WEBVTT - The Impact of COVID-19 on Tech 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.720 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.520 and a love of all things tech. And when I'm 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.160 not staring at my producer, who is steadily nodding off 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.680 at her chair falling asleep as I speak into this microphone, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.120 I want to talk to you guys about tech and 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.440 critical thinking, compassion and things that are really important to 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.400 me and I hope are important to you. And I 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.440 think it's past time that we have an episode about 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.960 the coronavirus and the disease it causes. That would be 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.120 COVID nineteen. And I'm sure most of you are tired 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.960 of hearing about this, but the effects of the pandemic 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.520 are immense, and the tech industry is definitely not exempt 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.680 from those effects. So today we're going to talk about 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.240 the virus itself, the disease it causes, how that's impacting 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.800 the tech industry and beyond. And there's some hopeful stuff 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:07.880 in here too, as we look at how things are 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.440 shaping up at the time of this recording, which I 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.800 am doing on Friday, the thirteen March But let's start 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.959 off with defining some terms, and will begin with the 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.240 word virus, because heck, we've used that word to describe 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:26.640 stuff like malware, right, computer viruses. What we call computer 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:32.240 viruses computer viruses because of how the malware can spread 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.360 in a way that's analoguess, it's not exactly the same, 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.720 but analogous to how something like the coronavirus spreads in 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.640 the flesh and blood world. So what the heck is 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.000 a virus? Well, viruses are actually something of a of 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.640 a puzzler. They are small and simple, and people often 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.520 refer to them as infectious agents. I used to know 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.760 an infectious agent. I won't reterm my calls now. But 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.480 there was confusion over whether or not viruses qualify as 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.920 life forms. It's an ongoing discussion in science, and that's 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.960 largely because viruses are far more simple than most things 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.320 that we would refer to as being alive. Uh. They 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.359 require a host in order to multiply and to generate 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.680 the energy that they need. In order to do this, like, 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.079 they don't have that capability to do it on their own. 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:27.720 They first have to infect host cells and then hijack 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.920 the host cells of capabilities in order to make more viruses. 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.560 So for some people that's enough to dismiss them as 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.240 qualifying as a living thing. And no, it doesn't qualify 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:43.440 because it's unable to replicate itself without this host cell structure. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.880 But other people argue that it's not really as clear 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.280 as all that, And ultimately it also depends upon how 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.320 we define the term life. As it turns out, some 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.800 of these terms are a little trickier to define than others. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.800 But we can get past this. We can describe what 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.400 viruses are in a more general sense, and viruses consist 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.320 of a shell typically, and inside that shell is either 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:11.440 DNA or RNA and some proteins. The DNA or RNA 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:16.120 contained the genetic information unique to that particular strain of virus, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.560 and that DNA or RNA is also what will start 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:24.280 synthesizing the protein or proteins that the virus contains. Once 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.600 the virus infects a cell, so speaking of that virus 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.040 is attached to living cells to act as a host, 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.040 and then they essentially inject their innerds that nucleic acid 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.840 and protein into the host cell. The nucleic acid of 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.320 the virus hijacks the host cell dedicates the cell's normal 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.840 functions towards synthesizing proteins and nucleic acids to make more 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.640 of the virus, and it continues to spread that way. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:53.480 We typically divide viruses into those that can infect animals, bacteria, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.760 or plants, but within those classifications or viruses that have 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.440 a limited range of potential hosts. So, for example, some 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.280 viruses might be able to infect certain vertebrates but not others, 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:09.200 so you can't necessarily have viruses transfer from one species 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.520 to another. That doesn't always work. Viruses are one type 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.800 of infecting agent, but they're not the only one. There's 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.080 also bacterial agents, and those can infect humans and make 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.919 them sick, and bacterial infections are the kind that you 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.520 could treat with something like antibiotics. Those are designed to 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:32.800 kill the bacteria, but antibiotics are not effective against viral infections. UH. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.680 This is also why it's important to pay attention to 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.960 the type of stuff you're using. When you're trying to 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.640 sanitize stuff. What you want is something that is labeled 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:47.040 as antimicrobial or antiseptic, not just antibacterial, because antibacterial may 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.679 not have the ingredients needed to get rid of things 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.839 like a virus. So generally speaking, the rule for the 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.480 coronavirus is, if you're buying hand sanitizer, you want stuff 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.880 that has an alcohol content of at least sixty percent 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.400 to act as an effective way to eliminate the coronavirus 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.400 on surfaces or to clean your hands. That's also why 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:11.680 there have been some alcohol companies that have mentioned that, hey, 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.640 don't try and use our stuff to clean your hands 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:18.440 or to clean surfaces, because our alcohol content isn't high 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.240 enough to guarantee that it actually eliminates the coronavirus from 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.159 those surfaces, and you'll be wasting alcohol and you'll be 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.839 getting sick anyway. This is also a good point to 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:33.680 say antibiotics because they are totally not effective against viruses. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.200 It's a terrible idea to request them or for doctors 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.359 to prescribe them in the wake of a viral infection, 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.240 because not only are they not effective, but the more 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:47.039 we use antibiotics, the more likely we are to develop 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.279 strains of bacteria that are resistant to those antibiotics. This 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.240 leads to what we call superbugs. A superbug is a 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.720 type of bacteria or bacterium I should say, that is 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:04.080 resistant to many of the ways we treat bacterial infections, 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.840 and thus if it were to infect someone, it would 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.359 be very hard to eliminate that infection because the stuff 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.920 we would usually use would be ineffective. That's why we 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.480 want to limit our use of antibiotics and not go 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.120 crazy with them. Now. As I mentioned earlier, the coronavirus 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.159 actually refers to a family of viruses. It's not just 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.640 the infamous one that causes COVID nineteen that's disrupting the 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.200 world as I record this. That's the one that's now 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.880 a pandemic. I'll define pandemic in just a moment. The 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.760 virus family also includes stuff like SARS, another very scary virus, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.360 but it also has stuff like the common cold, which, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:45.279 while irritating, is not necessarily scary. It's more of an inconvenience. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.440 When we encounter a new virus belonging to this family 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:53.320 of viruses, we would call it a novel coronavirus, meaning 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.120 a new one one that is uh now found to 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.760 be a human infecting virus that previously we had never 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.720 really observed or identified. We've since given the name of 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:10.520 this particular novel coronavirus as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:15.240 two or stars cove to cove would be capital C, 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.240 lower case O capital V. Now I'm going to stick 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.520 with novel coronavirus or just coronavirus or virus for this episode. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.120 Just know that when I'm using those terms, I'm referring 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:30.000 to this specific viral strain, and people infected with this 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:35.360 novel coronavirus develop a particular respiratory disease. That's what COVID 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:40.840 nineteen is. COVID stands for coronavirus disease, and then the 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.280 nineteen is for two thousand nineteen, because that's when it 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.560 was first observed, right at the very tail end of 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.640 two thousand nineteen. And you might also hear another designation 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.400 that means the same thing, which is two thousand nineteen 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.800 dash in c o V. But these are all just 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.040 ways of saying, we found a disease caused by a 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.920 virus that we previously didn't know about. It infects humans, 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.120 it affects us, and it's part of the coronavirus family 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.840 of viruses, and also we found out about it back 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.640 in two thousand nineteen. That's what that name really tells you. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.240 Doesn't tell you anything useful about the disease itself as 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.280 far as symptoms or treatment. It just tells you what 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.160 family it belongs to and when we discovered it. So 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.600 if none of that gives you useful information as far 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.600 as how infectious the disease is, or how dangerous it 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.920 can be, or what you should do to avoid it, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.640 or what you should do if you suspect you have it, 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.240 or anything like that, we got to look beyond that. 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.760 So let's get into some more details. And I promise 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:38.840 I'm going to bring this around to tech, but I 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.439 feel that as a person who has a platform that's 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.760 capable of reaching people, I have a certain responsibility to 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.520 share this information just in case you haven't encountered it 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.480 on your own yet. So I apologize for those of 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.840 you who have read up on this, or I've heard 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.960 numerous other shows, or or you know, any other contact 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.480 you've had that's had a about this. But I want 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.080 to make sure everyone has the information they need to 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.360 kind of understand what this is and how to deal 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.040 with it. Now, I'm gonna start by talking about the 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.480 symptoms of COVID nineteen and how infectious it is and 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.880 what the risks are as I think that's what causes 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.240 a lot of anxiety in general, so it's best to 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.720 cover it first. Now, the two basic symptoms for people 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.800 who get COVID nineteen are a dry cough and a fever. 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.040 There's sometimes also a shortness of breath. That's the third 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.400 one that's fairly common, and that's pretty consistent. Those are 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.880 also symptoms that we tend to find in other diseases, 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.240 so it makes it a little tricky to self diagnose. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.000 It turns out you might have the common flu, for example, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:47.040 and not COVID nineteen, so you can't necessarily be certain 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.800 you've got one thing versus another when the symptoms are 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.240 so similar to each other. COVID nineteen is a pretty 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.720 contagious disease, and it is most easily transferred when someone 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:01.320 with COVID nineteen is already really sick. And that's largely 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.000 because the sick person tends to cough, and as they 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:09.960 do so, they propel respiratory droplets into the environment, and 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.040 the virus is inside those droplets. That being said, as 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.400 I record this, we're still learning about this particular virus. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.800 Doctors estimate that the incubation period that would be the 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.679 length of time between when a person is infected by 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.080 the virus and when they actually start to exhibit symptoms 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:31.280 of COVID nineteen can be anywhere between one to fourteen days, 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.520 although most estimates focus on around being five days, so 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.400 it's possible that someone can be a carrier for the 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.320 virus but not yet exhibit symptoms for a couple of days. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.080 People in close proximity or those who come into contact 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.560 with surfaces that get those droplets on them, are in 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.280 danger of catching this disease. This is why you hear 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.000 so much about washing your hands and using hand sanitizer 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.640 and not standing or sitting too close to people in 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.200 general as well. All is why you're told not to 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.240 touch your face, you know, not to transfer this virus 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.280 to say, your mouth, or your eyes or your nose. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.880 People tend to get infected after they touch surfaces that 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.800 have these droplets on them, and then they end up 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.040 transferring that to their face more often than not, so 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.520 touching the face gives the virus the opportunity to infect 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.440 a new person, and that just means that the virus 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.920 can continue to perpetuate itself. Now that being said, if 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.040 someone is sick, having them wear a mask can help 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:33.559 them keep from spreading those respiratory droplets to surface around them. 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.679 So masks are really great for people who are already sick, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.520 but they have a limited usefulness for people who are 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:45.040 not infected. If you are healthy, wearing a mask does 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.520 not guarantee that you will stay healthy. It doesn't limit 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.360 your exposure to the things that can cause the COVID 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.400 nineteen disease. Uh. It might discourage you from touching your face, 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.600 which is a big part of it that actually, so 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.160 it may help in that way directly. The mask itself 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.960 isn't really providing super protection for you. It may just 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.240 discourage you from doing things that could easily uh cause 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.320 you to transfer the virus to your face. But it 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.959 might also provide a bit of psychological comfort. And while 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.760 it may not serve any real shield purpose for keeping 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.120 you well, psychological comfort can go a long way too. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:25.719 I know a lot of us are feeling a lot 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.040 of anxiety, and we're seeking out comfort wherever we can 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:30.840 get it. As long as we're doing it in a 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.000 way that is not increasing our odds of getting sick, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.560 I'm generally in favor of that. If it does increase 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.080 your odds of getting sick, not only are you not 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.040 really helping yourself, you're putting yourself more at risk. So 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.200 the disease spreads quickly. But then how deadly is it? Well, 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.360 it's a respiratory illness, and it's more dangerous for the 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.240 elderly and for those with respiratory problems or for those 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.200 who have compromised immune systems. If you are younger and 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:02.920 generally healthy, catching COVID nineteen would likely be unpleasant, but 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.800 potentially you could treat it through self care at home, 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:10.800 essentially staying home, staying hydrated, and waiting for the disease 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.920 to run its course, for your immune system to fight 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:17.520 off the virus. But ideally a medical professional would make 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.600 the determination that you actually have the disease, that you 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.080 have a testing kit of some sort, and that they're 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.360 able to determine whether or not you have it. I 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.600 don't recommend people just decide that they should do any 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.720 sort of self care routine on their own without consulting 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.000 a doctor or nurse or saying, oh, it's probably not 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.280 the COVID nineteen. I should be fine. Getting tested is 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:42.640 the most important part, and that's something that the United States, 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.600 as I'm recording this is currently trying to get a 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.840 handle on because they were We were woefully unprepared, despite 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.880 the fact that we had a little bit of a 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.280 heads up in this virus as it was breaking out. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:01.080 Now that being said, the World Health Organization currently estimates 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.679 the mortality rate for COVID nineteen to be three point 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.280 four percent. That means three point four percent of the 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:12.640 people who have been diagnosed with COVID nineteen have subsequently died. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.800 By comparison, the seasonal flu typically has a mortality rate 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.120 of around one percent. So that tells you that COVID nineteen, 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.000 based upon this estimate from the World Health Organization, is 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:29.520 much more deadly. But that estimate doesn't necessarily reflect reality 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.440 because we don't actually know how many cases of the 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.800 disease there really are out in the world, and without 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.600 knowing that, you can't really draw a conclusion about how 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.080 deadly it is. Because if the disease is far more 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.680 widespread than we thought, and the numbers of those who 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.320 died are still you know, what we believe them to 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.480 be now, it actually means the mortality rate is lower, right, 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.680 because more people have the disease, but fewer people have 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:55.760 died up from it. So we can't really make a 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.680 definitive conclusion. Now, more than eight percent of those who 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.040 have passed away from this disease where sixty years or older, 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.400 and more than of those who have passed away had 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.840 other health conditions like heart disease that likely played a 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.760 part as well. So it is a very serious disease, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.040 but it tends to be deadly for people who are 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.480 older or who have these underlying health conditions that can 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.320 also play a role. And as you've likely heard, this 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:31.720 particular virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December nineteen. 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.000 I'll talk more about that process in just a moment, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:45.160 but first let's take a quick break. Doctors in Wuhan, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.760 China noticed an increase in the number of patients who 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.680 are seeking treatment for a respiratory ailment that was similar 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.520 to pneumonia at the very end of and the Chinese 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.360 government confirmed those reports on December thirty one, two thousand nineteen. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.440 A few days later, Chinese scientists announced they had identified 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.880 a previously unknown virus as the cause of the disease, 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.120 and that they believed the outbreak originated at a fish 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.960 and poultry market in Wuhan. The Chinese media first reported 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.360 on a death caused by this disease on January eleven. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.600 This was right around a really large holiday in China 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.400 in which lots of people travel, and that gave the 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.280 virus a ton of opportunity to spread to new hosts 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.680 in the process. And I'll talk about how this virus 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:37.200 spreads further in a bit. By January twenty, we started 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:41.080 seeing confirmed cases of COVID nineteen outside of China. The 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.760 first places to report their own cases where South Korea, Japan, 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.680 and Thailand. On January twenty one, doctors diagnosed a man 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.440 in Washington State in the United States as having COVID nineteen. 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.120 The man had recently returned from Wuhan, China. On January 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.840 twenty three, the Chinese government began to take some pretty 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.640 extreme measures in an effort to contain the spread of 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.439 the coronavirus. The government shut down all traffic going in 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.200 and out of Wuhan and suspended all mass transportation within 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.680 the region. The World Health Organization declared a public health 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:20.280 emergency of International concern on January as reports of the 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.720 spread of the virus were on the rise. A couple 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.400 of days later, on February second, a forty four year 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.199 old man in the Philippines died after being infected by 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.439 the coronavirus, becoming the first person outside of China to 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.720 die after being infected. One story that got a lot 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:42.280 of press, understandably so, focused on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.840 which was returning to Japan after a two week trip 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.320 in Southeast Asia. The Jevities government required the passengers, of 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.959 which there were more than thirty six hundred, to go 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.640 into quarantine. A week later, the number of people who 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:58.439 tested positive for COVID nineteen on that ship were in 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.960 the number of two hundred eighteen people. That made the 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:07.800 Diamond Princess the largest site of infection outside of China itself. 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.440 Kind of incredible to think that the two leading places 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.359 where people were sick with COVID nineteen where China and 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.879 this cruise ship. On February, the number of deaths in 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.640 China due to COVID nineteen surpassed the number of people 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.000 who had died in the two thousand two and two 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.119 thousand three Stars epidemic. The country had more than forty 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:33.800 thousand confirmed cases of infection by that point. On February, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.280 the Chinese government announced that the probable source of the 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:40.480 virus outbreak came from the pernicious habit of eating wildlife. 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.800 That's a quote from Chinese media. The initial outbreaks all 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.320 seemed to stem from that fish and poultry market in Wuhan. 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.560 On Ferry twenty feet, Iran announced that they there were 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.640 two confirmed cases of people with COVID nineteen in that country. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.800 Later that same day, the government announced that those two 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.879 patients had passed away, and the outbreak in Iran would 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.720 later become one of the worst that we've seen outside 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.880 of China. Another place that had a really severe outbreak 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.879 and continues to be dealing with that is Italy. In 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:14.080 mid February, Italy had five confirmed cases, but by February 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.720 the number had grown to one fifty, so it was 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.320 growing super fast, super early. By the end of February, 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.600 cases in Europe were spiking as people were traveling from 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.080 areas of infection back home, spreading the virus as they 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.280 did so. On February twenty nine, the US media reported 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.359 on the first death in America following infection, and the 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.000 global number of cases had reached around eight seven thousand. 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.719 The virus continue to spread rapidly, and on March twelve, 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:46.920 twenty twenty, the World Health Organization proclaimed COVID nineteen a pandemic. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.399 So what does that actually mean. Well, an epidemic is 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.760 when you have a lot of cases of a specific 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:58.399 infectious disease in a particular place during a particular time frame. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.840 So if a massive number of people caught the flu 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.840 in New York City at the same general time, like 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.399 let's say it's in uh, you know, January, then you 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.040 would say there's a flu epidemic in New York City. 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.280 It's kind of a way to describe the severity of 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.760 an outbreak. A pandemic is when you have epidemics of 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:22.000 the same infectious disease, but they spread across countries or 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.480 even continents. It's a way of classifying the scope and 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:30.040 scale of the threat. And there's something else I need 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.480 to talk about. So the spread of COVID nineteen is 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.440 a huge problem. For one thing, it poses a real 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.399 threat to the elderly and to those with other medical conditions. 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.919 So while a relatively healthy person like myself might be 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.880 able to weather getting sick and then make a full recovery, 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.400 I would pose a threat to others if I were 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.359 to try and go about my normal routine. While I'm infected, 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.480 my activities could lead to some vulnerable person becoming infected, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.480 whether directly from me or perhaps someone else I encounter, 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.560 So I have a responsibility to do all I can 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:05.840 to make sure that doesn't happen. And the other thing 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.399 to keep in mind is that the economic impact of 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:12.840 the outbreak has been really dramatic on communities all the 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:17.040 way up to on the global scale. This disease is 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.480 disrupting businesses all down the line, from giant corporations to 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.880 independent small businesses. So it's not an overstatement to say 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.840 that the COVID nineteen pandemic is going to cause many 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.240 businesses to shut down. That's something we can't really ignore either. 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.159 One way to mitigate the spread of this disease is 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:38.680 through what everyone now calls social distancing. Sometimes they jokingly 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.479 talk about social distancing essentially means that what it sounds like, 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.320 you don't hang out super close to other people, and 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.399 if it's possible, you don't really go into large shared 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:51.440 public spaces with a lot of folks, like you don't 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.320 go to a lot of big gatherings of people. And 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.040 this removes people from areas where the virus can easily 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.040 spread from person to person. It decreases the length of 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.960 the outbreak as a result, because the virus won't have 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.679 the opportunity to spread person to person if people aren't 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.600 gathering together. And that's what we've seen in China. The 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.080 government imposed some pretty extreme restrictions in an effort to 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:18.639 reverse the trajectory of this disease, and it worked. It 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:21.840 was really extreme, but at worked. We started seeing the 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.480 number of new cases of COVID nineteen in China go 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:29.800 down day to day as opposed to increase. So while 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:32.280 there were still people who are catching the disease or 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.080 exhibiting the symptoms of COVID nineteen are being diagnosed as 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.120 having COVID nineteen, that number was decreasing day by day. 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:41.960 That's what you want to see, you want to That's 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.199 why they talk about flattening the curve. You want to 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:49.760 get away from having a larger number the next day 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.159 than you had the day before. And that brings us 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:56.040 to the concept of teleworking, which plays very directly into tech. 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:58.720 Tech is one of the things that enables the possibility 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.040 of teleworking for people. There's been a lot of companies 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:04.960 that are offering at least some employees the option to 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:08.680 tell a work. Some companies are mandating that employees stay 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:11.680 home and tell a work. I think anyone who can 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:15.000 tell a work should do it. Not just so that 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.640 these teleworkers can avoid getting sick, but that is really important. 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:22.000 I don't want anyone to get sick. But also there 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:26.359 are millions of people who will not have this luxury. 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:30.400 They will not have the option to tell work. They 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:34.640 there are companies that might not offer them the opportunity. 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:37.720 They may not offer paid sickly, they may not allow 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:41.159 workers to stay home and still collect a paycheck. And 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:44.440 so the economic realities mean that many of these people 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:47.760 can't afford to not go into work. If they don't 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:49.280