Sydney, May 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communicationsfocus report onTonga outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.Read the full report:https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Tonga-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

The rural areas of Tonga were to benefit from a 15-year agreement between Kacific Broadband Satellite and the Tongan government which would see additional bandwidth made available for around 89 remote communities and offer speeds similar to the large towns of Tonga. Satellite technology in particular is in widespread use across Tonga and plays an important part in giving the more remote areas access to communications services.

Tonga is also reaping the benefits of being connected to an undersea high-speed fibre-optic cable. The cable was installed in 2013 and links Tonga to Fiji and onto Sydney. It was financed by a combination of funding from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Tongan government and Tonga Cable - as part of the wider Pacific Regional Connectivity Program.

This high-speed Internet access is providing Tonga with the ability to provide better health care services, reliable and faster connections for education and appropriate infrastructure for emerging e-commerce initiatives.

Tonga is also heavily reliant on mobile technology. It has exhibited a strong mobile subscription growth in recent years.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Key developments:

Companies covered in this report include:

Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC); Tonga Digicel (formerly TonFon); Tonga Cable; Kacific Broadband Satellite; Asian Development Bank; The World Bank.

List of Tables

List of Charts

Read the full report:https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Tonga-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Go here to see the original:
Satellite communications to be improved for Tonga's rural areas - GlobeNewswire

When it comes to senior living options, mobile homes and RVs are options that represent a wide range of seniors. Mobile home parks and RV parks offer small lots and community space that is maintained by the park.

A mobile home park much like a condominium association where the common spaces are maintained by the park owners and staff and where tenants have a small lot which they care for. When a park is deemed to be a senior mobile home park, they have rules about the minimum age of the people who live there. Most parks offer senior living for people aged 55 and older and do not permit those who are younger to live there. The park and its amenities are geared towards seniors and may have noise and usage restrictions. As military as that sound, these parks create an environment that is senior friendly and designed to enhance the quality of life for those who live in the park.

A senior RV park is somewhat different and yet, very much the same. The big difference is that there are not mobile homes in an RV park and the idea is that the tenant population is transient and not temporary. In a senior mobile home park, the majority of the people who live there, do so long-term.

Senior living mobile home parks are often affordable alternatives to living in a single family home. Most tenants pay rent on their space and own the mobile home. That means they pay a low monthly rent and can live in a larger home. Mobile homes come in single, double, and triple wide width. They can be one bedroom and larger. Most lots are small offering enough space for the mobile home and a small yard.

Another benefit is that the community is organized around the needs of seniors. People here can enjoy the park's amenities without having to compete with those amenities with kids and families.

The park's amenities are designed around senior needs and they provide an opportunity to socialize with people in the same age range.

There are many benefits of living in a senior mobile home park. If you are traveling in your RV, senior mobile home parks often have spaces that allow you to park your RV for months on end. They make great destinations for Snowbirds and other seniors who escape the harsher weather in one area of the world and to take up temporary residence in another.

The price to stay in asenior mobile home park vary by park. Most are very affordable. Many parks have space rental in the $200-$300 per month range, which is appealing for anyone on a fixed income. Some parks may rent space for as high as $1,000 a month, but those parks usually offer special amenities like a gated community, security and on-sight maintenance.

How you pay depends on the park and your arrangement. For RV owner, rent is often paid online at the time of your reservation. This means that you can pay with a credit card. For those who live in the park long-term, the rent is typically paid by check, though many parks are now allowingpayment of rent online or in person using a credit or debit card.

Long-term residents usually have a lease or rental agreement and pay their rent monthly. RV owners and those residents who are temporary, may pay rent weekly or in one-lump sum.

In short, there are usually many options for paying for rent in a mobile home park or RV Park.

Most communities have at least one senior mobile home park within their communities. You can begin your search online. There many websites that are designed for seniors.

Many sites are area specific and focus on the local community. It is not difficult to find a senior living park near you.

If you are a senior who is looking for another housing option, consider the benefits of living in a senior mobile home park. Often what you will find is that the rent is affordable and can help free up money in your budget, especially if you are on a fixed income. As rosy as that all sounds, there are drawbacks. Mobile homes can be frustrating when it comes time to repair them as many of the appliances and other parts are not a standard size. Another drawback can be the cost to heat and cool a mobile home as not all of them are energy efficient. Knowing that upfront helps you find a mobile home that is perfect for you and without a lot of the headaches.

