Let Understanding be contagious
A ready-made map of words and concepts (49) to navigate the Corona Virus phenomenon
“When the I becomes We, even Illness becomes Wellness “
(Wao — We are one)
#stayhome
Symbolic and global hashtag to contain the spread of the virus and the infections, staying at home. A big campaign that has been embraced by famous characters all over the world, from all paths of life
#alonetogether
A social campaign about social distancing. The effort is being led by ViacomCBS’s portfolio of entertainment and youth brands — which includes MTV, Comedy Central, CMT and VH1 — in partnership with the Ad Council. Ads encourage young people to stay home — and presumably watch TV
Aerosolization
It is the process or act of converting some physical substance into the form of particles small and light enough to be carried on the air.
Asymptomatic
A patient who has been exposed to an illness or is sick but doesn’t have any symptoms. This is important in medicine because these asymptomatic people can often spread the illness, even though they don’t appear to be sick. (Vocabulary)
Bandwagon effect
refers to the tendency people have to adopt a certain behavior, style, or attitude simply because everyone else is doing it.
The more people that adopt a particular trend, the more likely it becomes that other people will also hop on the bandwagon.
The bandwagon effect is part of a larger group of cognitive biases or errors in thinking that influence the judgments and decisions that people make. Cognitive biases are often designed to help people think and reason more quickly, but they often introduce miscalculations and mistakes.
Biocontainment unit
The BCU is a state of the art facility designed to care for patients with highly infectious diseases such as Covid-19.
Black swan theory
is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The term is based on an ancient saying that presumed black swans did not exist — a saying that became reinterpreted to teach a different lesson after black swans were discovered in the wild. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.(wiki)
Covid-19 doesn’t belong to this case.
CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the leading national public health institute of the United States. It is also a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Community transmission
An illness spreads in such a way that the source of its infection is not known.
Contact tracing
It is the identification and follow-up of persons who may have come into contact with a person infected with the virus. (w.h.o.)
During the spread of Covid-19 has been widely used in Asian countries (stressed by other coronaviruses in the past) such as China, South Korea, and Taiwan. The deployment is discussed and under scrutiny in the western countries for its invasive role and attack to privacy
Containment
It refers to the use of any available tools to mitigate the spread of disease.
Covid-19
The technical name for the Corona Virus is SARS-CoV-2 because the virus is a genetic cousin of the corona virus which caused the SARS outbreak in 2002. The respiratory disease it causes has been named the “corona virus disease 2019” (check the acronym). The World Health Organization has given the abbreviated name in a press release on February 11, 2020.
Coronaviruses are named for the crown-like spikes that protrude from their surfaces, resembling the sun’s corona. Coronaviruses are among a large number of viruses that are common in people and many animals.
Data
Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. (wiki)
The number of cases reported in every chart and table is not reliable.
The data are untrustworthy because “the processes we used to get them were flawed”. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing procedures missed the bulk of the cases. They focused exclusively on travelers, rather than testing more broadly, because that seemed like the best way to catch cases entering the country. (Atlantic)
Defense Production Act (DPA)
The medical device DPA order covers General Electric, Hill-Rom Holdings, Medtronic, ResMed, Phillips and Vyaire Medical, authorizing HHS Secretary Alex Azar to “facilitate the supply of materials to the [companies] for the production of ventilators” (Politico.com/White House).
President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to push 3M and six major medical device companies to produce protective masks and ventilators needed for the coronavirus outbreak. (04.02)
DAMO
In early February, Alibaba Group’s research and innovation institute DAMO Academy developed an AI-enabled system that could diagnose Covid-19 in 20 seconds with 96% accuracy. (Alibaba)
The AI system identifies the novel virus through computed tomography scans of the chest. The algorithm has been trained with data and CT scans from more than 5,000 confirmed coronavirus cases so far and taps into deep learning to study patterns of infection.
Emotional contagion
is the phenomenon of having one person’s emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in other people. (wiki)
Epidemic curve
An epi curve or epidemiological curve, is a statistical chart used in epidemiology to visualize the onset of a disease outbreak. It can help with the identification of the mode of transmission of the disease. It can also show the disease’s magnitude, its outliers, its trend over time, and its incubation period.[1][2] (wiki)
Face mask
Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick — viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).
