CoviDiary

Oh July, what a kind month you have been! You kept my mind so occupied that I almost forgot the raging pandemic. You brought novelties to me. You provided an aha moment. I found time to immerse myself in books, films and music and transport myself to other worlds. July, I am deeply grateful to you.  Today's Album  Today's Radio Station

All of a sudden, a novel experience.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

LPG cylinder delivery happened today. The delivery man treated me like I am infected. He stood at least 10 feet away from the door and refused to bring the cylinder inside. Refused to accept the cash in hand and asked me to deposit it on the cylinder. And he sanitised the rim of the old cylinder before lifting it. It was a staggering experience.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

I am struggling to find time to post on this blog every day. It is because there are too many things on my plate and not because I have been wasting my time. I started this blog in March to keep my mind occupied and also document the life during the pandemic. But non-Covid things are crowding my mind now. And paradoxically this is possible only because of the pandemic. It has presenting opportunities to explore new things. The lockdown has altered my perception of time. It has brought a new sense of urgency. My discipline has improved in recent weeks. I am able to structure my day a lot better than before. Each day feels more rewarding than the previous day.  I have nothing but gratitude for this sudden turn in circumstances. Today's Album Today's Radio Station

The coronavirus may have originated from Myanmar, Laos or Vietnam.  The bureaucracy in New York bungled badly resulting in a huge disparity in mortality rates between public and private hospitals; as much as 3 times more. A temporary facility set up in the tennis stadium at a cost of $52 million remained grossly under-utilised because of silly ambulance rules. Doctors paid $600 per hour and nurses paid $2000 per day sat twidding their thumbs on phones awaiting patients who never came. Shocking expose in this podcast . And Governor Cuomo was being praised for his excellent PR management. If things are this bad in USA, I shudder to imagine how it would be here.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

End of yet another week What else should I seek The videos and films I watch The albums and radio I listen The books and essays I read The courses and webinars I attend Aren’t enough to fill my mind What else does it seek As I begin another week Today's Album Today's Radio Station

19 most talked about treatments for COVID19 One of the biggest casualties of COVID-19 has been education. UGC and Maharashtra Government are at loggerheads on the issue of holding final year exams. The matter is now before Bombay HC . UGC rightly says that standard of higher education would be lowered without an examination. Students ought to understand this. Not having an exam now would be a Pyrhhic Victory; it would hurt tham in the long run. They would be singled out and discriminated against.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

Interesting webinar on hospitality industry, arguably the most badly hit by the pandemic. A poll during the webinar showed that as many as 40% would return to a hotel only in May 2021.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

The pandemic has spurred scientific research. Not just in medicine, but also in pure science. Much of this research has been through cross-border collaboration, flying in the face of de-globalisation. But the rush to publish has been a problem. It has not exactly helped in improving the credibility of science.  Today's Album Today's Radio Station

How the pandemic has forced people to quickly adopt a new social norm - wearing a mask . Today's Album Today's Radio Station

Government has issued an advisory against wearing N95 Mask in public. People exhaling through the valve of the mask may put those close to them at risk in case they are infected.  Why has the Republican response to the pandemic been so mindbogglingly disastrous? Started 2 new projects today: To listen one complete album each day. To listen to one radio station through the day Today's Album Today's Radio Station

2 women arrived on my doorstep, dressed in blue plastic overalls. They were municipal healthcare workers and wanted to test oxygen saturation. I extended my left hand and one of them clipped the oximeter to the index finger. The reading is changla, she said and added that I should get my hands washed. I felt happy. R admonished me for opening the door without wearing a face mask. How does the Pulse Oximeter work? A bit of good news to begin the new week. The Oxford Vaccine  ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has triggered immune response in 1077 people. 140 vaccines are currently in pre-clinical trials. 10 have advanced to Phase I and 10 to Phase 2. 3 vaccines are in Phase 3 trials. 

CDC director Robert Reidfield explains why things are going horribly wrong with a new surge in USA in this interview .  Dr Redfield is pretty specific. He thinks that around Memorial Day at the end of May people from the north-east, where the virus was widespread, began to take holidays in the sunbelt. They arrived in states that had so far got off lightly, and so where people were complacent about the risks of covid-19.  Researching on plastic waste management during the pandemic for my column.  The problem of burgeoning plastic waste is compounded by the near-paralysis of waste collection and recycling. Due to restrictions of movement, rag pickers have all but vanished from the streets of the developing world. Elsewhere, waste recycling plants are operating at sub-optimal capacities because of staffing problems. Surreptitious and illegal disposal of wastes is also on the rise. The pandemic has resulted in a massive disruption, if not a total breakdown, of the waste managemen

I want to do the Elbow Bump with someone asap.  Also made a new wish list: 1) To be able to identify bird calls 2) To be able to identify plant species 3) To be able to indentify classical Raagas The lockdown has been responsible for significantly improving my Sudoku solving skill. Today I cracked an "expert" level puzzle in about 40 minutes. Really enjoyed this superb workshop on writing monologues.

Delivered a long online lecture today. The audience was largely undergraduate students. It received much appreciation. I have to be grateful to the Pandemic for this wonderful experience. The pandemic has opened up new avenues and opportunities for learning. Students can benefit immensely from such sessions with experts from the industry. Couple of hours before the start of my lecture, my network crashed. Fortunately the service guy came promptly. After he left, I sanitised the keyboard and the mouse. 

1,000,000 Totally useless webinar As more people Work From Home during the Pandemic Lockdown, Parkinson's Law is getting rewritten. The traditional slackers work efficiently so that they can enjoy more leisure because the boss is out of sight. For others, work expands to fill all their waking hours.   How safe is it to fly? How Pandemics wreak havoc and open minds?

