Crealdé in a Pandemic

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I have been teaching an Urban Sketching class at Crealdé School of Art for the past 3 Sundays. We have spent most of our time outdoors since there have been decent breezes and it hasn’t been too hot. I have four very talented students, each with their own style. I start each class with a premise and then we sketch on campus. I have been keeping classes outdoors since it is easier to social distance and enclosed spaces with recirculated air are the breading ground for the COVID-19 virus. The main focus of the class is to get out of the studio and explore the world anyway.

I rolled out a black board and used it so I could sketch large enough for all to see from six feet away. This class was about doing thumbnail sketches and basic ideas about composition and perspective. As my students explored the campus with their sketchbooks it felt good to sketch on location again myself. I had not sketched on location since the start of the pandemic. Instead I have been doing one illustration based on some story from the pandemic. Now that I am teaching I can no longer do a painting every day without burning out. I instead pace out each painting over several days. I feel pressure to get the paintings done fast because the news surrounding the pandemic keeps changing moment to moment.

The pandemic is the only story I keep tracking every day. Even doing thumbnails around Crealdé I focused my attention on the measures that were taken to try and make the campus more safe during the pandemic. Portable sinks were set up with foot pedals so that peoples hands do not need to touch faucets. Picnic tables were moved out from under the awning to allow six feet of space between tables. I carry a six foot stick as a visual reminder for students and myself to maintain social distancing. I also us the stick as a pointer when reviewing art work.

We made up the ill fated first class virtually. I am thankful I teach on a day where there are very few people on campus. I realized that the figure drawing class that usually happened next to mine was canceled. We might have to move inside once it truly gets hot.

85 Babies Infected in Texas

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85 Babies have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nueces County in Texas. This number is a reflection of when testing started in mid-March, according to a county news release. The news of the 85 infected babies follows a report from earlier this week regarding scientists’ uncertainty on the impact of COVID-19 in children.

Evidence behind what role children play in the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects them is inconclusive. Several studies suggest but don’t prove that children are less likely to become infected and more likely to have only mild symptoms. Many kids have no symptoms, and it’s unclear how easily they can spread the virus to others.

There is some evidence that kids are less likely to catch the virus and less likely to spread it, but it’s not clear exactly how strong that evidence is. For months most families and their children have been isolated at home, limiting their chances of catching or spreading the virus. In reality, it may take reopening schools and returning children to a closer-to-normal life for the picture to come into clearer focus.

The Associated Press also reported this week on how evidence has been growing that the COVID-19 can spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Researchers in Italy studied 31 women with COVID-19 who delivered babies in March and April and found signs of the virus in several samples of umbilical cord blood, the placenta and, in one case, breast milk. Cases of newborns testing positive for the virus have been relatively uncommon but are not unheard of since the pandemic first took hold.

With some respiratory illnesses, like influenza, young children play an amplifying role. They don’t carry the antibodies that adults have amassed. As a result, they are more susceptible to many of the bugs that cause colds and flu, which circulate more actively as the cold weather sets in. This is why teachers are often sick with a cold each season. However COVID-19 isn’t the sniffles, it can cause death. The World Health Organization does not currently see clear answers in the data that have been collected to date.

Two weeks after Israel fully reopened schools, a COVID-19 outbreak swept through classrooms, including at least 130 cases at a single school, that led officials to close dozens of schools where students and staff were infected. At least 42 kindergartens and schools were shuttered indefinitely. More than 6,800 students and teachers were ordered home for quarantine by government order.

Florida’s largest teacher union is suing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to overturn an emergency order that requires schools to physically open five days a week in August, despite the incredible surge in cases in the state, saying the policy bypasses local leaders and defies national public health guidelines. DeSantis is followed the lead of President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who are pressuring states to fill classrooms with students in the fall. “Governor DeSantis needs a reality check, and we are attempting to provide one,” FEA President Fedrick Ingram said in a statement.

In Tallahassee, a 19-year-old elementary school custodian died after a battle with Covid-19, and at least three people at his Leon County school, including the principal, have contracted the virus, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. About 1/3 of children tested in Florida have tested positive for the virus. To date, 16,797 children in Florida have the disease out of 54,022 tested. The data shows that 908 people under the age of 18 have tested positive for COVID-19 in Orange County, which equates to about 24% of the tests conducted on children in the county. Word of children testing positive gets around at summer camps which face pressure to act promptly.

Portland

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NPR reported, Portland Oregon state and local officials are demanding that Federal Agents leave. Protesters have demonstrated in the city’s downtown for more than 50 nights since George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, sophisticating him to death.