If you are likely to be in close contact with someone infected, a mask cuts the chance of the disease being passed on. If you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus, or have been diagnosed, wearing a mask can also protect others. So masks are crucial for health and social care workers looking after patients and are also recommended for family members who need to care for someone who is ill — ideally, both the patient and carer should have a mask. (The Guardian)
Fact-checking
is investigate (an issue) in order to verify the facts. It is highly advised before any kind of knowledge acquisition or dissemination.
Fake news
is a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media (print and broadcast) or online social media. Digital news has brought back and increased the usage of fake news. The news is then often reverberated as misinformation in social media but occasionally finds its way to the mainstream media as well.(wiki)
We are assisting in an unprecedented phenomenon during the Pandemic of Covid-19 augmented by conspiracy theories from all 4 corners of the globe, for strategic, political and entropic reasons.
Fatality rate
(mortality rate) Experts define the case fatality rate as “the ratio of deaths occurring from a particular cause to the total number of cases due to the same cause.
In the case of a “rapidly expanding epidemic,” the number of cases from a few weeks ago will always be much smaller than the current one, so “the true case fatality ratio will be higher.”
On the other hand, another bias evens the scale in the opposite direction.“We do not report all the cases, in fact, we only usually report a small proportion of them. If there are many more cases in reality, then the case fatality ratio will be lower.” (John Edmunds, a professor in the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom/Medicalnewstoday)
Estimating the true case fatality ratio is “tricky”.
Flattening the curve
In epidemiology, the curve refers to the projected number of new cases over a period of time.
In contrast to a steep rise of coronavirus infections, a more gradual uptick of cases will see the same number of people get infected, but without overburdening the health-care system at any one time.
The idea of flattening the curve is to stagger the number of new cases over a longer period, so that people have better access to care. (cnbc.com)
Furlough vs. layoff
A furloughed worker is still considered an employee, but they have been forced to take a break from work without pay or to reduce their hours. Furloughs tend to last less than six months since any period longer than that could trigger employment laws that mandate companies to provide the type of advance notification that can be required ahead of mass layoffs.
A layoff is a separation of employment that can be either temporary or permanent. This means the worker is not kept on the company’s payroll, but could be rehired at a later date. (Cnn.com)
“Companies are furloughing thousands of workers due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic”
Grey rhino event
It is a highly probable, high impact yet neglected threat: kin to both the elephant in the room and the improbable and unforeseeable black swan. Gray rhinos are not random surprises but occur after a series of warnings and visible evidence. It is a theory developed by Michele Wucker.(book editor)
Covid-19 may belong to this category of events.
Hands hygiene
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. (CDC)
Herd immunity
Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, population immunity, or social immunity) is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, thereby providing a measure of protection for individuals who are not immune. (wiki)
Hospital Bed Capacity
It is the number of beds that a hospital has been designed and constructed to contain. It may also refer to the number of beds set up and staffed for use. (definitions)
There are around 6,000 hospitals nationwide, with more than 900,000 hospital beds outside of the intensive care unit. (AHA)
ICU
An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive treatment medicine.
There are 46,500 medical ICU beds in the United States and perhaps an equal number of other ICU beds that could be used in a crisis (Eric Toner and Richard Waldhorn/Johns Hopkins)
Inaction
Lack of action where some is expected or appropriate. (Oxford)
Incubation
the time from the moment of exposure to an infectious agent until signs and symptoms of the disease appear. For example, the median disease incubation period of Covid-19 is 5.1 days (Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health/ 10 of March 2020).
Infodemic
An excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult. (wiki)
Isolation
It is a strategy used to separate people who are sick with a contagious illness from those who are healthy. Isolation restricts the movement of people who are ill to help stop the spread of certain diseases. People in isolation may be cared for in their homes, in hospitals, or in designated healthcare facilities. (michigan.gov)
This is for people who actually have the virus or suspect they may be infected. There is a debate if it is necessary to isolate before knowing you have symptoms or the virus itself.
People who have been infected with the virus may be asked to self-isolate at home if they have no symptoms or are only mildly ill.
It’s important to call your health provider, in any case, if you develop symptoms.
