BY SANDRA GUY

DePaul will require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 when the 2021-22 academic year begins, starting with Immersion week Aug. 30 and when classes begin Sept. 8. 

The requirement covers all undergraduate, graduate and professional students in all degree programs starting in the fall 2021 term. Students need to submit proof of vaccination through Campus Connect.

​Watch the COVID-19 website for updates as the nation deals with the delta and lambda variants. A study published July 20 said the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is much less effective against the variants than the original virus. The findings add to evidence that 13 million people inoculated with the J&J vaccine may need to get a second dose, ideally a vaccine made by Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech.

Non-compliance with the vaccination mandate may result in the university placing a registration hold, so carefully review the terms of the mandate.​

The university intends to maintain mask-wearing, hand sanitizer stations, enhanced cleaning practices and the expansion of on-campus testing.  Fully vaccinated stuudents who are on campus will be highly encouraged—though not required—to wear a face mask indoors. Those who are not fully vaccinated are expected to wear a mask at all times.

People may respectfully ask others to wear a mask, for example when they are in a crowded setting or close proximity.

“We ask that everyone be mindful of others’ circumstances and respect their choices,” the university policy says.

Testing will be accessible to all students, though specific plans are still being determined.

“A DePaul-specific contact tracing team has been put in place,” according to the university statement. “This team has been trained by Johns Hopkins University on contact tracing, and on DePaul specific protocols and procedures.”

As for housing, plans call for the return to pre-pandemic levels of occupancy in all residential halls in both the Lincoln Park and Loop campuses. Students living on campus in the fall quarter will be living together with other DePaul students as roommates and suitemates.

DePaul also plans to set aside some residential units for student quarantine if necessary.

BY SANDRA GUY

Now that we’re cleaning out our COVID-19 closets and enjoying a fresh restart, it’s time to organize our freezers and fill them with budget-friendly, make-ahead recipes.

Before you leap into the recipes, you’ll feel better if you’re super organized and have a place to put those to-go meals. Set aside containers and freezer labels so you can date each container and label its contents. Make sure you’ve done your homework about how long the ingredients can stay safe.

Now for the recipes. For those who are also newly watching their weight — working to fit into new, svelte work clothes instead of pajamas and sweats — start with vegetables and seafood.

Figure out the details. If brown apple slices turn you off, you can dip the fresh apples, peaches, nectarines and other fruits in a wash of three tablespoons of lemon juice to every quart of water to prevent discoloration.

Place fruit on a parchment or a wax paper-lined pan before you freeze it, and avoid overcrowding so the pieces don’t stick together. Once the fruit is frozen, remove from the pan and store in freezer bags. Label and date the bags, since the fruit is best used within three months.

The fruit can work delightfully well with crab cakes for a healthy summer treat.

If you feel more indulgent, perhaps on a rainy day in July, you can unfreeze ingredients for mouthwatering meals of turkey tostadas, French cassoulet, fiesta chicken and carrot ginger soup.

And if you’re a fan of hearty meals for splurging, there’s always pizza, lasagna, meatloaf, beef stew, pork roast, shepherd’s pie and pork burritos.

BY SANDRA GUY

A busy new mom learns quickly how to take a four-minute shower, so she has no time to whip up elaborate meals.

Yet she must keep up her energy and calcium levels by eating 450 to 500 extra calories daily, or about 2,500 total, and focus on supplements such as Vitamins A, C, D and B complex, as well as zinc, elderberry and probiotics, health experts say.

If she’s breastfeeding, she should also focus on essential nutrients such as calcium, folic acid, iodine, iron and DHA — docosahexaenoic acid, a type of omega-3 fat.

It’s also important to eat fruits and vegetables and whole grains such as oats, brown rice and cereals and breads labelled ‘whole grain,’ ‘whole meal’ or ‘whole wheat.’

You need lean protein, too. The best sources comprise eggs, fish, lentils, chicken and lean beef, as well as healthy fats found in nuts, seeds, avocados and oily fish such as salmon or mackerel.

Other highly recommended foods are the good-for-you standards, including eggs, milk, almonds, asparagus, ginger, berries, salmon, kale or spinach, sweet potatoes, oatmeal to keep iron levels at optimal levels, and whole-wheat pasta for its high levels of iron and fiber.

