All parks in Sonoma County were closed to the public beginning first thing Tuesday morning until further notice, another extraordinary step to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic that has the entire region on edge.
The order includes all city, county, state and federal parks, as well as parks on school grounds and beaches. Paved, multiuse pathways outside park boundaries in Sonoma County will remain open, as will a few regional trails such as the Joe Rodota Trail and the West County Trail. Bicycles and horses will be prohibited on them.
The move by the county’s top public health official comes after crowds flocked to Sonoma and Marin county beaches over the weekend, leading to overflowing parking lots and packed stretches of sand. People at the beach flouting the countywide directive last week for people to mainly stay indoors and close to home didn’t sit well with county officials. Many at the beach didn’t comply with the recommended social distance of 6 feet from one another, a key tactic to lower the risk of catching or spreading the deadly virus.
Yuanyuan Zhu was walking to her gym in San Francisco on March 9, thinking the workout could be her last for a while, when she noticed that a man was shouting at her. He was yelling an expletive about China. Then a bus passed, she recalled, and he screamed after it, “Run them over.”
She tried to keep her distance, but when the light changed, she was stuck waiting with him at the crosswalk. She could feel him staring at her. And then, suddenly, she felt it: his saliva hitting her face and her favorite sweater.
In shock, Zhu, who is 26 and moved to the United States from China five years ago, hurried the rest of the way to the gym. She found a corner where no one could see her, and she cried quietly.
“That person didn’t look strange or angry or anything, you know?” she said of her tormentor. “He just looked like a normal person.”
As the coronavirus upends American life, Chinese Americans face a double threat. Not only are they grappling like everyone else with how to avoid the virus itself, they are also contending with growing racism in the form of verbal and physical attacks. Other Asian Americans — with families from Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar and other places — are facing threats, too, lumped together with Chinese Americans by a bigotry that does not know the difference.
In interviews over the past week, nearly two dozen Asian Americans across the country said they were afraid — to go grocery shopping, to travel alone on subways or buses, to let their children go outside. Many described being yelled at in public — a sudden spasm of hate that is reminiscent of the kind faced by Muslim Americans after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But unlike 2001, when President George W. Bush urged tolerance of Muslim Americans, this time President Donald Trump is using language that Asian Americans say is inciting racist attacks.
Trump and his Republican allies are intent on calling the coronavirus “the Chinese virus,” rejecting the World Health Organization’s guidance against using geographic locations when naming illnesses, since past names have provoked a backlash.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he was calling the virus “Chinese” to combat a disinformation campaign by Beijing officials saying the U.S. military was the source of the outbreak. He dismissed concerns that his language would lead to any harm.
“If they keep using these terms, the kids are going to pick it up,” said Tony Du, an epidemiologist in Howard County, Maryland, who fears for his son, Larry, 8. “They are going to call my 8-year-old son a Chinese virus. It’s serious.”
Du said he posted on Facebook that “this is the darkest day in my 20-plus years of life in the United States,” referring to Trump’s doubling down on use of the term.
While no firm numbers exist yet, Asian American advocacy groups and researchers say there has been a surge of verbal and physical assaults reported in newspapers and to tip lines.
San Francisco State University found a 50% rise in the number of news articles related to the coronavirus and anti-Asian discrimination between Feb. 9 and March 7. The lead researcher, Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies, said the figures represented “just the tip of the iceberg” because only the most egregious cases that would be likely to be reported by the media.
Jeung has helped set up a website in six Asian languages, to gather firsthand accounts; some 150 cases have been reported on the site since it started last Thursday.
Benny Luo, founder and chief executive of NextShark, a website focused on Asian American news, said the site used to get a few tips a day. Now it is dozens.
“We’ve never received this many news tips about racism against Asians,” he said. “It’s crazy. My staff is pulling double duty just to keep up.” He said he was hiring two more people to help.
No one is immune to being targeted. Dr. Edward Chew, head of the emergency department at a large Manhattan hospital, is on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus. He said that over the past few weeks, he has noticed people trying to cover their nose and mouth with their shirts when they are near him.
Chew has been using his free time to buy protective gear, like goggles and face shields, for his staff, in case his hospital runs out. On Wednesday night at a Home Depot, with his cart filled with face shields, masks and Tyvek suits, he said he was harassed by three men in their 20s, who then followed him out into the parking lot.
