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Pandemonium

Saturday, March 14, 2020 18:06

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So I started this yesterday on Friday the 13^th and we’re in the middle of a panic– both foreign and domestic– and a pandemic. I had planned on posting a nice recipe or review for the 10^th anniversary of Green and Growing sometime last week, but I was dealing with fallout from that student I mentioned in my last post….

…then fallout from a supervisor’s lack of attention paid to an email. Note: a typo can literally mean the difference between someone’s ability to work or not. Because of a mistake, the adjuncts in our department thought, for a good chunk of last and part of this week, that we were being even further limited on our schedules for next term, which would mean (for me) being out of a job altogether. Not a good thing when you’re the only one earning salary in your home… even if that salary is an hourly wage.

Then we received our first notice that our university system might decide to move classes into an online format. I teach at the Staten Island campus of the City University of New York. My campus alone has an estimate of about 15,000-20,000 people in its community, probably more. The University system has almost 300,000 students currently enrolled; then add faculty and all the staff that makes a college run. We have 26 campuses in our system spread all throughout one of the largest cities in the world. And on a Thursday night our college president did something our CUNY chancellor couldn’t: he told us that there might be a possibility of moving classes online if the virus gets worse. But he didn’t do more. Especially in light of an update sent last night that noted there was a student in our community who tested positive yesterday.

So, last Thursday, I emailed my students. I pointed their attention at the email from the college president, in case they did what I normally do, which is skim and delete. I started a conversation about the resources to move our classes into an online format. Then, I started looking around in various discussion groups for faculty in my university system. When I started seeing some very confusing messages posted by the university on twitter of all places and I asked for clarification– from the university, from other faculty, from my own campus’ department and program: I was basically slapped down and told I was being “reactionary”… that it was all a panic and it wouldn’t impact my students. Essentially that my being prepared and trying to prepare my students was going to cause pandemonium. This was noted when I pointed out concerns from contingent colleagues that our contracts stipulate in-person classes and in-person office hours, and we work in a system that’s notorious for cutting budget costs at the expense of contingent workers. Forget about all the work putting classes online for those of us with little to no training or experience. Forget about students who are already stressed, but then the thought of not having the in-person guidance from their instructors?

Then I was told I was taking advantage of an emergency situation. When I noted that I was still holding classes and would until the university or college made a decision to go digital, I was told I should “give up” because no student would be in attendance, that no students cared.

I held class with 75% of my students showing up. Those that didn’t, emailed me. I was able to speak with them for what turned out to be the last time in-person this term, because between my first and second class, New York’s Governor made a decision my university and my campus refused to make. All CUNY schools would go online after a mandatory recess during which faculty would transition to an online format. This decision was made after several students tested positive throughout the system, and after several members of the university community were themselves exposed. Because the university was playing pass the buck with the decision making. Last week we were told in my program that it’s up to us, the individual instructors if we wanted to move classes online. What contingent faculty member would make that decision with zero guarantees that you’d be paid for your time, zero guarantees that your health insurance wouldn’t be interrupted (if you’re in the small number who get health insurance), and zero guarantees that this decision wouldn’t impact our in-person observations or our rehiring next term?

The chaos that this entails pales to what’s happening in Italy or Washington state or in New Rochelle New York where everyone is under mandatory lockdown.

But why weren’t we more prepared? Not just at the federal or state or for myself, at my university’s level? There are a lot of answers, potential reasons, lots of politics, lack of oversight, lack of concern, lack of whatever.

So what do you do? Besides rant in cyberspace? Besides speak to your prepper neighbor (or friend or brother) who tells you you should have known Society would Break Down! You Should Have Prepared!

In the spirit of Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic. It’s a good rule that I try to pass on to my students.

There is a run on supermarkets and not for food– at least not yet. Announcing an end to the sporting season in the US will translate to fights over bread and pasta. Since I’m a care-giver for a recovering hoarder, hubby and I go to the supermarket a LOT. And of course when mom started freaking out a few weeks ago about the idea of this virus, she only relaxed when she saw we had ample supplies of food and water. Having paper products was a plus.

Like I said, I started writing that yesterday. Then we went to the store for the last time. As I wrote yesterday and gathered resources to add links, I thought of some of the advice I was reading: Consider things you can’t do without if you’re told to self-quarantine. To be brutally honest, the 2 things that popped into my head were weed and corned beef. I had forgotten to pick it up the other day and mom had asked for her traditional corned beef and cabbage. She’s Italian. So I checked with the dispensary and hubby and I went for a final supplies run.

There weren’t fights over bread and pasta. There wasn’t any to be had. It’s very hard to play Monday morning quarterback now and tell you all the things you should have had on hand. I learned my lessons with Superstorm Sandy. So I always try to have at the barest minimum a week’s worth of supplies in the house for everyone in the house– me, husband, cats and now aging parental unit.

