Serving Ellensburg, Ronald, Roslyn, Cle Elum, South Cle Elum, Kittitas, Thorp & Easton | Spring 2020
A supplement to the Daily Record
School from home is the new coronavirus reality Children need more screen time right now How to make your own hand sanitizer at home How to help your marriage survive coronavirus
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CONTENTS 4 School from home is the new coronavirus reality 6 WFH Fashion: Dress like the adult you’re getting paid to be I’m afraid we’re screwing this up. 8 What to do when anxiety affects your sleep 10 Amid the coronavirus, should young adults move back in with mom and dad? Many are saying yes 12 Children need more screen time right now, professor says 14 How to make your own hand sanitizer at home 16 How to help your marriage survive coronavirus 22 Mayo Clinic Q And A: Staying healthy while teleworking
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School from home is the new coronavirus reality By Howard Blume, Sonali Kohli, Rosanna Xia and Paloma Esquivel Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — A senior at John C. Fremont High School in South L.A., Emilio Hernandez’s class load is about as rigorous as it gets: AP calculus, physics, design, English, engineering and government. He loves talking to his peers in English class, who make all the readings thought-provoking. He often turns to his math teacher, who has a way of drawing the graphs and walking him through derivatives and complex formulas. Now, with a borrowed laptop from school and family crowded in the living room, he’s struggling to make school feel like, well, school. He has trouble falling asleep and finds himself going to bed later and later — sometimes as late as 3 a.m. “Assignments that would normally take me two hours or thirty minutes are now taking me days to complete. I just … can’t focus,” he said. “I don’t have anyone giving me direction. It’s just me reading and having to give myself the incentive to do the work.” It’s been more than three weeks since school districts across the state have closed their campuses as coronavirus continues to sweep its way across California — sending more than 6 million students home to navigate online or distance learning. What started as an emergency scramble to provide laptops and meals for a few weeks has dramatically shifted to a longer-haul transformation of public education. “The kids are not going back to their classrooms” this academic year, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who acknowledged the burden on households with the entire state under his stay-at-home order. For those who look to school for learning and social structure, the new reality is sinking in: There will be no school as we know it after spring break. No prom. No year-end field trips. No projects to present inside a familiar classroom. Navigating the next three months left in the school year, leaders said, calls for patience and dedication from educators, self-motivation from already stressedout students and swift actions from school districts typically mired in bureaucratic obstacles. “These aren’t normal circumstances. It’s the most uncharted 4
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territory that we’ve been in,” said State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. “We’re stronger together and we can help all of our kids as we work together.” Many are already rising to the challenge. Yet each step forward means moving past bureaucratic hurdles and cost constraints and taking on persistent problems of student poverty and stubborn achievement gaps. Every day, hundreds of thousands of grab-and-go meals are distributed across the region for students who might not otherwise have steady access to food. Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the nation, has already authorized the purchase of up to 200,000 computers for students to use at home and contracted with Verizon to connect households to internet for free. In addition, a state partnership with Google is providing free WiFi to 100,000 households. LAPTOPS TO STUDENTS At the Robert F. Kennedy K-8 campus in Compton, Principal Cecilia Madrid has personally driven to homes to drop off computers when a student or parent said they were unable to pick one up themselves. She and her staff have so far handed out laptops to about 86% of the school’s 727 students. They’ve gone to great lengths to make sure families get whatever help they need to connect to the internet. For those who still can’t get online, the school has prepared and distributed hundreds of learning packets. “We are really making sure that our students come first and we have everything here for our students to learn,” she said. “There’s no excuses. ‘You don’t have a device? OK, we’ll get you one. You don’t have Wi-Fi? OK, we have a packet.’” She’s proud of the work her teachers and staff are doing, but recognizes that there is now a heavy burden on parents and caretakers to ensure that children keep up. She worries that videos and online lessons can’t make up for the one-on-one interactions that nurture students each day in a classroom.
“I can only wish and hope,” she said, “that everything is going to be OK.” Debra Duardo, superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, said she is unsure whether every student will receive equal access to rigorous instruction over the next 10 weeks. “We always have kids that are behind. We’ve had a huge achievement gap that we’re trying to address,” said Duardo, whose office has an advisory and oversight role, but no direct control over local school districts. “Will this make it even worse? Probably, in some situations.” The L.A. County Office of Education hosts a daily call with the county’s 80 superintendents, she said. Three weeks in, schools are still in Phase 1 — teaching students virtually and through paper packets, training teachers to create effective online classrooms and getting families hooked up with devices and internet. State funding has been provided for internet hot spots — but with so many sold out and out of stock, she said, some families may still have to wait weeks to get online. Across the region, teachers and administrators have struggled with other barriers to access — long wait times for installation, parents without legal status who fear sharing their information, and families that can’t get permission from their landlords to install the necessary equipment. Skyrocketing unemployment is also bearing down on families, making home schooling even more worrisome for many parents and students. Overwhelmed. Unmotivated. Stressed. Stressed. Stressed. These were the words that popped up over and over again on social media and in conversations among students across Los Angeles during a recent virtual town hall with a Times reporter and Heart of Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization in MacArthur Park that provides free after-school programming for underserved youth. About two dozen students shared just how complicated distance learning can be. Many said their homes were crowded enough already, and that school and after-school programs were their sanctuaries — a place to escape. Others worried not only about their grades, but the wellbeing of their families. Some students have been using their own savings to get food for themselves and younger siblings to avoid stressing out family members. Closing these divides for students weighed on educators long before COVID-19 — but in some ways, the crisis has accelerated efforts to help students on all fronts. UNPRECENTED LEAP At Los Angeles Unified, Supt. Austin Beutner is attempting an unprecedented leap for the massive district: ensuring that every student has a computer and high-speed internet at home. Using emergency powers, he authorized spending about $100 million for technology. School officials started last week with sobering statistics: about 15,000 high school students were missing from online sign-ins — about 12.5%. By the end of the week, teachers and counselors had tracked down more than 6,500 of them, according to a senior district official. At Bell High School, the initial distance-learning protocol was too demanding and cumbersome, said Principal Rafael Balderas.
