Category Archives: Intentional Communities

After several frustrating attempts to make my digital device work correctly, I called the IT expert. Invariably, his first question is, Have you rebooted your device? Sure enough, when I do the first thing on the trouble-shooting chart reboot most of my struggles with tangled-up electrons running amuck on a silicon chip sort themselves out.

As federal and state guidelines are changing from quarantine and shelter-in-place to reengagement with businesses and communities, it is imperative to understand that the world has changed significantly. The church has changed, as well, with respect to how we worship, equip, and, above all, make disciples.

As government orders were peeled back like layers of an onion, so implementation strategies for returning to public gatherings, church events, and public worship will experience a rolling out of guidelines. Some states should anticipate different guidelines county by county.

It is critical for churches to begin preparing now for the return of on-campus activities. The MBC has prepared a conversational guide for preparing a church to reboot. You can find it online at mobaptist.org/covid-19, along with many other helpful resources.

However, we cannot waste what the Lord our God is doing spiritually during the pandemic. Some of the things that have occurred are exactly what we needed to help us personally reset our relationship and fellowship with the Lord, who knows our beginnings and our endings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed a pause button on the way many believers and their local churches normally operate. Its as if our Lord has used this time to say, Be still and listen. I want to do something new and magnificent.

Thanks to COVID-19, the church the people of God must take certain vital actions in a post-COVID-19 world. Take a look at the verbs in the list below:

1. Focus on the solitary mission of making gospel disciples; become less programmatic.

2. Exercise humility before God and with people; surrender pride and self-righteousness at the foot of the cross.

3. Invest in a Spirit-filled, prayerful lifestyle; remember what God can do in a moment.

4. Plunge into the Word of God for nourishment and instruction.

5. Be less strident and skeptical; choose kindness and understanding toward one another.

6. Embrace the new tools for communicating with people as a standard practice.

7. Instead of building mega-buildings, consider starting more autonomous local churches shepherded by larger churches.

8. Face the brevity of life with the glorious victory we have in Christ over sin and death.

9. Be responsible for future generations with choices that may impact religious liberty.

10. Stop attempting to fill everyones activity list; celebrate what the Lord wills to do through His people.

11. Without intimidation, and as a part of your daily conversation in person (6 feet apart) or online, share the gospel daily by speaking much of Him.

12. Be a conduit of generosity to your local church; now may be the time to train a new generation in storehouse tithing.

Above all, draw near to God and He will draw near to you . . . (James 4:8). A microbe on the other side of the planet may have kicked this pandemic off, but the Lord may use anything to get our attention.

We would waste this season if we fail to go deeper in our relationship with the Lord our God. Be intentional, come to Him, and make a fresh surrender to the Lord. There is no greater priority for a church during the Covid-19 pandemic than to seek the Lord.

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Lean on God, reboot the church campus - The Pathway

To manage the COVID-19 pandemic, be it from a personal, national or global perspective, we rely on a constant stream of information. A plethora of dashboards have appeared globally that convey information on the number of people tested, those who are positive, the number of deaths and those who have recovered. This information is constantly being updated and forms the basis on which individuals and governments make important decisions. Everything concerning the pandemic, however, appears to be open to interpretation.

Managing life in the era of COVID-19 is not trivial, from having to cope on a personal level with long periods of isolation during lockdown, to governments making critical decisions at a national level, and the World Health Organisation providing guidance at a global level. The jury is still out as to how many people might be infected. Lockdown certainly appears to flatten the curve, but will the area under the curve the total number of people infected remain the same over time? We will get a better picture of the true incidence of infection as widespread testing for both the virus and the host response (testing for anti-viral antibodies) become the norm.

Many other questions remain to be answered. Will we be immune to the virus once infected? Will this be seasonal or is COVID-19 here to stay? When will a vaccine be ready?

As we seek information to guide our own understanding and decisions, we are constantly encouraged to consult reliable sources and to stay away from social media. What is a reliable source? Can we believe our political leaders? Are governments coming clean? And could the scientific models we are being asked to believe in fact be misleading?

The recognition that the COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by an equally alarming infodemic has added a level of complexity to the situation. What are the consequences of this avalanche of information?

Misinformation is one consequence one which may affect public trust in the medical profession and in scientific research. This in turn complicates an already difficult task, since it may lead to some people clutching at relatively accessible solutions instead of going for testing and medical treatment. Proposing and accepting untried and seemingly miraculous cures may hamper the medical management of patients with COVID-19, and may in fact be dangerous, even fatal.

Misinformation creates fear and confusion. It also causes stress, anxiety and depression.

The sheer magnitude of the infodemic is overwhelming, and potentially harmful, as it interferes with the management of the disease. It is also taking up time and energy from people who could be contributing in a more positive way.

Read more: Debunking 9 popular myths doing the rounds in Africa about the coronavirus

A healthy debate is necessary for the resolution of important matters pertaining to COVID-19. But it is equally important to understand the drivers behind the intentional creation and dissemination of misinformation.

Genuine differences in beliefs and understanding may result in the motivation to develop and test alternative hypotheses, which may appear as apparent misinformation.

Insecurity and fear are themselves powerful drivers, as is the need to exploit insecurity and fear in others to gain control and power. One might even include deep-seated psychological issues as possible drivers. And the idea that gaining a substantial following on social media may lead to material wealth is also plausible.

Misinformation may be aimed at undermining the credibility of people in positions of responsibility, often for political gain. (Mis)Information often exists in a parallel universe inhabited by people who propagate conspiracy theories that implicate the deep state in the design, manipulation and even the origin of COVID-19. This universe also derides the drive towards the development of a vaccine, implicating big pharma and corporate greed as the major drivers.

The power of the collective as is evident, for example, on social media is not always constructive, and may, in many instances, lead to harm.

Two particular examples stand out. The first has been confusion sown around the origin of the virus. Some have gone so far as to suggest that it had a synthetic origin that the virus was manufactured and released into the population, intentionally or unintentionally. This has been countered with evidence supporting a higher probability of its natural origin (wet markets, bats or pangolins).

Read more: Scientists are still searching for the source of COVID-19: why it matters

Likewise, the argument that 5G is responsible for COVID-19.

These debates will continue to create confusion as long as important matters concerning the origin of the virus and its spread remain unresolved.

Read more: Why 5G conspiracy theories prosper during the coronavirus pandemic

One of the defining characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic is the remarkable speed at which medical and scientific research are being conducted to find a solution. But there is good science and bad science, and the collective voice calling for the maintenance of sound scientific principles and integrity in presenting research findings, is growing stronger every day.

Many hypotheses are being explored and until reliable data has been generated, it is irresponsible to speak of matters as a fait accompli. Not only do researchers have a responsibility to the people whose lives depend on finding solutions, but scientific evidence that is inaccurate may divert substantial time and resources.

At present, important matters are being disclosed and discussed without the quality-assuring scrutiny of peer review. Trying to clarify the validity of the claims and prevent the spread of misinformation utilises resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

To counter the negative effects of misinformation, governments, institutions and social media platforms have passed legislation and introduced policies and checking systems to weed out harmful information and sanction the perpetrators. But this isnt enough.