Moderna's vaccine has induced immune responses in all 45 participants of phase-I trial and there were no safety concerns identified. The company is already working on commercial production at 3 US sites in the hope of getting a quick approval.  2 AGMs today

3 Things, taking a leaf out of Indian Express Podcast. 3 things that would not have happened but for the pandemic. Attended a virtual AGM, many more are in pipeline in the next 6 weeks. Watched a IE Film Club movie; discussion scheduled for tomorrow. Evaluated scanned copies of the answer books. So, it is life as usual for me. 

If the Coronavirus is really airborne, we might be fighting it the wrong way.   Indoors will be more unsafe. Ventilation will need more priority than handwashing and surface sanitisation. Mask should become mandatory all the time.  New study suggests that immunity to Covid-19 is short-lived.  This means that herd immunity will never arrive. 

We have the power in our hands to shape the post-COVID world into a kinder and more equitable place. Everyone has suffered in this pandemic; some more, others less. People have experienced isolation and loneliness. They would have hopefully learnt the lesson that we need others to enrich our lives. We need to value this interdependency and nurture and cherish it. We have to be kinder and more compassionate to the less fortunate.  Building a better Post-Pandemic World .   A Primer on Serology (Antibody Testing) The Mathematical Strategy that could Transform Coronavirus Testing

Today morning I almost stepped out to buy milk without wearing a mask. Yesterday I forgot to wash my hands after returning home from the morning errand.  Nowadays when I get up in the morning, I have to make a conscious effort to remind myself of the extraordinary times we are living in and it is not merely a bad dream.  This is  Pandemic Fatigue . Biocon's anti-psoriasis drug Itolizumab has received EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation) to treat the Cytokine Storms in severe cases of COVID-19. 

When I ventured out yesterday, I thought I would wear my glasses for additional protection. But they started fogging up because of the mask. Today I found the solution in All About Masks .  Remdesivir vs Dexamethasone . Why the prohibitively expensive drug is trumping the much cheaper and more effective steroid?  Will Zoom events stick in our memory?   Attended a webinar on Colonial Statues yesterday; it was on Zoom.  For work we are using Teams, and I like it better. We don't use the video, but still I pressed my shirt to feel good. 

I survived 55 hours with a dead phone. Scary when I look back. Today I went where I had not been in the last 110 days. Many shops were closed. There were very few people on the street. Traffic was virtually absent. Couple of hole-in-the-wall mobile accessory and repair shops were open and I was able to put life back into my phone. Working for the 4 th day in the last 8 days. And I will work again tomorrow. The work has taken my mind off the virus. Despite the work, my routine of meditation (2X), 20-min nap and walking for ~60 minutes continues unchanged. Doctors are getting better at treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Lying on the tummy helps patients breathe better and even avoid ventilators. 

Public Health experts are on the verge of a burn-out. Why is the virus successful?

Four new insights about the Coronavirus 1) COVID19 may be more of a vascular disease than respiratory 2) Coronavirus mutates once in about 2 weeks. The dominant strain today originated in Italy. It is less lethal, but more transmittable.  3) Outdoors less risky than indoors for transmission. 4) Young kids less likely to transmit and hence schools may be safer.  The PODCAST BMC will now allow testing of anyone in private labs without needing a doctor's prescription. Chief Minister says this will make the citizens feel safer. 

239 Scientists from 32 countries have written to WHO presenting evidence of airborne transmission of the Coronavirus. But WHO continues to promote handwashing as the primary prevention strategy, even though the evidence of surface transmission is limited. Experts are splitting hair on defining what is airborne transmission. 

The pandemic has exposed the faultlines of globalisation. How will be the future of globalisation? 

Even as America is celebrating its Independence Day with pomp and fireworks, the COVID-19 Pandemic is careening out of control there. Record surge in cases are being reported from across the country. The healthcare system is getting overwhelmed. But Trump continues to be in denial and setting a bad example by stubbornly refusing to wear a mask.  

A flurry of news on vaccine against COVID-19 Oxford University  is currently leading the global race to make a vaccine against COVID-19 Pfizer's promising vaccine ICMR has a dangerously ambitious plan to launch COVAXIN on 15th August. Obviously this is politically motivated. Not only would we become laughing stock of the world, but the credibility of Indian science is at satake.  US FDA guidance to vaccine developers . In Bangalore, test results are not intimated to patients. An ambulance will arrive on the doorstep of those who have tested positive to take them to the alloted hospital. This ensures that patients will not use their money or influence to get a bed ahead of others in the queue. Meanwhile some patients, anxious at not getting any news, are trying to get hold of their results by hook or crook from the lab and then landing up at the hospital of their choice. 

Interesting thoughts on Herd Immunity . How it is computed, what factors influence it and how it can vary from place to place.  Babbage Podcast - How to Predict and Prevent the next Pandemic?  I had my WFH experience today.  Some thoughts on 100th day of lockdown - What the COVID-19 Pandemic has done? 1) Leaders across the world have essentially raised their hands and left it to the people to fend for themselves 2) No leadership from WHO on the strategy to be adopted to fight the battle against the virus 3) Increased authoritarianism and brutality from the state apparatus 4) Remarkable resilience and improvisation by the common people 5) Digital platforms to work, to learn, to play, to entertain and pretty much everything.  6) Improved awareness about health and hygiene 7) Fast-tracking of vaccine development 8) De-globalisation and efficiency sacrificed for self-sufficiency

The new month has begun on a bad note. Highest single-day fatalities - 507. And yesterday USA reported more than 47,000 cases - the highest in a day since the start of the pandemic. Dr Fauci says it will go up to 100,000 per day.  Today I learned about the Global Virome Project . It's objective is to prevent future pandemics.  Excellent article in The Atlantic drawing a parallel between aviation and pandemic.