Diaries from the Digital Bunker – Day 51

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. It was like no other, without big fanfare, big brunches, or big family get-togethers. My sister and my mother had take-out for two in her backyard - 9 feet away. And here on the other side of the border, we enjoyed a blissfully simple and breezy afternoon on a boat speeding across Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille. A gorgeous, blue-sky day. A cute puppy in a life jacket.

The three-hour trek up and down the fifth largest lake in the U.S. with propeller white noise gave me some time to reflect more on nature, children, and pets among the things I'm grateful for on Mother's Day. Sadly, our own mothers only received a phone call and an Edible Arrangements fresh fruit delivery (at least, it wasn't in New Jersey).

So as we bounced relentlessly through 90 minutes of choppy water - a great life metaphor at the moment - here are 5 new things to think about or plan for the months ahead - as some counties and states start to slowly lift shelter-in-place restrictions with flattened (or not-so-flattened) curves.

1) Turn off the news. Turn up nature.

I am beyond grateful to have set up a “bunker” in a remote yet bucolic region of Idaho. We had invested in our retirement destination, oh, about 20 years early. It was love at first sight at Lake Pend Oreille. Snowsports in the winter, hiking and biking in the summer, and campfire gazing in the spring.

Little did we know that Idaho would become our COVID-19 bunker for real. It seems ironically appropriate to live among of some of the fiercest, most independent, dare I say “apocalyptic” cultures that makeup north Idaho. Sandpoint is nearby and pretty artsy, eclectic, and bookish by comparison.

Field trips are in our backyard, or just up across to the Washington or Montana state lines. Go beyond that, and throw yourself into 14-day quarantines.

We cut off cable and network news in mid-March upon bunker arrival. We turn the local radio for Idaho state news only, Oregon school updates, and the odd Internet news feed to stay current on latest regional cases, death tolls (pretty low), safety precautions, and rules. Twenty minutes every 48 hours is about my limit.

Immediately, I turn my attention to the lake, mountains, and dog-walking trails; that is, between marketing consulting hours in The Brand Bunker. With better weather, it’s great for your mental and physical health to walk or drive to nearest hiking trail. If that doesn’t work, The Blue Planet series, narrated by David Attenborough, on the BBC is the next best thing.

2) Pandemics and pets.

Our four-month-old puppy has been a true blessing. And believe me, the family had to twist my arm. As a forever cat lover, he is my first dog. It was just serendipitous that we adopted him in early February in time for a pandemic - huh.

He not only takes us for walks 10 times a day on a rotating schedule, but he has also provided hours of training, clean-up, and entertainment! If life were pre-COVID-19 “normal,” I would never get this much hand-to-paw time with Odin (Odie, for short), or have traversed this many north Idaho trails.

I’m not alone. Pet adoption and foster care are at an all-time high. During isolation, people not only want animal companions, but they now have the quality time it takes to bond.

The kids are also getting a front-row seat to local wildlife. Every day, we see deer, wild turkey, quail, hawks, and the odd elk. Those sightings lead to pretty great biology and overall science talks.

The latest questions are the difference between air and water-breathing animals – and how many oxygen molecules are in substance. Then there’s fire and gas – specifically, the scientific explanation for why throwing plastic plates and glass bottles into fires is a really poor idea. I'm not sure if toxic fumes and explosions seem to encourage or extinguish the behavior. But we are just sticking to marshmallows.

3) Dial-up your science mindset. Too many leaders and Facebookers lack it.

In my last blog, I talked about schooling from home – and new models of the future. Overall, distance online education has been going okay. We find reading, writing and math are pretty productive one-on-one, and with the teachers' video instruction. If we get our act together by 9 am, the kids can focus for two or three hours overall. Then, the afternoon is one big “get out of jail” free card for boat rides, field trips, or Heather's version of "science" on Netflix (more on that later).

One area of homeschooling that I’ve found to be really weak is science. I’m the first to say, real science is difficult at a kitchen table. It’s easier to absorb outside, or in a garage, or in a lab with snails, sheep eyeballs, worms, fungi, Petri dishes, water stations, dyes, paints, aprons, and all kinds of materials that we don’t have (or want) in our house.

