For parents at home wondering how to keep their kids on track right now academically when they abruptly miss four weeks of school, I have a question:
What would you do if your child brought home a report card with a “D” grade? I realize we may no longer be living in the world of report cards with everything being online, but stay with me. What would you do? Certainly talk with your child. Certainly talk with the teacher. Find out what work is missing or didn’t get turned in. Does the child need extra help? Is there extra attention needed? Extra credit?
Needless to say it would be a problem I’m quite sure.
Yet what would you say if I told you that in the past few days we’ve all gotten a “D.” ALL of us.
I was reading an interesting article early this week reported on yahoo.com about a company called Uncast that collects and analyzes GPS phone location data. In other words, they track our movement based on our cellphone location. With most states implementing rules and regulations surrounding social gatherings, business closures, etc. coupled with the federal government’s social distancing and stay at home requests, Uncast decided to create a “Social Distancing Scoreboard,” ranking all 50 states with how well they are adhering to the rules.
My basic understanding is the company looked at data from states prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and compared it to data since being under “stay at home” precautions.
Again this is all based on our travel and movement via cellphone data. The results, while fluid I’m sure, are quite intriguing — dare I say scary — when looking at Iowa.
Compared to the rest of the nation, Iowa ranked 48th among 50 states on the social distancing activity scale. We received a “D” grade. The only states below Iowa were Arkansas (“D”) and Wyoming (“F).
When looking at Iowa specifically, according to Uncast, our average distance traveled is down just 16 percent post COVID-19. It’s even worse in our counties. We’re down just 4 percent in Muscatine County and actually UP 9 percent in Cedar County. As counties, we have “F” grades.
I’ll give us a little slack with regard to counties as perhaps we are traveling a little bit more to the grocery stores, which are not in our backyards and require a bit of a trip.
Nevertheless, it’s about time we start taking this thing seriously. The United States has far more cases than any other country in the world. We still have testing issues. There still is no government mandate. There are strong recommendations that we should be abiding by, yet it’s up to the states to set and enforce rules.
I’ll commend Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. She’s been out front with closings and social distancing. But if we’re not going to practice what she’s preaching, we’re in trouble.
The good news is that as a country, the U.S. received a “B” rating with distance traveled down 32 percent nationwide. That’s a good start. The top five states and territories, all receiving “A” ratings, were Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Nevada, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
I wrote weeks ago that this isn’t a 4-week spring break. Then I turn on the TV and see people living it up in Florida on spring break, only to fly back “home” all over the country. Florida is one of the states now hit the hardest and is yet to be under mandates like ours.
I said it would be coming to our hometowns and it’s here. We’re hearing of cases right now in our own hometowns, happening in and around businesses we know well.
As the numbers in this country skyrocket, I’ve been trying to reach out to medical professionals locally for the last week. Most of them aren’t returning my calls, but I will say that I have heard from some and am awaiting correspondence that I’m confident will come from others.
I want to tell their stories. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that the COVID-19 war is being fought in our hospitals. That’s the battleground. And the soldiers are our healthcare workers. Where are we with testing? How dire are PPE (personal protective equipment) needs around here? Who locally has the virus? We’ve heard names but will anyone go on the record? I’d be more than willing to tell your story.
We don’t want to hang anyone out to dry here. We’re in this together. We need to learn from each other.
And, getting back to this “D” grade, we must all live like we have COVID-19. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your mother, your father, your son, and your daughter. Do it for you grandparent who, if he or she gets infected and has to go to the hospital, won’t be able to have visitors regardless of the outcome.
