Sewers can help help make medical masks

I just joined a team of sewers picking up mask kits at Hi Fashion Sewing Machines & Quilt Shop on F Road.

You take up to two free kits of materials, donated by the local hospitals, each with materials for five masks; sew them at home, then drop them back off in the same kit bag at the store. These are modeled after M-95 masks, with squares of material, elastic and wire ties, and simple instructions.

Its a terrific community effort to make 3,500 masks for our hospitals. So far, 1,450 have been sewn. The kits arent for personal use, but theyre also a good way for any sewer to learn how to make masks for ourselves and our families, using our own supplies (hint: one light cotton and one heavier layer, such as pillowcase fabric, are recommended). Were going to need them.

Child-care providers need help to survive COVID-19 fallout

As a proud Coloradan, I have been deeply concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, our country and my community. Schools across Mesa County are closed and many educators are preparing remote learning materials.

As an early childhood professional, and as a Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) advocate, I have been specifically troubled by the viruss impact on child care, whose services are crucial to our community.

Due to COVID-19, child-care centers must consider temporarily closing, but are faced with the real fear that they may not be able to open again when the virus subsides. In a recent survey of 6,000 child care providers, only 11% were confident they would be able to re-open without assistance after a closure of an indefinite amount of time. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they would not be able to survive even a two-week closure.

Once this pandemic ends, these closures will have tremendous impact on children and families. Fifty-one percent of American families already live in a child-care desert, meaning there arent enough child-care slots to meet the need. If child-care centers close, Colorado and Mesa County will have even fewer child care slots in the future.

Thats why I was pleased to see that Congress recently passed a COVID-19 relief bill, which provides more than $4 billion in temporary relief for child care and allows providers to access emergency loans. This stimulus package provides crucial temporary support for the child-care industry, and is a good first step towards ensuring that providers and employees are recognized and protected.

Access to child care is indispensable for tens of millions of Americans. When this pandemic is over, businesses reopen and parents go back to work, child-care programs will play an integral role in meeting new workforce demands, sustaining local communities and rebuilding the national economy.

I urge Rep. Scott Tipton, and Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet to continue to support robust child care assistance in any further stimulus packages that Congress considers. This funding would provide Colorado with robust and flexible funding to serve our community and keep our workforce functioning.

In these uncertain times, our community must rally together to support indispensable industries such as child care.

Gain immunity against TDS, another prevalent disease

TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrom), a common but preventable and treatable disease, is showing up in many places even in the letters to the Sentinel. But take heart the cure, and subsequent immunity, is available, simple, and as close as your computer browser.

Method: 1. Condense assertions, item by item, into sensible questions or short topic statements; 2. Enter the question/topic into your browsers search window; 3. Check the results.

For example, take a letter like that from Mr. John Sullivan (March 27).

Assertion: By now, it is common knowledge that President Trump first dismissed the news of the viruss impending arrival as a Democratic hoax.

Condensed question: Did President Trump call the coronavirus a Democratic hoax? Type that question or something similar into your search window and simply read the results.

Assertion: The World Health Organization offered to supply the U.S. with test kits ... Trump refused the offer.

Condensed question: Did the WHO offer test kits to the USA? or Did President Trump refuse virus test kits from the WHO? Again, simply type the question into your search window and read the results.

In about five minutes time, you, or anyone with a computer and without too much bias can discover some help, perhaps even a cure and subsequent immunity, for the debilitating and damaging condition known as TDS. I sincerely wish you well in your recovery.

Human behavior is susceptible to suggestions of scarcity

You know, we humans are a strange bunch. I once worked at a dental college that shared a library with the hospital across the alley. When new editions of books were added, the librarian would give away the older editions to interested students. He had no luck until he put out a sign saying Please take only one. The books disappeared in a couple of days.

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Printed Letters: March 29, 2020 - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel