Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father
Amen.
Colourful rose garden tunnel#flowers #nature #springtime #photos pic.twitter.com/PTtFW03oN6
— Enjoy Nature 🌻+☀️=💛 (@EnjoyNature) April 19, 2020
When the City of Charleston issued the stay-at-home order a few weeks ago, the primary goal was to “flatten the curve” so as to not overwhelm our hospital capacity and to greatly reduce the spread of contagion. I have been encouraged by the most recent numbers which is a testament to our citizens staying smart, staying distanced, and listening to medical experts. The plan to “flatten the curve” has and is continuing to work and we must be vigilant to keep Charleston from becoming a “hotspot”.
As we continue to flatten the curve, it is time to ready our strategic reopening to avoid any resurgence or spikes of the virus. I view this challenge in three ways:
• Protecting the lives and wellness of our citizens
• Keeping our hospitals from being overwhelmed
• Maintaining economic activity and core government services until a vaccine or treatment becomes available
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg shared a preliminary plan with City Council members on Thursday outlining a series of conditions that are needed before social-distancing restrictions can be lifted.https://t.co/eZJqQMJkVn
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 17, 2020
Early on, the medical team told Jacqui that her husband might be on the ventilator three to five days. But so much about this new virus remained unknown. They consulted with doctors across the country and across the state.
As Wood approached his first week on the ventilator, his medical team wanted to try removing him from it. His X-rays looked better, his oxygen saturation improved.
But his body could not handle breathing on its own.
More time, more loneliness, more fear. Jacqui saw on the news that the average COVID-19 patient was staying on a ventilator closer to eight to 11 days. She figured that if he went more than 11 days, she’d panic more.
On day 10, a Monday, his doctor tried again to wean him.
This time, his lungs responded. He no longer needed the ventilator.
His overnight nurse got him out of bed and into a chair. The nurse took a picture around 4 a.m. and texted it to Jacqui.
The next day, his nurse called Jacqui on FaceTime so she could see her husband. Wood could barely get his hand to his mouth. His throat was too raw to speak. But he could answer yes and no.
He was in there. He would be OK. They would all be OK.
Bishop Steve Wood was on a ventilator, fighting COVID-19, for 10 days.
And lived to realize it.https://t.co/dPbeT3fUYy
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 19, 2020
Europe’s atomized efforts are a test of how the U.S. will fare as states such as New York and California attempt to follow. President Trump’s administration has encouraged states to reopen in phases after cases begin to fall. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the governors of six nearby states have convened a task force to look at how they will reopen their economies.
Experiences in Europe suggest the reopenings will come in fits and starts, in a strange, postlockdown reality where commercial districts are at best half-open, closed to tour groups and crowds, and bracketed with temperature control checks.
“It’s a hard mental shift,” said Weston Stacey, the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. “With U.S. government officials we’ve talked to, it’s very hard to get them around this thinking of, ‘OK, if we do this, in three weeks, everything will go back to normal.’ Things are not going back to normal.”
Lockdown restrictions helped reduce coronavirus cases and many Italian intensive-care units now have free beds. But the toll on shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment businesses has been extraordinary.
At least a sixth of all Italian restaurant and bars—some 50,000 mostly small businesses—will perish, the country’s bar and diner lobby Fipe projects. Movie theaters have seen almost no revenue in weeks, and anticipate prohibitive crowd restrictions when they reopen: Germany’s top 10 grossing films combined reported just $1,485 in total ticket sales over Easter weekend.
The openings are piecemeal and provisional, bringing no swift or substantial relief to a crushing recession projected to be Europe’s worst since the Great Depression. https://t.co/xTn78KiZuu
— Jennifer Smith (@jensmithWSJ) April 19, 2020
He sits and thinks of the things they know,
He and the Forest, alone together,
The springs that come and the summers that go,
Autumn dew on bracken and Heather,
All the things they have heard:
An April sky swept clean and the song of a bird. ~A.A.Milne #NatureHeals #dailywalk pic.twitter.com/3n9ijUB89X— A.A.Milne (@A_AMilne) April 18, 2020
O God, the living God, who hast given unto us a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: Grant that we, being risen with him, may seek the things which are above, and be made partakers of the life eternal; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)
How does your garden grow? With all this spring weather, the Wissahickon is sprouting up.
Check out our Creekside Classroom for new videos on spring ephemerals and native plants, presented by Lisa Stout! https://t.co/p0ois6Whok pic.twitter.com/4WCUGrX1tC
— Friends of the Wiss (@FOWissahickon) April 18, 2020
“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.”
John 14:1-7
Glorious Sunday for all 💛😇 pic.twitter.com/96oIl0vEPM
— Ann Marie White (@AnnMari11331462) April 19, 2020