My son Zac called me yesterday afternoon to say that he was self-isolating. A friend from work was sick now from Corona-like symptoms.

I have known this particular friend, by the way, since he was in middle school and a friend of my younger son, Jacob. He lived in our neighborhood, and the boys of course rode the same school bus.

Self-isolating will pose some challenge for Zac’s family. They live in a small apartment with only one bathroom – a family of five already squeezed to their limits. How to do this without infecting the entire family is something they’ll simply have to figure out. Moving him — or the rest of the family — to a hotel is a financial burden they’re reluctant to take on.

To make matters worse, his son Jaxon, my grandson, has fairly severe asthma that has hospitalized him a number of times in his twelve years. This is a child who once was transported from a school field trip by ambulance to a local emergency ward.

We aren’t entirely sure what this will mean for our family. These are challenges faced by families much like us all over our country — no, all over the world. How do we do this? It’s uncharted territory.