My first post about storm preparedness is a good place to start. But there are some changes.

First, know where you stand.

Unlike a storm, with a pandemic it’s not very helpful to know about evacuation zones. For this you’ll be sheltering in place pretty much because you don’t want to go into crowds. The very last place you want to be– especially in the US which has more cases than we know about because we aren’t up to par on testing!

Social Distancing vs. Quarantine

NYC Mayor deBlasio asked for “social distancing” for New Yorkers. But, what exactly does that mean as opposed to self-monitoring or an outright quarantine? This is a great piece that gives some sound advice on the differences between some of these terms that are brand-new for so many of us.

Waleed Javaid, director of Infection Prevention and Control at Mount Sinai Downtown in Manhattan, told MarketWatch…recommends taking the opportunity now to calmly plan ahead for a possible quarantine; think about some basic necessities you will need if you can’t go out for two weeks. And consider daily chores and habits that would be disrupted, and find work-arounds for them. Can you work from home or stream classes online? Can you send out your laundry, or leave your dog with someone who can walk it each day?“Do you have enough food and clean clothes for 14 days?” he asked. “Do you have drinking water? Probably the biggest mistake that people make with self-quarantining is underestimating the problems they are going to face if they can’t leave home.”

It was after I read that that I thought of the weed and corned beef. Then we went for a last run.

Social distancing is something we should all do at this moment. Stay away from crowds. Have situational awareness when you are out. Do your best to avoid being on top of someone else and keep something else in mind: everyone is in panic mode. You can almost feel it when you’re in public. So be mindful, be kind, and be courteous. Everyone is dealing with some of the worst stress they’ve faced. It’s not just the actual virus, but fears and what ifs? You don’t know if that person on line eyeballing your paper towels because you got the last pack is a small business owner who’s facing bankruptcy as more people start implementing their own social distancing methods, or is of those people who had their SNAP benefits cut off in December and is dealing with just an escalation of stress.

If you haven’t yet done it, do what I told my students last week: speak with everyone in your household and get a game plan. If you live with someone who’s at risk, then tell your relatives now is not a good time to fly up for a visit. Mom is almost 80 and hubby is diabetic. We love seeing the nieces (for mom granddaughters), but even though it will hurt, we had to say no visits now. And I’m glad we did because as of this morning 38 of their father’s (my brother’s) fellows in the FDNY are under self-quarantine.

What do you do if you are on lockdown? If you’ve been exposed, suspect you’ve been exposed? Check out the above links and also consider it’s not just a matter of physically being prepared with the sanitizers and water. There are emotional considerations too, as if physical health and financial health weren’t enough.

Then what about kids? I’ve got my husband and mom. I can’t imagine what my sister-in-law and brother might have to deal with if he’s also told to self-quarantine, with 3 girls, under the age of 5, who have grown accustomed to doing doing going doing? I was just remarking to mom maybe two weeks ago that I love that my brother spends one-on-one time with each of his girls, taking them for walks, making memories. It’s something my dad never did with me and I love that my brother is doing that with his girls. But, now when they can’t make memories at the trampoline park or the zoo? Make memories at home. As a person who’s not a mom, but a long-time teacher, there are so many things that you can do with kids that you might never have thought of doing. I loved making play dough, cooking, or starting an indoor garden with the kids in my Pre-K classes. Check out some tips and ideas if you get stuck.

I also understand that now may not be the time to chef it up with the kids or make play dough (sorry cooking is still the best recipe I’ve found). The impulse might be to simply turn on Peppa Pig and leave them to their own devices. But, don’t forget the little ones will understand more than you could possibly imagine, so please don’t leave them out of the family plans either. They’re as stressed as you are. Perhaps more so because kids like their routine. This has radically changed their routine. We woke up to the news that half of all school districts in our current state, New Jersey, have closed to in-person learning or closed for the near future. Other tips on talking to the kids about this situation.

If they’re able, which might be easier if the kids are older, include them in as much as you can, so that some of the activities you have to do you can accomplish with them. Giving kids something to do isn’t just about keeping them busy. It might make them feel more secure, especially if they think they’re helping in a time like this.

If you’re still in social distancing mode and haven’t yet moved on to self-monitoring or self-quarantining, then please consider doing so. By the time this is posted, we might all be in self-monitoring mode since this has far exceeded any idea of containment.

So, take stock.

Check over your essentials– and no, toilet paper isn’t the top priority. It’s up there, but if you run out of TP, you can do what millions of women have done since time immemorial: use cloth. Cut up a few old undershirts or bed-sheets. If you have a washing machine at home the idea of using cloth is much easier and less disgusting. But, read a bit on using cloth baby wipes. Yeah, like I said: women have been doing this for a long time. Toilet paper is a new invention. So what did people do before?