Science is likely the topic most ripe for classroom collaboration, versus say math or reading which most individuals can practice solo.

Yes, science is a team sport. It’s best absorbed outside – star gazing, mountaineering, or at least cooking over a BBQ with small light chemistry talk.

You’ve heard my pangolin and bat stories. They've gotten pretty old, so in the evening, we moved on to all things epic disaster: The Titanic, The Martian, The Hunt for Red October, Deep Impact, and The Planet of the Apes - the movies, the documentaries, and technologies that enable space, ocean and time travel.

The Kindergartner thinks highly-evolved apes are boring – which devastated me. Apologies to both Charlton Heston (RIP) and Mark Wahlberg.

Without repeating the daily Federal Follies, right now children are so vulnerable to further STEM illiteracy. When you witness government and business leaders, pseudo-scientists, or Facebook friends making non-factual comments day after day, you just have to turn it off. As a parent, you are one-part filter and one-part science education guide.

While we can sift out fact from fiction, science from religious beliefs, or insights from a Ph. D epidemiologist from the rants of someone who barely passed high school chemistry – just remember: your children cannot.

My husband went into town to pick up a boat part, and ran right into a pro “open the economy” protest last week. Our county sheriff in Idaho had publicly balked at stay-home orders, even calling the World Health Association a joke. That kind of "leadership" manifested into a full-on public protest on the big Lake Pend Oreille bridge – complete with unmasked children, elderly people in wheelchairs, and camo. It was embarrassing, and not something the kids had to see.

Needless to say, TV news remains off.

If MY neck hair is bristling, I can only imagine the nurses, doctors, biochemists, epidemiologists, dentists, marine biologists, zoologists, automotive engineers, and any other and bearers of STEM degrees. Or, how about the 9,200 U.S. healthcare workers who have been infected with COVID-19, and are suffering from burnout, depression, and even cases of suicide?

Too many policies and decisions are made without facts – and little regard for the level of risk and uncertainty of a novel virus. Lots of people like to say we take risks all the time – from driving a car, flying a plane, citing a nuclear power facility, electing for surgery, and braving the world during flu season.

That’s all true. The difference is: we understand the benefit-to-cost ratio and likelihood of those risks. So, we can manage, mitigate, and communicate those risks with a higher level of certainty. And it's not a free-for-all. We enforce rules of the road, security check-ins, permits and licenses, vaccination requirements for school, informed consent, and advanced directives.

Do we really think a stay-at-home order is unreasonable? Frankly, it's the least binding measure I can think of - and a pact built on trust and compassion for our fellow human. Every other risk in our country is either regulated, licensed, or has strong recommendations – such as warning labels on tobacco or alcohol products.

Humans chose to live as a community – a herd, in mammal terms. So even if you don’t think you’re at risk, consider the child, the infirm, the elderly, or the already vulnerable essential worker. And let's search for actual scientists, not politicians.

Some leaders have been articulate, calming, and outstanding - especially those like Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia. She was just nominated for the Order of Canada, the second-highest merit in Canada. We've used to have leaders like that in the U.S. Today, they are state governors, local health authorities, and school districts. Or, they are dead presidents.

Many past presidents were actually scientists moving our society forward – not reversing it to medieval times.

Thomas Jefferson was an actual scientist. Go to Monticello, France, and see what he did. He made his own scientific equipment and performed his own experiments.

George Washington was an actual scientist. Go to Mt. Vernon and see what he did. He was a devoted and ingenious agriculturalist who researched and developed many useful techniques for his own use.

Woodrow Wilson was a scholar with a Ph. D., an educator, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, but not a scientist. 

I'm also reminded that most of our past presidents were experienced governors. They had the good sense to let scientists and the medical community do the talking - not play doctor at press briefings.

Being a scientist is not a job title. It is a lifestyle, a way of thinking and a very special kind of activity.

4) Children falling ill COVID-19

Although many of us anticipated fast virus mutations, and an eventual impact on children, new reports came out last week from New York including three deaths of children in that state. There are more early reports from the U.K. France, Spain, and Germany.

