I wouldn't be surprised. Anything that has people in close contact for a period of time will be a risk factor.

Several weeks ago my city made all the buses free, so that the driver didn't have to interact with passengers. Everyone uses the back door. And they're using the long bendable buses very heavily, so passengers can spread out.

It's been a very late spring here, and quite cold, so people haven't been able to bike much. A lot of transit riders will be happy to give up the bus and train, and ride their bikes - much less risk of contact.

This is cause for concern for me, since I don't drive. Up to early March the metro trains to DC were quite packed in the morning, but a few days later WMATA (the DC metro area transit authority) announced changes to the train and bus schedules, which are still in force. If restrictions are lifted, I can foresee traffic and pollution getting even worse than they were before.

Hello, I wanted to update you on my laundry status. I learned last week that part of the problem is that social workers in several counties have been ordered not to do home visits of any kind, even when no contact or entry into the residence is involved. But my case manager with my Medicaid HMO kept trying to find an agency that would help me, because she said my particular insurance plan entitles me to these services. Frustrated herself, last Saturday morning she came down herself, on her own time, and picked up my dirty laundry and took it to the laundromat. She also brought back to me the clean bundle that had been waiting for me. I was so happy. I'm not sure when she will be able to this again, as she lives two counties away from me! But at least I got rid of all those dirty clothes and finally had some clean clothes to wear! The laundromat called and said they finished the job, so I will see when she thinks she might come back. I am so grateful to her, doing this out of the kindness of her heart.

I am quite sure that mass transit is a factor in transmission. It is actually one of the reasons I keep a car even tho' I can't really afford it. Even before this, I felt very uncomfortable being in close quarters with strangers. Also, being in a rural area, bus service is quite limited.

Problem is, cars are big part of pollution problems. A solution would be to move toward electric cars, and in the meantime, make the combustion-engine cars less polluting (which is exactly the opposite of what was happening in the USA before the pandemic).

So my latest updates... Here's a long one!

My daughter's school continues to fumble distance learning. The first week, the school was about to start it on their own, but the district stepped in and said they would. Four weeks later, and they realized that maybe giving links to just click could be abused. The following week they realized the website couldn't handle the load. So next week we will be back to week 1: Teachers pick which of the approved websites to use. We have wasted six weeks on the district not thinking ahead. I'm not an IT person, but I know you should always think about whether a site can handle the load AND how could it be abused, yet no one thought of that. Or at least word didn't get up to the administration that this is a problem. The head of the IT department resigned last night, I feel bad that anyone lost a job, but when it's something so egregious...

My son is in Montessori preschool and every morning we have been doing Zoom meetings for circle time and then one lesson a week each for language arts and math. It's a struggle getting him to pay attention and sit. Usually for circle time, I give him breakfast and have a jigsaw puzzle in front of him. Today he had a lesson on recycling so we ran around the house afterward to see what items you could recycle and not! I haven't seen him so engaged yet so it was good to see.

I've been off work since... I don't know anymore? I worked the week beginning March 16 and then the Monday two weeks after, but have been off since for safety leave because I have asthma and Hashimoto's disease. I've been fine with those, but some migraine medicine I started back in August has really given me side effects and between my neurologist and my gastroenterologist, I stopped that and am now waiting for my stomach to get back to normal. I've been a hypochondriac since I had a stroke in 2017 and with this virus, I can't just make an appointment easily and have it checked out! I did end up being seen Friday at the doctor and felt weird doing an actual visit (I was just there to pick up medicine) - no touching except for a blood pressure test, and the doctor sat at the opposite end of the room as me. We both had masks on... Was strange and because there wasn't an actual exam just talking with the doctor, I still don't feel less anxious.

My aunt has a positive COVID-9 test and my uncle likely has it. Today is their two weeks so they can go out now, but are still exhausted. My parents have been bringing them food and such. My friend is a healthcare worker and she got it probably from work, and now her two year old and husband also have it. In the midst of her positive diagnosis, her aunt might be diagnosed with cancer. It's hard being here three states away from so many, but I've been spending the time when I'm not doing things with the kids to order hard-to-find items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer for them. At least it feels like I'm going something.

I'm anxious about what will this all look like when we open everything up again. And will there be a second wave? So many unknowns. I'm doing ok now so part of me just wants to hide in my house until there is a vaccine...

