Someone’s doing great things in the Gorham Avenue/Evergreen neighborhood.
They’re distributing notes in residents’ mailboxes, along with colored paper. The notes ask residents to put the appropriate color in a street-facing window. Green indicates “all ok.” Red means “need supplies.” Yellow is for “elderly/living alone or isolated/mobility issues.”
The note promises that neighbors will monitor the signs, and act as needed. It also offers a phone number to call or text if supplies are needed. Residents can also call that number if they want to help others.
What a great idea — and easy to replicate, in any neighborhood! (Hat tip: Mark Mathias)
Westporter Stephanie Webster’s CTBites is always a great way to keep up with restaurants and bars all around the state. This week’s edition offers comprehensive coverage of places that are open for pickup and delivery throughout Connecticut. There’s also a story about chefs doing good things, and ways everyone else can help them and others.
Click here for details. There are tons of them!
Greens Farms Congregational Church worship, meetings and religious school are now held online.
But yesterday congregants gathered together — 6 feet apart, of course — at a drive-thru food drive for Inspirica in Stamford (where homeless families struggle without the usual supply of donated food and volunteers to help), and Pivot Ministries (a men’s recovery mission in Bridgeport). It’s social distance — and social support — at its best.
The Yale New Haven Health System needs disposable head covers and caps; disposable gowns, gloves and face masks; N95 respirator face masks; powered air purifying respirators; face shields and goggles; coveralls and scrubs; shoe covers; disinfection wipes and liquids, and general purpose hand cleaners.
All should be in original, unopened packages. Email donationsppe@ynhh.org. Include contact information so staff can respond.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Newman — a physician assistant at New York Presbyterian / Weill Cornell — is collecting face masks because of the critical shortages at all hospitals in the are, including hers.
She has already picked up hundreds in the area, and can pick up tens to hundreds more from doorsteps in the evenings. Email elizabeth.h.newman@gmail.com. Anyone with access to larger quantities shoud contact masks@nyp.org to ship them directly.
Elizabeth notes, “I don’t want to take supplies from local hospitals if they need them. If anyone has any to spare they can also try to donate to the local hospital or EMS station. If they don’t need them I’m happy to bring them into the city.
“Also if owners of spas, tattoo parlors, salons, etc. that are shutting down can spare theirs, I know Governor Cuomo is willing to purchase masks at a premium,which could help offset their business losses.”
Garelick & Herbs offers 20% off for any orders of in-kind donating to elderly, low-immune deficiency or in need neighbors. Contact them to help coordinate this; also contact if you are interested in helping in other ways: social distancing delivery, phoning those who are isolated, etc. Email Garelickandherbs@gmail.com or pgarelick@aol.com; call or text 203-913-9737.
As students adjust to distance learning, Staples High School principal Stafford Thomas is a clear, calming presence.
This morning he offered his second video update. He discussed next steps for students and staff, AP tests, social distancing and more. You don’t have to be a high schooler or parent to appreciate today’s news. Click here, then scroll down under “Announcements” to March 23, and click on the video.
Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb appeared yesterday on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” He spoke “outside his Connecticut home” — which, as “06880” readers know, is in Westport.
Click below for the informative interview.
(Hat tip: Dennis Jackson)
As visitors to Aspetuck Land Trust’s 44 trailed preserves increase dramatically — particularly Trout Brook Valley — the non-profit reminds visitors to leave dogs at home. Unfortunately, they create too many opportunities for close human contact. In addition, Aspetuck will closely monitor all areas, to make sure there is proper social distancing. Click here for information on all the preserves.
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Back to face masks.
Lea Kaner is the mother of former 2nd Selectman Avi Kaner and fellow Westporter Celia Offir. When the virus hit, over 1,300 employees in her family’s business — Morton Williams supermarkets — had no face masks.
Unpacking shipments, stocking shelves and checking out customers, those men and women are on the front lines. So Lea — an expert seamstress — stepped up.
Kaner and his wife Liz found pattern cut sheets and instructions on the internet. They drove to a store in Milford, and filled the car with fabric and ribbons. Then Lea went to work.
She’s still working almost non-stop to make sure every employee is protected. Plus, they’re the best looking face masks around.
First, please don’t send legit masks/respirators out-of-state. Docs and hospitals need them locally. They desperately need them. There are actually patients coming from NY into CT hospitals which is not a good situation. Contact Jenna to make donations. Second, Kaner’s mask idea is not safe. Those masks will NOT protect someone from getting covid19. The coronavirus will go right through the fabric. For someone that is sick, putting anything over their nose/mouth could help cut down on the spread of droplets / viral load entering the air as they cough/sneeze, but normal breathing through the mask will likely put the virus into the air.
Echoing what Joshua Stein wrote, those masks offer virtually no protection for the wearer. Not only with the virus particles go through the mask, they will go around the edges. This is why all employees who are required to wear such “masks” must wear one that are NIOSH approved and properly fit to the wearer. The masks that are Ms. Kaner has put together work so poorly that their use in a required situation is actually illegal.
Great work Gorham/Evergreen neighborhood!
On the Brian Lehrer show this morning a NYC OSHA nurse mentioned that also approved for use by those at the front line are N95 respirator masks used in the construction industry. So unused, new N95 respirator masks currently held by construction companies could be donated to the proper agencies. I am not sure if that referred only to NY or all across the US.
yes! n95/p95/n99/p99/n100/p100 respirator masks used in the construction industry would be a decent choice!
You can’t win today Dan best to rest and wait until tomorrow….
Thank you again for keeping Westport interested and informed no matter what the topic is !
Defying CDC recommendations, stating handmade cloth masks aren’t effective, or stating one may be better off wearing nothing over a cloth mask is preposterous. I do see these comments are over a month old, but I’d like to promote cloth masks, or any clean mask that is worn and cared for properly, and request other comments be taken into prospective since they were written at the end of March.
Masks should not provide false security, but why play with fire? Is this a time to forget basic science, knowing full well that a droplet projected across the room from an infected person is bound to affect more people in that room than if that single cough was covered? This virus is extremely easy to contract, but it doesn’t defy physics.
For those who are forced to work the front line, or for someone like myself who rarely (once every 2 weeks) goes out into public areas where people congregate or shop, and always wears a mask of some sort, Thank You for being an advocate, for covering your mouth and nose. Stating that a cloth mask is useless or a “hot bed of disease” is harmful and dangerous for those that need to mask-up before going out but DO NOT because they read a comment on a blog. With that stated a homemade mask that is washed in a machine, stored, and handled correctly is obviously not fit for medical use, but providing people (with instructions) and distributing masks to as many people as possible may just be one of the more seminal acts during this time of uncertainty that a person can do! My hat goes off to those who’ve spent hours upon hours making face masks and face covers and distributing them for those that do not have access or may not feel comfortable wearing a one dollar disposable dust mask.
A symptomless disease like this, one that we have yet to learn as much as we’d like at this point, should not be ignored by inaction of simple hand washing and social distancing. It only makes sense to correctly cover (with clean hands) as many holes in your head as possible with clean, disinfected material. The fact is, COVID-19 is extremely contagious and spreads “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs..”
So once again folks that need to social distance but are not as much as they can–please reconsider your actions and listen to CDC recommendations of “wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.” Mask-Up and Stay Safe! Stay Home if You Can —
This road will be longer if we don’t stop and think about those who are more susceptible to this disease, because ultimately those healthy carriers returning from the beach, not masking and not social distancing will be the demise of those promoting and making handmade masks for as many people as they can — it doesn’t have to be that way.
-Space Cadet
theupdatedones