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Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

helpwithcovid.com

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Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I joined a community group that is doing just this, and as an hour ago have a list of older neighbors to check in on, and possibly help with obtaining food and medications. I do wonder if at 39 i am in fact young enough to be in the most-likely-to-survive-if-exposed group.

Along with being young and healthy, the people going out in public to do things should wear gloves and a mask if possible. You might be relatively safe, but you still might take up a hospital bed, and you still might transmit it.

We're being told by the medical establishment, quite angrily, that masks are useless - unless you work in the medical establishment, then they're essential.

Who is right?

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#102
post #5

This is a great initiative, but it looks to me like most of these projects are directed to help the US. That's totally understandable, but there are many people all over the world willing to help with this, and it would be great if we could also collaborate to help everyone. For example, as an engineer, I was interested in helping with the 1M ventilators project, but reading the description it looks like the goal is…

I am french and currently stuck in lockdown. I've had similar feelings with these projects being mainly directed to the US (not that it is a bad thing at all, more that I don't find it directly relevant). As much as I would also love to help the whole world, I have a feeling that I will personally be more efficient working on small projects trying to solve relevant local issues. I am not sure where to start, but if a…

Maybe people from other places (particularly Europe) should join the projects and start sister sub-projects to do the same things but for Europe.

For the 1M ventilator one, for instance, there's no reason everyone can't work together on the design phase, because that's universal and open-source.

Once that's done, there can be separate teams by nation or region to do the parts that are more specific to those places, such as financing, manufacturing, and distribution. These teams could still all be part of the larger project so they could learn from each other, while still focusing on their own immediate areas of responsibility.

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Along with being young and healthy, the people going out in public to do things should wear gloves and a mask if possible. You might be relatively safe, but you still might take up a hospital bed, and you still might transmit it.

We're being told by the medical establishment, quite angrily, that masks are useless - unless you work in the medical establishment, then they're essential. Who is right?

[deleted]

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#104
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying recently for 3 groups. My cart is always full and that causes extreme anger of other shoppers. And supermarket personnel complains about my volumes. Getting tired of explaining why I am buying this way. I am afraid, that grocery shopping will be limited anyway soon. Edit: printing missing equipment parts with 3D printer would be easier for me.

Print out a sign and stick it on your cart.

I agree with this 100%. People in South Africa are panic buying. So these people think you are taking the groceries to your cave. Get a sign and people can read for themselves.

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#105
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> please consider reaching out to your elderly neighbors I live in a densely packed city. I have no idea who lives in my neighborhood. I would be glad to help anyone at anytime though. I am just not clear how to go about it.

> I live in a densely packed city. I have no idea who lives in my neighborhood. This is ironic, but I hear it a lot from people living in big cities. I live in a sparsely packed city, but mostly know who lives in my neighborhood. We were unhappy with the last city government, so we replaced them, and it took a lot less people to do so, in absolute terms (which matters because the relative size of your movement only c…

>I never got the logic behind living in the perpetual cocktail party/high school that is a big city.

I'm really struggling to interpret that charitably but I'll try -

Some reasons to live in a big city: (1) It's where your friends and (perhaps elderly) parents live. (2) It's where your job is. (3) You can't afford, (or don't want to own) a car. (4) You're single (especially true if you are LGBTQ). (5) You like the cultural opportunities it affords. (6) You have access to specialized medical treatment. (7) You run a business. (8) You're getting an education. (9) You're too poor to move. (10) You don't like narrow minded, holier-than-though attitudes that tend to be more common (IMHO) in smaller towns.

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#109
post #13

If you're on GitHub and want to help, you can edit these country-specific pages to add your area nonprofits, organizations, volunteer opportunities, and the like: https://github.com/nonprofitnetworks/covid We're launching today with blank pages ready to edit for all countries, and we welcome help. My email is joel@nonprofitnetworks.org if you want to contact me about this.

I'd hate to state the obvious but why Github? It's quite a big barrier to entry for the average person (especially in places with low literacy) to write in MD, make a pull request etc. Why not just use a public Google doc or something?

Don't get me wrong. I get where you are coming from but I have gone down the Github route on a few similar projects and regretted it.

Re: Covid-19 projects looking for volunteers

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I joined a community group that is doing just this, and as an hour ago have a list of older neighbors to check in on, and possibly help with obtaining food and medications. I do wonder if at 39 i am in fact young enough to be in the most-likely-to-survive-if-exposed group.

As long as you don’t have any other diseases, you’re statistically sort of “safe”. 0.2% risk of dying for your age group regardless of physical health according to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-se... Wash your hands, stay safe.

This is one of the few cases where the raw data is so systematically flawed - many younger people are completely asymptomatic or not being tested because they don't need hospitalization - the anecdata might give you a better picture of the relative risk.

The youngest of the UK's >100 confirmed COVID-19 fatalities was in his forties and already terminally ill. Young people aren't totally safe and should certainly avoid contracting it if possible with a view to protecting the people they come into contact with and not taking up a hospital bed if they're at the unlucky end of the spectrum, but relatively speaking they're a tiny fraction of the overall casualties, and probably have more exposure to the virus than the elderly due to more active social/work lives.

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