And what have I learned? Well, I taught myself to knit. I kept threatening to do so when the government had shutdowns, and this time when school was closed, I ordered a kit with everything you need. (Luckily I did so quick enough - they shut their warehouse down shortly thereafter!) So far I have made fingerless mittens and a scarf. I also have been taking the kids outside every day, trying to catch good weather before rainy days, and today my daughter tried roller skating. This girl who for years refused to learn to ride a bike until I made her go to "learn to ride a bike camp" last year fell and kept trying! And my son is getting better about doing as he's told - I have him finally loading dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

I've been wondering how Zoom works for the very young kids. My daughter (who is a daycare teacher for 3-5 year olds ) did a few videos for her kids early on that she just put in the daycare facebook page, but they didn't really have anything more formal set up. But today the music teacher did a zoom music class, and that got her thinking of trying a few things. Her partner is thinking in terms of having their regular circle time, but daughter is leery about them sitting still for it, at least at first. You saying that your son struggles with that confirms her feeling. I'd think the first few Zooms would be better more just chatting and sharing some time together, and they can work on the more "academic" stuff a little later.

In a way, it's a comfort that this thing has hit the entire world. EVERY kid's education has been disrupted, it's not a question of anyone falling behind, really. It's not like the rest of the country is moving on as normal and only your child's district is having problems. All the competetive "get into the right program, get accepted to the right university" aspect has gotten a big smack in the face, for all kids. In a funny kind of way, it takes some of the pressure off.

Here in Western Australia, we have very strict lock-down rules. In all, we've had 546 confirmed positive cases (half of which came from cruise ships) and 7 deaths. We've just gone three days without any new cases of coronavirus. We must be doing something right.

I work for a paediatrician who specialises in children with autism and ADHD. Many of our children find school a very stressful situation for a variety of reasons. We've seen a big increase in the number of parents cancelling their follow-up appointments with us, stating that, now their children are being home-schooled or having on-line schooling, they are happier, less stressed and/or don't need to take their medication. It will be interesting to see what happens when normal schooling resumes.

Wow Carole I was just about to post the same sort of thing!. You are so right. Here in Hong Kong, the hardest thing was to involve the parents in anything to do with school. Whereas in the British Army School where I worked here first, we had parents helping in the classroom, and learning so much about how to involve themselves in their child's school day, in the local schools you rarely saw parents more than once a term, if they could get there early enough from work. Home schooling has to be an advantage here.
It is good that the pressure is off everyone, and what's more there is so much more interaction with parents and it is so valuable. Isn't this sort of thing great to hear:
....."I have him finally loading dirty dishes in the dishwasher."? This is happening because children see the need for them to help around the house. Parents have the time to show children how to be a real part of the family and not a homework machine.
I know there aren't many good points about this lockdown ( believe me after 15 weeks of it I know!)but a slowing down of the pace of life can only benefit our families. Right?

Sounds like FCPS didn't get things together right? A friend of mine works for Stafford County schools, and it seems (from what I've heard) that things have been okay there. She still has to go into the school on occasion, but it's only a couple of times a week for about 1-2 hours. The rest of things, she can do from home.

Side note for non-Virginians: Fairfax County is by far the most populous county in the state, meaning they have far more students than any other county/independent city. Both ladymacb29 and LadyNym live in that county.

I am generally not even a little bit envious of people who live in houses - I LOVE my apartment. But these days, it's a little bit of a pain in the butt.

A lot of people in my building are working still - they are retail workers and cab drivers and delivery people and so on. They are out in the world and interacting with people and open to exposure. So, because I have a lung disease, I have to work on the assumption that the common areas of the building like the doorknobs and railings could be contaminated.

This means that something as simple as taking out the garbage or doing the laundry involves a whole rigamarole of cleaning and disinfecting and paying attention - did I use the same hand to touch the doorknob as I did to hold my keys so now I need to clean the keys? What about the coins for the washing machine, what hand did I use for those or are they still non-contaminated? And so on - it's exhausting.

And quite possibly unnecessary, considering I wash my hands the minute I get back in my apartment. And that it's highly unlikely that someone infected just happened to cough on just that part of the handrail that I touched and then touched my keys with the same hand.

But, I figure it's better to establish good habits, so I'm going to keep it up. It does make doing a couple of loads of laundry and running up and down to put stuff in the dryer and so on, quite the project, though!

