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"Connecting Communities for COVID19 News" 3rd Apr 2020

Isolation Tips
Seven crucial research findings that can help people deal with COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered the world into uncharted waters, and researchers, health-care workers and public health authorities are scrambling to keep up. “It’s a rapidly changing landscape,” says University of California, Irvine, psychologist Roxane Cohen Silver, PhD. While the new pandemic is unique in many ways, there are lessons to be learned from a significant body of literature on the psychological and behavioral health responses and consequences of disaster events.
A Viennese physiotherapist has found a social-distancing workaround. His clients follow instructions and work with him from inside a box made of plexiglass
A Viennese physiotherapist has found a social-distancing workaround. His clients follow instructions and work with him from inside a box made of plexiglass
Hygiene Helpers
How to Clean and Disinfect All Your Gadgets
Whether you want to protect against COVID-19 or just give all your gadgets a deep-clean while you’re stuck at home, now’s the ideal time! Here’s how you can safely clean your tech gadgets, without damaging anything.
Cosmetics during coronavirus: The do's and don'ts
Keeping up with cosmetics during the coronavirus pandemic can be difficult, as non-essential businesses remain closed. However, it is essential to allocate time for personal care. "Personal care is something we can't neglect, you know, during this time," said Gina Petak, education manager for European Wax Center. "You know, personal care makes you feel good about yourself."
These Coronavirus Exposures Might Be the Most Dangerous
People should take particular care against high-dose exposures, which are most likely to occur in close in-person interactions — such as coffee meetings, crowded bars and quiet time in a room with Grandma — and from touching our faces after getting substantial amounts of virus on our hands. In-person interactions are more dangerous in enclosed spaces and at short distances, with dose escalating with exposure time.
Experimental treatments for coronavirus should only be used in a hospital setting
Thirty cases of suspected adverse reactions to medicines tries are being analyzed. Hydroxychloroquine is suspected of being involved in five of these cases, three of which proved to be fatal. ANSM said "In no case should these drugs be used either for self-medication or on by prescription from a city doctor, or self-prescribed by a doctor for himself, for treatment of Covid-19.
Community Activities
BBC radio stars lead the nation in a mass singalong
UK radio listeners formed a nationwide choir on Thursday, as five BBC stations teamed up for a communal singalong. For the first time, Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, 1 Xtra and Asian Network all broadcast the same programme, designed to lift spirits during the lockdown. "This is a unique moment," said Radio 1's Greg James. "Isolation doesn't mean you have to be lonely." Songs were suggested by listeners, with choices including Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline and Prince's Raspberry Beret.
Not every hero wears a cape - a giant Polish grafitti mural tribute to healthcare staff
Not every hero wears a cape - a giant Polish grafitti mural tribute to healthcare staff
Working Remotely
Coronavirus: Seven essential tips if you have to work from home
Not going into the office is an effective way of preventing the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, because it minimises the risk of you coming into contact with someone carrying the disease. Many companies are suggesting workers who can get the job done from home do just that. Some technology companies which produce software used by remote workers, including Zoom and Slack, have subsequently received a bump in share prices in recent days.
David Ainsworth: How to work remotely in a time of coronavirus
This article is intended to take a look at the technological solutions which enable effective distributed working, and the adaptations to culture and ways of working that are involved. It’s based on learning from our own organisation. Catalyst is a charitable initiative incubated at CAST, a charity set up for remote working. We’re distributed by default. For most people that means four days based at home, and only one in the office
There is no workplace like home
As the coronavirus spreads across the globe, forcing more people to work from home, has the outbreak kickstarted the world’s largest workplace experiment?
How to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak
As the coronavirus outbreak grows, more people are working from home. Tech giants including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Twitter announced earlier this week, that most of their staff are mandated to work remotely due to the coronavirus. Business Insider has highlighted some tips that will help your staff remain productive while working from home.
Virtual Classrooms
IPA, WHO and UNICEF launch Read the World on International Children's Book Day to support children and young people in isolation
Much-loved children’s authors are joining an initiative to read extracts of their books to millions of children and young people currently living in isolation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the World is a collaboration between the International Publishers Association (IPA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. It kicks off today, on International Children’s Book Day, at 15.00 GMT/17.00 CET with Italian author Elisabetta Dami, creator of the popular character Geronimo Stilton.
COVID-19 Webinar: A New World Opens To Teachers, On The Front Line Of Education
On March 27, UNESCO dedicated its second webinar on the educational response to Covid-19 to those working on the front lines to ensure continuity of learning: 63 million teachers from 165 countries, plus educational staff. This symposium brought together participants from all regions of the world to study a wide range of issues, ranging from training and support to provide teachers to the problem of distance learning in remote or rural areas with access weak or even zero on the Internet.
VIDEO. Coronavirus: JK Rowling launches "Harry Potter at Home", a free hub for your children
If you don't know how to keep your kids occupied during confinement, JK Rowling has thought of you - and it's free! Harry Potter at Home is a hub on which you will find quizzes, games and the whole world of Hogwarts with free access.
