Connecticut Green Living

I caught this substitute teaching. I have a weird feeling in my chest, sort of a cool sensation, but I can breathe. I came down with a sore throat Thursday, tested negative for Covid , then negative again Friday. But after heavy congestion and a hoarse voice, my brother said, "You sound like me when I had it, but maybe it was from being out in the cold." I had waited 25 minutes for a bus when it was about 17 degrees out. I would not find out till this morning, though, that I'm Covid-positive. After avoiding this successfully since we first learned of the novel virus, my time had come. I even predicted it on New Year's Eve in my annual vision collage, with a single word "Covid." I knew that as a substitute teacher in New Haven, in classroom after classroom with largely unmasked kids and staff and no regular testing, it would only be a matter of time. Is this how we have to live? If the schools were testing kids regularly with rapid tests and providing staff u...

At a job interview, a woman was told by the interviewer that not only had she had Covid, but it had been virulent. "I ended up in the hospital, felt like I couldn't breathe." The applicant wanted to feign sympathy, but was only feeling fear. 'How do I get out of here?' The interviewer continued: "But that was months ago. I'm fine now." Relief? Another time, an employee questioned a hybrid work policy. "You are to come in more than once a week," she and her colleagues were told in a Zoom call. When she asked what that meant, the manager shot back, "just what I said." We are living in an age none of us imagined, and the business world is not out to protect us any more than it has protected coal miners from pneumoconioses and silicosis, explosions or chemical hazards. In 2019, who among us would have considered a food service or reporting job risky, let alone a trip to a largely unmasked Walgreen's or Kroger? At the start of the...

In an hour-long call with the National Press Club today, Dr. Anothony Fauci covered seven tenets of the current pandemic and how we can work towards a healthier future: epidemiology, virology, transmission, diagnostics, clinical course, therapeutics and vaccines. Dr. Fauci has been director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984; he is a scientist and chief medical adviser to President Biden,and has served multiple previous Administrations including former President Trump’s. He also said because he is fully vaccinated he would not be afraid to fly now, but only if he had to. He does not recommend anyone fly strictly for pleasure now as we have plateaued at 60,000 cases a day, and with the numbers having inched up he greatly fears a fourth wave is imminent. In conversation with National Press Club President Lisa Matthews, Fauci reiterated that the Covid-19 pandemic is the worst epidemic since the 1918 flu, which he cited as claiming 50- to 100 mi...

It still irks me when I recall that someone told me I could not afford home grocery delivery. This happens to be the truth, but it was almost like telling me, "You can't afford to survive. You can't afford the life raft." I just wrote an article about how SNAP, the nation's food stamps program, is starting to roll out at-home deliveries in states like New York. This is a blessing for underserved communities which include the elderly, the "poor" and people like me. People whose income has gone up and down and is now down so they are on food stamps. Everyone deserves to survive this pandemic. When I quit my position at a food market it was after spending a day cleaning shopping carts and checking out probably two hundred customers. I loved my customers (for the most part) there, but realized the next day that my life was at risk. One customer had even stopped to whisper, "Oh, you have to do the cleaning..." I smiled and said, "Yes, it's ...

"These are the times that try men's souls ..." - Thomas Paine. Although Thomas Paine was referring to an entirely different crisis in 1776, during this health emergency we are in a similar way forced to come together for our country ... and our world. We are forced to stop thinking only of ourselves while at the same time steeling ourselves for worsening crises. We are faced with the unknown, and we know that some will fall and others survive. Whether you are overloading grocery carts with Charmin or practicing Zen meditation, this health crisis has gone viral. Perhaps in the 21st century we will have to abandon that phrase. Here in Connecticut we have seven reported cases , but because of testing shortages there is no way to know the true number. Nearby New York has the second-most Covid-19 cases in the country at 325*; Massachusetts has 108 reported cases. Schools are closing, as are libraries, public gatherings, Broadway. What is not closing, though, is the human...

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in New York has issued a very helpful statement addressing the mental health challenges we all face during this health crisis. They state: "Right now, many of us are worried about COVID-19 or Coronavirus . We may feel helpless about what will happen or what we can do. When things feel uncertain or when we don’t generally feel safe, it’s normal to feel stressed. Stress can be a normal reaction, but sometimes it can also take a toll on our mental health. We don’t always know it’s happening. You might feel more on edge than usual, angry, helpless or sad. You might notice that you are more frustrated with others or want to completely avoid any reminders of what is happening. For those of us who already struggle with our mental wellness, we might feel more depressed or less motivated to carry out our daily activities. It’s important to note that we are not helpless in light of current news events. We can always choose our respon...

In addition to freelance writing, I work part-time at an upscale market in Guilford, Connecticut. It has concerned me that I will have to go in and possibly expose myself to the virus, should an infected customer come through my line. I am not overly anxious about this, but anxiety will certainly grow the minute Guilford gets its fist confirmed case. Connecticut , as of today, has had two confirmed cases -- one of them a New York doctor who works at Bridgeport Hospital, and now a Wilton resident -- and those numbers will grow. How will the state's businesses respond to an outbreak and obvious need for employees to stay home? Seattle, Wash.-based Dorsey & Whitney is in the heart of the viral outbreak in the U.S., with the state suffering 136 cases so far, with 19 of them fatal*. They have put out a statement saying that the White House is considering deferring taxes for the cruise, travel and airline industries to help with the economic fallout, but more than that, the federa...

WASHINGTON (March 5, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a list of EPA-registered disinfectant products that have qualified for use against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 . “Using the correct disinfectant is an important part of preventing and reducing the spread of illnesses along with other critical aspects such as hand washing,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. He added that EPA is providing this information in "a public and transparent manner on disinfectant products to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 .” Products on EPA’s list of registered disinfectant products have qualified for use against COVID-19 through the agency’s Emerging Viral Pathogen program, according to a statement issued today. This program allows product manufacturers to provide EPA with data, even in advance of an outbreak, that shows their products work against more virulent viruses than SARS-CoV-2. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses, ...

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Social Care in the UK reported that they have administered 13,911 tests for Coronavirus , formally called Covid-19, of which 13,860 were negative and 51 positive. Journalist Chris Hayes of MSNBC retweeted this and pointed out that "For context this is 26 times the number of tests the US has run, as of the last publicly available info. But CDC isn’t making this data available." Scientists and their research are the best in the world right here in the States, but whether the tests are being rolled out quickly enough does remain to be seen. Researchers at Purdue, though, have come up with a possible test they would like to see move forward, though. Only a select number of state and local laboratories have permission from U.S. health officials to use diagnostic tests for COVID-19. If the virus is spreading nationwide, most communities do not have access to the necessary tests. Purdue University biomedical engineers have developed a hand...

As you probably know by now, the world is facing a pandemic in the form of Covid-19 whose course is uncertain except for the assurity that it will get worse before it gets better. According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN, if contracted it is 20 times as lethal as the flu, even though the annual flu is more pervasive. The older you are, the greater the chance that you will develop the most severe symptoms. Most people will not die from the virus if contracted, but so much is still unknown, as Dr. Gupta would be the first to say. I have looked at the maps and see that Africa, for example, obviously must have more cases of the virus than are shown. I also reckon that many people may be symptomatic and not reporting, either due to naivety, inability to report (perhaps they are in remote locations or there are financial/language barriers to their being able to report), or fear of being ostracized. The best place to find information about the Covid-19 pandemic (also called Coronavirus) is...