[Archive]: Understanding COVID, March 2020

[Update: March 21, 2020]

Treatment Roundup Deck available here:

https://bit.ly/TreatmentRoundup

I find myself in a number of conversations lately where an individual asks a seemingly simple question:

• Why can’t we just build herd immunity?

• Don’t the terrible financial impact of quarantines outweigh the good of saving lives?

• I’m young and healthy, why do I need to honor the requests to stay indoors?

• Why aren’t we testing everyone?

  When I try to respond briefly to these questions, I continue to find that my attempts at brief replies only raise additional questions and, inevitably, lead me to attempts to explain the background of virology, how viruses evolve, and possible explanations for testing difficulties.

As a result, I have created this document as a primer for anyone wishing to offer a simple explanation to questions like those above and to help us all get on the same page with why such a strict intervention is absolutely necessary. For those of you with STEM backgrounds, I’ve included more technical resources along with citations. I hope that, ultimately, this may inspire and guide research efforts and can help drive consensus on how to best protect one another.

I have also created two additional resources to help organize outreach and information:

• List of Practice Guidelines and Resources for Healthcare Workers

• List of Companies asking to contribute resources to fight COVID

I’ve updated the thumbnail to Dr. David Goodsell’s new coronavirus painting. Fine art prints of the previous thumbnail are available here. More info @ https://ccsb.scripps.edu/goodsell/

Artists, particularly those whose only income is from the arts and the “gig economy” are especially vulnerable to financial distress at this time. Please consider making it easier for them by supporting Bay-Area artists through donations to the Bay Area Safety Net Fund, which has thoughtfully addressed direct payments to combat housing insecurity and food shortages in populations most in need.