Category: Coronavirus

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Community News Coronavirus Health Opinion Politics

No one would allow more pollution during a pandemic, would they?

Some people call them the Environmental Pollution Agency because the EPA is responsible for determining how much pollution an industry is allowed to emit before their pollution is deemed harmful to the environment and a health hazard, especially to the people who live nearby. Companies are issued permits that outline the rules to which a company can pollute and still operate within the law.

When done fairly, this process works pretty good. Of course, no amount of pollution is good and it’s virtually impossible for a smoke stack not toss out some pollutants.

Each state has an environmental agency that does the dirty work under EPA guidance at issuing these permits along with regulating industries to operate within the permit limits. When companies disobey, they get fined and if they continue to disobey, they can be put out of business.

Until now.

Categories
Business Coronavirus Opinion Technology

Would you like to be tracked by your Smartphone if you get COVID-19?

I took a little flack when I mentioned COVID-19 carriers should have to wear dayglow clothing so people could identify them. I’ve also written about countries tracking people using their Smartphone location data who should be in quarantine.

Since then, there’s been reports of issuing COVID-19 folks a card they’d keep in their wallet to identify them with the disease. Not sure how that helps anyone, but okay.

Since it’s unlikely any of those efforts will work, Google and Apple are teaming up to create an app that will perform ‘digital tracing’ of COVID-19 folks. I guess they figure if folks are too ashamed to identify themselves, they’ll let your phone identify you.

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Community News Coronavirus Government Health Opinion

Has Chester started COVID-19 testing yet?

On March 23, Mayor Kirkland sent out a press release saying he intended to request COVID-19 tests for Chester. Those aren’t my words. This is from his press release. https://wp.me/p2kkJO-75y

I don’t know if he still intends to request; has requested; had his request denied; or the tests are on the way. There hasn’t been an update on the city’s daily updates regarding his intent to request or another press release to update us. We’ve never heard from the Chester Bureau of Health. I don’t know where to turn for answers.

One thing is for certain. COVID-19 in Chester is on the rise.

  • April 8 – 14 cases.
  • April 9 – 28 cases.
  • April 16 – 61 cases.
  • April 17 – 71 cases.
Categories
Coronavirus Government Health Opinion

Black folks, pollution, the president, and coronavirus are a deadly cocktail

I think it’s old news by now that Black and Brown folks are not faring well with COVID-19 compared to Whites and Asians. A lot of environmental racism occurs in America which contributes to the health conditions of the people living around polluting industries and the president isn’t helping by rolling back EPA regulations.

Here’s quotes from a couple articles addressing the deadly cocktail…

Categories
Coronavirus Family

Karl Anthony-Townes mom dies from COVID-19

I saw an interview with NBA star Karl Anthony-Townes a couple weeks ago on Newsy talking about his mom in the hospital in a coma suffering from COVID-19. It was heartbreaking.

She died.

His father is recovering from COVID-19.

Thousands have died from COVID-19 and it really hits home when it’s someone you know. I don’t know Karl but he’s one of my favorite young players to watch. A North Jersey kid who many of us watched come up through the ranks.

I just pause to say how sad I am for him.

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/news/_/id/3136195/karl-anthony-towns

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Coronavirus Health Opinion

One critical group of hospital workers are being overlooked during coronavirus

Once upon a time, I was married to a hospital pharmacist where I learned a lot about a profession I knew little about. We’re all familiar with the drugstore pharmacist who fills our prescriptions and many hospitals have a pharmacy on the first floor which is a popular place to get your meds upon discharge from the hospital or during a trip to see your doctor who may be located in the hospital building.

Few of us interact with the pharmacist who distributes the meds for the patients of the hospital. It’s easy to not give any thought to where the little cup of pills the nurse brings you comes from. It’s the hospital pharmacist that make that happen.

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Opinion

DELCO COVID-19 map jumping 70 new cases a day

It seems like only a couple days ago Upper Darby was the only municipality in Delaware County in red. Now, 12 are red and they found a new color for Upper Darby when they topped 50 cases.

Chester sits at 8-cases which is trending toward 20 by the weekend (oh, I said I would stop predicting).

Let’s see how long Rutledge, Upland, Marcus Hook, and Lower Chichester can fend off the virus. 

With 70 news cases popping up in Delco each of the last 2-days, the curve isn’t getting any flatter. 

Stay home. Stay safe. 

Categories
Coronavirus

One funeral causes major coronavirus outbreak in Albany, Georgia

Albany, Georgia. The place I visited when I was 19-years-old and asked a lady for a dance, and she said no. We ended up getting married and had 3 children. Proves how I never take no for an answer. 

To read how that sleepy little southern town has been turned upside down thanks to one person coming to town for a funeral is a testament to how mean this virus can be.

Categories
Coronavirus Opinion

How accurate is the COVID-19 count?

I put as much faith in the COVID-19 count as I do the number the views this blog receives. Both are inaccurate although they both give you a sense of how things are trending. 

If I take a peek at blog’s stats, it’ll say a post has 25 views. Yet, if over 400 people subscribe and receive the post in their email and read it, those numbers never show up. If they forward the email to others, those numbers don’t show. I can think of a few more ways actual views don’t get counted, but overall, I can always tell which posts are trending over others, even though I know the actual view count is way off. 

With COVID-19, I heard a health care worker in NYC being asked if she thought the actual count was higher than reported. She answered, ‘By 10s of thousands.’ 

Categories
Coronavirus Health Opinion

How social distance and industrial safety training relate

Working several years in a refinery and other industrial settings qualified me to watch endless hours of safety videos; many over & over again. There’s one video that I remember more than all the rest and it metaphorically relates to the need for social distancing during the coronavirus.

This video instructs on the dangers of working in a confined space like an empty tank or vessel. It usually starts with methods on purging dangerous gases, testing to make sure it’s safe to go in, and keeping someone outside the vessel to watch you in case something goes wrong. Of course, since it’s a safety video, something goes wrong.