Students were supposed to log in and complete assignments for every subject, every day. A regular school day had never been that constricted, so the faculty regrouped and developed a new plan: Individual course assignments would be spaced out across two days. And students would have more flexibility on when to turn in work, with Fridays left as flexible as possible. Meanwhile, counselors and other support staff started the painstaking process of tracking down students who weren’t online to begin with. They combed through maps and searched for neighbors who lived near the most recent address on record. Unable to walk through neighborhoods and knock on doors, they followed what leads they had and worked the phones. Seniors were at the top of the list, Balderas said, because they might need to complete courses to graduate on time or remain eligible for college in the fall. As for the younger students, the district is starting to size up the challenges ahead, said Alison Yoshimoto-Towery, L.A. Unified’s chief academic officer. “As we get younger and younger, there’s more students that haven’t logged on,” she said during an update to the Bond Oversight Committee. “It wasn’t part of their previous practice.” Many of these students have been working with paper packets sent home with students or picked up later by parents. These stay-at-home adjustments have strained even the region’s more well-resourced schools. At John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica, many students already have computers and internet access at home — and the district is working to support those who don’t. Teachers had started using Google classrooms in January, so students were familiar with interacting with teachers online. But many students confided to their teachers that they do not have a quiet place at home to work and have been struggling to focus. Others said they were distraught about not having a teacher to help them — or just to talk to. Margie Mathews, who teaches English, worries about her students’ emotional well-being and the meaningful learning experiences that might now fall through the cracks. “Where will it show up that this two months or four months caused them to miss something that they really needed to learn?” she said. “It could be detrimental to some of them and it’s heartbreaking to think about that.” She recently turned the shutdown into a lesson — asking some of her students to write an autobiography that starts with a reflection on their lives now. She and her colleagues have also figured out ways to streamline and teach the essentials without making things more stressful. She’s managed to engage almost all 147 of her students by now, but a handful are still missing. “I’m going to find them this week,” she said, “one way or another.” fb/eburgmoms
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By Adam Tschorn Los Angeles Times
WFH Fashion: Dress like the adult you’re getting paid to be I’m afraid we’re screwing this up.
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’ve waited, watched and bit my tongue during the last month of the pandemic-induced work-from-home era but I just can’t take it any more. Please, can we all put away those sweatpants, ratty, gray, decades-old collegiate sweatshirts and obscure minor league baseball caps and start our workdays looking like we deserve the paychecks we’re lucky enough to be earning while the world around us burns? Especially, for the love of all that’s holy, if there’s a group video conference involved? How to dress for work when you’re working from home has been written about a lot over the last four weeks — including in the pages of The Times, where an early
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take on the topic suggested that you don’t really need to dress as if you’re going to the office. I couldn’t disagree more. For me, the WFH wardrobe is all about the three Rs: ritual, respect and reality. (Let me say at the outset that I don’t consider myself any kind of fashion plate. My personal sense of style falls somewhere between Vermont rural casual and West Coast preppy, but after 13 years of writing runway reviews for this paper, even I can tell when someone needs to switch up their style game.) Ritual There’s something inherently grounding about the daily ritual. I won’t even consider punching the virtual time clock until I’m showered, shaved and fully dressed. This includes shoes — especially shoes — even if I don’t
intend to leave the house. (If I do end up breaching the perimeter, there’s an elaborate protocol involving a second pair of shoes and a period of porch quarantine). Today, for example, I’m wearing a black-and-red check Brooks Brothers non-iron, button-down shirt, a pair of black Levi’s 559 five-pocket jeans, Stance socks and black Adidas Samba AV sneakers. I wore some version of this yesterday, the day before that and the day before that. I’ll be wearing some version of it tomorrow too and every work day until it’s time to return to the office, at which point I’ll probably kick it up a notch — by wearing a hat. (Everyone knows you shouldn’t wear a hat indoors.) You’re more than likely laughing at me right now, sitting there in your yoga pants and your zip-front Patagonia faux fleece thrown over a circa-2000 Coldplay concert T-shirt sourced from the bottom of the hamper — your bare feet swinging wild and free under your Ikea Skarsta worktable. Your slouchy henleys, underwire bras, nice jeans and dry-clean-only designer tops are now shunted to the back of the closet like enriched polonium. If this sounds somewhat familiar, you probably don’t need the structure and reassurance of the daily armor donning to mark the start of your work day. Good on you for not being so rigidly ritual-bound. But think ahead, just for a minute, to that day, weeks or maybe even months away, when it is finally time to put away the stretchy pants, find a pair of socks that match and feel the burn of re-entering the workplace. What masochist invented the collared shirt? Where did you even put those belts? Who knows? What I do know is that I’ll be all armored-up and ready to go, and you’re probably going to feel like you’re shrugging into a straitjacket you won’t be able to take off for five days. Respect Remember how shocked everyone was in June when then-candidate Andrew Yang turned up at the first Democratic debate without a necktie? Or how bonkers people went on that fateful day in 2014 when President Obama had the audacity to wear a tan suit? Your muscleT-and-dolphin-shorts look — the one you wear as you’re trying to navigate Zoom from your home office — is kind of like that. It doesn’t matter, but at the same time it kind of does. (Not to mention that these lackluster clothes pull focus from whatever message you’re trying to communicate.) In a best-case scenario, deviating from your expected workplace dress code will lend you an air of calculated insouciance and devil-may-care individuality, but we all
