Adam W. Purinton

Adam W. Purinton, was sentenced for life in prison for the shooting and killing of an innocent man, he had also shot at 2 other men who ended up surviving the shooting. Adam and the 3 men were at a sports bar when Adam began to yell at the men to go back to their country. Adam opened fire inside of the sports bar where there were other people inside as well.  Adam was later captured in another town where he had told the bartender that he had shot at 2 middle eastern men. 

Once on trial Adam choose to plead guilty and his prosecution was moving on as a hate crime. 

Jeremy Christian

Back in May of 2017, Jeremy Christian Portland stabbed and killed 2 men and left a 3rd man injured. These 3 men were standing up for 2 African American girls who Jeremy had begun to lash out on. One of the 2 girls was wearing a hijab at the time of the incident. Jeremy went onto tell the girls to go back to Saudi Arabia and to get out of his country.

Jeremy is known to be a white supremacist with very extremist views and a criminal record as well. Prior to the stabbing, a news anchor saw him at a protest, which as a citizen he has every right to protest but it took the news anchor by such surprise because she had just reported on the protest but she didn't think she would ever hear of him again. 

Jeremy was found guilty on 2 murder charges. Even locked up Christian is still causing trouble, calling people slurs and threatening them.

Sick People Avoid Emergency Care

With many simply following the instruction of quarantining and staying home, they have continued to follow these instructions even when potentially infected. According to doctors, many no longer recognize the hospital as a place to be treated, but more so as a place where there is high risk of infection. With coronavirus being deadly, those who remain at home while feeling symptoms that may conclude they are infected or undergoing something, only put themselves at higher risk and a possible occurrence of death if they have received the coronavirus.

A doctor in the United States stated "Our hospital has had one COVID-related death ... But I would estimate we have had at least 15 deaths not related to COVID that could have otherwise been preventable due to people staying home, medically isolating". Although we may believe we are protecting ourselves by isolating even when sick, we are actually harming ourselves by not receiving the proper treatment and care to heal and not make our conditions even worse than they already are. We must provide the doctors with an opportunity to help us before it is too late. We must become aware that the possible exposure to coronavirus is a much better option than possible result of death or serious effects due to a lack in care.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/terrified-fearing-coronavirus-people-potentially-fatal-conditions-avoid/story?id=70306931&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed

Las Vegas Mayor Wants To Open Casinos

The Las Vegas Mayor recently stated, "I'd love everything to open because we've had viruses for years that have been here". Although she may not recognize how dangerous such an action is during this pandemic, her views of reopening the Las Vegas Casinos have been prevented from occurring due to the governor of Nevada being in disagreement. The executives of the casinos and the gaming industry workers also opposed her views, disagreeing with her call to return business activity back to the way it used to be.



Goodman, the mayor, in reaction to an image depicting the ability of such rapid spread of the coronavirus also stated, "This isn't China. This is Las Vegas, Nevada". Although Goodman may not have the power to perform such actions as reopening the casinos, her statements represent the lack of understanding of many citizens in the United States and their mindset of prioritizing economic gain over decreasing risks of health. Such actions will result in even greater danger and an increase in the spread of this deadly virus as we slow the recovery rates and speed up the infection rates. Although people may believe they can benefit economically by following the current needs of business, in the long run they will be harming themselves even more.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/investing/las-vegas-casinos-reopening-coronavirus/index.html

Nurses during the pandemic

Although many see nurses as heroes during this moment of time, that they are brave for putting their lives at danger. Many others have opposite feelings towards nurses. Nurses and other health care workers have suffered from harassment, people calling them a virus. Authorities have been asked to protect the nurses and other health workers. Some nurses have responded and in one case an ICU nurse in Arizona silently protested during a rally. She was determined to be a voice for her patients through silence. She stood in the middle of a protest with 5 other nurses and took the backlash. She stated that they didn’t talk at all unless someone said something to them. She stated that there was many comments about them being fake nurses and that many still believe that the virus is fake.

Shot by his Father for Leaving the House

According to CNN, a teen in Atlanta has allegedly been killed by his father over refusing to stay home to shelter in place. Sixteen-year-old De'onte Roberts had left his house after his parents requested that they all follow the stay at home orders given by the state. When he returned, he kicked the door and got into an altercation with his father. Around 8pm, the local police found De'onte "gravely wounded" after being shot in the chest by his father.

I think it is important for people to reduce their social interactions during this time, but shooting the kid for leaving the house definitely didn't help the situation. Especially given the fact that he was 16, he probably wouldn't have died from the virus, but now he is dead because of his father. It is not confirmed whether or not one of his parents was high risk, or if they were living with someone else who was, but death is certainly not the right punishment for neglecting stay at home orders. Especially if the main goal of shelter in place is to stay alive and healthy.

Source
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/us/atlanta-death-stay-at-home-trnd/index.html

1981 Murder in Sacramento Solved

In 1981, Mary London a 17 year old girl, described as mentally disabled, was stabbed to death and her body was dumped on a rural stretch of road. Police only had one suspect at the time, Vernon Parker, but he was murdered in 1982 and the case went cold. The advances in DNA technology today allowed the Sacramento PD and forensic investigators to link DNA evidence to Parker and solve the case, giving London's family closure after almost 40 years.

https://news.yahoo.com/dna-links-suspect-1981-cold-172818356.html

The Last Dance

     The Last Dance, a 10-part mini-series about the end of the 1990's Michael Jordan Bulls Dynasty, is the closest people have to watching sports given that the NBA, NFL, EPL, and Olympics have all been canceled. While nothing new in terms of watching the actual game footage can really air, there's plenty of unseen footage of the historic team and the extremely historic player, Michael Jordan. It also gives people the new lens through which to view the season, that of the Chicago Bulls themselves, in a way changing the way the game is seen and therefore offering a new type of entertainment. The release of this series was pushed forward to meet this very need the coronavirus has created: people's need for something new in sports. I think this is a brilliant solution and will help keep people from getting too bored without their favorite programs.


https://www.cnet.com/news/the-last-dance-and-michael-jordan-are-perfect-distractions-in-a-world-desperate-for-sport/

Hypertension and Covid-19

Researchers decided to look at the 5,700 patient records of those infected with Covid-19 between March 1 and April 4 to see if there were any common demographics among them. They found that over half of the patients with severe cases had hypertension, which is high blood pressure. Additionally, less than half were obese and a third had diabetes. Hypertension, obesity and diabetes are all known risk factors for covid-19, but they also found that asthma doesn't seem to have as much of a role in outcomes as it seemed to. Since hypertension exacerbated the virus in the majority of patients, professionals are now recommending that people with this condition talk to their doctor as soon as they become symptomatic or exposed to the virus.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/22/coronavirus-ventilators-survival/

Journalists' Visas Revoked

         A little over a month ago, the Trump administration limited and started revoking the Visas of Chinese news reporters. Then, China retaliated by expelling at least 13 US Journalists from major publications such as The Washington Post, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Not only are actions like these escalating tensions between the two superpowers in a time when cooperation is key, but also, when the administration presents a policy that seems to blame people from a certain place, people are bound to pick up on it and maybe take undesirable actions. What do you guys think? Do you think that the ban is going to help lessen the spread of the virus? Do you think it could lead to hate crimes?


https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/18/us-media-accuse-china-of-cold-war-mentality-after-move-to-expel-journalists

How long will social distancing last?

It’s been over a month since Santa Clara County announced its shelter-in-place. While it’s supposed to end May 3rd, that may not be the case. Until a vaccine is developed (around 12-18 months), measures have to be taken in order to make sure the virus doesn’t create a surge of cases. One reason social distancing is extremely important is due to Santa Clara not having enough hospital beds to care for everyone (about 4,500). It also allows health care providers to increase their resources and delays the peak of cases. If it’s lifted too quickly, a resurgence will happen. Social distancing may transition to what is called the “lightswitch” method where there are periods of heavy social distancing and periods without. This way, hospitals wouldn’t be overwhelmed with a large number of cases until a vaccine is ready. The website these predictions are from also has an interactive model in which you're able to see what could potentially result from doing social distancing and the light switch method.

If you look at the graphs, you’ll notice that these graphs call for social distancing/the lightswitch method to last until July 2021 for it to be effective and minimize damage as much as possible. Of course, there is no absolute predictor for how long this will last, I doubt it will end on May 3rd. San Jose State University, as well as California State Fullerton, just announced it’s classes for fall 2020 will be online. While the future remains unknown, I hope that we all get the first semester of college we deserve, considering our last semester of high school has abruptly ended. 

Sources:

https://covid-measures.github.io/

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/21/839623300/cal-state-fullerton-announces-plans-for-a-virtual-fall-will-other-colleges-follo

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/22/sjsu-cal-state-east-bay-considering-hybrid-of-online-and-in-person-classes-for-fall/

Quarantine in Peru

The president of Peru, Martin Vizcarra, had declared a 15-day shelter in place essential and stated that if anyone was seen outside they would be arrested. Later on, he declared that the quarantine would be extended but that it would be acceptable to go to get essential needs.  The only condition was that men and women would go out on designated days. Men would only be allowed to go out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Women would only be allowed to go out on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This was the rule for the next 26 days.

Coronavirus is causing a spike in Hate Crimes

   During the Coronavirus, we are faced with new challenges every day. Another problem that has sparked because of the Coronavirus is hate crimes. In the United States, part of the problem is that a portion of Americans believe that Coronavirus is race-related and is spread because of Asians. This misinformation that is spread around the internet is not only racist, but it is causing harassment and in severe cases assault and battery. To combat this the FBI is trying to alert local authorities around the country to be more vigilant in impacted minority communities. The real root of the issue is the wide variety of information available on the internet. People can easily share radical and incorrect information. This creates a wide spectrum of beliefs and fears. Americans need to question the credibility of their information. 

Campbell, Josh. “FBI Concerned about Potential for Hate Crimes during Coronavirus Pandemic.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Apr. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/politics/fbi-hate-crimes-coronavirus/index.html.

Serology tests

This Wednesday, April 22, the governor of California declared that the “state-ordered 1.5 million coronavirus serology tests or antibody tests “ and are to be used in 130 Californian facilities. The will be used to detect the antibodies of those who were previously infected with the virus. This test will help scientists learned more about how long the antibodies stay inside the body and if they provide any immunity at all. This information can also be very useful in developing a possible cure or treatment for COVID-19, etc.


https://patch.com/california/temecula/1-5-million-abbott-serology-tests-ordered-ca-coronavirus

A town in California is testing every resident for Coronavirus

The small town of Bolinas in Northern California is attempting to test every resident for Coronavirus and its antibodies. Bolinas has a population of 2,000. The total cost of testing the entire population would be 400,000 dollars. But many wealthy Entrepreneurs liked their initiative and wanted to support their project. They managed to raise 300,000 dollars through GoFundMe. UCSF put on the study for the town of Bolinas. UCSF's mission is to get as much data as possible so that they can accurately predict the virus. With limited data sets, it is almost impossible to predict the impact of Coronavirus and how long we need to stay in a shelter in place. If other towns around the United States try to get testing for their residents we could potentially test the majority of the United States. This could allow us to make an accurate prediction and we could decide how to move forward and stop the spread of Coronavirus.

Martin, Augie. “This California Town Is Testing Every Resident for Coronavirus and Antibodies.” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Apr. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/california-town-testing-every-resident/index.html.

stress?

The transition to online school went a lot smoother without any difficulty. Many think that online school causes less stress and that the week long assignments are better than all the mini lessons that different from day to day. Many think that they're easier because its an assignment that is based on one to two things at a time that delve deeper into a a better understanding of the concepts. 

Do you think online school causes less stress?

Can nicotine prevent Coronavirus?

According to researchers in France, nicotine may protect people from contracting coronavirus. Researchers at a hospital in Paris examined 343 COVID19 patients in critical condition along with 139 infected with milder symptoms. “Among these patients, only five percent were smokers”, said Zahir Amoura, the study’s co-author and a professor of internal medicine. This is impressive considering 35 percent of people in France smoke. These results are similar to a study from the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested 12.6 percent of 1000 COVID19 cases were smokers. Although this may seem like a large number, the number of smokers in China is 26 percent, making this number significantly lower.

The theory is that nicotine is adhering to cell receptors and blocking the virus from entering/spreading through the body. This is a very new theory and has not been confirmed by health professionals, but if health authorities give approval, France will carry our more clinical trials.

This shows how doctors and researchers are trying their hardest to help those suffering from coronavirus but are lacking many other leads because they are using a harmful substance that has been proven to be unsafe. It would be very interesting if nicotine really did prevent coronavirus and smokers were actually helping themselves from contracting the virus unintentionally.
Sources:
https://www.france24.com/en/20200423-france-testing-whether-nicotine-could-prevent-coronavirus-1

Hospitals

Due to the hospitals being filled with Corona Virus patients special precautions have had to be put in place to ensure the staffs safety. Although Covid-19 is the most present illness at the time, that does not mean the treatment of other problems stops. In one case a man went into a hospital to get his appendix removed. When the doctors later found out he tested positive for Covid-19, everyone associated with him was sent home for two weeks. This only cripples the medical force and proves why Covid-19 can be so dangerous. It is hard to see a way that staff can interact with regular patients knowing that they could have the virus.

School Funding

Due to schools not being in session it is clearly going to be hard to continuing bringing in the same funds that K-12 schools were getting prior to the Corona Virus. School districts all over the world are going to have to find ways to adjust as not every school is as fortunate as Los Altos High School. Not only is the funding going t be hard to get, but also the aid needed for students. Los Altos has the luxury being able to give any student almost anything they need. But in most schools around the world, students rely on the funds of the schools for meals, supplies, and sometimes transportation. Without this funding it is going to be interesting to see how schools and students respond.

how is the economy in Mexico?

the economy is very bad here in Mexico. the prices on everything are going up by a lot and a lot of companies are closing because they don't have the ingredients that they need to produce there product. my mom is a cattle rancher every month she buys cows and feeds them for a month and sells them, the price on cows was 43 a kg now its at 30 a kg which she says that she doesn't even get enough money to buy the food for the cows. But since I got here I have been getting the food for the cows from a friend that sells it a cheaper price but he told me that there going to stop selling because the ingredients that they need to make the food with are running out. a lot of people are stealing for a living because they don't have money. there have been cases of people stoping cars and buses and stealing from them.

Bankruptcy

With everyone staying in doors and doing everything they can to be clean, retail stores and other stores that rely on high foot traffic to bring in money. Retailers are used to foot traffic slowing down due to the current times of online shopping but never like this before. But this time it isn't just affecting some small retail stores, but all retail. Other companies that was affected was the XFL, a football league that had to the fans, more desirable rules but never had as big of a fanbase as the NFL. The XFL was having a promising year and people believed that the league would be somewhat successful. But due to Covid-19 the league went bankrupt and will not have a hard time making a comeback.

how is Mexico handling the corona virus?

I'm from a place called Nayarit, I traveled over here on April 8 and all the airports closed on the 10th of April. there is a checkpoint at the entrance of every city, some cities are not letting anybody enter or leave. once you get to where you're going to stay you have to stay there for 14 days and can't leave. if you leave the police would come and take you so you could do the 14 days in their jail. they are doing this to anybody in from different countries. They are making everybody wear a face mask and if your not you might get pulled over. they just came up with a new rule that you can't even be driving around only on certain days depending on your license plates. they are being very strict over here.

opening up

Throughout this quarantine many states have closed down, or have had a shelter in place act put on their respected state. As time goes on however more and more state senators believe that they can start to open up soon. In fact Florida has already started to open places back up, most impactful might be their beaches which they announced they are re-opening for public use. Other states are now following this trend, Georgia, Nevada, Texas, Montana, North Carolina, are just a few of the many states that are supposedly going to start opening up again at the end of the month. This is not a guaranty however since we have seen many states keep pushing back their opening dates. Also some people agree with the states opening, and some people disagree with it saying that we need more time for this pandemic to slow down and become more under control before we let people roam around again. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions so wether or not you agree with it is up to you, but it seems people believe that we are able to start re-opening sooner rather than later.

Second wave of Coronavirus?

Although states are moving forward with plans to reopen their economies and a rush to get back to normality. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pressing concerns about a second wave. They stated that there was a possibility that in winter the virus will actually have a greater impact on the nation and will be even more difficult than this wave. The reason for this is because it is predicted that we are going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time. So the result will be that it will put a strain on the health care system.

Coronavirus

My opinion about the virus is both good and bad. One thing that's bad about this just we have to stay home and can't go out due to the virus which is perfectly fine because it will benefit a lot of people by following the safety rules but it just sucks that we are told to stay home and all that. Another thing why it's bad because of us seniors, everything was taken away because of some small virus that came from china. Theres a lot of negative going on about this virus but the only good thing going on is that staying in the comfort of our own home will help others as well.

Will Virus Spearhead Climate Change?

     During the time we have been in quarantine, the levels of smog around big cities has decreased massively. This I believe will  very well bring Climate Change to the top of the list of debate questions for the upcoming Presidential Election. It's no question that as soon as this is all over, politicians will start talking about climate change with more seriousness. That being said, throughout this virus, we have helped keep our elderly safe by obeying stay-at-home orders and so on. I hope once this is all over, most elderly people will realize we did them a huge favor, and they will hopefully jump on board to push climate change laws and bills.

Opening of the beaches

All over the world some of the most public places now look like ghost towns as everyone is inside staying safe and clean. Social media influencers, celebrities, and pro athletes have all asked their followers to please stay inside as it is not safe to be outside at all. Recently, Santa Cruz, Florida, and other popular beach spots have opened up their beaches to the public. From someone who only uses the beaches as a vacation type spot it is hard to see why they would open the beaches for please purposes. Especially in places like Florida where filling the beach is common and the purpose. I think that the beaches should only be opened for residents of the location who use the beach as an everyday activity.

Gun Sales and Corona

Along with massive sales and shortages of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels, masks, medical supplies, gloves, the sale of guns has dramatically increased since COVID-19. About 2 million guns were sold in March, which is the highest sale since 2013 after Sandy Hook. However, this number of sales is only based on the background checks conducted by the FBI and many states do not require background checks. Compared to a fear of gun restrictions being imposed, the fear is more about civil unrest that could happen as a result of quarantine (which has happened). 

As someone who supports more restrictions on buying guns and background checks for everyone, it’s worrying during this time that over 2 million known guns have been sold already. It’s also alarming that someone’s first reaction to a pandemic is to run out and buy a gun. Since the pandemic, multiple steps of violence have been taken. In Alpharetta, Georgia, a man was arrested for pointing a gun at two women wearing masks and gloves. Another man in New Mexico accidentally shot his 13-year-old son from carrying his gun for “protection”. In Maine, a convicted felon was able to get a hold of a gun, claiming it was for his own protection and was charged with illegally possessing a firearm. With the protests against social distancing in certain states, I think it’s possible that this could cause unnecessary fatalities.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/01/business/coronavirus-gun-sales.html

Coronavirus in, Senioritis Out

Typically, around this time of year seniors are taking it easy when it comes to school work. This year, we are taking it very easy, but not because of senioritis because of coronavirus. As nice as it is to have time off, I'm pretty sure we would all rather do the work at this point.

We have all lost our prom, our graduation, some of us lost our very last club and school sporting events, and our very last day of high school came and went without anyone knowing it. The fact that so much has changed due to a virus too small to see, and silent enough to infect someone without symptoms for up to two weeks, or sometimes not at all.

For years, we have come to school with one goal in common: to graduate. Although we will technically graduate, this milestone along with others have been taken away. Of course, this has all been canceled in order to protect the wellbeing of the public but it is interesting to think big of an impact a small virus has had on our world. Needless to say, after all that has been lost, I'd say without a doubt that any of us would go back to school tomorrow if we could, and senioritis would be cured.

Environmental benefits from quarantine

As Corona-19 has taken many countries by storm and has become a medical crisis, scientist have that there has been an environmental benefit from this all. In the areas that were majorly affected like China, an economy based on its factories and industries, has had to shut down production. This has been a significant benefit on the air quality and Co2 emitted into the air. Due to everyone also having to work from home there is almost no emissions coming from cars. This is true especially in California where cars flood the streets. Other impacts that everyday people have seen are the change in clarity in the Venice Canals.

Hundreds gather in California to protest stay at home-orders

More than 200 protesters gathered in Huntington Beach, California, to protest against stay- at-home orders, it was called the "March for Freedom." Many of the protesters held signs reading "Quarantine the sick, not the healthy" and "Open Cali now." Some protesters even believe that the virus was a lie. Also in another case a gathering in San Clemente many protesters gathered they were packed tightly together on the sidewalk, not maintaining the 6 feet of social distance. People in cars also lined up I. streets in support of the protest, honking their horns and slowly driving through downtown San Clemente. Many demonstrators waved flags, chanting and holding signs. "Let me Re-Hire" and "My freedom is essential." Many protesters said the Stay at Home orders have gone too far. In addition to not maintaining distance during the rally, they were also not wearing masks. Other than just being frustrated at the fact that many of them lost their jobs and can't work. They also argue that it's for political reasons. As one said "We do not trust our politicians, we see through this. We don't believe it's for a virus. It's for political reasons. And we can see through that. And we are mad as hell." Also about 100 people in Encinitas, down in the San Diego County, marched along South Coast Highway to protest the closure of beaches, parks and trails, demanding the end of the shutdown. Yet no arrests have been made and no citations have been issued to demonstrators at either of the rallies.

Adjustments to sports

As everyone is in the shelter in place, many large scale sports associations are having to find other ways to market their players and league without being able to play their respected sport. One of the most creative ideas I've heard was the NBA creating a 2k tournament. 2k is the video game version of the NBA which includes every player and their real life attributes. After the quarantine it will be interesting if these 2k tournaments continue and have the hype like they do right now. It is interesting following the sports teams on social media because they can only post their old game clips. When the league eventually I wonder how the layout of the teams will affected. Will the teams have enough money to pay their players the full amount?

College decisions

Making a decision of wearing you will be spending the next four years of your life is a very big decision one that can affect where you career begins. With the stay in place quarantine, it has been hard to not only choose a college but even just researching how life is like on campus. In a normal case students are able to visit the school during school hours and get an understanding for how the school feels. But this year has been the only year ever where nobody is allowed to do so. This has brought a chaos to the admissions process as students are asking for more time to decide where they will be going to college. Although I personally have a few top colleges in mind, I have very little knowledge about the everyday campus lifestyle. I have found that the most useful way to learn about the school is to reach out to an underclassmen and an upperclassmen at the respected school. This gives students an idea on how it feels when you first arrive at the school, and how the school has benefitted the students long term. As we get closer to the decision deadline, I wonder how college will provide access and information to the students.