Coronavirus Chronicles — Young, Gifted, and Up for Grabs

Four journalists collaborated on this story from different parts of the globe, and the reports are confusing:

Many developing nations with hot climates and young populations have escaped the worst… Many countries that have escaped mass epidemics have relatively younger populations.

Young people are more likely to contract mild or asymptomatic cases that are less transmissible… [T]hey are less likely to have certain health problems that can make Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, particularly deadly…

In Africa, more than 60% of the people have not yet reached their 25th birthday. That is an extraordinarily youthful population! And for a continent with 1.3 billion people, its numbers in the “critical” and “deceased” categories appear to be admirably low.

Elsewhere, the picture is bleaker. In one region of Ecuador, despite the population’s extremely young average age, 7,000 people have already died. In Iraq and Thailand, people in their 20s have the highest rate of active cases, but suffer few symptoms themselves. In general, the young are very active spreaders of contagion, “for reasons that are not well understood.”

To state it simply, young adults can readily catch COVID-19, and easily pass it around. It just does not personally inconvenience them as much. They generally have more robust immune systems. But if youth lends a degree of immunity, obesity snatches it back again. Obese young people are at greater risk of both catching the virus, and of sustaining serious damage to their health.

Adding to the confusion

For WebMD.com, Karen Weintraub reports that most children who test positive show few, if any, symptoms; and probably stay contagious for quite a while. On the other hand, a Chinese study “found that children under 15 were less susceptible to infection than people ages 15-64.” In America, a typical child comes into contact with more people than the typical adult does. But adolescents are more likely than children to pass the disease to others.

Weintraub relates a history she heard from pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Priya Soni of Cedars-Sinai. It is only one case, but it is a frightening one, concerning a boy in Singapore who is only six months old:

Both of his parents fell ill with COVID-19, so he was cared for at the hospital — and his condition tracked — for nearly 3 weeks in February. He only had a mild fever for about an hour and no other symptoms, but the boy tested positive for COVID-19 and consistently shed high levels of the virus for 16 straight days. “On day 17, he became negative.”

Run that by us again please? No evidence but a mild fever, for an hour, and contagious for more than two weeks? Let’s hope that was a very atypical case!

Back in the USA

The New York Times writer Anahad O’Connor says “an estimated 55 million students will be home from school for double the length of their normal summer vacations.” That’s a low-end estimate, and it adds up a lot of screen time, as children with nothing else to do watch shows and play video games.

The uncertainty about what is going on with children makes it very difficult to envision the reopening of American schools. It seems reasonable to think carefully before making that decision, because even if youngsters are unlikely to become very ill, or die, the average school is staffed on every level by adults with all the risk factors — some elderly, many obese, some in the lower economic strata, and so on.

On the home front, children have trouble with restrictions, especially when they see others light-heartedly flouting the rules. Isolation and distancing are rough on kids because they are kids, with incompletely formed brains, who can’t understand. And teenagers? Forget it. Like hormone-driven automatons, they must go where the boys/girls are.

They have been told that sex could kill them, but in many cases it has not. They’ve been admonished that drugs might be fatal, and found that not to be universally true either. Now, they are warned that going out to play volleyball or enjoy a fro-yo can be lethal. “Okay, Boomer. Don’t wait up.”

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “The Covid-19 Riddle: Why Does the Virus Wallop Some Places and Spare Others?,” NYTimes.com, 05/03/20
Source: “What Roles Do Children Play in Spreading COVID-19?,” WebMD.com, 04/30/20
Source: “Endless Summer Puts Homebound Kids at Risk for Weight Gain,” NYTimes.com, 04/30/20
Image by Beth Scupham/CC BY 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — When the Cupboard Is Bare

Several disturbing things are going on right now, and people are experiencing different combinations of inconvenience and misery because of the unsettling, frightening instability. People are being asked and/or told to stay home. In many places, food supplies are limited. People can’t afford their car payments, or gas, and public transportation is less available than ever. Money is tight. Kids who used to eat breakfast and/or lunch or school, or through some type of summertime substitute program, are out of luck.

Feeding Americans

When these programs function as designed — and hopefully, they will do so again — they are sometimes perceived as only helping kids who are presently enrolled in school. But that is a narrow and short-sighted way of looking at it. These manifestations of the societal safety net help people of all ages. Every home has a certain food budget to work with, and when children get nutrition at school, that family amount can “trickle up” and go farther towards feeding the adults, the nursing mothers, the preschool-age children, and the grandparents, if they happen to be around.

In 2014 we got the CEP, or Community Eligibility Provision, according to which if at least 40% of a school district’s children financially qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast, lunch, and snack, then every student does. By the time 2020 rolled around, nearly 30 million children were receiving free or reduced-price school meals. For this, the government paid out taxpayers’ dollars north of $30 billion in total.

Conflict of opinion

Critics see this as a disgrace, claiming that parents got used to kids being fed at least some kind of minimum diet through their schools. But when, in “crisis situations like the one the country now confronts,” the kids are not fed, because the schools are closed, well, then, parents allegedly have forgotten that it is, au fond, their responsibility to feed their own kids. Which they attempt to do, by forming incredibly long queues to receive food bank contributions.

The five authors of “COVID‐19 Related School Closings and Risk of Weight Gain Among Children” say,

Our projections in Philadelphia demonstrate that just three days of school closures could result in more than 405,000 missed meals among school-aged children.

This is of course extremely bad, just on general principles alone. The obesity connection is a paradox: Kids who miss out on school meals tend to gain weight, because households that don’t have much money can more easily acquire non-perishables, which tend to be very processed and calorie-dense. The authors say,

[W]e anticipate that many children will experience higher calorie diets during the pandemic response.

[I]t will require innovative approaches to addressing food insecurity within the constraints of social distancing or full stay at home orders.

As of the first of this year, 40 million people, mostly kids, were benefitting from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, or food stamps. The promise of food security helps kids to stay in school, and helps them benefit from the experience because their brains are able to function, and they are not distracted by raw hunger.

Since the coronavirus struck, some legislation has augmented this program favorably, for instance, by suspending work requirements and time limits, and by trying to make up for the nutrition that children no longer get at school. But soon the USDA wants to make it harder to qualify for the program, and many households will see a loss in SNAP benefits, and a tightening of eligibility standards for school meal programs.

Also, they propose a federal eligibility standard, which can’t help being unfair because local conditions vary so widely. Journalist Jennie Day-Burget writes,

The proposal would allow schools to serve less fruit, fewer whole grains, fewer varieties of vegetables, and more starchy vegetables… The students who would be most impacted by these changes are those from low-income families attending majority black and Hispanic schools and in rural communities — kids who are often already at highest risk for obesity and related health conditions.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Covid Closures Expose Insidious Effects of Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Program,” AMGreatness.com, 03/16/20
Source: “COVID‐19 Related School Closings and Risk of Weight Gain Among Children,” Wiley.com, 03/30/20
Source: “The Impact of Changing SNAP and School Meals During COVID-1,” StateOfChildhoodObesity.org, 04/02/20
Image by Ged Carroll/(CC BY 2.0)

Coronavirus Chronicles — Farmers’ Markets Struggle to Keep Up

Fresh, local produce is important to many kinds of people, including those who want to avoid obesity. The people who care, really care a lot. More is at stake than just the near future, as the country deals with the pandemic. The fear is that if this isn’t handled right, farmers’ markets will be lost forever. Childhood Obesity News has been looking at how officials, sellers and buyers are adjusting.

In normal times, the tiny Sebastopol, California, farmers’ market was open for only three hours a week with only about 20 vendors, and not much has changed. Manager Carla Rosin hastened to assure the public that being outdoors is safer than frequenting a brick-and-mortar grocery store, because social distance is easier to maintain. Several new rules were also established, and life goes on.

Further up the West Coast, Seattle categorized farmers’ markets as “large gatherings” similar to parades and concerts, and closed them down, while several neighboring Washington State counties deemed their markets to be essential. By mid-April, Seattle had allowed at least two locations to reopen, with stringent regulations in place.

Journalist Suzanne Phan wrote,

At the University District Farmers’ Market, the line to get in wrapped around the block the entire day… Staff only allowed 60 people inside the market at a time.

Back East, the state of Virginia, like many others, contains not only farmers’ markets, but you-pick operations, and small roadside homemade produce stands. These are precisely the types of businesses that the federal disaster loans were supposed to rescue, but the program almost immediately ran out of money.

The governor ordered farmers’ markets to follow the takeout and delivery guidelines designed for restaurants. Of course those enterprises are very different, but it seems like a sensible response on short notice.

Cat Modlin-Jackson told Virginia Mercury readers about an online service that allows customers to order directly from farmers, and then pick up their produce at curbside. Of course, this plan leaves out people who are unable, for whatever reason, to place orders online — but again, it is better than no solution at all.