“I heard of other Asians being assaulted over this, but when you are actually ridiculed yourself, you really feel it,” he said the following day.
A writer for The New Yorker, Jiayang Fan, said she was taking out her trash last week when a man walking by began cursing at her for being Chinese.
“I’ve never felt like this in my 27 years in this country,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “I’ve never felt afraid to leave my home to take out the trash because of my face.”
Attacks have also gotten physical.
In the San Fernando Valley in California, a 16-year old Asian American boy was attacked in school by bullies who accused him of having the coronavirus. He was sent to the emergency room to see whether he had suffered a concussion.
In New York City a woman wearing a mask was kicked and punched in a Manhattan subway station, and a man in Queens was followed to a bus stop, shouted at and then hit over the head in front of his 10-year-old son.
People have rushed to protect themselves. One man started a buddy-system Facebook group for Asians in New York who are afraid to take the subway by themselves. Gun shop owners in the Washington, D.C., area said they were seeing a surge of first-time Chinese American buyers.
At Engage Armament in Rockville, Maryland, most gun buyers in the first two weeks of March have been Chinese American or Chinese, according to the owner, Andy Raymond.
More than a fifth of Rockville’s residents are of Asian ethnicity, and Raymond said buyers from Korean and Vietnamese backgrounds were not unusual. But Raymond said he was stunned by the flow of Chinese customers — in particular green-card holders from mainland China — that began earlier this month, a group that rarely patronized his shop before.
“It was just nonstop, something I’ve never seen,” he said.
Raymond said that few of the Asian customers wanted to talk about why they were there, but when one of his employees asked a woman about it, she teared up. “To protect my daughter,” she replied.
For recent immigrants like Du who are in close touch with friends and family in China, the virus has been a screaming danger for weeks that most Americans seemed oblivious to.
Du is trying to remain hopeful. He spends his weekends training to become a volunteer with Maryland’s emergency medical workers. He is part of a group of Chinese American scientists who organized a GoFundMe account to raise money for protective gear for hospital workers in the area. In three days, they raised more than $55,000, nearly all in small donations.
But he said he was afraid of the chaos that could be unleashed if the U.S. death toll rises significantly.
Already a gun owner, Du, 48, said he was in the process of buying an AR-15 style rifle.
“Katrina is not far away,” he said, alluding to the unrest in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “And when all these bad things come, I am a minority. People can see my face is Chinese clearly. My son, when he goes out, they will know his parents are Chinese.”
For American-born Asians, there is a sudden sense of being watched that is as unsettling as it is unfamiliar.
“It’s a look of disdain,” said Chil Kong, a Korean American theater director in Maryland. “It’s just: ‘How dare you exist in my world? You are a reminder of this disease, and you don’t belong in my world.’ ”
He added: “It’s especially hard when you grow up here and expect this world to be yours equally. But we do not live in that world anymore. That world does not exist.”
One debate among Asian Americans has been over whether to wear a mask in public. Wearing one risks drawing unwanted attention; but not wearing one does, too. Zhu said her parents, who live in China, offered to ship her some.
“I’m like, ‘Oh please, don’t,’ ” she said. She said she was afraid of getting physically attacked if she wore one. “Lots of my friends, their social media posts are all about this: We don’t wear masks. It’s kind of more dangerous than the virus.”
A 30-year-old videographer in Syracuse said he was still shaken from a trip to the grocery store Monday, when the man ahead of him in the checkout line shouted at him, “It’s you people who brought the disease,” and other customers just stared at him, without offering to help. That same day, he said, two different couples verbally abused him at Costco.
“I feel like I’m being invaded by this hatred,” said the man, Edward, who asked that his last name not be used because he feared attracting more attention. “It’s everywhere. It’s silent. It’s as deadly as this disease.”
He said he had tried to hide the details of what happened from his mother, who moved to the United States from China in the 1970s. But there was one thing he did tell her.
“I told her, whatever you do, you can’t go shopping,” he said. “She needed to know there’s a problem, and we can’t act like it’s normal anymore.”
Advocates along the Mexico-U.S. border say they are increasingly concerned about the coronavirus’ impact on migrants.