“There’s absolutely no question that by having the presence of federal officers here, it’s simply like adding gasoline to a fire,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown said. On Sunday July 19, 2020, a video went viral 53-year-old Navy veteran Christopher David being struck repeatedly with a baton wielded by a federal law enforcement officer. Christopher had yelled at the officers, “Why are you not honoring your oath to the Constitution?”

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Friday that federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles in downtown Portland to grab and detain protesters. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blamed the federal government for making things worse in the city. “We have an already heightened situation. It’s already tense,” Wheeler said. “But after nearly five weeks of demonstrations, we are starting to see that small handful of people who were engaged in criminal activity — it was dissipating. It was calming down. We believed a week ago it would be over by this weekend. But what happened instead is the feds stepped in with a very heavy-handed approach, and it blew the lid off the whole thing.”

“With the federal government, they won’t even identify who they are,” Wheeler said. “We don’t know why they’re here. We don’t know the circumstances under which they’re making arrests. We don’t know what their policies are or what accountability mechanisms there are, to the point where even the U.S. attorney here in the state of Oregon is calling for an investigation, wondering, where was the probable cause to pull these people off the streets into unmarked cars?”

On Friday, the U.S. senators from Oregon, asked the Justice Department and DHS to investigate “the unrequested presence and violent actions of federal forces in Portland.” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit Friday against the DHS and other federal agencies and alleged that they have “engaged in unlawful law enforcement in violation of the civil rights of Oregonians by seizing and detaining them without probable cause.”

“The federal administration has chosen Portland to use their scare tactics to stop our residents from protesting police brutality and from supporting the Black Lives Matter movement,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “Every American should be repulsed when they see this happening. If this can happen here in Portland, it can happen anywhere.”

Trump is now threatening to send more Federal Officers to more US cities to stop protests in the Black lives Matter protests. He specifically named New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland in discussing problems with violence. To him it seems to be a war on “liberal Democrats.” He is at war with free speech and the free press. I just wish he could focus instead on the real war , COVID-19.

House of Cards

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“This entire pandemic is a reminder of how fragile EVERYTHING in this country always has been. It’s a house of cards. It’s all a sham.” said Danielle Butterly.

Donald Trump is a self proclaimed war time president who has simply turned his back on the war to strictly focus on his re-election. The Washington Post reported, “Trump in recent weeks has been committing less of his time and energy to managing the pandemic, according to advisors. One of these advisers said the President is “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it.”

What he does have time for is photo opportunities in which he and his daughter Ivanka hawk beans. The photos were sent out on the POTUS Instagram page. In another insane distraction, the president posed with beans with a grin and strange thumbs up as the virus cases surge across the country. 143,289 Americans are dead and this is the presidents response. He has not been to a COVID-19 task force meeting since April. He openly undermines the scientists who are battling the virus daily. He prefers magical thinking that it will disappear. Trump is the king of the con, a perpetual scam artist. In this painting he is the joker, the weak link in a tower destined to crumble.

The Florida Department of Health reported 12,478 new positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday July 19, 2020 with 89 deaths in a single day. 9241 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. The US Government has stripped the CDC of its control of the COVID-19 data. Ever since the president said that he didn’t want a cruise ship to dock for fear that it would raise the numbers of cases, he has been focused on bringing down the numbers any way he can. In his mind, testing has caused the high numbers of those infected, so he wants less testing. What better way to reduce the numbers than to take control of them and not report them, or “fudge” them a bit? The date will be rerouted to the Trump administration.  The change sparked concerns among infectious disease and health care experts that the administration was hobbling the ability of the nation’s public health agency to gather and analyze crucial data in the midst of a pandemic. The new system was set up by TeleTracking, a private company based in Pennsylvania, which was awarded the $10 million contract in a non-competitive bid in April.

Pre-Pandemic: Starbucks Istanbul

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I had to sketch the Starbucks in the Istanbul, Turkey airport. In the age of COVID-19, the company plans to  close up to 400 company-owned locations over the next 18 months while also speeding up the expansion of “convenience-led formats” such as curbside pickup, drive-thru and mobile-only pickup locations. The Seattle-based coffee conglomerate says the moves are being driven by changing consumer behaviors that have shifted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company still plans to open approximately 300 new stores in its current fiscal year, down from its original goal of 600. Starbucks took a virus-related revenue hit potentially exceeding $3 billion in its third quarter according to a regulatory filing Wednesday June 10, 2020. The virus outbreak also slashed its operating income between $2 billion and $2.2 billion as the virus raged.

