kmkat & her kneedles

I got a call yesterday from our township clerk asking if I was still available to be a poll worker in the upcoming April 7 election*. I was hesitant but finally agreed to work. I asked about the disinfectant procedures she plans to have, but I was less than impressed by her answers. Maybe she was feeling pressured to get the polls staffed rather than being nonchalant about spreading the virus; I hope that is the case.

The more I think about it, though, I become less and less confident that it would be okay. There are still no cases of coronavirus in our county nor in the counties to the west and east (advantage of living in a relatively sparse area) and only 4 cases in the county to the south. But it is only a matter of time until Polk County gets infected, or, probably more accurately, cases are diagnosed.

In this morning’s news sweep I read about a man in his 50s whose only underlying condition was high blood pressure. He died from the virus. Smokey and I have multiple underlying medical conditions, he more than I, and why take the chance?

I think I will call her back and quiz her some more.

Edited to add: I just made the call to decline to work. Listening to that inner voice that said it was too dangerous.

Ways to help — an off-the-top of my head list:

• Donate to your local food shelf.
• Donate to your local Salvation Army.
• File your taxes now instead of waiting until July. States will need that April revenue bump to keep doing what they need to do during this crisis, and sales tax receipts are way down.s?
• Keep checking in with friends, particularly those who may be at higher risk.

Have you seen news coverage about Elmhurst Hospital in Queens? Elder Son did rotations there during medical school. I remember him telling us that the area surrounding the hospital was the ethnically diverse square mile in the US (maybe the world?).

How about a video of some sheep?

Take a roller coaster ride down a Swiss mountain.

Nextdoor, the social network known for sniping neighbors and obsessive concern about package theft, is helping neighbors be neighborly during this pandemic.

Not all the elderly are dying.

“More than half a million people responded to the UK government’s call to become a volunteer for the National Health Service.”

3-D printers to the rescue!

Cautious optimism mixed with dread in Washington state.

Protecting and empowering your family during the crisis.

A St Paul neighborhood exercises together every day.

Let’s end on another high note, ‘kay?

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* In Wisconsin the spring election is when we elect people to *non-partisan* offices — state supreme court, county board of supervisors, school boards, city, village, and township offices. While those races may have been non-partisan back in the day, that is no longer the case. Now candidates are fully identified as conservative or liberal, although there is no party designation. Some candidates go so far as to refuse help from political parties, trying to maintain the illusion of non-partisanship. That is not necessarily a good course of action, given 2019’s supreme court race, where the liberal candidate distanced herself from any party beginning with D… and she lost.

This gave me chills.

From a daily regional newsletter:

“This is the first day of Wisconsin being under a shelter in place order. Restriction of movement like this is one of the big guns that has to be used in a pandemic. Think of it as a real life appearance in a low-grade slasher movie and being told there’s a killer on the other side of the door, so just sit tight for awhile and don’t make things worse.

“And yet, just like every other low-grade slasher movie, there’s always the one guy who says after 10 minutes, “I can’t take it anymore,” opens the door and runs outside, exposing more people to danger.

“This time around, that one guy lives in a nice white house where sheltering in place should be easy. He can tweet to his heart’s content from the Lincoln Bedroom rather than cram 10 people around a podium as a contagion rages silently from host to host.

“The lesson here is don’t be the freaked out guy in the low-grade slasher movie. Be the hero… by merely sitting on your tuchus and binge watching a few things… right after we check the headlines… which include an overnight deal to provide help to Americans and the business world.”

“Bill Gates — who now leads a global health foundation — rebuked Trump’s approach in an interview: ‘There really is no middle ground, and it’s very tough to say to people,“Hey, keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner.” ‘ ”

Got kids that are going stir-crazy? Here is some help from Minnesota Public Radio.

Our days here at Chez Kat™ are not significantly different than before except that I have more time — no in-person meetings, no annual dinner to help plan, fewer Zoom meetings and webinars.

Last week when shit got serious I found myself reading and knitting during the day — for years I only read in bed at night and I only knit while watching TV in the evening. Those were big changes for me, made at a time when everything in the world seemed crazy. But I have since reverted to my previous habits after the crazy became the new normal.

I might even get some long-postponed projects done, like cleaning and organizing my home office. That process has started. I emptied out a pile of boxes — hello Goodwill! —  and used the space for a 2-drawer filing cabinet. Next is to move out the printer stand beside the new file cabinet and replace it with two more cabinets like the first one. Those have been sitting empty for ::counts on fingers:: at least ten years. Smokey had plans for them that never came to fruition. The printer stand will go into the laundry/craft room to replace the third filing cabinet that currently has the little beverage refrigerator on it. Having the three filing cabinets in my office will allow me to empty and remove the five (5!) plastic file totes currently occupying a large portion of the floor. They are past treasurer files for the congressional district Dems, the county Dems, and M, who ran for the our seat in Congress in 2018. There is also a rolling file rack that has this year’s congressional and county Dems treasurer files, plus treasurer files for the Friends of the Library. (I resigned from the library board of trustees and the Friends last month; finally admitted that I was over-committed and needed to back away from something. So those FotL files will go away… just as soon as the #saferathome statewide order is suspended, and the new treasurer and I can go to the bank.)

Once the office is reconfigured I will make an effort to clear at least part of my desk so I can do our taxes. There is a pile of knitting 🧶 books that I weeded from my collection that I plan to sell — cheaply! — on the blog and on Instagram. Stay tuned.

I am kind of excited about this project. It fits with what the counselors and shrinks are saying: find a project that interests you — learn a new language, paint your kitchen, organize your garage — and use this time to accomplish it. It’s good for one’s mental health!

And now I shall do some laundry. I haven’t actually caught up completely since I was sick back in mid-February…

There is some good news.

How soap works to *kill* viruses.

