Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Paradise Lockdown: How Thailand's Phuket Island flattened its coronavirus curve

    Despite devastating economic consequences, Thailand’s quick and hardline response to early signs of COVID-19 spread contained the virus and within weeks limited the country’s infections to just over 3,000 as of July 1, a far better record than nearby countries. Tourism-dependent Phuket Island was Thailand’s only province to impose a total lockdown for more than one month. Thanks to aggressive travel restrictions, contact tracing, and quarantines of possibly infected residents and travelers, the stringent measures paid off as restaurants and shops began reopening in early May.

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  • SF contact tracing team asks those who have been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days

    San Francisco public health officials added to their staff of 25 experienced investigators to form a team of more than 100 contact tracers to try to identify and isolate new cases of COVID-19. In the second two weeks of June 2020, the expanded team reached 82% of COVID cases and 85% of those people's contacts, not far off from the 90% goals set at the start. City lawyers, librarians, and others were drafted to the cause, with 276 people receiving contact-tracer training. One gap in the agency's work is not being able to monitor and enforce compliance with quarantine orders once contacts are found.

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  • Some Swedish care homes have had no cases of Covid-19 – what did they do right?

    The handful of Swedish elderly care homes that protected residents from COVID-19 infection shared some common traits: they improved hygiene practices, isolated possibly infectious staff, stocked up on protective equipment, and limiting outsiders’ access to the homes. Although luck may have played a role and it is not possible to be certain about success factors, the COVID-free homes all seemed to have management that took quick action without awaiting government mandates.

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  • How countries without governments are relying on WhatsApp to tackle COVID-19

    Digital platforms allow Syrian doctors living abroad to assist over-burdened local doctors deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Conflict has severely limited Syria's health services, so NGOs use online platforms like Zoom and WhatsApp to allow Syrian doctors abroad to provide consultations, deliver trainings, and share resources - including a daily forum for local doctors to get second opinions on cases. Thousands of volunteers have joined and organizers think this model can work in other conflict areas if local agents are engaged, they have the trust of the population, and there is the technical capacity.

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  • Bridging the gender gap through groundwater monitoring in a Rajasthan village

    A group of farmers in India have been trained to monitor their village’s groundwater levels to help its residents make more informed decisions about irrigation based on water availability. The farmers-turned-researchers are known as “Bhujal Jaankars” and they monitor rainfall, dam water levels, and water quality to notify residents so they can plant crops that don’t require a lot of water. While there is a lack of gender diversity in the group, they are working on developing training to include more functional literacy skills to encourage participation from others.

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  • How Hong Kong beat coronavirus and avoided lockdown

    Hong Kong's aggressive, early response to COVID-19, informed by the SARS scare of 2013, helped the densely populated city limit infections to about 1,200 as of late June without a comprehensive lockdown. A number of measures get the credit, including a travel ban on visitors, thorough contact tracing and close tracking of people in quarantine, investigations of every case, and most especially its culture – respecting others' safety and a willingness to wear face masks and listen to public health authorities. Fairly early on, Hong Kong was able to relax many of the social distancing regulations.

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  • Into Their Own Hands: Kibera, Kenya's Largest Slum, Tames COVID-19

    The densely populated region of Kibera in Kenya has managed to slow the spread of Covid-19 and protect vulnerable residents despite facing "overcrowding and unhygienic conditions" due to communal and collaborative efforts from local residents, the government and non-governmental organizations. These efforts have included an information campaign, the implementation of hygiene stations and community-delivered water to each household.

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  • SafeBoda: From ferrying passengers to delivering ARVs and Condoms

    In parts of Uganda, ride-sharing has been transformed into a medical delivery service to ensure that those who are unable to travel to their doctor for antiretroviral refills have access to the medications they need to stay healthy. Although the program is limited in terms of the areas it can serve due to cost, doctors in the region hope to continue and expand the program after seeing such success since implementation.

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  • How Asia's biggest slum contained the coronavirus

    In Mumbai’s famous Dharavi slum, the impracticality of social distancing has been overcome with an intensive community response to bring an earlier COVID-19 outbreak under control through the use of “fever camps” and intensive screening and quarantines. The aggressive testing and tracing to isolate infected people centers on camps where hundreds of thousands have been screened. Free food for an out-of-work population has served as a draw, with slum residents eagerly volunteering for screening in order to gain access to food and other services. As a result, the virus' spread was greatly slowed.

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  • Design Hacks Will Dominate the Coronavirus Recovery Landscape

    Covid-19 created space for everyday citizens, who are not trained architects, designers, or urban planners, to alter how public spaces are used. Known as tactical urbanism, everyday people are using inexpensive and creative ways to change behaviors and stop the spread of the virus. Examples include homemade signs and makeshift barriers to maintain distance. At a protest in Israel participants maintained social distancing by staying on spray-painted Xs two meters apart. Some homemade design hacks do not inspire confidence, but others may become a part of the long-term landscape of changes caused by the virus.

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