March 25, 2020
It appears that about 7-10 days is how long it takes to establish new routines, at least for me. Having my kids at home all day, the amazing shift to working on a Denver (as opposed to a Maryland) time schedule, and inventorying various limited resources (read: toilet paper or loo roll as I learned our British friends call it) are all small examples. I am concerned that as this feels increasingly normal I will lose things from B.C. (before COVID). But, there will be good and bad, including the fact that I get to write more and spend more intentional time chatting with colleagues and friends than I have in the past. Either way, I do find it interesting to watch the new rhythms of life emerge...
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Financial Times Updates:
https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest
Having been a telecommuter for the last 3+ years, I am very amused by the evolution of teleconferencing platforms. Some of the comments about tele-dating in quarantine are further evidence of the truth from Jurassic Park - "Life, uh, finds a way."
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/zoom-college-party-memes-page-dating-ok-zoomer/608617/
I did not realize there were experts on the 1918 Spanish Flu, but alas there are... Watch this interview https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/a-historians-view-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-the-influenza-of-1918
A great article on the type of testing (ELISA) we will be doing in DaVita units in the next few weeks. Pay attention to the concepts of sensitivity and specificity, which are critical for interpreting negative and positive results.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-tests-everyone-tiny-colorado-county/608590/
The Kaiser Family Foundation had a write up on the issues facing uninsured people with COVID
https://www.kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/what-issues-will-uninsured-people-face-with-testing-and-treatment-for-covid-19/
more on this https://time.com/5806312/coronavirus-treatment-cost/
Great question from our call yesterday. Thanks!
Not uplifting, but a very compelling story of 1 family caring for a COVID+ husband. Very consistent with what I am hearing from those I know that are ill, but not hospitalized. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/magazine/coronavirus-family.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage (this was all over Apple News, so you may have seen this one).
For those of you who want the medical deep dive https://twitter.com/sachinjshah/status/1242448994673913856 (I suspect we have members on our team who will read these and ask me detailed questions on our group calls. On second thought, please just marvel over this amazing repository but do not read the articles. Or send me the article you want to ask about if you have questions.)
Cool infographic on the relative size of the coronavirus https://twitter.com/marklewismd/status/1242480971284238339
Though I am not an advocate of wearing masks in public, the fact that there is a PPE (who thought that acronym was going to be part of the common vernacular?!?) shortage in healthcare facilities has spawned the DIY-surgical mask movement. The thought here is a "less good" homemade mask is better than nothing if you are caring for sick people. PLEASE BE CLEAR I AM NOT ENDORSING THIS, JUST MARVELING OVER HOW THE WORLD IS CHANGING. https://twitter.com/marklewismd/status/1240850124273672197
A twitter discussion on the trade-offs of telehealth for office care by doctors and a few patients. Look for the comments about it becoming a new norm... https://twitter.com/gbosslet/status/1242519254643232774
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Bonus Round - Learn about people you may not know about - lost patterns of life edition
William Jennings Bryan - a fascinating U.S. politician from the early 20th century, it is worth spending some time reading about the now extinct Democrats that were socially conservative, but politically progressive (i.e. don't drink, but big business is the enemy and the common man is who government should help). I am struck by how someone who was so instrumental in Wilsonian visions of the world could end up on the wrong side of the Scopes Monkey Trial, but life is funny like that...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan
A pretty good biography https://www.amazon.com/Godly-Hero-William-Jennings-Bryan-ebook/dp/B000XU4TEA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=A0MV0NTBJN25&keywords=william+jennings+bryan+biography&qid=1585132846&s=books&sprefix=william+jen%2Cstripbooks%2C155&sr=1-1
And speaking of lost patterns to life, my wife recommended I point out Marcel Proust. While reading Remembrance of Things Past may not be for everyone, the rapid changes of the early 20th century brought forth a number of written and artistic works focusing on the dehumanization of the industrial age and a desire for "simpler times." Proust evokes a longing for the aristocratic French life that was finally ended by World War I, but was in decline from 1880's onward. His writing was a seminal work for many of the writers of the 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust
About his most famous book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time
An amusing and pretty successful attempt at how to operationalize Proust in your day to day from 1998 (holy crap, I read this book when it came out!)
https://www.amazon.com/How-Proust-Change-Your-Life/dp/0679442758
Bonus, bonus - Stefan Zweig is an Austrian Proust contemporary, also writes about lost society of Europe in the late 19th century...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Zweig
Finally, I'd like to give you a STRONG push to spend some time listening to my favorite amateur historian, Dan Carlin. You can spend hours focused on something other than COVID while learning about history and enjoying it through his Hardcore History podcast.
https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/
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