BY SANDRA GUY

The latest trends in fashions, family time, home cooking and workplace flexibility look amazingly like the 1970s with a modern twist — and they may never be the same post-COVID. So why not consider old-is-new-again outdoor activities just in time for summer?

One of the best — and I can attest that I saw a young woman flying alongside her boyfriend’s bike doing this just last week — is inline skating.

Inline skating can be a great cardio and strength-building workout. You burn nearly as many calories on skates as you do running. For a 125-pound person, you can expend 210 calories inline skating for 30 minutes, versus 240 calories running 12-minute miles in the same time period, according to Harvard Health Publications.

Inline skating requires that you push your legs to the side instead of back, which strengthens the outside of your glutes more than running does, health experts say. Skating also forces you to use your core differently than you do when running because you have to hold onto your balance when you’re on wheels.

Other outdoor activities that can keep you moving — as long as you adhere to safety precautions and get proper training or supervision where needed — include:

• Practice your skills at a golf range or a batting cage, with the idea that yes, you may embarrass yourself.
• Fly a kite. Yes, a real kite. Run with it – but watch where you’re going if you’re in tight space.
• Paddle Boarding – Get ready for a super core exercise that requires balance and works your arms and torso. It can also be a perfect couple’s workout for a day date at a local lake or river.
• Rent a kayak for the afternoon for a tough upper-body and torso workout. Watch the original “Hawaii Five-O” intro video on YouTube for inspiration — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBk0BwzatHU — and give it all you’ve got.
• If water seems too risky, try miniature golf. It’s a nice stroll that will strengthen your depth perception — and let you practice your patience with yourself.
• Visit a zoo — Learn the latest in animal conservation while getting your 1,000 steps chalked up for the day.
• Go geocaching. Dive into real-life treasure hunting led by GPS. You can take a friend to work as a team to navigate coordinates. Here’s how it works: Download the Geocaching app and look for a set of GPS coordinates in your area. Once you’re in the right location, seek the hidden geocache container with a prize inside.
• Go on a historical walking tour. You’ll learn fascinating details while moving and breathing fresh air. Then you can act as the tour guide next time your friends and family visit.

And finally, check recommendations in the local newspaper or community calendar for summer outdoor dance, yoga and other workout occasions. How much fun will it be to learn new moves in the grass, the sand or the outdoor dance floor?

BY SANDRA GUY

Be sure to read the details of DePaul University’s COVID vaccination requirement for Fall 2021 enrollment to ensure you have had doses from approved manufacturers — and if not, that you contact the admissions office.

DePaul is among 400 U.S. colleges and universities that will require students to be immunized against COVID-19, but American students appear to have an easier time in meeting the rules. That’s because students must have had two doses from Pfizer 21 days apart; two doses from Moderna 28 days apart or one dose from Johnson & Johnson. They’re three of eight vaccines that the World Health Organization (WHO) has authorized.

Others that will meet DePaul’s rules are AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Serum Institute of India-COVISHIELD.

DePaul, like most other U.S. colleges and universities for the past few decades, also requires that students provide proof they’ve been vaccinated against viral diseases like mumps, measles, rubella, tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis and meningococcal conjugate. To view your immunization status and submit documents, use your BlueKey information to log in to Campus Connect.

You may use the DePaul University Immunization Form to ask your doctor or other healthcare provider to complete and sign.

If you cannot locate your immunization records, the final step is to take a blood test called a titer test that can determine whether you have sufficient antibodies to be “sufficiently immune” to a disease. If your lab results are negative or equivocal, you will have to start a series of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccinations that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires for children.

Though COVID has caused people to believe that vaccinations are unusual, these modern childhood vaccinations have been required at least since the 1970s and laws requiring vaccination for school entry were upheld by the U.S Supreme Court in 1922.

Meanwhile, students taking summer classes at DePaul University are encouraged to wear masks, with those still unvaccinated required to do so, and must continue to maintain six-foot physical distancing in reduced-capacity classrooms.

BY SANDRA GUY

It’s time to stop fearing bees — or at least gain a new appreciation for their life-affirming honey and other byproducts.

As climate change takes top priority, bees’ role in pollinating plants and crops grows ever more critical. Few of us learned in school the long-term repercussions of bees’ function.

In fact, bees pollinate almost 90 percent of the flowering plants and 70 percent of the world’s major crops, according to the Climate Institute, based in Washington, D.C., and considered the first non-governmental entity dedicated to addressing climate change.

Yet bees are vanishing. Your chances of seeing a bumblebee anywhere in North America is half that of 47 years ago. Why?

Climate change, excessive use of pesticides, and loss of habitat are among the top reasons.

The damage threatens to endanger nutritious crops such as nuts, fruits and vegetables and put an undue emphasis on high-carb foods such as rice, corn and potatoes.

Besides food, bees contribute to producing certain fibers, medicines, biofuels, construction materials and beeswax for candles. Farm animals get their forage because of bees.

The loss also would hurt the resin found inside beehives — called propolis — that comes from the sap on evergreens or other trees with needles. Bees combine the sap with beeswax and their own discharges to create the sticky propolis. They use propolis to coat their hives as they build them.

Propolis contains a compound called pinocembrin, a flavonoid that acts as an antifungal. These anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties make propolis helpful in wound healing. And, though research is scant, it’s believed that propolis may be helpful in speeding healing time and reduce symptoms in cold sores and sores from genital herpes.

Bees also are providing hope to underrepresented neighborhoods and people seeking to turn around their lives. Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a non-profit in Chicago that produces beelove, a line of honey-based products made by people who’ve served time in jail.

As one former inmate told the Chicago Sun-Times: “It was a good transition for me to see how handmade, natural products are made; it was a good experience for me because I learned a lot about myself being productive and having a job. I took all the advice they gave me and just applied it to my thinking so I can move forward.”

The honey, along with other products such as body lotion, shower gel, and lip balm are available online.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Everyone can take steps to give bees a welcome space. These can be as simple as leaving part of your lawn unmowed so bees can enjoy the clover and dandelions; and substitute bee-friendly products instead of using herbicides and pesticides.

And besides, empowering yourself and bees will feel beatific.

BY SANDRA GUY

Now that outdoor temperatures are moving into the 80s from the low 60s, it’s time for the drink that refreshes. No, not that one – it’s iced tea.

Yes, the drink that harkens to carefree days rocking or swinging on the front porch.

Now that we’re in the almost-post-COVID era of digging up old recipes or inventing new ones, it’s time to hang onto our infatuation with the kitchen and create new tea flavors. And besides, June is National Iced Tea Month.

The key ingredients remain: Two or three tea bags, a pan in which to boil water, and a sweetener or a sugar substitute. You’ll want to let the tea bags steep in the boiling water for eight to 10 minutes before you let stand and then refrigerate or pour over iced cubes.

Add in a flavorful zing while the tea is hot.

Let your imagination and taste buds take over. Here are a few suggestions:

• Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol, granular
• Lemon and fresh basil leaves
• Raw honey
• Coconut water and one-half lime
• A pitted and sliced peach
• Fresh blackberries
• Fresh mint

Challenge your friends and family to a contest, and see how many ways you can enjoy sugar-free iced tea this summer. What a great way to celebrate renewed get-togethers.

BY SANDRA GUY

The Chicago area is resplendent with recreational getaways, perfect for scenic hikes and walks.

But most are at least an hour’s drive and difficult to access via public transportation. Do your homework: Map out your route, read websites for COVID precautions and reservations, and check the difficulty of walking from a train station.

Enjoy taking those deep inhales at these sites:

