Page 5 - Mid Valley Times 4-16-20 E-edition

The View From Here
It was sometime around March 19 that the “shelter in place” orders were estab- lished here in California.
Juanita Adame
Since
then, the roller coaster of emotions waving through our society have been palpable to say the least.
It began with fear. Pan- icked people rushing to Cost- co to stock up on toilet paper.
When the toilet paper craze began here in the United States it was almost unreal. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing. I then wondered if Wuhan, or any of the other countries affected by the coronavirus had experienced the toilet pa- per shortage as well.
Or was that just here?
To my surprise, I found an article dated Feb, 6, 2020 re- porting that Hong Kong was not only facing a face mask shortage but a toilet paper shortage as well.
The article, written in fortune.com stated that “toi- let rolls were unavailable in supermarkets in parts of the city as posts circulated on social media showing empty shelves and shoppers lining up to snag rolls.”
The Business Insider pub- lished an article on March 10 explaining the effects of the toilet paper shortage in Aus- tralia.
Included in the article was a photo of a woman sit- ting on about 30 boxes of toilet paper. She’s wearing a makeshift crown and holding a scepter topped with a roll of toilet paper.
I tried to think back to the month of February and early March. The last thing on my mind back then was a shelter in place order let alone a toi- let paper shortage.
For the sake of saving space, I'm going to cut the column in half and talk about the lesson I learned from all of this.
I learned that it's impor- tant to pay attention to what is happening in the world around us.
World news was never something I paid much atten- tion to, if it's on the other side of the world, there's no way it will affect me right?
Wrong.
This virus, the panic, the toilet paper craze was hap- pening months before in oth- er parts of the country.
The signs were all there. And it was just a matter of time before it came here.
After this is all over, I will be paying more attention to what's happening in other parts of the world.
ABOVE: Reen, 6, dressed up in her best Easter attire and stayed home with family.
Finding creative ways to celebrate
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
Residents in the area were left with few choices during the Easter holiday following the statewide shelter in place order that went into effect on March 19- as well as the re- cent closure of public parks across Fresno County- all due to coronavirus concerns.
“We quarantined at home, it was my baby’s first Easter and his first birthday,” said Kat Torres. “We live in Reed- ley and just let the baby enjoy his Easter by himself. It was a nice sunny Sunday.”
Parents were forced to come up with creative ways to celebrate the day while keeping their families safe
ABOVE: Grant, 2, held up an Eas- ter egg found in his backyard.
from the virus.
"We tried to make it as nor-
mal as possible," said Jennifer Jung-Rodriguez.
"We didn't have any family over so it was too quiet. An Easter egg hunt without my nieces and nephews here just isn't the same."
Included in the park clo- sures were also the closures of public basketball courts, public playgrounds, and pub- lic skate parks.
“We decided to have a mini photo shoot in the backyard
Photos Contributed
ABOVE: Natalie and Todd prepared to hunt for Easter eggs with family.
CENTER: From left, Matthew, 9, Michael, 6, and Melanie, 3, smiled as they posed for a photo next to their Easter basekts.
LEFT: Kenzie 6, and Karsen 3 excited for an Easter egg hunt.
Making the most of Easter during quarantine
for Easter,” said Tina Sholes. According to figures from the Fresno County Depart- ment of Public Health, as of April 13, there were 222 cases of COVID-19 in Fresno Coun-
ty.
Of that figure, Sanger ac-
counted for ten positive cas- es, Reedley for seven positive cases and Parlier for six posi- tive cases.
The shelter in place order also included the closure of lo- cal schools, including Sanger, Kings Canyon Unified, and
Dinuba Unified.
The Sanger Unified School
District announced on April 3 that the cancelation would be extended to include the rest of the school year.
The Dinuba Unified School District will have a meeting on April 30 to discuss a pos- sible extension of closures.
The Kings Canyon Unified School Board held a meeting on April 14, a decision from that meeting was not avail- able at press time.
Parlier Police Department has Easter parade for residents
Psychedelic cat quilt to be raffled on April 20
Photo Courtesy Parlier Police Dept. Facebook Page
The Easter bunny made his rounds through the streets of Parlier on April 12.
Mid Valley Times
The Parlier Police Depart- ment decided to bring some cheer to residents on Easter Sunday.
The department wrote in a statement on their Face- book page that unfortunately this year was different but the goal remained the same.
That goal included spreading happiness by way of an Easter parade.
"We were able to safe- ly drive the Easter Bunny through every street in our wonderful town," the depart- ment wrote in a statement.
"Thank you all for the sup- port."
Contributed
A colorful quilt will be raffled to help offset the impact of the Cat House on the Kings not holding an open house this year due to coronavirusconcerns. Raffleticketscost$1.Checkormoneyorder can be made payable to Cat House on the Kings. For more informa- tion visit cathouseonthekings.com