Northwood News ♦ February 2022

President’s Message

By Linda Perlman

It has been two long years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and COVID case rates and hospitalizations still are high.  Fortunately, mask requirements, along with COVID vaccines and vaccine boosters, have proved effective in preventing, or at least lessening the severity of, COVID infections.  I am vaccinated and boostered and wear a mask in public indoor places.

I picked up free COVID Antigen Rapid At-Home Self-Tests from a Montgomery County Public Library.  If I need more rapid self-tests, then my health insurer will reimburse my claim for the costs of COVID rapid tests bought after 15 January.  That should be true for your health insurer as well.  More accurate PCR tests are available from multiple sources, although you must wait for the test results.

I am immunocompromised, so I do not take unnecessary risks.  However, I have resumed most normal activities and go out to stores and restaurants (outdoor dining is strongly preferred).

In October 2021, I also traveled, with my partner, to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and Sedona.  The vastness and colors of the Grand Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona are simply awe-inspiring.  Of course, my partner and I wore masks whenever we were inside, even as most other people went maskless.  Later this month I am traveling, by plane, to sunny Florida to visit my best friend from childhood who winters in a Miami Beach oceanside apartment.

I am training to become certified as a volunteer tax counselor to be able to prepare income tax returns for seniors and low-income persons through the Montgomery County AARP Tax Aide Program.  There is a lot of material to learn, and I must pass IRS and Maryland certification tests to qualify as a tax preparer.  Fortunately, all volunteer-prepared tax returns are reviewed for quality control by a second tax preparer before final tax returns are prepared and filed.

Our Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association meetings have been conducted remotely via Zoom since April 2020.  In-person meetings and other civic association events will resume when the worst of the pandemic is over and it is generally considered safe to resume in-person meetings.

The 8 December 2021 NFCCA meeting featured presentations on community safety from two Montgomery County Police Officers for the 3rd (Silver Spring) district:  Joy Bartholomew, Community Services Officer, and Craig Cupaiuolo, Neighborhood Traffic Enforcement.  You can reach the Community Services Officer at 240.773.6817 or .6818, email 3DCommunity@montgomerycountymd.gov, and traffic enforcement at the main 3rd District phone number:  240.773.6800.  Of course, in case of emergency, call 911.

The next NFCCA meeting will be on Wednesday, 9 February 2022, at 7:30 p.m.  The Zoom link for this meeting will be publicized via the NFCCA Groups.io listserv and Nextdoor/Northwood-Four Corners and will be available on the home page of the NFCCA website at www.nfcca.org.  All residents of the Northwood-Four Corners-Forest Knolls area are encouraged to attend this virtual meeting.

If you are not already a member of the NFCCA, please pay your dues ($10 per household, per year) to support civic association activities, including this newsletter.  See Page 11 to check your status.

Our 9 February NFCCA Zoom meeting will have speakers about the Anacostia River and our Northwest Branch stream and trail, part of Anacostia River watershed.  See the article on the “bandalong” trash trap recently installed in Lockridge Creek (see story here).  I hope to “see” all of you at this meeting.   ■