TOP O' THE MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Whoa, that was no 2-to-4! Looks like a different world out there, eh? But seize the moment... Who knows how long it'll last. The skies above us are drying out and it'll gradually become mostly sunny and beautiful. Temps into the mid-40s this afternoon, then dropping back into the 20s overnight. Winds from the northwest.In fact, here are the snow totals collected by the NWS in Burlington. 11 inches, Quechee! You go!Mink's looking mighty impressive, wouldn't you say? Sunday afternoon, Lorraine and Larry Kelly looked out at their W. Leb backyard and got this pic of the region's most famous den mother, who was out and about without cubs. They checked in with Andrew Timmins of NH Fish & Game. "Mink denned within a half mile of your residence and has just started moving about," he wrote. "She has 3 male cubs but likely stashes them when she travels to feed. I suspect she is looking for any available bird feeders, so hopefully folks are taking them down. Providing people keep food attractants properly stored, she and the public should be able to coexist without issue."Okay, on to, well, you know. First, the confirmed case numbers...
NH is up to 101, with its first death (in Hillsborough County). Grafton County cases now at 20, Sullivan still at 1.
VT is at 75, with 12 (that's four more from the day before) in Windsor County and 3 in Orange.
As VT Health Commissioner Mark Levine said yesterday, “As we have increased our testing capacity, we are having more positive tests. That should not be a surprise to anyone.”
Family practice doc Michael Lyons checks in with the following message: "Please stay home, and please practice good social distancing. First responders and health care workers are risking their own health and possibly their lives to take care of sick people in the Upper Valley. Want to do your part to contain this pandemic? Please stay home and be really good about social distancing.” In case you haven't seen the Washington Post animated graphic that explains why this is vital, it's pretty memorable. And so's this thread by a Columbia ER doc.“While we almost can’t stand the thought of him living apart from us, we are worried about the risk he poses to our family as he comes and goes from the hospital.” That was Rebecca Hanissian on the Lyme listserv, asking if anyone had separate space to sleep and shower for her husband, Jeff, who's an emergency doc at Valley Regional. The VN's Nora Doyle-Burr looks at the personal impact the crisis is having on health care and frontline workers. DHMC can now do its own testing. The test has been available since March 18, but protocols needed to be set in place. They can now test up to 1,000 people a day, but "because of the ongoing shortages of test collection supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE)," they write, they're limiting who can be tested to patients already within the system and health care workers (including first responders) who come in direct contact with patients.Dartmouth undergrads go to credit/no-credit for rest of term. Provost Joe Helble announced the move in a campus-wide email yesterday. He said that "uniform grading for this term only will be the best way to support all students, including those challenged by time zones and limited access to bandwidth or hardware, and those who may be providing care for family members," writes The Dartmouth. Grad students will continue with their regular grading systems.Fat Hat Clothing Co. turns to making face masks. "There are people everywhere who are doing this. This has just become a war effort. I hate to use the term, but a war effort," says Joan Ecker, founder and owner of the Quechee company. Using the pattern put out by DHMC, she and her family hope to turn out 50 masks a day using Fat Hat's sewing machines, says WCAX. In fact, says the VN, there are dozens if not hundreds of Upper Valleyites doing the same thing. “Anybody who knows how to use a sewing machine can do this,” says Hanover's Melissa Herman. And Woodstock's Got It Covered Upholstery has set a goal of making 2,000 masks after its main supplier backed out of sending fabric for its business. “I told myself if I go down, I go down doing something for the community,” says owner Efran Lebron."In the Upper Valley, we’re lucky...that we don’t necessarily have to rely on monolithic farms 3,000 miles away." That's writer Ken Davis on the Co-op blog, at the end of a deep look at what may be a tough spring and summer for produce from California and