Our communities depend on us as doctors and scientists to help them find the answers that will save lives and livelihoods. Our responsibilities lie in finding accurate and plausible scientific answers. They also lie in communicating them clearly, and in ensuring that information is not misrepresented or misunderstood.

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Sheer volume of misinformation risks diverting focus from fighting coronavirus - The Conversation Africa

Theres something utopian about the phrase intentional communities, and for good reason a number of high-profile examples of this kind of community have countercultural or ecologically-minded elements. (Or both.) As more and more people question assumed notions of where they should live and where theyd like to live, its not surprising that living alongside people with a similar ethos to yourself could be appealing.

A new article atBloomberg by Gisela Williams explores a more technologically advanced, architecturally distinctive side of intentional communities. Among them? Serenbe, located in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia a little over 30 miles from Atlanta. Reading about it, the appeal is easy to see: geothermal heating for the homes, distinctive restaurants and an appealing design sensibility.

Williams dubs Serenbe one of a few dozen relatively new utopian-lite communities in the country and also notes that not all of these communities are eager to adopt the intentional community label due to some of its connotations. Regardless, the other examples cited also sound intriguing:

That includes Powder Mountain in Utah, being developed by the invite-only entrepreneur network Summit Series LLC, and Salmon Creek Farm in Mendocino County, Calif., a 1970s commune being reimagined as a progressive arts colony by Los Angeles-based artist Fritz Haeg.

Not surprisingly, theres been an increased level of interest in communities like these since the coronavirus pandemic became more and more prevalent in everyday life. If, as some have speculated, one of the enduring effects of this period in history will be an uptick in people working remotely, the idea of a more idealistic way of life could have an even greater allure.

Williams uses the phrase eco-enclave to describe the particular corner of intentional communities described in the article. And theyre not solely limited to the United States, either. Its a fascinating look at a fascinating corner of architecture and urban design one which may grow more popular in the years to come.

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Read the full story at Bloomberg

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Is This the Future of Intentional Communities? - InsideHook

(Photo courtesy of Brea Starmer)

From the she shed that serves as a home office sanctuary in her yard, Brea Starmer has learned a thing or two about working remotely over the years. But even as the founder of her own flexible-work marketing firm, who is used to wrangling remote teams, the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic has been different.

These are particularly challenging work-from-home times, said Starmer, founder of Bellevue, Wash.-based Lions+Tigers and our latest Geek of the Week. Even those of us who are good at this are finding new and creative ways to connect with both our clients and team.

Starmer hired a Manager of Consultant Delight who sends weekly gifts to the homes of the companys consultants. The gifts are curated from local suppliers, including a small a coffee shop and a chocolate store. An Amazon gift card included a list of family friendly board game recommendations.

Like many remote teams, Lions+Tigers has set up informal coffee dates and happy hours via Zoom, and theyre relying heavily on Slack and such channels as #virtualwork and #askmeanything to share best practices around tools, homeschooling, troubleshooting, or even funny memes.

Most importantly, weve been very intentional about checking in with each team member to see how they are really doing and if they need any schedule accommodation, Starmer said. Each family is so unique, weve found that outreach to be particularly important.

A Pacific Northwest native who grew up in the South Seattle area, Starmers parents were both self-taught entrepreneurs. Her father owned a popular bar in West Seattle and sold real estate and her mom was a marketing executive and consultant. Starmer was the first of her family to graduate from college and took full advantage of her time at Washington State University, where she was elected as the eighth female student body president in school history.

That taste of advocacy work led me to take a role in public sector marketing for Microsoft just after graduation, said Starmer, who spent almost five years at the tech giant before the entrepreneurial juices kicked in and she joined JefferyM Consulting as its first employee.I took on every role in the company. I got my hands dirty. It was amazing. I have such enormous respect and empathy for how integrated and complex every function of a company can be and how much humanity an employer needs to have.

In 2015, after a stop with a digital marketing agency, Starmer joined Porch, the Seattle home services platform, as employee 435.

And thats when my career planning stopped, she said. Ten months later, and seven months pregnant with my first kid, I was laid off along with 20 percent of the staff. I wasnt hirable. I was without a job or health benefits. The only work I could get was on contract. I billed 60 hours a week until my son was born just to save enough money for a short maternity leave.

Starmer found a way forward through consulting and the creation of Lions+Tigers.

The lifestyle unlocked a freedom and level of impact I never knew in previous in-house jobs, Starmer said. I knew I had to share this way of working with as many people as I could and especially wanted to help other working mothers. And with that, I set out to build the company of my dreams where impact is measured in the number of people we employ and the work they do, not the hours they clock.

Learn more about this weeks Geek of the Week, Brea Starmer:

What do you do, and why do you do it? In 2018, I founded Lions+Tigers because I couldnt find a company that fit my needs. As a mom who wanted to work something less than 40 hours, I had no options. Our work world is all or nothing. So I set out to create an agency building a bridge to the future of work, to empower professionals and enable clients through part-time consulting engagements to harness this movement and achieve more, more flexibly.

Do you know how much a working mama can get done in 20 hours?!

I am obsessive about helping people find their highest and best use. Its a real estate term for ensuring a piece of land is developed in the way that best suits it and the same applies to people. Once we lock in on the work that we are most suited to do, we can fiercely prioritize and downshift other work. We find that when people work this way, both our clients and our consultants can unlock 10-15 hours each week for passion projects (or, in my case, running after toddlers).

People talk about work-life balance and my life is like 30-minute blocks of running from one meeting to the next to a kids school thing and then to the grocery store. There is no balance, there is only peace with the season of life Im currently in. And as soon as we start having honest conversations about what we really need in this season, we can go about finding best-fit work, even if that means working less. We shouldnt apologize for those needs. In fact, I believe that brands should consider access to our team, even part-time, as a strategic advantage.

Whats the single most important thing people should know about your field? The world has shifted recently, but the movement was already underway. It is predicted that by 2027, more than half of American professionals will be freelancers. At the same time, brands need to do more with less, iterate quickly, and have access to talent to solve unique needs. Its not always possible to hire full time employees and thats when a specialist can step in for a sprint project. We make those connections possible and it lets everyone get what they need.

Theres a misperception that freelancers are lower skilled than in-house employees and thats far from true. Our consultants have 10 years of experience on average and have held positions like Marketing Director, General Manager, Operations Director, Analytics Lead, etc. We have a member of our team on what she calls a corporate detox because she was one woman on a team of 85 product managers and she just couldnt keep going. Now, shes working 20 hours per week on a very high-impact project bringing a SaaS product to market and she is able to make her kids soccer practice without guilt or apology.

Where do you find your inspiration? For my 16th birthday, my dad bought me a 6-pack of Tony Robbins CDs, so I suppose I started there. In college, I loved to learn about how PNW leaders built their careers and their companies so Id watch documentaries or read biographies on folks like Bill Gates or Howard Schultz. As Ive gotten older, however, I realize now that my early inspiration truly did come from my parents, as it does for most.

