Coronavirus Curated: Top Links for March 17

Welcome to the first edition of this feature designed to give you a quick perspective on the unfolding COVID-19 situation in B.C. and beyond. Coronavirus Curated runs Monday through Friday, featuring excellent articles and sites recommended by members of The Tyee team.

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The most urgent advice we see right now…
STAY HOME.

Tyee reporter Chris Cheung says, “My friends sadly had to cancel their wedding this month until further notice. If you’re wondering what activities are OK or not in these times, here’s a helpful collection of expert opinions on everything from going to the gym to going outside for a walk. After reading it, I cleared my calendar with less reluctance. Sigh.”

The Dos and Don’ts of ‘Social Distancing’
(The Atlantic)

Plus: Cancel Everything
(The Atlantic)

Among the things you can do right now…
TALK TO YOUR PARENTS.

A Tyee reporter says: “It’s perplexing to me how cavalier my parents (both semi-retired healthcare professionals) are about the virus. When we decided to cancel on meeting them for our vacation last week, I was tripping all over myself trying to defend the decision. (B.C. began recommending against non-essential travel the next day.) They are reluctantly flying home to Toronto today. This article resonated on sooo many levels.”

Convincing Boomer Parents to Take the Coronavirus Seriously
(The New Yorker)

Also: How to talk with your older parents about the COVID-19 pandemic—and have them actually listen
(CNBC)

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Among those hard hit economically…
GIG WORKERS AND THE CREATIVE CLASS.

“More and more of us are working in the gig economy, notes Tyee senior editor Paul Willcocks. “COVID-19 is revealing — again — that they have few rights. And that's putting us all at risk.”

Coronavirus highlights lack of safety net for gig workers
(Aljazeera)

Also: A Catastrophe for the Night Economy
(The Atlantic)

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Where scientists see this going…
‘MITIGATION VS. SUPPRESSION.’

Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand
(MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis)

Warning: It’s in scientist-speak. So Tyee contributing editor Crawford Kilian is working on a piece clearly explaining the implications of this report from Imperial College London. The gist, he says, is “we’ve got just two ways to deal with COVID-19: mitigation or suppression. Mitigation may reduce cases, but would still result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and an overwhelmed healthcare system. Suppression would mean effectively locking down the country until a vaccine is available — 18 months minimum, probably. Otherwise we’ll get a resurgence.”

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Because our perceptions must change at virus-speed…
LEARN FROM WHAT ITALIANS TOLD THEMSELVES.

“This video, depicting Italians in the midst of the crisis, is a powerful tool to break us out of the thinking that things can't change very quickly,” says Tyee publisher Jeanette Ageson.

To keep things in perspective (and smile)…
MEET THIS BOY.

“Love this for the laughter and levity it brought to my day,” says Tyee reporter Moira Wyton. “If a kid can be this cool about a cancelled trip to Disneyland, we adults can be reasonable about the plans we’re cancelling, too.”

Elias Scharf, the ‘old soul’ Saskatchewan boy who went viral by handling Disneyland’s closure with remarkable calm
(The Globe and Mail)

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Take care and see you tomorrow, from The Tyee team.