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yassershaikh · 3 years

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10 Rules to Live a Healthy Lifestyle for Kids!

Health and nutrition are not the same thing but they are interrelated! Nutrition is the sum of all-things-health that we consume daily to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Keeping your child healthy and maintaining a balance in their nutrition is a task in itself. Children often copy what they see, hear or feel when someone tries to explain something to them for the first time. So as a parent or guardian you must be extra conscious about inculcating habits of healthy living in your children from the beginning.

10 Rules to Help Kids Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Rules are a part of living a disciplined life. Here are 10 rules that you should establish to help your kids lead a life of good health:

1. Make nutritious food a priority

The health of your kids directly depends on what you serve at home. Fix a healthful breakfast habit by serving fresh fruits accompanied with oats or bran. Make sure that your child consumes their lunch in school or college to avoid the temptation to eat junk food and instead help them eat healthy, home-cooked food.

2. Prevent health hazards

Ensure to keep track of your kids health history and be alert about health problems that may hinder their well-being. For instance, if your child suffers from asthma, you must ensure that proper care is taken during the winter season. Learn to make a few less-oily dishes like porridge (khichri) so that when your child feels sick you can instantly cook up a healthy meal for them!

3. Be vocal about health

Make health a part of your everyday conversation with your child. Ask them about their health everyday and motivate them to share any health-related concerns with the family. You can even ask them to share their idea of living a healthy lifestyle and see if it aligns with yours. Show them how a healthy lifestyle can be maintained by adopting a few healthy habits such as regular exercise, a balanced diet and good rest to increase energy levels for the whole day.

4. Safety first

Some children switch to comfort eating outside the house which could lead to health problems in the future. It’s important to check whether the restaurant or café they are going to follows all safety protocols required especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Food hygiene is as important as consuming nutritious food. Help your child find safe eateries that not only prepare healthy food but also give importance to hygiene.

5. Give it time

If you decide to give your child a health tip, find out how he or she will apply it and whether they understand it or not. Do not make health tips too complicated for kids because they may end up confused and do the opposite of what you want them to do.

Teach them one health tip at a time and offer them enough room to actually apply and become familiar with that particular habit.

6. Plan workout sessions together

Just exercising without knowing the proper technique to do it can do more harm than good. Kids learn more when they see their parents perform the same activities as they are expected to do. So plan out a family work out session where your kids can watch and learn from you! You can also take your kids to the nearby park or to a health club that follows all safety protocols.

7. Do it their way

Find out what sports or activities interest them and help them learn health tips by playing their favorite sport or joining in on health club activities with them. This is a great way to get the kids excited about learning how to live a healthy lifestyle while having fun!

8. Make health and nutrition learning a fun activity

If you sit and tell them about the do’s and don'ts of staying healthy, they will probably not register a word you say and get bored easily. Although teaching them about living a healthy lifestyle is important, it can be turned into a fun learning activity!

Take different types of fruit and vegetables in a basket and have them sort it in groups based on color or shape. You can then take one item and explain to them why we eat it and how it helps us stay healthy. Then you can ask your toddler to put it back inside the basket! Next day you can ask them to describe its features and if they get it wrong, you can help them recall it again.

9. Practice what you preach

If you want your kids to learn about health and nutrition, then it's time for you to practice what you preach! Your health habits are something else that children can learn from. Drop your unhealthy habits and pick up healthy ones and practice it religiously everyday in front of your kids so that they can get inspiration to do so for themselves too.

10. Tell health and nutrition jokes

Teaching health tips does not always have to be serious business. You can make up funny scenes using colorful fruits and veggies or tell them a joke about it! This can be a fun bonding activity for the family while teaching them the good and bad about health.

Why Should You Teach Kids about Healthy Lifestyle?

It is important for your children to be health-conscious because the habits they inculcate in their childhood will help strengthen their immune system and last for the rest of their lives. If you want them to live healthily, then you must start early!

· Importance of teaching about health and nutrition for kids include:

· keeps them away from any sicknesses and illnesses.

· their overall performance in different fields such as academics and extracurricular will improve if they feel healthy and good about themselves.

· they will be able to focus on health as they grow up and take independent decisions for their health in the future.

· a healthy and sound body will increase their confidence and self-esteem.

Conclusion

The most important thing is to in still healthy habits in them from an early age. One of the best ways to do this is by integrating physical activity and good nutrition into their daily lives. Make sure that they eat healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as snacks throughout the day without skipping any meal. This will keep them feeling full longer so they aren't tempted to snack on sugary or high-fat foods later on. If you have younger children who are still learning how to feed themselves, try teaching them about food groups during mealtime.

#teacher #student #health #healthy #kids #teaching #kids health #healthy food #school #cbse #cbse school #healthy breakfast

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harpianews · 3 years

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Cabinet panel recommends winter session from November 29 to December 23

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) has recommended that the Winter Session of Parliament be held from November 29 to December 23. Sources said that both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha will meet simultaneously but with the Covid-19 protocol. There are likely to be 19 sittings in this session. Last year the winter session was canceled due to the pandemic, but this year…

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#current #harpianews #India #Indian Express News #latest #news #Winter Session Lok Sabha Dates #winter session of parliament #winter session parliament 2021

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doonitedin · 3 years

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Parliament Winter Session to be held from November 29-December 23: Sources

Image Source : PTI Parliament Winter Session to be held from November 29-December 23: Sources The Parliament Winter Session is expected to be held from November 29-December 23 following all COVID-19 protocols, sources said. In the wake of the pandemic, the Winter session of Parliament was not held last year and all the subsequent sessions — Budget and Monsoon — were curtailed due to…

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#farmers #Parliament #Parliament Winter Session #Parliament Winter Session to be held from November 29-December 23