I actually remember as a young girl going to my moms office with her and Id sleep under her desk as she worked late. I didnt mind, I loved watching her in her element while I colored and would sneak into the presidents corner office to spin in his chair, dreaming.

And now, I draw so much energy from the folks who choose to work with Lions+Tigers. Im just in awe of their work, their energy and what they bring to our community. It makes everything so fulfilling.

Whats the one piece of technology you couldnt live without, and why? Well, in the last two months, certainly, its been Zoom and Teams! Since starting my consulting career, Ive worked from home a lot and our company is mostly virtual so this new way of work is old hat for us. But building connections exclusively through video conference software is a new challenge and Ive become super reliant on this technology to continue growing our firm. (Also Snap Camera plug-in is key for the best filters).

Whats your workspace like, and why does it work for you? When we arent sheltering at home, I split my time as a nomad traveling between coffee shops, our clients offices, our co-working space at The Riveter, and my She Shed (above).

When I realized my second kid was going to steal my home office for his nursery, we decided to build a she shed in my front yard. Its been a lifesaver with kiddos at home. I use my windows as whiteboards, I have a good webcam, and I keep the best snacks out there. Kids will sometimes come out and sneak into my conference calls and I love it.

Your best tip or trick for managing everyday work and life. (Help us out, we need it.) Oh, this one is easy, just lower your expectations! Kidding (sorta). There are three things that I consider crucial to my productivity: 1. A strong partnership with my husband, Andrew, where we divide responsibilities through a weekly check-in meeting, 2. Religious use of a to-do app or program to keep everything documented (I like Todoist), and 3. I outsource everything I can responsibly afford.

Mac, Windows or Linux? Windows forever.

Kirk, Picard, or Janeway? I once tweeted on behalf of a client saying that Klingon was from Star Wars, so this may not be my jam.

Transporter, Time Machine or Cloak of Invisibility? Time machine. The value of ACTUALLY knowing the future would be remarkable.

If someone gave me $1 million to launch a startup, I would Hire a group of high-impact working mamas as a think tank. The kind of problem-solving and creativity skills we need to employ on a daily basis could solve many, many problems.

I once waited in line for A chance to be on The Apprentice. Remember that show?

Your role models: Melinda Gates because of her advocacy for mothers and women around the world. Oprah for opening the world to conversations none of us were able to have before she showed us the way. Bree Brown for leading with research and heart and causing an era of self-reflection and empathy that was sorely needed. Locally, Amy Nelson, founder of The Riveter, for showing me how to be an authentic female founder. And Sarah Peck, founder of Startup Pregnant, for bringing motherhood to the workplace and empowering us to demand better.

Greatest game in history Fastpitch. Its a family sport for us my dad, my brother and I all played.

Best gadget ever: A blender to make Pia Coladas.

First computer: Mac. I played Oregon Trail in my bedroom growing up.

Current phone: Android Galaxy S10.

Favorite app: Podcast Addict (which I am) or Voxer (for sending voice-memos to my staff and girlfriends).

Favorite cause: Ive been involved in Outdoor School for elementary kids since I was 16. I now support the program by training high schoolers to be camp counselors. I believe outdoor camp programs change lives and build life-long skills for students at a critical age, so I support http://www.ospreycamp.org/.

Most important technology of 2020: The startups and healthcare workers focused on finding a vaccine for Covid-19.

Most important technology of 2022: Call me an idealist, but I think our post-Covid world will be more human, more empathetic. One major trend for brands right now is how they are connecting with customers digitally through virtual experiences, events, and communities. In 2022, technology focused on deepening these relationships will be critical.

Final words of advice for your fellow geeks: Seek out ways to build a courage practice into your life. Find others who live the way you want to live and seek them out. The pursuit of fearlessness is a life-long practice but one that can lead to a much more fulfilling existence. Lifes short, theres no time to be in a job/relationship/setting that doesnt make you your best.

Website: Lions+Tigers

Twitter: @LionsTigersco

LinkedIn: Brea Starmer

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Geek of the Week: Brea Starmer found freedom and her own company in flexible, remote work - GeekWire

This coronavirus pandemic is causing a lot of misery with kids stuck at home with online school, parents missing work that puts food on the table and companies closing. And theres nothing left to watch on television.

But amid the gloom are bright spots of kindness. Neighbors you havent spoken with in months are saying hello. You let someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery store. Manners seem to be back everywhere except in Washington, D.C.

Im hearing people are making it and not complaining, said Charleston author Nathalie Dupree. Everyone is being very kind to us, bringing us food, making deliveries. The only complaints I hear are about other people not being respectful of guidelines when in stores.

The Rev. Kylon Middleton, senior pastor at Mount Zion AME Church in Charleston, noticed similar graciousness as hes been talking with people.

I am noticing that people are kinder and more intentional, he said. As I walk in my neighborhood, either early morning or later in the day, I encounter folks who are being more intentional about speaking and acknowledging the presence of others, respectfully at a distance, than before the pandemic.

Even from afar, I see the warmth and hope in the eyes of those with whom I meet. I see a resiliency of spirit that continues to persevere amidst the uncertainty of our times. I see generosity and consideration in something as subtle as negotiating space on a sidewalk or being mindful at the grocery store to only buy whats needed so that someone else and their family can have access to basic items.

Sumter Mayor Joe McElveen says the virus is challenging everyone to be better.

For instance, I may be a hardliner who thinks that stay at home is for pansies and that I will not die from COVID-19; but I also have a mother, sister, wife or daughter whom I do no not wish to kill or even infect, he observed. Do I really enjoy sitting with 70,000 people at a sporting event; or am I kind of liking time around the house with my family? Lots of things we held as indispensable are turning out not to be so important after all.

S.C. Rep. Chandra Dillard, a Democrat from Greenville, says the pandemic is causing South Carolinians to be more purposeful about their time with family members.

My Facebook is full of examples of parents dancing with their kids (and) sharing generational music and simply talking, she said. Communities have become innovative and collaborative about how to serve our most vulnerable populations. This has gotten organizations out of their silos and combining resources.

Perhaps whats most interesting is how all of this kindness seems to be organically contagious that people are doing it on their own, despite spats about politics and nonsense from state and national leaders.

The recent issue of the Charleston City Paper highlighted nine stories of kindness that included a Mount Pleasant mom and daughter who posted a Joke a Day in their Snee Farm yard, only to be reprimanded by the homeowners association for breaking a sign rule. (Boo, HOA.) Theres an artist who paints hearts to give to health care workers. Barbecue king Rodney Scott is providing food for first responders. Charleston police partnered with the citys parks department to offer safe pop-up Easter egg giveaways for kids. A photographer made fun chalk drawings for backgrounds for neighborhood photos.

This is exactly how people across our state and nation should be responding. And news media should be reporting more of these kinds of stories, in addition to the stark realities and challenges posed at home and abroad by the coronavirus.

South Carolina, launched as a business proposition 350 years ago, is resilient. Her people will get through this pandemic, despite dramas in state and national politics. For now, we have to continue to be patient, stay distanced and wait until its safe to move toward what will be a new normal.