• Lake County, Illinois, Forest Preserves’ Ryerson Woods. Explore nearly seven miles of wooded trails that snake past historic buildings, near the Des Plaines River. Take binoculars to pinpoint more than 150 bird species and 600 species of wildflowers and flowering plants.
• The Lakefront Trail. Why not trek past the magnificent Lake Michigan while taking in historically significant sites? The trail connects world-renowned sites such as Jackson Park and Garden of the Phoenix, Promontory Pointe, Northerly Island (formerly private airfield Meigs Field), Grant Park, Maggie Daley Park, Oak Street Beach, the Lincoln Park Zoo and Belmont Harbor.
• Illinois Prairie Path. This network of trails starts in west suburban Maywood and extends another 16 miles westward to Wheaton. Then the path splits into branches that extend to Aurora, Batavia, Elgin and Geneva.
• Des Plaines River Trail. Its last leg, completed in 1980, has turned this trail into a 31.5-mile dirt and gravel path.
• Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve. The 2,500-acre preserve surrounding Argonne National Laboratory features 11 miles of mapped trails shared by hikers, cyclists and horseback riders and some unmarked hiking trails, too.
• Marian R. Byrnes Park on Chicago’s far Southeast Side at 2200 E. 103^rd, stretches across 135 acres. You’ll see marsh, wet prairie, savanna and woodlands and you may just spot deer, frogs, turtles and eagles.
• Indiana Dunes State Park, a National Natural Landmark that’s an easy day trip away, extends over 2,000 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline. It’s known for sand dunes and hiking trails. Poet Carl Sandburg called the Indiana Dunes “to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona and Yosemite is to California.”
• Morten Arboretum requires COVID precautions, including time-entry passes and tickets. Masks are required for everyone over age 2 in indoor areas. The North Branch Trail System offers paved and unpaved trails, as well as trail loops that run through ecological restoration sites. See https://www.mortonarb.org/visit-explore/plan-visit/admission-and-hours

Take the necessary precautions and provisions, and enjoy moving, breathing and spotting magnificent wildlife — a proven way to boost your spirits.

BY SANDRA GUY

Allergy sufferers who’ve had to abstain from milk and dairy since infancy know they face a big challenge maintaining bone health.

So during June — recognized as Diary Month — it’s a perfect time for people allergic to dairy products to find bone-boosting supplements they can tolerate. After all, nearly every cell in your body needs calcium to thrive.

The dilemma: How can Vitamins A, B12, C and K work with a restricted diet?

Be cautious as you explore this issue. Beware that dietary supplement makers voluntarily regulate themselves. So take these precautions:

• Check the ingredients label for the specific food allergen and its derivative names. Some vitamin labels include information on common allergens, even though the manufacturers are not required to list this information.
• Look for the USP seal. The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is a non-profit organization that has established standards of quality for prescription and nonprescription drugs. Using vitamins and other supplements with the USP seal indicates some quality of control and verification of safety from contaminants.
• Follow the dosage directions. You or your child probably don’t need more than the recommended daily dose, which typically reflects 100 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), unless your doctor has prescribed a different dose due to a concerning deficiency.
• Discuss supplements with your doctor and registered dietitian.

Above all, make a habit of incorporating calcium-rich foods in your diet. These may include:

• Canned sardines. Check the label to be sure they’re canned in oil, bones included.
• Fortified orange juice. Check the label; not all orange juice is fortified with calcium.
• Tofu made with calcium sulfate.
• Fortified cereals and English muffins. Check the label; many popular ready-to-eat breakfast cereals and English muffins come with a healthy dose of added calcium.
• Turnip and collard greens and kale all pack a calcium-rich punch.
• Garbanzo, kidney, navy and even canned baked beans provide calcium; boiled green soybeans are another good option.
• Veggies like cooked broccoli, Chinese cabbage, edamame and acorn squash.
• Papaya, dried figs and oranges.

People’s risks for calcium deficiency vary. Research has shown that adolescent girls — especially athletes — as well as women, people who are lactose intolerant or have a dairy allergy, and the elderly should closely monitor their calcium levels.

BY SANDRA GUY

A pandemic year’s experience could make anyone’s hair turn gray — or make you feel as though you could pull every hair out of your head.

Is it time to get help? The month of May — recognized for the past 72 years as Mental Health Awareness Month — offers the perfect time to try a “Tools 2 Thrive” assessment and to research professional resources to figure out your situation.

One tool — MHAscreening.org — offers online quizzes to gauge your level of anxiety, depression and other feelings.

If your efforts at exercising, meditating, praying and other coping mechanisms have done little to assuage your fears or anxieties or outright obsessions, experts say you should contact a mental health professional.

Do your thoughts interfere with your life? Are you neglecting yourself or others? Has your appetite, sleep patterns and/or emotional reactions changed dramatically during COVID? Do you feel worthless, irritable or even euphoric, and you know that you’re ignoring what’s really eating you?

Perhaps you’ve been taught that seeking help is a sign of weakness or a waste of time and money. In fact, it’s the opposite, experts say. It’s the most important step you can take to regain joy, meaning and vital relationships.

No pill will instantly change your life. It’s work — hard work, emotionally draining and, yes, sometimes frustrating. It’s worth it.