Jaime Antonio Marin Rocha and his mother, Yolanda Rocha, run Jardín de las Mariposas, a shelter for LGBTQ migrants in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Marin told the Washington Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview from Tijuana the shelter has implemented new personal hygiene procedures. Marin said the shelter currently has enough cleaning supplies, “but we don’t have anything that would be for long-term like four months or six months if we have to self-isolate ourselves.”
Marin also said 90 percent of the shelter’s residents have an underlying medical condition that makes them more vulnerable to coronavirus.
“If they were to get this disease, they would basically be more at-risk,” he told the Blade. “That’s why I want to see if we can take any actions to create a preparedness plan so we can have a response in time.”
Upwards of 2,000 migrants live in a camp in the Mexican city of Matamoros, which is across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. Many of the camp’s residents have been forced to return to Mexico under the Trump administration’s controversial “remain in Mexico” policy and await the outcome of their U.S. asylum cases.
Resource Center Matamoros, co-founded by Gaby Zavala, was the first group to bring clean drinking water into the camp. Resource Center Matamoros, among other things, has also installed hand washing stations and launched a campaign that promotes personal hygiene among the camp’s residents.
Zavala spoke with the Blade from Matamoros shortly after the Trump administration announced the U.S.-Mexico border will remain closed for 30 days after its closure at midnight on Saturday.
Zavala noted Resource Center Matamoros and Global Response Management are the only two organizations that are currently working on the Mexican side of the river because all other non-governmental organizations have pulled their staff out of the city. Zavala told the Blade that groups in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley continue to donate money and make donations to them.
Global Response Management is building a field hospital in the camp that Zavala said is scheduled to open in a couple of weeks. She said Global Response Management is also responding to suspected coronavirus cases.
Zavala said Resource Center Matamoros is working to quarantine camp residents who are suspected to have the disease in local hotels. Zavala told the Blade she first drives to the hotel personal vehicle and then hires a private taxi to drive the person there “so we can avoid contact.”
Zavala said Resource Center Matamoros reached out to a woman with HIV who lives in the camp and asked her if she wanted to self-quarantine in a hotel. Zavala said the woman, who did not have any coronavirus symptoms, decided to isolate herself in the camp.
Zavala also said lawyers who represent migrants are no longer working from Resource Center Matamoros’ offices, but the organization continues to serve those with “immediate court dates” through a video doorbell system. Zavala said migrants are then able to send necessary documents to them via WhatsApp.
Zavala said on Friday there were two in-person “psychological interviews” that were scheduled months earlier. She told the Blade they washed their hands before entering the office and it was disinfected afterwards.
Global Response Management staffers are also sleeping in Resource Center Matamoros’ offices.
“Resource Center in general is closed,” said Zavala, noting Resource Center Matamoros staffers who distribute tents and supplies remain in the camp. “We’re trying to quarantine as much as we can, so there’s only a few staff that go in and out.”
The Organization for Refugee, Asylum and Migration has also launched a campaign to specifically help LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees along the Mexico-U.S. border and in Kenya during the pandemic.
Coronavirus preparations in Tijuana ‘minimal’
The Mexican government has confirmed two coronavirus cases in Tamaulipas state in which Matamoros is located, and another four in Baja California state in which Tijuana is located.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday posted a video onto his Twitter page that shows him practicing social distancing, but both Zavala and Marin said the Mexican government’s response to coronavirus has not been as robust as that of the U.S.
“San Diego is doing an excellent job in protecting their citizens and taking the appropriate measures to keep them safe,” Marin told the Blade, noting San Diego is roughly 20 miles north of Tijuana. “It’s not as though they’re not doing anything (in Tijuana), but what they’re doing is very minimal.”
Marin said many bars in Tijuana were open on Thursday. He also said there is a lack of information from officials about coronavirus in the local media.
The Blade on Feb. 28 saw an electronic billboard on the Mexican side of the San Ysidro Port of Entry with coronavirus information. There was no such advisory on the U.S. side of the border.
“We’re never going to know and all of a sudden we’re going to have a lot of people sick,” said Marin.
Zavala told the Blade the Matamoros camp “is still running as is,” but many of the migrants who live there are “staying in.” Zavala said Resource Center Matamoros has added 30 more handwashing stations in the camp and distributed soap and masks.
“They’re washing hands,” she said. “Kids are washing hands.”