In the meantime, perform intentional acts of kindness. Youll be glad you did, as Winston Churchill once alluded to: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

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ANDY BRACK: Intentional acts of kindness soothe during crisis - SCNow

Constance and the other martyrs of Memphis are remembered as part of a larger window in All Saints Chapel at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Sister Hughetta, the only nun to survive the yellow fever epidemic, moved to Sewanee, and in 1888, she and other sisters started what is now the Southern Province of the Sisters of St. Mary. Photo: University of the South

[Episcopal News Service] The martyrdom of Constance and her five companions, who died within a month of each other while ministering to residents of Memphis, Tennessee, amid the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, has always inspired the ministry of St. Marys Episcopal Cathedral.

The Rev. Laura Gettys, the Memphis cathedrals interim dean, told Episcopal News Service that the question is how to continue to live out the story and not leave it on the shelf as a legend from the past. She said that is especially true now as the COVID-19 pandemic inspires members of the cathedral but restrictions on movement challenge their ministries.

On the days when I particularly feel overwhelmed, Im mindful of what they did. They showed up and were faithful and were present to those who needed them the most. They were there for prayer, for love, for compassion, and many times for medical care, Gettys said.

The Rev. Tobias Stanislas Haller wrote this icon of Constance and her companions in 1999 originally for the Brotherhood of St. Gregorys Fessenden Recovery Ministry in Yonkers, New York. The icon was later given to St. Marys Episcopal Cathedral. Photo: Tobias Stanislas Haller

The legacy of the Martyrs of Memphis, as they are known, is both gift and challenge, she said. It is in every fiber of who we are and what we are about. Episcopalians at the cathedral have followed the martyrs example by growing into a hub of worship and services for the community, Gettys said, concentrating on companionship and inequities in housing and medical care.

The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 began in New Orleans, spread up the Mississippi River and moved inland. An estimated 120,000 people contracted the hemorrhagic fever, and 13,000 to 20,000 died.

The martyrs story is a harrowing one of people dying in streets and parks, as others were found insensible without attendants, according to a historical account compiled the following year.

It begins in 1873 when Episcopal nuns from the Community of St. Mary in New York, including eventual martyrs Constance and Thelca, came to Memphis after Tennessee Bishop Charles T. Quintard asked New York Bishop Horatio Potter to send some sisters to found a school in Memphis. They soon encountered a yellow fever epidemic, and the teachers began nursing sick Memphians. It was the first of three yellow fever outbreaks in the city over 10 years.

Five years later, after the end of the school year, Constance and Thelca were resting at the orders mother house in Peekskill, New York, when they received news on Aug. 5 that the fever had struck Memphis a second time. While residents with means, about 30,000, were fleeing the city, the sisters prepared to return. They arranged for money and supplies to be sent ahead to Memphis. When they arrived on Aug. 20, they found the cathedral neighborhood to be the citys most infected area. Plans had been made for the nuns to attend to the citys sick during the day and to sleep in the country every night for safety.

We cannot listen to such a plan; it would never do; we are going to nurse day and night; we must be at our post, one wrote.

The nuns and priests moved among the estimated 20,000 Memphians who remained in the city. They comforted the dying, tried to help the sick and took in many orphans. The Rev. Charles Carroll Parsons, the rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Memphis, who wrote to Quintard five days before dying, called the sisters the brave, unshrinking daughters of a Divine Love.

I just crawled home and fairly dropped into bed, first time for three nights, wrote Sister Constance, superior of the work at Memphis and headmistress of St. Marys School for Girls, on Aug. 27, 1878, two weeks before she died of yellow fever. Photo: Lent Madness

In September and early October of 1878, yellow fever decimated the city and the group working out of the cathedral. Parsons, a former U.S. Army artillery commander who defended Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at his 1867 court-martial, died on Sept. 6. Three days later Constance, superior of the work at Memphis and headmistress of the school, died. She was 33. Thecla, cathedral and school chapel sacristan who also taught music and English and Latin grammar, died Sept. 12. Sister Ruth, a nurse from Trinity Infirmary in New York who came to help, and the Rev. Louis S. Schuyler, newly ordained assistant rector at Parsons prior parish, Church of the Holy Innocents, Hoboken, New Jersey, both died Sept. 17. Sister Frances, a newly professed nun given charge of the orders Church Home orphanage, died Oct. 4.

All six are buried near each other in the citys historic Elmwood Cemetery, one of the Souths first rural cemeteries. The high altar at St. Marys, consecrated on Pentecost 1879, memorializes the sisters. The steps are inscribed with Alleluia Osanna, Constances last words.

These days, Gettys said, she is thinking about our call, not to martyrdom but to be present to one another and to the community and to the Way of Love, and that is exactly what the sisters were doing.

It did end, for many, in martyrdom, but their call was not to that. It was to one another and to the neighborhood and those particularly who did not have the privilege and means to leave the city.

Today, Episcopalians at the cathedral remain in the city, but a shelter-in-place order has changed their ministries. The most prominent example is the Wednesday morning Eucharist in Sisters Chapel and breakfast, supplemented by music and access to social services, for 150 to 175 community members in Martyrs Hall. The ministry is open to all but is focused on poor people, many of whom are homeless.

With none of the regular volunteers available, Gettys and the Rev. Patrick Williams, the cathedrals canon pastor, have turned the morning into an abbreviated and less-crowded gathering that includes a prayer, a to-go sack meal and information about the few resources and agencies that are still available.

One of those agencies, and a long-time partner with the cathedral, is the nearby Constance Abbey, an intentional community of Episcopalians that serves the vulnerable in the Memphis Medical District neighborhood surrounding the cathedral. Because the cathedral is surrounded by a number of hospitals, health care workers and medical students often come to the church to pray, and the cathedral often stages health fairs in a nearby park.

The four sisters of the Community of St. Mary who died within days of each other while nursing other Memphians in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic are buried in the citys Elmwood Cemetery. Photo: Historic-Memphis.com

The Episcopal Church will commemorate Constance and her companions on Sept. 9, as it has since 1985 when the General Convention added the martyrs to its calendar of commemorations. Depending on the status of COVID-19, St. Marys will have some version of its annual Martyrs Weekend celebration, Gettys said. Normally, there is a Lessons and Carols-type service featuring readings from the martyrs letters and diaries with music. There is also a service at Elmwood Cemetery followed by a picnic. A member of the Community of St. Mary at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, often comes for the celebration, bringing with her the chalice that was used at Eucharist during the epidemic.

Others across the church have been considering the resonance of the martyrs story in these days of COVID-19. The Rev. Julia M. Gatta, the Bishop Frank A. Juhan professor of pastoral theology at the School of Theology in Sewanee, told ENS she sees parallels between the heroism of Constance and her companions and todays essential workers. Those workers, in hospitals or grocery stores, are trying to help their communities survive. She especially pointed to retired health care workers who have come out of retirement to volunteer despite their age and increased vulnerability.

There are differences, too. While the priests in Memphis felt obligated to bring the Last Rites to people during the yellow fever epidemic, Gatta said clergy today are discouraged from doing so in person, so as not to become an unwitting coronavirus carrier. It makes it painful for clergy to not be able to minister to their own people who are dying, who are sick, she said.

Gatta teaches pastoral theology, including ministry to the sick and dying, and tells her students they must act responsibly. They must obey medical protocols, even if those measures seem to create a degree of separation from their congregants. However, she also speaks about Constance and her companions, telling future priests that sometimes they will have to take risks in order to minister to the sick. Those risks, however, must not be crazy risks, ones that can have risks beyond ourselves but to other people as well.

There is another kind of risk these days, Gatta said. Besides the grace of heroism, people need to be aware of the peculiar temptations right now, especially around desolation, to become closed in on themselves, to become embittered, to become despairing, she said. There are particular temptations that go with this moment as well, and they require vigilance.

Meanwhile, Anna Fitch Courie, who championed Constance and her companions in the 2016 edition of Lent Madness has been thinking about the different ways people are called.

We all have very different, profound callings in our lives that dont necessarily mean you have to be on the front lines putting cool cloths on those with COVID-19, she said. But you are called, and you are called to listen to where God is sending you messages and whispering to you in your life.

Some people are on the front lines, and some are called to pray for them. Some can sew masks, and some can buy the material for those masks, she said. Fitch Courie, who is a nurse but whose own health puts her in the high-risk category, told ENS that she knows that an ICU is not where she is called to be right now, even though that is where she used to nurse.

You have to come to this point in your spiritual life where you are very comfortable and secure that you are doing what you are called to do at that time, she said.

Constance trusted Gods call, Fitch Courie said, and was true to her name, which means constant presence, dependable, faithful. She shows what it looks like to live a life based on consistently praying and listening for and responding to Gods call.

The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg retired in July 2019 as senior editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.

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'Martyrs of Memphis' have lessons to teach those battling COVID-19 - Episcopal News Service

Part 3 of 3 Mental Health in the Covid World

Connecting Humanity

The coronavirus pandemic is going to cause immense pain and suffering. But it will force us to reconsider who we are and what we value. In the long run, it could help us discover a better version of ourselves. When this crisis ends, I hope we will reorient our politics and make substantial new investments in public goods for health, especially. I dont think we will become less communal. Instead, we will be more conscious, more aware, of our interdependency. I hope that it will mark the end of our romance with instant gratification and hyper-individualism. As weve witnessed the market-based models for social organization fail, catastrophically, self-seeking behavior makes this crisis so much more dangerous than it needed to be. The economy and social order would have collapsed into anarchy if the government didnt guarantee income for the millions of workers who suffered unemployment.

But while many of our institutions have failed, the civic responsibility and altruism of millions who have stayed home, lost income, kept their kids inside, self-quarantined, refrained from hoarding, supported each other, and even pooled resources to bolster health workers, leads me to the belief in a better future. Harnessing a new sense of solidarity, we have the opportunity to unify to face the enormous global challenges ahead.

One inspiring outcome from the lockdown is how people are finding new ways to connect and support each other through adversity. Being social animals, our natural instinct during times of crisis is to connect. Not asynchronously through drip feeds of our curated lives, engaging only as voyeurs. But by coexisting, concurrently. Attention-heavy synchronous conversations like raw and unfiltered videochats can foster a new form of closeness reminiscent to older eras. Professional enterprise technology Zoom and TEAMS, for example have been usurped for meandering, motive-less togetherness. Thank god for this sufficiently advanced technology that is practically indistinguishable from magicor wed all be channeling our inner Cast Away!

In the default world, our time is occupied by acquaintances of convenience or circumstance. The co-workers who share our office. The friends who live nearby. The parents of the children our kids go to school with. Were strikingly un-intentional and mundane about our relationships. But now were motivated to build a virtual family, completely of our choosing. The calculus has shifted from who is convenient or who has the best invitation, to who makes us feel most human. Were returning to the form of youthful socialization of just hanging out. In the past two months, Ive connected with old friends I havent seen together in a decade, met new partners I hadnt yet seen in real life, and have had near daily check-ins with both of my parents. In some ways, the pandemic is forcing a new and improved form of mediated social connection the way connecting is innately meant to be.

Another form of raw humanity thats arising from Covid is the frequent but lightweight communication of sharing videos and memes. The internets response to COVID-19 has been a global outpour of gallows humor. From Facebook groups like the quarter-million member Zoom Memes for Quaranteens, to the sardonic Instagram Quentin Quarantine, and the myriad of TikTokers all joining up to weather the crisis. Memes allow us to convert our creeping dread and stir craziness into something borderline productive. Memes offer a new medium of solidarity, of one-ness; were all in this hellscape together so we may as well make fun of it. As one of my friends often claims, we laugh because if we didnt, wed cry. So we force laughter, self-deprecating, but oddly familiar, formulating a connection through the deep understanding of each others misery. Powerless and isolated, were finding that the joke is now our most reliable shield and our warmest comfort blanket.

Media Shake-Up

Oddly, what remains feels more social than social networks have in a long time. Perhaps its because the flood of status symbol content into Instagram Stories has been replaced by our lives in the flesh. No one is going out and doing anything cool to show off, and if they are, they should be ashamed of themselves. For the first time since the dawn of social media, people are sharing their lives in the present, unfiltered, with no lighting or edits or make up. Our highly curated autobiographical content has screeched to a halt, and thank God, it was about time. We had turned social media into a sport where we spent the whole time staring at the scoreboard. Its freed us from the external validation that too often rules our decision making, because fortunately, there are no Like counts on Zoom. Coronavirus has absolved our desire to share the recent past, and our near future is so uncertain that theres little sense in making plans. As shelter-in-place orders get extended in piecemeal, we have no choice but to remain firmly fixed in the present.

And much like our intentional communities, social media has become less about how it looks, and more about how it feels. Does it put me at peace, make me laugh, or abate the loneliness? Then do it. Theres no more FOMO because theres nothing to miss. Staying at home enjoying some self-indulgence finally doesnt have a trade-off. Even celebrities are getting into it. Rather than professional photos and flashy music videos, theyre unedited, and truly live. John Legend did a live quarantine concert with his wife Chrissy Teigen sitting in a towel, Coldplays Chris Martin streamed a song with the tag #TogetherAtHome, promoting the online entertainment of isolated fans, and some even use their platforms to urge people to stay at home.

Social media was ready for a colossal shift. For the past 18 months at least, Ive felt nauseated by it all the virtue signaling, the status symbols, the FOMO-inducing stories, the blatantly plastic or plastered, and the #blessed. The solipsism on Instagram that comes with flying on someone elses jet or sailing on a billionaires yacht, it just felt soover the top. Kind of like the visceral feeling of angst that you get in Las Vegas or Dubai. And Facebook and Twitter werent any better. The vitriolic comments, deliberate shaming, the fake news and just generally vapid chatter, has permeated my online experiences for years. But suddenly, the discourse shifted. The nature of conversations recently has shifted from utterly vacuous brain candy, to profound, useful, data-driven, supportive and inclusive communication. Friends offering strangers time to talk if theyre lonely, peers volunteering with the elderly, shout-outs to companies and entrepreneurs dedicating their resources.