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Students sue Oregon colleges over cost of remote learning during the pandemic Undergraduate student Danielle Pranger and graduate student Garrett Harris filed a lawsuit against Oregon State University on March 5, while Caine Smith filed his lawsuit against the University of Oregon on March 19, according to the lawsuits. Both lawsuits claim that even though students were sent home and campuses were closed, the schools “continued to charge for tuition, and/or fees as if nothing changed, continuing to reap the financial benefit of millions of dollars from students.” The suit seek monetary damages of unspecified amount in “prorated unused amounts of tuition and fees,” damages, attorney fees and costs. Steve Berman, an attorney for the students in both cases, said his clients did not get the full value of what they paid for when campuses closed and switched to online sessions. The lawsuits claim the schools have refused to refund or reimburse students for tuition and other fees they paid for “a comprehensive on-campus academic experience.” “We believe that when OSU closed its campus, transitioning to online-only classes, it barred tuition payers from the very things they paid for, and in our opinion, they deserve repayment,” Berman said. “The University of Oregon, we believe, has unfairly continued to charge tuition payers for all of the things they were not allowed to experience and use during the Covid-19 campus closure and switch to online classes.” Both schools said that they continued to provide students with a high-quality education. “Oregon State University has remained open since winter term 2020 during the pandemic on its campuses in Corvallis and at OSU-Cascades in Bend. OSU continues to provide students a high-quality education courses in person, remotely and online,” said Steve Clark, OSU vice president for university relations and marketing. The University of Oregon issued a statement saying “the lawsuit is wrong on the law and on the facts.” The school said the lawsuit’s claims that the school’s costs have decreased are false. “In fact, our costs have increased due to a variety of new technology and infrastructure investments needed to provide quality instruction and to protect our campus community’s health and safety,” the university’s statement said. “Nonetheless, the university has taken care to refund our students for a number of services and amenities that they were unable to access due to federal state and local health directives.” Many schools across the US opted for in-person learning last August, but were met with outbreaks caused sometimes by students who did not abide to safety protocols or the schools themselves not putting enough safety precautions in place to prevent such outbreaks. These clusters of Covid-19 then led some schools to shut down campus and transition to online learning. The law firm representing the students, Hagens Berman, is suing at least 17 other universities over tuition paid during the pandemic. Students in other states have also filed lawsuits against their schools. In New York, students sued Columbia University, Pace University and Long Island University, making similar arguments that the schools have failed to adequately refund or reimburse students for tuition and other fees they paid to have in-person, on-campus classes and other activities. Source link Orbem News #Colleges #cost #learning #Oregon #Oregoncollegeslawsuit:StudentssueOregoncollegesovercostofremotelearningduringthepandemic-CNN #Pandemic #Remote #Students #sue #us

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harpianews · 3 years

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One month winter session of Parliament likely from fourth week of November

Parliamentary sources said on Friday that the one-month winter session of Parliament is likely to begin from the fourth week of November following all Covid-19 protocols. He said the session, which is likely to have around 20 sittings, will end before Christmas. In view of the pandemic, the winter session of Parliament was not held last year and all subsequent sessions – Budget and Monsoon –…

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#current #harpianews #India #Indian Express #Indian Express News #latest #news #winter session of parliament #winter session of parliament 2021 #Winter session of Parliament begins from November #winter session of parliament covid-19 november 2021

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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Students sue Oregon colleges over cost of remote learning during the pandemic

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/students-sue-oregon-colleges-over-cost-of-remote-learning-during-the-pandemic/

Students sue Oregon colleges over cost of remote learning during the pandemic

Undergraduate student Danielle Pranger and graduate student Garrett Harris filed a lawsuit against Oregon State University on March 5, while Caine Smith filed his lawsuit against the University of Oregon on March 19, according to the lawsuits.

Both lawsuits claim that even though students were sent home and campuses were closed, the schools “continued to charge for tuition, and/or fees as if nothing changed, continuing to reap the financial benefit of millions of dollars from students.”

The suit seek monetary damages of unspecified amount in “prorated unused amounts of tuition and fees,” damages, attorney fees and costs.

Steve Berman, an attorney for the students in both cases, said his clients did not get the full value of what they paid for when campuses closed and switched to online sessions. The lawsuits claim the schools have refused to refund or reimburse students for tuition and other fees they paid for “a comprehensive on-campus academic experience.”

“We believe that when OSU closed its campus, transitioning to online-only classes, it barred tuition payers from the very things they paid for, and in our opinion, they deserve repayment,” Berman said. “The University of Oregon, we believe, has unfairly continued to charge tuition payers for all of the things they were not allowed to experience and use during the Covid-19 campus closure and switch to online classes.”

Both schools said that they continued to provide students with a high-quality education.

“Oregon State University has remained open since winter term 2020 during the pandemic on its campuses in Corvallis and at OSU-Cascades in Bend. OSU continues to provide students a high-quality education courses in person, remotely and online,” said Steve Clark, OSU vice president for university relations and marketing.

The University of Oregon issued a statement saying “the lawsuit is wrong on the law and on the facts.” The school said the lawsuit’s claims that the school’s costs have decreased are false.

“In fact, our costs have increased due to a variety of new technology and infrastructure investments needed to provide quality instruction and to protect our campus community’s health and safety,” the university’s statement said. “Nonetheless, the university has taken care to refund our students for a number of services and amenities that they were unable to access due to federal state and local health directives.”

Many schools across the US opted for in-person learning last August, but were met with outbreaks caused sometimes by students who did not abide to safety protocols or the schools themselves not putting enough safety precautions in place to prevent such outbreaks. These clusters of Covid-19 then led some schools to shut down campus and transition to online learning.

The law firm representing the students, Hagens Berman, is suing at least 17 other universities over tuition paid during the pandemic.

Students in other states have also filed lawsuits against their schools. In New York, students sued Columbia University, Pace University and Long Island University, making similar arguments that the schools have failed to adequately refund or reimburse students for tuition and other fees they paid to have in-person, on-campus classes and other activities.

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abolitionist-kinaesthetics · 4 years

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a statement from cortez easterwood-bey on the uprising in city jail, st. louis, missouri, provided by expo (ex-incarcerated people organizing) st. louis (feb 6, 2021)

Sometime in the early morning the inmates at the St. Louis Justice center stage an act of civil disobedience because of the inhumane treatment by CJC Management concerning Covid-19 along with other issues. Expo-Stl was made aware that more than 50 inmates participated in a peaceful protest that took place on December 29th. Nothing was done to address those issues and this mornings uprising was the natural evolution of the actions of living and feeling human beings. Here now is a communications from inside the Justice center itself.