Oh yes, that's why I'm so grateful we have a single family home, and not even the townhouse we used to live in. We have room for the kids to go outside and play without interacting with anyone. I do get annoyed that some of the neighbors have littler grandkids who aren't really social distancing so they come up to our house and my kids so I have to be the bad one to tell the kids to come inside for dinner or something

I also live in a condo unit, which is very nice. As there's just two of us (my husband and I), a smaller place is perfect for us. However, I hear you about having to take precautions whenever I go to the laundry room down the hallway. Thankfully, my husband found a nice package of disinfecting wipes at the store where he works, and when I go to do the laundry I bring it with me to disinfect all surfaces (including my debit card). Then, when I get back home, I wash my hands thoroughly. The same happens when I go to the grocery store, as I did today. Luckily we're both in good health, but it's better not to take risks, not just for our own sakes but for anyone else who might cross our path.

So here in France a progressive lifting of restrictions is on the cards, if the numbers of cases remains stable/in regression, from the 11th of May.

A system of "Green" and "Red" departments will identify which regions are "good to go" and which have to remain on strict restrictions, at least in the initial stages. "Red" departments are those where the virus is still largely active and cases are high, "green" ones have low virus activity.

A crucial issue to enable the economy to start to get back on its feet is to enable to workforce go back to work. One of the first restrictions lifted will be schools: from the 11th kindergarden and primary schools will be reopening. Not whole classes and not every class at the same time, and apparantly on a volunteer basis - a parent can choose not to return their child to school. A week later secondary schools will start to receive students again, and hopefully in early June lycéé students (16-18yr) will be able to rediscover the joys of the school corridors. Third level establishements are to remain closed until September.

Once the kids go back to school the parents will be free to get back to work, and most business will be permitted to open. Notable exceptions are hotels, restaurants and bars, and large commercial centres. No date has been fixed for these yet.

The government are actively recommending that businesses encourage working from home for as much of their staff as possible, so I reckon I personally will be working from the dining room table for another couple of months, with occasional visits to the office to pick up post or use the scanner/printer for large files.

Masks will be obligatory on public transport, and actively encouraged for anybody going about outdoors.

The 1km limit on travel away from the home will be increased to 100km, with travel further afield being permitted when it's for business purposes.

We will no longer be required to carry a time-stamped permit with us on every outing (halleluia)!

It's obvious that the country's leaders are feeling their way on this one - nobody really knows what sort of numbers a second or even a third wave of cases will represent, so all easing of restrictions remain couched in clauses that allow the powers-that-be to back-track and reinstall them should things escalate dramatically. They are still working through the details of how teachers are to manage at schools, how to get young kids in particular to respect the barrier methods (mask-handwashing-social distance), and a whole heap of other details.

I am waiting to hear what the situation is in regards to my son, who is in his final year in boarding school. I just don't see how it will be possible to effectively implement all the measures necessary when the youngsters are to live in close quarters with a heap of others.

I am very thankful that we are living in one of the lower-affected regions of France, and have been spared (so far) the stress and distress of big numbers of people being affected all whilst having to live cooped up in small appartments with little or no access to safe outdoor spaces.

For the US, I wonder how they will do the schools because many of them are cancelled for the rest of the school year, meaning we won't have any school until September. And with summer camps being cancelled... many of us can't go back to work without some form of childcare. I see Denmark has started but is limiting classroom numbers to no more than 10 at a time - which is less than 1/3 of what American classrooms have.

I do feel very sorry for all the families here living in flats/apartments, it must be dreadful to be all squashed in, and with children. Where I live everyone has a garden but also it is not a through road so little traffic so the children can play outside on their bikes and even play ballgames (just not outside MY door!). We see reports of older children gathering in groups and not social distancing, the parents cannot keep control of them. You cannot sit them on the naughty step, they are already grounded, they don't need money at the moment - so there is little that you can do to stop them. Even the young ones can no long receive a smack on the top of the legs, it is now illegal here to use any form of physical punishment. Heaven help the parents of this lot.

I have just been reading the sanitary protocol being proposed for schools, and all I can say is that the teachers who are supposed to implement it must be superhuman!!!

A 50m2 classroom can have a maximum of 15 students, each desk must be 1m from its neighbour. Teachers are to wear masks and will be furnished with 2 per day. Children may, but are not obliged to, wear masks.

Movement in the corridors is on a one-way basis and crossing other classes is to be avoided, so each class must begin and end at a different time.

Kids are to sanitise their hands before entering the school, before and after eating, before and after each "bathroom break", each time they sneeze, cough, blow their noses or touch an object which could potentially be contaminated, and before leaving the premises at the end of the day.