Those in isolation should keep away from other people as much as possible. The CDC recommends that you use a separate bathroom, if available, wear a face mask when around others, and don’t share household items. (cnn.com)
Moral distress
It is the emotional state that arises from a situation when a nurse feels that the ethically correct action to take is different from what he or she is tasked with doing. When policies or procedures prevent a nurse from doing what he or she thinks is right, that presents a moral dilemma. (healthynursehealthynation)
Pandemic
It is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance, multiple continents, or worldwide. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. (wiki)
Pandemic bonds
They are designed to make payments to poorer nations when an outbreak reaches certain criteria, with investors who bought the bonds essentially betting on such an event not happening. (nasdaq)
Panicdemic
A disease which may turn into a pandemic, triggers all emergency action plans, and then fails to turn into a pandemic. (urbandictionary)
Patient 0
is a term used to describe the first human infected by a disease. The disease they have can either be viral or bacterial and it is usually the least mutated form of the illness.
While many don’t like the term — a lot of scientists recognise the fact that it is important to analyse the first person to spread a disease. Because the disease they are carrying is in its most basic form, it can be invaluable to medics. Finding the patient zero will allow medics to determine where it came from. This in turn can give medics a way to stem, control and learn more about the outbreak. (the Sun)
Quarantine
is a restriction on the movement of people and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests.[1] It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, but do not have a confirmed medical diagnosis.
This median time from exposure to onset of symptoms suggests that the 14-day quarantine period used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for individuals with likely exposure to the coronavirus is reasonable. (wiki)
R0
(pronounced R nought or R zero) The basic reproduction number of an infection can be thought of as the expected number of cases directly generated by one case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection.
The most important uses of R0 are determining if an emerging infectious disease can spread in a population and determining what proportion of the population should be immunized through vaccination to eradicate a disease. In commonly used infection models, when R0 > 1 the infection will be able to start spreading in a population, but not if R0 < 1
Relapse
In medicine, it is the return of a disease or the signs and symptoms of a disease after a period of improvement. (cancer.org)
Silver lining
It is a metaphor and a psychological mechanism to emphasize the hopeful side of a situation that might seem gloomy on the surface. (vocabulary)
“Look for the silver lining of the Coronavirus, pollution on the planet decreased dramatically and a hole in the ozone layer is in recovery”. (globalnews.ca)
Shelter in place Vs. Stay-at-home Vs. Lockdown
An order to shelter in place may be implemented for a variety of scenarios, such as natural disasters, active shooters, or chemical, radiological or other hazards. For example in the affected California counties, all non-essential travel was banned and people are being told to work from home or stop working unless they provide an “essential service” (cbcnews)
More than a dozen states (24th of March, 2020) have issued stay-at-home orders. Residents can still go out for essential needs as long as they are practicing social distancing and “common sense”. Services including gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, farmer markets, and restaurants (providing only takeout and delivery options) as well as banks and laundromats will remain open. (cnn.com)
Governors make decisions individually. Some of them are using interchangeably the two terms.
Lockdown, also known as secure in place, maybe instructed during situations of potential danger. In this case is referred to as a form of retention to the not essential business and activities in a city or a state closing temporarily, to flatten the curve. Residents cannot go out of their homes freely (see the solution some European states and China decided to enforce).
Social distancing
It refers to measures that are taken to increase the physical space between people to slow the spread of the virus. Examples include working from home, school closures and the postponement or cancellation of mass gatherings.
By maintaining a distance of six feet from others when possible, people may limit the spread of the virus.
Recently the theme is highly debated. Should we consider the term “physical distance” more correct?
Should we highly encourage “social remote proximity” to maintain a sense of community and be closer to those who are more vulnerable in this circumstance?
Spillover
A spillover infection occurs when a reservoir population with a high pathogen prevalence comes into contact with a novel host population. The pathogen is transmitted from the reservoir population and may or may not be transmitted within the host population. (wiki)
Ventilators
There are in USA about 160,000 machines. Mechanical ventilation is a vital component of critical services for patients exhibiting severe acute respiratory failure. (John Hopkins/School of Public Health)
Viral evolution
Viruses have short generation times. The rapidity of viral mutation also causes problems in the development of successful vaccines and antiviral drugs, as resistant mutations often appear within weeks or months after the beginning of treatment. (wiki)
Virus
It is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. They have been described as “organisms at the edge of life”,[8] since they resemble organisms in that they possess genes, evolve by natural selection, and reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly (wiki)
WHO
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with world public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
I envision an open-source reference. Let me know your geography!
We are in this together. Share if you find it valuable.
Portland, OR- 03/2020