In Philadelphia, Twilight Greenaway of Civil Eats and local correspondent Alexandra Jones collaborated on a story, writing:

The farmers’ markets run by Food Trust have remained open, but Farm to City, which runs five year-round markets in the city and suburbs, has closed theirs. Last Wednesday, farmers’ market program manager Jon Glyn felt comfortable moving forward with weekend markets on the guidance of Philadelphia Department of Public Health officials as long as vendors followed guidelines. But on Monday, Farm to City sent an email notifying vendors that the markets on Saturday, March 21 would be cancelled.

In other words, confusion reigned as authorities measured pros and cons, searching for answers that would do the most good for the largest number of people. The U.S. Department of Agriculture feels that local governments are in charge of these matters. Like several other states, Pennsylvania declared farmers’ markets to be essential businesses. But translating that precept into actionable principles has to be worked out on a case-by-case basis.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Virus takes a toll on the farmers market,” SonomaWest.com, 04/01/20
Source: “Reopened Seattle parks, farmers’ markets give hint of normalcy amid shutdown,” KOMONews.com, 04/18/20
Source: “Beating the virus: Farmers markets and growers adjusting to COVID-19 restrictions,” VirginiaMercury.com, 04/15/20
Source: “The Fight to Keep Farmers’ Markets Open During Coronavirus,” CivilEats.com, 03/19/20
Image by Eugene Kim/(CC BY 2.0)

Coronavirus Chronicles — Can Farmers’ Markets Adapt?

A customer can make a seller’s day by asking intelligent questions during a lull — or ruin it by monopolizing and distracting her, when several other customers are clearly waiting for a chance to trade their currency for fresh rhubarb.

A seller can make a buyer’s day in any number of ways that don’t cost a cent. Actually, by a strange quirk of psychology, there is very little you can do to annoy customers who took the trouble to seek you out because they love your broccoli.

The previous post took a nostalgic look at farmers’ markets as they have been, until the pandemic descended. If this type of retail outlet survives, it will be different henceforth. Right now, states and cities experience individual reactions. In mid-March, Governor Newsom of California received a letter from “hundreds of farmers, organizations, and other concerned citizens” asking the Dept. of Public Health to make…

[…] a statement affirming the essential role Certified Farmers’ Markets play for California’s farmers, economy, and communities across the state, and equating Certified Farmers’ Markets with grocery stores and other retail outlets for the purposes of COVID-19 containment policies.

This is important because in a health crisis, a non-essential business is a closed business. The farmers had to make a case for the markets to remain open, and they offered several reasonable arguments. Compared to a supermarket, the supply chain is shortened, meaning that fewer people handle the goods, meaning less chance of contamination. In the open air, there is a better opportunity to move away from a coughing stranger, and the air is, well… open.

Allegedly, the customers do not stay as long (although that is hard to believe). The tables and shades that make up a market stall infrastructure are lightweight and minimalist, which encourages more thorough and frequent cleaning. Also, adds Contributing Editor of Civil Eats Twilight Greenaway,

At a time when many low-income and newly unemployed people will likely be struggling with food access, farmers’ markets are also seen as one of a small number of places to buy affordable fruits and vegetables.

This point, of course, is important not just for low-income people, but for any-income people who are interested in recently-picked produce and other farm-fresh goods because they hope to optimize their physical health and avoid obesity. Many city dwellers appreciate food whose provenance they have at least some likelihood of knowing. If the sign and the truck say “Purple Plum Farm,” there is a chance that you might one day take a ride outside of town and pass by the farm and see the plum trees. This can mean a lot.

In Los Angeles, green markets are not a frill for yuppies. It’s a big city and, as Carla Hall points out in her article for LA Times, in many of its neighborhoods, such establishments are the best — and maybe even the only — source of fresh food.

Mayor Garcetti put all the farmers’ markets on hold — but only until they could file, with the appropriate city agency, plans to “limit ingress and egress and maintain social distancing.” Hall wrote,

The mayor did the right thing in suspending the markets. But the city must do the right thing by making it easy — not just less difficult — for farmers markets to submit their safety plans and get them approved. This can’t be a typical bureaucratic wait-forever process to get the city‘s approval. Make farmers markets show they can comply and then let them reopen — quickly.

In San Diego, the eponymous San Diego Markets comprise three sites. The company’s permits were cancelled, then almost immediately restored after CEO Catt Fields White made a public statement objecting on behalf of everybody, that included these words:

People with already compromised immune systems are nervous about the lack of availability of food they rely on to stay healthy in the best of times.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “The Fight to Keep Farmers’ Markets Open During Coronavirus,” CivilEats.com, 03/19/20
Source: “Opinion: Farmers markets can’t stay open if L.A. keeps treating them like spring break,” LATimes.com, 04/01/20
Image by Roger Mommaerts/(CC BY-SA 2.0)