know those cargo shorts, second-skin jeggings with the ripped knees, camouflage-print “Duck Dynasty” hoodies, sports bras and NSFW T-shirts (yes, even that one with the photograph of Johnny Cash flipping the bird) aren’t exactly going to telegraph calculated insouciance. And if your job came with an explicit dress code, it stands to reason that you should adhere to that dress code when you’re doing your job — whether you’re going to be visible to your boss, your coworkers or customers or not. It’s not only a sign of respect. It also demonstrates your ability to follow the rules even when no one is watching. (If you disagree with this, you’re probably the kind of person who, late at night when no one is around, doesn’t wait for the stoplight to change before driving on.) Reality Maybe what bothers me most about the enthusiastic embrace of grubbing-about-the-house clothes — particularly in instances where we’re brought face to face with our bosses through the miracle of video teleconferencing — is that each time the camera goes live, another tiny crack appears in the carefully constructed facade of our day-to-day reality; we’re given another inadvertent glimpse behind the curtain and see that the great powerful Oz is but an old man pulling levers and making noises. This extends not just to our own bosses but also to those who pull society’s greater levers of power and influence. Scrolling past a photo of Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour sitting in her home office in sweatpants or turning on the TV to find CNN anchor Chris Cuomo hunkered down in his basement recovering from COVID-19 and clad in a casual shirt instead of a jacket, dress shirt and tie is as profoundly unsettling as is the black-and-white photo of Jim Henson holding a hand aloft, up to his elbow in the green felt undercarriage of Kermit the Frog. From watching an NBA game to going out to dinner, so much of what we took for granted back in early March has been ripped away from us. Must we also suffer the indignity — right now — of knowing which of our coworkers prefers to plod around the house in a fishing vest and pork pie hat? What is seen cannot be unseen, and some day you’ll all be back together, clustered around a conference table. And everyone there will know exactly what you’re going to change into when you get home. Sure, you can wear whatever you want when you’re working from home. However, I really wish you wouldn’t.
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What to do when anxiety affects your sleep From Mayo Clinic News Network Mayo Clinic News Network
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n these days where there is high anxiety around COVID-19, getting your sleep isn’t easy. But a good night’s sleep is a key factor in maintaining your health and protecting your immune system. “Sleep is so important. It can make you happier and healthier,” says Jenny Prinsen, a pulmonology nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic Health System in Southwest Wisconsin. “It’s your time to recharge, so make it a priority.” Sleep challenges There are several factors that can affect your sleep. Snoring Almost half of adult men and onequarter of women snore. You can reduce snoring by using adhesive nose pads to open the nostrils, adjusting your pillow to open your airway, and sleeping on your side rather than your back. Caffeine intake Caffeine may affect your sleep. Be mindful of hidden sources of caffeine in foods, beverages and medications. Even if you fall asleep, too much caffeine can affect the quality of your sleep. Challenges of parenting Between 3 a.m. feedings and latenight cries, new parents might only get to sleep for a few hours here and there. Try snoozing whenever you put your infant down to sleep. Tips to sleep better The quality of your sleep is just as important as the quantity. You can be in bed for eight hours and still feel drowsy the next day if your sleep is frequently interrupted during the night.
Try these tips to sleep better: Create an ideal sleep environment. Your sleep space should be dark, quiet, comfortable and cool. Think about using dark shades, earplugs, eyeshades, and subtle background noise such as humidifiers or fans. Follow a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, including weekends. Consistency reinforces your body’s sleep-wake cycle and promotes better sleep. Give yourself time to unwind. Create a relaxing routine before bedtime. Consider taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book or listening to soothing music. You also might try meditation or prayer to relax. Turn off the screens. Dedicate 30 to 60 minutes before you go to sleep as time away from your electronic devices. Minimizing the bright light exposure gives your brain the time it needs to get sleepy. Use your bed for sleep. Don’t eat, work, use your phone, watch TV or do anything in bed that may keep you from relaxing and getting good sleep. Get regular physical activity. Regular physical activity can promote better sleep by helping you fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper sleep. Exercise earlier in the day, if possible. Avoid caffeine. Avoid consuming caffeine 10 hours before you want to fall asleep and avoid alcohol before bed, as it disrupts sleep. If you follow these tips and still find yourself constantly craving sleep and feeling fatigued, talk to your health care provider to make sure that there isn’t an underlying sleep disorder.
