Thanks, everybody.

Karl, it's so nice to see you here!

Hec, how is JZ doing? I don't see her much on Twitter (which could just be Twitter's algorithm at work). Has there been any resolution on a school for Matilda?

Yay, Cindy! I was just thinking about your kid, and how lucky he was that most of the bad stuff he went through was pre-Pandemic.

We keep saying that, Theo. I am so grateful.

sj, I never used a white noise machine, so I don't have a personal recommendation. I did a quick search and found some battery operated ones on Amazon. Some didn't even have night lights. This one has different sounds and a timer. [link]

I'm sorry ltc isn't sleeping. Do you think it's due to the shutdown and how that's affected her routine?

I'm not sleeping either, and I was at home anyhow, but everything is different and it just throws me off.

Thanks y'all for the CVS recommendation. I called my insurance company and they confirmed it will be fully covered even though I am far out of my preferred provider network (like, 3k miles out of it) I have an appointment on Wednesday for drive through brain stem swabbing with results in 6-10 days. Of course that's only one day before mom will be home from the hospital and I'll be unable to continue distancing at that point....but i can continue masking in common areas of the house for another week and skip any day trips to infect Dad if the result were to come back positive. And of course it would be reassuring to have a negative test result before getting on a couple of planes August 10th.

I keep thinking about Mira Grant's Newsflesh series and the rapid viral load tests that characters take before entering any building. Sometimes at multiple checkpoints. How reassuring it would be right now to be able to do a quick finger stick and watch the lights on a disposable testing unit cycle through red and green and finally settle on green meaning that you can continue on with your life. I mean, I'd rather not with the zombie apocalypse, but the rapid testing procedure sounds pretty great right about now.

It's so insane that you are at 6 to 10 days there, and we are getting results in 24 to 48 hours here in Los Angeles. 6 to 10 days is borderline useless.

It really is, particularly if you're a caregiver for an at-risk person.

I just had a nice phone call with a woman running for the State Rep position in my district. She's pretty cool, and while she's well-settled in Somerville, she spent part of 2017 in England working for some friends in the Labour Party in the snap election there. For that alone, I'd consider voting for her.

Thanks Cindy! I found the one we used when she was a baby which only have the battery life for a couple of hours. So it's not ideal, but it will work for now. ltc is both very anxious not getting enough physical activity.

Who's that, Theo?

That is such great news, Cindy!!

Good luck, sj. I was thinking about an old phone maybe? But I always get a new phone when the old batter craps out, so maybe not.

Thanks Jess, she would play with it endlessly. She's obsessed with phones.

ltc is both very anxious not getting enough physical activity.

I don't know what options are available to you right now. I remember being able to see my kids' anxiety when they didn't get out enough. It's so hard.

Thanks, Cindy. TCG does his best to take her out on her bike several times a week for a couple of hours at a time, but I really can't do much myself. I can't keep up with her in an outdoor setting. I did get a water splash thing for the backyard, and I'm hoping I can get TCG to set that up this weekend so I can sit outside while she splashes in the water. Her bathing suits might as well get some use this summer.