Public Policies
Thierry Breton says he is convinced that Europeans "will pool financial resources", in order to avoid any sort of "food supply risk" because of the coronavirus epidemic
European Commissioner Thierry Breton said he was convinced on Thursday that the 27 would be find a way to converge the financing of new instruments in the fight against the coronavirus crisis and has ruled out any "food supply risks" in the 'European Union. "We will certainly have to have a fund, we can call it an industrial European stimulus fund, for example, which will make it possible to issue bonds which will make it possible for governments to access additional funding", he said on France Inter. "I am convinced our interests will converge," added the European Commissioner responsible for industrial policy and the internal market. "The only word that matters here is solidarity."
COVID-19 and "telework": consequences for frontier workers and carriers
French authorities have defined teleworking so that it is possible to define the role an employee does on behalf of an employer and the instructions given to the employee, and this forms the basis of whether they are entitled to compensation under the government's scheme for any loss of job or earnings - a lawyer explains
Gov't to extend unemployment benefit to cover entrepreneurs
The government's legislative proposal seeks to extend the right to the unemployment benefit to all entrepreneurs, including those who have employees on the payroll. The current system requires business people to shut down their companies if they want to draw on unemployment benefits. However under the proposed new rules they would not need to close up shop to receive the benefit and they would also be entitled to income from ongoing operations without losing the entire benefit.
Coronavirus: Matt Hancock sets aim of 100,000 tests a day by end of April
The government is aiming to carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day in England by the end of April, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as he announced a "five-pillar" testing plan. It comes as the government was criticised for not increasing the number of tests more quickly. Currently, there are around 10,000 tests being carried out a day. The new target includes swab tests, which are already in use, and blood tests, which are yet to be launched. It was originally thought the target would be for the whole of the UK, but the government later issued a correction saying the goal will only be for England.
Maintaining Services
Coronavirus: Medicines delivered to your home for one euro, La Poste's new service
La Poste announced on Tuesday that it had entered into a partnership with the Aprium Pharmacy network and the delivery specialist Stuart. Objective: to offer a brand new medication delivery service called Aprium Express. For just one euro, it is now possible to have medicines delivered to your home in less than two hours, reports BFM TV . Delivery is even free for nursing staff.
Coronavirus has encouraged companies to add mental health benefits
The novel coronavirus pandemic may drive companies to invest more heavily in mental health benefits. Some companies, like Starbucks and PwC, have already updated their benefits in response to the virus. Companies that provide mental health tools for individuals and workers have seen an uptick in the number of people requesting services. Younger generations, like millennials and Gen Zers, are driving the push for more mental health care at work.
Coronavirus: NHS Nightingale becomes world's largest critical care unit
With 80 wards, the temporary facility at the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands is now the world's largest critical care unit.
Healthcare Innovations
Coronavirus: Pharmaceutical boss says two patients prepared for trials of vaccine
Hugo Fry, UK managing director for Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi, said the firm has existing products which could help treat people with COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. He added the firm was "working closely" with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to get "things moving" in Britain and two people were currently being lined up for vaccine trials.
Scientists developing coronavirus vaccine delivered via fingertip-sized patch
A fingertip-sized patch could be a potential vaccine for coronavirus, researchers say. Scientists suggest that when tested in mice, it produced antibodies specific to Covid-19 in quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralising the virus.The vaccine is described in a paper published in EBioMedicine, which is published by The Lancet, and is thought to be the first to be reviewed by other scientists.
Just breathing or talking may be enough to spread COVID-19 after all
Large droplets are still a means of infection, but researchers now say that tiny airborne particles may also carry infectious virus. “Currently available research supports the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 could be spread via bioaerosols generated directly by patients’ exhalation,” researchers from the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine wrote in an April 1 report to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. If the coronavirus is airborne, that could help explain why it is so contagious, and can spread before people have symptoms
Coronavirus: there two solid candidate molecules to prevent the virus from infecting cells
While no treatment has yet been developed against the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which is responsible for Covid-19, many clinical avenues have been explored, including that of focusing upon the receptors expressed by the target cells.
Asymptomatic Carriers if We’re Going to Beat Coronavirus
ProPublica’s health reporter Caroline Chen explains what the conversation around asymptomatic coronavirus carriers is missing, and what we need to understand if we’re going to beat this nefarious virus together.
The world is seeking an answer for Covid-19
More than 130 therapeutic trials are already underway around the world against the virus, some modest, others international. But what can we expect from this overflowing of scientific effort?
Scientist donates £1,000,000 to massively increase UK coronavirus testing
A British entrepreneur has donated £1,000,000 of his own money to establish a network of labs that could dramatically increase coronavirus testing. Mike Fischer CBE has launched the Covid-19 Volunteer Testing Network, which aims to use common pieces of equipment found in thousands of labs across the UK to test for the illness.
Coronavirus antibody tests to identify immune people are crucial
New tests can identify people who have recovered from COVID-19 by searching for coronavirus antibodies in the blood. They could available in the US within weeks. Such tests can provide results in 15 minutes or less, after a single finger prick. They are also easier to produce than the diagnostic tests that check for active infections. Experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have expressed confidence that recovered coronavirus patients will be immune, though further research is needed to be sure. That means identifying people who have recovered is critical in getting people back to work and school.