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Charitable Fund Fills the Gap. Dairy Farmers Find Dumping Alternative
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Sunday, May 10, 2020
 

BY KAREN BOSSICK

Seventy families. $75,000 in assistance in seven weeks.

That’s how much the Blaine County Charitable Fund has given to support Wood River Valley families during the corona-cession.

The fund issued $30,000 this past week. And, organizers say, they don’t see the need subsiding.

“There is much unknown about the coming months. But one thing is certain: Life will not be back to normal for a long while and our current funds will be quickly depleted,” said the team, made up of Mary and Daryl Fauth, Kevin Jones, Shannon McLean, Stephen D. Thompson, Penny Thayer and Sue Hamilton.

The team is partnering with the Blaine County School District to buy grocery and gas gift cards in small denominations for the district’s nine school social workers to give out to families in need.

Atkinsons Markets and the Valley Car Wash matched their gift.

“We know that The Hunger Coalition is now serving three times the number of individuals a week that they did on their busiest weeks pre-pandemic, even during the recession,” said Laurie Strand, the Blaine County School District mental health coordinator. “We also know that the food they are providing is only supplemental.”

In addition, Strand said, families can’t always get to the pick-up locations during the hours food is distributed so the cards can help put food on the table in those cases.

To learn more, including how to apply for assistance, go to www.blainecf.org.

To donate, go to https://blainecf.org/donate

ARGGGH

After just two new cases of coronavirus reported in the past week, Blaine County recorded four new cases on Saturday. The county has recorded 503 confirmed and probable cases since the first was announced March 14.

The last time the county reported that many new cases in one day was on April 28, said Hailey resident Paul Ries, who has been creating a chart depicting coronavirus cases in Blaine County for Eye on Sun Valley.

Blaine County’s highest days are: 64 cases on April 1, 95 on April 2 and 54 on April 3.

Idaho reported 25 new cases on Saturday—16 percent of them Blaine County’s. The state has recorded 2,230 cases since the first was announced on March 14.

CURDS + KINDNESS

Dairy West, a regional dairy promotion organization based in Meridian, has launched Curds + Kindness to direct surplus dairy foods, such as cheese, to those who cannot afford groceries in Idaho and Utah.

Restrictions due to the coronavirus have created a milk surplus since much of our local dairy foods are used in restaurants, schools and hotels, said Kristi Spence, Dairy West’s senior vice president of marketing. So, dairy companies have redirected 200,000 gallons of milk per week into cheese, butter and other dairy foods instead of discarding it.

The Curds + Kindness will continue at least through the end of May.

ON MASKS

“I wear a mask to protect you, and you wear a mask to protect me. That’s community at its best,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo told American comedian Stephen Colbert this past week.

GOT VITAMIN D?

Vitamin D was not on the Centers for Disease Control’s list of supplements Americans should be taking as the coronavirus began spreading across the country.

But researchers at Northwestern University have discovered that patients from countries with high COVID-19 mortality rates, such as Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, had lower levels of Vitamin D than those in countries that were not as severely affected. Data was used from hospitals and clinics in China, France, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States, as well as those three countries.

Researchers, who published their findings on medRxiv, said they discovered a strong correlation between the sunshine vitamin and the cytokine storm, a hyperinflammatory condition caused by an overactive immune system and a correlation between vitamin deficiency and mortality.

The blood of many of the sickest patients with COVID-19 show a huge number of cytokines, leading to a storm in which the body starts to attack its own cells rather than fighting off the virus.

Researchers caution that Vitamin D will not prevent a patient from contracting the virus but it may reduce complications and prevent death in those who are infected. Of course, more study is warranted.

BIKING LONDON

London will fast-track the building of new bicycle lanes to facilitate a predicted ten-fold increase in biking as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The city’s public transit system will only be able to run at a fifth of pre-crisis capacity due to social distancing requirements. The city is also widening sidewalks to allow pedestrians more elbow room.

SAVE THE CHEESE

France has endowed the world with a thousand different cheese varieties from Gruyere to Camembert. But now, French cheesemakers are warning that they may have to dump 5,000 tons of cheese amidst a 60 percent slump in sales.

ABOUT THOSE FOGGED UP GLASSES

Do you have a problem with your glasses fogging when you wear a mask? The trick is to lather soap and water on the lenses, then rinse them under warm water, according to doctors who do this when working in the emergency room.

Gently dry with a lens cloth.

 

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