was not the virus but the world economy. It was feeling more and more unstable by the day. My husband was very nervous. We were in the process of reallocating some of my parents' investments at the time. We had their financial manager move a large portion of their stocks into more stable bonds. I remember that it was on a Thursday. The market had it's first big drop the following day. Their financial manager called to let us know everything got moved before the drop and that people were going to think he was either a genius or an insider. We weren't quite as lucky. My husband traded a large chunk of our stock portfolio for more stable bonds in after hours trading the day after the first big drop. After hours trading while on vacation - we were that concerned. At the time, the big tax hit from selling was hard to stomach. But then the market plummeted... a gut punch to the recently retired. We lost money, but not nearly as much had we waited.
March. We come back home and hear that Italy is running out of ventilators and doctors are having to choose who to treat. The Italians are writing warnings to the rest of the world. But still... it's Italy. We are the United States. But it's spreading. There are rumors of more travel bans.
Friday March 6th...
February 3rd. A woman in one of my Facebook travel hacking groups posted. She is a writer. She and her husband were on the Diamond Princess. They had already been to Vietnam, Taiwan, and now Japan. Someone had come down with coronavirus and now the whole ship was quarantined in Yokohama. We followed her plight through the following days. February 12th - still stuck in Yokohama. She had travel insurance but Med Jet either couldn't or wouldn't come get her so she was still stuck and quarantined. February 16th - the US government finally arranged for US citizens to get loaded onto two cargo planes and flown out to two US military bases for 14 additional days of quarantine before being allowed to go home. Several people were found to be Covid positive after being cleared to get on the plane so they put up a plastic sheet around them. She published an article (HERE) in The Atlantic about her ordeal after she got home on March 5th. Meanwhile, in Washington State, more cases of coronavirus are being reported. Now it's in a nursing home. People are dying. Wasn't this suppose to be like a bad case of flu?
Mid-February. Now it's in Italy. Cases go from a handful to thousands in the course of two weeks and people are dying by the hundreds every day. OK, so this is worse than the flu. But it's Italy. Not here. For some reason we believe that the United States is somehow better and it can't happen here. We're a First World country for God's sake.
My husband and I went to Florida the last week in February. Most concerning to us at the time was not the virus but the world economy. It was feeling more and more unstable by the day. My husband was very nervous. We were in the process of reallocating some of my parents' investments at the time. We had their financial manager move a large portion of their stocks into more stable bonds. I remember that it was on a Thursday. The market had it's first big drop the following day. Their financial manager called to let us know everything got moved before the drop and that people were going to think he was either a genius or an insider. We weren't quite as lucky. My husband traded a large chunk of our stock portfolio for more stable bonds in after hours trading the day after the first big drop. After hours trading while on vacation - we were that concerned. At the time, the big tax hit from selling was hard to stomach. But then the market plummeted... a gut punch to the recently retired. We lost money, but not nearly as much had we waited.
March. We come back home and hear that Italy is running out of ventilators and doctors are having to choose who to treat. The Italians are writing warnings to the rest of the world. But still... it's Italy. We are the United States. But it's spreading. There are rumors of more travel bans.
Friday March 6th...
I was at work. My employer issued a 45 day travel ban that day for work related travel. I was scheduled to attend a conference in Las Vegas from April 16th to the 21st. It had been 3 years since I'd been to a conference and I was looking forward to meeting up with a friend there. I had already looked into the shows we would see and the restaurants we would dine at. I started counting days. April 16th was in 41 days. Arghhh……
Now I was upset. My passive aggressive self decided I was going to go someplace anyway. I already had the days off work. Now I could just go anywhere I wanted for vacation.
It was one of those moments I wish I could take back. I actually hesitated before I opened my mouth but I opened my mouth anyway. A family member of a patient I was seeing had struck up a conversation with me since coronavirus was the topic of the day. His wife too had just been notified that her employer was restricting work related travel. They were planning personal out of town travel though. "Off the record" he wanted to know my opinion about traveling. My opinion at the time was that as long as he and his wife were healthy without any underlying medical problems and they took precautions like frequent hand washing and not touching your face, it would be fine. I even related my personal plans to go somewhere in April. My scribe then asked me why I thought this way. Yes, it's deadlier than the flu... in the old, the sick, the immunosuppressed. But surely there was some media hype. If the internet and social media had been this active in the days of SARS the hype would have been the same, I thought. OK... I was wrong.