“The education part, we’ve done a really good job,” added Zavala. “We’re just trying to keep everything sort of the same so that we don’t cause ripple effects that will be more disastrous later.”
Undocumented immigrants prohibited from entering U.S.
The Trump administration on Friday also announced the U.S. as of midnight Saturday will not allow undocumented immigrants to enter the country from either Mexico or Canada.
Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters during the White House’s daily coronavirus briefing his department apprehends people from more than 120 countries around the world. Wolf noted “the vast majority” of these nations have coronavirus cases.
“Many of these individuals arrive with little or no identity, travel or medical documentation, making public health risk determinations all but impossible,” said Wolf. “It’s also important to note that the southern border would likely increase the strain on health systems in our border communities, taking away important and life-saving resources away from American citizens.”
Immigrant rights groups condemned the announcement.
“It’s hard to imagine travel more essential than the journey an asylum-seeker makes to flee persecution,” said Charanya Krishnaswami, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, in a statement. “Yet today’s restrictions, which empower the U.S. to push back people who lack proper documentation, may inexcusably prevent asylum-seekers and unaccompanied children — two of the populations at greatest risk of danger — from accessing safety.”
ICE on Wednesday announced it will “focus enforcement on public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds” during the coronavirus. The statement that detailed the new policy directive made no mention of detention centers or detainees.
ICE has suspended visitation at all detention centers. Its website also notes “the health, welfare and safety of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees is one of the agency’s highest priorities.”
“Since the onset of reports of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), ICE epidemiologists have been tracking the outbreak, regularly updating infection prevention and control protocols, and issuing guidance to ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) staff for the screening and management of potential exposure among detainees,” it reads.
“ICE continues to incorporate CDC’s COVID-19 guidance, which is built upon the already established infectious disease monitoring and management protocols currently in use by the agency,” adds the website. “In addition, ICE is actively working with state and local health partners to determine if any detainee requires additional testing or monitoring to combat the spread of the virus.”
A guard at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey — which houses ICE detainees — tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office told a local newspaper that none of the 250 ICE detainees who are currently at the facility were exposed to the disease.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project earlier this week filed a federal lawsuit that calls for ICE to release detainees who are at high-risk for coronavirus. U.S. District Court Judge James Robart on Thursday ruled against them.
“The COVID-19 crisis lays bare our failure to treat migrants with human decency and dignity,” said Laura Rivera, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, in a statement. “The Trump administration and its enforcement agencies have been indifferent to the death and suffering of immigrants both at the border and in its cages set up across the country. The pandemic exacerbates this cruel indifference, and unless we swiftly change course, more will die than could be prevented.”
“These deaths will be on government hands,” added Rivera.
Richard Weber Jr, an attorney who dedicated his life to fighting for LGBT+ community, has died of coronavirus complications shortly after reassuring colleagues that he was improving.
The lawyer, 57, was a member of the LGBT Bar Association of New York, or LeGal, and a partner at the law firm Gallo Vitucci Klar.
He specialised in false arrest claims and helped spearhead the LGBT+ community in New Jersey. He undertook many cases pro bono and had volunteered and fundraised for LeGaL’s free weekly legal clinic for the past seven years.
Speaking to the New York Daily News, LeGal executive director Eric Lesh described Weber’s death as “devastating”.
“He reached out by email so that folks wouldn’t worry. He reached out to me and the president of the bar association, letting us know what happened and saying it was the sickest he’d ever been, but that he was on the mend,” Lesh said.
“He’d just liked some innocuous things I posted on social media. He was engaging and thought he was on the mend.
“He was a loving, kind and caring human being who gave generously of his legal talents and his energy to the LGBTQ community,” he said.
Lesh added to the New York Postthat his colleague was “just a wonderful human being with a real dedication to giving back to others”.
Richard Weber Jr began experiencing coronavirus symptoms around two weeks ago and disclosed his symptoms to his law firm on March 10, after which they closed their Manhattan office.
Sonoma County law enforcement agencies are prioritizing education over enforcement of the local shelter-in-place order issued last week, mirroring an approach adopted throughout the state as communities learn to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.