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Amid the coronavirus, should young adults move back in with mom and dad? Many are saying yes By Benjamin Oreskes Los Angeles Times (TNS) LOS ANGELES — Andres Vidaurre’s story is a lot like those of the many young adults who make their way to Los Angeles in search of work and a vibrant, diverse city to call home. The 27-year-old Houston native moved here two years ago after attending Notre Dame University and settled down in a five-bedroom home in northeast Los Angeles that he found on Craigslist. He has roommates — 22 to be exact. Each tenant pays $580 a month and each room has several bunk beds. Vidaurre loved the vibe, and so when the house manager moved out, he took over the role, which allowed him to live there for free. The additional work came with a new set of headaches, but his duties never included “pandemic response” — until last month. On March 14, one of his roommates texted to say he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and had moved back with his family in Fresno. Vidaurre delivered the news to his roommates. Almost everyone handled it calmly, he said. But there were a few exceptions, including one who started packing and left that night on a 13-hour drive back to his parents’ home in Oregon. But moving back in with his parents isn’t an option for Vidaurre, the way it might be for others in their mid-20s. His mom has an autoimmune disorder. “Going to Houston and coming into contact with them is really not a desire I have right now,” he said. “I just really hope 10
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they stay inside.” In the last month, as the headlines about the pandemic have become grimmer, young people in cities across the country have contemplated the possibility of moving home to live with their parents or extended family. Some of them can’t afford it. Others, like Vidaurre, worry that they might be asymptomatic and put their medically frail relatives at risk, as some reports suggest that infection is more likely to happen in clusters, such as with a family living under one roof. But many others are returning to their childhood bedrooms and setting up workstations in the dining room of homes where food — and support — are in ample supply. The trade-off is often living in a household where siblings are sleeping nearby and families are trying to figure out who will do a videoconference from what room. Decisions to stay or go have been made under pressure, sometimes in haste. For those who have moved home, it’s not clear how long they’ll be there. It’s highly unlikely that anyone was thinking about their emotional or financial independence, but their decisions could very well influence the way they and their parents navigate the world for the rest of their lives. Young people who are hunkered down far from their immediate families may be confronted with parents whose separation anxiety is growing. Subtle cues may be missed; estrangements may be amplified.
FUTURE ON HOLD
But no one can think about any of that right now. The future
will have to wait. Cole Gilbert, 26, says the seriousness of this pandemic sneaked up on him. As California schools closed and Gov. Gavin Newsom told people over age 65 to stay home, Gilbert said, he continued to live a “normal” life, going out for drinks March 14 at a packed bar in Venice, where he lives. Then, days later, Newsom asked restaurants to close to dine-in guests. Gilbert thought about his routine and started to worry about washing his clothes at the laundromat. “I didn’t want to go to the grocery store,” anticipating a long shut-in. “I feel like in a time of crisis, the places I retreat to are my comfort zones,” Gilbert said. So he grabbed his dirty clothes, his two dogs and headed to his parents’ place in Long Beach. Gilbert works as a production manager for his family’s aerospace finishing company. The Friday before he returned home, the company had furloughed half its staff as business dropped off. Gilbert wondered whether his move home might be permanent. After business started to pick up again, the company was able to bring employees back on and Gilbert surveyed the landscape. Living at home hasn’t been so bad. “I’m more of a grown-up now about everything,” he said. “Going home and realizing I have responsibilities at the house. Now that I’m their guest, I’m not treating it like my home. I’m trying to do my part,” running errands and buying groceries. Gilbert has given up his place in Venice and plans on being a Long Beach resident for the foreseeable future. But he swears it won’t be forever. As the novel coronavirus continues its assault, how should families deal with the return of adult children who considered themselves launched? Julie Lythcott-Haims is a former college administrator with two college-aged children who have returned to their Palo Alto home. Her 81-year-old mother lives in a small house on the back of the property and her 20-year-old son just came out of a 14-day quarantine after returning from Portland, where he lives and works. The author of “How to Raise an Adult,” Lythcott-Haims said there’s a fine balance that parents need to strike between communicating the seriousness of following rules and young people’s desire for the independence they had when they were living on their own. “Everybody is accustomed to greater autonomy and freedom, and now we’re in an environment where everyone is supposed to be locked down,” she said. “We kind of want to be sure everybody is abiding by the rules, and yet we’re all adults here. So I think there’s a lot of walking on eggshells about serious issues.” Lythcott-Haims says this all fundamentally comes down to trust — whether the person has returned home or not. For young adults who are far away from family, it’s also a fraught time. When twentysomethings are separated in moments like this, she says, they become more like peers with their parents. Trust comes when parents and adult children are able to have honest conversations about the risks they are facing and the
precautions they are taking. “I think they’re both worried about each other and they’re both having compassion for each other and wanting to check up and check in,” Lythcott-Haims says. “But inherently, each is required to look after oneself, which I think develops agency and resilience in those young adults who did not return home.” In the middle of last month, Milwaukee native Ben Levey had a frank should-I-stay-or-should-I-go discussion with his mother. Both of his parents have had health issues. “I was potentially worried about being asymptomatic and getting her sick,” Levey said of his mother. “That’s scary because you really don’t know.” His regular Friday night Shabbat dinners with friends in Washington, D.C., had started to change. Instead of ripping the challah bread with their hands, as is custom, Levey and his friends cut it with a knife and kept some distance from one another. The 24-year-old stopped taking the train to his job at a nonprofit. As it became clear that he could work from home, Levey decided that his best bet was to pack up his car and make the 13- hour drive back home to Wisconsin. Now, he’s living in a room where he hasn’t spent much time since he was 17. He has claimed the living room as his workspace. His younger brother also is home from college and taking his classes via Zoom. “We’re four adults in a house in the suburbs,” which feels just a little more cramped than it has in the past, Levey said. “My dad has the back office. I got the living room and my mom is in the bedroom.”