If you live in an RV part of the year and are looking for a place to park for a few months, senior living mobile home parks often make great destinations as most have full hookups and access to electricity and potable water.

See the rest here:
Senior Mobile Home Parks | 55+ Senior Manufactured Home ...

UPDATE: A man who shot a New Jersey State Police detective investigating a trailer park home invasion by five women was charged with the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, authorities announced Tuesday.

Najzeir Naz Hutchings, 21, and two other Bridgeton men were all armed Saturday night when they pulled up to the Harding Woods mobile home park on Harding Highway in Pittsgrove, they said.

NJSP Detective Richard Hershey was investigating a home invasion from earlier that evening, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jersey State Police Superintendent Patrick J. Callahan, and Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan said in a joint announcement.

Five women had forced their way into a mobile home and assaulted the owner breaking a rib and lacerating a lung -- while stealing her iPhone, they said.

Hershey identified himself as a law enforcement officer when he was approached by Hutchings, Kareen "Kai" Warner Jr., 19, and Colby Opperman, 18, all of Bridgeton, who pulled up in a caravan hours later, authorities said.

Hutchings shot Hershey in the upper leg, they said, adding that the detective returned fire, forcing the defendants to flee.

Hershey underwent surgery at Cooper University Hospital in Camden and was recovering, Grewal, Callahan and Lenahan said.

A member of the caravan was treated at the hospital for a gunshot wound in her leg and was released, they said, adding that she wasnt charged.

All eight defendants were identified and captured by New Jersey State Police Fugitive and TEAMS units, assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and the ATF.

The Salem County Prosecutors Office charged the five women for the home invasion, while Grewals Office of Public Integrity & Accountability (OPIA) charged the three men in the shooting.

All were being held in the Salem County Jail pending detention hearings. More charges were possible, authorities said.

We have zero tolerance for those who violently attack our law enforcement officers, Grewal said. Our state troopers put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe, and Saturdays incident is an important reminder of the brave work our troopers perform.

Anyone attempting to murder a New Jersey state trooper, or any member of law enforcement, will find no safe haven, Calahan added. Our pursuit will be relentless, unwavering and swift.

It began with a 6:15 p.m. home invasion by the women, identified as Jazmin Valentin, 32, Yomari Lazu, 43, Iramari Lazu, 22, Mayra Roblero, 52, and Maria Betancourt, 39, of Vineland.

Authorities charged all with aggravated assault, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery, as well as burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Hutchings, meanwhile, was charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer and weapons offenses.

Warner and Opperman were each charged with weapons offenses.

Anyone who would open fire on a law enforcement officer conducting an investigation, as Hutchings is alleged to have done, represents a grave danger to the community, said Director Thomas Eicher of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. Justice demanded swift action in this case, as did public safety.

We will continue to work closely with the New Jersey State Police to ensure that those responsible for this attack are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Investigating were the NJSPs Major Crime Unit South, Troop A Criminal Investigation Office, Crime Scene Investigation Unit and Cold Case Unit, along with the Salem County Prosecutors Office and state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.

Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.

Read more from the original source:
Man Charged With Attempted Murder Of NJ State Trooper Investigating Mobile Home Invasion - Rutherford Daily Voice

The ten commissioned reports that will comprise American Roundtable, a new initiative headed by the Architectural League of New York, have been announced. Earlier in the year,AN put out a call on social media for editors who were interested to apply for the program.

Selected by a special committee from a pool of nearly 125 total submissions covering 40 states and territories, each report, spearheaded by an editor or editorial team, will focus on an overlooked small or mid-sized American community and its unique set of struggles, strengths, needs, and wants. Geographically, economically, and culturally diverse, these are places that to many Americans are just obscure points on a map, but in actually have untold stories to tell. Through essays, mapping, video, photography, graphics, and other forms of media gleaned from on-the-ground reportage, American Roundtable will tell these stories and give voice to places that have been largely left silent and unnoticed.

The hope for American Roundtable is to highlight, in all their complexity and nuance, communities too often overlooked and to provide platforms for individuals and organizations to share their stories and work imagining, understanding, and improving their local built environments, reads a press statement, which also pointed out that these are the type of communities often reduced to caricature and oversimplification.

The commissioned reports will be published online and in print this coming November and be followed by a series of thematic conversations (exact timing is pending due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The focus in each will revolve around five key topic areas: public space, health, work and economy, infrastructure, and environment. Now, it is even more of an imperative to give voice to local places to envision a better, collective future, said Paul Lewis, president of the Architectural League and Selection Committee member.

The small city of Rumford in Maines paper mill-heavy River Valley region. (Chris M. Morris/Flickr)

The 10 communities to be profiled as part of the American Roundtable project are: Africatown, a historically rich yet underserved neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama; the oft-forgotten Appalachian communities of West Virginia; Brownsville, Texass poverty-stricken southernmost border city; South Dakotas Cheyenne River Reservation, home to the Lakota people and the fourth largest Indian reservation by land in the United States; the small city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, often credited as the birthplace of the Delta Blues; New Mexicos Lower Rio Grande Valley; Maines working-class, natural resource-rich River Valley region; the climate change-vulnerable South Beach communities of Washingtons Pacific coast; North Carolinas agriculture-dependent Southeast Good Food Corridor that spans Robeson and Scotland counties, and Ohios Youngstown-Warren-Lordstown metropolitan area, a former industrial hotbed that has experienced stark population and job losses since the 1970s.

The proposals reflected the tremendous richness and diversity of Americas small cities, towns, and rural regions, so often collapsed into stereotype or dismissed altogether in our national narratives, said Sue Mobley, a New Orleans-based urbanist and activist and member of the American Roundtable Selection Committee member, in a statement. For every proposal we received there were dozens of stories contained in it: of natural spaces, economic histories, unique cultures, and incredible people that I wanted to hear more about.

View post:
American Roundtable will shine a spotlight on 10 overlooked communities across the country - The Architect's Newspaper

Image courtesy of John Folan

Millvale Moose is an adaptive reuse project that won an AIA Pennsylvania Honor Award and a Design Pittsburgh Certificate of Merit.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. Two projects led by John Folan, a University of Arkansas professor and the 2018-2019 AIAS Educator Honor Award recipient, earned design awards from both the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh chapters of the American Institute of Architects.

Folan, the recently appointed head of the Department of Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, led the two projects, Millvale Moose and Home Incubator, as the director of the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) at Carnegie Mellon University.

Folan came to the U of A in July 2019, and he brought the Urban Design Build Studio with him. Since arriving to campus, he also was named the recipient of the 2018-2019 Educator Honor Award from the American Institute of Architecture Students, the most prestigious award that the AIAS confers on an educator.

"John Folan's receipt of both national architecture education honors and state AIA design practice honors within six months of his arrival to the Fay Jones School punctuates emphatically his appointment as department head and professor of architecture," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. "We are so fortunate in his leadership of the department, and in his immediate demonstrations of dedicated, selfless teaching and excellence in professional practice. As these awards and honors indicate, John leads by both active example and supportive mentorship of others. The school is privileged by his presence and proud of his accomplishments."

For the AIA design awards, Millvale Moose won an Honor Award in the Impact Design category at the 2019 AIA Pennsylvania Architectural Excellence Awards and a Certificate of Merit in the Small Projects category at Design Pittsburgh 2019.

Home Incubator won a Bronze Award in the Impact Design category at the 2019 AIA Pennsylvania Architectural Excellence Awards and a Certificate of Merit in the Small Projects category at Design Pittsburgh 2019.

Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture at the Fay Jones School and principal of Marlon Blackwell Architects, led the jury for the 2019 AIA Pennsylvania Architectural Excellence Design Awards.

Urban Design Build Studio, which was founded by Folan in 2008, is a public interest design entity. The collaborative of students, professors and professionals work on the implementation of projects that benefit communities that do not have access to design services. Folan said all UDBS projects are community centered and regionally specific. In Pittsburgh, UDBS work focused on issues of vacancy, blight, and the reuse and repurposing of associated building material waste.

"The idea is to take materials that are normally associated with waste, divert them from landfills, and develop processes for converting the materials into something that has a new life, new vitality and is inherently of the place," he said.

The Millvale Moose project is an adaptive reuse of an abandoned Moose Lodge in Millvale, Pennsylvania, that transformed an underutilized structure into a public venue housing a commercial kitchen and a communal social space. The project used reconstituted marble slabs and lumber from buildings that were taken down.

The Design Pittsburgh jury noted that the project's "creative reuse of materials shows that budget does not limit imagination. The end result is a combination of craft, technology, process, fabrication, material reuse and attention to detail while creating a flexible solution to serve the community."

Folan said the Millvale Moose project is the result of a private-public partnership. The kitchen and building are shared by a for-profit restaurant that offers discounted meals, job skills training and cooking classes for local residents, as well as a nonprofit food rescue entity that collects food that local restaurants would otherwise throw out and redistributes it to those in need throughout Pittsburgh.

Folan and a UDBS fellow worked with community members on the Millvale Moose design. In the UDBS Fellowship program, Folan takes on apprentices, usually for a period of three years, and mentors them through their internship to professional registration. The fellows are selected from students who have worked through Folan's UDBS studios as undergraduate or graduate students and have demonstrated an ability to empower others through public interest design.

"It's an important distinction. We're trying to empower the people we work with to act through their own agency," Folan said. "When we're successful, those residents take ownership and are able to replicate processes and projects themselves."

The Home Incubator is a mobile community engagement tool used to enhance communication about housing-related issues specific to Pittsburgh. It was funded by Ford Motor Company and completed in collaboration with East Liberty Development Incorporated, a non-profit developer focused on implementation of mixed-income development.

The Design Pittsburgh jury noted that the project's "innovation, ingenuity, functionality, structural integrity and beauty demonstrated how architects can put our unique skills and artistry toward non-traditional creations to engage communities and solve problems."

The Home Incubator project acts as an in-situ negotiation table for community leaders, financial counselors, social counselors and residents to discuss vacancy, gentrification, displacement and need. Education is central in understanding the nuances of mixed-income development and misconceptions about its role in gentrification, Folan said. The project helps ensure that fixed-income residents understand opportunities available in controlling their own futures and staying in place.

"In Pittsburgh, and elsewhere, when mixed-income development is successful, improvements to the physical environment are often perceived as gentrification by long-term residents," Folan said. "In many cases, without cause, long-term, fixed-income residents leave because there is a perception of not belonging, and being pushed out. There are policies and mechanisms available to long-term residents that enable them to stay in place, often by leveraging the benefits of market rate development. The point is to bring people together who don't normally communicate with one another."

The mobile outreach and demonstration tool was made from waste cardboard and lumber, materials that are often negatively associated with the neighborhoods where the project is deployed. As with the Millvale Moose project, the modesty of the waste material is deceptive when transformed into the finished project.

The Home Incubator is a network of adaptable forms that can be used as a communal table for feasts in the neighborhoods, storytelling, real-time manipulation of building design in virtual reality and a theater. The project also provides an opportunity for the collection of oral histories and the imagination of resilient futures.

Carnegie Mellon undergraduate students in a variety of disciplines worked with Folan and community members to complete the project, which underwent several iterations before they settled on the final mobile-based design.

Folan is currently working with 52 students and three faculty members on the first UDBS project to be conducted through the U of A, the Ross and Mary Whipple Family Forest Education Center at Garvan Woodland Gardens.

The work follows the same guiding principles: community input, collective intelligence, resilience and appropriate design. At its core, the project focuses on environmental and economic futures for Arkansans. Waste materials may be incorporated into the work in Arkansas, too.

"Material waste is a problem everywhere. We generate a lot of waste, even at the Fay Jones School, where people are highly conscious about sustainability and climate change," he said.

When developing projects, Folan said the UDBS emphasizes replicable strategies, so the projects can sustain relevance beyond the immediate region and ultimately address issues of affordability over time.

Although public interest design and design-build are messy and unpredictable, Folan said that the experiences are valuable for students. These experiences help students understand the hierarchy of values and the physical realities of putting projects together on a timeline, with a budget and for a specific purpose.

"One of the common beliefs when you're developing as a designer is that everything is equally important, and it really is not," Folan said. "There are hierarchies. Things in the development of a project always present as being more important than others."

Designing with the needs of the public in mind can change the design process, because the end result has to be practical for the community. Folan said that AIA Pennsylvania's impact design award category requires evidence that a project has an impact and is used by the community.

For students, the value of this recognition lies in establishing professional relevance at a young age and tangibly demonstrating their own efficacy as change agents, he said. These awards help build their confidence and resumes.

For the communities, Folan said, this recognition instills pride where it is often in very short supply. For those stakeholders who play a significant role in realizing the projects, it gives them confidence to share their voices in the future.

Read the original:
John Folan, Professor and Head of Architecture, Accorded National and Pennsylvania Honors - University of Arkansas Newswire

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced tightened COVID-19-related travel restrictions for people living in the province's north Thursday, including an order requiringnorthern residents to remain in their local communities and to practise physical distancing.

Exceptions will only be made for critical items like collecting groceries and medical appointments.

The updated public health order also restrictsall non-critical travel (including those with primary residences in the region) into and out of a broad swath of land known as theNorthern Saskatchewan Administrative District, which covers nearly half of the province but has a low populationrelative to the rest of Saskatchewan.

Travel between northern communities is also restricted, though some exceptions are being made.

"Travel to and from La Ronge and Stony Rapids from outside the [district]is allowed, but individuals are not permitted to stop in any other community," according to a government release issued Thursday."Travel related to the delivery of essential services will continue to be permitted."

Here's a map showing theregion affected by the restrictions. Don't see it? Click here.

Moe said the new laws came at the request of northern mayors and leaders.

The premier singled out the northwest part of the district, including La Loche.

"We are asking people to stay at home, stay in their community, in particular in those communities in the northwest," he said. "This is one area of Saskatchewan where if you can stay at home, not just in your community, but at home, we're asking you to do so. It works in controlling this virus."

The province also announced new funding to help those communities combat the spread of the virus, including $350,000 to help establish, staff and maintain community checkpoints.

A separate $20,000 will go to La Locheto help foster food security and launch educational programs to encourage safe behaviour during the pandemic.

Thursday's news was foreshadowed a day earlier.

Moe said Wednesday thatMinister of Government RelationsLori Carrwas on a call with leaders in northern communities. The comment came in response to a question about a potential "next step" in travel restrictions.

"The conversation specific to the La Locheregion is how can we actually enhance the protection that we have in that particular area," Moe said. "So there willbe more to come, likely within the next 24 to 48 hours, on what the longer-term travel restrictions will look like in the north."

Moe said the restrictions might relax in other areas "where we do not have a large number of positive cases at this point in time."

No such relaxationwasannounced Thursday.

As of Thursday, there were 58cases overall in the far north, including 39cases in La Loche.

That includes the sixth person to die from complications from the virus: 85-year-old Agnes McDonald, a resident of La Loche Health Centre. She was the second resident of the facility to die in connection with COVID-19.

One new case in La Loche was announced Thursday.

The province is sending between 50 and 100 more health workers to the north to help with testing, assessment and contact tracing. Mobile and door-to-door testing is also planned and anyone in the area who wants to get tested will get tested.

The province has also set aside social housing units for people who need to self-isolate.

La Loche also now has a portableGeneXperttesting machine that allows for speedy testing.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, first announced the outbreak in La Loche on April 17. One staff member and one resident at La Loche Health Centre had tested positive for the virus. That number has since grown to five:two workers and three long-term care residents.

One week later, Shahab and Moe announced a new public health orderrestricting all non-critical travel into northern Saskatchewan. The order also gave northern leaders full legal authority to enforce highway checkpoints.

Shahab also strongly recommended against any non-essential travel between communities within northern Saskatchewan. Thursday's announcement effectively makes that law.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili, speaking eariler in the day Thursday during his daily news conference, was close to the mark when suggesting how restrictions might be tightened in the north.

"If you're discovering that you've got lots of unnecessary travel happening despite it being a strong recommendation and those checkpoints are in place then we might need to go to stronger measures and actual prohibitions," Meili said.

Read the original:
Sask. orders northern residents to stay in their home communities - CBC.ca

Amanda Tello drove her red SUV carefully down the narrow streets of the mobile home park tucked away in west St. Louis County. With cars parked on both sides of the street there was room for just one vehicle to pass at a time.

She was there for the same reason I was: following a tip that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had raided the park, looking for undocumented immigrants.

There had been no raid, though a man who lived in the park told me there had been some suspected ICE agents driving around for a couple of days, in vehicles with dark, tinted windows.

Theres always a fear, Tello told me, in communities like this one with heavy immigrant populations, particularly Hispanic ones. She works with a group of activists helping immigrants gain access to services, food and utility aid, and educational opportunities for children. She is part of a rapid response team that heads to neighborhoods whenever there is a report of a possible ICE raid, to record interactions with federal officers and to provide help to people if its needed.

These days, ICE hasnt been particularly active in St. Louis, she says. Their office, like so many others, is shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Tello and others are trying to help guide immigrants especially those who dont speak much English through the crisis.

Its a very vulnerable time for poor people, Tello says.

Indeed, just last week, more than 3 million people across the country filed for unemployment in one week, a dubious new record. But many of the people whom Tello and organizations that help immigrants serve cant access most government aid programs. Their ability to react to the pandemic is that much more difficult.

Read the original here:
Messenger: Fear builds in immigrant community along with isolation brought by pandemic - STLtoday.com

Signs at the Forest Hollow Mobile Home Community in Beaumont, Texas, advise residents to wash their hands. That simple act is the first line of defence against the infection that sickens victims of the coronavirus.

But when Amy Yancy,unemployed, left the hospital this month after suffering a miscarriage, she was unable to follow the instructions.

The water at the trailer park had been shut off.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

I was terrified we would get sick, Yancy said. Already, eight people have tested positive for the novel virus in the southeastern Texas city, where nearly 20 per cent of residents are in poverty above the national average.

Yancys predicament is shared by Americans throughout the country, as the escalating outbreak exposes how uneven access is to resources like water resources allowing private individuals unable to protect themselves as public institutions stumble. As many as 15 million Americans experience a water shutoff each year, according to one 2016 estimate. That leaves them unable to clean themselves and flush the toilet, all because of nonpayment, compounded by spiralling late fees.

Scores of cities have tried to prevent water deprivation from exacerbating the public-health emergency by pausing shutoffs during the pandemic. Some states have even stepped in. But getting the water turned back on can prove an arduous process, leaving the most vulnerable without basic protection against the coronavirus.

In numerous cases where service has been restored, access has depended on legal intervention or philanthropic goodwill, underscoring the precariousness of public works, even during a pandemic.

You cant wash your hands, you cant flush your toilet, you cant clean your house or take care of your family, said Mary Grant, a campaign director at Food and Water Watch. And during a global pandemic, we shouldnt need to depend on court action or some other extraordinary step for people to have basic water service.

In Beaumont, the problem was not that Yancy had failed to pay her bills. She was up to date, she said, on her $1,050 monthly rent, which covers water, sewage and trash for the two-bedroom trailer she shares with her husband.

Theirs is one of 65 units, whose residents include both very young children and elderly adults; some live as many as eight to a trailer. One resident, Tonya Lanham, is caring for her fianc, who is sick with cancer, at the trailer park.

It was the facilitys operator, Southern Choice LLC, that was behind on water payments following significant cost spikes. In dispute was $50,000, according to court records.

No hype, just the advice and analysis you need

The city turned off the water on 19 March, the same day the states public health commissioner declared a public-health disaster and the same day Yancy returned from the hospital.

Without proper running water, US residents are asking how they can hope to wash their hands properly in the fight against Covid-19(Getty)

She needed water not only to stay hydrated for her recovery but to keep herself clean. Her husband found two gallons discarded on a random aisle of a nearby store everyone was panic-buying by that point and her sister drove an hour-and-a-half to retrieve another two gallons, she said. They used what they had to bathe and flush the toilet.

Jeff, who asked to be identified only by his first name because he works for the state, moved his family to a hotel room for a day so they could wash.

We were in a situation where we couldnt follow the health advice being put out by our own government because they had cut off our water, he said.

Meanwhile, complaints piled up on a Facebook page for the trailer park. Lanham, 48, used social media to contact a judge in Jefferson County. His wife replied, saying her complaint was the second they had received about water shutoffs in the area.

An attorney for the property manager sought to negotiate with the city, proposing the operator pay what it could. But the city demanded $30,000 to restore service, according to court records. The city manager, Kyle Hayes, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A representative for the property, Bill Rodwell, said the city had been overbilling the trailer park. We want to do everything in our power to provide a safe, nice, quiet place to live, he added

The owners of a Missouri insurance agency contributed $5,000 to cover bills after the city said it would cut off water to residents who had not paid (iStock)

Residents at Forest Hollow said the conditions have been anything but.

I dont care if you have an ongoing dispute with the landlord you dont do that during a crisis, said Lanham, who recently lost her job as an assistant manager at a Lubys restaurant.

On 21 March, Southern Choice sued the city in district court in Jefferson County. At 6pmthat Saturday, a judge granted a temporary restraining order requiring the city to turn on the water.

Specifically, the lack of running water could result in loss of life and prohibits hand washing and proper hygiene during the Covid-19 health disaster, found the judge, Baylor Wortham.

