A Few COVID-19 Resources

man doing deep breathingEarlier this week, Marquette University announced that remote learning will be extended until May 10. As of yesterday morning, and for the next 30 days, Wisconsin residents are subject to the State’s Safer at Home order.

I posted just over a week ago about some of the ways our faculty and students were coping with the ever-changing global pandemic; in the week since, the world has changed even more. And it’s going to be ever-changing for the weeks to come.

There are so many ways that this virus has affected us—or yet will affect us—that it’s difficult for me to try to list them. Instead, I’ll just pass along three specific resources I’ve come across.

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IRELAND REFLECTIONS 2020–BELFAST AND THE PEACE WALLS

We were greeted for our first morning in Belfast by both our tour guide and some traditional Irish weather. Our quite rainy walking tour took us through many locations deeply connected to the time of the Troubles. It was during this walking tour that we were quickly confronted with the very real and lasting impact of the Troubles – the Peace Walls.

The Peace Walls were built between the Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast as a temporary effort to minimize the conflict beginning with The Troubles in 1969. Rae-Anna Sollestre noted that “as we drove around Belfast, the stark contrast between the Peace Walls and the surrounding communities left an impression on me. The walls started out short and grew with time. The walls separated the two communities, closed off the streets connecting them. They were and still are a physical manifestation of the conflict that remains quite high in some places. Multiple generations have grown up with these high walls dividing communities, and it’s normal for them.”

Sollestre made a connection to the walls personally.

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COVID-19 and Water

COVID-19 and Water

Without doubt, times are tough. The seemingly inexorable spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has left many of us desperate for good news. And make no mistake, there is some out there. First, it’s heartening to see the An image of the coronavirusincreased appreciation for those in the public health sector, and also for the unsung heroes of the war against COVID-19: grocery store personnel, garbage collectors, truckers, janitors, pharmacy clerks, postal workers, package deliverers, and others who we now realize are truly essential to a functioning modern society. Let me add one more group of people to that list: utility workers who keep our power on, our access to the internet active, and our clean water flowing. For example, to ensure a reliable water supply, some water treatment professionals are “sheltering in place” at a water treatment facility for the next three weeks. Others, right here in Wisconsin, are working twelve hour shifts in complete isolation to ensure that critical machinery remains operational.

That leads me to my second bit of good news: according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), our water supply is not threatened by COVID-19. Like most viruses, it is “particularly susceptible to disinfection,” a standard process at wastewater treatment plants. It seems appropriate to be grateful for this, given that Sunday was World Water Day. Imagine how terrible this crisis would become if we could not trust our drinking water.

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