New story in Health from Time: Trump Says Hospital Ships Are Headed to Help Combat Coronavirus. It Could Be Awhile.

President Donald Trump announced that help from the U.S. military was on its way Wednesday when he directed the Navy to dispatch two hospital ships to the East and West coasts to deal with the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

“They are massive ships. The big white ships with the red cross on the side. One is called Mercy and the other is called Comfort. They are in tip-top shape,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Those two ships are being prepared to go and they can be launched over the next week or so, depending on need.”

However, neither of the 1,000-patient ships are ready to go anywhere. Both are currently in-port undergoing maintenance work and lack medical crews. It will likely take weeks, before both ships set off to their destinations. And even when the floating hospitals do arrive at their berths, they will not be taking on COVID-19 patients.

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The USNS Comfort, which is being worked on in Norfolk, Va., is not expected to arrive in New York Harbor until sometime next month. The USNS Mercy, which is in San Diego, Calif., can be prepared sooner but it takes several days to bring aboard staff and medical equipment — and its final destination has yet to be identified.

“When it is prepared to sail, we will make a determination on where it is going to go,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman told reporters on Wednesday, after Trump spoke. “Staffing is an issue. We’re going to make sure that we do the best we can and that we get those resources off to the governors and to the mayors that have asked for them.”

The 894-foot modified supertanker ships can carry up to 1,200 medical personnel. Each contain 12 operating rooms, a 1,000-bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants.

Defense officials caution that the ships, which have been sent to help with disaster-relief missions in places like Haiti, New Orleans and Puerto Rico, are not built to deal with respiratory disease outbreaks. The ships don’t have segregated compartments.

“These ships are designed for trauma and combat casualties, and so that’s the staff that we’re planning to deploy with it right now,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, a physician on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, said. “Our understanding is that the intent is the ship will be used to take on non-coronavirus patients, which is what our staff is best assigned and organized to do.”

The arrival of the hospital ships would allow civilian hospitals to offload some patients to clear space for patients suffering from the novel coronavirus infection. That’s badly needed in many states across the nation. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters that his state has a current capacity of 53,000 beds, but that the COVID-19 infection rate indicates the state will need 110,000 beds within 45 days.

“The state can’t do this on its own,” Cuomo said. “We can’t build new hospitals in 45 days.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been taking calls with governors across the country, including Cuomo, to determine how the military can help. From the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the military has supported the Department of Health and Human Services, freeing up space on military bases to house Americans who needed to be quarantined following evacuations from China or coronavirus-stricken cruise ships. Within days, American troops could also be called upon to stand up tent hospitals, renovate buildings for overflow facilities and carry out other tasks necessary to curb the spread of the pathogen.

New story in Health from Time: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Say ‘Empathy and Kindness Is Indisputably Important’ Amid Coronavirus Crisis

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, are urging people to show “empathy and kindness” in the face of the pandemic.

The couple took to Instagram on Wednesday to post a statement.

“This moment is as true a testament there is to the human spirit. We often speak of compassion. All of our lives are in some way affected by this, uniting each of us globally,” they said.

“How we approach each other and our communities with empathy and kindness is indisputably important right now.”

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These are uncertain times. And now, more than ever, we need each other. We need each other for truth, for support, and to feel less alone during a time that can honestly feel quite scary. There are so many around the world who need support right now, who are working tirelessly to respond to this crisis behind the scenes, on the frontline, or at home. Our willingness, as a people, to step up in the face of what we are all experiencing with COVID-19 is awe-inspiring. This moment is as true a testament there is to the human spirit. We often speak of compassion. All of our lives are in some way affected by this, uniting each of us globally. How we approach each other and our communities with empathy and kindness is indisputably important right now. Over the coming weeks, this will be our guiding principle. We will be sharing information and resources to help all of us navigate the uncertainty: from posting accurate information and facts from trusted experts, to learning about measures we can take to keep ourselves and our families healthy, to working with organisations that can support our mental and emotional well-being. In addition, we will focus on the inspiring stories of how so many of you around the world are connecting in ways big and small to lift all of us up. We are all in this together, and as a global community we can support each other through this process – and build a digital neighbourhood that feels safe for every one of us. We look forward to sharing more over the days and weeks to come…

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Mar 18, 2020 at 8:17am PDT

Harry and Meghan told followers they’ll be sharing trustful news and informing the public of safe and healthy practices.

Starting at the end of this month, the Sussexes will no longer use their royal titles and pursue a new life of financial freedom in North America.

New story in Health from Time: Michael Cohen and Bernie Madoff Among Inmates Pleading for Release Amid Coronavirus Crisis

(NEW YORK) — Coronavirus has become a “get out of jail” card for hundreds of low-level inmates across the country, and even hard-timers are seeking their freedom with the argument that it’s not a matter of if but when the deadly illness sweeps through tightly packed populations behind bars.

Among those pleading for compassionate release or home detention are the former head of the Cali drug cartel, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff and dozens of inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island, part of a jail system that lost an employee to the virus this week.

“He is in poor health. He is 81 years old,” David Oscar Markus, the attorney for cocaine kingpin Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela, wrote in emergency court papers this week seeking his release after serving about half of a 30-year drug-trafficking sentence. “When (not if) COVID-19 hits his prison, he will not have much of a chance.”

While widespread outbreaks of coronavirus behind bars have yet to happen, the frenzy of legal activity underscores a crude reality that’s only beginning to sink in: America’s nearly 7,000 jails, prisons and correction facilities are an ideal breeding ground for the virus, as dangerous as nursing homes and cruise ships but far less sanitary.

Stepped-up cleanings and a temporary halt to visitations at many lockups across the country in the midst of the crisis can’t make up for the fact that ventilation behind bars is often poor, inmates sleep in close quarters and share a small number of bathrooms.

“Simply put, it’s impossible to do social distancing,” said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami.

The 81-year-old Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence for bilking thousands of investors in a $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, had just asked last month to be released early in light of his terminal kidney disease. Now his attorney is calling on all at-risk federal prisoners to be released for their own safety because of the coronavirus.

“The federal prison system has consistently shown an inability to respond to major crises,” Madoff attorney Brandon Sample told The Associated Press. “My concerns are even more amplified for prisoners at federal medical centers and those who are aged.”

As of Wednesday, two federal Bureau of Prisons staff members have tested positive for coronavirus, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. One of the staffers works in a correctional facility in Berlin, New Hampshire, and the other works in an office in Grand Prairie, Texas, but there were still no confirmed cases among any of the 175,000 inmates in the BOP system, the person said. The person, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, would not say how many inmates, if any, have been tested for coronavirus.

It’s not just attorneys for the wealthy and powerful seeking release.

In New York, public defenders asked judges to release older and at-risk inmates from the city’s beleaguered federal jails, saying pretrial confinement “creates the ideal environment for the transmission of contagious disease.” The motions cite a provision of the Bail Reform Act allowing for the temporary release of pretrial inmates under “compelling” circumstances.

“I truly believe the jails are ticking time bombs,” said David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York. “They’re overcrowded and unsanitary in the best of times. They don’t provide appropriate medical care in the best of times, and these certainly are not the best of times.”

Some authorities around the nation appear to agree. Police departments are incarcerating fewer people, prosecutors are letting non-violent offenders out early and judges are postponing or finding alternatives to jail sentences.

In Los Angeles, the nation’s largest jail system has trimmed its population by more than 600 since Feb. 28, allowing many inmates with fewer than 30 days left on their sentences to be released early. In Cleveland, judges held a special session over the weekend to settle cases with guilty pleas and release more than 200 low-level, non-violent inmates. And in Miami, the top state attorney has urged the release of all non-violent felons and those being held on misdemeanors.

“No judge wants to have a dead prisoner on his conscience,” said Bill Barzee, a Miami defense attorney.

New York City’s Board of Correction this week called for the immediate release of all high-risk inmates after an an investigator assigned to the jail system died over the weekend of the coronavirus. The 56-year-old man was said to have a pre-existing health condition and only limited contact with inmates. The city’s jail system has about 8,000 inmates, most at notorious Rikers Island.

However, accommodating the surge of requests poses its own challenge. Courts around the country are shutting down, with only a skeletal staff working. The chief federal judge in Brooklyn on Monday postponed indefinitely all criminal and civil jury trials, encouraging judges to conduct court business via telephone or video conferencing when possible, and to delay in-person proceedings.

Prosecutors said in court filings that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been planning for the outbreak since January, including by establishing a task force with experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The BOP last week suspended visitation for all federal inmates, facility transfers, staff travel and training for 30 days. Newly arriving inmates are being screened for COVID-19, and even asymptomatic inmates deemed to be at risk are being quarantined. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that they would take similar steps.

Public health officials stress that older people and those with existing health problems are most at risk from coronavirus but that the vast majority of people will only suffer mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with recovery in a matter of weeks.

But such assurances are small solace for inmates.

