SARS-CoV-2 & OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS IN THE USA

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the latest news of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, three years after the pandemia started. SARS-CoV-2 and its derivates continue being a potencial labour risk for milions of workers in the USA.

The risks from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), for workers depends on how extensively the virus spreads between people; the severity of resulting illness; pre-existing medical conditions workers may have; and the medical or other measures available to control the impact of the virus and the relative success of these measures. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides detailed information about this topic.

According to the CDC, certain people, including older adults and those with underlying conditions such as heart or lung disease or diabetes, are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19.

Classifying Risk of Worker Exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Worker risk of occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during a pandemic may depend in part on the industry type and the need for contact within 6 feet of people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Other factors, such as conditions in communities where employees live and work, their activities outside of work (including travel to COVID-19-affected areas), and individual health conditions, may also affect workers' risk of getting COVID-19 and/or developing complications from the illness.

OSHA has divided job tasks into four risk exposure levels: very high, high, medium, and lower risk, as shown in the occupational risk pyramid, below. The four exposure risk levels represent the probable distribution of risk. Most American workers will likely fall in the lower exposure risk (caution) or medium exposure risk levels.

Lower Exposure Risk (Caution)

Jobs that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other coworkers. Examples include:

-Remote workers (those working from home during the pandemic).

-Office workers who do not have frequent close contact with coworkers, customers, or the public.

-Manufacturing and industrial facility workers who do not have frequent close contact with coworkers, customers, or the public.

-Healthcare workers providing only telemedicine services.

-Long-distance truck drivers.

Medium Exposure Risk

Jobs that require frequent/close contact with people who may be infected, but who are not known to have or suspected of having COVID-19. Workers in this category include:

-Those who may have frequent contact with travelers who return from international locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission.

-Those who may have contact with the general public (in schools, high population density work environments, and some high-volume retail settings).

High Exposure Risk

Jobs with a high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2. Workers in this category include:

-Healthcare delivery and support staff (hospital staff who must enter patients’ rooms) exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients.

-Medical transport workers (ambulance vehicle operators) moving known or suspected COVID-19 patients in enclosed vehicles.

-Mortuary workers involved in preparing bodies for burial or cremation of people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of death.

Very High Exposure Risk

Jobs with a very high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers in this category include:

-Healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics, emergency medical technicians) performing aerosol-generating procedures (intubation, cough induction procedures, bronchoscopies, some dental procedures and exams, or invasive specimen collection) on known or suspected COVID-19 patients.

-Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting or handling specimens from known or suspected COVID-19 patients (manipulating cultures from known or suspected COVID-19 patients).

-Morgue workers performing autopsies, which generally involve aerosol-generating procedures, on the bodies of people who are known to have, or are suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of their death.

Guide to action for the prevention of occupational risk in the event of highly infectious dangerous biological agents in health facilities

Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving,

we get stronger and more resilient.

Steve Maraboli

CRISTINA BEAN & THE MET: THE ROMANIC CLOISTERS

The Beans arriving to the Metropolitan Museum

When Jordi Bean chose The USA to go at Christmas holiday, The Grandma asked for every member of the family about their preferences in this journey.  

Cristina Bean confessed she wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and today, her dream has come true. The Grandma is also very happy with this visit because she was very interested, as a good Andorran woman, in the MET Romanic cloisters. She also wanted to see some Salvador Dalí's works which are exposed in this magnificent museum.

More information: The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially the Met, is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the second most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. 

Cristina Bean in front of The Temple of Dendur

On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. 

The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

Download The MET Guide by The Grandma

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. 

Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. 

After that, maybe I'd go check out a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika. 

Emmanuelle Chriqui

SAINT STEPHEN IN LITTLE ITALY: CANNELLONI & MUSIC

The Beans arriving to Little Italy.

Today is December, 26 Saint Stephen in The USA and Sant Esteve in Andorra where The Grandma was born. It's an ancient Andorran tradition eating cannelloni in this date. Cannelloni, like pizza in Italian cuisine, migas in Andalusian or Carn d'Olla in Catalan one is a dish that has its origins in the poverty.