Today, The New York Times offered more detail on the ~50 so cases of children severely sickened by COVID-19

In Quebec, Canada, several children have been diagnosed with the virus, too. Last week, a children’s facility in Mascouche north of Montreal marked the first daycare outbreak. The daycare had been offering emergency childcare for essential workers but closed last week after 16 positive COVID-19 cases. 12 were children; four were employees. That is close to half of the 27 children enrolled as of April 30.

So even as small-town Idaho starts to reopen, we've decided to keep the kids close to home. There are way too many unknowns and less solid risk assessments.

5) Fewer daycare options than before, so plan wisely.

Speaking of COVID-19 cases rising in daycares, my next painful point is the future of early childhood education itself. My goal here is just to get the situation on your radar.

It’s been reported that ~50% of daycare centers are not likely to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. This, at a time when 33 million unemployed U.S. workers will struggle to go back to work – that’s a population larger than all of California, Canada or Scandinavia. To put it more bluntly, 20 percent of the entire U.S. labor force has filed for unemployment insurance since March 14.

I was in the first wave – being laid off on March 20 as part of early carnage on the travel, vacation, and hospitality industries. Now job losses have deepened with almost 9x the early impact, with every industry hit.

As some local economies starting to lift restrictions, business capacity will only return to, say, 50% of pre-crisis levels. That's still millions of people returning to work – or starting over in a new job, a new company, or a new industry. And that means new childcare arrangements – with a huge demand for childcare from May-September with schools closed and many summer camps canceled.

Now, many pre-COVID-19 daycare options will be closed to parents too.

4.5 million lost daycare slots is what The National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Center for American Progress is predicting.

I remember going back to work after my third child. It was horrible. While the same company, I had a new role, a new manager, and very little flexibility. From 2016-2018, we called upon a daycare center for the first time in 8 years. The algorithm around logistics and economics of three childcare locations just didn’t jive with a lack of work flexibility and a booming economy where nanny talent was increasingly competitive and expensive. And yet, so many childcare employees had fewer qualifications than during the post-2008 housing crisis. So you were paying more, for much less education and experience.

Right now, I am worried about all pre-K children, and how their immediate future unfolds. Why are childcare programs not important enough to get adequate federal funding, but too important to close?

Sure, many of you will have a family member, a stay-at-home parent, or supreme work-from-home flexibility - but that is not everybody across every vocation.

I am not judging anyone’s choices – just pointing out that childcare choices will change dramatically.

The early years (12 months old to 4.5 years old) are when the U.S. and Canada provide the least amount of societal, educational, and employer support. Paid parental leave is all fine-and-good for babies if you can get it. But all the data show that early pre-K childhood education is most critical to long-term learning agility and social development.

My only tip for parents of babies, toddlers, and pre-K wonders is this: Start your childcare risk scenario planning now – and change your expectations.

If you want to make a big systemic difference, consider getting involved with your community and state advocacy groups, such as Family Forward. That’s what put paid family leave on the Oregon law books last year.

And mentally, prepare for more difficult separation anxiety as the economy slowly restarts again in the coming months. Maybe we think of new parent-to-child connection ideas even in September, such as more regular drop-by visits or at least a Zoom parent connection break hosted by childcare or schools. After being together for six months, back-to-school in September will be extra hard.

My fervid ask of employers is to rethink on-site or co-located childcare options now to attract and retain your talent. Turn daycare into early childhood education with stimulating curricula. Lots of STEM, please.

Employers would be wise to really step up support for working families with young children, in order to maintain productivity and attract talent. Think about all-day camps on-site, or help stand up a nearby childcare facility. If you are remote, think about how to go in together on a professional who isn't just watching but teaching your little ones.

I’m also going out on a limb – and asking us as a society - to be super aware of the children and teens around you. Even if you have raised your kids, never want kids, or believe daytime supervision is someone else’s responsibility – we are in unprecedented times.

It’s time we all think super creatively of how to ensure the next generation can thrive – not just survive – COVID-19 during summer break, and again in the fall.

Happy Mother's Day week to all the amazing grandmothers, stepmothers, godmothers, pet moms, aunts, big sisters, and baby cuddlers.

#staywell #staysane #diariesfromthedigitalbunker #TheBrand Bunker