Nueve cosas nuevas para ocupar el tiempo en autoaislamiento

Allison Vanderzanden | Editor de estilo de vida

Dado que el número de casos de COVID-19 sigue aumentando, es importante seguir practicando el distanciamiento social y el autocuidado cuando sea necesario. Después de estar en casa durante las vacaciones, las primeras semanas de enero pueden ser un momento muy importante para quedarse en casa. Alivia la monotonía con estas actividades de cuarentena -algunas nuevas, otras conocidas de 2020, pero todas posibles formas de curar el aburrimiento.

Practique el autocuidado: Dé prioridad a la salud mental, ya que el aislamiento puede provocar sentimientos de depresión y falta de motivación. En los días difíciles, acuérdese de completar algunas necesidades diarias, como lavarse los dientes, ducharse y beber agua. Haz también algo para relajarte o divertirte, como darte un baño de burbujas o leer.

Aprende a tocar un instrumento: Puede parecer intimidante, pero YouTube ofrece muchos vídeos estupendos para aprender a tocar todo tipo de instrumentos de forma gratuita. Si los instrumentos tradicionales son inaccesibles, empieza con algo sencillo como la armónica, la kalimba o el ukelele.

Ver, escuchar y leer: Puede que ya hayas visto muchas series durante el verano, pero la oferta de entretenimiento es casi infinita. Pide a tus amigos que te recomienden algo para empezar, o echa un vistazo a tu género favorito en una plataforma de streaming. Si buscas algo más que películas o series de televisión, prueba a escuchar un podcast o un álbum de música, o lee un libro o una serie nuevos.

Prueba un nuevo look: Tener poca o ninguna interacción humana tiene sus pros y sus contras; uno de ellos es que nadie puede juzgarte. Tíñete o córtate el pelo, diviértete con nuevos looks de maquillaje y experimenta con la moda sin que nadie te vea.

Explore el mundo virtualmente: Viaja por el mundo sin moverte del sofá. Utiliza Google Maps y recorre las calles de una nueva ciudad, o juega a un juego con mapas del mundo como Geoguessr ⏤ en el que el jugador adivina en qué parte del mundo se ha dejado caer ⏤ o MapCrunch, en el que el jugador intenta encontrar el aeropuerto más cercano utilizando la vista de la calle.

Hacer pruebas de conocimientos: Internet y los dispositivos inteligentes como Google Home ofrecen una amplia gama de cuestionarios sobre infinidad de temas. Sporcle, por ejemplo, es un sitio web de concursos que tiene algo para todo el mundo, como geografía, letras de canciones, trivialidades sobre películas y mucho más. También se puede jugar con amigos y familiares compartiendo la pantalla a través de una videollamada.

Haz algo nuevo en la cocina: Las posibilidades son infinitas: aperitivos, tentempiés, guarniciones, comidas completas, cócteles, postres y la lista continúa. Inspírese con algunas recetas publicadas en números anteriores de En Aullido occidentalo una rápida búsqueda en Internet arrojará docenas de resultados entre los que elegir.

Empieza a aprender un nuevo idioma: Aprender un nuevo idioma es un proceso largo, pero saber unas cuantas frases aquí y allá puede ser divertido. Utiliza aplicaciones gratuitas como Duolingo o Memrise, o recursos en línea como YouTube para empezar.

Adelántate en el trabajo: Puede parecer la opción más aburrida, pero a mí personalmente me entra ansiedad sin algo de productividad en mi vida. Echa un vistazo al plan de estudios o pide al jefe trabajo que se pueda empezar o terminar antes de tiempo. Bonus: menos estrés para el futuro.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en avanderzanden19@mail.wou.edu

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COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Oregon

Oregon enters Phase 1A of vaccine delivery initiative

Carpintero de Sydney | Editor de noticias

In late December, select Oregon residents received doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

To deliver the vaccine to all Oregonians, the state has implemented a three-phase rollout plan. On Jan. 5, Oregon began Phase 1A of its vaccination schedule. In Phase 1A, the Oregon Health Association lists in its plan: hospital workers and first responders, elderly and those involved in their care, prison doctors, clinics serving high-risk groups, visiting nurses/home health care providers, other health care providers and funeral home workers to be vaccinated first.