The water came on that night. But the judges order expires next month.

I dont know how long the water will stay on, Yancy said.

In some places, it is still being shut off.

In Billings, Montana, identified by Food and Water Watch as among the 30 cities with the highest shut-off rates, terminations continue, an employee with the public works department confirmed this week. Mount Vernon, Illinois, conducted shutoffs throughout March but will pause new ones in April, according to the city manager.

Shutoffs are most frequent in the South, as well as in low-income cities burdened by poverty and unemployment. But the problem is increasingly pervasive. Nearly 36 per cent of households could be unable to afford water in five years if rates rise at projected levels, a scholar at Michigan State University recently found.

Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul

Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul

Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

Reuters

While draft legislation in the House responding to the coronavirus outbreak included $1.5bn to defray water costs, coupled with a mandate that recipient states halt utility shutoffs, the $2.2tn package advanced in the Senate and approved Friday by the House does not include a similar allocation.

That leaves tens of thousands of water systems across the country to make these decisions, said Grant, the campaign director at Food and Water Watch. Its a patchwork of regulatory agencies.

Legal action was required in Beaumont, after a three-day scramble to get the city to reverse course.

In Troy, Missouri, a private act of philanthropy filled the gap. This month, as the novel virus bore down on the state, the owners of an insurance agency contributed $5,000 to cover delinquent bills after the city said it would cut off water to residents who had not paid.

We rely on members of the community to give us their money to sustain our livelihoods, so we needed to be able to reverse engineer that and help our neighbours, said Ramiz Hakim, a co-owner of North Star Insurance Advisors in Wentzville, Missouri.

Jodi Schneider, Troys city clerk, said the city was following its regular policy for having to do monthly disconnections. She said the board of aldermen would consider changes to the policy at its next meeting, scheduled for Monday night.

Among cities that have halted shutoffs, many are also vowing to restore utilities discontinued before the onset of the public-health emergency. But not proactively enough, warn advocates.

In Detroit, where taps were shut off in about 23,000 homes last year, the city said its crews were canvassing the 2,800 homes where water was known to be discontinued, and that nearly 1,500 homes had already taken advantage of the promised restoration. But Monica Lewis-Patrick, a Detroit activist, said there were tens of thousands of homes overlooked in the citys data.

In Buffalo, New York, the water department has agreed to restore service but is asking residents to call a customer service line to set up an appointment. Local attorneys said the arrangement presumes the citys most vulnerable residents have access to a telephone, as well as to television or other media where the number has been circulated.

But Oluwole McFoy, chairman of the board for Buffalo Water, said the city cannot instantaneously switch back on the water for fear that plumbing problems might lead to flooding. We need a contact, and we need someone present when our crews arrive, McFoy said.

The citys message, he added, was, Please call, please call.

Steven Halpern, an attorney at the Western New York Law Centre, called the expectation grossly unfair. He helped one of his clients, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran who had been collecting rainwater to flush his toilet, request service, but he said there were doubtlessly hundreds of others in the city who dont have lawyers, who havent been in contact with anyone about this issue.

His client, who asked not to be identified, said, The shower felt so good.

Andrea Silleabhin, executive director of the Buffalo-based Partnership for the Public Good, estimated as many as 4,000 households a year have their water shut off for lack of payment. The city should have a list, she said, and could proactively communicate with these households.

McFoy said 128 households had been without water in the last month, and 64 had seen the resource restored since the onset of the pandemic. Now, the water department is accepting from advocates a list of their clients most in need of water.

In turn, advocates are asking the city to consider why a resource as fundamental as water is ever switched off.

Equitable access to affordable water was a national issue even before this crisis, Halpern said

The Washington Post

Read more from the original source:
Coronavirus: Multiple US communities struggle to battle virus with no access to water - The Independent

Twenty-five Marion County residents have now tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, with the majority of them 17 living in Ocala.

The patients are comprised of 15 women and 10 men and they range in age from 19 to 88. Two remain hospitalized.

Three are residents of Summerfield but it isnt clear if they live in The Villages or the surrounding retirement communities of Del Webb Spruce Creek, Stonecrest or Spruce Creek South. Others live in Belleview (2), Ocklawaha (1) and Dunnellon (1).

The tri-county area is reporting 142 Coronavirus patients 45 of whom said they hadnt been in contact with anyone else suffering from the virus. So far, 2,609 people have been tested locally, with 2,463 negative results. Four tests were inconclusive and 160 people are awaiting testing.

