Potty Training: Simple, But Not Easy.

Potty Training: Simple, But Not Easy. Potty training is simple, and it is. You take them outside CONSTANTLY, and you walk around with them and you watch them. And when they pee, you praise and give them a treat. Then you can bring them inside for about five minutes of scrutiny-free time and breakfast. But right after breakfast, you are all outside again, walking around, looking for that poop! And when that happens, you praise and give them a treat, and then you can bring them inside again, for maybe 10-15 minutes of scrutiny-free time, before you need to go out again for another pee. You take them out after every nap. You take them out after every meal. You take them out after every play session ends. You take them out if it’s been more than 15 minutes since they last "went"! Simple! Not easy! And what if they don’t “go”? Well, the smart thing to do is to pop them into a crate, because very few puppies will potty in a crate, so you can make sure that they don’t have a chance to “make a mistake” and pee or poop indoors, where you don’t want them to while you are not paying attention. It is not possible to watch them every minute, even while sheltering in place! And if they potty in the house (or in your home office), they have just effectively been reinforced for doing so; it feels good to relieve the fullness of your bladder! And every mistake seems to build on itself; it’s far easier to just make darn sure a mistake doesn’t happen. In my experience, if you can get through three days of not letting them make even ONE mistake indoors, you’re pretty much home free with the potty training. They will want to go outdoors to potty and get right to business when you take them outside.

Food Security and COVID-19.

Food Security and COVID-19.Alarmed by a potential rise in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and organizations are mounting special efforts to keep agriculture safely running as an essential business, markets well supplied in affordable and nutritious food, and consumers still able to access and purchase food despite movement restrictions and income losses. 


However, as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, disruptions in domestic food supply chains and other shocks affecting food production, and loss of incomes and remittances are creating strong tensions and food security risks in many countries.

Did you know: reducing food waste can help the planet?.

Did you know: reducing food waste can help the planet? Did you know that approximately one third of all food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted? This has significant impacts on both the environment and food security.

 Climate change is exacerbating this problem — particularly for highly perishable products such as fruits and vegetables. Higher temperatures and new and worsening pests combine to make it very difficult for farmers to reduce their post-harvest losses. COVID-19 makes food waste an even more critical problem to solve.

TechnoServe is advising farmers on better practices to reduce food waste in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

COVID-19 and Diabetes.

COVID-19 and Diabetes.Everyone needs to be careful to avoid the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you should be even more cautious. Your risk of catching the virus isn't higher than anyone else's. But you could have worse complications if you do get sick. That's especially true if your diabetes isn't well-controlled. To reduce your chance of getting infected: 1)Keep your distance from other people. 2)Use good hygiene. 3)Keep your blood sugar under control Diabetes and Coronavirus Early studies have shown that about 25% of people who went to the hospital with severe COVID-19 infections had diabetes. Those with diabetes were more likely to have serious complications and to die from the virus. One reason is that high blood sugar weakens the immune system and makes it less able to fight off infections. Your risk of severe coronavirus infection is even higher if you also have another condition, like heart or lung disease. If you do get COVID-19, the infection could put you at greater risk for diabetes complications like diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA happens when high levels of acids called ketones build up in your blood. It can be very serious. Some people who catch the new coronavirus have a dangerous body-wide response to it, called sepsis. To treat sepsis, doctors need to manage your body's fluid and electrolyte levels. DKA causes you to lose electrolytes, which can make sepsis harder to control.

COVID-19 May Trigger Rare Complication In Children.

COVID-19 May Trigger Rare Complication In Children.As COVID-19 continues to spread, there is growing evidence that children may be vulnerable to a rare but serious complication triggered by the infection. So far, studies have shown that children appear to be less vulnerable to this new coronavirus than adults. Kids under the age of 18 represent just 1%-2% of reported COVID-19 cases. But new reports, from the U.S. and several European countries, suggest that in rare cases, children can have a collection of symptoms -- including lengthy fevers, low blood pressure, rashes, red eyes, stomach upset, and inflammation of the heart and its arteries -- that share features of toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease.

COVID-19 AND MEAT PACKAGING PLANT.

COVID-19 AND MEAT PACKAGING PLANT. Although the identity of COVID-19's patient zero is still unknown, the virus is widely suspected to have originated in a Wuhan wet market. And one thing is crystal clear: These informal slaughterhouses, along with their more formal counterparts in the factory farming industry, are the perfect place to spread disease. Crowding animals into confined, unsanitary conditions to be slaughtered—mixing blood, guts and feces—creates a petri dish for pathogens. These informal and formal "flu factories" can quickly spread a bat- or bird-borne disease among intermediary animals that humans consume. Slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants are also among the worst COVID-19 hot spots for humans. Some of the largest outbreaks in North America occurred in meatpacking plants.

New data suggest people aren’t getting reinfected with the coronavirus.

New data suggest people aren’t getting reinfected with the coronavirus. People who test positive again for the coronavirus, despite having already recovered from COVID-19, aren’t being reinfected, a new study finds. Reports of patients discharged from hospitals in South Korea testing positive after their apparent recovery had raised concerns that people could get infected by the virus in the short term more than once or that the infection could come back. But diagnostic tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rely on detecting the virus’s genetic material (SN: 4/17/20). A positive result does not indicate whether a person is shedding viruses capable of infecting cells — which would signal an active infection. Now, a May 19 report from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that samples from “reinfected” patients don’t have infectious viruses. The finding hints that the diagnostic tests are picking up on the genetic material from noninfectious or dead viruses. That lack of infectious virus particles means these people aren’t currently infected and can’t transmit the coronavirus to others, the researchers say. “It’s good news,” says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. “It appears people are not being reinfected, and this virus is not reactivating.”