Legalectric

This is so disturbing to me, I wrote about it before I became speechless — in the Red Wing Republican Eagle:

Letter: Willful disregard and willful ignorance in Pierce County

I’m fuming. I just read with shock and disbelief that there’s a second case of COVID-19 in Pierce County. The cause of my shock and disbelief stems from the article which said that, “band and choir students were in New Orleans March 9-14, which also was spring break. The person attended the senior high school choir trip, according to the message.”

A school trip March 9-14? COVID was in the news in January and February. There were very public self-isolation and social distancing recommendations, including warnings not to travel, the first week of March. Yet the Ellsworth trip went forward the second week of March?

This display of willful ignorance and willful disregard for people’s health, perhaps their lives, is hard to accept. School administrators, trip organizers and the school board are responsible for the health and safety of those in their care. Parents are responsible for their children. The “children” are senior high students, some maybe “adults,” but in any case, old enough to be thinking for themselves. The responsibility for this ill-advised trip is a shared responsibility.

Thinking “it can’t happen here” or “it won’t happen to me”? There is no rational basis for such ideas, and science says otherwise, it can and will happen. Look around. It is happening, it is happening to people you ostensibly care about, and it is happening to the community around you.To go forward on a school trip when there’s a burgeoning pandemic with isolation, distancing, and no-travel recommendations, it is just so irresponsible. It goes beyond poor judgment – it is willful disregard and willful ignorance – selfish “me first” disregard and ignorance that puts people in harm’s way.

Get to work to fix this mess. What are you doing to help your friends and neighbors who are now or who will become sick, for those who are quarantined and unable to care for themselves? It’s time for continuing education in science, situational ethics, critical thinking, and public health for the district officials, staff, and students alike, with a healthy dose of public service.

Carol A. Overland

Red Wing

I’m having this “WTF WERE THEY THINKING?” experience. The Ellsworth School District had a choir and band trip that LEFT on March 9, returned on March 14, to New Orleans. This trip LEFT after the pandemic was blooming, after recommendations to self-isolate and for social distancing. There’s just no excuse for this, putting people at risk. And now, the second person from that trip has been officially diagnosed with COVID.

Update: Pierce County COVID-19 cases now number three

From the article:

Band and choir students were in New Orleans March 9-14, which also was spring break. The two people attended the senior high school choir trip, according to the message.

The group consisted of 44 students, 14 parents and two teaching staff, the email said. When the group left on March 9, all Wisconsin schools were still in session. The group returned the day after the governor’s Friday afternoon announcement closing schools and five days prior to the actual mandatory closing of Wisconsin schools.

Listen to this rationalization and denial:

“The trajectory of the virus changed dramatically from the time in which the group left to their point of return. At the time in which the group left for the trip to New Orleans, the State of Louisiana was not listed as an area of community spread. The first case in Louisiana was actually reported on March 9th, the day the group left,” the district email reads. “Spring break was a time in which many of our families traveled throughout the country and to other countries. Due to the many changes that took place in an extremely short period of time, the decision was made to not have all district students return to school after spring break for the three days available prior to the governor’s closing date of March 18, 2020. ”

Is “self-isolation” and “social distancing” so hard to understand? “Do not travel” is pretty self-explanatory. Putting people at risk like this is so wrong, living in denial is no excuse. Willful ignorance, willful disregard…

CDC Recommendation – Masks – accessed 4/10/2020

SUAY Community Mask Coalition – click for mask pattern and instructions

ANOTHER PATTERN: What might be the best, fits better, but use bands or ties rather than those small hair ties that are so painful for ears!

More patterns from THIS PAGE:

mask 1 regular size with pocket.pdf

mask 2 large pattern.pdf

mask 2 regsize pattern.pdf

mask 2 child pattern.pdf

CLICK HERE – A SIMPLE FOLDING NO-SEW BANDANA, JUST ADD A REMOVABLE FILTER CUT FROM A HEPA VACUUM BAG!

Pattern for one above HERE!

Here’s video on how to make an easy square and pleated one!

And scroll way down for ear savers!

New York Times Mask Pattern and directions

This one has the most detailed instructions, and design is more intricate:

Here’s the NORTH MEMORIAL PATTERN

Another style I made:

And this one, recommended by a hospital that was asking for volunteers to make them — and then it was removed. Note that they only want them partially made, but the video shows how to make the whole thing, and MOST IMPORTANT, at the end of the video is info on FILTERS, and they recommend using replaceable HEPA vacuum cleaner bags (NOT HEPA air filters or furnace filters).

HEPA VACUUM BAGS DO NOT CONTAIN FIBERGLASS:

https://www.vacuumcleanermarket.com/news/do-vacuum-bags-contain-fiberglass/

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/is-it-safe-to-make-a-diy-mask-out-of-a-vacuum-bag-debate-erupts.html

https://www.ezvacuum.com/ezvacs-answers/does-vacuum-cleaner-bags-contain-fiberglass/

The design is such that you can replace the filter easily. And the video has been removed… just great… it was very well done. Anyway, here’s directions and a pattern. I think something like this is a whole lot better than running around shopping in a bandana (HANDS UP, DON’T SHOOT!).

I LIKE THIS PATTERN BEST, GREAT FIT, WITH DIRECTIONS (but with hair headbands, not the small elastic hairbands):

On the above pattern, I cut 4 of the large piece, and 2 of the small, the small open for a filter if desired, I use a cut up HEPA vacuum cleaner bag, but even a coffee filter works.

I don’t really like these kind below, because the ear elastic is painful, but they’re pretty easy to make, I’ve made a few of these the pleated square type, and I took out the blue hair elastic to put in headbands go around my head:

Here is the elastic sewed on the edges of the simple pleated mask:

This is one of the square ones with three pleats, a filter pocket, and an added bandana touch at the bottom!

And to save your ears from those elastic bands, you can also do something like this, or sew buttons onto a hat or shield:

From the STrib: Tracking Coronavirus in Minnesota

Just do it — no excuses. Neighbors, relatives, friends, need to help each other get through this, self-isolation and social distancing is not easy, and is for sure nearly impossible for too many. HELP AS YOU CAN!

Coronavirus and the Sun: a Lesson from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic