Sam Harris has followed up yesterday’s podcast, a coronavirus discussion with Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Yale University, with a second podcast about coronavirus.
This one, released today, is a discussion with Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist affiliated with Johns Hopkins University.
Here is a link to today’s podcast.
I know that I am not alone in struggling with anxiety and depression during the recent deluge of bad news relating to the coronavirus pandemic (see here and here for a couple of recent blogposts I have written). As a librarian, I wanted to share with you some information resources that you might also find helpful as you try to cope with this unprecedented public health crisis as it unfolds.
Today’s episode of Live Today from the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva featured a detailed question and answer session with mental health expert Dr. Aiysha Malik. I very strongly recommend you watch the entire video, even if you are not depressed or anxious; Aiysha is a very knowledgeable and calming speaker on the topic, and answers many mental-health-related questions submitted by viewers, some of which you may also have.
Other useful information resources I have found are:
UPDATE March 15th, 2020: Another potentially useful document is from the World Health Organization, titled Mental Health and Psychosocial Considerations During COVID-19 Outbreak, which has 31 recommendations, broken down by category:
UPDATE March 22nd, 2020: Librarianship.ca (a news website for librarians) has compiled an outstanding list of Canadian resources: COVID-19: Mental Health Resources, including a breakdown of local resources by province and territory.
UPDATE April 7th, 2020: Here’s a very good three-minute YouTube video by
Inspired Living Medical, that covers seven tips for effective mental health self-care during the coronavirus pandemic:
I will continue to add new resources to this list as I encounter them—and trust me, I am quite regularly scouring the coronavirus news feeds these days!
I leave you with an updated, more general list of mental health resources I had compiled back in 2018 when I had written an editorial about BetterHelp.com:
When you absolutely need someone to talk to online, one of the best places to try is The KindVoice subReddit and Discord channel, both of which are staffed by volunteers:
“Sometimes we need to hear a human voice on the other end of the line telling us that everything’s going to be ok. This subreddit is for people that aren’t in a suicidal crisis, but feel depressed, alone, or want someone to talk to.”
A similar service is called The Haven, another Discord channel for people who need someone to talk to. Both Kind Voice and The Haven are free, volunteer-run services.
Well, pandemic panic shopping has hit Winnipeg…here is a picture of the toilet paper aisle at a local Costco:
However, Winnipeggers are not without their signature sense of humour (we need it because of our long, cold winters). One Salisbury House restaurant in Winnipeg (a popular local chain well known for its “Nips” hamburgers and its claw machine games filled with stuffed animals) has set up the following claw machine:
So, if we do go into lockdown, at least I will be in good company! Winnipeg is well versed in dealing with emergencies such as blizzards; we will cope and we will adapt!
The following animated GIF is available here via Wikimedia (Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA), so please be sure to share it widely! It explains WHY we need to use social distancing, self-isolation, proper hand hygiene, and other tactics to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic, in order to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with a surge of COVID-19 patients who require hospitalization.
Once again, I am going to repeat the following information in an effort to reach as many people as I can who have not yet prepared for a pandemic:
Here, once again, is an updated reminder of what you should be doing to prepare: mentally, emotionally, and physically/logistically.
You will probably need to prepare to stay isolated in your homes for a period of several weeks, avoiding contact with as many other people as possible, as a wave of illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus sweeps through your community, forcing schools, businesses, and public transportation and public gathering places like movie theatres and shopping malls to close (as we already seen in Wuhan and many other cities in China, as well as places such as South Korea, Iran, and Italy). The elderly (those over 60) and those with hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease (e.g. asthma), cancer, and those who have compromised immune systems (e.g. HIV+) are particularly at risk of a severe reaction to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The time to prepare for the imposition of quarantines and social distancing policies by local governments is NOW.
