Notes from Quarantine
Week 1
Wow. What a crazy ride this last few weeks has been. I must admit that, at the beginning of March, the magnitude of the coronavirus infection had not fully sunken in. Which, as a medical professional, is embarrassing to admit. Apparently, however, I was not the only one. We’ve known that sooner or later, another pandemic respiratory virus was coming. And, now that it is here, it looks like we are not ready for it.
My little part in this story (as it unfolds):
As I may have mentioned, I was scheduled to race in the Masters World Cup Cross Country Ski races in Cogne, Italy this month. The races were canceled at the last moment, and we were left with the decision to cancel the trip entirely or go ski in the Italian Alps. We had been closely monitoring the epidemic in Northern Italy: there were no cases in the Aosta Valley, and the CDC travel advisory for Italy was still at level 2 (travel, take precautions). Nancy and I had a long talk about the risks and the benefits, we scrapped the Milan leg of the trip, but we opted to go ski. In Italy.
Naturally, probably about the time we were checking our bags, the CDC raised the travel advisory to level 3 (avoid nonessential travel). But by this time, essential or not, we were committed. We flew into Frankfurt. Google said we were 7 hours from Cogne in our rental car, but after 5 hours on the rainy, crash strewn autobahn we were still 4 hours away, so we spent the night in Basel. The next day, after making our way through the Great Saint Bernard tunnel into the Aosta valley, we passed a large banner celebrating the upcoming Masters World Cup as we came to the lovely village of Cogne.
Poster for the Masters World Cup in Cogne
We had an amazing few days in Cogne. The weather was favorable, the skiing was great, and the food was tasty. We stayed at the Bellevue Hotel and Spa in a room with views from Monteparadiso all the way up and down the valley. And the people of Cogne, despite facing economic hardships from the cancellation of the World Cup and uncertain spread of the virus, were absolutely beautiful, going out of their way to take care of us.
From Cogne, we could ski to the villages of Epinel, Valnontey and Lillaz. We skied up the Val Ferret, with Mount Blanc peeking over our shoulder, and had coffee and torte at the Hotel Lavachey.
Nancy skiing near Valnontey with Monte Paradiso in the background
Nancy and I skiing Val Ferret with Mont Blanc behind us
But every day a bit more of Italy closed down, on Monday they shut down the hotels in the Aosta Valley and on Tuesday they closed the borders entirely.
We managed to get through the Mont Blanc tunnel to France without incident and spent 3 days in Chamonix. Our last morning in Chamonix, we read about the ban of travel from Europe to the States starting at midnight on Friday the 13th. We were scheduled to fly out of Frankfurt on the 14th. I called our airline representative to see if we could get on an earlier flight. She kindly laughed at me. While we had been sleeping, all of those seats had filled. But she did say that our flight had not been cancelled. Yet. So we went skiing. And then we drove to Frankfurt.
I must admit I wasn’t holding out much hope when we woke up in Frankfurt on the 14th. The flight departure board at our airport hotel showed pretty much only cancelled flights, from every major carrier.
Fortunately, I had purchased our tickets on the discount airline Condor, which appeared to be the only airline flying to the US this day. And so we made it home. We passed through the cordon of folks in hazmat suits without requiring any special probing and were able to catch a flight to Bend.
Where we are now in a self imposed 2-week quarantine per CDC recommendations for all travelers returning from Europe. Fortunately for us, we have enough toilet paper and frozen burritos to make it through, and we live in a pretty nice place to be quarantined in.
Thankfulness note: I give thanks that we have a place to live and food to eat.
Every morning we walk in the woods with our dogs. And I’ve been able to run the back roads and bike my garage (it’s been a little chilly to ride outside, although the weather is turning for the better) while still maintaining appropriate social distancing. I have been trying to adjust my training and diet to keep my immunity at its optimal levels.
Podium Runner article on training and your immune system
I am feeling guilty about not being able to go back to work. My colleagues have been on the front lines as the pandemic comes to Central Oregon and some of them are working extra shifts in the emergency department this week because of a decision I thought I was making solely on my own behalf. And already it appears that our hospitals, along with most others, are running short of the equipment necessary to protect them and keep them healthy. My heart goes out to them. But I will be back there next week. Probably on the day that the masks run out.