elsewhere. The problem? "Foreign workers are the backbone of seasonal labor, and COVID-19 has created a widespread shutdown of consulates that process agricultural H2-A visas in Mexico." Strawberry and lettuce farmers will probably be the first to feel the pinch.Oops. I inserted some extra gobbledygook in yesterday's link to the list of resources put together by Lyme librarian Judy Russell -- the one that includes state and federal websites, instructional videos, and a bunch more. Sorry about that, try it now...NH sets up medical overflow area in Manchester, looking at seven other locations around the state. The National Guard is converting a gym at SNHU with beds for as many as 250 patients, to be used by Elliot Hospital and Catholic Medical Center, "most likely for COVID-19 patients who have improved or are not facing complications," the Union Leader reports.“Apparently if an authoritarian puts on a lab coat then many libertarians will fall under their spell.” That was a Free State leader, Ian Freeman, on the Free Keene website announcing that the group would be ignoring limits on public gatherings and continuing to assemble for its weekly Sunday social meeting. Though they've had to move it from the restaurant where it used to be held to a place called the Bitcoin Embassy.This is pretty nifty. Vermont yesterday unveiled a public wifi map, with places you can go, park outside, and jump onto wifi. It's been a long-running project bringing together a series of state agencies, municipalities, libraries, and school districts... but it's come together at a really good time. Some networks need a password, but just click on the spot on the map and you'll find it. Oh, and the state's asking that you stay in your car while you use it.Phil Scott offers some tax relief. At a press conference yesterday, Vermont's governor announced that the state is pushing back the deadlines for businesses to file their rooms & meals, and sales & use taxes. Individuals also have until July 15 to file state income taxes. He also offered a warning: There are tougher restrictions on movement coming. "Vermonters should also expect steps, very, very soon, that will further reduce contact and direct more to stay at home in order to slow the spread," he said. "It's not a question anymore of 'if.' It’s a question of 'when.'"And said he's asked the National Guard to set up three overflow medical facilities around the state. They'll be at UVM in Burlington, at the Bellows Free Academy's gym in St. Albans, and at Barre Civic Center.Seven Days lays off seven staffers. Continuing the trend — the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus just announced layoffs, and the Brattleboro Reformer, Bennington Banner and Manchester Journal are furloughing all employees for a week — publisher Paula Routly said she hopes the move will allow the weekly “to be more nimble while fulfilling our critical public service mission during the pandemic.” Those laid off will come from each department — web, design, sales, news, arts, features and editing — and continue to get health insurance in hopes they can eventually be rehired.If you're doing schoolwork with your kids, do it in the morning. That's a bit of sage advice from veteran home-schooler Holly Friot to her friend from high school, Sara Blondin, not a home-schooler until now. VPR's Brave Little State recorded the two of them talking on the phone, as Sara asked Holly's advice on everything from minimizing battles to challenging kids without overwhelming them to scheduling (morning!) to how you fit in a workday on top of keeping your kids learning. Also, says Hollie: Take care of yourself. "I mean, sometimes the laundry is secondary to your sanity. Or always, maybe!"And while we're on Brave Little State... They're collecting responses for an episode called "How's Everybody Doing?" Audio diaries, music, poetry, voicemail messages — they want to know what people are thinking or feeling or doing right now. Participation info at the link.Nonprofits worry about growing hunger in VT. Demand for deliveries from Meals on Wheels and local food pantries has grown at the same time that they're losing volunteers who themselves are opting to stay home. Informal networks of neighbors offering to do food runs are cropping up everywhere around the state, but established organizations need both volunteers and cash donations. And, Feeding Chittenden's Anna McMahon tells VTDigger, "Those people who on a normal basis are visiting the food shelf, are going to struggle even more to get food."