On the morning of Tuesday, December 29, 2020 around 10am CT, myself (Cortez Easterwood-Bey IMN #6694) and more than 50 other inmates on at least two floors within Missouri's Saint Louis Justice Center (CJC), stood together in solidarity outside of our cells as a form of peaceful protest to exercise our 1st Amendment right to free speech in a peaceful attempt to voice our grievances to be heard by CJC management that have gone unanswered after months (anywhere from 2-6 months or more) of following the established procedures for filing complaints and grievances. We recently learned from sympathetic guards/correctional officers (hearafter referred to as CO(s)), that these complaint and grievance forms rarely go past the CO whom the form was given to, let alone to their supervisor nor an outside entity or CJC official. Our peaceful protest was unequally matched with resistance by CJC staff akin to the pre-Civil Rights Movement -- we were subjected to tear gas, hosed down with strong water, and placed faced down in inches of said but now contaminated water in order to be handcuffed, transferred to the known dilapidated Medium Security Institution (MSI) nicknamed the "Workhouse", and placed "in the hole" without proper heat, dry clothing and new face masks. All this because we were trying to tell jail staff and management that we don't want to DIE, we are hungry, we want proper ventilation, we are tired of being cold without being given winter clothing, we want proper PPE for COVID-19, we are tired of being price gouged in the commissary and vending machines, we want the mandated six "recs" per day, and we want visits from family and friends since there is a glass barrier between them and the inmates. How long do we inmates have to go without before one stops adhering to socially acceptable civil norms when they are blatantly and continously being denied such -- not only the ability to live but also other basic [prison] rights such as the ability to breathe uncontaminated air?

Because of this incident, jail staff have threatened to destroy and discard our personal belongings, religious and otherwise, as punishment. Their purported excuse for this action is because of the tear gas they used has contaminated said belongings. So, we will no longer have our legal documents nor anything we or our family or friends purchased for us -- food, clothing, toiletries, religious documents/books/items, photos, etc. This is our punishment for asking not to be infected with covid and to have proper and adequate food, PPE, etc.?

To my knowledge, there are at least 12 lawsuits filed by other inmates due to the outcome and actions of jail staff at CJC for this initially "peaceful protest" that has been quelled by correctional officials so the media and public are kept unaware.

On New Years Eve, there were already 51 of us in the hole in one "pod", which is supposed to hold a maximum of 60 people pre-pandemic, that were healthy and uninfected with Covid. However, prison staff decided to add 11more inmates, some of whom were visibly infected with covid!

This is genocide.

Prior to this peaceful protest that is now being reported as a "riot", there were 24 inmates in my pod KNOWN TO BE INFECTED with covid by jail staff, but instead of properly quarantining them, they kept them in the pod and with their cell mates in a 6 foot by 9 foot cell. 24 infected inmates soon turned into almost 50 infected inmates in less than 48 hours!!! Thats over 90% of the inmates housed in ONE pod of 60 persons!!! Further, COs are telling us that not only are they NOT going to test us but such testing is voluntary even if the inmate is visibly exhibiting the classic symptoms of a covid infection. When those of us who are healthy request to be tested for covid, we are denied and persons from the detention center regardless of their covid status are continuously mixed in with the uninfected population within the actual jail/CJC, which houses over 800 inmates and more than 60% of those are currently visibly and audibly infected with covid and are probably not getting proper/adequate medical attention.

Many of us have not yet gone to trial. There is at least one inmate who has been locked up at CJC for FIVE YEARS without going to trial. So how is it that the St. Louis Justice Center staff are allowed to be our judge, jury and now executioner during this deadly pandemic???

We don't want to DIE from SARS COVID-19, especially not at the hands of correctional staff. We are tired of being purposely exposed to other inmates and detainees who visibly have covid. Jail staff won't test inmates but claim that current pod members have been exposed to covid even though we have not been tested during the entire arrest and detention process yet COs are constantly placing untested people, healthy or infected, in a jail cell, pod or holding area, with healthy people.

Even though we are inmates and regardless of whether we have been found guilty of a crime we may or may not have committed, our request is not unreasonable. This IS genocide. We are being treated like the Jews during Hitler's regime. Instead of Germany we are in America. And the jail is being ran much like the concentration camps. But because we are black and brown and don't ft the historical standard of American beauty, we are treated less than. We are being treated worse than George Floyd. Instead of one officer with his knee on one Black man's neck for almost 8 minutes, we have several officers and agents of the Missouri, and more specifically the CJC, who are knowingly not following the COVID guidelines and protocols set forth by the CDC and US Department of Justice.

We are HUNGRY. We are pleading for not only proper nutrition but portion sizes that are befitting of an adult male. The lack of proper and adequate sustenance is known to weaken the immune system, thus making any person more susceptible to any disease but especially the highly contagious covid virus. We get the same chunk of bread-like cake for every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner). I have been in CJC for almost two months and have yet to be given any fruit, have only once been given a "salad" that consisted of three tightly stuck together pieces of lettuce and one sliver of a shredded carrot. Our vegetables, if we are given them, consist of canned corn or green beans. The commissary and vending machines (in the facility or online for purchase by our family and friends to send to us, which is received bi-weekly) consists mostly of highly processed and junk/snack foods that are grossly overpriced compared to the Missouri prisons and normal retail outlets accessible to most American citizens.

We are tired of being COLD when the temperatures outside are also cold. The COs verbally refuse to turn the heat up, even in the detention/holding facility, citing they are trying to keep all from getting covid. We have not been given proper clothing to deal with such temperatures within the actual facility. Most of the world is struggling financially so there are very few of us who are recently detained during this pandemic whose family can even afford to purchase a thermal top or bottom or thicker socks via the online commissary. The inmates are not working, and many of us newly detained have not worked during this pandemic, but even if we had we either don't have access to those funds and/or have depleted them in our attempts to purchase food from the commissary and vending machines after we are given our "trays" (breakfast, lunch or dinner) that barely have portions nor nutrients acceptable for a 10 year old child let alone a grown man.

