I want to take a moment to highlight those who are out there trying to spread hope, provide aid, and do all they can to address the shortages of ventilators and other medical supplies the US is experiencing. Elon Musk is just one of many in big tech who are helping. (His case is abnormal in one way — he has gotten a lot of criticism for helping.)
The Mount Sinai Hospital of New York, NY, received ventilators from Tesla, as we all know, but worth noting is the hospital’s President and Chief Operating Officer took to both LinkedIn and Twitter to express his gratitude for receiving the ventilators bought by Tesla and given freely to the hospital.
Famed Italian supercar maker Lamborghini is pivoting its manufacturing efforts from high-end exotic sports cars to something a little less expensive, and a little more valuable these days. The company is putting its workforce of engineers, fabricators, and tailors to work manufacturing surgical masks and protective plexiglass shields for use in Italy’s front-line fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
As I am sure you know, Louisiana is a massive hotspot for the coronavirus. Currently, New Orleans is experiencing one of the highest per-capita rates of COVID-19 infections in the country.
Wearing a mask to protect yourself from germs and air pollution is quite normal in East Asia. In China it is now even mandatory in a number of provinces when leaving the house. The coronavirus scare has made the public and the government even more conscious of the threat of infection.
The COVID-19 pandemic is laying bare two unavoidable facts about our new reality: we are more interconnected than ever, and cities are at the front lines of this crisis and will be at the front lines of any similarly globalized crisis in the future.
Extreme “shelter-in-place” orders have been rolled out throughout the country to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. However, these orders are not sustainable, as evidenced by the grievous economic devastation experienced by millions of people.
We are currently in a state of national emergency thanks in no small part to the Trump administration’s muzzling of public health experts and slow response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all do our part to limit the extent of this outbreak, the Department of the Interior (DOI) instead appears to be more focused on advancing oil and gas interests and abusing the situation to avoid public scrutiny and input on its actions.
First, I am not a scientist. I think I have a knack for making a logical picture of a situation. Those pictures are often usable, and sometimes completely wrong.
We learned that the White House has held dozens of meetings on coronavirus that were considered “classified,” meaning that federal health officials, including experts, were unable to enter the room. Without experts in the room, how can we expect our government to follow the best available science on this rapidly developing issue and enact science-based policies that protect our health and safety during this pandemic?