All contact sports are forbidden, changing rooms are not to be used, recreation time must also respect the social-distancing rules, and classes are not to mix with other classes during break. I can forsee all breaks being taken within the confines of each class's room. Outdoor toys and structures must be disinfected or not used.

Door handles, bathrooms, balustrades, corridors and stairwells should be disenfected several times a day.

With all that, there'll be no time to get in much education, and everybody will be stressed out by the end of the day. It's a monumental task which the schools are being asked to implement.

It's been so interesting to read about the varying levels of restrictions and rules in different countries. As we all wait to see what will happen next, it will also be interesting to be able to see the future outcomes of all the different plans. In the US, the rules and restrictions have been vastly different depending on the region, and even very different between counties. My area has yet to be hard hit ~ 28 cases in my county and 1 death. Neighboring Knox County has 243 and 5 deaths. With the exception of many businesses being closed, very few people seem to have altered their lifestyle much at all. So to read posts from you folks in Spain and France whose lifestyles have been so drastically altered is both sobering and heart-wrenching.

As Sue said, I feel the people that are most profoundly affected are those with little to no outdoor space. So many people live in apartments without even a balcony. The highest incidences of the virus occurs in those cities with the densest populations, and sadly those are also the ones with a large percentage of apartment dwellers. The end result becomes that the people with the most restrictions on movement are the same people that have no way to get outside.

My state is "re-opening" despite the fact that our cases are rising, not falling. Restaurants here were able to open last week at 50% capacity and the parking lots were packed. I get the impression that most people believe that the "re-opening" means that the threat has been reduced, and I fear that's not the case. On my last grocery pickup, I did notice that more than half the people going in and out of the store were wearing masks ~ much more than I had seen 3 weeks prior. But in general I'm just waiting to see if there is an eventual explosion here.

My area hasn't even reopened, yet people were packing restaurants for to go order for Cinco de Mayo! And I heard that Miami opened a beach, only to close it three days later because no one was social distancing.

They are beginning to relax restrictions here in Jersey, I am not sure that I agree with it. They have said that the relaxation will result in more cases and more deaths. The relaxation coincides with the opening of the Nightingale hospital tomorrow so they will have room for plenty more people to be in hospital.

We find that a number of people take little notice of the restrictions, in particular teenagers.

They are doing the same in Virginia, but I think part of the state near DC will decide not to relax anything because they haven't met the benchmarks. Interestingly, the governor of Virginia is a pediatric neurologist and is the only governor who is also a medical professional, so I do trust his judgement a little more than I would trust one who wasn't. Plus I think there's less pressure on him to re-open the government early from his own political party. They're going to announce if everyone will reopen a bit on Friday, but it will only be things like letting non-essential stores open providing they don't let so many people in, restaurants that have outdoor seating can do that but only at 50% capacity, etc.

I will still stay home though.

I'm scheduled to go back to work every other week in June for half days. I have asthma which made me cough so bad in 2017 that I had a stroke, so I'm doing my best to not get sick. My work said I could come and do half days since my cubicle doesn't have anyone next to it and I'm by a window, so people don't walk past. Half days so I can minimize the time I need to get out of my cubicle area, too. We will see how this works!

I saw a story that Arlington County petitioned Gov. Northam to not let relaxation take place there, and he allowed them to keep current restrictions in place. I don't know which counties may also keep current restrictions in place, but I'm figuring Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William counties may stay as is, and not reopen for a bit.

Same happened here in Alexandria. Unfortunately, some people seem not to take this thing seriously. When I was walking to and from the grocery store yesterday morning (and also the time before that,, a few days ago), I saw pairs of people - mostly workers doing repairs on the site - not wearing masks and talking close to each other. Traffic is also almost back to normal. I understand it's not easy to follow the rules, but this virus is very insidious, and the situation could get worse very quickly.

Yes - those are the counties that aren't going to Phase 1 - Montgomery and PG county in MD are also not going to Phase I. The cases still keep going up in these areas. Northam said he didn't want counties to choose but to work together in a region (I'm assuming to prevent people from going to one county when theirs is closed to prevent spread).

For someone like me, who lives in Fauquier County, but works in Loudoun County, restrictions will probably get relaxed for the former tomorrow, but not for the latter, putting me in a state of limbo, because I'll travel from a relaxed county to a restricted county. I wonder how they would do things regarding that?

I didn't think any of Maryland was easing anything as yet, because I'd not heard Gov. Hogan mentioning relaxation of restrictions.