In a letter sent to employees late last month, Starbucks U.S. President Rossann Williams said employees on leave will be able to keep their benefits and may also apply for unemployment aid. About 95% of U.S. company-run stores are in operation at varying levels of service, though most are operating with reduced hours.

This little Starbucks in Turkey remains open, so get on a flight to Istanbul and grab a macchiato. Oh, but keep in mind that flying is one of the more risky things you could be doing in a pandemic.

Rush to Donner Pass and a Hill of Beans

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Donald Trump who described himself as a “wartime president” wants Americans to adapt to the COVID-19 virus in his rush to open the economy before the November election. As he put it, “Americans are warriors in the fight to re-open the economy.” He pushes Americans into the workplace despite the risks to their health. As he said, “Will some people be affected? Yes,” and followed with, “Will some people be affected badly (Die)? Yes. But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon (before the election).”

Rush Limbaugh mentioned the Donner Party as an example of how we should adapt to the virus. The Donner Party was trying to get to California over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. They made the mistake of trying to make the trip in the middle of winter. They got to the peak and it got so bad that they had to turn to cannibalism to survive. According to Rush, the diaries of the leaders of the party had only one sentence about how cold it was, “It was a particularly tough winter.” It is just what it was. He said they didn’t complain about it because there was nothing they could do. They adapted by eating each other. Oh, just 45 of the 81 pioneers survived. They didn’t do such a good job of adapting.

Of course there is something we all can do and that is to wear a mask, social distance and wash hands regularly. That is adaptation. We don’t have to resort to cannibalism as suggested by Rush. The Trumps response is, let them eat beans. On July 9, 2020, Goya CEO Robert Unanue appeared at the White House and praised the president. This resulted in Trump’s critics calling to boycott the Goya brand. Trump and then his daughter Ivanka posed for a photos to promote the beans.

These idiotic and petty photos earned criticism from government ethics experts, who said that the product plugging violated anti-corruption rules. “As a pictorial representation of the Trump administration’s war on government ethics, both photos are perfectly clear,” wrote Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Governmental Ethics. “They scream ‘the rules don’t apply to us,’ a central message of the Trump administration from the start.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “If it’s Trump, it has to be corrupt.”

What is so sickening about “Beangate” is that this is the presidents priority as the COVID-19 virus has taken more than 137,000 American lives and is surging to higher case numbers every day. Trump has been undermining the work of his own infectious disease experts instead of doing everything in his power to combat the virus. Though largely sidelined by the president, Dr. Fauci said, “The problem is, since we started our baseline so high, as we tried to open up, what we saw was it went from 20,000 cases a day to 30, 40 50 and now we are hanging around 60,000. That’s untenable we have to turn that around.”

New data from the John’s Hopkins School of Public Health showed more than 75,000 new cases on July 18, 2020. That is the highest number of cases in a single day anywhere on earth. By current mortality estimates about 2,700 of those people will die. Nationwide cases are rising in 38 of 50 states. Miami-Dade Couunty in Florida is now out of ICU beds. Dr. Aline Marty said, “On a scale of 1 to 10, we are at maximum urgency, we need to turn this thing around right now.” Florida Governor Ron DuhSantis has still not issued a state wide mandate to wear masks. On July 16, 2020 Trump refused to wear a mask on his trip to Atlanta Georgia. He has more interest in pimping beans. Body bags and 14 refrigerator trucks are being sent to Texas to handle all the bodies.

Liberty

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The Covid-19 virus is burning through the southern states unchecked and spreading north daily. Anti-maskers claim their liberties are being infringed upon. Walmart and Sam’s Club will start requiring masks at stores and clubs nationwide starting July 20, 2020 the company announced. “We know some people have differing opinions on this topic. We also recognize the role we can play to help protect the health and well-being of the communities we serve by following the evolving guidance of health officials like the CDC,” the retailers’ chief operating officers said. Best Buy and Starbucks started requiring consumers nationwide wear masks Wednesday July 15, 2020 .

No shoes, no shirt, no mask no service. Videos appear daily of anti maskers freaking out when asked to wear a mask in stores. They claim that their constitutional rights are infringed upon. However the constitution is not a suicide pact. Wearing a mask has been proven in NYC and around the world as an efficient way to stop the spread of the virus. If just 80% of people walking around wore masks the virus would stop dead in it’s tracks.