We need our RECREATION BREAKS to stay mentally and physically healthy. Per correctional guidelines, inmates are to be given six (6) recreation hours per day. Since I have been detained at CJC, we get less than 3 and its mostly at the discretion of the guards with seemingly no set time periods or systematic adherence to the standard CDC guidelines. For example, one or more pods are let out of their cells between 7a-9a for 45min, then around 3p for another 45min, and maybe around 11p for 15-20min. To myself and others, these actions by CJC-MSI staff seem like an effort to not fully perform the duties for which they are getting paid to perform in accordance with standard operating procedures and CDC and DOJ covid guidelines and protocols. I have found that if I want to exercise (push-ups, etc) in my cell or during rec, I must do so in the morning rec so I have enough time to take a shower. I save my commissary/vending and phone calls for the afternoon rec. All this because we're not given 6 recs sessions/hours, time is short and we may not get the 3rd/last rec that is much shorter on time and at a time where business calls cannot be made.

We need INFORMATION to research our cases.We have not or only sporadically been given access to the jail's law library during recs. There are also only six tablets provided to one or more pods housing 60+ people. These tablets are supposed to allow us access to the jail's law library and also, for a fee, be able to communicate with our family and friends via text messaging who have a SmartJailMail account. Most of the times, said tablets are inoperable because they weren't charged properly between recs and/or will not hold a charge. Further, the tablets do not allow for video chatting with anyone.

We need to SEE our loved ones. The CJC website says visitation is allowed and special allowances for such may be made to family members or friends who reside out-of-town. However, this is a lie. All inmates have been told that there is no visitation due to covid despite the fact that in the visitation area at CJC the inmates are separated from the visitors by a glass partition and wall.

We need but are not given proper PPE. Yet COs are walking around in what appears to be hazmat suits. Inmates are only given a standard face mask bi-weekly. Many don't have one because it broke, became dirty, wet, etc. Payphones, vending machines, tablets, etc. are not sanitized after each use and tables, common areas, etc.are not sanitized after each rec. We need more types of PPE (gloves, N95 masks, face shields, etc.) to protect us against our cellmate who is infected with covid whom the COs purposely place in our cells and refuse to remove healthy inmates or quarantine the infected ones in a separate area or facility.

I personally was NEVER tested for covid during my entire arrest and lockup experience (October 14, 2020 to present). Not given a temperature check, covid test kit nor nose swab, nor blood check. I have been denied my repeated requests for such. After my arrest, I was placed in the detention/holding facility attached to CJC. I was denied access to a shower and clean clothing for at least 2 weeks. It wasn't until I had an outside person to contact my parole officer and a visit was made that I was given a shower, notified of why I was arrested, given a standard jumpsuit and thin (and too small) footwear, and then transferred to the jail-side of CJC. During my time in holding, officers were constantly moving detainees in and out of the holding area I was in, especially during the day. The area was not cleaned nor sanitized. I was not given any PPE during that time. All of this escalated my exposure to this deadly and highly contagious covid virus.

My detainment in the jail side of CJC has been, for the most part, no different to my initial detainment, as indicated above. How is it that not only do I have to protect myself against violence from much younger inmates, I now have to be strategically conscious of protecting my desire to continue to live and breathe unencumbered by a deadly pandemic-level worldwide virus because correctional staff intentionally place me and others in dangerous and hazardous conditions which further lends us to intentionally get covid in a short time frame, in some inmates' cases this happens within 24 hours of their cellmate or they themselves being exposed to another inmate or guard who is handling them after dealing with a previous inmate(s) who's visibly and knowingly infected. We are only given a basic face mask ever 2 weeks. No gloves or other PPE is given nor can we have any mailed to us by our family nor friends. How can we socially distance in a 6 foot by 9 foot cell with no ventilation in an open plan/air facility that is kept cold and we are denied and not provided with additional clothing (jackets, gloves, hats, etc.) nor blankets. How can those of us who are not sick stay healthy if we are not given nutritious and portions that sustain us. Yes we are inmates yet many of us have not yet been tried for our supposed crimes. Many of us also have families that we cannot see, barely are able to talk to because their funds are running low or are non-existent for us to call them collect or message them via SmartJailMail.

We feel like POWs in a foreign land in hostile territory. Because of our blackness/ancestral ties to Africa or Latin America, we are being treated less than human. We are dying at CJC in unheard of numbers and being intentinionally infected at alarming rates.

In my homeland that is the civilized country of America...THIS IS GENOCIDE!

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image: incarcerated people’s uprising at city justice center in st louis, by expo st. louis

[image description: a picture of the exterior of city justice center, a city jail. rows of panels of tinted blue glass, at least 4 stories high, can be seen as part of the architecture of the building. toward the top, a row of glass panels was shattered and a group of people wearing yellow with white cloths partially covering their faces and heads can be seen standing. one person held a sign in protest. around the shattered glass panels, traces of something being previously burned can be seen. to the left of the blue glass panels is a sand-coloured wall. the picture is framed by some branches of deciduous trees, with a just few autumn leaves on the branches.]

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bbcbreakingnews · 4 years

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President Ram Nath Kovind to address parliament ahead of a stormy budget session: Highlights

Keeping with a long-standing tradition, the Budget session begins with the President’s address to the Parliament. President Ram Nath Kovind’s address will be followed by the Economic Survey.