Monday March 9th. My employer officially canceled my plane tickets to Las Vegas. I talked to my friend in Los Angeles that I was suppose to meet up with in Las Vegas. She says UC Berkley just canceled all their classes and that she totally understood. A student in the Avon school district in Indiana tested positive for coronavirus and the school district canceled classes until April 6th. I'm wondering, is this overkill? Have we been stirred up into a frightened frenzy?
Since Spring Break was coming up, the next "rule" that my employer came out with was that if we traveled to a state that had 100 or more coronavirus cases we would have to return home immediately and would have to self-quarantine for 14 days. My husband and I looked at the COVID case map and contemplated our choices. We wanted to go to the Porche track in Atlanta. I had a free night certificate with IHG that we could use at the Kimpton hotel next to the track and we could both fly free on Southwest. We were actually looking to travel the first week in April but Georgia already had more than 40 cases, plus they have the busiest airport in the country. Nope. Not a chance they'd be under 100 by then. Next we looked at Atlantic City. We had both done status matches for Caesar's Diamond status but needed to go to the Borgota in Atlantic City to do a status match for M-Life Gold. I'm not much of a gambler but having M-Life Gold would allow me to status match to Hyatt Explorist status and we could stay at a Caesar's property in Atlantic City for almost nothing with my Diamond status. We could fly into Baltimore on Southwest for free and rent a car. Both New Jersey and Maryland had less than 30 cases. My husband reserved a rental car. I told him I wanted to wait two more days "just to see" before I booked the hotel and flights.
Wednesday March 11th. Day one of the Big Ten Tournament. Due to some late season losses, Indiana University goes in as the 11th seed and ends up having to play the first night, rather than on day two.
We had actually considered buying third party tickets to go to the championship game on March 15th but then decided to just drive to Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 9th and buy the general admission tickets for Day One. I guess I was in a "see how it goes" mood that day.
On Wednesday my husband and I went downtown and had dinner at Greek Islands restaurant, then went to Game One, the Northwestern vs Minnesota game, to secure good seats for the IU game. We ended up with arguably the best seats I've ever had for an IU game - half court, 12 rows off the floor. We were surrounded by IU fans. Notably absent were most of the other team's fans. There had been rumors floating around all day that the NCAA was going to hold their tournament with players only and that the Big Ten was considering the same. Then, at halftime, the announcement came. The Big Ten was canceling the rest of the tournament. If we had purchased our tickets at Bankers Life we could go to the ticket counter and have our money refunded for tonight. There was confusion. Were they kicking us out after Game One? Well, no, they let the second game play. That would be the last game of the season. There would be no more games. IU won. Then it was done. I heard during the IU game that a player for the Utah Jazz had tested positive and the NBA was canceling the rest of it's season.
Thursday March 12th. The NCAA decided to go ahead and cancel the whole tournament. Yes, it was all over. We weren't going anywhere any time soon. President Trump announced a travel ban from Europe for 30 days effective midnight March 13th. G called from Philadelphia. Her dance program announced that they would be closing the studios on Friday March 13th to April 6th. The Pennsylvania Ballet had canceled the rest of their season. All the companies in New York City were canceling. About half the people in her dance program are foreign nationals. The exodus had begun. Her friends were leaving the country as quickly as possible before all the borders closed. Most would not be coming back, even if the studios reopened. Her Canadian roommate was leaving at 3 am... She said she was fine but it was getting difficult to find groceries in Philadelphia. She was supposed to come home for Spring Break on March 21st. She was supposed to audition with the Nashville Ballet on March 24th. The Nashville Ballet was now closed. We rebooked her ticket home for March 15th.
Now I was upset. My passive aggressive self decided I was going to go someplace anyway. I already had the days off work. Now I could just go anywhere I wanted for vacation.
It was one of those moments I wish I could take back. I actually hesitated before I opened my mouth but I opened my mouth anyway. A family member of a patient I was seeing had struck up a conversation with me since coronavirus was the topic of the day. His wife too had just been notified that her employer was restricting work related travel. They were planning personal out of town travel though. "Off the record" he wanted to know my opinion about traveling. My opinion at the time was that as long as he and his wife were healthy without any underlying medical problems and they took precautions like frequent hand washing and not touching your face, it would be fine. I even related my personal plans to go somewhere in April. My scribe then asked me why I thought this way. Yes, it's deadlier than the flu... in the old, the sick, the immunosuppressed. But surely there was some media hype. If the internet and social media had been this active in the days of SARS the hype would have been the same, I thought. OK... I was wrong.
