My effort to make the math as simple as possible has clearly fallen short. I need to back away from this thread to regain my peace of mind. If you need help with the math, please ask someone else if you haven't already gotten the answers you need.
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Here's TMI to explain --
There were 3 cases of corona virus officially diagnosed yesterday in my small rural Iowa town of 2000 people. The cases are members of a tight-knit, very conservative religious community of several hundred people who mostly live in town.
A large number of people in this religious community go to one large church, so many of these people have probably been exposed to the covid virus for some days now. It's highly likely the number of cases of covid illness will explode in town.
We've all been kind of waiting for this to happen, but it's one thing to see a possibility and it's another thing to learn the possibility has become a reality.
My husband has an office in town, and he sees a lot of people every day, including folks from this religious community, especially now that tax time is here. In the past few work days, he has started to limit his physical contact with people, but I'm worried it's maybe too little too late, especially for a man prone to getting a bad case of respiratory illness during most tax seasons, even in the best of years.
People are contagious with covid before they show any symptoms, so my husband and the others in his office (and the local health clinic, school, businesses, etc., etc.) could have easily been exposed to the virus during the past week or two.
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I'm working hard at not borrowing trouble before it happens, but I have to say this has gotten real personal for me real fast. I am not asking for anyone's advice or prayers -- I'm asking instead for people to use a tiny extra dose of kindness and tact when asking questions and making comments.
Everyone is dealing with their own fears, their own personal issues, and their own individual realities right now. I am certainly not at my best at the moment, so I'm trying hard to keep my comments here as factual and inoffensive as possible. If I don't give a direct reply to a direct question, I apologize in advance -- silence may be the best answer I may be able to give at the moment.