On the other hand, yesterday a federal court in DC rejected a Trump administration bid to cut food stamps. Deciding in a lawsuit filed last year by 20 states, including Vermont, the judges wrote, “Especially now, as a global pandemic poses widespread health risks, guaranteeing that government officials at both the federal and state levels have flexibility to address the nutritional needs of residents and ensure their well-being through programs like SNAP, is essential.” Leb, state agree on compromises to allow bridge reconstruction. The agreement, writes the VN's Tim Camerato, "is the last sticking point holding up work on the 'Dry Bridge' that connects shopping centers on Route 12A with downtown West Lebanon." The work was originally scheduled for 2017, but the city and the state have been at loggerheads over a variety of issues, including bridge specs.Mt. Washington Cog Railway train helps rescue injured hiker. On Sunday, Ashley Furness and a friend were out hiking, descending along the railway, when Furness slipped and fell a couple hundred feet, hitting some rocks — which kept her from falling into the ravine below. Rescuers were able to reach her, but she couldn't walk and the terrain was steep and icy. They rigged a belay and hoisted her to the tracks, where the train was able to ferry her to a waiting ambulance late that night. Well, it only took a century, but the LA Times has noticed skijoring. Okay, maybe that's not fair. It's not like getting pulled along snow on your skis behind a horse is something they get much chance to practice in California. And writer Chris Erskine does say it "might be the greatest sport you've never heard of." The horse version was a thing at Dartmouth by 1915, but these days there's a definite cowboy tinge to it out west, over a timed course with rings and jumps at 40 mph. "Snow flies. Snot flies. The skier flies. Lots of stuff is flying, and in about 20 seconds the oddball marriage of spurs and snow boots is over."
And The Guardian has a quick visit — and puzzle —by Dartmouth math prof Peter Winkler. Oh, sorry. Maths prof. And, for this year, puzzles master at NY's Museum of Math. Winkler's "one of my all time puzzle heroes," writes Guardian puzzle maestro Alex Bellos. "All of his puzzles contain something special." Says Winkler, "Puzzles can entertain us, challenge us, and sometimes embarrass us. But the best puzzles do more: they open our eyes to an idea we hadn’t seen before. And they do this in a wonderful way, by making us come up with the idea ourselves.” Mind-bender at the link.
News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
#UVTogether
Staying Sane
Want to be in touch with family and friends by video but not quite sure how to do it? The BBC's got you covered. (Thanks, SL!)
And here's a way to tour Bryce, Glacier, the Grand Canyon, and other national parks, all virtually. (Thanks, NS!)
Meanwhile, on Wednesdays at 5 (and again at 6 and 7), Leb's WriterSpace is holding Zoom writing workshops: "Each hour we will have 5 minute writing warm-up time, then longer periods for writing separated by prompts, hand/wrist/neck/eye-strain relief exercises, and a little chatter," writes organizer Sparrow Alden. (Note: link takes you to the actual Zoom space, so it won't be live until tomorrow at 5.)
Helping Out
MP writes: "Those of us who can, could help out the local, non-salaried, service people in our everyday lives, such as hairdressers, barbers, massage therapists, salons, etc., by offering to purchase gift certificates for services to be rendered after this coronavirus mess is over."
D-H is raising funds in two separate efforts "to support social service organizations responding to the increasingly urgent needs across the Upper Valley." The DH-H COVID-19 Community Relief Fund is managed by a coalition of service providers and aimed at orgs helping with economic, social, and health impacts. The D-H HOPE Fund gives emergency assistance to D-H employees experiencing financial crises.
And some very helpful soul has put together a Google doc of Upper Valley organizations that are mobilizing a response, their needs, and contact info if you want to donate or help out.
Thoughts and comment:
RB writes: "Dartmouth professor Charles Wheelan's first novel, The Rationing, written in 2019, is premised on a pandemic and an acute shortage of the medicine that combats it. It's a good read and while fiction, is so aligned to what we have seen unfold that it might be non-fiction. His articulation of the political intrigue can give insight to what's behind the daily news. It would be interesting to learn what prompted Wheelan to write the novel and fueled his imagination as to the story line."
RS writes: "By the way, somebody mentioned that we should not call it ‘quarantine.’ That is reserved for the French village of Quarantine. In Vermont, it’s properly referred to as 'sparkling isolation.'"
So, yesterday, in his fantastic
NYT Cooking
newsletter, Sam Sifton linked to
doing "Marrakesh Express" and then "Blackbird." They've been happily bouncing around inside my head since then. Sifton also writes, "Nerd alert: The set list shows they actually played 'Blackbird' first, then 'Marrakesh,' and then Neil Young joined them and things got crazy."
See you tomorrow.
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