India

Immediate relief need in Chennai (Tamil Nadu, India) for unemployed and stranded migrant workers, poor, aged, etc. Basic pack for a family for several days costs $15 (about Rs 1,000) – and comprises: Rice – 10 kg Dhall – 2 kg Oil – 1 litre Wheat – 1 kg Salt – 1/2 kg Chili powder – 100 gm Garlic – 50 gm Onion – 2 kg Potato – 2 kg Sanitary napkin – 1 Vegetables as available Loaf of bread We welcome in-kind donations of any of these items. In Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Alternatively, you may contribute funds.

The state of the knowledge… Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful We’ve known about SARS-CoV-2 for only three months, but scientists can make some educated guesses about where it came from and why it’s behaving in such an extreme way. One of the few mercies during this crisis is that, by their nature, individual coronaviruses are easily destroyed. Each virus particle consists of a small set of genes, enclosed by a sphere of fatty lipid molecules, and because lipid shells are easily torn apart by soap, 20 seconds of thorough hand-washing can take one down. Lipid shells are also vulnerable to the elements; a recent study shows that the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, survives for no more than a day on cardboard, and about two to three days on steel and plastic. These viruses don’t endure in the world. They need bodies. (Excerpts Courtesy The Atlantic)New Coronavirus Success by Ed Yong – The Atlantic – March 2020 This Is How We Can Beat the Coronavirus Mitigation can buy us time, but only suppression can get us to where we need to be. March 2020.Aaron E. Carroll Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Ashish Jha Professor of Global Health at Harvard University The analysis finds that in the do-nothing scenario, many people die and die quickly. With serious mitigation, though, many of the measures we’re taking now slow things down. By the summer, the report calculates, the number of people who become sick will eventually reduce to a trickle.On this path, though, the real horror show will begin in the fall and crush us next winter, when COVID-19 comes back with a vengeance. Some Americans are in denial, and others are feeling despair. Both sentiments are understandable. We all have a choice to make. We can look at the coming fire and let it burn. We can hunker down and hope to wait it out—or we can work together to get through it with as little damage as possible. This country has faced massive threats before and risen to the challenge; we can do it again. We just need to decide to make it happen. (Excerpts Courtesy The Atlantic) This is how we can beat the Coronavirus – The Atlantic New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces SARS-CoV-2 stability similar to original SARS virus. The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. (Excerpts and image – Courtesy National Institutes of Health, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services) NIH new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces Stay tuned…