Our daily lives look very different right now as we hunker down to get on top of Covid-19. In our house online classes, telecommuting, family dog walks, video calls and virtual family dinners are the new norm. How many of you have started a new project or connected with friends differently?
Looking after ourselves and each other in a COVID-19 world is more important than ever. While Pakuranga Rotary has ceased face-to-face meetings until further notice – you can still stay in-touch and show you care with a telephone call or text message. Perhaps you’ve tried video calling using FaceTime or WhatsApp and had a virtual coffee or wine with friends – a smile makes a difference.
My thoughts go out to those dealing with Covid-19 work challenges or health concerns – Please reach out to someone for help. If you know someone that is working for an essential service, then please pass on our thanks and gratitude.
We recommend taking time to
Understand what New Zealand’s response to at Covid-19 (covid19.govt.nz)
Check out campaigns such as Getting Through Together allright.org.nz which shares ways that New Zealanders can cope with the stress of COVID-19.
The health, safety and well-being our community is our top priority. Above all else keep safe, reach out to friends and family and be kind.
Covid- 19 Report from the Rotary Club (2175) D5960 of Winona,
Minnesota USA
By Rotarian Carrie McGhee
Good Morning from a snowy Winona, Minnesota. It is April, the daffodils are blooming and we have five inches of snow on the ground. Looking out the window, the sky is blue with a warm sun, you can hear the birds singing their songs. The picture is perfect, perfectly eerie due to Covid-19. There are no people out and about. No sound of children playing. No sirens, no traffic only the sound of birds and silence.
Since March 16, 2020, the state of Minnesota has been “shelter in”, “safe at home”, “involuntarily nesting”, all meaning that unless you are an essential worker you are expected to stay home and stay indoors. We can go outside for exercise, go buy groceries, gas, and other essentials. We can attend religious services, weddings and funerals if there are no more than 10 people present and each person is practicing social distancing (six feet of separation). The stores that are open are grocery, liquor (their business has seen a 250% increase in the past month), hardware and gas. Restaurants can only serve carry away. Schools, bars, movie theatres, retail shops, playgrounds, automobile dealerships, malls, barber and hairdressing salons, dentist and any non-essential health clinics are all closed.
Governor Tim Walz has stated that he will reassess the “shelter in” executive order on May 4. He is relying on a team of health experts and scientist to track the progression of the corona virus. All the models show that staying in has slowed the spread of the virus/flattened the curve.
The worry is that our world will open back up too soon and there will be a round two of the disease, worse than the first round. Fortunately for Minnesotans, we are the world headquarters of companies like the Mayo Clinic, 3M, Medtronic, the University of Minnesota. These institutions are on the forefront of coming up with test tools and equipment that will assist us in battling and ultimately winning the war on this disease.
This period in history will show that the American way of life has been forever changed. People have proven they can work at home. Parents have successfully home-schooled their children. Families have bonded over being together twenty four- seven. In the past month we have used technology in ways we never thought possible by having virtual happy hours, talent shows, Rotary Noon meetings, funerals, weddings and other social get-togethers. We have stayed connected and stayed in touch.
Nick began with a brief overview of his early years growing up and working in Grimsby with reference to the the many establishments that are now no-longer. After emigrating to Aukland, New Zealand, Nick became an active member of the Pakuranga Rotary Club. Pakuranga Rotary Club The club has several female members and Nick claims that these give much of the driving force behind the Club. Membership features multiple ethnic groups representing the extent of the geographical region which includes Pacific islands such as Fiji. Young people and local businesses play a big part in supporting the Club's activities. Charitable Activities Help in providing dictionaries, atlases and reading books plus the provision of a prefabricated mothers' and children's (Whanau) room has benefitted the local schools and the club also provides Christmas presents for refugee children. The club has also provided emergency response kits (ERKS) in response to situations that have occured on the nearly islands. Community From time to time the Club engages their 'Working Bee' team to clear derelict land and plant trees for the benefit of the local people. An annual fishing event using 'commandeered' boats in the sheltered waters of Auckland raises the majority of the charity funds and is enjoyed by all.
For those of us who have been Rotarians for a good many years, one of the great joys of being a Rotarian was, and remains, the ability to make up at another Rotary Club’s regular meeting, anywhere in the world. This was by way of assisting you with attaining your required percentage yearly attendance which, if my memory serves me correctly, was 60% of your own clubs regular meetings in any one year. In fact, many of us retained an updated Rotary International Directory for this very purpose.
Social Distancing reminds me of the time I decided to make up at a club in Rotorua. The only Rotarians I came into contact with were the gentleman who took my meal money and two or three other visiting Rotarians who with me had been guided to a roped off area especially ordained for visiting Rotarians. I do recall some whimsical remarks made by my companions for the meeting but I can’t recall whether we were given any form of introduction or indeed whether were visited by the sergeant.
In recent years we have become familiar with ‘E’ clubs and now in this time of Coronavirus we learn that at least two of the clubs in our District, Remuera and Downtown, are meeting via ZOOM. Members in the Downtown Club regularly meet in the late afternoon, if only to address the topic DRINKS” on the Agenda.
So might we have a member who, unlike some of us, is not technology challenged, who might be able to organize such meetings, possibly with a view to using such technology for smaller group meetings in the future.
As at 8 April, Afghanistan had 3 cases this year as again 29 for the full year last year. In the month of February there were 6.7 million children vaccinated but 1.9 million children were missed as they were in areas that were inaccessible. They have 19 cross border posts which vaccinated 1.8 million children as the amount of movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan is considerable. In their country they have 2926 social mobilisers, who organise and vaccinate.
Pakistan is a much bigger problem. In January there were 18.3 million children vaccinated which is an amazing achievement but many were still missed. The population is so dense, particularly in the slum areas, that it a very difficult to ensure all children are seen. They have 376 permanent transit points, which includes bus stops, railway stations and highways and they vaccinate many children in these but much of the work is a hard slog through slums. In Pakistan as at 8 April this year there were 37 cases as against 149 for the full year last year.
One of the surveillance techniques used in many countries to check that polio is not circulating is to take and analyse environmental samples, which is a polite way of saying that samples are taken from sewage and then laboratory tested, and in Pakistan this means taking samples from ditches and creeks. Not a very desirable job! In January they found 27 positive samples.
Covid19 has now changed the landscape as it was necessary to stop vaccination activity everywhere in mid-March with a target resumption of July 1. The polio workforce has now transferred its activities to covid19. Sadly, it is accepted that this will mean more cases of polio. Not all activity has ceased however as surveillance, planning and training continues and new more effective vaccine, mOPV2, will become available in August/September.
In India, during the successful polio eradication, Rotary formed an alliance with the Ulema Council which is made up of some of the most senior Muslim clerics in India and that alliance has been rekindled to fight covid19. Yet another example of our polio campaign building health structures that will fight other health issues.
An ongoing challenge in the background is the amount of vaccine derived polio in Africa and this is a problem that will only be beaten when the wild polio virus is eradicated. Clearing vaccine derived polio cannot occur until we can stop vaccinating and then it will be just a matter of money and time.
As a final comment, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will stay in the polio effort with Rotary and will again next year provide the subsidy of US$100 million if we raise US$50 million.
Our daily lives look very different right now as we hunker down to get on top of Covid-19. In our house online classes, telecommuting, family dog walks, video calls and virtual family dinners are the new norm. How many of you have started a new project or connected with friends differently?
