Trump Predicts Suicides By The Thousands If Americans Can’t Get Back To Work

During a Fox News Town Hall, President Donald Trump said he believes shutting down the economy for much longer would kill more people than the coronavirus.

“Many people — in my opinion, more people — are going to die if we allow this to continue,” Trump said Monday. “We have to go back to work, Our people want to go back to work.”

According to Forbes, medical experts across the country disagree with Trump saying the coronavirus outbreak could potentially get worse in some areas before getting better. In New York, more than 30,000 people have been infected with the virus and the number is still rising hourly.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert for the Trump administration has repeatedly said it would take between six and eight weeks of following strict quarantine guidelines before the country could return to normal.

Trump, however, insists on reopening businesses and the economy saying he predicted “suicides by the thousands” if the country continues social distancing. “We can social distance ourselves and go to work.”

The Center for Disease Control predicted that between 200,000 and 1.7 million Americans will die from the virus if serious social distancing measures are not taken seriously.

On Wednesday, Trump blamed the media on Twitter, saying it’s trying to keep stores closed and people from going back to work. Other politicians are following the President’s lead. Earlier this week, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that grandparents are willing to die in order to send people back to work and save the U.S. economy.

“I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me — I have six grandchildren— that’s what we all care about …And I want to live smart and see through this, but I don’t want the whole country to be sacrificed. And that’s what I see,” Patrick said.

The coronavirus outbreak has resulted in more than 64,000 people being sick and more than 900 deaths across the country. If the number of positive cases continues to rise, every industry from airlines to the U.S. Postal Service could be affected.

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MIT-based team works on rapid deployment of open-source, low-cost ventilator

One of the most pressing shortages facing hospitals during the Covid-19 emergency is a lack of ventilators. These machines can keep patients breathing when they no longer can on their own, and they can cost around $30,000 each. Now, a rapidly assembled volunteer team of engineers, physicians, computer scientists, and others, centered at MIT, is working to implement a safe, inexpensive alternative for emergency use, which could be built quickly around the world.

The team, called MIT E-Vent (for emergency ventilator), was formed on March 12 in response to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its members were brought together by the exhortations of doctors, friends, and a sudden flood of mail referencing a project done a decade ago in the MIT class 2.75 (Medical Device Design). Students working in consultation with local physicians designed a simple ventilator device that could be built with about $100 worth of parts. They published a paper detailing their design and testing, but the work ended at that point. Now, with a significant global need looming, a new team, linked to that course, has resumed the project at a highly accelerated pace.

The key to the simple, inexpensive ventilator alternative is a hand-operated plastic pouch called a bag-valve resuscitator, or Ambu bag, which hospitals already have on hand in large quantities. These are designed to be operated by hand, by a medical professional or emergency technician, to provide breaths to a patient in situations like cardiac arrest, until an intervention such as a ventilator becomes available. A tube is inserted into the patient’s airway, as with a hospital ventilator, but then the pumping of air into the lungs is done by squeezing and releasing the flexible pouch. This is a task for skilled personnel, trained in how to evaluate the patient and adjust the timing and pressure of the pumping accordingly.

The innovation begun by the earlier MIT class, and now being rapidly refined and tested by the new team, was to devise a mechanical system to do the squeezing and releasing of the Ambu bag, since this is not something that a person could be expected to do for any extended period. But it is crucial for such a system to not damage the bag and to be controllable, so that the amount of air and pressures being delivered can be tailored to the particular patient. The device must be very reliable, since an unexpected failure of the device could be fatal, but as designed by the MIT team, the bag can be immediately operated manually.

The team is particularly concerned about the potential for well-meaning but inexperienced do-it-yourselfers to try to reproduce such a system without the necessary clinical knowledge or expertise with hardware that can operate for days; around 1 million cycles would be required to support a ventilated patient over a two-week period. Furthermore, it requires code that is fault-tolerant, since ventilators are precision devices that perform a life-critical function. To help curtail the spread of misinformation or poorly-thought-out advice, the team has added to their website verified information resources on the clinical use of ventilators and the requirements for training and monitoring in using such systems. All of this information is freely available at e-vent.mit.edu.

“We are releasing design guidance (clinical, mechanical, electrical/controls, testing) on a rolling basis as it is developed and documented,” one team member says. “We encourage capable clinical-engineering teams to work with their local resources, while following the main specs and safety information, and we welcome any input other teams may have.”

The researchers emphasize that this is not a project for typical do-it-yourselfers to undertake, since it requires specialized understanding of the clinical-technical interface, and the ability to work in consideration of strict U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifications and guidelines.

Such devices “have to be manufactured according to FDA requirements, and should only be utilized under the supervision of a clinician,” a team member said. “The Department of Health and Human Services released a notice stating that all medical interventions related to Covid-19 are no longer subject to liability, but that does not change our burden of care.” he said. “At present, we are awaiting FDA feedback” about the project. “Ultimately, our intent is to seek FDA approval. That process takes time, however.”

The all-volunteer team is working without funding and operating anonymously for now because many of them have already been swamped by inquiries from people wanting more information, and are concerned about being overwhelmed by calls that would interfere with their work on the project. “We would really, really like to just stay focused,” says one team member. “And that’s one of the reasons why the website is so essential, so that we can communicate with anyone who wants to read about what we are doing, and also so that others across the world can communicate with us.”

“The primary consideration is patient safety. So we had to establish what we’re calling minimum clinical functional requirements,” that is, the minimum set of functions that the device would need to perform to be both safe and useful, says one of the team members, who is both an engineer and an MD. He says one of his jobs is to translate between the specialized languages used by the engineers and the medical professionals on the team.

That determination of minimum requirements was made by a team of physicians with broad clinical backgrounds, including anesthesia and critical care, he says. In parallel, the group set to work on designing, building, and testing an updated prototype. Initial tests revealed the high loads that actual use incurs, and some weaknesses that have already been addressed so that, in the words of team co-leads, “Even the professor can kick it across the room.” In other words, early attempts focused on super “makability” were too optimistic.

New versions have already been fabricated and are being prepared for additional functional tests. Already, the team says there is enough detailed information on their website to allow other teams to work in parallel with them, and they have also included links to other teams that are working on similar design efforts.

In under a week the team has gone from empty benches to their first realistic tests of a prototype. One team member says that in the less than a week full they have been working, motivated by reports of doctors already having to ration ventilators, and the intense focus the diverse group has brought to this project, they have already generated “multiple theses worth” of research.

The cross-disciplinary nature of the group has been crucial, one team member says. “The most exciting times and when the team is really moving fast are when we have an a design engineer, sitting next to a controls engineer, sitting next to the fabrication expert, with an anesthesiologist on WebEx, all solid modeling, coding, and spreadsheeting in parallel. We are discussing the details of everything from ways to track patients’ vital signs data to the best sources for small electric motors.”

The intensity of the work, with people putting in very long hours every day, has been tiring but hasn’t dulled their enthusiasm. “We all work together, and ultimately the goal is to help people, because people’s lives understandably hang in the balance,” he said.

The team can be contacted via their website.

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Google Nest Hub Max Review: A Good Companion

I lived for four months with this snappy Google Assistant-powered smart display and found it useful for everything from cooking instructions to home security.

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News Rules Could Finally Clear the Way for Self-Driving Cars

For the first time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is weighing in on autonomous vehicles with no driver behind the wheel—or no wheel at all.

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How to See the World's Reflection From a Bag of Chips

Computer scientists reconstructed the image of a whole room using the reflection from a snack package. It's useful for AR/VR research—and possibly spying.

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Michelle Obama Opens Up About How Her Family is Dealing With the Coronavirus Outbreak

While the world is coping with the coronavirus pandemic, Ellen DeGeneres had decided to phone some of her celebrity friends to explore how they are handling the outbreak. She called former first lady Michelle Obama to discuss how she is dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak with her family, according to BET.

DeGeneres questioned Obama about the daily routine for the Obamas, which, due to the coronavirus, includes daughters Sasha and Malia. “What are you doing to be creative and keep busy?” DeGeneres asks Obama.

“We’re just trying to structure our days,” Obama told the daytime talk show host and comedian. “Everybody’s home. The girls are back because colleges are now online. They’re in their respective rooms doing their online classes and I think Barack—I don’t know where he is. He was on the phone on a conference call. I just got finished with a conference call.”

Always brightens my day to get a call from my friend Ellen, especially on this rainy Monday at home. It’s good to know that even when we’re apart, we’ve still got each other. #StayAtHome https://t.co/eBlVKED1Dv

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) March 23, 2020

DeGeneres inquired about Sasha, 18, and Malia, 21, being back home after returning from college amid the outbreak.

“My condolences that the kids are home,” DeGeneres joked. “Because you were saying how happy you are that they’re gone.”

“I know, I shouldn’t have boasted about that,” Obama laughed. “The gods are getting me back!”

Obama‘s point of view isn’t lost on what’s happening in the world right now.

“There’s some good and bad that goes with it. I feel for all the folks who are going to suffer because of what’s going to happen to the economy and we have to be mindful about what we’re going to do to support those folks when this quarantine is over,” she said. “And that is a negative, but on the positive side, I know for us, it’s forced us to sit down with each other, to have real conversations — you know — really ask questions and figure out how to keep ourselves occupied without just TV or computers.”

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Health Is Wealth: How To Survive Financially During The Coronavirus Crisis

The saying, health is wealth, has taken on a new meaning as the coronavirus health crisis has caused a financial crisis that is being felt all around the world. As a result, many Americans are counting their blessings along with their dollars and cents.

Over the past few weeks, the Dow and FTSE have seen their biggest one-day decline since 1987. And as financial analysts go back and forth about whether or not America is on the brink of another recession, millions of people are trying to figure out how they will make it with what they have as layoffs, furloughs, and salary cuts persist in the workforce.

In response to the new normal, Deborah T. Owens, founder of The Corporate Alley Cat has created the Remote and Ready webinar series with experts in various areas. Remote and Ready webinars give you actionable tools that you can use immediately. The sessions were created to build community, drive honest conversations, and create genuine connections.

In the first part of the series, Smart Money Moves in Uncertain Times, Owens was joined by Deborah Owens, no relation, affectionately known as America’s wealth coach, author, and CEO of WealthyU. During the webinar, the experts spoke about ways to have a healthy relationship with money, saving, investing, and ways to get through this national moment of financial uncertainty.

(Image: Screenshot/TheCorporateAlleyCat.com)

 

One of the first things that WealthyU’s Owens shared was to breathe. “Our most fundamental and basic need is security. So that’s exactly how we need to be thinking right now. It’s OK for you to feel anxious and have some fear around what is happening because your basic needs are being threatened right now.”

In addition to breathing, she advised people to prepare and not panic. “Focus on basic essentials. “take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves,” said Owens.

Related: Wondering if Life Insurance Would Cover You For Coronavirus? Here Are Some Answers

With a number of people being forced to pivot professionally, WealthyU’s Owens encouraged people to be nimble. “If you get an inkling that things are about to change for you economically. And even if you don’t, you need to be out here looking for other opportunities.” During your search, Owens recommends paying attention to companies that have expansion models. Companies like CVS, Amazon, and other tech companies are actively hiring contrary to the crisis. Right now is an opportune time for professionals to tap into their transferrable skills and rely on their networks to gauge opportunities.

“Relationships are key. Think about the network that you already have. Your relationships will be one of the things that help you get through the next few months,” said Owens.

Related: White House, Senate Agree on $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

And for those who are fortunate to still have a steady income, WealthyU’s Owens recommends creating savings that can account for at least three months of expenses. She also encourages people to have cash on hand.

“Cash gives you flexibility—and the lack of it makes you make the decisions that, are from a desperate point of view versus what really is a value at the time.”

For those seeking to maintain healthy credit scores, Owens shared that keeping credit usage down and paying minimum balances can be helpful so that you can also have access to cash.

“I think some other opportunities around this is there going to be some loan forgiveness and forbearance and credits going to be a lot freer. That’s why companies in 2008 did so well because they could borrow at zero interest rates. If I were strategically thinking about what we’re about to go through, I would be thinking about what are some higher interest debt that I might in this environment be able to transfer some from zero debt, and then that too, right will impact your credit score,” Owens added.

And when it comes to the stock market, Owens advises people to have a sense of what your real risk tolerance is.

By having a wealth mindset, Owens believes that people can see problems as opportunities, which requires being able to think around the current disruption.

To learn more about the ongoing series and join the conversations, visit the Remote and Ready landing page.

 

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The Ibuprofen Debate Reveals the Danger of Covid-19 Rumors

An online furor over whether it’s safe to use the fever reducer reveals how people are sharing incomplete—and sometimes bad—information.

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*Wonder Woman 1984* Is Being Delayed

Yes, it’s because of coronavirus, which has also now infected the science advisor on *Contagion.*

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What World War II Can Teach Us About Fighting the Coronavirus

Some manufacturers are racing to make ventilators, respirators, and face shields. But the situation is nothing like it was in the 1940s.

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How to Stay in Touch With Friends and Family When You're Stuck at Home

It's dangerous to go alone! Take these apps and services to stay in touch and feel less isolated while you follow shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders.

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Engineers Made a DIY Face Shield. Now, It's Helping Doctors

After a hospital put out a call for protective gear, three friends developed a product in a few days. Their design is now being manufactured by Ford.

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Coronavirus: East African gambling sales down 99%

The gambling sector in East Africa is in a 'total mess' following the collapse of global sport in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, says a Ugandan official.

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Kidnapped Nigerian footballers freed

Two Nigerian footballers - one a Super Eagles international - have been released after being kidnapped on Sunday.

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Neural networks facilitate optimization in the search for new materials

When searching through theoretical lists of possible new materials for particular applications, such as batteries or other energy-related devices, there are often millions of potential materials that could be considered, and multiple criteria that need to be met and optimized at once. Now, researchers at MIT have found a way to dramatically streamline the discovery process, using a machine learning system.

As a demonstration, the team arrived at a set of the eight most promising materials, out of nearly 3 million candidates, for an energy storage system called a flow battery. This culling process would have taken 50 years by conventional analytical methods, they say, but they accomplished it in five weeks.

The findings are reported in the journal ACS Central Science, in a paper by MIT professor of chemical engineering Heather Kulik, Jon Paul Janet PhD ’19, Sahasrajit Ramesh, and graduate student Chenru Duan.

The study looked at a set of materials called transition metal complexes. These can exist in a vast number of different forms, and Kulik says they “are really fascinating, functional materials that are unlike a lot of other material phases. The only way to understand why they work the way they do is to study them using quantum mechanics.”

To predict the properties of any one of millions of these materials would require either time-consuming and resource-intensive spectroscopy and other lab work, or time-consuming, highly complex physics-based computer modeling for each possible candidate material or combination of materials. Each such study could consume hours to days of work.

Instead, Kulik and her team took a small number of different possible materials and used them to teach an advanced machine-learning neural network about the relationship between the materials’ chemical compositions and their physical properties. That knowledge was then applied to generate suggestions for the next generation of possible materials to be used for the next round of training of the neural network. Through four successive iterations of this process, the neural network improved significantly each time, until reaching a point where it was clear that further iterations would not yield any further improvements.

This iterative optimization system greatly streamlined the process of arriving at potential solutions that satisfied the two conflicting criteria being sought. This kind of process of finding the best solutions in situations, where improving one factor tends to worsen the other, is known as a Pareto front, representing a graph of the points such that any further improvement of one factor would make the other worse. In other words, the graph represents the best possible compromise points, depending on the relative importance assigned to each factor.

Training typical neural networks requires very large data sets, ranging from thousands to millions of examples, but Kulik and her team were able to use this iterative process, based on the Pareto front model, to streamline the process and provide reliable results using only the few hundred samples.

In the case of screening for the flow battery materials, the desired characteristics were in conflict, as is often the case: The optimum material would have high solubility and a high energy density (the ability to store energy for a given weight). But increasing solubility tends to decrease the energy density, and vice versa.

Not only was the neural network able to rapidly come up with promising candidates, it also was able to assign levels of confidence to its different predictions through each iteration, which helped to allow the refinement of the sample selection at each step. “We developed a better than best-in-class uncertainty quantification technique for really knowing when these models were going to fail,” Kulik says.

The challenge they chose for the proof-of-concept trial was materials for use in redox flow batteries, a type of battery that holds promise for large, grid-scale batteries that could play a significant role in enabling clean, renewable energy. Transition metal complexes are the preferred category of materials for such batteries, Kulik says, but there are too many possibilities to evaluate by conventional means. They started out with a list of 3 million such complexes before ultimately whittling that down to the eight good candidates, along with a set of design rules that should enable experimentalists to explore the potential of these candidates and their variations.

“Through that process, the neural net both gets increasingly smarter about the [design] space, but also increasingly pessimistic that anything beyond what we’ve already characterized can further improve on what we already know,” she says.

Apart from the specific transition metal complexes suggested for further investigation using this system, she says, the method itself could have much broader applications. “We do view it as the framework that can be applied to any materials design challenge where you're really trying to address multiple objectives at once. You know, all of the most interesting materials design challenges are ones where you have one thing you're trying to improve, but improving that worsens another. And for us, the redox flow battery redox couple was just a good demonstration of where we think we can go with this machine learning and accelerated materials discovery.”

For example, optimizing catalysts for various chemical and industrial processes is another kind of such complex materials search, Kulik says. Presently used catalysts often involve rare and expensive elements, so finding similarly effective compounds based on abundant and inexpensive materials could be a significant advantage.

“This paper represents, I believe, the first application of multidimensional directed improvement in the chemical sciences,” she says. But the long-term significance of the work is in the methodology itself, because of things that might not be possible at all otherwise. “You start to realize that even with parallel computations, these are cases where we wouldn't have come up with a design principle in any other way. And these leads that are coming out of our work, these are not necessarily at all ideas that were already known from the literature or that an expert would have been able to point you to.”

“This is a beautiful combination of concepts in statistics, applied math, and physical science that is going to be extremely useful in engineering applications,” says George Schatz, a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University, who was not associated with this work. He says this research addresses “how to do machine learning when there are multiple objectives. Kulik’s approach uses leading edge methods to train an artificial neural network that is used to predict which combination of transition metal ions and organic ligands will be best for redox flow battery electrolytes.”

Schatz says “this method can be used in many different contexts, so it has the potential to transform machine learning, which is a major activity around the world.”

The work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Department of Energy, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the AAAS Mar ion Milligan Mason Award.

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MIT-affiliated companies take on Covid-19

As the world grapples with the public health crises and myriad disruptions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, many efforts to address its impact are underway.

Several of those initiatives are being led by companies that were founded by MIT alumni, professors, students, and researchers.

These companies’ efforts are as wide ranging and complex as the challenges brought on by Covid-19. They leverage expertise in biological engineering, mobile technology, data analytics, community engagement, and other fields MIT has long focused on.

The companies, a few of whom are featured here, are also at very different stages of deployment, but they are all driven by a desire to use science, engineering, and entrepreneurship to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

Moderna Therapeutics

On Jan. 11, Chinese authorities shared the genetic sequence of Covid-19. Just two days later, members of a research team from Moderna Therapeutics, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, finalized the design of a vaccine they hope will prevent infection from the disease.

Moderna was founded by Institute Professor Robert Langer, investor Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87, and researchers from Harvard Medical School in 2010. The company develops treatments that leverage specialized transporter molecules in cells known as messenger RNAs. Messenger RNAs bring instructions from genes to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. By creating specially modified mRNA, Moderna believes it can develop therapies to treat and prevent a number of diseases in humans.

Following its design of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, the company quickly moved to manufacture the mRNA vaccine for clinical trials. On March 16, just 65 days after Covid-19 was sequenced, Moderna began human trials, according to the company.

The first stage of the trials is expected to last six weeks and will focus on the safety of the vaccine as well as the immune response it provokes in participants. The company has said that while a commercially available vaccine is not likely to be available for at least 12-18 months, it is possible that under emergency use, a vaccine could be available to some people sooner.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

On March 5, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced that its partnership with Vir Biotechnology, which focuses on treating infectious diseases, would extend to developing therapeutics for coronavirus infections, including Covid-19.

Alnylam was founded in 2002 by Institute Professor Phil Sharp, Professor David Bartel, former MIT professor Paul Schimmel, MIT postdocs Tom Tuschl and Phil Zamore, and investors.

The company is already approved to treat patients with certain rare genetic diseases using its patented RNA interference technology. RNA interference, or RNAi, is a method of stopping the expression of specific genes through the manipulation of existing regulatory processes in the human body.

“[RNAi] technology is now strongly validated in a variety of ways and the promise of it is really remarkable,” says Sharp, who currently sits on Alnylam’s scientific advisory board with Bartel and Schimmel. “It’s the creation of a whole new therapeutic modality that I think we’ll be using 100 years from now.”

Under the terms of the extended collaboration, the companies will use Alnylam’s recent advances in delivering its RNAi technology to the lungs, in addition to Vir’s infectious disease capabilities, to identify and advance drug candidates.

Sharp says that even if the collaboration doesn’t lead to a treatment for the current Covid-19 outbreak, it holds tremendous potential for helping victims of infectious diseases down the line.

Dimagi

Dimagi, which provides a platform for creating mobile apps that can be used offline by cell phones of all types, recently began freely offering its mobile tool to organizations responding to the Covid-19 outbreak around the world.

The company’s platform is currently being used by hundreds of thousands of front-line health care workers globally. By enabling people with no coding experience to create mobile apps that work in environments with no cellular service, the company has transformed health care treatment for millions of people in low- and middle-income countries.

The company has already seen governments adopt its platform for Covid-19 response, including the Ogun state government of Nigeria, and it is also exploring use cases with officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in California.

The company was formed in 2002 when Jonathan Jackson’03 SM ’05 met co-founder Vikram Kumar, who was then a graduate research assistant in MIT’s Media Lab and on his way to earning his MD in the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Since then, Dimagi’s solutions have been used for a variety of large health care initiatives, including the Ebola crisis in West Africa, where the company worked directly with health organizations to give them mobile applications that helped provide critical care during their Ebola response.

Jackson believes Dimagi can help health care workers with tracking person-to-person contact, data collection, decision support, and spreading useful information. The company is also compiling a library of free, open-source templated Covid-19 mobile applications for quick deploymnent.

“Think of it as a free app store where health organizations working on the front lines can go, download their Covid-19 applications and quickly equip their health workforces with Covid-19 apps,” Jackson says.

Biobot Analytics

Biobot Analytics, a startup that analyzes wastewater to gain insights into public health, has begun requesting sewage samples from wastewater treatment facilities across the U.S. to test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19.

The company’s technology, developed by CEO Mariana Matus PhD ’18 during her time at MIT in partnership with Newsha Ghaeli, then a research fellow in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, has been geared toward estimating drug consumption in communities since its founding in 2017.

Biobot uses a proprietary device to gather representative samples of sewage, then ships those samples to its scientists for near-real time testing. Samples can be used to track opioid use, nutrition, environmental contaminants, antibiotic resistance, and the spread of infectious diseases. The resulting insights can be used to understand the health and well-being of small communities or large cities.

In the company’s Covid-19 testing program, which it launched pro bono in collaboration with researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the teams will process sewage samples from treatment facilities across the U.S., then use a laboratory technique known as a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2.

The collaborators believe the program could complement existing testing methods in addition to helping guide community reponses, measure the effectiveness of interventions, and provide an early warning for re-emergence of the outbreak.

“There is an incredible opportunity to use this technology to get ahead of and monitor the Covid-19 epidemic,” the company wrote in a recent Medium post announcing the program. “A wastewater epidemiology system that aggregates samples from wastewater treatment plants across the U.S. would provide a dynamic map of Covid-19 as it spreads to new places. [This will be a tracker for the outbreak complementary to individual testing]. Government officials, school administrators, and employers would no longer need to rely on confirmed cases or hospital reporting to make tough decisions like enforcing work from home policies.”

Soofa

Soofa, a startup that creates solar-powered digital signs in public spaces, has begun offering its city partners templates to quickly post emergency announcements regarding Covid-19. In Massachusetts, the templates have been used in Brookline to post updates about school and playground closures, in Somerville to redirect people to the town’s coronavirus webpage, and in Everett, which has posted their updates in both English and Spanish to reach more people.

Soofa was founded in 2014 by Jutta Friedrichs and Sandra Richter, a former researcher in MIT’s Media Lab. The founders refer to their signs as “neighborhood news feeds” because they offer an easy, inclusive way for community members to view and post messages.

The company’s digital signage has also proven useful for its partners outside of government. Boston Architectural College, for example, now gives viewers instructions to attend their spring virtual open house.

Pathr

Pathr is a startup that uses data analytics and machine learning to understand how people move through environments. The company, which has primarily used its technology to help retailers, casino operators, and owners of public spaces gain insights into customer behavior, recently launched a new product called SocialDistance.ai.

SocialDistance.ai will use Pathr’s “spatial intelligence” platform to give operators of large spaces information on how infectious diseases might spread in different scenarios.

Pathr's platform can be used to simulate the spread of infectious diseases in different scenarios. In this video playlist, simulations incorporating measures such as social distancing (second video) and mask distribution (third video) are shown.

SocialDistance.ai was formed when Pathr’s team got locked down in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company is based, and began thinking about how their technology could help address disruptions related to the Covid-19 outbreak.

“There’s a spatial component to disease outbreak in general, and we’ve been hearing a lot about that with this coronavirus, so that was the spark, just thinking about what we could do to help,” says Pathr founder and CEO George Shaw SM ’11.

Shaw says his team has been in touch with officials who run malls, casinos, retail stores, and various public spaces to help them make more informed decisions about allowing people to use their spaces in the time periods surrounding an outbreak.

“Nobody who operates a big space wants to limit the number of people [in that space], so this would be a way to strike that balance, to get the right social distance, the right density of crowds; it could also help owners reconfigure a space so the flow of people is more conducive to social distancing,” Shaw says.

Shaw developed the spatial intelligence platform as a graduate student in the lab of Professor Deb Roy while working on a project in the Media Lab.

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Idris Elba slams claims stars are being paid to say they have coronavirus: ‘Absolute bullsh*t’

When Idris Elba revealed that he tested positive for coronavirus, he probably didn’t anticipate any shade as a result.

It turns out, the actor has been accused of being paid for discussing the disease. Some have suggested he and other celebrities could be lying about their diagnosis.

The actor took to social media to shoot down those claims, calling the controversy “absolute bullsh*t.”

READ MORE: Idris Elba slams conspiracy that COVID-19 doesn’t infect Black people

“I think the negativity around ‘test shaming’ is counterproductive,” he said in an InstagramLive video according to Yahoo. “I don’t see what people get out of that. Also this idea that someone like myself is going to be paid to say I’ve got coronavirus, that’s, like, absolute bulls—, such stupidness.”

He was joined by his wife, Sabrina Dhowre, who was also just recently diagnosed.

Sabrina Dhowre and Idris Elba attend the world premiere of “Cats” at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on December 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

“People want to spread that as if it’s news. It’s stupid…It’s the quickest way to get people sick that way. There’s no benefit to me and Sabrina sitting here saying we’ve got it or we ain’t got it. I don’t even understand the logic of that.”

READ MORE: Idris Elba’s coronavirus message praised by World Health Org as ‘brave and powerful’

Cardi B is one of the folks who have thrown some shade about celebrities discussing their coronavirus experiences.

“Let’s say if I have the coronavirus right now. How am I supposed to know I got it because sometimes I be like, ‘If y’all have a cough, you have it,'” she exclaimed in an InstagramLive video.

“But then I be seeing these basketball players say like, ‘Yeah, I have the coronavirus, but I don’t got no symptoms.’ And it’s like, so how the f*** am I supposed to know when I’m supposed to get tested for it?”

The Grammy winner rapper felt that these admissions were for profit.

“I’m starting to feel like y’all n***as is paying n***as to say that they got it,” she continued. “If y’all are paying n***as to say that they got it, pay me too.”

Idris Elba responds to Cardi B’s claim that Celebrities are being paid to say that they have Coronavirus https://t.co/ulPgddpIAG pic.twitter.com/h79cGQOzdb

— brandnewhiphop (@brandnewhiphop3) March 24, 2020

 

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Coronavirus: Why Ghana has gone into mourning after mass funeral ban

How the measures against the coronavirus in Ghana are challenging the country's religious way of life.

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Turkey sends secret arms shipments into Libya

BBC Africa Eye investigates secret arms shipments into Libya, and shows how foreign powers are fuelling an ongoing war.

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7 ways to protect your energy and mental health while ‘social distancing’

As a result of national social distancing efforts, spaces we usually turn to for in-person connections — schools, churches, gyms, cafes, restaurants — have been closed mandatorily. 

While we all should absolutely abide by these guidelines and each do our part to “flatten the curve,” we have to acknowledge that isolating yourself, hunkering down in your home and staying away from people — especially the people and communities you love and on which you depend — can have an effect on us emotionally as human beings, who are wired to connect. 

READ MORE: How ‘the Rona’ specifically impacts the Black community

“From birth, we humans are wired to connect, and our mental and physical health suffers when our social connections are frayed or cut,” Robin D. Stone, a licensed mental health counselor at Positive Psychology Associates in Manhattan, tells theGrio.

“Through touch, we have the capacity to co-regulate our emotional responses. That’s why a hug or holding a loved one’s hand through a distressing experience can help to instill a sense of calm.” 

“Through touch, we have the capacity to co-regulate our emotional responses. That’s why a hug or holding a loved one’s hand through a distressing experience can help to instill a sense of calm.” (Photo: Adobe Stock)

Stone says that for those of us of African descent, this need for community and connection runs even deeper. 

“We live in a country that prizes individualism, but we people of African descent embrace community, often through rituals that connect us to one another and our ancestors. For us, it’s not survival of the fittest as much as it is survival of the most connected, the most nurtured and the most loved.” 

READ MORE: 5 ways to protect your finances during the coronavirus recession

While most of us will welcome this time of self-quarantine as a chance to spend time with our families for the first time in a long time or binge-watch a few TV shows, some of us may feel a bit of anxiety about losing our sense of connection to the outside world. We’re not sure how long this need for isolation will last, and that uncertainty can be unnerving if we feel cut off from our community lifelines.

To help you survive this time of social distancing, here are some ideas for how to stay connected and protect not only your physical health but also your mental health.

Establish a new routine for yourself and your family. 

The first few days of having everyone at home were likely tough and may have been chaotic. (I’ve seen parents, who are homeschooling their children for the first time, say that teachers should be paid millions for what they do for kids for hours each day.) But now that you know this is going to be our new normal for at least a couple of weeks, establish a new routine at home, so that everyone knows what the expectations are and you have some guidelines for you all to follow.

This can be effective whether you have a family or if you’re living alone. Try to get up at the same time each morning, have scheduled meal times, work hours, school work time, playtime, exercise time, etc. Post the schedule in your home so that you and anyone else in the house can see. This way you have some sense of structure, which will help provide a feeling of stability.

Schedule virtual playdates for children and adults. 

While you should cancel in-person playdates with the neighborhood kids and brunch dates with the girls in order to maintain social distancing, you can still keep in touch and stay connected virtually. Reach out to your friends and to your kids’ classmates and schedule times for you to connect via video chats with tools like FaceTime, Zoom or Skype.

My close girlfriends and I are scheduling what I call “Wine Downs” — where, you guessed it, we’ll each have a glass of wine nearby and hop on Zoom at a scheduled time to catch up with each other, check in, and — most importantly — ask for support if needed. Seeing other folks, even for a few minutes online, can maintain a sense of connection. 

Still show affection (after washing your hands). 

Washing your hands much more frequently than usual is important, as is being aware of surfaces you touch. That said, there are people in your life who still need that loving touch, from your children to your partners. After you’ve made sure you are all as clean and sanitized as possible, don’t forget to make time for love and affection. Touch can be healing and has been found to reduce levels of stress, lower blood pressure and release hormones that boost healthy emotions.

Keep doing the things that support your overall health. 

Healthy practices like meditation, regular exercise and yoga are vital to your wellness at all times; but they are even more important during times of potential stress and anxiety. “Two feelings I’m hearing most from clients are overwhelmed and afraid,” shares counselor Robin D. Stone.

“It’s not surprising [since] our lives abruptly changed in fundamental ways. Some ways to counterbalance some of those disturbing feelings include prayer and meditation, deep breathing [and] movement.” If you’re struggling with what to do from home, you can find guided meditations, workout routines, and yoga videos online.

Pick up the phone and call loved ones, especially the elderly.

While video chatting is simple and easy for most of us, don’t forget about your elderly relatives, neighbors and other people in the community — many of whom will struggle with isolation and being cut off from the interactions they may seriously depend on to stay engaged.

So even if it’s not advisable that you stop by their home because the Coronavirus is a great threat to those 65 and older, you can still pick up the phone and give them a call to check on them, ask if they need anything and let them know they’re not alone. This isn’t only something that’s kind and compassionate for you to do, but helping others helps you feel better, too.

Work on “that thing.”

Perhaps there are books you’ve been wanting to read, a project that you put on-hold because everything else got in the way, or a business idea that you’ve been wanting to start. Now is the time! Why not use this period when you don’t have to commute to the office or you’re not stuck in unnecessary meetings to work on that thing that’s important for you.

Don’t sit around and sulk, decide to get started! Looking for new books (outside of Amazon)? Support an indie book store like Uncle Bobbie’s in Philadelphia, where you can buy their top picks and kids’ favorites online. Need a jumping-off point for your new business? Check out the Small Business Administration web site for guidance. Working on a new project or accomplishing a goal keeps your mind stimulated and keeps you motivated.

Turn off the news. 

Yes, of course, you want to stay informed; but watching the news (most of it bad news) constantly, or receiving notifications from your phone each time there’s a new update, is enough to stress anyone out. Instead of being constantly plugged in, determine a certain time you’ll either watch the news for updates or read info from sources like the CDC or World Health Organization, and then turn it off. It’s not healthy for you to have a constant stream of frightening information fed into your brain for hours on end. Get the updates you need and then change the channel, literally and figuratively.

For the safety of all of us living in the United States, we have to accept that it’s crucial that we continue to practice social distancing as requested, that we continue to properly wash your hands, and that we continue to stay safe and stay informed. As much as you can though, for your mental health, remember to continue to stay connected as well.

Elayne Fluker is a speaker, author and coach, who helps women get over “I got it” syndrome and learn how to embrace support as their superpower. She is the host of the Support is Sexy podcast for women entrepreneurs, and her upcoming book helping women learn how to ask for support will be released by HarperCollins Leadership in 2021.

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White House, Senate Agree on $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

The White House and Senate reached an agreement shortly after midnight on Wednesday on a record $2 trillion coronavirus relief package for workers and businesses.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are done,” White House Legislative Affairs Director Eric Ueland told reporters. “We have a deal.”

According to Fox News, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.), agreed with the final version saying it amounts to “unemployment compensation on steroids,” and added every American who is laid off will have their missed salary remunerated. That provision will enable companies to stay afloat and immediately bring back those employees when things are safe.

In addition to giving direct payments to most Americans, the bill will expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home. Hospitals across the country will also benefit from the bill.

The coronavirus outbreak has already resulted in a significant number of layoffs and up to 14 million could be unemployed by the time the outbreak subsides.

“After days of intense discussions, the Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-KY) told reporters early Wednesday. “It will rush new resources onto the front lines of our nation’s health care fight. And it will inject trillions of dollars of cash into the economy as fast as possible to help American workers, families, small businesses and industries make it through this disruption and emerge on the other side ready to soar.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday morning that House Democrats will review the final provisions and legislative text to determine a course of action.

“This bipartisan legislation takes us a long way down the road in meeting the needs of the American people,” she wrote in a statement. “While the compromise does not go as far as our Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act, thanks to the unity and insistence of Senate and House Democrats, the bill has moved a great deal closer to America’s workers.”

There is some opposition, however. Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) who recently left the Republican Party, signaled that he might essentially delay consideration of the bill in the House.

“This bipartisan deal is a raw deal for the people,” Amash tweeted Wednesday morning. “It does far too little for those who need the most help, while providing hundreds of billions in corporate welfare, massively growing government, inhibiting economic adaptation, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor.”

Since the coronavirus outbreak hit U.S. shores in February, more than 55,000 people have been infected and almost 800 have died.

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Kipchoge's Olympic dream postponed

Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge reflects on the postponement of Tokyo 2020, and the delay to his dream of defending his title. He also has a message for all athletes.

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Cleveland Cavaliers Owner is Waiving Rent for Small Businesses in Detroit

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has considered the woes of small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. His real estate company, Bedrock, is introducing new measures to help small businesses in Detroit survive.

The real estate firm announced that it will waive all rent, expenses, and parking fees for all restaurants and retail tenants that qualify as “small businesses” for the months of April, May, and June. This measure is being taken to help these businesses survive as it will allow them to use their resources to pay other bills and still be able to pay the salaries of their employees.

“As with all of our tenants, entrepreneurs and small businesses play an incredibly important role in our local economy, which has been central to Dan Gilbert’s vision over the last 10 years of his investments in Detroit and Cleveland,” said Bedrock CEO Matt Cullen in a written statement. “It is going to take the entire community to mitigate the effects of this pandemic on the region, and we are happy to do our part to help our portfolio’s most vulnerable businesses weather the storm. We are staying in close contact with each of our tenants and stakeholders every day to understand their needs and concerns, and how we can help.”

This decision was made due to the spread of the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, and the sweeping effects of recent government guidelines for community safety and preparedness. Qualification as a “small business” is based on criteria established using industry and governmental standards.

“It has been inspirational to watch as business owners have adapted to confront our current challenges,” continued Cullen. “At Bedrock, we continue to look for additional ways to support our small business tenants, through catering orders, participation in virtual yoga classes, and more. We urge those living and working downtown to consult the site we’ve set up when you’re ordering lunch or dinner, or are looking for a social distancing-friendly gift idea.”

Bedrock owner Dan Gilbert is the co-founder of Quicken Loans and founder of Rock Ventures. He also is the owner of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Coronavirus traces lingered on cruiser for 17 days after evacuation

Residue of the coronavirus was found on surfaces inside of cruise-ship rooms up to 17 days after infected passengers left the ship.

The finding, which is considerably longer than previously thought, was unveiled in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers examined the rooms of infected passengers on board the Diamond Princess and still found traces of the coronavirus nearly three weeks after those passengers— both those who had symptoms of the virus and those who didn’t— had disembarked. Diamond Princess is operated by Carnival Corps’ Princess Cruises and reported more than 700 coronavirus cases.

READ MORE: First U.S. minor dead of coronavirus in Los Angeles

The CDC said the 700 passengers spread the virus before the ship went into quarantine, causing infections among the crew to rise afterward.

An earlier analysis found that the virus lived for up to three days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces, according to Bloomberg. The coronavirus didn’t last as long on copper or cardboard, where no traces of the virus were found after four hours and 24 hours, respectively, according to the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This is believed to be the first time the CDC has found that the virus remained on surfaces for such an extended time period that what was previously found. However, CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said it was unknown whether the coronavirus found on the surfaces inside the cruise cabins caused any of the 700 coronavirus cases.

Coronavirus has shut the U.S. cruise industry down after widespread outbreaks, and legislators are currently studying the safety of cruise ships going forward.

READ MORE: LGBTQ community uniquely impacted by COVID-19, research shows

The Diamond Princess was quarantined off of Yokohama, Japan, and its sheer number of coronavirus passengers represented the largest outbreak outside of mainland China at one point.

The latest study looked at uncleaned rooms and their surfaces. Other research found that properly cleaning the rooms of COVID-19 patients showed effective results at killing the virus.

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Historic $2 trillion rescue bill to include direct payments to Americans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and Senate leaders of both parties announced an agreement early Wednesday on an unprecedented $2 trillion emergency bill to rush sweeping aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The urgently needed measure is the largest economic rescue bill in history. It is intended as a weekslong or monthslong patch for an economy spiraling into recession — or worse — and a nation facing a potentially ghastly toll.

“To the American people, we say, big help, quick help is on the way,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday morning on CNN.

READ MORE: First U.S. minor dead of coronavirus in Los Angeles

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves after a news conference at the U.S. Capitol March 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell said the Senate will pass the House coronavirus funding package in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Schumer said he expected approval by the Republican-led Senate later in the day.

That would leave final congressional approval up to the Democratic-controlled House. In a written statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bipartisan agreement “takes us a long way down the road in meeting the needs of the American people” but she stopped short of fully endorsing it.

“House Democrats will now review the final provisions and legislative text of the agreement to determine a course of action,” she said.

House members are scattered around the country and the timetable for votes in that chamber are unclear.

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers a statement at the hallway of the Speaker’s Balcony at the U.S. Capitol March 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi spoke on the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and introduced the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, also known as coronavirus. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

House Democratic and Republican leaders have hoped to clear the measure for President Donald Trump‘s signature by a voice vote without having to call lawmakers back to Washington. But that may prove challenging, as the bill is sure to be opposed by some conservatives upset at its cost and scope. Ardent liberals were restless as well.

Top White House aide Eric Ueland announced the agreement in a Capitol hallway shortly after midnight early Wednesday, capping days of often intense haggling and mounting pressure. Some final pieces of the agreement need to be finalized in detailed legislative language.

The economic rescue package would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home.

READ MORE: Dems want to cancel $30K of student debt during virus outbreak

One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines. Hospitals would get significant help as well.

“After days of intense discussions, the Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a key negotiator. “It will rush new resources onto the front lines of our nation’s health care fight. And it will inject trillions of dollars of cash into the economy as fast as possible to help Americans workers, families, small businesses and industries make it through this disruption and emerge on the other side ready to soar.”

Five days of arduous talks produced the bill, creating tensions among Congress’ top leaders, who each took care to tend to party politics as they maneuvered and battled over crafting the legislation. But failure was never an option, which permitted both sides to mark big wins.

Even before the deal was reached, news of the likely but elusive agreement had sent the stock market rocketing on Tuesday. The rescue package would be larger than the 2008 bank bailout and 2009 recovery act combined.

The package would give one-time direct payments to Americans — $1,200 per adult making up to $75,000 a year, and $2,400 to a married couple making up to $150,000, with $500 payments per child.

A huge cash infusion for hospitals expecting a flood of COVID-19 patients grew during the talks at Schumer’s insistence. Republicans pressed for tens of billions of dollars for additional relief to be delivered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal disaster agency.

Democrats said the package would help replace the salaries of furloughed workers for four months, rather than the three months first proposed. Furloughed workers would get whatever amount a state usually provides for unemployment, plus a $600 per week add-on, with gig workers like Uber drivers covered for the first time.

Schumer said businesses controlled by members of Congress and top administration officials — including Trump and his immediate family members — would be ineligible for assistance from receiving loans or investments from new Treasury programs. The New York Democrat immediately sent out a roster of negotiating wins for transit systems, hospital, and cash-hungry state governments that were cemented after Democrats blocked the measure in votes held Sunday and Monday to maneuver for such gains.

Republicans won inclusion of an “employee retention” tax credit that’s estimated to provide $50 billion to companies that retain employees on payroll and cover 50% of workers’ paychecks. Companies would also be able to defer payment of the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax.

Democrats pointed to gains for hospitals, additional oversight of the huge industry stabilization fund and money for cash-strapped states. A companion appropriations package ballooned as well, growing from a $46 billion White House proposal to more than $300 billion, which dwarfs earlier disasters — including Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy combined.

To provide transparency, the package is expected to create a new inspector general and oversight board for the corporate dollars, much as was done during the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program bank rescue, officials said.

At the White House on Tuesday, even as the public health crisis deepened, President Donald Trump expressed eagerness to nudge many people back to work in the coming weeks and held out a prospect, based more on hope than science, that the country could be returning to normal in less than a month.

US President Donald Trump leaves after the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 18, 2020, in Washington, DC. – Trump ordered the suspension of evictions and mortgage foreclosures for six weeks as part of the government effort to ease the economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“We have to go back to work, much sooner than people thought,” Trump told a Fox News town hall. He said he’d like to have the country “opened up and just raring to go” by Easter, April 12. But in a White House briefing later, Trump said that “our decision will be based on hard facts and data.”

Medical professionals say social distancing needs to be stepped up, not relaxed, to slow the spread of infections. At the White House briefing, the public health authorities said it was particularly important for people in the hard-hit New York City metropolitan area to quarantine themselves for 14 days and for those who have recently left the city to do the same.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said pointedly at the briefing, “No one is going to want to tone down anything when you see what is going on in a place like New York City.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.

The virus has caused a global pandemic that has sickened more than 425,000 people and killed about 19,000 worldwide. In the United States, more than 55,000 people have been sickened and more than 800 have died.

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Obama’s election improved Black men’s mental health, study says

Black men’s mental health improved when Barack Obama became the U.S. president, according to new research findings from Rice University.

In the “‘Yes We Can!’ The Mental Health Significance for U.S. Black Adults of Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Election” study, lead researcher Tony Brown found that the “symbolic empowerment” of Obama getting elected increased the hope and optimism of Black men.

READ MORE: Obama’s health insurance overhaul a winner in midterms

“Specifically, hope and optimism spike when members of an aggrieved group believe whatever injustice they face will soon be alleviated. For example, during the 1960s in the United States, the passage of landmark legislation pronouncing racial segregation of public spaces and accommodations illegal was a moment of symbolic empowerment for most Blacks. Accompanying the legislation was anticipation that the experience of full citizenship would soon cross the color line. However, we suspect the health significance of symbolic empowerment is short-lived because racial disparities in lifestyles and life chances remain durable and reinforce each other,” the study found.

Brown, a sociology professor at Rice, and the study’s co-authors surveyed Black men on the stress, depression and other emotional and mental problems they were experiencing 30 days before Obama was elected in 2008. They followed up with the same question 30 days after the election. Specifically, they asked the men, in part, “for how many days during the past 30 days was your mental health not good?”

On average, Black men said they had four bad mental health days prior to Obama’s election. That number dropped down to three following the election, according to a press release put out by Rice University.

“The study’s findings are important because we do not fully understand what factors protect mental health,” Brown said in the press release. “Specifically, the findings demonstrate that sociopolitical shifts matter for the health of Black men and that everyday conditions of life act as social determinants of health.”

Brown said typically sociologists focus on the mental health of a population after negative incidents, such as discrimination, job loss, poverty or disaster. The reason this study is unique is that researchers looked at the mental impact of a positive event on Black people’s lives and health.

“This is one major reason we pursued this study — we wanted to know if there were any health implications from this momentous occasion in U.S. history,” Rice said.

The study’s results for Black women differed from Black men as they went in the reverse direction.

During the 30 days before Obama was elected, Black women responded that they had, on average, 4.6 poor mental health days. In the 30 days after the election, those poor mental health days went up to five days.

READ MORE: Barack Obama makes case for more women in leadership: ‘It’s old men not getting out of the way’

Brown theorizes that Black women’s mental health could have gone slightly up in that timeframe for a couple of reasons.

“Black women could have faced an internal conflict over not being able to vote for Hillary Clinton, a woman,” Brown theorizes in the press release. “They could also have been concerned over the uptick in death threats just 10 days following Obama’s election, worrying about the new president-elect in the same way they would worry about their own husbands, fathers or sons. They might also have been concerned over how President Obama would deal with discrimination against black men versus black women.”

Also, Brown said it’s possible Black women saw the future and worried that Black people would face backlash for the historic election.

The survey data came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, according to the press release.

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‘Soul Makossa’ Songwriter and Pioneering Saxophonist Manu Dibango Dead From COVID-19

The musical artist best known for his 1972 hit “Soul Makossa,” has died of COVID-19, according to Music Times. One of the pioneers of Afro-funk music, saxophonist Manu Dibango died at the age of 86 in Paris.

The following announcement was seen on his official Facebook page:

Dear family, dear friends, dear fans,

 

A voice raises from far away…

 

It is with deep sadness that we announce to you the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove, who passed away on 24th of March 2020, at 86 years old, further to covid 19.

 

His funeral service will be held in strict privacy, and a tribute to his memory will be organized when possible.

Famed jazz legend and music producer Quincy Jones sampled a central part of his most famous song, “Soul Makossa” for the Michael Jackson hit single, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” in 1982 that appeared on the Thriller album. “Ma-mako, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako ssa” was the phrase that became a central part of the hit song. Although Jones sampled the song, Dibango was not given the proper credit for the track and later sued Jackson years later, but they eventually settled the matter out of court.

“Soul Makossa” was sampled and heard on several other records like Kanye West’s “Lost in the World,” Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts)” and Jay-Z’s “Face-Off.” Rihanna also sampled the track for her 2002 hit, “Don’t Stop the Music.”

Dibango was born in Douala, Cameroon, on Dec. 12, 1933, to a father who was a civil servant of the Yabassi tribe. His mother was a fashion designer belonging to the Duala ethnicity. “Papy Groove” would later write in his autobiography, “Three Kilos of Coffee,” that he never identified “completely with either of [his] parents.”

Manu Dibango has released a total of 70 albums, his first, Manu Dibango, was released in 1968 and his last album, Balade En Saxo was released in 2013. He was the first chairman of Cameroon Music Corp., an appointed “UNESCO Artist for Peace,” as well as France’s “Special Representative of Francophonia” to the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

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