4/1 Covid-19 Update: "We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire."
Hi friends,
Mostly just links and info today, but I do want you to know that my cousins and I were hiking around in the woods last night like a bunch of little kids out past dark (highly recommend!). We spotted an owl and it was magical! I think it infused us with special powers to be quite honest, so if you have anything you need manifested, I'm taking requests! We also went around and answered the question, "If you could bring back one thing back from "normal" life, what would it be?" I loved hearing their answers - it gave me insight into what everyone's hearts are missing most right now. Would love to hear yours if you have time to send them!
Sending love,
Alison
Tl;dr:
How to talk about the coronavirus: Advice from a science communication expert on how to effectively share complicated information: "We are all science communicators now: COVID-19 has conscripted us. The way we seek out and share information can either make things better or make them worse" -- start by talking to your own close community first; pick your battles; avoid unforced errors; be as honest and transparent as possible.
"People are cognitive misers. We all tend not to expend mental energy when possible; we are subject to profound cognitive biases; and we rely on heuristics to help us make decisions quickly. By offering us patterns in chaos and meaning in randomness, biases reduce the complexity of our judgments. And they almost always do so in line with our existing beliefs, values, and identities, and without our conscious awareness. Humans will go to tremendous lengths to preserve our dignity and social status.
But it has never been so important to get people to pay attention to hard truths, and perhaps it has never has been as difficult to do that as it is right now. The key is to confront the most brutal facts of reality unflinchingly, while maintaining an unwavering hope for the future. This is called the Stockdale paradox, after Vice Admiral James Stockdale, who survived years of torture as a prisoner of war. In a conversation with Jim Collins, Stockdale later attributed his survival to the fact that he “never lost faith in the end of the story,” unlike those “who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.” We will not be out of this pandemic by Easter either. But I have not lost faith in the end of the story, and you can help us get there."
Good News/Bad News:
Seattle continues to successfully flatten the curve. This NYT article credits early government action on social distancing, the demographics of Seattle's tech workforce, the incredible network of scientists and researchers in the area (hear! hear!), and THE SEATTLE FREEZE: "Perhaps the city’s social norms helped, too, as local residents have long had a reputation for keeping to themselves or within circles of longtime friends — a phenomenon often explained to newcomers as the Seattle Freeze." My extroverted self owes a debt of gratitude to you anti-social Seattelites, but I think I really need to move away when this is over.
Recommended reading:
Bill Gates: Here’s how to make up for lost time on covid-19: A consistent, nationwide approach to shutting down, increased testing, led by the federal government, and a data-based approach to finding treatments/a vaccine.
This pandemic is not your vacation: A bunch of rich people from CA, NYC and other places flew to their vacation homes in Sun Valley, Idaho and now a rural Idaho community with only two ICU beds and a single ventilator has to deal with half of the state's covid cases
The Routines That Keep Us Sane: "For some, the evaporation of normal routines may be liberating. But based on my Twitter feed, at least, many are finding the experience disorienting, if not profoundly destabilizing. This isn’t surprising. Not only do routines allow us to substitute habit for willpower and put crucial chunks of the day on autopilot (freeing the mind, as James once noted in his diary, to “advance to really interesting fields of action”); they naturally create and enforce boundaries between work and home, between our professional and private selves. They are also emotional regulators. For the moodier souls among us, routines create a well-worn groove for our mental energies and prevent squalls of anxiety, irritation, or sheer indolence from dominating our days."
A covid tracker from STAT news that I think is really good.
Ways to Help (in WA/NY):
The Gates Foundation is funding a study on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid. UW is asking anyone within western Washington or New York who has been in close contact with a COVID-19 case to contact their health care provider to see about participating. Researchers are seeking 2,000 people. Details here.
King County created a new donations collector that makes it super easy to donate money to the Seattle covid response fund, or find ways to volunteer. Another good resource here at All In Seattle.
Things that made me feel better/less alone:
WFH Bingo:
Covid-19 Poem of the Day:
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”
-Danusha Laméris
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