Monday March 9th. My employer officially canceled my plane tickets to Las Vegas. I talked to my friend in Los Angeles that I was suppose to meet up with in Las Vegas. She says UC Berkley just canceled all their classes and that she totally understood. A student in the Avon school district in Indiana tested positive for coronavirus and the school district canceled classes until April 6th. I'm wondering, is this overkill? Have we been stirred up into a frightened frenzy?
Since Spring Break was coming up, the next "rule" that my employer came out with was that if we traveled to a state that had 100 or more coronavirus cases we would have to return home immediately and would have to self-quarantine for 14 days. My husband and I looked at the COVID case map and contemplated our choices. We wanted to go to the Porche track in Atlanta. I had a free night certificate with IHG that we could use at the Kimpton hotel next to the track and we could both fly free on Southwest. We were actually looking to travel the first week in April but Georgia already had more than 40 cases, plus they have the busiest airport in the country. Nope. Not a chance they'd be under 100 by then. Next we looked at Atlantic City. We had both done status matches for Caesar's Diamond status but needed to go to the Borgota in Atlantic City to do a status match for M-Life Gold. I'm not much of a gambler but having M-Life Gold would allow me to status match to Hyatt Explorist status and we could stay at a Caesar's property in Atlantic City for almost nothing with my Diamond status. We could fly into Baltimore on Southwest for free and rent a car. Both New Jersey and Maryland had less than 30 cases. My husband reserved a rental car. I told him I wanted to wait two more days "just to see" before I booked the hotel and flights.
Wednesday March 11th. Day one of the Big Ten Tournament. Due to some late season losses, Indiana University goes in as the 11th seed and ends up having to play the first night, rather than on day two.
On Wednesday my husband and I went downtown and had dinner at Greek Islands restaurant, then went to Game One, the Northwestern vs Minnesota game, to secure good seats for the IU game. We ended up with arguably the best seats I've ever had for an IU game - half court, 12 rows off the floor. We were surrounded by IU fans. Notably absent were most of the other team's fans. There had been rumors floating around all day that the NCAA was going to hold their tournament with players only and that the Big Ten was considering the same. Then, at halftime, the announcement came. The Big Ten was canceling the rest of the tournament. If we had purchased our tickets at Bankers Life we could go to the ticket counter and have our money refunded for tonight. There was confusion. Were they kicking us out after Game One? Well, no, they let the second game play. That would be the last game of the season. There would be no more games. IU won. Then it was done. I heard during the IU game that a player for the Utah Jazz had tested positive and the NBA was canceling the rest of it's season.
Thursday March 12th. The NCAA decided to go ahead and cancel the whole tournament. Yes, it was all over. We weren't going anywhere any time soon. President Trump announced a travel ban from Europe for 30 days effective midnight March 13th. G called from Philadelphia. Her dance program announced that they would be closing the studios on Friday March 13th to April 6th. The Pennsylvania Ballet had canceled the rest of their season. All the companies in New York City were canceling. About half the people in her dance program are foreign nationals. The exodus had begun. Her friends were leaving the country as quickly as possible before all the borders closed. Most would not be coming back, even if the studios reopened. Her Canadian roommate was leaving at 3 am... She said she was fine but it was getting difficult to find groceries in Philadelphia. She was supposed to come home for Spring Break on March 21st. She was supposed to audition with the Nashville Ballet on March 24th. The Nashville Ballet was now closed. We rebooked her ticket home for March 15th.
Flying home...
By the time G got home it was evident life was no longer normal. Indiana University started their Spring Break the week of March 15th. They announced that classes would go online for 2 weeks after Spring Break. J was overjoyed. Three weeks "off"! She couldn't believe it. Social distancing was starting to be empathized. There was a strange run on toilet paper. Now that both girls were home they wanted to go to Milktooth. This is our go-to restaurant whenever both girls are home. Milktooth announced that they would be closing after Monday March 16th. I had to work on Monday but I figured the girls deserved to have a last hurrah too. I let them go to Milktooth with instructions to leave a very large tip.
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