People who refuse to wear masks are actually burning everyone’s liberties at the stake. They seem to think that wearing a mask is equivalent to being sent to the ovens in the holocaust. Their angry non-compliance is fueling the fires. When they don’t follow simple safety measures like wearing a mask, social distancing and washing their hands they are helping the virus spread and are forcing all who are taking safety measures seriously to have to isolate for longer than needed and they may unknowingly be killing others. Anyone could be infected, and by wearing a mask they are helping ensure they do not infect others. Asymptomatic super spreaders do not get seriously sick themselves but they can infect everyone they come in contact with. The rights of those who don’t wear masks ends when their actions threaten the health of those around them.

Masks have become a political culture war largely because of Trumps long time refusal to wear one while he lives in his biological bunker with constant testing for himself and all around him. Not wearing a mask has become synonymous with proudly wearing a MAGA hat. The virus doesn’t care what your politics are however. It is efficient at what it does. It will infect republicans, democrats, liberals and conservatives. It doesn’t discriminate. Trump finally wore a mask and said he looks good, like the Lone Ranger. So come on, stop acting like children and wear a freakin’ mask.

Pre-Pandemic: Garage Sale

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It is hard to think back and remember the innocent days of placing belongings in the driveway for strangers to touch and thump through. Now in the height of the pandemic this scene looks menacing. The Centers for Disease Control recommends keeping a six-foot social distance between guests, limit the number of attendees and encourage wearing masks where distancing isn’t possible. With more people staying at home in recent months, many used their downtime to go through old belongings.

• Place posters encouraging social distancing for customers to see upon arrival and while shopping.

Here are some of the suggestions should you decide to host or go to a garage sale…

• Set up tables and chairs six feet apart.

• Use heavy-duty tape to form a flow for customers to follow throughout the sale.

• Ask customers to stand in a line, while spread apart, during a high traffic times.

• Clean all tables and chairs several times throughout the day.

• Make sure all merchandise is washed and dried and/or wiped down with a disinfectant product before placing on a table or chair for sale.

• Wipe down all tables and chairs using disinfectant at the end of the day or in the morning before the next day of the sale starts.

• Wear masks and disposable gloves at all times during the sale.

• Have hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol on tables and other places for customers to use.

Summer Camp COVID-19 Outbreaks

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An overnight summer camp in rural southwestern Missouri saw 82 campers, counselors and staff infected with Covid-19. Missouri is one of several states to report outbreaks at summer camps. The Kanakuk camp near Branson ended up sending its teenage campers home. On Friday, the local health department announced 49 positive cases of the COVID-19 virus at the camp. By Monday, the number had jumped to 82.

A parent interviewed about the outbreak said he felt that the camp had done everything they could to keep his children safe. Kanakuk plans to reopen later this summer once test results from all staffers are returned and show it’s safe to do so, said Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health.

Kanakuk employs numerous layers of systems and protocols to ensure that the facilities, staff, and campers stay safe, clean, and healthy. However, the most important thing they do as an organization is spend countless hours praying in advance for every camper and staff who walks through the gates. They pray for a healthy and safe environment.

Some states, like Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, closed summer camps this year, and many camps elsewhere have voluntarily canceled programs. But other camps are plowing ahead, hoping that precautions like social distancing, masks and requiring children to quarantine before coming to camp will quell the risk.

In Texas, 76 cases of campers and staff who attended Pine Cove’s Christian camps have tested positive, and several weeks of camp were canceled after clusters of cases were discovered. The spread came despite state requirements that include enforcing social distancing and banning outside visitors. As of last week, campers and staff must wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible.

In Lake Burton, Georgia YMCA Camps, at least 85 kids and counselors tested positive for COVID-19, Georgia Department of Public Health officials told McClatchy News. Campers were all between 7-14 years old and staff between 16-22, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The YMCA says this situation happened despite careful planning and adherence to safety guidelines laid out by leading health experts and mandated by the state, 11Alive reported.

In Arkansas, Mount Ida’s Camp Ozark closed after “several” people were infected, though it didn’t say how many, Fox said. It’s a calculated risk for camps, to open or not open, but most are choosing to stay closed for safety, or are being forced to stay closed by state or local government mandate, according to CNBC. Nearly two-thirds of summer camps haven’t opened this year.