Thirty-nine percent of those patients 56 reported traveling recently either domestically or abroad, while its unknown if another 40 have a travel history. Those who are known to have traveled visited a variety of foreign destinations including Africa, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Caribbean, Egypt, Europe, Germany, Honduras, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom.

They also reported visiting 15 states and many other destinations in Florida. Those other states include California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Sumter County is reporting 51 COVID-19 patients, all of whom are residents. That includes 25 men, 25 women and a 44-year-old who is listed as unknown. The ages of the patients range from 18 to 92 and 15 of them remain hospitalized. Thirty-eight live in The Villages, while the others reside in Lake Panasoffkee (8), Bushnell (3), Wildwood (1) and Webster (1).

There are 66 Coronavirus patients in Lake County, 59 of whom are residents. The 34 women and 32 men range in age from 18 to 85 and 13 are still being treated in local hospitals. Besides the five that live in The Villages and a woman in her 60s who lives in the Lady Lake Mobile Home Park and was the first area resident to test positive for COVID-19, the patients reside in Clermont (17), Leesburg (12), Tavares (6), Mascotte (4), Groveland (4), Eustis (3), Minneola (2), Sorrento (2), Mount Dora (1) and Okahumpka (1).

All told 6,741 people have tested positive across the Sunshine State, with 6,490 of those being Floridians. There have been 85 deaths and 857 patients remain hospitalized.

As of Tuesday night, 63,400 people had been tested in Florida, with 56,644 negative results. There were 15 inconclusive tests and 1,261 people waiting to be tested.

Continue reading here:
25 Marion County residents test positive for COVID-19 with majority in Ocala - Ocala News

The Purple House in Alice Springs is usually a wonderful crazy place. People from remote communities come in for dialysis, to do their washing, to cook a kangaroo tail on the fire, to see a podiatrist or a physiotherapist. Theres singing, dancing, guitar playing and lots of cooking. Its like a big, joyful drop-in centre.

This week it is eerily quiet, and a whole lot of work has gone into making it so. Our front door has a sign that says Patients only, no visitors and theres hand sanitiser at the door.

Everyone has quickly become obsessed with hand hygiene and I am working really hard not to reach out to hug or comfort people when they are upset.

The dialysis continues and the social support team is out and about, checking on people in hostels and town camps, delivering soap, washing powder, tissues and healthy food. There is a sense of quiet before a storm.

This week we published a video in language, in Pintupi. We produced it in 24 hours. It had no budget, but we got it made and we shared it widely to help our communities understand what is going on, what we all need to do, and why.

There was a rush as we got news last week that the borders were closing and communities would be locked down. The rush was to get as many dialysis patients and their families back out bush where there is currently no virus. This becomes more complicated when you need dialysis three times a week to stay alive.

There is a lot of confusion out there.

How do we replace nurses when they are exhausted and support them from a distance? How do we relieve them given the quarantining regulations? When will our nurses who are overseas be able to return to us, and how can we possibly recruit staff at this time?

Do we have enough medical supplies? When will our orders of face masks and other protective equipment be supplied?

What will happen if or when there is a positive case in a community and the flying doctors and hospitals are so overwhelmed that we are told that we need to just try to do the very best we can for people?

There is distrust of the government based on generations of botched policies and draconian measures. The restrictions on social gatherings, on funerals, on meetings have turned communities upside down.

And when people ask us How long? we cant answer.

But there are also stories of incredible kindness and hope. Our isolation gives us a little more time to prepare than the big cities. Families and communities are working together to look after each other, to prepare as best they can, to minimise their risks andensure that old people, people with disability and children get priority.

Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations are meeting almost every day by phone to compare notes, share resources and knowledge.

What happens in the rest of the country affects us heavily. People who can stay home, please stay home! Do it for yourselves, but do it for us too.

This virus knows no boundaries in terms of wealth, status, language or education. But for those less able to cope with its impact, it will be devastating.

People in remote communities who have the least resources to deal with this are doing their bit. Can you help?

Sarah Brown is the chief executive of Purple House, the Aboriginal community-controlled dialysis service based in Alice Springs, which operates 18 remote clinics and a mobile dialysis unit called the Purple Truck

Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing.

Read the original:
What happens in the rest of Australia matters here. Please stay home for yourselves and for us - The Guardian