The county shelter-in-place order, which began one day before a similar statewide mandate initiated Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, lasts through April 7. Public health officials instructed people to stay home unless they are engaging in essential activities, ranging from picking up groceries to seeking medical attention and exercising outdoors, provided they maintain a safe distance from others.
It prevents restaurants from serving customers on site, though allows them to order food for pickup, delivery or drive-thru service. Most businesses are required to suspend operations for three weeks, except for a lengthy list of essential enterprises such as hospitals and grocery stores, which are exempted from the requirement.
Those who fail to comply with the rules laid out in the order could face a maximum of 90 days behind bars, a fine up to $1,000, or both for a misdemeanor under a California Health and Safety Code section that penalizes people who ignore orders from health officers.
A separate state health and safety code gives local sheriff’s and police departments the authority to enforce health mandates. Local agencies are hoping to forgo that route and will instead urge individuals to comply with the order voluntarily, said Petaluma Police Chief Ken Savano, who also serves as the president of the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chiefs Association. The group of local leaders have discussed how to best unify their strategies and public messaging in response to the shelter-in-place order, Savano said.
“We want to provide clear communication and expectations and make sure that the community is informed,” Savano said.
The approach is being adopted by law enforcement agencies throughout the state as residents are told to stay home in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, said Ron Lawrence, president of the California Police Chiefs Association and chief of the Citrus Heights Police Department.
AIDS activist group Act Up NY has called out US president Donald Trump for repeatedly calling COVID-19 the “China virus”.
Trump has been repeatedly using the terms “Chinese virus” and “China virus” to describe the coronavirus, prompting many to accuse him of promoting racism against Asian communities during the pandemic.
On March 18, Trump posted on Twitter: “I always treated the Chinese virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the ‘borders’ from China – against the wishes of almost all.
“Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful and false!”
AIDS activism group Act Up NY responded: “We remember a time when HIV/AIDS was called ‘gay-related immune deficiency’ aka GRID and ‘gay cancer’.
“NEVER AGAIN will we let world leaders transfer blame to communities. Trust science over discrimination always.”
Trump was asked yesterday at a press conference why he continues to call coronavirus the “China virus” after many have described the term as racist.
The reporter asking the question said: “Why do you keep calling this the Chinese virus? There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans in this country.
“Your own aide, secretary Azar, says he does not use this term. He says ethnicity does not cause the virus. Why do you keep using this? A lot of people say it’s racist.”
Trump responded: “‘Cause it comes from China. It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate.”
She continued to press him while he attempted to interrupt her, but he eventually said: “I have great love for all of the people from our country, but as you know China tried to say at one point … that it was caused by American soldiers. That can’t happen. It’s not gonna happen, not as long as I’m president. It comes from China.”
A photo was even taken by a Washington Post photographer showing that in the US president’s briefing notes, he had crossed out “corona” and replaced itwith the word “Chinese”.
Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization health emergencies program, told CNN: “Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity or the colour of your skin or how much money you have in the bank. It’s really important that we be careful in the language we use.”
He added that this is “a time for solidarity. This is a time for facts. This is a time to move forward together.”
We the leadership of NBOP are deeply concerned about the impact of the outbreak and spread of COVID-19. Out of love and concern for our community, we make these recommendations rooted in our values for collective care and building grassroots power.
We are suspending all meetings and events. We will work remotely and organize virtual online meetings when needed to continue communication.
In order to protect every Sonoma County resident, many of whom are renters, immigrants, elders and wage workers with limited or no sick time, we demand that all cities and the Board of Supervisors pass the following set of policies immediately:
A moratorium on ALL evictions and rent increases for the duration of and recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Allocate relief funding for ALL who will be impacted economically by this virus. Adopting such measures will help ensure that residents can do their part to limit community spread by staying home when feeling sick and avoiding large gatherings, without fear of losing their housing, power and jobs as a result.
Prevent public and private utility shutoffs for the duration of and recovery from the outbreak, including electricity, gas, and other basic services like internet and cell service.
Stop ALL ICE detentions to ensure that undocumented people are safe in our community and are not discouraged from seeking treatment or testing.
Free testing and medical care to ALL residents.
Direct, honest and transparent communication, by the County of Sonoma and all Sonoma County Cities, to ALL residents in their preferred language in a timely manner without delays.
Dispatch medical teams to the jails to assess and treat patients.
County Officials must plan and implement housing and care for people without homes.