NEW DELHI: This year’s budget session begins Friday with the President’s address which will be followed by the presentation of the economic survey. The Union Budget will be presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. Both the houses will also debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address after the budget presentation. The session will be held in two parts—January 29 to February 15 and March 8 to April 8. The session will have a total of 33 sittings. It is after almost six months that the Parliament will be convened, as the winter session could not be held due to the Covid pandemic. Opposition boycotts President’s address over farm laws The crucial Budget session is set for a stormy start with as many as 18 opposition parties announcing their decision to boycott the President’s address in solidarity with the farmers agitating against the three contentious farm laws. The session is also likely to witness acrimonious scenes, with the opposition all set to corner the government on issues like recession, job losses, handling of Covid crisis, LAC stand-off with China and the WhatsApp chat leaks of Arnab Goswami. A total of 18 Opposition parties have announced to boycott the President’s address. There are over 20 opposition parties in Parliament. The parties boycotting the address are the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, Peoples Democratic Party, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and the All India United Democratic Front. The Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party also separately announced their decision of boycotting the address. Speaker calls for an all-party meet To seek the cooperation of various parties for the smooth functioning of the Budget session, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has convened a meeting of all political parties on Friday which is expected to be attended by PM Modi. With the session starting barely days after the national capital witnessed unprecedented violence on Republic Day during the farmers’ tractor parade, the issue is expected to echo in Parliament. Joshi has appealed to all the parties to reconsider their decision to boycott, saying the President is above party politics. He also claimed that the BJP has never boycotted the President’s address when it was in the opposition, and said the issues raised by the opposition parties can be raised during the debate on the motion of thanks. Sixteen opposition parties release joint statement in Rajya Sabha “The Prime Minister and the BJP government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response. Shocked by this insensitivity of the government, the opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the anti-farmer laws and in solidarity with the Indian farmers, have decided to boycott the President’s address…..,” a joint statement issued by 16 parties said on Thursday. The statement was released by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. Azad alleged that the Opposition is against the manner in which the three bills were passed in Parliament after rules and regulations were “thrown in the dustbin”. The parties have alleged that the farm bills were brought without any consultations with states and farmer unions, and lacked national consensus. Paperless budget With a view to have a paperless Budget, all the documents and the Economic Survey would be made available online soon after the authenticated copies are laid on the Table of the House, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has said. Covid protocols in place This session will be held as per Covid-19 protocols, with Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha meeting in shifts of five hours each — with the upper house meeting from 9 AM to 2 PM and the lower house in the evening from 3 PM to 8 PM. This is also the first time when the members of both the Houses will be seated in three different locations – chambers of both houses and the Central Hall. Question hour is back The Question Hour, which could not take place during the Monsoon session, has also made a comeback in this session. The Monsoon session also saw the two Houses working on Saturdays and Sundays. But this time, Parliament will not sit on weekends. Private members’ business to be part of budget session Private Members’ business, which usually takes place on Friday afternoons, will also be part of the Budget session, according to the Lok Sabha secretariat. In the previous session, the Private Members’ business was not taken up. Government to push for ordinances During the session, the government will also push to convert ordinances issued recently into laws. An ordinance has to be converted into law within 42 days of the beginning of the session, else it lapses. The ordinances issued recently include The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020, The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021. (With inputs from PTI)

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source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2021/01/29/president-ram-nath-kovind-to-address-parliament-ahead-of-a-stormy-budget-session-highlights/

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diaspora9ja · 4 years

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NIAA has plans in place to proceed with high school sports in Jan.

Plans and schedules are in place to play highschool sports activities, now it is a matter of the state giving the OK.

The Nevada Interscholastic Actions Affiliation met Tuesday and Wednesday by way of video convention to replace the place it stands on resuming highschool sports activities. Highschool sports activities have been shut down since March 14 because of state COVID-19 protocols.

Basketball and wrestling are nonetheless on the no-play listing, together with soccer. If they’re allowed, practices may begin in early January.

Extra:Clark County cancels winter high school sports, rest of state might still play

NIAA govt director Bart Thompson mentioned the state well being advisers are not anticipated to deal with highschool sports activities till subsequent week on the soonest.

Thompson mentioned colleges must know the standing of sports activities quickly to allow them to begin arranging transportation, officers will be confirmed and schedules finalized.

He mentioned transportation is an enormous difficulty because of social distancing necessities that restrict the variety of college students allowed on a bus.

The Washoe County Faculty District voted on Tuesday night time to return to the hybrid studying mannequin on Jan. 19. The board didn’t deal with returning to apply/conditioning. Thompson mentioned the NIAA doesn’t have any guidelines about apply or conditioning nor about college students being in courses earlier than they apply.

Clark County voted final week to not have any winter sports activities this faculty 12 months.

Thompson mentioned if Gov. Steve Sisolak permits basketball and wrestling to return, these sports activities may start apply Jan. 4.

The NIAA has a plan in place to have winter sports activities start play Jan. 19, with a six-week season, adopted by fall sports activities in March-April, then spring sports activities in April-Might.

“It could be simple to get 10 days of apply in they usually may play video games (Jan. 19),” Thompson mentioned.

The board members additionally spoke about how sports activities are usually not only a bodily outlet for college kids, but in addition present emotional and psychological stability for them.

Thompson mentioned he has been in weekly contact with highschool sports activities associations in Utah and Idaho, the place sports activities are being allowed, to learn how they’re dealing with COVID-19 protocols.

He mentioned if sports activities return to Nevada, there’ll doubtless be no spectators allowed, at the very least within the extra populated counties. Different counties may enable followers, relying on their restrictions.

He mentioned all adults related to athletics would must be examined for COVID.

“For proper now, we’re nonetheless in a holding sample, hoping to listen to pretty quickly if these sports activities will be allowed to be contested and practiced,” Thompson mentioned of basketball and wrestling. “We’re planning full-speed forward for these seasons with the faculties which can be in session.”

The board additionally mentioned the Northern 3A may change this faculty 12 months, relying o the standing of South Tahoe and Truckee, which fall underneath California pointers. And North Tahoe would even be affected by California protocols.

In different board motion:

The board accredited extending the contract of Thompson by one month, so his official retirement date might be July 31.

The extension is so he can fulfill obligations to the nationwide highschool governing physique.

The board additionally licensed wanting into having present assistant director Donnie Nelson change into the interim govt director after Thompson retires.

Nelson has labored for the NIAA for twenty-four years. Earlier than Thompson was employed in 2015, and after earlier director Eddie Bonine left to take the identical job in Louisiana, Nelson was a part of NIAA employees that ran the affiliation for about 5 months.

The board waived the necessity for a masters diploma, saying 15 years in a highschool athletic affiliation can fulfill that requirement.

