A guard will “chaperone” groups of six through the Scuderie del Quirinale’s blockbuster Raphael exhibition
In early March, a blockbuster exhibition marking 500 years since Raphael’s death shuttered just three days after opening. This June, visitors will return—with restrictions. (Photo by Marco Ravagli / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
By Theresa Machemer SMITHSONIANMAG.COM (thanks Ann M.) MAY 22, 2020
As Italy relaxes its stay-at-home-orders, museums are beginning to reopen with new safety measures that allow visitors to enjoy the country’s culture while reducing the risk of the novel coronavirus’ transmission.
A major Raphael exhibition shuttered just three days after its March opening has been rescheduled for June through August, reports Cristina Ruiz for the Art Newspaper. Ticket holders must reserve a time slot; upon arriving at Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale, visitors will be sorted into groups of six and escorted through the galleries by a guard acting not as a guide, but as a “chaperone … responsible for the safety of the group,” says museum director Matteo Lafranconi.
At Florence Cathedral, electronic devices worn on lanyards will notify visitors if they’re standing too close to their neighbors by vibrating and lighting up, reports Kate Brown for artnet News.
The cathedral explained the new technology in a video posted on YouTube this week. Crafted by Italian company Advance Microwave Engineering, the rectangular devices can sense when they are within roughly six feet of each other. If users are too close for comfort (and safety), their necklaces will begin to flash and vibrate much like a noisy cell phone or restaurant pager.
“[I]t won’t be a question of evaluating the distance a bit vaguely,” Timothy Verdon, director of the cathedral’s museum, tells Mandi Heshmati of France 24. “By wearing it, the visitor will feel the sensor with a vibration and a sound that will inform him that he’s too close to another person.”
Visitors will receive a lanyard upon entry and return it when departing the cathedral. All devices will be thoroughly disinfected prior to reuse.
Combined with plans to drastically reduce the number of visitors allowed into the space, the technology “guarantees the maximum of security and comfort,” says the cathedral in a statement quoted by artnet News. The house of worship—known for its innovative red-brick dome, designed by architect Filippo Brunelleschi in the early 15th-century—usually welcomes about 2,600 people each day, but due to COVID-19, the new daily limit is just 200.
“We are very worried,” a cathedral spokesperson tells artnet News. “For the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the private institution that owns the monuments of the Duomo of Florence, it is a dramatic situation because our earnings all come from the tickets sold, we have no state contributions.”
Cultural institutions around the world—including Shakespeare’s Globe in London, which recently warned British lawmakers that it may have to close permanently if it does not receive financial assistance—share similar funding concerns.
As museums begin to reopen, many are requiring visitors to book tickets in advance, wear masks, use hand sanitizer upon entering or undergo temperature checks, according to Fortune. In Munich, the Bavarian State Painting Collections’ museums are limiting the number of visitors to one person per roughly 215 square feet, reports CNN’s Karina Tsui. At the Giacometti Institute in Paris, meanwhile, just ten people are allowed in every ten minutes, and public bathrooms remain closed.
New safety measures at Turin’s Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art include predesignated walking paths, timeslotted tickets and temperature checks before guided tours. Director Carolyn Chrystov-Bakargiev tells artnet News that the museum—which reopened on May 19—lost just over $1 million during the shutdown. It has since invested about $65,000 in sanitation upgrades.
“Museums are carefully controlled spaces that have been designed to protect artworks from people,” says Chrystov-Bakargiev. “To adapt that to protecting people from people is a small step.”
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There is a tension between opening up the economy and allowing the virus to spread. 90% of all deaths from COVID-19 are occuring in those over age 60. What is the value of a life? Are these older lives truly being valued as some areas are opening up even where COVID-19 case rates are increasing.
We are about to pass the sad threshold of 100.000 deaths in the USA. This is not a number, these are people. The USA suffers 30% of all deaths in the world from COVID-19 even though we are only 5% of the world’s population. The entire front page of the NYT today is a memorial to those lost in the pandemic.
In a bizarre way, the government is saving more one trillion dollars a year in social security payments because of these deaths. 90,000 of the deceased are over age 60, most over age 80. The average social security payment is $1500 per month. You do the math. It’s somewhere around $130,000,000/month “savings” to the government, much more than $1T per year.
We hear very little sadness or apology from the White House. There is no plan for routine testing in nursing homes. Do old lives matter?
JUNE 3: Durkan, Guppy at Virtual Civic Cocktail! Don’t miss the last Civic Cocktail until September
Let’s talk COVID, cities, and what the future holds with Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Policy Center Vice President of Research Paul Guppy at Seattle CityClub’s last Virtual Civic Cocktail until September. Register here.