A Fort Myers, Florida children’s theater camp shut down this week after two students tested positive for COVID-19. “The students that tested positive didn’t have any symptoms,” Jeremy Kuntze, the executive producer for the nonprofit Creative Theater Workshop said. The students had rehearsed and performed in the summer camp production of the musical “Hairspray Jr.,” which ran June 15 through July 3, 2020. “We had taken safety precautions,” Kuntze said. “We required temperatures to be checked every day before students arrived. Sanitizing. All staff and volunteers wore masks. Visitors wore masks.” Students, however, weren’t required to wear masks, Kuntze said. “They were encouraged.” When performing on stage no one wore masks.

Screening for fevers with temperature checks is not a panacea. “The absence of an elevated body temperature is not a seal of approval,” said Dr. Fred Jacobs, a pulmonologist and former commissioner of the New Jersey Health Department, told ABC News. “The answer is not temperature. The answer is testing.” Children in particular can be asymptomatic and spread the virus with no sign of a temperature.

All of this foreshadows the insanity of opening schools in Florida 5 days a week despite the surge in COVID-19 cases. Children are not immune to the virus and they can certainly spread the virus to friends and family.

Florida  just shattered the number of cases reported in a single day with, 15,299 new cases on Sunday July 12, 2020. This is the highest daily total of any state in the United States. 45 people died in the state on Sunday July 12, 2020.

Florida Schools to Re-Open in August

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Donald Trump is the one person you should not listen to in order to keep your children safe. Re-opening schools should not be a priority over public safety. The president and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said they want all schools to reopen full time in the fall. They do not offer ways to do that safely.

On Monday July 6, 2020, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran ordered Florida public schools to reopen in August. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that if Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot are open, then schools  should be open as well. But neither the governor, nor the White House, can force school districts to open in Florida, which has just set another record of 11,433 new COVID-19  cases in a single day this Friday July 10, 2020.

DeSantis and Corcoran both conceded last month that county school boards would have the final say about when and how to reopen their campuses. The state constitution, empowers school boards, not the state education commissioner, to “operate, control and supervise” public schools.

Vice President Mike Pence said, “The president said today that we don’t want the guidance to be too tough.” So, next week, the CDC will issue weaker and less specific and less costly guidance to keep students safe during a pandemic. The president threatened to cut off funding to schools if they do not open, but the federal government only funds a small portion of school budgets. States fund the bulk of school budgets.

States that opened too soon including Florida, have already ignored CDC guidelines on how to re-open safely. They are knee deep in a huge spike in infections with no plans in place to slow the spread of the disease. Up until now parents have been able to protecting their children by keeping them at home. No one knows how the virus presents in children, or how children might transmit the virus to older adults.

To date, two 11 year old children have died from the virus in Florida. 44 Florida Intensive Care Units are at full capacity. Florida State’s lead epidemiologist, Scott Pritchard, who had held his position for 15 years, quit on the day that DeSantis announced the state would open K-12 schools at full capacity. Clearly the scientists disagree with the mindless politics of rushing to open schools in the midst of the pandemic.

Florida teachers are warning that re-opening schools at the height of the pandemic could be deadly. “We’ve been given no guidance. We’ve been given no regulations that make sense to reopen our schools, and in the middle of a pandemic, we’re being told we have to reopen schools come hell or high water,” said Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association told CNN Tuesday night.

At least one superintendent has said he will let “local conditions at the time” dictate whether schools open. Six associations representing teachers and parents – including the National Parent Teacher Association and the American Federation of Teachers – have criticized the President’s push to reopen schools. One of the teachers that will soon have to go back is Tracy Merlin, who teaches elementary school students and says it’s nearly impossible for instructors to guarantee their students’ safety under the current circumstances. On social media, teachers were posting, “Where can I get a living will?”

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the president of the National Education Association, said she previously taught nearly 40 middle schoolers in a “tiny little classroom with one window. That was not healthy before the pandemic,” she said. “My classroom was a germ factory. I knew that I was going to catch someone’s cold every year. This is different. This is a virus that kills people.”

Dr. Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases advised superintendents to use the CDC guidelines as a guide to get students back to school safely. Physical distancing, masks, and hand washing could help keep the level of infection in the community down. Schools can consider modifying the school schedule with alternate days, morning versus evening, allowing online virtual lessons.

The above illustration was done as a virtual online demonstration for my Elite Animation Academy students about how to illustrate contemporary news. While instructing students on how to research, I found images of a Japanese teacher who had students create their own wings which promote social distancing. I also found research showing robots and automatons in front of students. Perhaps this is the only sane solution for the rush to crush students into crowded classrooms.

Orange County Florida Public Schools, will offer a three-pronged plan including face-to-face instruction, virtual schooling and innovative learning.