Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Hi folks, welcome to the pandemic.

I hope everyone is staying safe and washing their hands and practicing social distancing when possible. There have been a lot of changes in the last week, so I'll try to summarize some of them. Please do feel free to add additional resources in comments.

First item, in the face of a disastrous federal response, counties, cities, and states are filling the leadership gap in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which is in all 50 states. Now would be a good time to follow local information since that will probably be your best bet for knowing what's going on in your area.

Testing in the US is practically non-existent except for people who need to be hospitalized, so the spread is most likely far wider than it seems. Carriers can be asymptomatic for days. This week is the week to self-isolate if it is possible to do so. Quarantine period is 14 days, with symptoms usually showing up in the 2-10 range. Each time you go within 6 feet of another person that you don't know has isolated or not the clock starts again.

The unchecked the virus spreads at an exponential rate, which means cases DOUBLE every 2-3 days. We are 10-12 days behind Italy, whose healthcare system is overwhelmed. The goal is to #Flatten the Curve to avoid that. The Washington Post has a simulation with dots that really illustrates how it works.

ACTIONS
Call your state reps and governor about
-making insurers give patients to refill prescriptions early (hat tip redbird )
-closing schools and public events if they haven't already

Call your Congress people, especially Senators, about passing the coronavirus bill
- the one from the House is a start but its paid sick-leave provisions will leave out a lot of people.

Resources
CDC coronavirus page
Johns Hopkins Global case tracker
A bunch of newspapers have dropped their paywall for coronavirus coverage

Okay onto Election News
Democratic primaries
Georgia and Louisiana have postponed their primaries originally scheduled for March 17. Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, and Florida are still on.



How is everyone doing? Feel free to share other news and things about coping, and definitely prioritize self care. To all our friends around the world, stay safe and helathy. We're all in this together.