Mental health strategies for enduring the quarantine

PA Post staff turn to gardening, baking, hiking and running

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Kate Landis / PA Post

Kate Landis, PA Post's events manager, says bread making has been good for her mental health during the social distancing required by the coronavirus. (Kate Landis/PA Post)

Kate Landis / PA Post

Kate Landis, PA Post’s events manager, says bread making has been good for her mental health during the social distancing required by the coronavirus. (Kate Landis/PA Post)

I worked on a story recently that dealt with some of the mental health challenges that come with social distancing requirements.

The story got me thinking more about the issue and what would be some good choices for me. I decided to ask some of my colleagues at PA Post and WITF about some things they’ve done that they think have helped their mental health.

Rachel McDevitt, StateImpact Pennsylvania reporter: “I started a garden! Getting the plot ready and planting veggie babies made me feel useful and hopeful.”

Kate Landis, PA Post events manager: “I jumped on the bandwagon, I know, but I’ve been learning about the bread making process from start to finish! It’s been an incredibly rewarding (and fulfilling) interest and has been fascinating to read about different flours, baking methods as well as the history and culture behind bread making. I will say, however, that it requires patience which is not typically a strength of mine!”

Emily Previti, PA Post reporter: “Running outside, practicing yoga, zooming with friends and family, streaming comedies.”

Brett Sholtis, Transforming Health reporter: “Spending most of my time at home now, I’ve learned it’s important to make sure life isn’t just work all day and night. Little routines make my day feel more varied, and devoting certain parts of the house to specific activities helps with this. For example, in the morning, before I’ve read news or emails, the living room is my spot for coffee and some time to write or even just think without being distracted. The basement is my spot for working out, and some nights, my girlfriend and I head to the back balcony for a glass of wine. Once wine has been poured, you’re pretty much legally obliged to quit working for the day.”

As for me: My wife and young boys have had good success hiking at county and state parks on weekends. (One benefit of living in York County — as opposed to the Philly suburbs where I grew up — is even though those parks have been more crowded than usual lately, it’s not hard to keep appropriate social distance from people.) And I’ve been doing a lot more video hangouts with my mom, my wife’s parents and many friends. I’m seeing more of those friends, who live a few hours away, virtually than I probably would even if the coronavirus never happened.

What about you? If you have some thoughts and suggestions, drop us a line at the Listening Post. And here’s a useful piece from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Where to find free and low-cost therapy and support right now.

Best of the rest

Dan Zampogna / Office of Gov. Tom Wolf

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf provides an update on the coronavirus pandemic.  (Dan Zampogna/Office of Gov. Tom Wolf)

Did businesses really expect their waiver application information would be kept private?

That’s what Gov. Tom Wolf said in a letter in which he told the state Senate that he didn’t plan to release more information about why thousands of businesses received special permission to stay open after his March 19 shutdown order.

“My administration cannot waive the privacy interests that these business owners have in this information, “Wolf said in the letter.

If businesses didn’t envision that their waiver application information could be made public, uh, maybe they should have.

When businesses ask for special treatment from government agencies, that information is often available to the public — a notable example is when they apply for grants.

I asked Wolf administration officials why this situation should be treated differently. Casey Smith, a spokesperson for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said the waivers aren’t related to the use of state money.

“DCED didn’t advise businesses that the financial information they submitted in the application would be disclosed,” she wrote. “Further, many of the businesses that applied wouldn’t normally interact with the government in this manner or have an understanding that their information would be subject to disclosure like the Right to Know Law.”

I have a few thoughts about that explanation:

• While the companies that asked for a waiver weren’t asked for direct money from the state, they were seeking permission to keep their physical operations open — in essence,  to continue making money, while many other businesses couldn’t. And the decision about which businesses can and cannot remain open clearly has an indirect impact on state revenue. When business and workers earn less, less money goes to the state. Pennsylvania collected  $2.2 billion in general fund revenue in April, which is about half of what was expected.

• The state’s Right-to-Know Law says records of a state or local agency are presumed to be public unless covered by an exemption, such as the exemption for someone’s Social Security number or personal medical information. But agencies can and do redact that personal information without refusing to release the rest of a record. And the Right-to-Know Law doesn’t’ say anything about people needing to have an understanding that information could be subject to disclosure.  I asked some follow up questions for more about the department’s position but haven’t received details.

And speaking of the Right-to-Know Law …

DCED isn’t processing Right-to-Know requests, citing the governor’s disaster declaration. On Tuesday, Wolf suggested the state didn’t have the capacity to  respond to the requests, saying that some state workers have been laid off and others have been reassigned to other jobs. He didn’t provide any numbers  about how many, if any, Right-to-Know employees have been laid off or reassigned– and neither did his press secretary, Lyndsay Kensinger, when I followed up with her.

While too busy to handle RTK requests, DCED staff did have the resources to launch a campaign called “Pursue Your Hominess” on April 30. The goal is to encourage people to visit various places around the state virtually. I asked Smith how much staffing that campaign involved.

“There are two dedicated Tourism Office employees working on the campaign,” Smith said in an email  “I’d also like to note that these employees are working to help a struggling industry while continuing to carry out business as usual, to the extent that they can. Under no circumstance would those individuals be able to do the work of processing Right to Know requests, even if resources were reallocated for that purpose.”

Legislation that would require agencies under Wolf’s jurisdiction to process Right-to-Know requests during a disaster declaration unanimously passed out of the state House on Tuesday. Wolf opposes it, Spotlight PA reported.

Pushing back on Wolf’s shutdown order:

• Spotlight PA: Some Pa. counties push to exclude nursing home cases from reopening formula, but experts caution against it

• LNP: Pa. lawmaker: Wolf administration ‘hiding something’ by not releasing nursing home death numbers

• Franklin County Free Press: County legislators rebel against Wolf’s order

• PennLive: Cumberland County commissioners to consider moving to yellow phase without governor’s OK

• Reading Eagle: Berks County commissioners to develop ‘safe and responsible plan’ to reopen businesses; no mention of Gov. Wolf

• The Morning Call: Schuylkill County tells governor it’s going rogue, easing coronavirus restrictions without permission

• The Daily Item: Two Susquehanna Valley sheriffs pledge not to enforce businesses shutdowns

Coronavirus must-reads:

• Post-Gazette: Pennsylvania is ‘getting money out the door’ to fill unemployment claims, but thousands still struggle with the system

• The Inquirer: As a rural Pennsylvania town reopens for business, shoppers turn out for socks, toasters, toys, and some catching up

• WHYY: Who’s getting supplies of the COVID drug remdesivir? Pa. pharmacists, hospitals want to know

• The Associated Press: GOP in power grab to rein in Dem governors on virus response

• Andy Slavitt: Facing the Reality of Covid-19 is Less Scary Than Wishful Thinking

• The Washington Post: ‘How long can a heart last like this?’

• The New York Times: Mysterious Coronavirus Illness Claims 3 Children in New York

• NBC News: At least 85 kids across U.S. have developed rare, mysterious COVID-19-linked illness