We send our love and care to each of you and will stay in touch. We have you in our hearts in every decision we make.
NBOP Leadership and Staff
P.S. for up to date information and directions for care of yourself, your family and your community, here are several links:
(See below for resources in Spanish) Español abajo
NBOP está profundamente preocupado por el impacto del brote y la propagación de COVID-19. Nuestras recomendaciones a continuación se basan en nuestros valores para la atención colectiva y la creación de poder comunitario.
Estamos suspendiendo todas nuestras reuniones y eventos y organizaremos reuniones virtuales en el internet cuando sea necesario para continuar la comunicación.
Para proteger a todos los residentes del Condado de Sonoma, muchos de los cuales son inquilinos, inmigrantes, personas de la tercera edad y trabajadores asalariados con tiempo de enfermedad limitado, exigimos que todas las ciudades y la Junta de Supervisores aprueben el siguiente conjunto de pólizas inmediatamente.
Un moratoria sobre TODOS los desalojos y aumentos de renta por la duración y recuperación de brote de COVID-19.
Asigne fondos de ayuda para TODOS los que se verán afectados económicamente por este virus. La adopción de estas medidas ayudará a garantizar que los residentes puedan hacer su parte para limitar la propagación de la comunidad al quedarse en casa cuando se sientan enfermos y evitar grandes reuniones, sin temor a perder su vivienda, electricidad y trabajó como resultado.
Prevenir cortes de servicios públicos y privados durante la duración y la recuperación del brote, incluidos la electricidad, el gas y otros servicios básicos como internet y servicio celular.
Parar TODAS las detenciones de la Migra para garantizar que las personas indocumentadas estén seguras en nuestra comunidad y no se desanime a buscar tratamiento o pruebas.
Pruebas gratuitas y atención médica para TODOS los residents.
Comunicación directa, honesta y transparente, por parte del Condado de Sonoma y todas las Ciudades del Condado, a TODOS los residents en su idioma preferido de manera oportuna y sin demoras.
Equipos médicos enviados a las cárceles para evaluar y tratar a los pacientes.
Funcionarios del condado debe planificar e implementar viviendas y cuidados para personas sin hogar.
Les enviamos amor y cuidado a cada uno de ustedes y nos mantendremos en contacto. Somos más grandes que el miedo y los tenemos en nuestros corazones en cada decisión que tomamos.
Liderazgx y organizadorxs de NBOP.
Para obtener información actualizada e instrucciones para su cuidado, el de su familia y su comunidad, aquí hay varios enlaces:
Respuestas a preguntas frecuentes de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS)
All Sonoma County Library locations are closed in compliance with the County of Sonoma Department of Health Services order to shelter in place and slow the spread of COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus).
While our branches are not open, our online library never closes. Sonoma County Library cardholders have access to our 24/7 digital library! Check out eBooks and eAudiobooks, movies, TV, and music on Hoopla, access the world’s largest digital newsstand with popular magazines through RBdigital, or browse the latest eAudiobook and eBook releases on OverDrive and the Libby app.
You can also find a comprehensive list of our digital resources on our website.
AS THE CORONAVIRUS continues its rapid spread internationally and across the U.S., many Americans are heeding public health advice from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention to prepare for the possibility of a lengthy home stay.
COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that first caused an outbreak in China in 2019 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, has rapidly infected people around the globe. Most vulnerable to the viral threat are Americans over age 60 and those with chronic disease, such as heart disease, diabetes and lung disease, according to the CDC. The agency has urged those individuals to “stay at home as much as possible.”
The coronavirus can cause symptoms ranging from cough to high fever and shortness of breath. And in some cases, it can be deadly, particularly in those populations most at risk.
So having what you need to remain at home for a longer period, possibly weeks, is important. That way you’ll be prepared, experts say, if you need to decrease contact and socialization – whether because you’re sick or trying to prevent illness if there’s an outbreak of coronavirus in your community. Rather than panicking and buying more than you need, it’s about being adequately stocked: “Just in case we need to shelter in place, or in case stores have limited supplies,” says Dr. David Mushatt, chief of adult infectious diseases at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
Here’s what experts suggest having on hand:
Any medications you’re taking – at least a month’s supply of prescriptions – as well as other self-care items you may need.