The Twitter account of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who is serving a three-year sentence for crimes including tax evasion and campaign finance violations, shared over the weekend an online petition seeking the transfer of non-violent federal prisoners to home confinement. Addressed specifically to Trump, it argues the move would “give the prison facilities additional (and much needed) medical triage and logistic space for those who will become infected.”

“Without your intervention, scores of non-violent offenders are at risk of death,” it reads, “and these people were not given a death sentence.”

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Goodman reported from Miami. Michael Balsamo in Washington, Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

New story in Health from Time: The Coronavirus Outbreak Is a Critical Test for the European Union. So Far, It’s Failing

When the clapping started, it was impossible not to feel moved. At 8 p.m. on March 17, people across the Netherlands leaned out of windows and congregated on doorstops to make a show of support for medical workers battling the coronavirus. First it was just a few claps, before the sound spread down my street in the Hague, working up to a crescendo of whistles and whoops. Fireworks sounded in the distance. A neighbor I had never spoken to waved from across the street. The warmth and goodwill was the epitome of what it means to be part of a community—a scene also playing out in Italy, Spain and France as stricken neighborhoods come together.

But these spontaneous acts of solidarity stand in stark contrast to what is happening between European Union nations. The epicenter of the coronavirus moved from China to Europe in the first half of March, and governments turned on one another. The pillars that were meant to hold up the E.U.—the free movement of goods and people—crumpled, as borders went back up and panicked governments stockpiled medical supplies with little regard for their neighbors. When E.U. Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on March 17 that the bloc would shut its external borders for 30 days, it felt as if the E.U. was playing catch-up with the many unilateral closures that governments had already enforced. It didn’t seem to be a coming together of like minds.

When the E.U. is not in crisis mode, its leaders like to talk up its grand ideas, preaching to their 446 million citizens the narrative of diverse nations bound by a common set of values in a unique project bringing peace and prosperity to all. What is remarkable is how quickly those ideas can unravel.

“The basic threshold of what it means to live in a community is that you have some collective responsibility to each other that goes beyond your self-interest—and there I have found it pretty shocking,” says Chris Bickerton, an academic at Cambridge University and the author of The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide. “It reveals that the political obligations of governments and leaders are really still national, [and] it seems very difficult to think of a common European identity under those circumstances.”

The coronavirus outbreak is the latest in a long line of crises that have thrust the E.U. into existential despair. The euro-zone crisis of 2008 first gave the lie to the dream of a pan-European solidarity, with wealthier nations loath to take any economic hit to come to the aid of struggling ones. The refugee crisis of 2015 exacerbated this. As 1 million people arrived at E.U. borders seeking sanctuary, governments turned on one another; there was little support for nations like Italy and Greece on the front line of the crisis.

The coronavirus has arrived at a time when the effects of those emergencies still linger and threatens to be the final blow for the grand idea of a politically unified E.U. taking a leading role on the world stage. “This very much fits together with all of the issues around the other crises,” says Susi Dennison, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Do we want to be a Europe that is globally engaged and gets things done through cooperation, or is the nationalist rhetoric more powerful?”

The warning signs came early. As Italy became the first E.U. nation to suffer huge increases in cases and deaths, Rome appealed to fellow member states for medical equipment. Not one country volunteered this assistance, each government keen to hoard its supplies for when the virus came for its own citizens. Some countries, including Germany, banned the export of crucial medical supplies, flouting E.U. norms on the free flow of goods.

Then came a series of unilateral decisions on shutting E.U. borders, apparently with no coordination. France’s Emmanuel Macron labeled early closures by Austria and Slovenia “bad decisions,” reflecting an ill will going back to 2015, when many European countries shut borders to keep migrants out.

With some borders left open, however, the effectiveness of differing approaches was called into question. For example, Belgium closed all schools, nurseries, cafés and restaurants on March 12, but in the Netherlands they remained open. So Belgians living in border areas simply popped next door for their beer and frites. When the Dutch finally announced that schools, nurseries, bars and restaurants would close three days later, Health Minister Bruno Bruins blamed the Belgian “café tourism.”

As the E.U. institutions struggle to find their role, it may well create a vacuum for populist and nationalist forces to thrive, as they did after the euro-zone crisis and the refugee crisis. Far-right figures have tried to exploit the coronavirus, with Matteo Salvini of the League in Italy implying migrant boats brought the virus and Hungarian Prime Viktor Orban speaking of a “clear link” with illegal migration, despite no evidence to back up either claim.

But it is not clear if it will work, in the short term. Recent polling from Italy suggests a small drop in support for the League since the start of the coronavirus crisis. People are looking to governments for advice they trust, not opportunistic politicians without access to all the facts, says Dennison. “The power of being an opposition force, which populists are so good at playing on, loses some of its potency.”

This could change after the peak of the crisis, as nations start to recover and people reflect on whether their governments fought for them or failed them. “Then there will be so much scope for people’s grievances to be played on,” Dennison adds.

To seize the upper hand, the E.U. needs to work out how its institutions can add value and show they have a purpose in times of crisis—especially as both health and internal border controls lie outside their mandate. One option might be a pan-E.U. economic package for those struggling to withstand the financial impact. “What will be required is a massive economic stimulus,” says Philippe Lamberts, a co-president of the Greens in the European Parliament.

Once again it will come back to the union’s central conundrum: Should the E.U. integrate and intervene more in its members’ affairs or leave matters to national governments? The coronavirus may undermine the argument for a more ambitious pan-European cohesion, Bickerton says. “For those who want to build on this, it seems to me to be a very difficult crisis to overcome.”

None of these fundamental questions are on our minds right now, as we try to navigate daily childcare and trips to depleted supermarkets. One day, the crisis will end, but E.U. soul searching seems destined to continue for some time.

New story in Health from Time: Calling Himself a ‘Wartime President,’ Trump Invokes Act to Marshal Private Sector

(WASHINGTON) — Managing dual health and economic crises, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will invoke emergency powers that allow the government to marshal the private sector in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump, now describing himself as a “wartime president,” said he was employing the Defense Production Act “in case we need it” as the government bolsters resources for an expected surge in cases of the virus.

Trump also said he will expand the nation’s testing capacity and deploy a Navy hospital ship to New York City, which is rapidly becoming the epicenter of a pandemic that has rattled the U.S. economy and rewritten the rules of American society. A second ship will be deployed to the West Coast.

The president also said the Housing and Urban Development Department will suspend foreclosures and evictions through April as a growing number of Americans face losing jobs and missing rent and mortgage payments.

The announcements came on a fast-moving day of developments. The Senate was taking up a financial aid package while the administration pushed forward its economic relief plan, which proposes $500 billion in checks to millions of Americans, with the first checks to come April 6 if Congress approves the plan.

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly announced that the U.S.-Canada border would be closed, except for essential personnel and for trade, as the nations try to reduce the spread of a virus afflicting people in both countries.

Trump dismissed talk from his own treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who suggested that the nation could face 20% unemployment at least in the short term.

That’s an “absolute total worst case scenario,” Trump said. “We’re no way near it.”

The administration has told Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 people and the elderly to stay home while a pointed reminder was given to millennials to follow the guidelines and avoid social gatherings. Trump likened the effort to the measures taken during World War II and said it would require national “sacrifice.”

“It’s a war,” he said. “I view it as a, in a sense, a wartime president. It’s a very tough situation.”

The Defense Production Act gives the president a broad set of authorities to shape the domestic industrial base so that it is capable of providing essential materials and goods needed in a national security crisis.

The law allows the president to require businesses and corporations to prioritize and accept contracts for required materials and services. It also allows the president to provide incentives for the domestic industrial base to expand the production and supply of critical materials and goods, according to a March 2 report by the Congressional Research Service.

The president, at the briefing, also continued his recent habit of referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” which has been sharply criticized as racially inflammatory.

“It’s not racist at all,” Trump said. “It comes from China, that’s all.”

More than eight weeks after the first U.S. case of the virus was detected, the federal government is still struggling to conduct widescale testing for the virus. Compounding the problem, laboratories are reporting shortages of key supplies needed to run tests.

Vice President Mike Pence reiterated Wednesday that testing should give priority to those most likely to have COVID-19.

“It’s important to remember that people without symptoms should not get tested,” Pence said. “We want to make sure the supply of testing is there for those who need it most.”

Deborah Birx, who is coordinating the White House response, cautioned there has been a backlog of swabs waiting in labs to be tested, and as that backlog clears “we will see the number of people diagnosed dramatically increased” in the next few days.

Birx said the science discovering how long the virus can be transmissible on hard surfaces helped prompt the administration’s tightening of recommendations on social distancing. “None of us really understood the level of surface piece,” she said. “We’re still working out how much is it by human-human transmission and how much is it by surface.” She said: “Don’t exposure yourself to surfaces outside the home.”

