Welcome to our first Zoom meeting! We had good attendance using this new format, which will be utilized for at least the next month. Attendees included Charlie, Julie, Mary, John T, Frank, Joseph, Cynthia, Claire, and Jim Fusco. Hey, we could even bring John Souza on from FL using this platform!
Charlie sent out the Zoom info that will be used for the next several meetings, which will be at our regular meeting time of noon on Mondays.
Membership Update
No updates this week, but Charlie mentioned that he will screen-share Membership Videos at upcoming meetings.
General Topics
Flower Box project - Frank said he received a couple of sponsor checks, but also had at least one previous business decline to renew due to the current coronavirus business challenges. Frank and Mary will follow up on how to deposit the checks.
Rennie continues to work on the scholarship project and is looking forward to receiving applications.
Jim Fusco talked about the upcoming District Training. This will be held virtually over several evenings, from 7-9 pm. The good news is that now we will have the opportunity to attend each and every session if we like. Go to the Rotary site to register.
RYLA is still a go so far. Virtual planning meetings are set up, and you can register online to attend.
The Toastmasters visitor is on hold, but Charlie will consider inviting someone from the organization to attend a club meeting virtually as a guest speaker.
Frank suggested donating our regular Club lunch payments or the equivalent to a local charity as part of Rotary's Million Dollar Fund initiative. Please submit your charity recommendations to Charlie for consideration.
The Rotary International event in Hawaii has been cancelled.
The tentative new date for the Vocational Awards banquet is May 27, but this may change.
Coronavirus Facts & History
Coronavirus
Coronavirus refers to any of various RNA-containing spherical viruses of the family Coronaviridae, including several that cause acute respiratory illnesses.
Notable types of coronavirus are SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. COVID-19 is popularly referred to as coronavirus or corona for short. COVID-19 is referred to as the novel coronavirus because it is a new (novel) virus (i.e., it hasn’t been detected before). Novel coronavirus can be abbreviated as nCoV.
When looked at under a microscope, coronaviruses appear to be surrounded by a spiky array thought to look like a corona, or a crown-like shape, hence the name coronavirus.
COVID-19
COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus. The disease was discovered in China in December 2019 and has since spread around the world.
COVID is short for coronavirus disease. The number 19 refers to the fact that the disease was first detected in 2019.
The technical name of the virus that causes COVID-19 is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, abbreviated as SARS-CoV-2.
Flatten the curve
Flatten the curve means slowing the spread of an epidemic disease so that the capacity of the healthcare system doesn’t become overwhelmed. The curve represents the number of cases over time, and flattening that curve means preventing a huge surge of new cases in a very short period of time.
