Dennis Prager, the Jewish columnist who evinces so many Christian principles, wrote a column last week with suggestions for home-bound people during the coronavirus scare.

These common sense ideas are worth repeating.

Here are some of the things he suggested:

Watch less news. Interview and opinion shows on TV and talk radio shows that add to one’s understanding of the situation can be valuable. But watching depressing, panic-inducing news about COVID-19 24/7 will only make you jittery, anxious and depressed. It’s good for the news networks’ ratings, but it’s bad for your mental health.

Instead, you can read, talk to friends, watch movies, learn a language, listen to music, start a journal, walk outside, garden or engage in hobbies. Do that project you’ve never had time to get to. In short, don’t preoccupy yourself with the virus. My wife and I watched a James Bond movie a few nights ago, and I loved the total escape it provided. And I’m getting more work done on the third volume of my Torah commentary (“The Rational Bible”) than I could have under normal circumstances.

Make sure to stay in touch via phone or video with anyone you know to be alone. For such people, social isolation is close to being in solitary confinement. After two weeks of you and them remaining asymptomatic, I would also suggest visiting such people or having them visit you. Being alone for weeks is likely to be much more hazardous to a person’s health than the relatively small possibility of contracting, let alone dying from, the new coronavirus.

Decide to be happy. As Lincoln said, “We are as happy as we decide to be.” You owe it to those living under house arrest with you – in fact, you are morally obligated.

If you have kids at home -- from as early as fifth grade through graduate school -- watch PragerU videos with them. They are all just five minutes long, highly educational and very entertaining. Professors from major universities of the Western world, four Pulitzer Prize winners, three former prime ministers and some of the finest minds in the world offer these courses. There are 400 such videos. They will engender spirited discussion and take your mind off the virus and quarantine. They are all free, so I have no hesitation recommending something I am affiliated with.

Order Meals From Restaurants

Order as many meals as possible from local restaurants. Most Americans will get their food from supermarkets. If you can afford it -- and I suspect most readers of this column can -- try to get most of your meals from a local restaurant through takeout orders. We need to do everything possible to keep local restaurants in business.

Order online items. During this quarantine, Americans are purchasing more and more items through the internet. Try to order from vendors other than Amazon as much as possible. The purpose is not to hurt Amazon; Amazon is a remarkable company. The purpose is to keep as many internet vendors in business as possible. It takes only an additional minute or two to order from another site.

Don’t look to food for too much comfort. As it is, most people will be moving around far less than normal. When that is added to a lot of junk food, the results will not be pretty. It’s been reported that sales of cookies and chips have gone up significantly in the last few weeks. The last thing you want to do now is weaken your immune system. Eat as healthy as you can. Getting some exercise is also important. Going for a walk every day is a good place to start. King Solomon, the story goes, asked his wise men (in the ancient world, they emphasized wisdom; people today emphasize knowledge) to make him a magic ring. This ring would lift up his spirits if he got depressed and bring him back down to earth if he got euphoric. The wise men returned with a ring in which the Hebrew words “gam zu ya’avor” were inscribed: “This, too, shall pass.” Keep in mind that this awful period will pass. The human psyche is programmed to think that whatever is happening now -- happy or sad -- will go on indefinitely.

Nothing does.

Something that concerns us with the national scene is the blame ganging the left is attempting on the president.

The leftists accuse the president of treachery and attempt to undermine everything he is attempting to allow the nation to withstand this China-caused plague (who can say if it was intentional or not?) and come out healthy.

We have heard a term, transference, which we think has a psychological application – accusing your opponents of the things you would do if you were in their position.

It appears the leftist leaders are willing to destroy the American economy and an historically-proven value system in order to bring down a president they hate because they can’t control him.

We shudder to think of a nation with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and the others in the leftist cabal calling the shots for America.

Pat Buchanan, another columnist whose common sense approach we admire, asks the question, “Must we kill the economy to kill the virus?” adding:

“At some point, the country is going to have to open up the supply chains and take the risks to let the market work to provide food – or people will engage in panic buying, hoarding and using any means to get what they need for themselves and their families.

“Reports of folks in this heavily armed nation stocking up on guns and ammunition suggest a widespread apprehension of what may be coming.

“If the medical crisis is allowed to induce an economic crisis that leads to a social crisis, the American political system, our democratic system, may itself be severely tested.”

An example of the left’s obstruction:

The Senate had a $1.6 trillion Wuhan coronavirus bailout package that Democrats co-wrote a weekend ago.

Columnist Matt Vespa says it is obvious why the left then stalled the program: to tank the markets, to resist President Trump.

He quotes Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) who said the plan behind the bailout package filibuster was to shift the economic agenda more to the progressive left’s vision.

Speaker Pelosi, who came back to Washington after a week long recess and blew up days of emergency relief work done by the Senate, said she wanted to write her own bill.

Columnist Katie Pavlich cited a source who said the left’s demands included the following:

-Publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards

-A bailout on all current debt at the Postal Service

-Required early voting

-Required same day voter registration

-Provisions on official time for union collective bargaining -Full offset of airline

-Full offset of airline emissions by 2025

-Publication and reporting of greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights

-Retirement plans for community newspaper employees

-Federal $15 minimum wage

-Permanent paid leave

-Study on climate change mitigation efforts

The provisions will apply to the companies and business rescued by the bill.