IMPLICATIONS
Lucy Putnam, 23, didn’t have to travel far to get home. Still, it was a decision that gave her pause as she wrestled with the implications of getting her parents or siblings sick. Putnam’s roommates at her apartment near Beverly Grove had been on the go, not paying much attention to social distancing before it was mandated. “I had been interacting with my roommates,” she said, so she asked her parents, “Would you prefer (for) me to stay in my apartment? I’m young and it won’t affect me.’” No, her mother said, please come home. Putnam, who works in film and TV development and can work from home, is grateful to have the means and the ability to ride this out in her childhood bedroom in West L.A. There was, however, the challenge of having a boyfriend, who had been coming and going from the house, which worried her parents. He eventually returned to his family’s home on the East Coast. Three weeks into the stay-at-home order in Los Angeles, Vidaurre’s circle of roommates continues to shrink and his anxiety growing. It turned out the housemate who returned to Fresno had not been infected with the coronavirus. He had influenza. There are still about 15 people living in the house in northeast L.A. Continued on Page 18 fb/eburgmoms
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Children need more screen time right now, professor says 12
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By Godwin Kelly The News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla. During this time of social distancing and stay-athome government mandates to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many children of all ages have increased their daily screen time. Not to worry, says Chris Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University and an expert in media effects, such as video gaming and virtual reality. Ferguson said during this strange period in history that additional screen time for children is healthy so they may maintain their social contacts and interact with their peer groups. “As long as it is kept in balance with other activities that kids need to do,� Ferguson said in an interview from his
home in Orlando. “One of the things that will face all of us right now, whether it’s the kids or adults, is social isolation. “We can’t spend face time with friends or with community groups or go to parties. We know that type of isolation can actually have some negative mental health consequences.” Social media screen time, which has been cursed in the past by experts in the field, now has become something of a Godsend for the mental health of children, especially those in the preteen and teenager categories. “One of the ways for kids to alleviate that isolation and maintain
their friendships in social relationships is through screens, such as playing with other kids through video games online, interact with their smart phone with social media,” Ferguson said. Ferguson said he is not recommending “unmitigated screen time” for children, but giving them a chance to communicate with their friends, which they would normally see at school or other social functions. “We want to make sure that kids are getting some time to exercise, that kids get their school work done and they get adequate sleep every night,” he said. “Children need at from eight to 10
hours of sleep at night. We don’t want screen time dominating their lives, but in terms of limiting kids to one or two hours of screens at this point is pretty far down the list of things parents should be worried about.” They also need exercise. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation children ages 8-18, before the pandemic, were spending an average of 7.5 hours in front of a screen daily, just for entertainment, according to a report on cdc.gov. The CDC recommends kids get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. “You can put screens into different boxes,” he said. “Obviously, kids are going to be spending a lot of time on screens for school and that should not count. That’s school and should not count as recreational screen time. “Parents might need to relax a bit and accept their kids are probably going to spend more time on screens now than they might during a normal period of our history.” Ferguson said the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely change social behavior in years to come. People will likely avoid large crowds and favor smaller gatherings of folks they know. “We don’t really know what this virus is going to do to our society yet,” he said. “I think we can reasonably suggest it’s going to change things and we’ll do things differently. We just don’t know what.” fb/eburgmoms
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How to make your own hand sanitizer at home By Lisa Boone Los Angeles Times When it comes to protecting yourself from the novel coronavirus, you already know what to do: Stay home and keep your hands clean by washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds — and keep your hands away from your face. But what happens when you have to leave the house to go grocery shopping or pump gas and don’t have access to soap and water? Hand sanitizer is the next best option, although health officials stress that it’s not a replacement for washing your hands with soap and water. That hasn’t stopped the demand for hand sanitizer, 14
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which has flown off store shelves much like bottled water and toilet paper. The demand has been so great, in fact, that EBay has forbid the sale of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes in the wake of egregious price gouging. With hand disinfectant difficult to find, people are now making their own, thanks to a variety of recipes and tutorials available online and on YouTube. So if you can’t find hand sanitizer, don’t panic. The World Health Organization has published a recipe and step-by-step guide online, (originally made available to help countries with limited resources to clean water and towels) with ingredients you may already have in your medicine cabinet:
The WHO formula for DIY hand sanitizer· INGREDIENTS:
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Pour the alcohol into a glass container. 2. Add hydrogen peroxide. 3. Add glycerin and stir vigorously to combine as it is much thicker than alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. 4. Add sterilized water or the cooled boiled water and stir. 5. Pour into spray bottles. 6. Let the bottles rest for 72 hours. This will kill any bacteria that might be present, especially if you are reusing the containers. That’s it.
• 1 cup of 99.8% isopropyl alcohol • 1 tablespoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide • 1 teaspoon of 98% glycerin • ¼ cup of sterile distilled water or boiled water that has cooled
For hand sanitizer to be effective, the CDC recommends an overall content of least 60% alcohol. That means that if you make your own formula with 70% isopropyl alcohol instead of 99%, your do-it-yourself hand sanitizer won’t be strong enough to fight COVID-19. (You can also use ethanol in place of isopropyl alcohol, but it must be at least 180 proof ). The formula is simple, but the ingredients are in short supply. My neighborhood Walgreens had glycerine in stock
Sunday, but was sold out of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. The items were also sold out at CVS. Don’t presume the ingredients will be at the store if you see them online as the availability was not accurate. A Walgreens employee said the items have been in great demand due to the interest in home-brewed hand sanitizers but are generally restocked three times a week. So if you want to make your own formula, it may require some patience.