… not to mention that the guy on the right is losing $400+k in revenue every day from his should-have-been-divested golf resorts, hotels, and restaurants. (source: Washington Post article I read yesterday) Think that has any effect on his decision-making?

Coronavirus blather in bullet point form.

• Find out the point of no-return for intervention to prevent hospital overload in your state. Sadly, that date has passed for New York and Washington states.
• Younger Son continues to FaceTime us.
• The virus has not been diagnosed yet in my county nor in two of the neighboring counties.
• The county immediately to the south of us, home to many who commute to the Twin Cities, has 2 confirmed cases.
• Four ways to help prevent loneliness while you are social distancing.
• Lots of links to patterns and video tutorials on how to make a face mask.

In the words of Red Green, “Remember, I’m pulling for ya. We’re all in this together!

Some terms get tossed around a lot these days. I thought I would get some definitions.

Essential services.

From Huffpost, 3/20/20:

“But what is considered an essential job or service? Here at HuffPost, we’ve been asked about laundromats (yes) and hardware stores (yes). Although the list may vary according to local concerns and the nature of a given event, disaster or pandemic, here is a general idea of what’s considered “essential” in emergencies, according to various governments, including San Francisco,  Miami, New York state and Miami-Dade County:

• • Gas stations, auto supply stores, auto repair shops and related facilities
  • Pharmacies
  • Grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks and convenience stores
  • Liquor stores
  • Restaurants (only for delivery, takeout and drive-thru)
  • Hardware stores and plumbers
  • Contractors and other tradesmen, appliance repair personnel
  • Exterminators and other service providers
  • Landscape and pool care businesses, including residential landscape and pool care (Kat™ note: Srsly?)
  • Construction sites and engineering and architecture firms
  • Banks and related financial institutions including insurance and accounting services
  • Phone and computer sellers
  • Community benefit organizations on a case-by-case basis
  • Laundromats, dry cleaners and laundry service providers
  • Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics and healthcare operations including research and laboratory services, medical wholesale and distribution, and dentists
  • Businesses that provide shelter and/or social services
  • Newspapers, television, radio and other media outlets
  • Businesses offering mailing and shipping services, including post office boxes
  • Airlines, taxis and other private transportation providers
  • Home-based care for seniors, adults or children
  • Assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers and senior facilities
  • Pet supply stores
  • Veterinary offices
  • Police stations
  • Fire stations
  • Building code enforcement
  • Jails
  • Courts
  • Garbage/sanitation and recycling services
  • Public transportation (Muni, BART, subways)
  • Utilities (water, power and gas, telecommunications)
  • Certain city, county, state and federal offices
  • Funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries
  • Maintenance staff, cleaners, janitors and doormen
  • Manufacturing including food processing, chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, paper products, safety and sanitary products”

Watching Trevor Noah’s Daily Social Distancing Show on IG I learned of another essential business that can remain open: marijuana dispensaries. Sadly, they are not legal in WI so I cannot partake, but perhaps some of you can.

“Underlying health conditions”

From nbcnewyork.com, 3/18/20:

“Aside from just older adults overall, the CDC says those who suffer from “serious chronic medical conditions” are at higher risk of getting very sick, hospitalized or even dying from coronavirus. Examples of those conditions include heart disease, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure) and lung disease.

“Heart disease and lung disease are general umbrella terms used to describe different maladies that could effect those organs, according to the Mayo Clinic. Heart or cardiovascular disease could include things like arrhythmias, congenital heart defects, or anything that involves narrowed or blocked blood vessels. The latter conditions can lead to heart attacks, chest pains or strokes.

“Similarly, lung disease refers a variety of illness that could plague the lungs over long periods of time, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis or pulmonary edema, among others.

“The coronavirus is not unique in seriously effecting those who have any of those conditions, according to the Mayo Clinic. People with those conditoins will be impacted more severely by any respiratory illness, like influenza.

“The reason why older adults overall — not just those with the other conditions — have a tougher time with coronavirus is simpler: their immune systems are not as strong as younger people’s. But anyone whose immune system may be weakened or compromised (such as those going through cancer treatments or with autoimmune diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, HIV, inflammatory bowel disease) are also at an increased risk.”

This has been a public service announcement from your local Kat™.

Elder Son called tonight. Among other things he told us he has a new routine when he comes home from work at the hospital. He calls his partner to say he is leaving, and she opens their garage door so he doesn’t have to touch the doorknob when he gets home. He undresses and puts all his clothes in a plastic tub in the garage, then goes straight to the bathroom and takes a shower. When the garage tub gets full ES washes the clothes so she never has to touch them. Prevention!

He was originally scheduled to attend training on something or other in Florida this week, so he had no patients or clinic shifts scheduled. When that training was cancelled because of the pandemic, he suggested to his medical director that perhaps he could spend the time reading medical journal articles on the virus and summarize them for the staff. So he is extremely well-read on the subject right now. Research has always been his forte.

He talked about the situation at the Zuni hospital where he works. There are 43 cases in New Mexico, mostly in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas. There are none confirmed at Zuni, but they have tested five people and are waiting for results. Also, a few weeks ago one of the docs took it upon himself to look at the readiness of their ER. He inventoried their practices and equipment and spent a week at an ER in Albuquerque to observe. His efforts uncovered three ventilators at the Zuni hospital in addition to the one everyone knew about and improved the general procedures. Way to go!

Younger Son has been sheltering in place all week in Minneapolis, and I think he needed some non-physical socializing, so he FaceTime-d me later in the evening. I may be a bit of a geek, but somehow I had never used FT. It was great! We chatted for well over an hour. It was pretty much exactly like sitting around the kitchen table. If you and your friend/relative both have Apple devices, I highly recommend it, particular in these days of isolation.