Hi all… I have decided to try to throw together a list every few days with the best COVID-related info I have stumbled across – feel free to forward/share with anyone you like. Some are articles about the virus, others about its spread. Some are about collateral damage and others about how communities are pulling together. Many of these links have been forwarded to me by friends, so big thanks to everyone and please keep passing along good content. If you want to check out past coronavirus posts, click here . And despite how stifling it may feel, thanks for staying home and washing your hands like crazy! 

What is the social distancing exit strategy? Here’s a great piece from STAT about when we can  ease up on current restrictions  and resume life as usual (spoiler alert: the answer is debatable). Want a current moment example? Here’s what happened in  Hong Kong  when strict stay-at-home restrictions were lifted – and mind you, that’s in Hong Kong, where the average person takes infection control fairly seriously to begin with.
 
Along similar lines, it has seemed clear for some time that, going forward, the best way to identify who can return to work, school, and life-as-usual would be some sort of  test documenting whether a person has had coronavirus  infection and built immunity to it. This is particularly important for the hordes of asymptomatic people who have developed antibody defenses against coronavirus infection without realizing it. And it looks like these antibody tests will  come to market  without many of the hurdles that have slowed the production of tests looking for infection in the first place.
 
Meanwhile, several start-up companies are offering  home coronavirus testing kits , but these tests aren’t FDA approved (yet). Another layer of complication: health care professionals know how to swab the back of the nose and throat – it’s unclear whether patients can do this well enough on their own. 
 
This article is a tough read, but an important one – a powerful recounting of  one patient’s course through COVID-19.  Read it so that the next time you are tempted to run a not-absolutely-necessary errand or hang out with a friend from fewer than six feet away, you won’t.
 
Another good read: this Vox piece walks you through all the subtle facts you never thought you’d need to know about the various  cleaning products  in your home.
 
Need a succinct, clear resource to answer your kids’ questions about coronavirus (and maybe your own questions, too)? In today’s episode of The Daily Podcast,  kids questions about COVID-19  are answered in ways that will be helpful to everyone listening, regardless of age.
 
A moment of editorializing, which I have not done much of in these newsletters, but this week calls for it. There are really only two reasons why people in the US are choosing not to stay at home and limit their physical interactions – at least within 6 feet – to the people with whom they live:
  1. Ignorance – they have not yet heard the message about how quickly coronavirus spreads or its potential to cause deathly illness
  2. Sefishness – they have heard the message, but they don’t think about their impact on others
The folks in this latter category can be heard rationalizing that they don’t think coronavirus infection is going to be too bad for them OR they’ve already had it so having people come and go in their home is not a problem OR they’re more concerned about letting down their kids or their parents or their spouse than doing the right thing.
Let me be clear that mayors and governors would not have chosen to shut down entire local economies if that latter type of thinking was at all logical. For those who are still blissfully unaware of this pandemic, every media outlet from traditional to social is trying to educate you. But for those who have chosen to put their own comforts ahead of the health and wellness of others, I don’t know how to get through to you. Just because you aren’t worried about the impact of a potentially lethal virus upon you doesn’t mean you should be able to impose that choice on others. And even if you have already had coronavirus, maybe you even had full-blown COVID which is the disease that follows the viral infection and lands many in hospitals (if there is room), bringing other people into your home continues to expose them – to the coronavirus that you may pick up when you go to the grocery store or the pharmacy; to the virus you have left behind on your door knobs and countertops; to the virus encountered as they travel into work on subways or bus seats or gas pump handles.
I am a doctor who hasn’t seen patients in many years. But I have doctor friends all over the country who are putting themselves on the line every day, all day (and sometimes all night) to fight COVID. My own husband is in the hospital working round the clock. Doctors are scared because they see the depth of illness and they know the numbers are only going to increase. If the flood of patients surges high enough, our hospital systems will not be able to manage the influx that’s coming – there isn’t the space, the equipment, or the staff. There’s a photo going around showing a group of health care providers holding signs that read WE CAME TO WORK FOR YOU, PLEASE STAY HOME FOR US. I don’t know how else to ask you all – beg you, really – to play your part.  Please play your part .
 
And now for the funny (or maybe this one is funny-not-funny)…