All tagged Coronavirus

Spirits to Sanitizer: How Local Distillers are Helping Fight the Coronavirus

Spirits to Sanitizer: How Local Distillers are Helping Fight the Coronavirus

Rachel Pastan

Local company Keystone Quality Transport, like many medical providers, has struggled to acquire the personal protective equipment they need to function safely during the COVID-19 outbreak. Chief Operating Officer Justin Misner says hand sanitizer became unavailable from his usual suppliers in the middle of March. “The resources were depleted,” he says. “We tried to keep our ear to the street.” They got lucky when the company’s risk and safety director, Brian Eberle, heard that Eight Oaks distillery, which makes bourbon, gin, and other spirits, had recently produced some hand sanitizer as well. “They told us, you can come out here, and we’ll give you some, but you’ve got to come now,” Misner reports. “We sent a driver out there immediately.” What started as a modest experiment by a single distiller was about to get a lot bigger.

Free to read and share

Combating a Pandemic with Needle and Thread

Combating a Pandemic with Needle and Thread

Rachel Pastan
People of Swarthmore

As is becoming widely known, the masks most needed by medical personnel are N95 respirators that, when worn correctly, filter out 95% of particles that can cause disease. But simple cotton face masks are in demand as well. A well made cotton mask worn over an N95 mask can extend its lifetime. Now, three local women are busy over bobbins and foot pedals making masks.

Free to read and share

History Coming to Life: A Teen’s Perspective on Social Distancing

History Coming to Life: A Teen’s Perspective on Social Distancing

Sophia David

Just three months ago, I sat at my desk brainstorming potential topics for my junior paper, a notorious ten-page history paper written by every eleventh grader at my school. I sifted through various possibilities, such as Roosevelt’s New Deal and 1940s internment camps for Americans of Japanese descent, but it did not take me long to settle on the influenza epidemic of 1918. I was immediately drawn in by the strangeness of the situation, how the entire world shut down in a matter of days. As I read old newspaper articles, listing school closure after school closure, I thought, “Wow, that’s crazy.” I never imagined that I would be experiencing something like it just three months later.

Free to read and share

District Prepares for Coronavirus, Parents Deplore Book Removals

District Prepares for Coronavirus, Parents Deplore Book Removals

Rachel Pastan
WSSD

Board president David Grande emended usual procedure to open the meeting with a statement. Over the past week, he said, the community had been dealing with a number of challenges — coronavirus, field trip anxieties, questions about sleep and school start times, and concerns over what the district is doing around diversity and inclusion. Many people had been in touch with the board about these and other issues, Grande said. “I want to make sure everyone knows that we receive your messages and read each and every one of them.”

Free to read and share