Coronavirus Briefing: Bend but don’t break, collateral damage and what’s beyond the rainbow

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CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair… ” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859. Sound familiar? In a world of equal parts fear and hope, of maddeningly shapeshifting realities and constantly changing advice, we seek a calm center. Today’s Coronavirus Briefing is 1,332 words and will take you six minutes to read. * Haymarket Media is changing the schedule of the Coronavirus Briefing to three days a week from next week, publishing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – so look out for your next briefing on Tuesday. Top news
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first deaths from coronavirus in the U.S. occurred not in Washington State on February 29 as previously reported, but in California on February 6 and 17. And researchers at Northeastern University told The New York Times hidden outbreaks likely occurred in New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle before any cases were officially reported. An expert panel for The National Institutes of Health issued guidelines for management of COVID-19 infections, a “living document” to be regularly updated. The guidelines note that no drug is yet proven to be safe and effective in treating the disease. Outbreaks of coronavirus infection have shut down operations at several meat processing plants across the U.S., at least temporarily. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said plants must find a way to stay open to sustain food supply — and farmers. That will also mean finding a way to protect workers, who often carve meat standing side by side. The “last cruise ship on Earth,” the MSC Magnifica, docked in France this week, ending a journey that began on January 5 in Italy. The world cruise, scheduled to last 117 days, was actually cut short, but the itinerary went south, literally, when the ship reached Australia. Nothing to do but head home, no port in this storm. Miraculously, there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the 1,700 passengers and nearly 1,000 crew. Glimmer of light: The first human trial of a coronavirus vaccine in Europe began this week in Oxford, U.K. The first human vaccine trial in the U.S. launched in mid-March.
The Takeaway:
Tracking the pandemic and its impact on our lives is a moving target if there ever was one. Feeling motion sickness, anyone?
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Bend but don’t break
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Eight focus groups with healthcare professionals produced a list of eight sources of pandemic anxiety, according to Infectious Disease Advisor. Concerns range from access to personal protective equipment and availability of child care to the medical attention they will need should they become ill. More than 40% of doctors in the U.K. say they are experiencing burnout and depression, reports GP. Most feel well supported by their colleagues and managers but they do not have confidence in the government’s ability to do the right thing. Psychiatry Advisor notes that the combination of social isolation and a steep economic downturn threaten to worsen the suicide rate, which rose in the US by 35% from 1999 to 2018. Mental wellness has plunged 37% since the pandemic began, reports Oliver McAteer in Campaign U.S. To counter loneliness and isolation, MTV, Comedy Central and ViacomCBS, in partnership with the Ad Council, launched AloneTogether.com. Its messages: Stay home, stay calm, stay connected and stay active. The site offers links to mental health resources. Strategies employers can use to help working parents avoid burnout during the lockdown come from Helen Letchfield in People Management. Rather than trying to have WFH folks log standard hours, “the focus must shift to judging people on their output and the quality of the work they’re producing, instead of when and how long they took to produce it.”
The Takeaway:
Let’s never forget the world of difference between those who are fighting real fever in the hospitals and those of us fighting cabin fever at home. A tale of two cities of the human soul.
Collateral damage
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For non-COVID patients seeking regular medical care, the ride-hailing company Ola is offering transportation to medical visits in 15 cities in India, reports Autocar India. The service takes patients to scheduled check-ups, dialysis sessions and chemotherapy treatments, as well as getting them immediate care for injuries. According to Monthly Prescribing Reference, calls to poison control centers for mishaps related to cleaning and disinfectant products are up significantly in 2020. In one case, a woman began wheezing after using a mixture of 10% bleach solution, vinegar and hot water to soak her produce. A preschooler ingested ethanol-based hand sanitizer and ended up in the pediatric intensive care unit with a spiked blood alcohol level — kids under five are most vulnerable to these toxic events. How can healthcare teams provide the best possible care for the sickest patients in the intensive care unit while not getting sick themselves? Infectious Disease Advisor’s Zahra Masoud shares best practices guidelines put together by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. With scads of packages being delivered to homes these days, porch pirates are on the prowl once again. One solution: Instruct the delivery driver to leave the package in a less than obvious location — at a back door, or behind a gate or shrubbery.
The Takeaway:
The coronavirus earthquake is producing its very own aftershocks, requiring vigilance and ingenuity on our part.
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Beyond the pandemic, whenever we get there
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COVID-19 is a “giant dress rehearsal” for all that comes next, INSEAD professor Gianpiero Petriglieri told People Management: “We have been sitting around talking about the future of work for the past 10 years. We had two assumptions: that it would arrive progressively and would be driven by AI. But it turns out it wasn’t the robots but the virus that accelerated things.” Telemedicine has also been around for decades but hasn’t caught on — until now. In Renal & Urology News, Dr. Neil Baum of Tulane University asserts that telemedicine “is assuming tsunami-like growth and has reached the critical mass where patients will expect that their provider will be able to conduct a virtual visit. Practices that don’t offer telemedicine will find that patients will seek out a provider who does.” COVID-19 has changed the public relations industry forever, just has it has changed business and life in general, notes Steve Barrett of PRWeek U.S. The future includes “an increase in remote working; smaller inner-city head offices; even more focus on smart, nimble digital work; and less travel.” Air travel will come back but will be different in a reopened, reimagined economy. Among the steps airlines are considering: fogging cabins with disinfectant, restricting food service, blocking out middle seats and running flights with fewer passengers. Another possibility: federally administered “immunity passports.” One day there could even be COVID-19 detection dogs at airports to rapidly identify people who are carrying the virus along with their luggage — “to help prevent the re-emergence of disease after we have brought the present epidemic under control.” We may need to rethink the idea of herding older folks into senior communities, reports McKnight’s Senior Living. Segregating people by age may not be wise, a lesson the current pandemic has imparted with unmitigated cruelty.
The Takeaway:
We have a chance to make the new normal a better normal. Let’s not blow it.
Take a weekend break with art, dance and music
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Go cartooning through the coronavirus with Politico’s Matt Wuerker, who has come up with the gloriously named Pirates of the Pandemic. You might not be able to move like Jagger but you can dance like a Rockette. The famed Radio City Music Hall troupe is hosting dance classes every Thursday at noon Eastern Time, and fitness classes every Tuesday at noon, all on Instagram. Listen to “The Sound of Silence” by Pentatonix. Go with Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole “Over the Rainbow,” where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops.
Have a restful weekend and stay safe out there.