Preparing for COVID

While most of us have been and continue to do our best to prevent becoming ill with COVID-19, more and more of us are catching the disease, sometimes multiple times. Increasingly, we know many who have been exposed, infected, or currently are suffering from it. 

Protecting yourself and your family through social distancing, masking, and good hygiene is the first line of defense. We’ve been inundated with that message. But what happens when, despite your best efforts, COVID visits your home? 

Recently, my family discussed this issue. My daughter, who lives alone in a city far from the family, was concerned about getting COVID and being unable to leave her apartment. Fortunately, she works in public health. She created a list of supplies to have on hand before you or someone you love becomes infected; some of it more specific to COVID, but much of it familiar and generally applicable. With her permission (and collaboration), I am sharing that list and some suggestions here. 

Even if you are sick at home, you will still need the basics: toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, laundry supplies, soap, tissues, and other sundries. Make sure you have some extras. No need to hoard, but plan on being unable to get to the store for a week or two. My daughter added white distilled vinegar to this list because it has so many additional uses including things like cleaning your humidifier. You should also have bottled water, ice packs, batteries, and toothpaste for an extra week or two. Consider having a notebook handy so you can record your symptoms and the way you treat them. You may be surprised that you do not recall everything when you are sick or notice trends over time. 

Stock up on simple things like shelf-stable products (such as beans, pasta, peanut butter, and vegetables), broths, teas, and crackers. Consider some easy meals that can be prepared with little to no effort. Sports drinks and ginger ale can also be helpful, look for drinks that provide electrolytes (such as Pedialyte or Gatorade). Have an extra week's supply of shampoo, vitamins, and other products you rely on daily. 

Have plenty of basic at-home medical supplies like gloves, masks, hand sanitizers, and basic over-the-counter medicines (such as Pepto Bismal, Neosporin, aspirin, fever reducers, cough drops, cough suppressant, Vicks, nasal spray, etc.). A thermometer and perhaps an oximeter are good ideas, too. They aren’t worth much if their batteries are dead or you don’t know how to work them.  Of course, you should also have an extra supply of whatever prescriptions you regularly take. 

Testing is important, and if you feel crummy, stay home and treat your symptoms. Make a plan in advance for how you would test for COVID. Can you call your doctor? Can you get a home rapid test? Is there a safe drive-through testing site near you? Know when you should be using a rapid test or when a PCR is more appropriate. 

Make sure that your basic medical information is handy and portable in case you need to scoop it up or share it: have copies of your insurance cards, prescriptions, powers of attorney, and lists of doctors and medicines handy. It is great to have these on your phone, but have paper copies, too. Don’t forget your notebook! 

If there are members of your family who are infected and others who are not, masking at home is critically important. Everyone doesn’t respond to the virus the same way. It may be a minor annoyance to some and a serious health concern to others. Protect uninfected members of your household. Infected people should be isolated. If possible, they should have their own bedrooms and bathrooms and eat separately. If that is not possible, masks should be worn and areas cleaned and ventilated after their use. 

Test grocery delivery services before you are in desperate need. Find out if your pharmacy delivers. Which stores, restaurants, or other services offer no contact delivery? Don’t forget pet food! 

We don’t want to get COVID, and we certainly don’t want to give it to anyone else! But we have to acknowledge reality and prepare - nothing is inevitable. One size plan won’t fit everyone, so consider what is best for your situation and tailor the plan appropriately. Making a plan to safely stay at home while we recover is a critical piece of helping ourselves and protecting our community. 

Reading for Treasure: Eat Less Meat

Reading for Treasure is my list of articles (and other readings) that are worth your attention. Click here for an introduction!

I have been a vegetarian for almost twenty-five years. There are many reasons to eat less meat: health, environment, economics, ethics. Here are some articles that may help you understand the issues about reducing how much meat, chicken, pork, or fish you consume and how that choice might benefit all of us. 

From Inverse: “U.S. Meat Eaters Should Consider This Study Before Their Next Grocery Run” “Research shows nutrition is a major component of reducing our risks of chronic disease and premature death. Sulfur amino acids are naturally more prevalent in meat than vegetables, so switching to plant-based protein sources like whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, and eating recommended daily intakes of sulfur amino acids, could make it less likely that you will develop heart disease or diabetes in future.”

From Lifehacker: “How to Become a Vegetarian (or Eat Less Meat)”  “You don’t need me to tell you that industrial meat production is an enormous contributor to global warming (and climate denialism) or that meat processing corporations are almost cartoonishly evil in their exploitation of an underpaid, often undocumented workforce. The facts are out there for the whole world to see, which is probably why more people are choosing to eat less meat.”