Enough food for two weeks – primarily non-perishables that won’t go bad while in storage. As needed, this includes baby food and formula for infants, as well as pet food.
A plan of action for dealing with the spread of COVID-19 in your local area.
Medications
While advice varies, it’s a good idea to have a month’s supply of any medications you’re taking. Also, keep handy any self-care supplies, including items needed to manage chronic disease like blood glucose test strips for diabetes.
“Check to make sure you have at least a 30-day supply of your prescription medications, and have other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes and vitamins,” advises Anthony Tornetta, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross.
Also, have a thermometer and medications to reduce fever, like acetaminophen or naproxen, suggests Bill Gentry, director of the community preparedness and disaster management program and an associate professor of health policy and management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Food for You, Your Family and Any Pets
First, if you hate black beans, don’t buy a dozen cans of them.
While the focus should be stocking up on things that won’t go bad in storage, such as soup and other canned food, make sure to get foods you like and are comfortable preparing, Gentry recommends.
“Non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items are the best to have on hand. These could be things already in your pantry, such as canned goods or snack bars that can last and be easily stored. If you have an infant, make sure to stock up on extra baby food and formula,” Tornetta adds. “Similarly, if you have pets, make sure to have extra pet food in your home, as well. The Red Cross recommends having a two-week supply of these food staples for every person in your household.”
To stock up on food strategically, you’ll want to do meal planning in overdrive. Gentry suggests meal planning for two meals a day considering two different scenarios. If you’re home self-quarantined, “less calories needed since you will be more stationary,” Gentry says. “When you are sick, rest is key, so two meals a day will keep your strength up and your body rested.”
If you’re sick with the coronavirus – or anything else, you’ll want to have soups, apple sauce, and easy to eat foods that are soothing and easily digestible on hand. That includes one to two cans of soup per person per day.
If you’re self-quarantined, you can eat more regular meals. You may supplement what you have in the pantry with food from your refrigerator (as still available) and the freezer. “My wife has made casseroles and froze them,” Gentry says, by way of an example. “We have five in the freezer that we can pop into the oven.”
You might also consider foods or drink you can’t do without. So if you prefer to always have milk on hand, you might purchase shelf-stable milk that’s been through ultra-high-temperature pasteurization, which isn’t refrigerated. You can keep this or another substitute, like powdered milk, in your pantry for longer storage.
It’s good to be prepared for any kind of disaster. But since coronavirus isn’t a hurricane or other natural disaster that has the potential to cut power, buying things like frozen veggies or ready to eat meals that can keep for a significant amount of time may be helpful too. Just make sure to regularly replace any perishable foods and don’t neglect non-perishable stocks. Also, if you’re getting canned vegetables, soups and other canned foods, look for low salt varieties, and make sure to continue to be health conscious in all your choices of foods, experts say. Eating well supports overall health and can bolster immunity at a time when that’s critical.
Supplies to Keep Your Hands and Home Clean
Wherever you are, regular hand-washing is important to prevent the spread of disease, including coronavirus. For home, soap and water are more than sufficient.
If for some reason, you eventually need to leave your quarantine, it’s a good idea to have antibacterial wipes and/or hand sanitizer gel for the car or on your person. Make sure your hand sanitizer is at least 60% alcohol.
Wash your hands with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if you don’t have a sink and soap handy. Do this for at least 20 seconds. Hum the “Happy Birthday” song twice if you’re not sure, the CDC recommends. Wash your hands before, during and after preparing food, before eating, before and after caring for someone who is sick, after changing diapers, after using the bathroom, any other time it seems reasonable and just frequently throughout the day.
Also, make sure you have all you need to keep your home sanitized. You should have disinfectant cleaners and disposable items, such as Kleenex and paper towels, Gentry suggests. You should also have wipes and diapers and any other supplies you need if you have a baby, he advises.
Reminder: It’s Always a Good Idea to Have a Preparedness Kit
“When COVID-19 attains community spread it may possibly disrupt your normal day-to-day routines, especially if you become infected,” Gentry says.
“First and foremost, it is a good idea to always have a ‘flu kit’ on hand for our normal flu season. This would be a thermometer, fever reducers, liquids to replace electrolytes and food for two weeks,” he says. “Research if there are grocery delivery outlets near you.”
