One thing I guess people are doing is having chats with the COVID higher risk people in their lives. That can include your folks. Two weeks ago I sat down with them..
It was clear that Italy had lost its containment battle and the virus coming to the door was now in the "probable/likely" category. I was met with understandable scepticism, but I had to insist. There were a couple of things I think are important.
The first thing I did was open this video on my laptop from Feb 23rd. Ignore the dramatic music. In it he explains how COVID-19 affects the body and how doctors approached treatment in China. Know your enemy.
It's good because it deals with 3 different cases, and explains how the virus/condition impacts the body. It explains specifically how it can kill people also. Knowing this is a good thing.
The second thing I played was this podcast.
podtail.com/en/podcast/dee…
It explores the concept of denialism (this can't be happening, can it?), how the virus will spread, and some of the consequences of that spread. It also broaches the 70% global adult infection rate
podtail.com/en/podcast/dee…
It explores the concept of denialism (this can't be happening, can it?), how the virus will spread, and some of the consequences of that spread. It also broaches the 70% global adult infection rate
I then laid out how all of these things could impact their age cohort and the steps that would be needed to mitigate it and precautions that should be taken. Arming with knowledge. This defused the "but it can't happen to us" argument. And we just moved to acceptance, and action
I would encourage everyone to educate themselves, and more importantly educate their higher risk relatives and friends on the basics of the virus, and some of the scenarios that can result from a pandemic. Science and facts. *Knowing these things is a good thing.*
This is also important for everyone's mental health. Be calm, learn the key facts about the virus, learn the steps needed to mitigate. Understand that this is going to be a long haul.
I then took obvious practical steps based on normal scenario planning, in collaboration with them. To keep on top of the latest news I started building this list to both know more about how treatment is evolving, and track the virus spread. twitter.com/i/lists/123311…
I then made the list public and encouraged others to subscribe. 2,500 of you have. I will continue to add reliable sources to the list as we all go through this. Reliable information and expanding knowledge will help us all.