Then you want to see what you have in terms of food. Ideally, for a basic emergency, you should have enough for 72 hours: 3 days. For this, we’re being told 14 days. That doesn’t help folks who have stuck with the 3 day rule. My original tips hold true: make sure you have higher energy foods, proteins and fats, and don’t forget the kitties. Keep in mind your animal companions and make sure they won’t go without either.

Once the food and water are situated– 1 gallon of potable water per person per day–then consider other things. In my original list, I noted medical supplies, but here again we need to shift focus. Here we’ll all be dealing with cold symptoms. While everyone is going nuts over not enough hand sanitizer– and you have stories about making your own– a serious concern would be how to treat the virus should you get it and you’ll be treating it at home: provided the symptoms are mild.

Doing a basic Google search, you can see anyone and everyone selling antiviral remedies, but before you start administering the latest fad –be it a bleach gargle, eating animal dung, or violet oil anal plugs– look in your spice cabinet.

Most of us have something on hand to help us fight off a cold. Ginger, Garlic, Rosemary, Oregano. All are good herbs with antiviral properties. The first two I made sure I had plenty of fresh on hand to bump them up in our food this week. The latter two I have dry in the pound, plus plenty of essential oil of rosemary and oregano. When hubby worked for a local hospital, I made a sanitizing spray that incorporated those oils because at the time I read a few articles (by experts in the medical field) and saw a news story that talked about using these on surfaces to tackle antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Now, when doing a search all I can find are DIY lysol articles, which are great but not from experts.

I’m not sure about their ordering, since ginger should be toward the top, but here’s a list of some herbal antivirals that many of you may have at home already.

I’ve got several remedies up for other immune system boosting remedies– from soup, to tea, to fire cider. But if you don’t have the ingredients on hand, then they won’t help you. So start off with what you’ve got. Try to eat whole foods also, things that won’t further compromise your immune system. So refrain from ordering fried chicken and binging on Doritos.

This is also much easier to tell you to do without understanding what your situation is. I’m not telling you that brewing up a tea will cure coronavirus. But, if you’re home and already stressed, keep in mind stress reduces the body’s immune system. Being stressed means you’re less likely to fight off any infection and cortisol actually hinders the body’s ability to fight off a cold.

So see what you have to bolster your immune system, in addition to looking to activities to help reduce or mitigate your stress. For me, it’s writing. For hubby it’s reading (since we only have one computer with which to write). For mom it’s watching a cooking show or an old movie. Once you have your situation situated– you know what you’ve got in the house, you have what you need, you’re in self-monitoring or self-quarantine mode, then try to relax.

Also arm yourself with information. Don’t consume the news ad nauseam. Be informed, but also know when to cut it off. Sanjay Gupta’s podcast Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction is broken into easy to digest segments and clearly labelled, so you don’t have to listen to a 2 hour podcast to understand why this is called a pandemic, what the problems with testing are or what testing means, or how the authorities are handling the issues inside a containment zone.

It’s unfortunate though that it takes a pandemic for many to realize how “social welfare” programs or “social justice” programs truly impact everyone. Just 2 weeks ago I was having a discussion in class about the need for basic programs like healthcare. When a student complained that “Medicare for All wouldn’t be free,” I agreed with him. When he continued that the rise in taxes wouldn’t be “worth it,” I posed a simple question: “Taxes are already high if you’re a member of the middle and working class, so wouldn’t you prefer that your taxes go towards programs that would directly benefit you?”

Having guarantees to healthcare means that the fear of the cost of the treatment or the test won’t prevent someone from seeking help. Having guarantees to sick time or family leave means you won’t go to work and risk exposing others if you know your job isn’t at risk if you stay home to self-monitor, or to care for a family member who’s had to stay home. Remember if you’re self-monitoring then everyone in your household is as well. If you’re under self-quarantine, then so is everyone else sharing the same roof. And it’s taken all this for our administration to promise expansions to Medicare for those impacted by COVID-19. And it’s taken this for a Federal judge to block the massive cut-off to SNAP so that in this crisis, our most vulnerable members of society aren’t made more vulnerable– and that just as Congress passes a massive aid package that will help families. But the Senate went home without voting on the bill.

Could this all have been prevented? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But, looking ahead, we need to keep all this in mind when we go to the ballot in November. And I’m sure we’ll continue, we’ll move forward, we’ll have an election. This administration must be cowed by this because their efforts to undo everything that came from the last administration put us here. By eliminating the safe-guards put in place by having a pandemic response team– the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense– in place meant that there were eyes watching for this eventuality.

So, please take care of yourselves. Drink plenty of fluids. Wash your hands. Watch your Netflix. Be mindful of each other. Remember we’re all in this together.

Source: http://www.green-and-growing.com/2020/03/pandemonium.html

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