In a holiday season different from any other this year, a Washington resident hopes people can take a few minutes of their time Christmas Eve to create something magical and memorable for area kids.
Washington Middle School vocal music teacher Cailee Wenger recently shared a post on her personal Facebook page that invites everyone to come outside at 6 p.m. this Thursday to ring a bell for two minutes to spread Christmas spirit and help Santa fly his sleigh. Wenger knows that 2020 has been a difficult year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and she wants to bring some hope and cheer to neighbors and her two-year-old daughter, “I think it’s just something that’s gone viral not just in my neighborhood but that a lot of people in Washington and Iowa and maybe even beyond are planning to do it, and so it should be a really fun thing if we all do it together.”
In order to keep Mrs. Claus and the workshop elves healthy, as well as Washington residents, Santa Claus has been visiting with area children through the Zoom video conference application this year.
Santa Claus worked with Main Street Washington to coordinate scheduling the Zoom meetings over the last few weeks, and he says it’s been relatively easy as many children are experienced with Zoom through school work, “That’s been kind of neat because they get to still see Santa Claus, but at the same time they get to do it in the comfort of their own home. It’s interesting talking to children who are sitting there talking to you in t-shirts and bare feet, which they can do when they’re running around in their own home. So there’s some real pluses and some real minuses about it, but I think overall the pluses are better and it’s a great way to see Santa.”
Senator Charles Grassley (R) says the transition had already begun for President Elect Joe Biden whose victory was affirmed by Monday’s Electoral College vote.
The Electoral College’s final tally resulted in 306 votes cast for Joe Biden and 232 for Donald Trump. Speaking to KCII Monday afternoon Senator Grassley said the presumed winner of the Electoral College vote would be Joe Biden, though he said that won’t stop anyone who wants to pose any legal or constitutional challenges to the election. He says that could be President Trump, but those individuals are protected by the constitution to do so, “It brings my attention more to all the things that were talked about being wrong in this election and I think there were plenty of things that were wrong. Whether there was enough wrong to overturn the election, I guess we’re finding out that it doesn’t look like there’s enough of that.”
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R) says he compliments the foresight of President Donald Trump initiating the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, as distribution of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine has begun across the country this week.
Sen. Grassley says it was the private-public partnership of Operation Warp Speed that helped facilitate the development and approval of a vaccine in a matter of months rather than years, “In New York today it’s reported that a nurse was the first one to get the vaccination in the United States. In Iowa, I’m told that the first to get it was somebody in Iowa City, probably a healthcare worker because they have top priority, they and the nursing homes. And [I’m] just glad that it looks like the whole thing is coming along pretty smoothly. I suppose some places in the United States there might be a hitch but everything I’ve heard so far is pretty positive.”
The importance of handwashing hasn’t been emphasized more than during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Handwashing Awareness Week seeks to illustrate the effect handwashing can have in preventing the spread of viruses as well.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, keeping hands clean can prevent one in three diarrheal illnesses and one in five respiratory infections, such as a cold or influenza. Washington County Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski encourages the public to wash their hands frequently, with many key times including before, during, and after preparing food, before and after eating food, after using the toilet, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing; after touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste; and after touching garbage.