The Latest: Everyone wants answers
Dear Reader,
It’s okay to not be okay. The toll that pandemics take on mental health is real and potentially long-lasting. After SARS, people who were quarantined had higher rates of depression and PTSD symptoms. For many health workers, these symptoms lasted for at least three years after the outbreak.
Humans have an incredible ability to be resilient during adversity, but support is needed. That’s why experts are calling for more initiatives to deal with the psychological effects of coronavirus.
Relatedly, I think you will like this essay from Dana Smith, a senior writer for Elemental (and former scientist). She explains why science reporting is so challenging right now — especially when experts don’t know the answers to the most common Covid-19 questions, and information on the virus is constantly evolving. Here’s how she approaches accurate reporting on the pandemic.
What’s New:
- Guidance for returning to work: The CDC says essential workers can go back to work even if they’ve been exposed to Covid-19, provided they follow new guidelines.
- Warm weather may not make a difference: The National Academy of Sciences told the White House there’s no evidence the pandemic will fade in the summer. Read more.
- Coronavirus might attack the brain, too: Covid-19 now appears to invade more than the respiratory and digestive systems. Read more.
- San Francisco is flattening the curve — Ohio is doing well, too: San Francisco is rolling out a plan to interview and trace every single person who tests positive for Covid-19 in hopes of protecting those who haven’t yet been exposed. Ohio is also getting attention for quick actions that are keeping cases and deaths down — including involving a local Amish community in mask sewing.
Follow our Medium Coronavirus Blog for regular updates, and read some of the essential stories we’ve curated below.
Be well,
Alexandra Sifferlin
Editor, Medium Coronavirus Blog
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A Quick Q&A:
Soap or hand sanitizer: What’s best for washing away coronavirus?
Soap and hand sanitizers work in completely different ways. Soap lifts dirt, grease, and coronavirus off your skin so it can all be washed down the drain. Of course, you have to scrub for a good 20 seconds and rinse well. Hand sanitizers explode the outer coating of viruses (and who doesn’t want to explode some coronavirus right now?). Just make sure the hand sanitizer is at least 60% alcohol, and use it only in a pinch. Hand-washing is best. The CDC says so.
New On the Blog
The News on This Covid-19 Drug Keeps Getting More Complicated
Five Important New Findings From This Week
Warm Weather May Not Affect Coronavirus
Essential How-Tos and Explainers:
A Remedy for Sleepless Nights Under Lockdown
Why We Need a National Mental Health Response to Coronavirus
Without More Ventilators, Would It Be Possible for Two Patients to Share?
How Coronavirus Spread Through A Choir
Personal Pandemic Stories:
I Had the Coronavirus, but I Never Got a Fever
The Guilt of Being a Covid-19 Survivor
How Rappers and Record Studios Are Coping With the Pandemic
Scientists Are Losing Years of Work to Lab Shutdowns
Italy Under Lockdown: Easter Without the Feast or Festivities
6 Smart Reads
We Mapped How the Coronavirus Is Driving New Surveillance Programs Around the World
Why Science Journalism is so Tough Right Now
The Worst U.S. Government Responses to the Coronavirus
Church Used to Always Be at Home: Now We’re Right Back Where We Started
The Real Reason Every Fashion Company Is Now Making Face Masks
The Best Hopes for a Coronavirus Drug (The Atlantic)
