5/25/20 - smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19
NURSING HOMES:
1) More than a third of U.S. deaths from the new coronavirus have occurred among nursing home and long-term care facility residents and staffers, according to various reports, including this 5/22/20 story by Paula Span at The New York Times. The Times story describes some solutions such as reviving a federal rule for mandatory, full-time "infection preventionists,” private rooms for all residents, better pay and benefits for staffers so they can afford to stay home when ill, and designated visitors to help with care. “Stopping the virus in long-term care, which is fully possible, is the key to reopening the country,” according to a Cornell University research and gerontologist quoted in the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/health/coronavirus-nursing-homes.html.
2) This 5/19/20 story by Lev Facher for STAT also discusses changes to elder living and care that could result from the coronavirus pandemic. In item 3 of the story, “9 ways Covid-19 may forever upend the U.S. health care industry," Facher quotes the head of a health policy research group saying that baby boomers do not want to move into nursing homes. The consequences could include increasing demand for home health aides, in-person medical services, and house calls to people who end up aging in place, the story states. Other areas that might change or already are changing include telemedicine, employer-based health insurance, and fee-for-service payment models: https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/19/9-ways-covid-19-forever-upend-health-care/.
PUBLIC HEALTH:
3) Unlike U.S. slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, there have been no SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in Denmark’s slaughterhouses, reports Megan Molteni at Wired (5/25/20). One reason why is that slaughterhouses in Denmark are heavily automated, the story states. Molteni’s story explores how robots "could help keep workers safe and meat plants running,” as well as the extent of robotics in U.S. meat production. Warning: the livestock slaughtering process is graphically described in the story: https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-makes-the-case-for-more-meatpacking-robots/.
PRAGMATIC:
4) Clear plastic face-shields, already used by many health care workers, might be a good mask alternative for us to wear in public to protect against SARS-CoV-2 droplets expelled by nearby people and to protect us from infecting others with our own droplets, according to a 5/24/20 story by Knvul Sheikh for The New York Times. Little research exists so far to validate whether shields are more protective than masks: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/health/coronavirus-face-shields.html.
- The story links to a 3/30/20 story in the New York Times about inventors working on making 3-D-printed face shields and other medical and public-safety devices related to the new coronavirus: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/health/coronavirus-innovators.html. FWIW, I know someone who made their own face shield using a head-band and a piece of hard, transparent plastic.
5) This explicit gem by Tovia Smith for NPR (5/23/20) describes how people are avoiding public restrooms and how businesses are changing them to try to reduce the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Some approaches in the story include touch-free doors and towel dispensers, bathroom monitors, fully enclosed water closets with seat covers (as reportedly are typical in Europe), and other things it’s best not to include here: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/23/861139625/fear-of-public-restrooms-prompts-creative-solutions-as-some-businesses-reopen.
6) Check out these biology-themed face masks by one of my favorite science-themed artists Michele Banks: https://www.redbubble.com/people/artologica/shop?artistUserName=artologica&asc=u&iaCode=u-mask.
COMIC RELIEF:
7) A good boy plays Connect 4:
8) “Me gonna to the beach after quarantine,” tweets @Soullover27A:
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Love/In friendship, Robin