Nelson mentioned he seems ahead to being the interim govt director, saying he loves working for the NIAA. The transfer will avoid wasting cash for the NIAA, which is going through an enormous deficit of about $100,000, because of no highschool sports activities tournaments being held thus far.

He’ll get a stipend for taking over the duties, and the board really useful a part-time particular person take over Nelson’s present duties.

The NIAA will additional focus on and vote on the transfer at its spring assembly in March or April.

Realignment: The board voted to postpone the subsequent realignment to the 2023-24 faculty 12 months. The NIAA employees is worried the rubric factors wouldn’t precisely mirror which groups must be in every class.

Officers: Face coverings might be required for all officers in all sports activities.

Jim Krajewski covers highschool and youth sports activities for the Reno Gazette Journal. Observe him on Twitter @RGJPreps. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.

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Covid-19 News: Live Updates - The New York Times

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Most public health officials now believe it is important to keep schools operating, particularly for young students.Credit…Sarah Blesener for The New York Times

New York City is reopening some of its public schools Monday in the teeth of a worsening coronavirus outbreak.

The decision to do so reflects changing public health thinking around the importance of keeping schools operating, particularly for young students, and the real-world experience of over two months of in-person classes in the city’s school system, the nation’s largest.

Schools around the country have had to make the difficult decision of when to close and what metrics to follow, with some staying open amid local positivity rates in the teens and others using low single-digit thresholds.

Of the nation’s 75 largest public school districts, 18 have gone back to remote learning in the past month, according to data compiled by the Council of the Great City Schools and reported in The Wall Street Journal.

In California, many of the biggest school districts were already closed before new restrictions took effect on Sunday in three regions of the state. The new restrictions include stay-at-home orders, but do not require schools that had reopened to close again (an earlier version of this item incorrectly said they do). In the last week, California has reported more than 150,000 new cases, a record for all states.

Decisions to shutter schools have often been made on the local level and in inconsistent ways. Some schools have “paused” for short periods of time — as was the case in dozens of Central Texas districts or recently in Delaware, at the governor’s suggestion. Others have opted for blended learning with some days in school and some days remote.

Many have endured jarring periods of closing, opening and closing again. All of the solutions seem to be leading to burnout, instability and turmoil. New York City students, parents and teachers have felt their own whiplash, from a full shutdown before Thanksgiving to a partial reopening less than three weeks later.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has committed himself to keeping schools open, his aides say, and has started with elementary schools and those for students with severe disabilities. (About 190,000 children in the grades and schools the city is reopening this week would be eligible.)

Three of the country’s largest districts — in Birmingham, Ala., Tulsa, Okla., and Wichita, Kan. — made the opposite decision and closed over the past week. In Birmingham, the superintendent said the pandemic was “drastically impacting our community and our schools.” In Tulsa, two public school employees died recently after testing positive for the virus. And several of Wichita’s public schools had so many staff members quarantined that they could hardly cover vacancies by the time the district decided to close, the superintendent said.

The United States has diverged from other countries around the world in closing schools but leaving indoor dining and bars open. Many parents have criticized that situation, saying that risks of infection are higher in restaurants and bars and that it prioritizes the economy over education. Across Europe and Asia, students, especially very young ones, have largely continued going to school while other parts of daily life have shut down.

While Mr. de Blasio’s decision was applauded by many parents, there is no guarantee that the pattern of chaos that they have faced will abate as the fall turns to winter. New York City’s rules for handling positive cases all but guarantee frequent and sudden closures of individual classrooms and school buildings.

And it remains unclear whether the city will be able to reopen its middle and high schools to in-person learning any time soon.

One thing that could hamper the city’s efforts, officials cautioned, is a truly rampant second wave in New York.

The test positivity rate has only increased since the city closed schools and the seven-day rolling average rate exceeded 5 percent last week. Hospitalizations have quickly mounted.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, at age 76, is in the high-risk category for the virus.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and President Trump’s personal and campaign lawyer, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Mr. Trump announced on Twitter on Sunday.

Mr. Giuliani has been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center, according to a person who was aware of his condition but not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Giuliani, at age 76, is in the high-risk category for the virus. Later Sunday, he wrote on Twitter: “Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes. I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”

His son, Andrew H. Giuliani, a White House adviser, said on Nov. 20 he had tested positive for the virus. He had appeared at a news conference with his father the day before.

Mr. Giuliani has been acting as the lead lawyer for Mr. Trump’s efforts to overthrow the results of the election. He has repeatedly claimed he has evidence of widespread fraud, but he has declined to submit that evidence in legal cases he has filed.

“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. It was unclear why Mr. Trump was the one announcing it.

Mr. Giuliani recently traveled to three battleground states that Mr. Biden won to make his case. On Thursday he attended a hearing at the Georgia Capitol, where he didn’t wear a mask. He also went maskless on Wednesday at a legislative session in Michigan, where he lobbied Republicans to overturn the results of the election there and appoint a slate of electors for Trump.

“Mayor Giuliani tested negative twice immediately preceding his trip to Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia,” the Trump campaign said. “The Mayor did not experience any symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 until more than 48 hours after his return.”

However, a person in contact with the former mayor said he began feeling ill late this past week.

Mr. Giuliani has repeatedly been exposed to the virus through contact with infected people, including during Mr. Trump’s preparation for his first debate against President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. in September, just before the president tested positive.

His infection is the latest in a string of outbreaks among those in the president’s orbit. Boris Epshteyn, a member of the Trump campaign legal team, tested positive late last month. The same day, Mr. Giuliani attended a meeting of Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania about allegations of voting irregularities. One of the lawmakers at that meeting was notified shortly after, while at the White House, that he had tested positive.

Mark Meadows, the president’s chief of staff, and at least eight others in the White House and Mr. Trump’s circle, tested positive in the days before and after Election Day.

Mr. Trump was hospitalized on Oct. 2 after contracting the coronavirus. Kayleigh McEnany, the president’s press secretary, Corey Lewandowski, a campaign adviser, and Ben Carson, the housing secretary, are among those in the president’s circle who have tested positive this fall.