The Grandma is a great fan of keeping traditions and although The Beans are in NYC enjoying the city, she has invited all the family to have dinner in Little Italy, one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Lower Manhattan, where they will find a mixture of Mediterranean tradition and American one, feeling closer to home although they're not near because an enormous deep ocean separates the two continents.

The Grandma has choosen one of the best restaurants in the area, Pizzeria Napoli, where they will taste the best Neapolitan dishes and The Grandma will be able to evocate her memories about Naples, the beautiful unforgettable capital of the Campania Region. She will take profit of the situation and will try to play a little with numbers and probabilities doing the impossible, possible, meeting with one of the most superstitious communities around the world: The American Neapolitan People.

Download The Numbers

 And wouldn't it follow that everything made from those things is ruled by numbers, too? Genes, chromosomes, us, the Universe.

Monica Reyes, Improbable, The X Files

THE SONG OF THE SYBIL: JUDICII SIGNUM & A NEW HOPE

The Sibyl

Last Friday, 22, The Beans reviewed some grammar about Prepositions of place and There is-There are while they welcame another new member of the family: Natalia Bean.

More information: There is/are

The family was excited about the next travel to The USA and they were preparing the travel and searching information about flights and hotels.

The Grandma talked about her personal point of view about Christmas and she remembered the Song of Sibyl, one of her favourite songs, a song full of history and trascendental events.

More information: Prepositions of place

The sun will lose its lightness showing itself dark and veiled, the moon will give no light and the whole world will be sorrow.
 

The Song of the Sibyl

EXPRESSING ORDERS AND ADVICE: MUST & SHOULD

Manuel & Cristina Bean

Last Thursday, 21, The Beans continued with their English classes. The class started a bit late because The Grandma had been attending some important business in Barcelona. She must vote.

That day, they talked about modal verbs: Must and Should. They also discussed about So and Such.

More information: So & Such

It's important to know when you have to choose one kind of verb or another because it demonstrates the power of the emitter over the receiver.

The Beans prepared the last details to travel to The USA at Christmas and thought about which places they wanted to visit and they were discussing about their new home. The Grandma accepted all their proposals and now they have an enormous work to refurbish all of them.

More information: Must & Should

To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. 

Louis L'Amour

CREATING AN ALIBI: IS TRUE THAT YOU WERE IN...?

Paula Bond is preparing her travel to Venice

Today, The Bonds are flying to Venice. The Grandma is still in The USA because she must resolve some business but the rest of the family is arriving to this wonderful city to enjoy the Carnival.

They have been revising some English grammar during the flight. They've practised Past Simple and Past Continuous (While and When) and Countable & Uncountable.

More information: Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

The family has bought some food by Internet and after creating their shopping lists they've written some recipes for The Grandma.

More information: BBC Food Recipes

Finally, the family has prepared a listening playing with Yes/No answers and trying to remember as things as they could about themselves and contrast their alibis.

Download M.José & Pedro Bond's Crosswords

Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully 

if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner. 

Sophia Loren

ELI & MANUELA BOND, MAY YOU STAY FOREVER YOUNG

January, 31st: Eli Bond's Birthday

Today, The Bonds are still in the capital of The USA. They're checking their passports to know if they can travel to New York City, first, and San Francisco, later or they must return to Sant Boi. You know, the new rules of the man with orange hair...

The family is celebrating Eli's birthday and they've received an unexpected visit: Manuela Bond, an Eli Bond's closer friend who has surprised all the family with a huge cake. Delicious!

Manuela is a shy person and she doesn't want to appear in our blog, for the moment, but the family is persistent and they're working to convince her to appear on it.

Before eating the cake, the family has worked Future Continuous, Prepositions of Place, some Social English and some Airplane and Business Vocabulary.

More information: Future Continuous

Finally, The Bonds have created some crosswords to prepare their closer travel to Kiev, after visiting San Francisco, a long trip which offers lots of leisure and they've talked about how to try to be brave in front of difficult situations, especially in interviews and embarrasing ones.

Imperfection is beauty, 

madness is genius 

and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous 

than absolutely boring. 

Marilyn Monroe

WASHINGTON DC: AUGUST, 28 1963: WE SHALL OVERCOME

M. José Bond and her banners

Today, The Bonds are reviewing some Social English, connectors and grammar (superlative and present tenses). It's important to pay attention to the clues in grammar because they can save us in an exam.

The family is still in Washington, DC and they are remembering one of the most important and historical figures of American History: Martin Luther King and his incredible speech I have a dream. The effort of the black people to improve their lives in The USA has been a strong struggle since the slavery age until nowadays.

More information: American Rhetoric

Music is a great instrument to reclaim rights and The Bonds are preparing some songs to participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest.

Finally, after remembering more examples of people who created wonderful works and didn't obtain fame or recognition, people who worked for others and saw how their creations were copied, The Bonds have talked about their preferences in pop stars and black music.

If The Grandma can dream, she will return to Betlem in year zero...

We are not makers of history. We are made by history. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

RAQUEL BOND DESIGNS AN AMAZING PATTERN

Raquel Bond and her patterns

Today, The Bonds are in Washington DC. They have travelled to the capital of The USA for business. 

They are reviewing some vocabulary about policy and Social English and they are practising First Conditional.

More info: Political Words

Raquel Bond is leaving the family. She's going to stay in Washington DC where she has found what she was looking for. The family is going to miss her a lot because she's like an amazing grace, always with a beautiful smile and some kind words to share.

After talking about the importance of Sant Boi along the history and they are reading White Rabbit, a beautiful song of Jefferson Airplane which is a big criticism of Vietnam's War.

Finally, they are sharing sad and happy stories before going to assist to The US Presidential Inauguration where a Juanjo Bond's friend is going to become in a powerful man.

I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, 

so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it. 

George McGovern

LAST DAY IN BERLIN: MUSINGS OF THE BONDS

Jaume Bond

Imagine...

The Bonds are in Berlin. They visit as monuments as they can and enjoy the city. They learn History and they talk about the recent events in this incredible city.  They're together and spend all days doing different and interesting things. Eli Bond is at home again. She feels happy and wants to remember her childhood in the capital of Germany. They are special days for her. Mariona Bond practises German everywhere. She's from Luxembourg, German is very easy for her.

More information: Present Simple

The Bonds don't forget their English classes. They talk about Present Simple and its uses in Future and Past. It's an interesting verb tense. They write down some rules and clues about this Present and its Question Tags. The course continues with some important preparations: create a profile, write a postcard and talk about Social English. They use hypothetical deduction method, like Sherlock Holmes. They practise with Who is Who and listen some new Grandma's stories. She talks a lot. She hopes they start to talk and don't feel ashamed. This is Grandma's goal.

Juanjo Bond wants to travel to The USA because a closer orange friend of him is going to do something important. The family joins him.

Life is beautiful and fantastic in Berlin with The USA in mind until an unexpected thing happens: Jaume Bond is not with the family. Where's Jaume?

Think... 

I have a lot of great memories, but I can't imagine 

anything more exciting than the life I have now. 

Rob Lowe

0836656565: CLAIRE FONTAINE PHONES PÈRE NÖEL!

Saint Nicholas of Myra

Claire Fontaine wants to talk about Santa Claus, his origins and his tradition around Europe and The USA.

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or simply Santa, Santy in Hiberno-English, is a legendary figure of Western culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved good or nice children on Christmas Eve, 24 December, and the early morning hours of Christmas Day, 25 December. 

The modern Santa Claus grew out of traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra, the British figure of Father Christmas, the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, himself based on Saint Nicholas, the German figure of the Christkind, a fabulized Christ Child, and the holidays of Twelfth Night and Epiphany and their associated figures of the Three Kings, based on the gift-giving Magi of the Nativity and Befana. Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Wodan, who was associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.

More information: Saint Nicholas Center

Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra, now Demre, in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. 

Claire in the Church of St Nicholas in Moscow

In continental Europe, more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.

The remains of Saint Nicholas are in Italy. In 1087, the Italian city of Bari mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Saint. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was conquered by Italian sailors and his relics were taken to Bari where they are kept to this day. A basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave. These were collected by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and taken to Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors, and children to pawnbrokers. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.

More information:  Sinterklaas in Amsterdam, Netherlands

During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on the 24 and 25 December. 

Claire in the Church of San Nicolò al Lido, Venice

So Saint Nicholas changed to Santa Claus. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas has been propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. 

Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.

Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. 

More information: Santa Claus Village, Arctic Circle-Rovaniemi

He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer. 

Santa Claus and Coca Cola

His physical appearance was variable,with one famous image being John Leech's illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens's festive classic A Christmas Carol (1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.

In the Netherlands and Belgium the character of Santa Claus has to compete with that of Sinterklaas, Santa's presumed progenitor. 

Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch and Père Noël in French, where you can phone him to the free number: 0836656565.

More information:  The Coca Cola Company

Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising, White Rock Beverages had already used a red and white Santa to sell mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923. 

Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people only once a year. 

Victor Borge

BE THE QUEEN? MAMMA MIA!

Cocodrilo Dundee

Yesterday, The Poppins had another beautiful day. First, they started with some grammar: Past Continuous (While/When), Conditional Simple and how to convert an uncountable noun in countable.

More information: Conditional Simple

Later, the family assisted to an incredible class of fashion and trend thanks to Lulú Addams-Poppins who is a professional of these themes.

The family is finishing its Australian holiday and they’re crossing the desert with the help of an old Grandma's friend, Cocodrilo Dundee. They're travelling across it to homage Priscilla and her friends and because of this, they chose The Poppins’ Queen: Tonyi.

After remembering ABBA and some mystic writers like Ramon Llull, San Juan de la Cruz and Santa Teresa de Jesús, they continued its travel with the idea of enjoying these last hours in the south hemisphere.

More information: Ramon Llull Routes

Tomorrow, The Poppins will pack their suitcases again and they will travel to San Francisco in The USA, where Susana Poppins has a mission to do.

He who loves not, lives not.

Ramon Llull

FROM LINCOLN TO GUEVARA: FREEDOM!

Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday, The Poppins continued with their English classes. They started doing some exercises about Social English and reviewing Used to. Later, they practised with the Relative Pronouns and paid attention to the importance of questions and short answers.

More information: Used to

The Grandma explained some stories about Cuba and Catalan economy during the XIX century, paying special attention to the figures of the Indians, Catalan-born people who travelled to Cuba to make business and returned to their hometowns where they tried to evocate the Caribbean country building the same kind of houses and planting the same sort of plants and vegetables. 

She also told about slavery in American countries and the abolition of it in The USA thanks to Abraham Lincoln.

After some days without reading Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, they continued working the plot of this interesting book and they created another plot about sharks, an animal well-known in Australia and one of the most dangerous enemies of swimmers and surfers like Esther Poppins’ new boyfriend.

Che

Talking about boyfriends, The Grandma, following the advice of her family, decided to say goodbye to her last lover, Dave Clipster. A misunderstanding about him created some tension between the members of the family and The Grandma had to take a decision: choose between The Poppins or Dave. It was easy. Obviously, The Poppins won.

Next, the family listened to some stories from its members about difficult and uncomfortable situations in the past and they analysed how to confront them.

Tomorrow, the family is going to listen to Lulú Poppins’ explanations about fashion and trend and they’re going to play poker.

Come on Poppins! The die is cast!

In matters of style, swim with the current; 
in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Thomas Jefferson

PLANNING A TRAVEL TO BRAZIL

Charlie Rivel

Today, The Poppins have had a day of hard work. 

At the beginning, they’ve started creating a plan for their next travel to Brazil. They’re taking the plane tonight. 

Next, they’ve distributed their daily pocket money: they’ve been thinking about things to need and buy. 

Later, they’ve created a budget. They have got new houses and they must refurbish and fill in them with some furniture and other objects.

More information: Tidy Forms

Finally, they’ve thought about which kind of present would be the best to bring to their mothers next Sunday.

The Grandma is preparing the travel, too. She has called some Brazilian friends to notify her arrival into this amazing country. She’s very interested in visiting Amazon Native Tribes. She loves Native Cultures and because of this she has explained to The Poppins, some stories about Navajo Indian Tribes, the nation which lives in the south of The USA.

More information: Navajo Nation Government 

Download The Blessing Way Cerimony

Finally, The Grandma has started to remember some old friends like Charlie Rivel, the magnificent clown who was born in Cubelles (Garraf) and is recognized and admired all over the world.

Next Monday, The Grandma is explaining more stories about Navajo Culture, their traditions, beliefs and knowledge.

Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they strike their mark. 
Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim.

 

Navajo Proverb