We take countless steps to make sure home is a place where we can feel safe and comfortable. There are locks for windows and doors, indoor and outdoor lights, clean air filters and many other measures.

That is why it may come as a surprise to learn about a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers, and the No. 2 cause altogether after smoking.

Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the decay of underground uranium. It slowly moves through bedrock and into soil, eventually entering buildings. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, lung cancer caused by radon exposure claims the lives of approximately 21,000 Americans every year.

January is Radon Action Month, and the first month of the year starts with this very significant health topic. Radon is especially important to spread awareness of due to its stealthy nature.

This issue hits close to home in Morgantown, as about 1 in 5 homes are determined to have high radon (levels of 4pCi/L or higher), compared to 1 in 15 nationwide. Luckily, there are steps you can take to limit your exposure.

The first and most important step is to get your house tested. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends that all potential and current homeowners get their houses tested. It is a simple process that could ensure your safety. 

Monongalia County Health Department’s Environmental Health has a certified radon inspector who will set up a monitor in your home in the lowest livable space, such as a basement. Then monitor is left to run for 48 hours before being retrieved. Once the monitor is picked up, the data is downloaded to form a report of the results. 

If it is found that your house has potentially harmful levels of radon, there are ways you can reduce its concentration. The EPA generally suggests installing more ventilation in basements, and also adding fans. This combination limits a structure’s suction on soil beneath foundations and dilutes radon in the soil. 

There are also radon mitigation systems that you can install. And if you are building a new home, you can make sure that it is designed with the correct ventilation to make it safer from radon from the beginning.

For a comprehensive breakdown on home radon reduction, click here.

It’s always best to contact professionals for high radon levels. Be sure to seal any cracks and openings in your basement. Radon can seep through small openings. And if you are in the process of installing radon venting systems, opening basement windows for circulation can make for a safer work environment.

You can visit MCHD’s page on radon for testing information or to make an appointment, which also can be done by calling 304-598-5131.

We do a lot to make sure our homes are safe. Radon testing should be right up there in importance. With some testing, and a few key steps, you can make sure your home is safe for the duration.

Many may agree that 2020 has not been the best year. If there’s one thing it has shown us, it is that we need to be healthier. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that COVID-19 is more likely to be severe in those with diabetes or are clinically overweight and obese. 

According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, West Virginia ranks second highest in poor or fair general adult health. A 2018 survey found that almost 40% of adults in the state are obese, the highest rate in the nation. WV consistently ranks among the top lists in states regarded as having poor overall health.

These are alarming statistics. The context behind our health seems even worse considering the fact that all of these issues are preventable. 

So as we round the corner on 2020, let us take the opportunity to get our personal health under control for the next year. There is never a bad time to start making healthier life choices, and it definitely does not have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor. Gradually transitioning can greatly increase your chances of achieving health goals, and establishing long-lasting change.

2021 is perhaps the most important year to stick to those New Year’s resolutions. And if you get prepared now, you will undoubtedly thank yourself in the future.

The CDC and many other organizations rally around a few concrete steps that are guaranteed to improve your quality of life. 

The first thing you can do is eat a healthier diet. Dietary trends and buzzwords often make good nutrition and weight loss convoluted. In reality, making healthier choices in what you eat is not all that difficult. 

If weight loss is your goal, the most important thing to do is ensure that you are in a calorie deficit. All this means is that you burn more calories than you take in per day. Now this does not mean that you can eat whatever you want and stay under a certain calorie threshold, because eating unfulfilling and calorie-dense food almost certainly will lead to failure.

It is important to choose foods high in protein and low in fat. Protein will keep you fuller longer, and high fat foods also tend to be high in calories. If you find a lot of food choices that are low in calories, you may find yourself eating more than you used to but still staying under your calorie limit. It’s really that simple.

Aim to have a well-rounded diet with colorful foods, high fiber, high protein, low sodium and healthy fats. The CDC offers numerous tips for achieving better overall nutrition and dieting.

The next step is to be physically active. Regular physical activity reduces your risk of chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. This is especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, because these preexisting conditions as well as obesity put you at greater risk of severe illness.

Cardiovascular exercise is the most important. Activities that increase your heart rate and breathing train your most essential muscle. Some examples include walking, running, biking and hiking. It is also worth noting that cardiovascular exercise burns the highest number of calories, making that calorie deficit a breeze. 

