Daily Admin Update
Day 10
Please Stay Safe
Next week is spring break and to be honest, everything feels a little strange. In an effort to supply you with fun things to do with kids while STUCK in the house I have added some ideas and resources to the bottom of this newsletter. So, this newsletter goes from pandemic information to fun kids activities, a little disjointed I know.
Stay Home If You Can
“There are going to be a lot of people carrying and shedding the virus sometime this week … Taking everything together, this is a terrible week to be around other people,” wrote Forest Rohwer, a scientist who studies viruses at San Diego State University, in an email to colleagues that spread beyond the college community to websites like Facebook and Reddit.
Rohwer, who studies viruses in people and in the ocean, didn’t intend for the email to reach the public. “It was just for academics in my lab, honestly, to tell them what it looks like and where we’re at,” he said. But he’s happy to elaborate on why he thinks the next few days are so important in the battle against the coronavirus in San Diego.
In an interview, he said this is an “inflection point” — “a crucial week to flatten the curve” — because models suggest that California in general and San Diego specifically are about two weeks away from exploding past the capacity of hospitals to treat coronavirus patients.
“If we don’t want to let this balloon out of control, we need to stop it literally right now,” he said. The growth in cases “becomes impossible to stop when it really starts going. That’s how those exponentials work.”
Written By
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego.
Hospitals Will Be Coming Up Short
The first curve, in blue, shows how fast COVID-19 could have spread with no official action. The second curve, in green, shows how quickly the virus might spread “if we can do the proper social distancing,” said Dr. Eric McDonald, a public health officer who oversees the county’s epidemiology department.
Both curves show that eventually the number of patients who need to be hospitalized may outstrip the number of hospital beds in San Diego County.
Great Ways To Take Care of Yourself
· Nike Run Club – Free app that allows you to track your run, can be used for outdoor running or on a treadmill
· Peloton – You do not need a Peloton to take advantage of this app, free for 90 days and they offer bike, treadmill, yoga and meditation classes
· Headspace – Meditation resource
· Talkspace – Free therapist-led support group
Working At Home Ergonomically
With many of us now working from home preventing the spread of Coronavirus, remember that your improvised workspace still needs to take good care of your body. Whether you have a dedicated office in your home, a kitchen table or the sofa, pay attention to the ergonomic set up for work you do at home.
Choose a dedicated area to set up your device at a height where elbows are level with the spacebar of the keyboard. This becomes difficult when using a tablet or laptop because of the screen height. If using a laptop for extended periods (over 30 minutes), elevate the device on two reams of paper or a monitor riser and use an external keyboard and external mouse. If you are actually using your laptop on your lap, place a pillow under the computer to elevate the screen a bit and open the monitor to an angle for comfortable viewing. If the screen is below eye level, your head will follow your vision. Lock your elbows into your side and view the phone screen by bending your elbows and bringing the device up towards your head.
Keep track of the amount of sitting you do throughout the day. Change your posture often and remember that your best position is your NEXT position. Switch tasks, get up walk around for a few minutes. Set the timer on your device to remind you to get up or alternate sitting with standing. No matter where you are, your body was meant to be active. So, take the opportunity to get up and move at least every 30 minutes.
More Ideas For Spring Break
- Learn about recycling in your community and discover something new.
- Water your plants, pick weeds.
- Harvest seeds from fruits and replant them.
- Learn about composting and practice in your own garden.
- Hold gratitude circles at dinnertime.
- Call or FaceTime friends, Grandparents, or Grandfriends just to say hello.
- Make up a poem with a positive message.
- Write positive messages on Post-It Notes and place on mirrors in your house.
- Make Peace Rocks. Paint rocks with kind words and place them around town to delight your neighbors.
- Do household chores without being asked - make your bed, pick up your toys, clean your room/bathroom.
- Whenever possible, avoid time with people outside your family to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- Send letters or cards to Senior Homes, Memory Care or Hospice facilities since they are not able to have visitors at this time.
- Spend time taking care of your pet - feed them, brush them, walk them, clean up after them.
New To Chess? Learn it now for free!
Schools have been closing worldwide, and students are home with varying levels of coursework and free time. Chess is an amazing way for children to learn from home while enjoying themselves and connecting with their peers in a safe way. ChessKid has taught more children how to play chess than any other site in the world.
ChessKid has exciting, free features for kids: hosted tournaments, quirky computer bots to play against, hilarious videos from FunMasterMike, and tons of lessons! Chess helps children develop their mathematical skills while teaching patience and sportsmanship.
Let ChessKid help keep your kids engaged at home--and make sure they're ready to go back to school when the time comes. To keep up with regular ChessKid tournaments and events, bookmark our calendar! A livestream of FunMasterMike and the TiCher (with prodigy Tihon Chernyaev as co-host) will air this Wednesday on ChessTV.
Free check it out at https://www.chesskid.com/