Some of the most heartwarming outpourings of the internet have been the willingness of others to share their offerings. What would ordinally come with a steep price tag, is suddenly available as a gift. Its like Burning Mans gifting economy moved online. The webs mental immune system has kicked into gear amidst the outbreak. Rather than wallowing in captivity, weve developed digital antibodies that are evolving to fight the solitude. Weve developed digital congregations to compensate for the loss of physical ones. One-off livestreams have turned into online music festivals, self-help conferences, remote classes and coordinated mindfulness retreats. Despite being physically separated, weve never been closer. Investors are offering free pitch feedback, performing arts centers are screening live plays, and pastors and rabbis have moved online. And yes, Burning Man, finally, has gone digital.

Perhaps we can use our time with our devices to rethink the kind of communities we can create through them. This is a different life on the screen from disappearing into a video game or polishing ones avatar. This is cracked open humanity, leveraging tools for the broader good premised on generosity and empathy. This is looking within and asking: what can I authentically offer? What do people need? When the infection waves pass, I hope this swell of creativity and in-the-moment togetherness stays strong. The internet is just a tool that reveals the fabric of humanity, and for the first time in a while, Im proud of the way people are showing up for each other, rather than showing off.

Value of Truth and Expertise

Social media as a public square is a place for discourse and commiseration. But its also the place for gossip and instant accusations and judgment. Click baiting, sensationalist headlines have been emblematic of the last decade. And theyve become even more present during the Covid episode, propelled by a system built to attract eyeballs that inadvertently becomes a race to the bottom. For years, it has incentivized controversy, outrage, and half-baked contrarianism, because this is entertainment at its worst.

And America, in all its glory and triumph, has become the zenith of it all. For the past several years, America has become a fundamentally unserious country. This is the luxury afforded us by peace, affluence and the convergence of consumer technologies. We were absolved of the necessity to weigh our existentialism through real threats of nuclear war, oil shortages, high unemployment, skyrocketing interest rates. We even posted a reality TV star to the presidency; whose defining tribute is a populist attack on the expertise that makes government relevant. But when our health and livelihoods are at stake, we are forced to accept that expertise matters. Perhaps we will witness a return of Americans to a new seriousness, or perhaps resign to the idea that government is a matter for serious people. The colossal failure of the Trump administration both to keep Americans healthy and to slow the pandemic-driven implosion of the economy might shock the public enough back to insisting on something from government other than emotional satisfaction

And as people are demanding unambiguous data, seeking clear information from science-based experts, its interesting to watch who the world is gravitating to; who emerges as leaders and which leaders lose the trust of their people. Bill Gates, who presciently predicted this outbreak in a 2016 TED Talk, has been elevated as a true world leader. A trusted (and importantly, relatively apolitical figure), who uses science and raw data to support his arguments. Similarly, epidemiologists and medical clinicians are experiencing a brand-new reach.

Now on social media, administrators are starting (though somewhat inconsistently and half-heartedly) to punish people who have internalized the dopamine-hit incentives. Recognizing the spread of misinformation, Chinese tech giants, already well-versed in censorship, put their tools to good use to prevent the spread of such lies. The creators of WeChat have integrated a fact-checking platform to dispel harmful misconceptions. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, are also actively working to ensure that only correct sources get amplified. Content from reputable accounts is given priority, while amateur claims are being scrutinized and factchecked. Twitter is voraciously erasing quack cure tweets from former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani and Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro, and Facebook taking down two videos by Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro that disputed the need for social distancing. WhatsApp has restricted users ability to forward posts, a blanket measure meant to flatten the curve of disinformations spread. But its still a game of whack-a-mole. Banning the most offensive might be a straightforward call, but many of the less egregiously bad tweets tweets that do not appear to violate any of the platforms rules but nonetheless sow unnecessary fear or cause confusion regarding matters of life and death come from people who are merely trying to be good at Twitter. Social media was always designed to give us what we want, not what we need. But the problem is too systemic to be reversed overnight; a bad tweet, morally speaking, is often a good tweet, judging strictly by the numbers. And this is why we needed a shift.

The World Needed a Shift

As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. There will be much financial and economic pain along the road to a recovery, but something had to awaken us from headlong rush towards the perdition of over-indebtedness, overconsumption, overpriced assets and general overindulgence.

There are, to a certain degree, parallels that can be drawn between the current COVID-19 pandemic and some of the other contemporary crises our world is facing. All require a global-to-local response and long-term thinking; all need to be guided by science and need to protect the most vulnerable among us; and all require the political will to make fundamental changes when faced with existential risks. In this sense, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic may lead to a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us all on a global scale and could help us get to grips with the largest public health threat of the century, the climate crisis.

Coronavirus is upending everything from aviation to retail and its also having a big impact on the environment. A drop in air pollution was first observed by NASA in Chinas Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December. Marshall Burke, a researcher at Stanford University, calculated the improvements in air quality recorded in China may have saved the lives of 4,000 children under 5 years old and 73,000 adults over 70. Even more conservative estimates would put the number of lives saved at roughly 20 times the number of deaths from the virus directly. Though while it is clearly incorrect and foolhardy to conclude that pandemics are good for health, the calculation is a useful reminder of the often-hidden health consequences of the status quo. Nothing should go back to normal; normal wasnt working.

Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis, said the UNs environment chief, Inger Andersen. Andersen claimed humanity was placing too many pressures on the natural world with damaging consequences, and warned that failing to take care of the planet meant not taking care of ourselves. To prevent further outbreaks, the experts said, both global heating and the destruction of the natural world for farming, mining and housing have to end, as both drive wildlife into contact with people. An end to live animal markets which they called an ideal mixing bowl for disease and the illegal global animal trade.

Refresh Button

The scale of the coronavirus crisis calls to mind 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis events that reshaped society in lasting ways, from how we travel and buy homes, to the level of security and surveillance were accustomed to, and even common vernacular. But this cocktail of constraints and boredom is a potent trigger for innovation. Constraints are, in a way, a reverse Occams Razor a force that removes the most obvious and mundane solutions from the table. With constraints, were forced to recalibrate and search for ways to solve problems that already have simple solutions. Crisis moments present opportunity: more sophisticated and flexible use of technology, less polarization, a revived appreciation for the outdoors and lifes other simple pleasures.

The 21st century has been firmly dedicated to the self. Self-reliance, self-help, self-growth and self-independence. But this virus is reminding us that we are all connected, we need others and we need social support. Its the quality of your relationships that determines the quality of your life, they say. It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we dont look after our health, we will, in fact, be sick. Disease knows no xenophobia, and suffering knows no borders. We are being stress tested, and if we pay attention theres a huge opportunity to learn about ourselves. Were shedding layers from our past that dont serve us anymore. As we become still, whatever stillness means to you, we will be given ideas and messages about how we are to come out of this, what our role will be.

