2 The RAPS Sheet December 2020 CO-PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE COVID-19 mitigation during the holiday season holidays. Any visitors from outside the region will need 14 days of quarantine to safely interact with friends and relatives. Testing for COVID-19, receiving a negative test result, will not ensure your visitor is free from the coronavirus. If you think a negative test result means you don’t have COVID-19, you could be wrong. It can take days after exposure to the virus before a new infection shows up on a COVID-19 test. You can spread the virus before testing positive. Family and friends coming to visit. Having a meal composed of traditional holiday recipes. Family from out of the area. All these are important and we look forward to those as well as holiday parties. Given the COVID-19 situation, however, holding holiday celebrations this year with an infected but asymptomatic guest might mean some visitors will be having their ultimate holiday season. We need to delay gratification until the holiday season of (I hope) 2021. We will need to settle for virtual celebrations with loved ones this season. Stay connected with friends and loved ones using tools like Facetime and Zoom. These are not ideal but they are not going to spread COVID-19. Stay safe. —Steve Brennan HERE’S THE DEAL. We in Oregon and around the nation are facing widespread community spread of coronavirus. As I write this column, a week before Thanksgiving, counts of confirmed cases are on a sharp rise in Oregon and throughout the rest of the United States. We are experiencing a sharp increase in hospitalizations, following right along after the steep increase in confirmed cases. Here is the picture of COVID-19 in Oregon: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ map.html. Here is the Johns Hopkins dashboard: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ map.html. On November 18 the Portland metro area began a new round of restrictions aimed at flattening the curve. These restrictions aim to avoid overwhelming hospitals and medical staff with patients infected with COVID-19. We all know the drill; we have been down this road before fighting coronavirus. This time our holiday gatherings are limited to fewer than seven people, from at most two households. This restriction will be in place for at least four weeks. Health authorities recommend not traveling for the Two receive Women’s Association scholarships THREE YEARS AGO the Women’s Association, as part of the process of closing their books, transferred stewardship of their scholarship fund to RAPS. Two scholarships have been awarded for the 2020-21 academic year. One scholarship was awarded to Vivian Vuong, a transfer student from California who started at Portland State this fall as a junior. She is majoring in criminology and criminal justice, and hopes to work in the field as a criminal statistician/analyst. In a thank-you letter, she wrote, “It is meaningful to me as a recipient of the PSU Women’s Association Scholarship, especially as a first-generation female college student. It’s empowering to have such amazing support.” A second scholarship was awarded to Vicki Franklin, a senior majoring in indigenous nations studies. She is a domestic violence survivor and a single parent, and has struggled for many years to complete her education. She has been a foster parent and has raised several children with disabilities. Her goal is to advocate for the needs and rights of tribal foster children and families. Franklin’s spouse was diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition last spring, and the resulting medical costs again threatened to disrupt her education. The scholarship will enable her to stay in school. She writes, “Words cannot adequately express my gratitude. . . To know that someone I have never met supports and believes in me enough to award a scholarship to me strengthens my confidence, courage, and commitment to complete my education.”
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