Looking for the good in how the pandemic upended our lives

What habits do you plan to continue after the shutdown ends?

• Emily Previti/PA Post
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  Emily is a reporter for WITF who’s been covering voting and elections since July 2019 as part of her former role with statehouse accountability news organization PA Post. She was the senior reporter for statewide public media collaboration Keystone Crossroads. Previously, she covered city hall for PennLive/The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.), was a watchdog and city hall reporter at The Press of Atlantic City and reported for the Northwest Herald. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  
  See other articles by Emily Previti for WITF.

 Emily Previti / PA Post

The author (top left) zooms with former colleagues on Friday, April 15. (Surprisingly, our group dynamic remains the same as when we worked together 15 years ago.)

Emily Previti / PA Post

The author (top left) zooms with former colleagues on Friday, April 15. (Surprisingly, our group dynamic remains the same as when we worked together 15 years ago.)

To say we’ve all had to adjust in response to the pandemic … is an understatement.

But that’s not all bad, necessarily. I decided to ask my PA Post and WITF colleagues about what pandemic-prompted changes they intend or hope to make permanent whenever life returns to something resembling normalcy. Here’s what they shared:

• Julia Agos, WITF reporter and host: “My yoga mat is now a permanent piece of furniture in a living room. Along with a set of dumbbells, I’ve committed about a quarter of the room to be dedicated for at home workouts. It’s not the same as being in a gym, but it works for now. And even though I miss going to a gym, my at home workout station isn’t as bad as I would’ve thought before the pandemic. I think it’s a good way to save money and time!”

• StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Rachel McDevitt: “I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but I’m cooking for myself a lot more now. Specifically, I started making my own pizza dough and plan to keep that up and improve my technique.”

• Kathleen Pavelko, WITF CEO Emerita and PA Post Founder: “I’ve always been an avid home cook. But since the pandemic, I’ve gone back to old family recipes, including some from my grandmothers and one from a great grandmother. They’re stews, stuffed cabbage, pot roasts—slow to cook, lots of flavor. Oh, and they’re quantity dishes. But I’m still cooking only for the two of us. Result? A freezer that’s never been so full!”

• WITF Transforming Health reporter Brett Sholtis: “Like most people, I’m cooking a lot more. The pandemic has given me a chance to learn to make some of my favorite dishes on my own, while saving money, too. Don’t get me wrong—I miss eating at restaurants. But I think I’ll be more adventurous with what I cook at home for years to come.”

• PA Post reporter Ed Mahon: “Two habits. One, Zoom hangouts with friends who live a few hours away. And, two, maybe working from home a little more often. I have my computer space setup now, plus audio equipment to record phone calls from home and recording space in my closet.”

• Ben Pontz, PA Post intern: “I’ve been taking a lot of walks lately. 20 or 25 minutes two or three times a day has proven both physically and mentally refreshing, and I hope to extend that habit well beyond the pandemic.”

As for me: I expect to continue having groceries delivered, at least sometimes. The time and money saved (by sticking to a list/needs versus wants) more than balance the cost of tips and service fees. Like Ed, I also want to continue to keep in touch via Zoom or Skype with friends who don’t live nearby. And, like Juila, I’m using my yoga mat much more frequently because I’ve been doing that instead of swimming and hope to keep it in my routine even after pools reopen.

And if you’d care to share your own likely permanent pandemic acquisitions, fill us in at the Listening Post. —Emily Previti

Best of the rest

• Martha Jansen has been a registered nurse for two decades, but says she’s never seen anything like COVID-19. Jansen, 61, spent the past six weeks caring for coronavirus patients at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Dauphin County. She talked about her experiences recently with WITF’s Transforming Health producer Keria McGuire for this video.

• Allegheny County officials released their primary election polling place plan Friday after getting approval from the Pennsylvania Department of State, WESA’s Chris Potter reports. Allegheny is one of five jurisdictions so far to cut the number of voting locations by at least half for the June 2 contest in an effort to reduce the number of election workers and focus resources on mailed ballot processing. On the vote-by-mail front, Allegheny elections Director David Voye says an indeterminable number of duplicate ballots were sent out to voters due to a glitch in the DoS voter registration system; however, each is uniquely coded and thus each voter can’t submit more than one that actually counts, Chris reports. Over in Lycoming County, a software glitch resulted in 61 voters receiving 8 mail-in ballots. Election officials there made the same point as Voye — there’s no way for more than one vote per voter being counted.

• In Fayette County, poll workers are asking for donated masks to use while they run in-person voting on June 2, CBS Pittsburgh reports. Fayette’s election director, Larry Blosser, was among county officials casting a more somber picture when I surveyed them a few weeks ago about whether they expected to have enough personal protective equipment, or PPE, for the primary.

• The state Supreme Court on Friday dismissed one of two lawsuits seeking to extend Pa.’s absentee and mail-in ballot return deadline by a week for the upcoming primary. On Friday, justices issued an order siding with the Department of State’s assertion that the attorneys bringing the case hadn’t shown the current rules actually harmed any voters. Public Interest Law Center lawyers had argued that the effects of coronavirus on mail delivery and county election office application processing could lead to voters being disenfranchised — or, amid a pandemic, forced to risk their health by voting in-person if they’re worried their ballots won’t make it back in time through the mail. A similar case remains in play that’s funded by a political committee backing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. For now, ballots still have to arrive at county elections offices before polls close at 8 p.m. on June 2.

• After their wedding was canceled by the coronavirus shutdown, one couple got to celebrate with Philadelphia’s Positive Movement Enhancement instead. Sister of the bride Lacey Woodrow commissioned the drumline to march (in masks) down her sister’s South Philly Street on Friday. “The result was a moving march down Fabric Row that brought tears to [the bride’s] eyes and enticed many of her South Philly neighbors to their stoops to cheer on the fun,” writes Billy Penn’s Layla Jones.

Coronavirus must reads: 

• The New York Times: Former President Barack Obama criticizes COVID-19 response by U.S. leaders in a virtual commencement speech. 

• Associated Press: Local health agencies struggle to ramp up virus tracking

• The New Yorker: The pandemic proves not all solitude is created equal

• TIME: If you lost your health insurance amid the coronavirus outbreak, you may have options.

• WNYC’s Science Friday: Technology that could improve our understanding of the pandemic.

• NPR: On Friday, the U.S. House voted mostly along party lines — with Pittsburgh-area Rep. Conor Lamb among 14 Democrats breaking ranks —  to pass a $3 trillion coronavirus aid package that’s DOA in the Senate but could be a starting point for more stimulus talks.

• ProPublica: “Immune to Evidence”: How Dangerous Coronavirus Conspiracies Spread

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Rep. John Joyce, charting his own path, sees profile rise amid COVID-19 pandemic

• Reading Eagle: Berks County GOP stands behind Facebook posts some criticized as anti-Semitic; governor target of one

• The Morning Call: Whitehall tattoo parlor defies state order and opens, hoping other small businesses follow suit

• The Philadelphia Inquirer: Will Smith shouts out Philly and Julius Erving in a new remix that’s got the internet on fire