Homing in

CROWDS are now to be avoided as the whole of humanity battles the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Social distancing is the norm. Social mores of handshaking and “beso-beso” are shunned these days. Talk is aplenty about remote working and continuity learning via online/blended classrooms in the era of lockdowns and travel bans. Covid-19 is our collective volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, where countries are now putting together the best way to operate with less contamination and more community policing. Cleanliness is now the norm from the individual to the collective. Money is being poured in to clean buildings, streets and key locations upon receiving a report of contamination. Closure is the best solution than exposing more people to something still unknown. Prevention is the way to go and once afflicted, tests need to be made and isolation protocol of 14 days are strictly followed. The problem is testing is not personal and slowing the spread is vital.

The good thing is that money is being properly used to put together personal testing kits, study the virus and test solutions to best contain the spread. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is leading the offensive in Seattle, Washington. The foundation is “stepping up to increase not only the volume of tests that can be run but also in providing a usable platform for potentially impacted people to request a test to be sent to their homes with results provided within a couple of days. The target is for 400 tests processed per day, to start. While modeling is being done, Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, suggests the actual number of infections in the Seattle area is between 500 and 600. Unchecked, that is, projected to increase to 30,000 by the end of March — underscoring the importance of slowing the spread as quickly as possible. Tech, medical research expertise and philanthropic money are all being used for expanded testing and analysis.