Thanks to Sand J. for letting us know about this hero who has inspired all of Britain.
Capt. Tom Moore, the British World War II veteran who raised more than $39 million to support health workers by walking 100 laps for charity in his garden, is being awarded a knighthood in recognition of how he has inspired people in the U.K. and around the world.
Moore launched the campaign in the weeks leading up to his 100th birthday in late April. Wearing a coat and tie and his military medals, he pushed his walker around the garden, hoping to draw donations.
The initial plan was to raise around $1,250 before Moore turned 100. But his fortitude and optimism in the face of the COVID-19 crisis prompted more than 1.5 million people to chip in, vaulting his efforts far above the original target. Now his selfless actions are being recognized at the highest levels.
Posted inAdvocacy, Music|Comments Off on Tom Moore, U.K.’s 100-Year-Old Hero, Is Awarded Knighthood For Fundraising Walks
From the NYT by Jonathan Safran Foer – Thanks to Diana C. for send this.
Is any panic more primitive than the one prompted by the thought of empty grocery store shelves? Is any relief more primitive than the one provided by comfort food?
Most everyone has been doing more cooking these days, more documenting of the cooking, and more thinking about food in general. The combination of meat shortages and President Trump’s decision to order slaughterhouses open despite the protestations of endangered workers has inspired many Americans to consider just how essential meat is.
Is it more essential than the lives of the working poor who labor to produce it? It seems so. An astonishing six out of 10 counties that the White House itself identified as coronavirus hot spots are home to the very slaughterhouses the president ordered open.
In Sioux Falls, S.D., the Smithfield pork plant, which produces some 5 percent of the country’s pork, is one of the largest hot spots in the nation. A Tyson plant in Perry, Iowa, had 730 cases of the coronavirus — nearly 60 percent of its employees. At another Tyson plant, in Waterloo, Iowa, there were 1,031 reported cases among about 2,800 workers.
Sick workers mean plant shutdowns, which has led to a backlog of animals. Some farmers are injecting pregnant sows to cause abortions. Others are forced to euthanize their animals, often by gassing or shooting them. It’s gotten bad enough that Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has asked the Trump administration to provide mental health resources to hog farmers.
Intrusive thoughts are a common and disturbing symptom of anxiety. Cognitive behavioural techniques can help
by Nick Wignall published in Aeon
Jasmine came to see me in therapy because she was worried that she was going to kill her newborn daughter. She explained that, only a day or two after arriving home from the hospital after giving birth, a disturbing thought had popped into her mind one evening while she was changing her daughter’s diaper: If I just put my hands around her throat and squeeze, she’d be dead almost instantly… Jasmine was distraught at the idea that she was going to do something terrible to her new daughter. ‘I don’t want to hurt her,’ she explained, ‘but I’m scared this means I secretly want to… I haven’t let myself be alone with her for the past 48 hours because I don’t want to take the chance.’
My client went on to describe how more and more thoughts like the one of her strangling her daughter had been popping into her head recently. And she was all but certain that she was either losing her mind or secretly some kind of violent psychopath.
Thankfully, after a handful more questions, I was able to tell Jasmine confidently that I didn’t think she was either losing her mind or a psychopath. I also told her that I didn’t think there was any risk she would actually harm her daughter. And in fact, I thought it would be fine if she went home right now and held her daughter all by herself. I explained that what she was experiencing were unwanted intrusive thoughts, and that they were a symptom of anxiety, not delusions or psychopathy.
Over the course of several months, I worked with Jasmine to change the way that she thought about and reacted to her unwanted intrusive thoughts. By learning to respond to them as disturbing but not dangerous, both the frequency and intensity of Jasmine’s intrusive thoughts diminished significantly. And most importantly, she was able to be with her daughter and enjoy their early days together without the constant dread that she might do something awful.
Two masked Skyliners are back from rescuing wonderful rhodies a nearby construction site this morning. They are now on the fourth floor terrace in buckets and are free for anyone who would like a splash of color in their home.
You can register below and get a link to join the Zoom meeting sponsored by the Washington State Health Advocacy Association. The meeting starts Monday at 11 AM. I’ll be talking about ventilators and ICU care among other aspects of care. Bonnie Bizzell from Honoring Choices will be discussing advance care planning and end of life choices.
A marketing psychology professor from Duke gives a very interesting presentation on why we react the way we do when told we shouldn’t be doing something–and how to reframe the issue. Thanks to Hollis W. for sending this in.
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on Why some people ignore COVID-19 restrictions
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