Obviously, the pandemic has made working out tricky for some. But if outdoor activities are not available for you, and on days that are too cold to spend much time outside, there are other options. One of them is YouTube, which offers a tremendous amount of workout content. Conveniently, you can tailor a workout to your fitness level, the amount of time you'd like to partake in it and also the type of exercise that might appeal to you. 

The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of exercise per week for adults. Ease your way into it. You don’t have to start out running a 5k every day. Start small, and gradually build up intensity by challenging yourself to more each time. For an overview of types of exercise, click here.

One last sure-fire step is to drink more water. Up to 60% of the human body is water. It is an absolutely essential resource for regulating bodily functions and keeping yourself in good health. Limit sugary beverages as much as possible. Higher sugar consumption is linked to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and many other health problems. 

Proper hydration goes right along with the first two steps. Water in between meals can make you feel fuller, and it is critical to drink when you are physically active. The Mayo Clinic recommends drinking about 15.5 cups per day for men, and 11.5 for women.

2020 may have you down in the dumps, but a new year presents a new opportunity to bounce back. The most rewarding part of better health is looking back to where you came from. The time to take control of your health is now, so plan for action and plan to succeed. If you are already on this journey, keep going. There is always room for improvement. Let’s make 2021 the year we truly take care of ourselves.

Joni Mitchell sang it best in her melancholy Christmas-themed song, “River.”

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on.

Of course, Mitchell was singing about a broken relationship. These days, many of might wish to skate away for other reasons: the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire to get away from home for a bit and to see relatives. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 didn’t take into account that the end-of-the-year holidays have arrived. Instead, on Tuesday, West Virginia reported a record 42 deaths. Nine of those who died from COVID-19 lived in Monongalia County; six of them in neighboring Preston County.

The country, the state and the county are experiencing the longest surge of the pandemic. Cases have been on the rise since October, and Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations did not help.

Monongalia County currently has 1,600 active COVID cases. That’s a little more than a third of all cases reported in Monongalia County — 4,778 — since March.

Knowing that, we are now faced with Christmas’ arrival on Friday. And reportedly, air travel this past weekend broke previous records. 

Even though some Americans began receiving COVID-19 vaccines last week, it’s still a small percentage of the population. (You can keep track of vaccine administration in West Virginia via the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ COVid-19 dashboard. 

Plus, those individuals will not experience the full protection the vaccine offers until weeks after the second doses are administered in January. 

So I spite of the vaccine, it appears that the pandemic going to get worse before it gets better.

But whatever your plans may be, there is still time to mitigate the situation and take as many precautions as possible.

Of course, the best-case scenario is to stay home and celebrate Christmas within your own household bubble.

But if you do attend a small gathering, here are tips to make it safer, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 

• Have conversations with the host ahead of time to understand expectations for celebrating together.
• Bring your own food, drinks, plates, cups, utensils and condiment packets.
• Wear a mask indoors and outdoors.
• Avoid shouting or singing.
• Avoid eating near others who are not a part of your household bubble.
• Stay home if you are sick or have been near someone who thinks they may have or have been exposed to COVID-19.
• It’s OK if you decide to stay home and remain apart from others. 

Here are some other things to consider:

• In general, the more closely you interact with others and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread.
• If you decide to engage in public activities, continue to protect yourself by practicing everyday preventive actions.
• Keep these items on hand when venturing out: a mask, tissues and hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

We know it’s sad not to see relatives during the holidays. One year, I had the flu during what ended up being my father’s next-to-last Christmas and so I stayed home to avoid infecting him. This year, I’ll be opening gifts on Zoom with my 85-year-old mother. It’s sad, but I’m glad to help keep her safe — and that the technology has improved in recent years to provide this option.

In one week, we will be staring down the end of 2020. It’s a year many are happy to leave behind. The new vaccines provide hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s only a light, and the days are still dark. So we must still take precautions for now.

Toys are a fundamental part of childhood. They stimulate learning and lead kids to develop fine motor skills. The sky is truly the limit in young imaginations, because good toys encourage even better creativity.

Playtime should be all fun and games, but parents and experts know that it might not always be that way. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, 174,100 children under the age of 15 visited the emergency room for toy-related injuries in 2016. That works out to 477 kids a day, and almost half of them were 5 years old or younger.

This sounds frightening, but there are some key steps you can take to keep toy safety in check.

1. Always consider your child’s age. With toys and games, read instructions and warning labels in order to find the ones best suited for your child. They can most often be found on the backs of boxes, or highlighted on the front.