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How to help your marriage survive coronavirus By Jessica Roy Los Angeles Times Everyone’s living situation is challenging right now. People who are socially isolating alone are feeling, well, isolated. Roommates, in addition to the normal squabbles over dishes and whose turn it is to take out the trash, may be discovering the person they met eight months ago on Craigslist doesn’t share their philosophy on what constitutes social distancing or an essential activity. But the coronavirus outbreak and ensuing shutdown situation can be uniquely hard on marriages. People living alone can move in with someone else when this is over. Roommates can white-knuckle it through quarantine and plan to part ways once the lease is up. But if you’re married, and had planned to stay that way before the global pandemic took hold, you might find yourself thinking, “Who did I marry? And do I really have to live with this person forever?” Though there have been jokes about a “coronavirus baby boom,” in China, there has been a post-pandemic divorce boom. Darby Saxbe, an associate professor of psychology at USC and the director of the USC Center for the Changing Family, says we can probably expect one here too. “For couples that have a healthy relationship, that are doing pretty well, there are some ways this could bring people 16
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closer together. Everybody is stressed but in some ways this might lead to some relationship improvements for couples that figure out how to weather this,” said Saxbe, whose work includes research on stress within family relationships. “But for couples who are struggling or don’t communicate as well or don’t share the same values, this situation is going to drive a wedge or exacerbate whatever tension is already there.” Part of the reason we’re susceptible to driving each other up the wall is that we’re all trapped in the same walls, all the time. Most modern American living spaces aren’t designed for that. “Our homes are set up to relax and unwind at the end of the day, where we get ready to head out in the morning, staging areas for weekend activities,” Saxbe said, “but for many people you are not used to spending all day every day inside a home space. Like any place that you’re occupying without a break or interruption, it can become tedious or confining.” And spending that much time together in the same space might be magnifying existing inequalities that were easier to ignore when most of your waking hours were spent elsewhere. In many households, the division of labor is uneven, and women tend to do the bulk of the housework and childrearing in heterosexual couples. Prior to coronavirus, some of that labor could be outsourced: daycare, babysitters, house cleaners, going out to eat instead of creating another round
of dishes at home. But now, all of the responsibilities fall squarely on the adults in the house. The more glaring the inequality in the division of chores, the more the person taking on the bulk of them may start to chafe. “If one person was really taking care of more of the chores, that’s becoming very clear,” said Jennifer Peepas, who writes the advice blog Captain Awkward. “The things that were not being said and not being handled are going to come to light.” And a lot of what Saxbe described as “escape valves” that we use to get away from household stress — going to the gym, getting a manicure, going to the movies, visiting friends or relatives — are unavailable. Even small pleasures like wandering the aisles of Target or sampling the Costco cuisine now go against public health recommendations. With everyone eating three meals a day and spending all of their recreational time at home, dishes and clutter pile up faster, and it all feels more in-your-face when it’s, well, right there in your face. We’re also encountering our spouses in new ways: Suddenly, their persona at work and their persona outside of it have collided. That can be a little jarring. Other households are contending with job loss and money concerns. Millions of Americans have filed for unemployment in recent weeks. Households may need to renegotiate domestic responsibilities at the same time they’re dealing with the emotional and financial fallout of losing a job, on top of the possibility of sick loved ones or getting sick themselves. (In some cases, the added stress has escalated domestic violence situations. Even with widespread shutdowns due to coronavirus, there are resources available for people experiencing violence at home. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call 800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline or L.A. County’s hotline at 800-978-3600.) It’s a lot to deal with. But experts have some advice for helping your marriage survive coronavirus. CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALONE TIME You have to share a house, but you don’t have to be together all the time. Each family member should have a place they can retreat to where they won’t be bothered. “Make a joint decision with your spouse that some time is together time and some time is alone time, even if we must de facto be together,” Peepas, the advice blog writer, said. “Have ‘dates,’ have plans to do together, and have time that’s like, ‘This is not together time. I’m not here, you’re not here.’” Be intentional about getting your own alone time and giving it to others. It might feel a little awkward if you previously had an open-door no-knocking policy in your house, but it’s worth making the extra effort to be more conscientious housemates right now. COMMUNICATE Open communication is more important than ever. If something’s bothering you, don’t expect your partner to read your mind. It’s better to be proactive and get ahead of things than to let resentment build up and explode when you’re both already in bad moods. “It’s really hard for couples to negotiate chores and workload on the fly, in the moment,” Saxbe said. “To whatever extent couples can try to plan ahead and in calm moments say,
‘OK, we’re eating all our meals inside the house and we need to divvy up who’s doing the cooking and dishes or we’re going to go nuts,’ even the old-fashioned chore wheel or spreadsheet or a visual reminder that gets people on the same page, hammering out those systems can be really important.” You can’t control other people’s moods, but you can take more time to be aware of your own. If you feel yourself getting heated or upset, find some of that critical alone time: Take a bath, go for a walk or a drive, or just announce that you’re going to be in the other room for a little while and you’d like to be left alone. LET GO OF PERFECTIONISM In a perfect and coronavirus-free world, a couple of months of working from home without any social obligations would be the ideal time to declutter the garage, repot all your plants, teach the kids to play chess, reorganize the pantry and finally finish a few big projects around the house. But we don’t live in that world. Let go of what your ideal self would be doing right now and embrace what your actual self is doing to cope under extraordinary circumstances. “Nobody’s going to win any parenting awards right now, no one’s going to win any housework awards,” Saxbe said. “We’re all trying to get through this one day at a time and not compare ourselves to other people or have really rigid expectations for how we’re going to perform. I think it’s important to not just apply that generosity to ourselves but to our partners. They’re going to disappoint us and we’re going to have to find ways to live with that.” Accept that this is a strange time and everyone is just doing their best — including you. “It’s OK if you’re not OK and you’re not feeling OK and if you don’t feel like you’re ‘rising to the occasion,’” Peepas said. “It’s OK if what you’re doing right now is kind of trying to keep yourself alive and keep your (stuff ) together a little bit.” BE KIND TO EACH OTHER, AND TO YOURSELF It sounds cheesy but the magic words we learned in kindergarten will go a long way right now. “‘Please.’ ‘You’re welcome.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ Those words make a huge difference to creating a sense of request rather than demand, creating a sense of someone has a choice whether to help you, rather than you just expecting that things happen,” said Lizzie Post, the president of the Emily Post Institute as well as the author of several books — and co-host of a podcast — about modern etiquette. “Everyone is in this and everyone is handling it a little differently,” Post said. When you’re communicating with your partner about a tricky subject, break out another classic: “I” statements. Instead of “the bathroom is disgusting and it’s all your fault,” try, “I feel stressed out and overwhelmed when the bathroom is this messy. It would mean a lot to me if you could tackle that tonight.” Disagreements will happen. The schedule that worked perfectly for you, your spouse and your kids last week might fall to pieces this week. People like routines and consistency, and that’s all been ripped away from us. It’s OK that you’re stressed out about it. The most important thing you can do right now is to practice compassion — toward your spouse and for yourself.