As Eric Davis says, this is the moment when baseline reality dissolves and no new reality has emerged and its pixelating weight. As Shots of Awe host, Jason Silva claims, its like someone dosed our drink with acid and didnt tell us, and were collectively realizing the only way out is through. Once we contend and metabolize the panic and converge our brilliance and creativity, we realize from an ego death can come renewal, transformation, reinvention. This is our chance to be the phoenix that rises from the ashes.

Weve been heading towards mad max and now we have the opportunity to head towards star trek. In the rush to return to normal, we must use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to. We took life for granted. It was heavy, and toxic. And while this crisis will pass like every other, we must not forget it, we must come out wiser than we went in. This can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to. Perhaps Corona is the great corrector we all needed.

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Covid-19 and The Future of Humanity - Brianna Lee Welsh - Elemental

WEST CHESTER, PA As neighbors help neighbors all across the nation, communities continue to lift the human spirit by working together in ways, great and small, to defy the impacts of COVID-19.

Evidence of this could not be more apparent than in the numerous partnerships, acts of kindness, and goodwill that have been generated by the many faculty, students, staff, and alumni of West Chester University.

Reaching deep into Chester County and beyond, West Chester Universitys community of educators has joined forces to act as a resource for area citizens, as well as a mighty collective that has welcomed rolling-up its sleeves to help in whatever way it can.

The West Chester University Foundation this week released a communication to businesses, community partners, and the University community that details the numerous ways that WCU is working actively to help its neighbors and friends during this unprecedented time (www.wcupa.edu/businessPartners).

From sending healthy snacks to Chester County Hospital to promoting local restaurants that are open for delivery/takeout to helping children in the community to everything in between, WCU has joined many in Chester County in order to make a difference.

Providing valuable WCU resources has been a critical component of this ongoing effort. Now more than ever, businesses located in West Chester Universitys backyard need boots-on-the-ground to help them survive in todays unsettling environment and thrive in tomorrows changed workplace.

The examples are as diverse as they are many and include WCUs School of Business offering free marketing support from senior marketing majors to area businesses impacted by the global health crisis; the Cottrell Entrepreneurial Leadership Center providing free summer virtual interns for startups and small businesses; the Twardowski Career Development Center continuing to support business brand presence within the WCU community through opportunities like virtual mock interviews, virtual resume reviews, and general information sessions; and the growing list continues.

Keeping everyone in our community safe, while supporting the success of our students, remains a priority, said West Chester University President Christopher Fiorentino. I could not be more proud of the people who comprise this University and make WCU what it is every day. Our communitys desire to come together, act, and respond in intentional ways is fueled by the fact that we welcome challenges. We welcome being a catalyst. We welcome being a partner that can be relied upon.

As a critical anchor institution in the region that contributes more than $500 million in economic impact and with a community of students and faculty that approaches 20,000 people, WCU is here for you to be a resource as you navigate the uncharted waters ahead, stated WCU Foundation CEO Christopher Mominey and Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations Helen Hammerschmidt in a joint letter to partners in the community.

Thanks for visiting! MyChesCo brings reliable information and resources to Chester County, Pennsylvania. Please consider supporting us in our efforts. Your generous donation will help us continue this work and keep it free of charge. Show your support today by clicking here and becoming a patron.

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Working Together: West Chester University and the Chester County Community - MyChesCo

Black pastors across the country are pleading for the government to correct the policy violence thats led so many African Americans to die from COVID-19 before they can even access testing or seek treatment.

We know firsthand and have had to bear witness to the deaths of African Americans from COVID-19 and the heart-wrenching pain experienced by the families and communities left behind, said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and minister of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, reading aloud from a letter addressed to President Donald Trump and others during a virtual press conference Wednesday.

The press conference was sponsored by Barbers Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit that advocates for the poor and marginalized, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, a coalition of progressive African American faith leaders. The 10 pastors behind Wednesdays letter said theyre sharing their stories to pressure government leaders for better data on how coronavirus is impacting black people, more protective equipment and testing among those communities, and the widespread expansion of Medicaid, the governments healthcare program for the poor.

Trump, for his part, said last week he recognized the disparity in the black community and said that the administration is doing everything in our power to address this challenge.

Barber, who said the disproportionately high coronavirus death rates among African Americans and subsequent inaction amount to policy violence and structural racism, added that hed learned Wednesday that someone close to his church had died. It was the father of one of his drummers.

He couldnt get tested for weeks. He went in and died. His wife is in the hospital, his sister is in the hospital. I have at least two members who have had plus-four members of their family one has had 10 deaths in his family over the last month from COVID-19, Barber said.

That anecdote was shared by other pastors.

I pastor a small congregation where approximately 80 people gather on a Sunday, and out of those 80, five of those have tested positive for COVID-19, said Rev. Traci Blackmon, executive minister of Justice & Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ and senior pastor of Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Missouri.

I have two funerals to do this week of people who died; out of those five, three of them had to go to the hospital three times before they were given a test, Blackmon continued, through tears. Three times were they sent back home to their families and into their communities with being positive but not being deemed worthy of a test.

Black communities have been woefully left behind as local and federal leaders struggle to contain a deadly global pandemic. In Blackmons community of St. Louis, for example, 24 people have died of COVID-19; three were white, and the rest were black and Latino. Demographically, St. Louis population is about 50% black or Latino, and 50% white. Similarly, in Chicago, black residents make up more than half of all coronavirus cases and 70% of the deaths, according to the BBC, despite making up 30$ of the citys population.. And while few cities have broken down their coronavirus mortality data by race, those that have show the same trend: Black people are alarmingly at risk.

There are a few reasons for that, the pastors noted. African Americans are more likely to lack health insurance. Theyre more likely to work the part-time jobs currently deemed essential and have to continue showing up, while many white-collar workers clock in from their couches. They have fewer transportation options, more housing instability, and higher likelihood of underlying conditions that put them at greater risk of contracting or dying of coronavirus. And then they have fewer resources to address those problems, like government funding or widespread access to testing.

As of this moment, black and brown people are being tested least but dying the most, said Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas and co-chair Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. We appeal to federal and state leadership to prioritize healing humanity over restarting the economy. We appeal to this country to ensure that we create a vision of wellness and wholeness for our communities to repair centuries of the intentional infection of racism.

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Cover: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II speaking at the Poor People's Moral Action Congress taking place at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC on June 17, 2019. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

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Black Pastors Plead for Government Action on Coronavirus: 'I Have Two Funerals to Do This Week' - VICE

Long before COVID-19 outbreak, Black communities were experiencing deep health and economic inequities that are only intensified by a public health crisis, a senior policy analyst and adjunct professor at Howard University said.

Judy Lubin, who is also the president of the Center for Urban and Racial Equity (CURE) and a sociologist, criticized the inept government leadership for weak handling of the outbreak which has mainly targeted the communities of color in the United States.

"COVID-19 is a perfect storm of systemic inequities operating together to worsen existing vulnerabilities," she pointed out in her article published by Truthout.

