Coronavirus Reads, Digest 15
India likely to see 2-week extension of lockdown, NYC's intensive care needs are declining.
It’s Saturday, April 11th.
As infections in India cross 7500 with as many as 242 deaths, the countrywide lockdown is likely to be extended till the end of the month, a consensus reached by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with most chief ministers of states. We’ll know more of the details once the government makes the announcement formally.
Meanwhile an Indian Council of Medical Research study shows that 40% of COVID-19 patients with SARI (severe acute respiratory infection) have had no contact history with a positive patient nor any travel history.
India may well say that they have enough hydroxychloroquine supplies to justify exporting the drug, but pharmacists and non-COVID-19 patients (like those who suffer from arthritis, and rely on the medicine) across the country are struggling to access it.
Sudden Hydroxycholoroquine Shortage Is Forcing Indian Doctors To Make Tough Choices, The Huffington Post
The Indian government is aggressively pushing the Aarogya Setu app (that tracks those who come close with COVID-19) cases, writes Karishma Mehrotra in The Indian Express. Read the full report to learn how they plan to make the app work. For starters, experts say 50% of the population needs to use it for it to be effective. There have previously been several privacy concerns raised over the sharing and use of personal data from the app. In his interaction with chief ministers, PM Modi indicated that the app could also serve as a possible e-pass to facilitate movement.
In the tech world, unlikely partners and usual rivals, Apple and Google, have teamed up to allow iPhones and Androids aid in contact tracing, helping individuals to find out if they’ve come into close contact with anyone who becomes infected.
With aggressive social distancing and closures of schools and businesses, New York City has staved off the most alarming of infection projections, and is reducing the number of intensive care beds being used. The death toll of 800 a day notwithstanding, much fewer hospital beds are being used than the earlier estimates of 140,000.
How will healthcare workers in New York State decide who gets a ventilator? An in-depth look at the challenges in establishing these protocols in The New Yorker.
Phuket, a massive tourist destination in Thailand, has gone into lockdown after the highest infection rate per capita in the country.
Developing countries are coming up short against the might of heavily industrialized nations who are bidding high for masks and PPE gear. As a result, from Mexico to Kenya, businesses are pivoting to manufacturing as many masks as they can. Here’s the story of a factory in Kenya, whose workers are 80% women, moved from making placemats and napkins to N95 surgical masks.
“We had to stop the things we were doing here to support the country,” said one of the workers, Celina Mutiso, 32.”
The Kenyan factory that transformed into a surgical mask assembly line overnight, by Max Bearak, The Washington Post
Coping with the Pandemic
From Wired: How to make a CDC approved face-mask, with stepwise directions.
To start, what this is what it says you’ll need:
Tightly knit cotton material, like a T-shirt. (A scarf can work. The fabric should be big enough to fold several times and cover your nose and mouth.)
Two rubber bands or hair ties
Across the US, a guide to statewide restrictions, what’s allowed, what’s open, and what’s closed. (A lot of beaches are closed).
4 Quarantine Date Night ideas (and stories) from real couples who’ve done it: Dress Up for a Fancy Dinner, Game Night, Learn a Dance Routine, Visit a Museum Virtually.
A fantastic graphic illustrated story from Mira Jacob on how her family decided to leave New York during the pandemic, and their journey from Brooklyn to her mom’s house in New Mexico.
Side Effects of the Pandemic
We’re seeing our cities in a completely different way, possibly for the first time. Cleaner air is one, but more pedestrian-friendly changes are also taking places. Allison Arieff writes about the “Magic of the Empty Streets.”
A former war correspondent, Sophia Jones writes in The Atlantic about being pregnant during the pandemic in Spain. She writes that she and her husband’s contingency plans to access medical access during a strict lockdown in the event of a miscarriage or pregnancy related complication, “reminds me of the survival stories I have borne witness to over the past few years while covering how war and other crises affect women.”
Pregnant and Under Lockdown in the Time of Coronavirus, The Atlantic
Meanwhile, the Burning Man festival, that takes place annually in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, and the site of much debauchery for West Coast tech millionaires (despite its anti-capitalist spirit), has been cancelled. The organizers say there will be some kind of virtual event.