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Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone and Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

New story in Health from Time: As Cities Around the World Go on Lockdown, Victims of Domestic Violence Look For A Way Out

“My husband won’t let me leave the house,” a victim of domestic violence, tells a representative for the National Domestic Violence Hotline over the phone. “He’s had flu-like symptoms and blames keeping me here on not wanting to infect others or bringing something like COVID-19 home. But I feel like it’s just an attempt to isolate me.“

Her abuser has threatened to throw her out onto the street if she starts coughing, saying she “could die alone in a hospital room.” She fears that if she leaves the house, her husband will lock her out.

For women who are experiencing domestic violence, mandatory lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19 (the disease caused by the new coronavirus) have trapped them in their homes with their abusers, isolated from the people and the resources that could help them.

In the United States, where 5,218 people have been infected with the coronavirus, the National Domestic Violence Hotline reports that a growing number of callers say that their abusers are using COVID-19 as a means of further isolating them from their friends and family. “Perpetrators are threatening to throw their victims out on the street so they get sick,” Katie Ray-Jones, the CEO of the National Domestic Violence Hotline tells TIME. “We’ve heard of some withholding financial resources or medical assistance.”

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From Europe to Asia, millions of people have been placed under lockdown, as the coronavirus infects more than 183,000 people. But Anita Bhatia, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Women tells TIME that “the very technique we are using to protect people from the virus can perversely impact victims of domestic violence.” She added that “while we absolutely support the need to follow these measures of social distancing and isolation, we also recognize that it provides an opportunity for abusers to unleash more violence.”

One out of three women in the world experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization, making it “the most widespread but among the least reported human rights abuses.” But during times of crisis—such as natural disasters, wars, and epidemics—the risk of gender-based-violence escalates. In China, the number of domestic violence cases reported to the local police tripled in February compared to the previous year, according to Axios. Activists say this is a result of enforced lockdown.

“We know that domestic violence is rooted in power and control,” says Ray-Jones. “Right now, we are all feeling a lack of control over our lives and an individual who cannot manage that will take it out on their victim.” She says that while the number of abuse cases may not rise during the coronavirus crisis, people who were already in an abusive situation will likely find themselves facing more extreme violence, and can no longer escape by going to work or seeing friends.

The current crisis also makes it more difficult for victims to seek help. As medical facilities around the world scramble to respond to the coronavirus, health systems are becoming overloaded, making it more difficult for victims to get access to medical care or therapists. “In the best of circumstances, women already have a hard time being heard,” Bhatia says.

For many women, even the fear of contracting the coronavirus is stopping them from seeking out medical care after experiencing physical abuse.

“I spoke to a female caller in California that is self-quarantining for protection from COVID-19 due to having asthma,” an advocate at the National Domestic Violence Hotline wrote in the organization’s log book. “Her partner strangled her tonight. While talking to her, it sounded like she has some really serious injuries. She is scared to go to the ER due to fear around catching COVID-19.”

Many victims also feel that they can no longer seek refuge at their parents’ home, for fear that they could expose their elderly parents to the virus. For some, travel restrictions may limit their ability to stay with loved ones. Women’s shelters may also be overcrowded during this time or may close their doors if the risk of infection is deemed too high.

The coronavirus crisis, which is expected to push the world economy into a recession, may also ultimately make it more difficult for victims to leave abusive relationships. Ray-Jones says leaving an abusive partner often involves secretly saving money, which will be more difficult if victims begin to lose their jobs.

Many social services for victims of domestic violence will also suffer budget cuts under a recession. “We are expecting our philanthropic efforts to be really impacted,” Ray-Jones says. “It’ll be hard to fundraise.”

Domestic violence advocates say that victims who are not yet in quarantine status should seek help now. Meanwhile, domestic violence organizations like the National Domestic Violence Hotline are developing new strategies to support victims under lockdown. Ray-Jones says digital contact with victims will be very important during this time but that it will be difficult for victims to call while at home with their abusers. The hotline does offers services via online chat or texting, making it easier for victims to seek out help while at home.

Bhatia from United Nations Women has also called for governments to provide packages for paid sick leave and unpaid care work, in order to allow women facing domestic violence to maintain financial independence from their abusers. She added that in order for this public health response to be gender-sensitive, women will have to have decision-making power.

Even with women at the table though, legally mandated lockdowns and quarantines present unprecedented challenges that domestic violence advocates have never faced. As Ray-Jones says “we are in uncharted territories in terms of what survivors are going to experience.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline via text or call at 1-800-799-7233.

Please send any tips, leads, and stories to virus@time.com.

New story in Health from Time: How to Stay Physically and Mentally Healthy While COVID-19 Has You Stuck at Home

Most health advice can be boiled down to simple behaviors, like eating a balanced diet, exercising and getting good sleep.

During a pandemic like COVID-19, these actions are especially crucial for maintaining you physical and mental well-being. But social distancing complicates things. How are you supposed to eat right when you’re living on non-perishables? How can you work out when you’re cooped up at home? How can you sleep when you’re anxious about, well, everything?

This expert-backed guide is a good place to start. Here’s how to stay healthy (and calm) while social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Nutrition

Carmen Byker Shanks, an associate professor of food, nutrition and sustainable food systems at Montana State University, says it’s key to have a plan before you stock up on groceries — both to ensure you pick up the right things, and to avoid panic-buying and wiping out community supplies. (Remember: it’s good to have a robust supply at home, but stores are still open.) Take inventory of what’s already in your pantry, and then plan around these items to create meals consisting of a starch, a protein and produce.

While most people are going straight for grains and canned goods right now, Byker Shanks says it’s actually a good time to buy fresh produce. “Buy those fruits and vegetables, cut them up and put them in your freezer, because they can be used for months to come,” she recommends. Sturdy veggies and starches — like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes — also keep for a long time outside the freezer.

If you do buy canned, dried or frozen goods, choose those low in saturated fat, salt and added sugars. Look for foods with less than less than five grams of added sugar per serving, less than 200 milligrams of salt per serving and less than 1.5 grams of saturated fat per serving, Byker Shanks recommends.

Byker Shanks adds that boredom and stress eating is a common reaction right now. Your best defense against it, she says, is to admit that it’s happening, and try to productively channel those feeling elsewhere, whether by venting to a good friend, writing down your feelings or diving into a good book.

Fitness

You may not be able to go to the gym, but it’s okay to walk, run or bike outside, so long as you keep a safe distance — ideally about six feet — from other people, says Dr. Jennifer Lee, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine and community health at Penn Medicine. Many gyms and fitness instructors are also offering virtual classes right now, she adds.

If you’re working out at home, Boston-based personal trainer and fitness instructor Amanda Brabec suggests getting creative with things you already own. Use wine bottles for weights, dish towels for sliders (for exercises like lunges and mountain climbers) or a sturdy chair for step-ups. There are also plenty of no-equipment-required exercises — like squats, burpees, sit-ups, planks, push-ups and mountain climbers — you can do in even a small space. Brabec recommends choosing five exercises, doing each for a minute, then repeating the circuit three to five times.

And take comfort in the fact that physical activity doesn’t have to mean a gym-style workout. Plenty of research shows that everyday activities like walking, gardening and cleaning slash your risk of premature death and improve your overall health—so any amount of movement you can squeeze in counts.

Stress and Sleep

Managing stress and anxiety is crucial for getting enough sleep—and getting enough sleep is crucial for just about every other aspect of your health.

Yoga and meditation are great tools for managing stress, and they can be done in a small space; check to see if your local studio is streaming guided classes. You can also turn to apps like Headspace and Talkspace for virtual mindfulness training and therapy, respectively.

Jamie Gold, a wellness design consultant and author of the upcoming book Wellness by Design, also suggests setting aside a specific area in your home that’s free of technology, except maybe a speaker for music. She recommends stocking this area with things that calm you, like your favorite blankets and pillows, a scented candle and house plants. (The research isn’t conclusive, but some studies suggest plants can help purify indoor air—if nothing else, they can help boost your mood, Gold says.)

“Over-exposure to news, over-exposure to chaos, creates a lot of anxiety,” Gold says. “If you can create a quiet space to reflect, to journal, it helps to calm you.” She also recommends, to the extent possible, designating specific areas for work and fitness, to mentally separate the parts of your day.

Balance that quiet time with responsible social interaction, Lee says, since loneliness can compound mental and physical health issues. “Using FaceTime and the phone and video chats … [can help you] feel not quite so alone when you’re at home,” Lee says.

Cleaning

Research suggests SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can live on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for 72 hours, cardboard for 24 hours and copper for four hours. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said surface contamination doesn’t seem to be the primary way the virus spreads (instead, it’s through respiratory droplets expelled by a sick person), it can’t hurt to wipe down high-touch objects like door knobs, railings and faucets, in addition to regular household upkeep. Most household cleaners haven’t been specifically tested against SARS-CoV-2, but they work against other coronaviruses and are presumed to be effective against this one, experts say.

Lee also recommends washing your hand towels frequently, and removing your shoes and coats as soon as you return from any trips outside. But unless somebody in your household is actively sick, she says, there’s no need to clean obsessively—especially if you’re practicing social distancing and washing your hands regularly.

Gold adds that decluttering is crucial, especially if you live in a small space. “That’s going to make your space feel larger and more comfortable, and you’re going to have fewer things to touch and transmit germs,” she says.

Health care

Lee recommends postponing non-essential medical appointments, such as annual physicals and dental cleanings, and using telemedicine for pre-scheduled appointments that need to happen now. If you have a pressing medical need, you can and should still seek care. But if you think you may have COVID-19, call your doctor’s office or hospital before arriving, as they may direct you to follow certain containment procedures.

“I don’t think you can be too cautious,” Lee says. “The more people can call ahead to pre-complete that triage protocol, the safer everyone is going to be.”

Please send any tips, leads, and stories to virus@time.com.

New story in Health from Time: Mike Pence Calls on Hospitals to Delay All Elective Procedures Nationwide

Vice President Mike Pence has called on hospitals to delay all elective procedures across the country to help ensure medical capacity is focused on stemming the spread of the coronavirus.

Hospital systems in hard-hit areas, including New York and Washington state, have already begun postponing elective surgeries as they anticipate a need for more hospital beds for people diagnosed with the virus.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would sign an executive order to postpone all elective surgeries at New York City hospitals so doctors and nurses can focus on treating patients infected with the virus.

Pence said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma will soon be issue federal guidance on elective procedures.

New story in Health from Time: ‘We Hand-Sanitize and Hold Hands.’ What It’s Like When Your Partner May Have Coronavirus

In February, when Jacob came home from an international trade show in Arizona with a cough, he wasn’t concerned. He slept in a separate room so that his hacking wouldn’t disturb his wife, Caitlin.

But within days, Jacob developed a fever and a sore throat so raw it felt like hamburger meat. He could barely sleep or eat. Caitlin sent their doctor’s office a note describing Jacob’s symptoms, and when Jacob arrived for an exam, “they almost tackled him to get a mask on him when he walked in the door,” Caitlin says. “The doctor told us it might be COVID-19.”

That possibility put Caitlin in an impossible situation. “I’m not supposed to be near him because he’s sick, but he couldn’t take care of himself,” she says. So she swallowed her anxiety, armed herself with dis­infecting wipes and became living proof of love in the time of coronavirus.

For the next few weeks, Caitlin woke up early to force Jacob to eat and drink enough so that he wouldn’t get dehydrated, and returned to their house in Colorado Springs on her lunch break to do it again. (“Feed and water the husband, then feed and water the cats,” she says.) Jacob took trips to their shared bathroom to have coughing fits, which would sometimes make him vomit; she wiped down the toilet with disinfectant. Caitlin brought him everything that lay outside of his short path from the bedroom to the bathroom. She worried constantly. She did laundry constantly. And she did it all without masks, which had long ago sold out.

Even though her husband had these symptoms, Caitlin struggled to keep her distance from him. “I have a real hard time with it, because I’m a really affectionate person, and we haven’t kissed since he got sick,” says Caitlin. “I sneak up behind him and give him hugs from behind. We hand-sanitize and hold hands.”

“We realize that we’re living in a petri dish right now,” Jacob says, adding that he still cannot get tested for COVID-19. (The couple, who are both 33, didn’t want to use their last names to protect the small businesses they work for.) “We’re just kind of keeping our fingers crossed.”

Two of the main messages for preventing the spread of the virus—stay home if you are ill and avoid close contact with people who are sick—are contradictory for people living under the same roof. But it’s their reality for however long it takes for their partner to convalesce.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers guidance for people taking care of loved ones who have or are suspected to have COVID-19, but the reality is often messier than the guidelines allow. The sick person should stay away from other people in the home in a dedicated room and use a bathroom that needn’t be shared. (What if there’s no spare?) Caretakers should clean counters, doorknobs, toilets, phones and keyboards every day—and they should always wear a face mask and gloves (good luck finding these now) when in contact with a sick person’s bodily fluids.

Not every sick spouse can afford the risk of infecting the other. When Rowan Tekampe, 30, found out they may have been exposed to COVID-19 during a recent hospital stay in Sarasota, Fla., their fever, cough, shortness of breath and body aches suddenly seemed more serious. They weren’t able to get tested at that point, but their doctor said their symptoms sound like COVID-19 and recommended they go into quarantine.

They sat down with their wife Emily Tekampe, who is recovering from cancer, and told her she needed to leave their apartment and stay with her dad for a while. “We’ve been together for 11 years and we haven’t really been apart,” Rowan says. “But if you’re with someone whose immune system is compromised, you can’t take that risk.”

