onfocus

"All these infection events were indoors, with people closely-spaced, with lots of talking, singing, or yelling. The main sources for infection are home, workplace, public transport, social gatherings, and restaurants. This accounts for 90% of all transmission events. In contrast, outbreaks spread from shopping appear to be responsible for a small percentage of traced infections."

Great summary of which environments pose the greatest risk as states start to open again.

"With few exceptions, almost all of the SSEs took place indoors, where people tend to pack closer together in social situations, and where ventilation is poorer."

That’s it, indoors is cancelled.

“There’s a big difference in how people handle this virus,” says Robert Murphy, a professor of medicine and the director of the Center for Global Communicable Diseases at Northwestern University. “It’s very unusual. None of this variability really fits with any other diseases we’re used to dealing with.”

Another reminder that this isn’t like a flu.

"The answer is no. Until further notice—meaning, some significant developments in testing, manufacturing, infrastructure, and government coordination—you can assume the answer to any and all of the questions you think of in the “social distancing loopholes” genre is no."

With the nice weather and relatively successful social distancing program here in Oregon this message is getting harder to hear. I've been tempted by the let's just stay six feet apart siren song. But I think we should stay home as much as possible. 2020 says no. Can’t I please just visit one friend? No :(. Staying home saves lives.

A number of leading public health authorities, universities, and NGOs around the world have been doing important work to develop opt-in contact tracing technology. To further this cause, Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.

I'm extremely concerned about privacy related to these companies and I also think this is a great development. We're going to need to trade some privacy for safety to get society going again. Kottke had a neat comic explainer about how contact tracing works: How Privacy-Friendly Contact Tracing Can Help Stop the Spread of Covid-19.

"If we lift the restrictions and risk rising cases again without being prepared in our hospitals, we have the potential to expose our doctors and nurses to the same thing that they’re going through now—which is basically a crisis. In many places, they’re not well protected or they’re running out of equipment. So we need to make sure that the supply-chain problems have been sorted out before we begin to experiment with lifting social distancing."

This is a Johns Hopkins health security expert on how we get to less physical distancing. And on wearing masks:

"This is an unprecedented epidemic, and we should be leaning toward doing things even if we’re unsure of their full benefit. If the downside is perceived to be low, and there’s demand for an additional preventative benefit, I think we should do it."

We have a ways to go.

Improvised filters with household materials. Short answer: pillowcases and t-shirts work best.

"By the end of the month, wearing a face mask should be like wearing a shirt—a routine social behavior that is expected of everyone and gets you weird looks if you don't do it."

Yes, time for masks! I just made my first mask today and I can barely sew.

Tests to detect antibodies will also be able to identify those who have had infections in the past and may now be immune. In the short term, this will be important because it will permit the authorities to identify who may return to their jobs without risk of infecting others.

This is good news.

"With an immunization specifically targeted against the pandemic-causing Covid-19 disease at least a year away, the World Health Organization says it’s important to know whether the BCG vaccine can reduce disease in those infected with the coronavirus, and is encouraging international groups to collaborate with a study led by Nigel Curtis, head of infectious diseases research, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne."

Encouraging research.

"The third scenario is that the world plays a protracted game of whack-a-mole with the virus, stamping out outbreaks here and there until a vaccine can be produced. This is the best option, but also the longest and most complicated."

If you haven’t read this one yet it’s worth your time. The Atlantic has consistently had the best reporting and thinking about this from the beginning.

"Illustrators and designers know the power of good design to communicate a message or a feeling or an idea," Morris explained. Right now everything is changing so fast, and there is so much uncertainty and so much information flying around, I think everyone is really hungry for clarity and understanding.

I've seen these illustrations all over social media but it didn't register they were by the same team: cartoonist Toby Morris and microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. These are great!