Week 1
Wow. What a crazy ride this last few weeks has been. I must admit that, at the beginning of March, the magnitude of the coronavirus infection had not fully sunken in. Which, as a medical professional, is embarrassing to admit. Apparently, however, I was not the only one. We’ve known that sooner or later, another pandemic respiratory virus was coming. And, now that it is here, it looks like we are not ready for it.
My little part in this story (as it unfolds):
As I may have mentioned, I was scheduled to race in the Masters World Cup Cross Country Ski races in Cogne, Italy this month. The races were canceled at the last moment, and we were left with the decision to cancel the trip entirely or go ski in the Italian Alps. We had been closely monitoring the epidemic in Northern Italy: there were no cases in the Aosta Valley, and the CDC travel advisory for Italy was still at level 2 (travel, take precautions). Nancy and I had a long talk about the risks and the benefits, we scrapped the Milan leg of the trip, but we opted to go ski. In Italy.
Naturally, probably about the time we were checking our bags, the CDC raised the travel advisory to level 3 (avoid nonessential travel). But by this time, essential or not, we were committed. We flew into Frankfurt. Google said we were 7 hours from Cogne in our rental car, but after 5 hours on the rainy, crash strewn autobahn we were still 4 hours away, so we spent the night in Basel. The next day, after making our way through the Great Saint Bernard tunnel into the Aosta valley, we passed a large banner celebrating the upcoming Masters World Cup as we came to the lovely village of Cogne.
Poster for the Masters World Cup in Cogne
We had an amazing few days in Cogne. The weather was favorable, the skiing was great, and the food was tasty. We stayed at the Bellevue Hotel and Spa in a room with views from Monteparadiso all the way up and down the valley. And the people of Cogne, despite facing economic hardships from the cancellation of the World Cup and uncertain spread of the virus, were absolutely beautiful, going out of their way to take care of us.
From Cogne, we could ski to the villages of Epinel, Valnontey and Lillaz. We skied up the Val Ferret, with Mount Blanc peeking over our shoulder, and had coffee and torte at the Hotel Lavachey.
Nancy skiing near Valnontey with Monte Paradiso in the background
Nancy and I skiing Val Ferret with Mont Blanc behind us
But every day a bit more of Italy closed down, on Monday they shut down the hotels in the Aosta Valley and on Tuesday they closed the borders entirely.
We managed to get through the Mont Blanc tunnel to France without incident and spent 3 days in Chamonix. Our last morning in Chamonix, we read about the ban of travel from Europe to the States starting at midnight on Friday the 13th. We were scheduled to fly out of Frankfurt on the 14th. I called our airline representative to see if we could get on an earlier flight. She kindly laughed at me. While we had been sleeping, all of those seats had filled. But she did say that our flight had not been cancelled. Yet. So we went skiing. And then we drove to Frankfurt.
I must admit I wasn’t holding out much hope when we woke up in Frankfurt on the 14th. The flight departure board at our airport hotel showed pretty much only cancelled flights, from every major carrier.
Fortunately, I had purchased our tickets on the discount airline Condor, which appeared to be the only airline flying to the US this day. And so we made it home. We passed through the cordon of folks in hazmat suits without requiring any special probing and were able to catch a flight to Bend.
Where we are now in a self imposed 2-week quarantine per CDC recommendations for all travelers returning from Europe. Fortunately for us, we have enough toilet paper and frozen burritos to make it through, and we live in a pretty nice place to be quarantined in.
Thankfulness note: I give thanks that we have a place to live and food to eat.
Every morning we walk in the woods with our dogs. And I’ve been able to run the back roads and bike my garage (it’s been a little chilly to ride outside, although the weather is turning for the better) while still maintaining appropriate social distancing. I have been trying to adjust my training and diet to keep my immunity at its optimal levels.
Podium Runner article on training and your immune system
I am feeling guilty about not being able to go back to work. My colleagues have been on the front lines as the pandemic comes to Central Oregon and some of them are working extra shifts in the emergency department this week because of a decision I thought I was making solely on my own behalf. And already it appears that our hospitals, along with most others, are running short of the equipment necessary to protect them and keep them healthy. My heart goes out to them. But I will be back there next week. Probably on the day that the masks run out.
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