Friday, March 6, 2020

This is the first day the coronavirus became very real for me in the USA.  We were at my brother Dave and Ro’s Beach House in Indian Shores, FL with our friends Pat and Dick Wulff, from Minnesota.  Amy Hempstead, Dave and Ro’s daughter, was there and all-day she was receiving text messages from her co-workers at Biogen in Boston.  They had an International Conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf in Boston on Feb 27 – 28, 2020.  Two people who attended the conference from England tested positive for the Coronavirus when they returned home to England.  Amy did not attend the conference, but she knew many who did.  She had spent time with her boss on Friday, Feb 28, before heading to FL, but had not been close to her and had not touched anything in the room.  I am not sure if the boss had been at the conference or just been with Amy’s former boss who had attended the conference.  Amy’s former boss lives in Windham, NH and had all the symptoms but could not get tested in NH anywhere.  While we were eating dinner, Amy received a text from him saying he was told to be at The Brigham Hospital at 9PM tonight.  When he got there, they came to the car to test him and sent him home.  It was several days before he got the results that he was positive. He lived in his basement for 14 days.  

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Fifteen Biogren people have tested positive for the virus.  By Monday, March 9 the number had jumped to 28 and 23 were from the Biogen Conference.  This number is only the Massachusetts cases and we know that 2 were in England and Tennessee’s first case was from the Biogen Conference.  This thing really spreads quickly and easily.  We are nervous after being with Amy and hearing how fast everything is happening.  We decide to stay away from large gatherings and did not go to church on Sunday.  Jon and I did go to the dentist on Monday.

This is an article in the New York Times written on April 12, 2020 about the Biogen spread of the Coronavirus.  It really demonstrates how easily and quickly this virus can spread!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/coronavirus-biogen-boston-superspreader.html