From CNN: “One of the world's top restaurants is ditching meat. Here's what could go wrong” “It might seem like the perfect time to get people on board with an all-vegan menu. Plant-based proteins are as popular as ever. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat (BYND), which sell alternatives to meat designed to look, taste, and cook like the real thing, have expanded massively in grocery stores and struck major deals with big food companies and restaurant chains. Last month, the food site Epicurious said it would stop publishing beef recipes, noting that production of the meat emits harmful greenhouse gases.”

From Inverse: “A Controversial Diet Change Could Reduce Air Pollution and Save Lives” “New research implicates air pollution caused by agriculture production in the premature deaths of 17,900 Americans. This air pollution is linked to both ammonia and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). These findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.There are solutions that could curb air pollution deaths significantly, the study team says. These include eating a more plant-based diet.”

From The Atlantic: “The Economic Case for Worldwide Vegetarianism” “In a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Marco Springmann and his colleagues at the University of Oxford conservatively estimate that if people continue to follow current trends of meat consumption, rather than shifting to a more balanced or plant-based diet, it could cost the U.S. between $197 billion and $289 billion each year—and the global economy up to $1.6 trillion—by 2050.”

I am currently reading Artificial Condition by Martha Wells.

Passover is not Passive

The Passover story is powerful. It is about freedom from slavery, plagues, and persecution. It asks us to do more than retell the story but to imagine that we lived it. It is a story of people who took action and transformed their world. Our world is in need of such people and transformation. 

If we are to keep Passover, we must go beyond our diet. I have written about this before. 

At a time when our world, our country, our families are facing so many challenges, keeping Passover means putting its lessons to use. Perhaps, at our seders, we can ask each other, what can we do to help those who are bound become free?  How can we help cure the world of the many plagues that ail it?  How can we help strangers who have left their homes, since we were once strangers? 

A simple way for those of us still sheltering in our homes is to donate to organizations that do this good work. Here are a few Passover causes that need your keeping: 

Support groups working to rid the world of human trafficking, like A21.

Help those who are struggling to feed their families during this time by donating to Feed America. 

Work against the plague of racism and hate by giving to groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. 

There are many suffering from COVID and other illnesses. While there are many charities that provide care, fund research or assist patients, Partners in Health is an outstanding organization that works to bring healthcare to some of the world's neediest populations. And if you haven’t read about its founder, Paul Farmer, I highly recommend the highly inspiring and challenging book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder. 

Give to those who are helping the strangers at our borders and in our land by contributing to National Immigration Law Center or RAICES. 

There are many more; these are just examples. Passover can be more than a personal holiday, more than meals and special foods. It can be a time when we take its lessons and help change lives.

Passover is about confronting injustice, living our values, following our laws, realizing freedom, becoming a nation, and more. These are our challenges today, too. Let Passover inspire us to do more than give up bread, but to take the steps needed to create miracles that transform our world.  

Reading for Treasure: To Distance or Not to Distance - and What About Groceries?

Reading for Treasure is my list of articles that are worth your attention. Click here for an introduction. I had planned on having a version that did not focus on COVID-19 or the current situation, but then I read these articles and saw these videos. Maybe next month, we’ll focus on one television show you may or may not be watching (or if you aren’t, you should). Instead, here are some more topical information that is worth your attention:

It would be wonderful if everyone was social (now we say physical) distancing, but that isn’t happening. The Atlantic’s article, “We’re Not ‘All In It Together’” hits the nail on the head. It is a primer on “civic character” and social responsibility. Read it!

If we are trying to convince someone to follow the CDC guidelines and stay at home, this video might help – especially if they have a short attention span. This is a wonderful visualization of how social distancing can stop the virus from spreading from the State of Ohio and is well worth the little time it takes to watch.

If you want a simulation that is more detailed and personal, this video might work. This Canadian demonstration asks you to personalize the video by selecting avatars for yourself and others near you. It makes its point very clearly!

As we move further toward needing to reopen our economy, there are two concepts that keep coming up: testing and tracing. The Atlantic’s article, “The Technology That Could Free America From Quarantine” lays out other countries’ experiences with track and trace apps on people’s phones. Apple Insider goes into the problems with this concept and provides information on Apple and Google’s current efforts to create a platform for a track and trace app (or apps) in the United States: “Apple and Google’s Contact Tracing won’t stop COVID-19, But It Will Help.”