If you need lists of how to prepare and what to buy in order to get your household ready for a potential pandemic, here are seven suggestions to help you get started:
You will need to have on hand:
Other things that you should do:
There have been reports of panic shopping in various countries around the world, including in North America. In particular, hand sanitizer is in short supply, with many stores being sold out of stock. Fortunately, if you cannot find sanitizer to buy, you can make your own. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
2/3-cup rubbing alcohol (99% isopropyl alcohol, not 70%)
1/3-cup aloe vera gel (GEL, not liquid)
Directions: Add the alcohol to the aloe vera gel and stir. Using a funnel, pour the mixture into a pump bottle; you can use cleaned soap bottles for instance, or you can find inexpensive pump bottles at dollar stores. If you have empty store-bought hand sanitizer bottles, you can use those.
If you wish, you can add 8-10 drops of essential oils. Lemongrass, eucalyptus, peppermint and orange oils, which have been shown to have some antibacterial properties (source), would be a good choice.
Here is my updated list of good, credible, authoritative resources to learn more about the Wuhan coronoavirus (formerly called 2019-nCoV and now officially called SARS-CoV-2; the disease the virus causes is now called COVID-19):
If you want a quick, up-to-date overview of the current situation, here are some good places to check:
Stay informed, get prepared, and stay healthy!
There is a small subReddit community (4,600 members) called r/COCID19_support. The creator states in the welcome message:
It had come to my attention that a lot of news about the epidemic had been causing spikes in anxiety and problems with people’s mental health, which really exacerbates the problem.
And with more and more cities going into in lockdown and more people forcing quarantines it seems that mental health is CRITICAL at this point in time. So hence comes this sub.
…
We offer non-judgemental peer support, not necessarily professional advice. You can check out rules and guidelines for more.
People have written all kinds of posts, talking about all kinds of problems they are having in trying to cope with a coronavirus pandemic, but one writer in particular made me realize something profound about this coronavirus pandemic: that we have no idea what could happen, how our lives could change, or how long that change would last.
That person wrote:
I think I’m experiencing grief over what I see to be the surety of loss of “normal” life as we know it, at least for an unknown period of time in the future.
I saw an ad on my Facebook timeline – ‘Wicked’ is going to be playing in Des Moines this July. (Well, at least it’s scheduled for then).
I don’t think I’ll get to ever see ‘Wicked,’ or if I do, it might be years from now.
IF the cast continues to tour, IF the theaters are still even open then, would I even feel safe enough to go anywhere with a crowd?
Now multiply that by any future events – even seeing a movie at the local theater. Concerts. Shopping malls. Going out to dinner. Visiting with family or friends?
How long until we’re restricted from driving around the country?
When will travel be safe again? I really enjoyed cruising, I enjoyed going by airplane, train, or even bus sometimes. I enjoyed seeing other countries and tourist spots.
Judging just by what I see other places going through, this virus isn’t only affecting if people live, get sick, or die. It will change our entire way of life.
I’m sad because I already see what I’ll be missing, and I don’t know if that will be for the rest of my life or for how long.
At age 56, signifcantly overweight, and with three underlying health conditions (hypertension, asthma, and type II diabetes), I am at risk of a severe reaction to SARS-CoV-2 infection. I’ve prepared as best I can; I’ve stocked up on all my prescription medications for three months, and stocked up on non-perishable food and even some over-the-counter medications if I should get sick. (Yes, I even stocked up on toilet paper.)
But now I realize that, according to the latest advice put out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, I am going to have to avoid going out—to restaurants, to movies, to pretty much anywhere where I could encounter crowds or be potentially exposed to someone with COVID-19. Basically, I’m going to be going to work, and every so often to the local grocery store and drug store…and that’s pretty much it.
I have made some bad choices in my life (notably, not taking my need to lose weight seriously, which has led to my problems with hypertension and diabetes) and I have had some bad luck with genetics (notably, my lifelong asthma and depression).
And it would appear that that particularly unlucky combination of circumstances might just lead me to stay stuck in my apartment during a coronavirus pandemic, terrified of getting severely ill, and possibly even dying, from a minuscule virus that started halfway around the world.
It is a very discomforting and depressing thought.
I might not be as emotionally or mentally prepared for this as I like to pretend I am. God, I wish I had a crystal ball, just to see what is going to happen, tonight. To me. To my friends and family and coworkers. To all of us.