Long before COVID-19, Black communities were experiencing deep health and economic inequities that are only intensified by a public health crisis of this magnitude.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is a nightmare unfolding before our eyes that could have devastating impacts that Black Americans could feel most acutely. With scarce testing, health care workers and ventilators, combined with a pattern of red-state governors ignoring science and placing profits above people, there are signs that Black communities across the country are bearing the brunt of an inept federal response and unjust health care system unprepared to handle the surge of COVID-19 patients.

This, of course, doesnt have to be the case, but government failure and systemic racism mean far too many Black people, especially in the South, will lose their lives unless government leaders immediately course correct from the predictable and alarming outcomes ahead.

Preliminary data show high case counts among Black residents in emerging hotspots, including New Orleans, New York, Detroit, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Albany, Georgia. There are also reports from cities, including St. Louis and Nashville, that predominantly Black neighborhoods have been slow to receive testing sites and equipment compared to white, affluent areas. The stories you care about, right at your

Black communities across the country are bearing the brunt of an inept federal response and unjust health care system.

COVID-19 is a perfect storm of systemic inequities operating together to worsen existing vulnerabilities. Widespread testing, for example, is still not happening, and tests are being rationed with only the sickest, often at deaths door, being provided diagnostic tests to determine if they have the virus. Health care workers are doing heroic work under unimaginable conditions, but stories like that of Rana Mungin a 30-year-old Black woman and Brooklyn teacher who was turned down three times before receiving a COVID-19 test and was in a coma, clinging for her life is a warning sign of a system under stress and poised to reproduce known racial inequities in health care services.

With little to no race or ethnicity data being reported on who has been tested and well-documented history of racial bias shaping health care decisions, a group of doctors and researchers called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to report these numbers for COVID-19 testing. Several Democratic leaders including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley followed with a similar request to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Biases are more likely to shape decisions under stressful situations, and with a system overwhelmed, such biases may enter the equation when health care workers have to make difficult decisions about who qualifies to be tested.

Biases are more likely to shape decisions under stressful situations.

The same is true for determining who has access to other limited health care resources like ventilators. Recently, I awoke to a heartbreaking email from a public health colleague in a hard-hit state. He was seeking guidance on how to make equitable decisions on ventilators because current crisis standards of care, which are guidelines that state health departments use for these types of public health emergencies, will likely further disadvantage the already disadvantaged including Black patients that have underlying health conditions that may worsen their prognosis for survival.

Physicians shouldnt be placed in these positions in a nation that has the resources to coordinate a rapid and equitable response to the demands of this pandemic. Instead, the Trump administration has dragged its feet in using the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of badly needed ventilators and other medical supplies. All along the way, the president has failed as a leader by calling the COVID-19 threat a hoax, and criticizing requests for medical supplies and demanding praise in return for federal aid from Democratic governors in states hit hard by the virus.

Equity not petty politics should be the guiding principle in this emergency, and that means resources should be targeted to where they are needed most. Ventilators, for example, should be prioritized for distribution to known hotspots like New York City, New Orleans, Detroit and areas that will likely experience a surge in severe coronavirus cases because of chronic health inequities and under-resourced health care systems, common in the South.

Current crisis standards of care will likely further disadvantage the already disadvantaged.

African Americans experience higher rates of diabetes, hypertension and respiratory illnesses associated with COVID-19 death not because Black people are inherently sicker, but because systemic racism has created the conditions for these health inequities to develop. Concentrated poverty, substandard housing, lack of health insurance, employment discrimination, poor water, and air quality, and the day-to-day stress of living in a society that devalues our humanity all work together to chip away at our health.

Combine these health inequities with resistance among Republican governors to implement stay-at-home orders that public health experts have said are needed to slow the spread of the virus, and we have the conditions for COVID-19 to explode in the South, where close to 60 percent of all Black people in the U.S. live and where the majority of states in the region have not expanded Medicaid. Alabamas GOP Gov. Kay Ivey, for example, in initially refusing to issue a stay-at-home order, stated that she didnt want to choke business, and proudly proclaimed the state was unlike Democratic-led Louisiana, New York, and California, which have stay-at-home orders in place. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee were also among holdout states that refused to promptly issue statewide shelter-in-place orders.

We have the conditions for COVID-19 to explode in the South, where close to 60 percent of all Black people in the U.S. live.

Inept government leadership in this pandemic is costing lives, and the slow and uncoordinated federal response is having domino effects across the country. Those impacts will be deeper and greater for Black and Brown workers, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, have no health care coverage, and have jobs where they are expected to work while everyone else is sheltering at home to flatten the curve and avoid being infected by the virus.

Moreover, Black Americans make up 40 percent of the homeless population, who are especially vulnerable to a pandemic where the public is being asked to stay home as a protective measure. In prisons and jails, where Black people are disproportionately among those incarcerated, these environments are ticking time bombs for an outbreak of COVID-19 due to the difficulty of maintaining social distance in close quarters, unsanitary conditions, and the number of people regularly moving in and out.

Leadership at all levels of government needs to rise to the level of this crisis and do so with a focus on health equity and racial justice. That means widespread universal testing with no age restrictions, free COVID-19 testing and treatment provided to anyone diagnosed, and targeted outreach to communities of color to allay fears of not having access to treatment or receiving an astronomical health bill after a hospital stay.

Black and Brown's workers have jobs where they are expected to work while everyone else is sheltering at home.

But there are other critical policy solutions that should be considered as part of an equitable COVID-19 response and recovery plan, including immediate action to release incarcerated people, permanent paid sick and family leave for all workers, Medicare for All, housing for the unsheltered and a federal jobs guarantee in the face of massive unemployment. Enacting these policies would begin to address the depths of racial inequities that are intersecting with the COVID-19 crisis and set the stage for a reset as the pandemic subsides.

Were learning in this crisis that we desperately need better planning, leadership, a focus on our shared humanity and targeted strategies to reach, connect with and care for the populations and communities that will experience the most economic harm and loss of health and life. Racial health inequities are not a foreign concept in public health and it should concern all of us that the most basic step for addressing them reporting racial data has been largely ignored in local, state and federal reporting on COVID-19. Without an approach that actively addresses the many ways that systemic racism is already shaping outcomes in this pandemic, Black communities will be left without the resources to address the compounding impacts of COVID-19 as the rest of the country recovers and pushes forward.

With intentional policies and actions that prioritize racial equity now, government leaders and policymakers can avoid repeating mistakes of the past. They can reject calls to go back to business as usual and seize the moment to usher fundamental change that addresses the generations of neglect and political malpractice that created the pre-existing health, social and economic conditions that are being magnified in this tragedy.

As of April 17, the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) around the world reached 2 million 183 thousand 877, according to the data released by coronavirus research centers.

The death toll was over 146,000.

552,771 patients have recovered.

The U.S. was leading in the world in terms of the largest number of infected people (678,210 confirmed cases). 34,641 deaths were reported.

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Chronic health inequities weaken Blacks, putting them at higher risk amid COVID-19 outbreak in U.S. - Tehran Times