Finally, there have been a lot of videos and articles about how to bring groceries and take-out foods safely into your house. The Boston Public Television station, WGBH presents a less scary and more reasonable set of instructions: “No, You Don’t Need to Disinfect Your Groceries. But Here’s How to Shop Safely.”

Speaking of being on topic, I am currently reading Connie Willis’s The Doomsday Book and, although it was written in 1992, it is all about what is going on now – and it is an outstanding read!

Reading For Treasure: COVID-19

Reading for Treasure is my list of articles that are worth your attention. Click here for an introduction! This list is an extension of my prior post. Here are some more articles about the current COVID-19 crisis:

Americans would most likely not tolerate a mandatory lockdown. There are alternatives and lessons to be learned from how other countries have structured social distancing: First, China, Then Italy. “What the U.S. Can Learn From Extreme Coronavirus Lockdowns:” The Washington Post

This article is an interview with Nicholas Christakis, a social scientist and physician at Yale University about the closing of schools. Dr. Chistakis argues for proactive closures of schools: closings before there are any cases directly in the school. “Does closing schools slow the spread of coronavirus? Past outbreaks provide clues:” Science Magazine

The CDC has a phone app that will send you notifications. Here is the link to the CDC webpage with information about the app. Here is the link to the CDC’s page on COVID-19.

One of the questions that I had was “How Long Does Coronavirus Live On Different Surfaces”  and this Lifehacker article clearly answers that!

Another issue for all of us staying at home is getting food. The Atlantic has a thoughtful piece that addresses this question: “How You Should Get Food During the Pandemic”

Teachers: if you haven’t found Free Free Technology for Teachers, you are missing out. This is a fantastic and very useful blog. This post provides provides “Tips and Tools For Teaching Remotely” which might be very helpful to everyone moving to online classes. In addition, Edutopia has a good article in which an American teacher in China shares what she has been learning moving her classes online: “What Teachers in China Have Learned in the Last Month”

I am currently reading Myths and Mortals by Andrew Keyt

Update - one more article: Here is an outstanding and very visual way to understand the effects of "social distancing." This article from The Washington Post actually gives you real simulations to see the results when more or fewer people stay home: "Why Outbreaks Like Coronavirus Spread Exponentially and How to "Flatten the Curve" 

Keeping Passover Is More Than What We Do Not Eat

People ask me if I am keeping Passover. What they really want to know is if I am eating any bread products. My usual response is, as an ethical-moral vegetarian, my eating habits are always foremost on my mind and connected to my values every day. I don’t need a holiday to remind me of the power of my food choices. But is keeping Passover just about food? Is Passover a holiday about diet? 

Passover can be a personal holiday in which people reflect on what it would have been like to be freed from slavery in Egypt. Freedom and slavery sit at the center of this holiday. The rights of an oppressed population, the costs to the oppressor, and the sacrifices and struggles that the fight for freedom requires are key themes of Passover. Yet, when we celebrate, we focus on food. They are the main symbols and the focus of the seder, but Passover is far more than what we eat or don’t eat.

The holiday is not without its problems. It is a holiday that seems to celebrate the pain of innocents and the deaths of children. Its literal historicity has been the subject of debate as well. At least one west coast rabbi created a “furor” when he openly stated that the story was not factual. What does it mean to “keep” traditions that are associated with this kind of story?  

The holiday has changed throughout the centuries. Jews from different parts of the world celebrate in their own ways and even disagree about what foods are permitted.  Given the diversity of Jewish thought, experience, and practice, it should come as no surprise that there are many ways to approach Passover. There is no one correct way to keep the holiday.

My wonderful little Humanistic congregation, Kol Hadash, has a food donation drive prior to the start of Passover. While removing certain foods from our diets is one way to keep the holiday, another is to help those for whom every day is a fast day.

Unfortunately, slavery is still with us. CNN recently reported about how the Attorney General of Missouri is fighting for freedom. Each year, I look for organizations that strive to end slavery and human trafficking. This year, I am contributing to Polaris. Fighting the plague of slavery is another way to keep Passover.

The Passover tradition is to keep the front door open, and include a glass of wine for the prophet Elijah. It is also customary to invite guests to our seder and welcome those who have no place to celebrate. In a time when national walls are rising, Passover’s story of a refugee people runs contrary to the current political mood. Do we want to lock Elijah out? Working to keep our national doors open is another way to keep the holiday.

Let us not slip into the easy answer that all Passover asks of us is the elimination of dietary fiber (which may be why the main phrase of this holiday is, “let my people GO!”).

Passover asks us for empathy. Passover asks us to repair the world. Passover asks us to include the stranger at our table. It is a powerful holiday that celebrates far more than what we do or do not eat.