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With that many people in close quarters, Vidaurre feels like he constantly needs to clean dishes in the communal kitchen. When someone else begins cleaning, he wonders if the cutlery he just left to dry has been contaminated. “It just increases the paranoia so much,” he said. “If it were possible to transition to living alone and creating an environment that can be clean and safe, I would do that.” Vidaurre plans to be out of the house by the end of the month. He and one of his roommates, Oko Carter, 30, share a box of disposable masks. As with Vidaurre, Carter returning to his family isn’t an option. Both his grandparents are over 70 and not in great health. And his dad is a truck driver transporting medical equipment in Florida. Carter’s dog-walking and dog-sitting business has dried up, but he has lived in Los Angeles for a decade, and he says that if he’s going to ride this out somewhere, it’s going to be here. For now, he shares a room with two other people — one of whom works at a local 7-Eleven. Some of his housemates have lost their jobs or are struggling in the gig economy. “The bedroom normally holds five people, but only three are here right now,” Carter says, sounding almost relieved. “It’s just been this feeling for those who have remained — it’s been a little sad seeing people who had work just have nothing.” Still, Carter remains optimistic. He notes what’s been written on the dry-erase board in the communal kitchen. “Keep your head up.”
NEED-TO-KNOW NUMBERS SERVICES
SERVICES
Ambulance/Fire/Police............................................911 Ambulance/Fire/Police. .......................................... 911 KITTCOM/Dispatch...........................................925-8534 KITTCOM/Dispatch ........................................925-8534 Kittitas County Sheriff.................................... Sheriff....................................962-7525 962-7525 Cle Elum office....................................... office....................................... 509-674-2584 State Patrol (west interchange). interchange)......................925-5303 ....................925-5303 Ellensburg Police Department. Department........................962-7280 ......................962-7280 Code enforcement. enforcement.....................................962-7282 ...................................962-7282 Cle Elum Police. Police....................................... 509-674-2991 Kittitas Police................................................. Police.................................................968-0222 968-0222 Public Works water maintenance................... maintenance...................962-7261 962-7261 After hours emergency. emergency..............................962-7230 ............................962-7230 Animal Shelter............................................... Shelter...............................................962-7246 962-7246 Energy Services electricity/light/natural gas/utility/maintenance........................... gas/utility/maintenance ...........................962-7124 962-7124 Energy Services After hours emergency. emergency..............................962-8534 ............................962-8534 Hazardous Substance Information........................................ 800-633-7585 Information Poison Control. Control........................................ 800-222-1222 Kittitas County Public Health Department.............................................. Department ..............................................962-7515 962-7515
Better Business Bureau.......................... Bureau.......................... 509-455-4200 Ellensburg Public Library. Library................................962-7250 ..............................962-7250 Carpenter Memorial Library................... Library................... 509-674-2313 Kittitas Public Library. Library.....................................968-0226 ...................................968-0226 Roslyn City Library................................. Library................................. 509-649-3420 Ellensburg Youth and Community Center................................... Center...................................92 92 5-8604
Kittitas Valley Community Hospital................ Hospital................962-9841 962-9841 KVH Cle Elum District 2.2...................... 509-674-5950 Cle Elum Urgent Care Clinic.................... Clinic.................... 509-674-6944 Children and Family Services. Services..........................962-7740 ........................962-7740 Child Health Insurance Program (general information)....................... information)....................... 877-543-7669 Child Abuse and Neglect Protective Services (CPS)............... (CPS) ...............962-7740 962-7740 or 24-hour, 800-562-5624 Immunization National Information Hotline.............................................. Hotline .............................................. 800-232-2522
SERVICES Cle Elum-Roslyn School District Administration.................................... 509-649-2393 Administration Cle Elum-Roslyn Elementary.............. Elementary.............. 509-649-3290 Walter Strom Middle School. School............... 509-649-3560 Cle Elum-Roslyn High School............. School............. 509-649-2291 Damman School District Damman Elementary. Elementary.................................962-9076 ...............................962-9076 Easton School District........................ District........................ 509-656-2317 Ellensburg Christian School...................... School......................925-2411 925-2411 Ellensburg School District Administration............................................925-8000 Administration .........................................925-8000 Community Schools................................... Schools...................................925-8017 925-8017 Lincoln Elementary School. School.........................925-8050 .......................925-8050 Mt. Stuart Elementary School.................... School....................925-8400 925-8400 Valley View Elementary. Elementary..............................925-7316 ............................925-7316 Morgan Middle School............................... School...............................925-8200 925-8200 Ellensburg High School.............................. School..............................925-8300 925-8300 Kittitas School District Kittitas Elementary.................................... Elementary....................................968-3014 968-3014 Kittitas Middle School................................ School................................968-3902 968-3902 Kittitas High School. School....................................968-3902 ..................................968-3902 Thorp School District. District..................................964-2107 ................................964-2107
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Local Parks Cle Elum City Park West Second Street & Reed Ave. Features: Picnic shelter, barbecues, restrooms, playground equipment, horseshoe pits