Gentry adds that being prepared to keep infants as well as pets healthy is a must. In addition, he advises keeping your home, vehicle and phone wiped down to kill any virus that’s on surfaces.
“Finally, part of any preparedness plan is to be self-sufficient,” he adds. “Have gas in your vehicles, some cash on hand, and check on your family and neighbors. Stocking up on all of these items keeps you from having to go out if you get sick or a family member gets sick.” This can keep you from possibly exposing others to disease, or standing in lines and getting exposed yourself.
Have a Plan
Having supplies and a plan go hand in hand when it comes to emergency preparedness, experts say. So as you stock up on goods, make sure you put a plan in place to monitor the spread of the coronavirus in your community and neighborhood and to guide you if you get sick. Besides keeping up to date on local news and national updates, like from the CDC, stay in touch with neighbors and friends nearby in ways that don’t require physical contact, like phone and email.
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Have contact numbers handy not only for your primary care doctor, any specialists you or a family member may be seeing and the pharmacy. Consider arranging for delivery of prescriptions if needed or as convenient (if you don’t already have medications delivered). And of course, don’t hesitate to call your doctor if you’re sick. Do not simply show up at a hospital or doctor’s office.
“When we discuss family emergency plans specifically for COVID-19, we ask that families plan for family members, including pets, to be taken care of if they get sick or self-quarantined,” Gentry says. For example, how will your dog get walked if all family members are quarantined, or do you have a pet sitter the dog can go to? He adds that this should include coming up with a way to check in on extended family members and children who do not live at home. For example, through social media, Skype, Facetime and Zoom .
Similarly, you can share information with neighbors online, like through a group email list or neighborhood Facebook page or group.
“We should not simply lock our doors and fend for ourselves,” Gentry emphasizes. “And finally, the plan should discuss changes in school and work schedules and what that means to family schedules. Learning from home and working from home are two good strategies to be discussing now, in case they are implemented as we progress through this event.”
You Probably Don’t Need a Mask – Just Keep Your Distance
At present, the CDC doesn’t recommend that people who are well wear a face mask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses – and that includes the coronavirus. Rather you should only wear a mask if a health provider recommends doing so. This should be done by people with COVID-19 who have symptoms to prevent others from getting infected, according to the CDC.
“Face masks are not recommended at this time, and using them may actually increase your risk of infection due to contamination of the outside of the mask, and a false sense of security,” Mushatt says. Experts add that despite a run on latex gloves in retail stores, these aren’t advised as a precautionary measure for the general public, and wearing gloves hasn’t been shown to protect against the coronavirus.
Better to take steps to control disease spread that are also advised to protect against other viral threats, including the seasonal flu virus. Those steps include washing hands with soap and water (or hand sanitizer) frequently, Mushatt advises, along with “social distancing,” or putting some space between yourself and others, not touching your face, coughing into a sleeve or tissue and staying at home if you’re sick.
Coronavirus lockdowns in the Middle East are trapping LGBT+ people with abusive families, advocacy groups have warned.
Coronavirus is hitting the Middle East hard, and as the death toll passes 1,000 in Iran alone, governments in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Algeria have all implemented emergency restrictions.
While it’s hoped these measures will be effective in slowing the spread of the virus, they’re disastrous for many LGBT+ people who are being forced to remain in unsafe home environments.
The Thomson Reuters Foundationheard that many LGBT+ advocacy groups in the region are now having to step up their support for those struggling amid the coronavirus lockdowns.
“The environment we live in unfortunately can be aggressive toward LGBT+ people,” said Omar Al Khatib of the Palestinian LGBT+ group alQaws, which is based in Jerusalem where LGBT+ people often live with families that do not accept them.
“Staying at home can eliminate their access to private spaces and increase bullying,” he told Reuters.
In Palestine, the authorities have closed places of worship and social spaces that usually offer some respite, like coffee shops and clubs, meaning that escaping the pressure at home is no longer an option.
This pressure has been heightened by a nighttime curfew that’s been implemented in the city of Bethlehem.
But with business closures and money worries on the rise, the situation isn’t much better for many LGBT+ people living alone – often because they’ve been rejected by their families.
“The state of quarantine creates a feeling of isolation and fear, and that they are completely on their own so it’s not safe for them,” said Khatib.