Tag: 2021

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Asians welcome the year of the Ox

Across eastern Asia on Feb 12, 2021, people will be celebrating Chinese New Year, ushering in the year of the Ox. For the growing Asian population of South Florida, this year’s celebration will be subdued compared to previous years.

Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year because it’s based on the lunar calendar and often called the Spring Festival. It’s the most important holiday in several Asian countries including China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Philippines.

Spring Festival is when extended families come together and celebrate the beginning of the new year. Gifts are often exchanged and parents often give red envelopes filled with money to children. Lavish dinners with many dishes symbolizing unity and good luck are served. New Year’s rituals span two weeks, so you will often find businesses in east Asia taking a long vacation during this period.

In the US, you will find many of the traditional celebrations, such as dragon and lion dances and the hanging of red lanterns in many China towns across the country. But this year, this is expected to be more subdued, and many families will be celebrating at home.

The Ox from the Chinese Horoscope symbolizes someone who is honest and hardworking. As we all recover from a difficult 2020, I hope the spirit of the Ox imbues us with the strength to take on the recovery, and leads to a prosperous 2021.

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2021-The year of the vaccine

We’ve closed the book on an unexpected 2020, where so much of our lives were dominated by the pandemic. COVID-19 will still be with us this year, but we hope our lives will slowly recover in 2021 as vaccines are made available for everyone.

Creating a new vaccine is time-consuming. Unlike the flu vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, there is no existing vaccine for coronaviruses to build upon. According to the CDC, COVID-19 vaccines must be developed and tested to ensure they work and are safe. Michal Linial, a professor of biological chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said “Classical vaccines were designed to take 10 years to develop.” So a new vaccine process is now being used for the early COVID-19 vaccines.

As of December 15th, three vaccines have been submitted for FDA approval. There are two mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines by Pfi zer and Moderna, and one DNA vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Both of these methods are relatively new, and until COVID-19, no DNA or mRNA vaccines had been approved in the US for human use.

The basic concept these vaccines use is to trick your body into producing proteins that appear to be similar to COVID-19 fragments, which will elicit an immune response from your body’s defense system. This response will protect you from infection from the live virus. This is a new process, compared to vaccines based on live or dead pathogen proteins. The new DNA and mRNA vaccines are non-infectious and can be produced faster and economically.

Both mRNA and DNA vaccines use your body to produce the proteins, using the instructions stored in either mRNA or DNA format. DNA instructions are processed inside your body’s cells to produce the proteins designed to emulate fragments from the virus; whereas mRNA is translated into the protein outside of the cell in your body’s intracellular fluid.

Since mRNA does not enter your cell, the chance of your genome being affected is averted. But mRNA is fragile, thus the cold storage requirements for these vaccines: -70 degrees Celsius for Pfi zer, and -20 degrees Celsius for Moderna. The advantage of the DNA vaccine like the Oxford-AstraZeneca version is to reach areas where cold storage is not common.

The minor and moderate side effects reported of these early vaccines are sore arm at the injection site, fever, fatigue, headache, joint pains, and muscle aches. These effects are due to your body ramping up for a virus infection, but because the vaccine is non-infectious, you will not get a case of COVID-19, just the symptoms from your body’s response.

According to Moderna, no one receiving the vaccine in their trials developed a severe case of COVID-19. The reported efficacy rate for these vaccines are in the 90-95% range, which is much higher than your typical flu vaccine.

While the creation and approval of these first sets of vaccines have been completed, the logistics of getting them delivered across the country has just begun. Operation Warp Speed (OWS), is a partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the Department of Defense (DoD).

OWS aims to accelerate the development, manufacture, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Their stated distribution objective “is for everyone to be able to easily get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as large quantities are available. Several thousand vaccination providers will be available, including doctors’ offices, retail pharmacies, hospitals, and federally qualified health centers.”

OWS has provided a playbook to state and local jurisdictions on the distribution of the vaccines. In Florida, the Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), an agency headed by Director Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland local, is responsible for the distribution of vaccines across the state. “We went out and bought dry ice machines,” said Director Moskowitz. “We got the ultra-cold freezers that we need. We feel that we’re in a good position.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has been planning since early summer on how best to distribute the vaccines, with initial distribution planned at five Florida hospitals (including Memorial Healthcare System in Broward), and eventually expanding to look like state testing sites. “It may even be the same sites we have now,” Moskowitz said. “Giving out the vaccine in a mass distribution — call it spring, late spring, early summer.”

So we say good riddance to 2020. There is much hope life will start returning to normal as more folks are vaccinated in 2021. As of Dec 15th, 2020, a new hope is slowly arriving in the form of vaccines, and state officials work through the prioritization process. The logistics of successfully implementing a smooth mass vaccination is immense, and we all need to follow the recommendations so we can get back to the OLD normal as quickly as possible.

Welcome to 2021, the year of the vaccine.

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CORAL SPRINGS COMMISSION

Happy New Year to all our residents and local businesses! As we put what was an unprecedented year behind us, it is important for us to focus on the future and what the promise of a new year can bring to the City of Coral Springs.

As we start the year, we encourage you to be optimistic, embrace diversity, and work together to ensure our city is the best community to live, work, and raise a family.

We look forward to kicking off strategic planning with city staff. This type of preparation assists us to clearly identify our new initiatives, and creates a path to meeting the needs of our residents and business owners.

The input we receive from our residents, the very people who elected us to hold office, plays a large role in our decision making. Participation in public meetings, sending us an email, connecting with the city on social media, and using the My Coral Springs App are all ways you can offer input and help guide our city’s direction.

As the demolition of One Financial Plaza continues, making way for the development of Cornerstone, we will start to see great improvement of our Downtown area. This revitalization in the heart of Coral Springs, will not only improve revenue, but will also create a true sense of place. In the coming year we look forward to seeing plans for Village Square, the creation of a nature trail at Kiwanis park, and the development of a Surf Park at Sportsplex.

With the distribution of promising vaccines, we are hopeful to see the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our city has held a long-standing partnership with the Florida Department of Health, to ensure our city receives vaccines for distribution once they are made available for mass distribution. It is important to stay informed about the potential for this availability by texting the keyword CORALSPRINGS (one word) to 888-777 or visiting our website www.coralsprings.org.

We continue to serve as a host city for two free, state-run, public COVID-19 test sites: Mullins Hall, 10150 NW 29th Street, Coral Springs and at the Panthers IceDen, 3299 Sportsplex Drive. For instructions, days, times of operation and closures, follow the city on social media or visit our website.

As we look to 2021 with optimism, we are hopeful that with a vaccine, we can plan for and welcome back exciting events and activities this year! Stay informed about important city updates and events by following us on social media via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Nextdoor. We wish you all a safe and healthy 2021!

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Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL, 22nd District)

Dear Friends!

As we begin the new year and the 117th Congress, I am excited to continue working on behalf of Florida’s 22nd congressional district.

Last year, we were presented with many new challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken so much from Floridians and continues to disrupt our lives. Our communities need urgent assistance to help get them back on their feet. In Congress, I will continue to support legislation that will facilitate recovery efforts throughout South Florida.

With the COVID-19 vaccine distribution beginning across the nation, many of us are hopeful that we can return to a sense of normalcy soon. However, until the vaccine is made accessible to everyone, it is important to continue to follow CDC guidelines to ensure your safety. For recent updates on the virus, please visit CDC.gov.

One in twenty seniors in the U.S. is a target of fraud schemes, costing them at least $36.5 billion per year. Yet, the National Adult Protective Services Association has found that only 1 in 44 seniors actually report that they are victims of a fraud scheme. Recently the House passed my bill, the Seniors Fraud Prevention Act, that would help protect seniors and their families from becoming the victims of fraudulent schemes designed to steal their assets. I was proud to work with Rep. Buchanan, Rep. Peter Welch, Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Collins to introduce this legislation that would create an office within the Federal Trade Commission charged with tracking scams, educating and alerting seniors to new scams, and establishing a more effective complaint system to ensure reports of fraud are quickly addressed by the appropriate law enforcement agency.

Please continue to practice social distancing and wear a mask when in public. Stay safe and have a happy new year!

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Gym and fitness during a pandemic

With gyms closed, or at a limited capacity, many people have begun
to work out at home or outdoors. Even though this lets you work out when you want with no set time frames, it is often harder to get a good workout without proper equipment.

We always recommit ourselves to achieve our ideal selves every new year, and fitness and health are often a priority. Without a gym or crazy fad diet, is it possible to stay on track?

“When it comes to exercise, keep it simple,” says Nick Miller, a certified
personal trainer. “Just stay active, especially if you are not too familiar with programming your own workouts. Choose activities that you know how to do and keep you out of pain.”

If you are looking for a wide range of home workouts that will work every part of your body, explore YouTube.

With a click of a button, you can find great alternatives and exercises that do not require equipment.

Want to do an upper body workout? No problem. Search terms such as “upper equipment” or “arm workout no equipment” and a plethora of work out options will be available.

With no end in sight for our new normal, the new year is an excellent time to recommit to our goals and shed some excuses, along with pounds.

According to Miller, “The shutdown gave a lot of people an excuse not to work out, but since the economy opened back up, we have actually seen steady growth in the number of clients looking to improve their lifestyle.

“Being that we’re not a gym, clients are very comfortable in our private facility working one on one with their trainer or therapist.”

It all starts with you. An individual needs to be in the right mindset. Practice mindfulness exercises to focus on the mind and reduce anxiety.

If you fear going to the gym alone or have health restrictions, grab household items, and get creative with at-home workouts. By using items like a chair or couch, you can move your muscles and body in more ways than none.

If a person is looking to make a change to their well-being, they have to want it. Working out is only part of the plan. What a person puts into their body every day weighs more. There needs to be a balance of eating well and keeping active.

“Nutrition can get pretty involved. And every other week, there’s a new fad diet out there that doesn’t work in the long run.

“Sure, you can lose a lot of weight in the short term, but as soon as you start eating normally again, the weight starts coming back,” Miller said.

In the end, it depends on the individual, on what they want to do, and what they are comfortable with. By setting realistic goals and creating a consistent routine, individuals will be on their way to a healthier and happier 2021.

“My advice for someone looking to lose some weight without a fad. Eat less more often and keep it clean. Stay away from processed foods and refined sugars,” Miller said.

 

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