McElroy Park 1703 Brick Rd. Features: Walking trails, pond, natural areas, picnic tables, natural play structure
CWU Community Fields 18th Ave. & Alder St. Features: Softball fields, soccer/multipurpose fields, restrooms
Memorial Neighborhood Park 700 N. Poplar St. Located next to the pool Features: Picnic shelter, children’s play structure, basketball, open turf area
Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park Umptanum Road and I-90 Features: Boat landing, lake swimming (no lifeguard), sand volleyball, picnic and barbecue facilities, hiking/biking trails, grass areas, dog park, restrooms Iron Horse Park Sixth Street and Milwaukee Street, South Cle Elum (access points throughout county) Features: Access to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, bird watching, fly fishing, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing Kiwanis Neighborhood Park “A” Street & 14th Ave. Features: Picnic shelter, children’s play structure, basketball hoop/court, junior baseball field, restrooms Lake Easton State Park I-90 Exit 70, Easton Features: Open year-round for camping, hiking trails, cross country, snowmobiling Lions/Mt. View Community Park 1200 E. Seattle St. Features: Soccer fields, baseball field, roller hockey rink, picnic shelter, barbecues, toddler and youth play structures, swings, restrooms 20
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North Alder Park 2400 N. Alder Street Features: Picnic shelters, playground equipment, trails, turf area, restrooms Paul Rogers Wildlife Parks Judge Ronald Road Features: Trails with natural setting Reed Neighborhood Park 1200 E. Fifth Ave. Located at the top of Craig’s Hill Features: Views of Ellensburg and Kittitas Valley, turf areas, picnic tables Roslyn City Park Third Street & Idaho Ave. Features: Picnic tables, gazebo shelter, restrooms, softball field and tennis court, swings Rotary Park 1200 W. Fifth Ave. Features: Multi-use fields, full-sized softball/baseball fields, youth baseball fields, walking trail, play structure, dog park, bathroom and parking lot Skate Park Second and Pearl Street Features: Ramps and jumps for skate boarders
South Cle Elum Firemen Park Madison Avenue and Main Street Features: Picnic tables, shelter, barbecues, restrooms Wanapum State Park I-90 Exit 136, Vantage Featuring: Picnic area, swimming, boating, fishing, camping, trails. West Ellensburg Neighborhood Park 900 W. Third Ave. Features: Picnic shelter, children’s play structure, tennis court, restrooms, youth baseball fields, full-sized softball fields, full-sized baseball fields, walking/bike trail Wippel Neighborhood Park 400 W. Elliott St. Features: Picnic and barbecue facilities, basketball, open turf area
Empowering the community.
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Mayo Clinic Q And A: Staying healthy while teleworking Mayo Clinic News Network DEAR MAYO CLINIC: With social distancing guidelines in place due to COVID-19, I’ve been working from home for a few weeks, and I can tell it’s already taking a toll on my health. I feel more tired and less motivated to exercise and eat well, even though I have more time for both. What should I be focusing on to stay healthy while being stuck at home? ANSWER: While staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial part of stopping the spread of the virus, it may disrupt many of your usual routines and make it harder to maintain healthy habits. But even when you’re spending most of your time at home, there are still lots of ways you can weave wellness into your daily activities. You mention that you’re more tired than usual. That’s not surprising during these days of uncertainty and stress. One key way to boost your energy is to get a good night’s sleep. This period of time, when social distancing is forcing many people to work from home, actually can be a good opportunity to make healthy sleep a priority. Go to bed around the same time every night — close to the time you typically would when you’re not working from home. Then allow yourself a full seven to nine hours of sleep, which is the amount most healthy adults need. Without the pressure of arriving at work at a specific time, and no commute to navigate, you may find that a later wake-up time and a slower start to the day ease some of your stress and fatigue. If falling asleep at night is a challenge because it’s hard to shut off stressful or worrisome thoughts, try daily meditation. It doesn’t have to be a formal practice. Meditation can be simply five to 10 minutes of intentional focus, during which you calm your mind and minimize random thoughts. There are many forms of meditation, but most share a quiet setting, a comfortable position, focused attention and an open attitude. 22
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Research has shown that, over time, daily meditation can improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, and lessen fatigue. You may try searching online for “free meditation app” to see if there is a program that will work well for you. Exercise is a crucial part of staying healthy, especially during stressful times. When you don’t feel motivated, keep in mind that you don’t need to do a full-body workout every day to reap the benefits of exercise. Get outside and take a walk or go for a bike ride — all while continuing to follow social distancing guidelines. Not only will you be physically active, but also you’ll get a change of scenery from your home office, which can boost your mood. Now also is a good time to mix up your exercise routine. If you have exercise equipment you haven’t put to use for a while, dust it off and hop on. Many online and app-based exercise programs are offering free trials now, making it an opportune time to try something new. Maintaining a healthy diet is always an important part of wellness, but even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. With more time on your hands and fewer options to dine out, this could be a good chance to try some dietary changes that can make a difference in your overall health. Those changes don’t have to be big, and they don’t need to involve elaborate meal plans. For example, you might try eating more whole foods, incorporating a meatless meal into your routine once or twice a week, reducing your intake of processed foods, and eating more fruits and vegetables. As you think about ways to stay healthy, keep in mind that the COVID-19 pandemic is changing quickly. Stay informed and get your information from reliable sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Mayo Clinic. Elizabeth Cozine, M.D., Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
521 East Mountain View Ave. Ellensburg, WA 98926
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Dr. Neal is Kittitas County’s First Pediatric Dentist Serving the Community Since 2013 315 N Sprague Street Ellensburg, WA 98926 509-933-2973
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