Mr. Giuliani appeared on Fox News earlier on Sunday. Speaking with the host Maria Bartiromo via satellite, Mr. Giuliani repeated baseless claims about fraud in Georgia and Wisconsin on “Sunday Morning Futures.” When asked if he believed Mr. Trump still had a path to victory, he said, “We do.”

Melina Delkic and Bryan Pietsch contributed reporting.

The victims of coronavirus were remembered during a Mass at at Nembro’s cemetery in November.Credit…Fabio Bucciarelli for The New York Times

Every Monday night in the northern Italian town that had perhaps the highest coronavirus death rate in all of Europe, a psychologist specializing in post-traumatic stress leads group therapy sessions in the local church.

“She has treated survivors of war,” the Rev. Matteo Cella, the parish priest of the town, Nembro, in Bergamo province, said of the psychologist. “She says the dynamic is the same.”

First the virus exploded in Bergamo. Then came the shell shock. The province that first gave the West a preview of the horrors to come now serves as a disturbing postcard from the post-traumatic aftermath.

In small towns where many know one another, there is apprehension about other people, but also survivor’s guilt, anger, second thoughts about fateful decisions and nightmares about dying wishes unfulfilled. There is a pervasive anxiety that, with the virus surging anew, Bergamo’s enormous sacrifice will soon recede into history, that its towns will be forgotten battlefields from the great first wave.

And most of all there is a collective grappling to understand how the virus has changed people. Not just their antibodies, but their selves.

Bergamo, like everywhere, now confronts a second wave of the virus. But its sacrifice has left it better prepared than most places, as the widespread infection rate of the first wave has conferred a measure of immunity for many, doctors say. And its medical staff, by now drilled in the virus’s awful protocols, are taking in patients from outside the province to alleviate the burdens on overwhelmed hospitals nearby.

But the wounds of the first wave gnaw at them from within.

Talking about these things does not come easily to people in Italy’s industrial heartland, jammed with metal-mechanic and textile factories, paper mills, billowing smokestacks and gaping warehouses. They prefer to talk about how much they work. Almost apologetically they reveal that they are hurting.

Though no corner of the city has escaped the fallout, job losses have been concentrated in mostly Black and Latino areas like West Farms in the Bronx.Credit…Amr Alfiky/The New York Times

More than one in four workers in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx are out of work.

They were store clerks, hotel housekeepers, waitresses, cooks, for-hire drivers, security officers and maintenance workers before the coronavirus snatched away their livelihoods. Even before the outbreak, most were barely getting by on meager paychecks and scant savings.

Now their hopes for better lives are slipping away as they fall behind on rent, ration food and rack up credit card debt. Unemployment in this poor and largely Latino enclave of 19,000 was in double digits before the outbreak.

It has gotten far worse.

With an unemployment rate of 26 percent in September, West Farms has become a center of New York’s economic crisis, one of the hardest-hit urban communities in the country and emblematic of the pandemic’s uneven toll.

Though no corner of the city has escaped the fallout, the mass job losses have been concentrated in mostly Black and Latino pockets outside Manhattan that have long lagged economically behind the rest of the city. Communities like West Farms have also suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus itself, with higher rates of people becoming ill.

New York City’s economic crisis is among the worst in the nation, with unemployment at 13.2 percent in October, nearly double the national rate. But within the city, the pain varies vastly. Manhattan’s unemployment rate is 10.3 percent, but in the Bronx, the city’s poorest borough, it is 17.5 percent — the highest in the state.

In contrast, some of the city’s most affluent and largely white neighborhoods in Manhattan have fared far better. The unemployment rate on the Upper East Side was 5 percent in September, up from 1 percent in February. On the Upper West Side, it was 6 percent, up from 2 percent.

Poor workers, including many Black and Latino people, have been hurt much worse during the pandemic than by past recessions, including the 2008 financial crisis, said James Parrott, an economist with the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School.

He said the pandemic had triggered many more layoffs among lower-paid workers, while far fewer higher-paid workers — including those in finance, technology and professional services, who tend to be mostly white — have lost jobs or benefits.

Du Weimin, chairman of Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, is one of the richest men in China.Credit…Yu Ga/Visual China

As a government regulator sidled into a car, the Chinese pharmaceutical executive handed over a paper bag stuffed with cash.

The executive, Du Weimin, was eager to get his company’s vaccines approved, and he needed help. The official took the money and vowed to try his best.

Several months later, Mr. Du got the greenlight to begin clinical trials for two vaccines. They were ultimately approved, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

The government official was jailed in 2016 for taking bribes from Mr. Du and several other vaccine makers. Mr. Du was never charged.

His company, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, produces about one-quarter of the world’s supply of vaccines. And Mr. Du, who has been called the “king of vaccines,” is one of the richest men in China.

Capitalizing on that success, Mr. Du and his company are at the forefront of the race to produce a coronavirus vaccine, a national priority for China’s ruling Communist Party. Kangtai will be the exclusive manufacturer in mainland China for the vaccine made by AstraZeneca, and the companies could work together on deals for other countries. Kangtai is also in early trials for its own candidate.

As the Chinese government has pushed to develop vaccine companies of global renown, the state has fostered and protected an industry plagued by corruption and controversy.

Drug companies, eager to get their products into the hands of consumers, have used financial incentives to sway poorly compensated government workers for regulatory approvals. Hundreds of Chinese officials have been accused of taking bribes in cases involving vaccine companies.

Oversight has been weak, contributing to scandals over substandard vaccines. While the government after each incident has vowed to do more to clean up the industry, regulators have rarely provided much information about what went wrong. Companies have been allowed to continue operating.

Dr. Ray Yip, a former head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in China, said he considers Kangtai to be among the top tiers of the country’s vaccine companies, adding that he “has no problem” with the manufacturing and technology standards of most players.

“The problem for many of them is their business practice,” Dr. Yip said. “They all want to sell to the local governments, so they have to do kickbacks, they have to bribe.”

Kangtai did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said it “conducts appropriate and thorough due diligence prior to entering an agreement with any entity.”