Over 51,000 Oregonians have received the first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine since the beginning of 2021, whereas only nine people have completed the two doses required for full vaccination according to covidvaccine.oregon.gov. Currently, the CDC reports Oregon has delivered over 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine and over 121,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Currently Pfizer and Moderna are known to have three major differences, including age restrictions, temperature storage requirements and length of time between each dose. In comparison to Pfizer, the Moderna vaccine can be kept at -4 °F, whereas Pfizer’s must be kept at -94 °F. Additionally, a person must be at least 18 years old or older to receive the Moderna vaccine and the two doses must be administered 28 days apart in comparison to Pfizer’s 21-day separation, which has an age restriction of 16 years.

On Dec. 22, West Valley Hospital in Dallas received its first shipment of Moderna vaccine according to a press release by Salem Health.

“For decades, West Valley Hospital has been providing a wide range of quality care to residents of Polk County,” said West Valley Hospital Chief administrative officer and licensed registered nurse Brandon Schmidgall in the press release. “Today we begin offering a new and historic service — the COVID-19 vaccine — first to our health care heroes, but eventually to our small-town community.”

As of Jan. 5, Polk County has vaccinated 1% of an estimated 82,000 residents according to the OHA. Local clinics like Western’s Student Health and Counseling Center have not received COVID vaccines yet; although, on Dec. 22, Oregon added educators to the list.

“Teachers have recently been added to Phase 1A and who that all includes will need to be more clearly defined by OHA,” said Polk County Public Health Administrator Jacqui Umstead. “We will work with Western Oregon University, and other local educational institutions to ensure that both staff and students have access to the vaccine, when it is their turn.”

Póngase en contacto con el autor en scarpenter18@mail.wou.edu

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Editorial: Current information keeps our staff and students safe

Increased communication is crucial to the community

The Editorial Board

It has been a little over nine months since students from Western and around the world have adapted to a new, virtual lifestyle. All things considered, Western has done as much as they can to provide us with a safe environment. However, there is a need for more transparency with information regarding positive cases, and further precautions to be taken on campus.

Some of the controversies started when Western took a long time to announce that fall term would be taught virtually, leaving students abroad scrambling to prepare for another stressful term. And then, Western failed to be clear with their community about the number of COVID-19 cases.

Information regarding the number of positive coronavirus cases has been notoriously hard to track down due to privacy concerns. However, the university can disclose these numbers while still respecting the patient’s privacy. Plenty of other universities disclosed their numbers to the community, all while respecting the boundaries of privacy. Oregon State University reported a total of seven confirmed cases as of Nov. 4; and, Southern Oregon University has 19 confirmed cases — they even specified if the individual lived on or off campus. Additional information is posted on both of the university’s websites, under “OSU-Cascades Dashboard” and “SOU COVID-19 Cases.”

Eventually, Western followed suit. Now, as of Nov. 16, there are less than 10 confirmed cases in the community. This information, while originally hard to find, is now updated and available at wou.edu/coronavirus/.

While it is reasonable to respect the privacy of positive patients, Western shouldn’t have left their community in the dark for as long as they did. These numbers inform whether or not safety protocols are working or if they need to change.

With those things out of the way, it’s safe to assume that some students of Western appreciate the improved effort. But now, a new problem has arisen in regards to COVID testing for both staff and students. When further researched, it is inconclusive if free testing is offered for staff.

If you were to look on the COVID-19 webpage — which is ridiculously difficult to navigate by the way — they detail the steps you can take if you are seeking testing. However, the webpage doesn’t help you understand whether or not you should seek a test in the first place. How are students who may be asymptomatic supposed to know what to do? None of this is specified.

The problem is if you check “yes” on the CDC’s survey that you’ve been in contact with someone who tested positive, they will tell you to wait out the 14-day isolation, and if you develop symptoms at the end of that period, you go take the test. While there’s quite a bit of information regarding symptomatic cases, there’s not a lot of specification for asymptomatic cases, which leaves folks uninformed.

Western is a smaller school with already limited funding and budget cuts left and right, so we may be tight on funding, but that doesn’t mean that people deserve to be uninformed. Transparency with Western students and the greater community is what establishes a trusting and close-knit feeling for everyone, especially for a small town like Monmouth.

Students who are looking for information on testing can find it at wou.edu/coronavirus/students. If an appointment needs to be set up, call the Student Health and Counseling Center at 503-838-8313.

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COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Oregon

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Editorial: Current information keeps our staff and students safe

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