Five ways you can help during the epidemic
- Mathias Talmant
- 23 mars 2020
- 4 min de lecture
Dernière mise à jour : 26 mars 2020
COVID-19 Series
This is the first article in a series dealing with COVID-19 epidemic. In the coming weeks, I will be writing about the virus, the number of cases, the possible cures and the economic impacts.
First of all, I would like to introduce you five ways to help the world during the COVID-19 epidemic (hint: clapping at your window every day at 8 pm facing an empty street is not one of them). I will go crescendo from options requiring you to stay comfortably in your couch to those implying some personal and/or financial investment.
Let’s all be responsible and united because good health is everything that matters. “What is taken for granted will eventually be taken away. Then, we will end up missing most what we least appreciated” (credit to Pinterest for the quote).
1) Good practice and common sense
The best and most reliable source to avoid fake news is the WHO website. Here are some good practices to slowdown the virus:
Stay at home and don’t leave, except for vital reasons.
Wash your hands and practice social distancing. Droplets spread the virus, and surfaces can be infected for several days.
Wearing a face mask can protect your near relation if you are a silent spreader, but it is mostly advised for ill people.
When you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow.
If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early.
Don’t give in to panic and stop FOMO buying (toilet paper will not save you).
"There is no evidence that companion animals such as cats and dogs can spread the virus" (Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health), so it is a non-sense to abandon them.
2) Help research with protein folding
Folding At Home (Stanford University’s initiative) is a distributed computing project for simulating protein dynamics in a variety of diseases cancer and Alzheimer to COVID-19, among others. It is the ancestor of crypto-mining in the sense that it brings together citizens who volunteer to run simulations of protein dynamics on their personal computers. Each simulation is a step closer toward the cure of a deadly disease such as coronaviruses. Protein folding is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is not rocket science, but occasionally it can solve a fold, and sometimes that fold will help scientists find a drug.
By downloading a software and using some of your computer’s computational power, you may perform the one simulation allowing to develop a breakthrough drug. You can chose which disease you want to fight and how much power you want to allocate. Depending on your contribution, your electricity bill may slightly more expensive. This is the perfect way to help research without giving money. For more information, visit https://foldingathome.org/. Please make sure to use the official link to avoid downloading malwares.
For those of you who want to be helpful while making a little passive revenue, Curecoin is a good option. Curecoin is a digital token designed to reward those who provide computing power to solve scientific puzzles. Incentivization is done through the creation of a coin, which can be converted to Bitcoin and then to fiat currencies like USD or EUR on a cryptocurrency exchange platform. For more information, visit https://curecoin.net/white-paper/
3) Give your blood
There are severe blood shortages in France, in the US and elsewhere because citizens are fearful to get the virus while giving, but many safety protocols have been applied to keep donors and employees safe. In addition, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmissible by blood transfusion.
If your state of health allows it, find out about the closest blood donation center and give your blood, platelets or plasma. Leaving your house to give blood is part of the vital trips you can do during containment. As the US Surgeon General said, “Social distancing does not have to mean social disengagement.”
Some interesting figures: every two seconds, someone needs blood in the US ; one donation can save up to three lives ; only 3% of age-eligible people donate blood each year (Redcrossblood.org).
4. Support that homeless person you cross everyday
“Stay at home” is easy to do for those who have one, but we are not all so lucky. The homeless and people with unstable job are the most at risk in this epidemic. For many of them, the little support they had is vanishing since people are prioritising their family before charities. It is understandable, but let’s not forget them. It does not take much to buy a sandwich for that homeless person you cross when you go to the supermarket or when you walk your dog, but it means a lot to him/her.
Alternatively, you can also support your local food bank or search online for online tutoring with students who are seating for end of year exams. It is in the depths of a crisis, that solidarity is the most valuable.
5) Donate money to charities
If you can afford it, giving some money to qualified charitable organisations can be a game changer. It will allow organisations to send essential supplies to health workers, scale up test-kits production and accelerate efforts to develop a lifesaving vaccine. As always, do your homework and make sure the organisation you are giving to is not a scam. If in doubt, rely on oldies but goodies.
If you are fed up with this quarantine and want to save lives, then put your money where your mouth is and don’t forget that you can deduct contributions for tax purposes, so keep a receipt.
World (WHO) - https://covid19responsefund.org/
France (Institut Pasteur) - https://don.pasteur.fr/coronavirus?from=KIPW75
United States (CDC) - https://give4cdcf.org/
The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
MT Finance - Mathias Talmant.
Commentaires