The lack of transparency, compounded by dubious business practices, has rattled public confidence in Chinese-made vaccines, even though they have been proved safe. Many well-off parents shun them, preferring their Western counterparts.

Christmas decorations in London last week.Credit…Andrew Testa for The New York Times

As a deadly wave of coronavirus cases extends across Europe, several countries are planning to loosen restrictions over the holidays to allow families and friends to gather.

In a four-day period beginning Dec. 23, people across Britain can form a Christmas bubble, which will allow members of up to three households to spend time together in private homes or to attend places of worship.

In Germany, officials have agreed to extend a partial lockdown to Jan. 10, but loosen restrictions from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, allowing private gatherings of as many as 10 people from any number of households. Spanish officials have decided to allow travel between regions to see relatives and close friends, but said that social gatherings around Christmas and New Year’s Day must be limited to 10 people if not from the same household.

In France, residents will be under a nationwide curfew from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. beginning Dec. 15, when a national lockdown ends. However, the curfew will not apply from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve, officials said.

“We will be able to travel without authorization, including between regions, and spend Christmas with our families,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said.

Norway, one of the few European countries to keep a second wave at bay, currently limits private gatherings to five guests. But around the Christmas period, the country will allow residents to double their guests over any two days. However, people must continue to socially distance.

While some countries are becoming more permissive, Italy will tighten its restrictions on Christmas Day, Dec. 26 and New Year’s Day, when residents will be prohibited from leaving their hometowns. Travel will be banned between regions in Italy from Dec. 21 through Jan. 6, and an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will be implemented.

Delicate attempts at balancing a typically social time of year and easing the burden on hospitals arrived after nearly 105,000 people died of Covid-19 in November in 31 countries monitored closely by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Health experts have cautioned that holiday travel could drive new spikes in cases.

Workers from the Bearded Fishermen charity patrolling an area known as a suicide hot spot near Gainsborough, England, last month.Credit…Andrew Testa for The New York Times

The past few weeks have been busy for the Bearded Fishermen, a mental health charity in England. With the country just emerging from a second lockdown, the group has seen a measurable uptick in calls for support and an increasing need for its crisis services as the community grapples with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The cold and wet weather, long nights, it does affect a lot of people,” said Mick Leyland, a founder. “And being on lockdown as well, it’s even worse.” In one recent week alone, they had responded to a number of crisis calls, including some from people threatening to take their own lives.

With the pandemic devastating Britain and two national lockdowns leaving many feeling isolated, experts say there are rising concerns about the mental health and well-being of people across the country. Research has shown a rise in reports of loneliness, a particular concern for young people, difficulties for those with pre-existing mental health issues and an increase in reports of suicidal ideation.

Though there is no recorded uptick in the national suicide rate yet, the risk of suicide among middle-age men remains concerning in Britain, where for decades the group has made up the highest number of suicide deaths.

The impact of the pandemic and its knock-on effects — lockdowns, an economic downturn and social isolation — on mental health have been well documented around the world. And in Britain, which is simultaneously grappling with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Europe and a deep recession, health experts worry that the impact could be felt for years to come.

People in Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, on November 15.Credit…Erik Anderson/EPA, via Shutterstock

Australian states on Monday celebrated “Freedom Day,” as coronavirus restrictions eased in the lead up to Christmas and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

In New South Wales and Victoria, more people will be allowed in bars, restaurants, shops and places of worship, and dance halls will be reopened in a limited capacity.

“From Monday, life will be very different,” said Gladys Berejiklian, the premier of New South Wales.

In Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, up to 50 people will be allowed on dance floors at weddings, and attendance at funerals will be unlimited. Up to 5,000 people will be permitted at seated outdoor events, and from next week, workers are being encouraged to return to the office.

In Victoria, where an outbreak in July sent the city of Melbourne into one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns, people can now have 30 people over at their homes and gather in groups of 100 outside. Masks, previously mandated, have to be worn only on public transport, in indoor shopping centers and crowded places.

Melbourne welcomed its first international visitors since June on Monday, when a jet carrying 253 passengers arrived from Sri Lanka. The travelers will quarantine for 14 days in hotels under strict conditions.

Last month, Victoria achieved effective elimination of the virus, and has now gone 38 days without a new case. But as people celebrated across the country, Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, warned that even with the eased restrictions, there was a need to remain vigilant.

“This thing is not done,” Mr. Andrews told reporters on Sunday. “It is not over, it can come back.”

A Michigan pastor is under fire for telling his congregation to catch the coronavirus and “get it over with.”

He made the remarks during a sermon on Nov. 15, as a sort of aside while he preached about other issues. “Several people have had Covid — none have died yet. It’s OK,” said Bart Spencer, a pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holland, Mich., referring to some in his congregation. “Get it, get it over with, press on,” he advised.

Bart Spencer, senior pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holland, Mich.Credit…via The Holland Sentinel

The video was shared on Facebook about two weeks later and made waves across the country as another symbol of the divide between those who want pandemic restrictions scrapped now, regardless of rising infections, and those who urge continued caution.

In comments posted underneath the video, some voiced support of the pastor and others called his sermon reckless.

Mr. Spencer’s remarks echoed a push among some conservatives for a herd immunity approach — allowing the virus to rage unchecked until so many people have antibodies to the virus that it can no longer spread readily. Some, like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, have claimed that surviving an infection confers superior protection compared with a vaccine.

But the course of any one patient’s infection is nearly impossible to predict, and the immunity it eventually confers is believed to vary greatly.

The Lighthouse Baptist Church did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday, but Mr. Spencer told a TV station in Grand Rapids, WXMI, that he stood by his statements. “I would never tell them to go get sick, but you don’t know how you’re going to get it,” he said.

Mr. Spencer said in an interview with The Holland Sentinel that he and members of his family had contracted the virus and had recovered.

Holland, in Ottawa County, has been hit hard lately. Over the last week, the county has averaged about 86 new cases a day for every 100,000 people, well above Michigan’s average of 69, according to a New York Times database.

In all, the county has reported 15,326 coronavirus cases through Saturday, about 5.3 percent of the population. Most experts estimate that achieving herd immunity would require at least 10 times that number.

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