2. Check the toy for any small parts or potential choking hazards. Small pieces that come with toys, like with action figures, can be dangerous for young kids. Games can come with similar hazards. Look for diagrams of the toy on boxes, and inspect them upon opening. 

3. Separate toys by age group. This is an important step not to overlook. Sometimes toys may seem safe, but are not recommended for the age group your child is in. Toys that are rated for older kids can pose risks for younger ages. Check boxes for age ratings. This is something that families with children in different age groups need to navigate to figure out how each child can play while remaining safe.

4. Use child-safe bins and containers to store toys. When playtime is over, store toys in bins that cannot be accessed by children. You can’t always supervise them, so taking this step can give you piece of mind in the off time.
​
5. Batteries. Batteries aren’t toys but you can’t address safety without going over how to keep kids’ safe when their items are often powered by batteries. Each year in the United States, more than 2,800 kids are treated in emergency rooms after swallowing button batteries. That's one child every three hours. The number of serious injuries or deaths as a result of button batteries has increased nine-fold in the last decade. Keep batteries out of reach of children. If you suspect your child has ingested a battery, go to the hospital immediately. Do not induce vomiting or have your child drink or eat something beforehand.

All of this leads up to perhaps the most important point: play with your kids! Children watch their parents all of the time, so they’ll be looking to you for guidance and inspiration. Show your kids how to play, but encourage them to discover their own ways too. 

You’ll not only know they are safe, but they will be able to learn with you. Get in the habit of checking instructions on boxes, and know that age rated toys are done so for good reason. There are so many toys out there, so practice these safety tips to keep playtime the best part of the day.

Welcome to the “In Between Days.” Not only is it a great song by the (optimistically named perhaps?) band The Cure, but it’s also what we are experiencing now as the COVID-19 pandemic nears its ninth month since officially arriving in West Virginia.

We’re in between major holidays and also in between finding out if all that airplane and car travel to grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving is resulting in a new COVID surge, which at this point would be a surge on top of a surge.

We’re in between the time when the messaging was “Stay home this Thanksgiving” to “Stay home this Christmas,” or, maybe better suited to that holiday, “This is not the time to attend seasonal parties.” In fact, just this Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked Americans to avoid traveling during the winter holiday season.

To that end, we’re also in a time that looks very bleak, with not only the number of COVID cases going up, but also hospitalizations and deaths. 

Remember in mid-July, four months into the pandemic, when West Virginia hit the first 100 COVID-related deaths and it was considered a grim milestone? In just the past five days, from Saturday to Wednesday, Dec. 9, 102 deaths have been reported. One man was 36; a woman whose death was reported a week ago was 25. Now we’re at 901 deaths and the rate does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

And as of today, Monongalia County is at 1,142 active COVID cases. That’s 30% of all of Monongalia County’s cases so far from the beginning of the pandemic, 3,796. 

These are dark days, indeed, not only figuratively, but in reality, as we await the winter solstice’s arrival in two weeks and then wait some more until we can really see the days growing lighter.

But there is also another approaching light on the horizon, in the form of COVID vaccines that as of now are waiting for emergency approval this week from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). 

While 2021 won’t bring an immediate fix, things should start getting better as vaccinations are rolled out in tiers, to health care workers, first responders and high-risk individuals and then the general public.

So we really are experiencing the In Between Days. We’ve made it to this point. We know pandemic fatigue has more than set in. And we just need to sit tight a little longer.

You know what that means. Wear your mask. Practice social distancing. And even though it hasn’t been mandated, consider honoring the colder, darker season and also being wary of the pandemic by staying home when you can. 

And, of course, wash your hands. It happens to be National Handwashing Awareness Week. So while that seems like such a small part of COVID-fighting implements, it’s an important one.

It hasn’t even been two centuries since it was discovered that handwashing was an important component in stopping the spread of infection and, therefore, deaths.

In 1846, Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian physician, noticed a higher rate of death in women giving birth in a doctor-run maternity ward compared to that of the one run by midwives. He investigated and learned that doctors were attending births right after performing autopsies. The death rate dropped dramatically after he instituted strict handwashing protocols.

In the following decade, during the Crimean War, nurse Florence Nightingale arrived and implemented thorough handwashing at a war hospital. Once again, the number of deaths plunged.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the 1980s when a series of foodborne outbreaks and other health-care associated deaths prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote hand hygiene more actively. 

​Because of advances in science, laboratories were able to roll out COVID vaccines in a record amount of time. And because of science, we also know that we have some tools in our toolbox that we can use during — and following — these In Between Days.