This is a sample of this week’s 33mail, the 33 charts weekly newsletter. It’s a collection of the best stuff I found over the week. Check it out and if you like it please sign up over to the right or click to our 33mail page to learn more. 

I will be on Facebook Live March 29th at 1PM CST discussing some of these stories and more with Dr. Mark Shapiro, host of the Explore the Space podcast. I hope you can join us.

Thanks for checking in. This is a crazy fascinating time and the stories of change and adjustment to adversity around COVID19 is popping up everywhere.

I’ve cherry picked some of what I read and I share why I find it relevant. I’ve broken ranks with my traditional format in some spots. While this is longer than what I normally write, hopefully it’s easy to scan over.

33 charts and other stuff

I had a cool conversation in The Exam Room with Libby Copeland, former WaPo reporter and author of The Lost Family – How DNA Testing is Upending Who We are. This book that explores the unexpected consequences of personal genomic testing through patient/consumer stories. The Lost Family is a great book and I hope you check it out. This is a heartbreaking time for new authors — they are seeing much less chatter about their books with the pandemic.

I curated the TouchPoint 5, a weekly collection of cool news stories hosted by Chris Boyer. It’s a quick 7 minute listen with a summary of some of the things I found most interesting this week.

I did my first livestream this week with Dr. Kirsten Ostherr from Rice University. We discussed privacy on telehealth platforms. I was a totally caught up with making the technology work so my performance wasn’t so good. But it will be better next time (see the next paragraph). I am planning to do more of these so follow 33charts on Facebook and you’ll hear about them.

On that note, I’ll be on Facebook Live on Sunday March 29th at 1PM CST with Dr. Mark Shapiro, host of Explore the Space. As two of medicine’s most opinionated podcasters, we’re going to hammer through the events of the week. From scuba mask ventilators to medical students graduating early to flatten the curve, we’ll cover the craziness of COVID19 and a lot more. Mark has amazing insight. Don’t miss this fun, fast moving discussion. Connect here. If you lose the link just go to 33 charts on Facebook and look for the live video.

Everything else

The best weekly summary of COVID19 research I found

This summary of coronavirus research from the week is the best I’ve seen. It’s curated by the minds of Nature, one of medicine’s most reputable journals. | Nature

In case you missed it there is a dedicated COVID19 podcast from Nature called (wait for it) Coronapod.

Balancing privacy public interest at the speed of a pandemic

I found this to be one of the most thought provoking things I stumbled on this week. And it plays into my conversation with Kirsten Ostherr. Coronavirus is forcing a trade-off between privacy and public health. The crisis has governments and companies scrambling to decide when it’s appropriate to lift data privacy protections and AI ethics guidelines. | MIT Technology Review

A timely editorial on data and privacy from Nature.

Like the growing privacy concerns, this article suggests that everything is moving way too fast and we’ll have to ‘correct’ when the dust settles. For example, much of the research that emerges in the coming weeks will be turn out to be unreliable or wrong. I think this concept needs to be kept tightly in mind.

The ageless call to serve

In addressing the workforce shortage the NHS reached out to retired docs and nurses and felt a response from 4500 of them within a day. A clear indication of the gravity of the situation and the sense of moral obligation that health professionals bring to the table. | The London Economic

Speaking of older folks, Dr. Louise Aronson from UCSF wrote a nice Vox piece on how coronavirus reveals our lack of compassion for older people. Louise is on a streak with this essay in The Atlantic about how ageism is making the pandemic worse. The conversations around ventilators, availability of resources, and older folks have not been fully thought through due the speed of social dialog.

Medical students who are voluntold

A similar call to serve has been playing out in hot spot medical schools where it’s been suggested that 4th years may be able to graduate early in order to join the work force. This is happening in parts of Europe. For me this raises some questions about medical house staff and their role as cheap labor. A new COVID briefing site penned by the Brigham’s Dr. Jeremy Faust and a few other smarties raised some questions about the implications for students who opt out of these opportunities and other kinds of volunteering. Brief19 is a new daily summary for all things COVID.

The mystery of the missing CDC

Do you think it’s weird that the Centers for Disease Control has faded in to the background? A hundred year pandemic and nary a peep from ‘em this week. Lots of social buzz about why this may be the case and some solid insight here. | StatNews

Bots, apps and links, oh my

The CDC launched a bot that will tell you what to do if you have coronavirus symptoms. WhatsApp has partnered with the WHO to disseminate good information through a hotline kind of a tool. And in an unprecedented move, Apple has jumped in with an app of their own.

I may have been misinformed

Speaking of social platforms controlling medical misinformation, Twitter locked the conservative site The Federalist’s account for suggesting people deliberately expose themselves to coronavirus. The Federalist promoted the hare-brained idea of “medical ‘chickenpox parties’” to infect young people with the virus. Despite my criticisms in the past, it would appear that Big Social is intentionally working to mitigate COVID misinformation.

Actually, wait a minute. I take that back … Twitter gave Elon Musk a pass on spreading COVID19 misinformation.

Viral tourism

All the fancy folk from NYC are scampering for higher ground in Nantucket but the locals aren’t having it. Or them. | The Lily

In related news, the French government is mandating that the the sickest from the hot spots get transported to more remote areas. And the remote locals don’t have a choice. These guys are goin’ in style via the TGV, the super duper fast train. A video that shows how patient transport like this works.

Airbnb is going to provide hosting to a whole boatload of front line caregivers.

Ventilators that resemble scuba suits, sports cars and sexy vacuum cleaners

I loved this: Italian engineers have used 3D printing to configure a scuba mask into an non-invasive ventilator. Last week I shared with you that 3D printing had been used to create an unavailable ventilator part – and the story that they are being sued is a rumor. And if you’re into making stuff and you live in the UK, the restrictions on compassionate use of your hand made creations have been loosened. This is good. I think?

Dyson the vacuum guy has committed to creating 15,000 vents. Ford motor company is in the mix as well.

Visible exhaustion of the doctors

This remarkable photo essay is documenting the marks left on doctors from COVID19 | The Atlantic

Our contagion fables

For the record, the humanities have not been sidelined in all this madness. You’ll always get some here. This essay from The New Yorker puts coronageddon into the context of the literary greats. “The literature of contagion is vile. A plague is like a lobotomy. It cuts away the higher realms, the loftiest capacities of humanity, and leaves only the animal.” I love when writers make these big connections. | The New Yorker

Heard on Twitter

The other exponential graph. Watching tiny acts of kindness and care, spreading like ripples. They are everywhere you look now, accelerating and increasing, proliferating in their unmeasurable way. Go, you good humans. #EverySmallActCounts — Michelle Johnson MD

Digital exhaust

• TP Journal: They found the couple hoarding all the TP. In London, TP alternatives are blocking sewer lines. Also in the States, apparently.
• Loved this: 5 kinds of pandemic villains you might encounter.
• Board games adapted for the pandemic.
• From the ‘Wait…what? Department’: The Australians have a drone that can identify folks with respiratory problems.
• Dad from China creates a baby pod to protect his child.
• Possibly the greatest fall out of COVID19 has been the closing of the Waffle House
• Irish writers describe COVID as a shockin’ case of the wombles.
• How coronavirus is changing online dating and sex.
• While all the grandmas are sewing them, a cloth mask will not protect you.
• Logos in the age of coronavirus – check out the Starbucks siren lady.

Thanks for reading 33mail. If you have livestream ideas for me, send them along to 33charts@gmail.com