Dear Readers,
Thank you for your commitment and service to West Virginia children.
In the interest of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, please postpone reading in schools until further notice. Please let your teacher know.
Even if you are not in a particularly high-risk group for complications from COVID-19, it is important for all of us to take every step possible to slow the spread of the infection.
Here is an excellent explanation of how cancelling gatherings before a case is confirmed will save lives:
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation
In addition, for the health of you, your families and your communities, here is another good story explaining how soap and water (which is plentiful) destroy this virus better than anything else (although hand sanitizer is good if soap and water are unavailable).
We are in the process of cancelling orientations and other events through the end of March. We will assess April events as they draw nearer.
We will post updates on our website and on Facebook and Twitter as warranted. Those sources will also be good ways to keep in touch and to share more frequent updates as we confront this challenge together.
Read Aloud is still working, still active, still getting the message out to families about the importance of reading for fun, still working on book distribution projects. We hope you will safely continue to model good reading habits for the children in your lives.
If anyone arranges a new way to share their love of books with children without risking the spread of this virus, please let us know. Putnam County Library on Thursday announced it would move as many programs as possible to Facebook Live, for example. https://twitter.com/putnamlibrarywv
This glossary of terms is very helpful: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-terms-to-know.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
If the recommended social distancing threatens to turn into social isolation and is getting you down, here is some commiseration from the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/with-the-coronavirus-hell-is-no-other-people
If you are on social media, look us up. Let’s keep our distance, but not be isolated.
If not, give us a call or email. We can chat. Maybe we will come up with a new good idea.
Thank you again, and be safe,
Dawn Miller
Executive Director