Emily, who is a student, didn’t want to leave. “As a spouse, your first instinct is to take care of your spouse,” she says. “They’re sick and weak; how can they take care of themself?” But Rowan wouldn’t take no for an answer. Emily realized that if Rowan was alone, they could focus on getting better instead of worrying about her getting sick.

They’ve been apart for weeks now, but Emily makes Rowan text her their temperature every hour. The couple FaceTimes constantly. “If I didn’t have the ability to video chat with them, I don’t know what I would do,” Emily says. “Because it’s really terrifying to leave somebody like that when they’re sick.”

The threat of COVID-19 is also endangering families’ finances. “Cancer has wiped my savings, and being out of work has wiped even more,” says Rowan, who works as a mortician. “I rely on overtime, on commissions and bonuses to supplement by paycheck and make ends meet. Honestly, it’s nerve-wracking.” Jacob, who works as an operations manager at a museum and science lab, is still coughing but has mostly recovered. He’s out of vacation and sick time, so he’s going to work wearing surgical masks that his sister dug out of storage and shuts himself in his office. Two staff members are disinfecting all doorknobs, banisters and light switches four times a day. “It’s a tough spot for all of us,” Jacob says. “I can’t really do my job remotely. I’m higher up…if I don’t do anything, 19 other people’s jobs come grinding to a halt.”

Joe Faraldo, a personal-injury attorney and senior citizen, was friends with the man who became New Jersey’s first fatality from the new coronavirus. He still doesn’t know why he recently fell ill with a fever and cough, and is awaiting his COVID-19 test results. In the meantime, he and his wife have holed up in their Queens, N.Y. apartment. “We’re not going out of this building for anything,” he says. Faraldo’s wife wears a mask and wakes him up every three hours to take Tylenol. She changes the sheets when he sweats through them. She makes soup.

“I told her she shouldn’t be sleeping in the bed, and finally she listened,” Faraldo says. As for her own health, “she’s not concerned. She’s just worried about me.”

New story in Health from Time: Taiwan Has Been Shut Out of Global Health Discussions. Its Participation Could Have Saved Lives

Eight hundred and fifty thousand of Taiwan’s 23 million citizens reside in mainland China. Four hundred thousand work there. At its narrowest point, the Taiwan Strait between the island and the mainland is just 130 km. So, by all accounts, Taiwan should be in the midst a major coronavirus outbreak. Instead, as of March 18, it had seen just 100 cases compared to the more than 80,000 in China and the tens of thousands in several countries in Europe.

This has not happened by chance. Learning from the experiences of SARS in 2003, Taiwan was ready when the outbreak in Wuhan occurred. After the first notifications at the end of 2019, Taipei swiftly deployed a combination of measures to identify and contain the virus, including the use of big data to help contain potential cases.

The global health community could have learned from Taiwan’s experience. But in recent years its world-class health specialists have been shut out in the cold by Beijing’s geopolitical obsessions. In 2016, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen came to power with a mandate to assert her people’s autonomy. China did not take kindly to this democratic challenge to its “One China” policy and bullied the world’s multilateral institutions into dealing only with Beijing. As a result, Taipei was denied access to a number of international fora which it was previously able to attend as an observer.

This includes the UN World Health Organization. Until 2016, Taiwan was allowed to participate in its annual assembly as a non-state actor. This is no longer the case, and for the past three years, its request for an invitation has been denied. If it wishes to participate in WHO technical working bodies made up of health experts looking at specific challenges, it must apply each time and its participation is regularly blocked. One example of this was last year when Taiwan was blocked from discussions on influenza vaccines.

Taiwan made clear that its wish to be part of these bodies was due to its practical know-how. It has been satisfied to be included as an observer. It has something to offer the global health community. Yet China muddied the waters of geopolitics and global health – and today we see the consequences.

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It’s not too late to learn from Taiwan. Of course it is not out of the woods yet, but so far it has led the way, deploying a combination of big data, transparency and central command.

After the SARS outbreak, Taiwan established the National Health Command Center (NHCC), and in the first five weeks of the outbreak it took 124 actions ranging from issuing travel alerts and bans, allocating resources for face masks with 4 million being produced every day by the end of January and guidelines for schools. Following the amendment of the Communicable Disease Control Act in June 2019, fines can also be applied for the deliberate spreading of disinformation.

It also made use of technology, integrating the national health insurance database with its immigration and customs database. By merging databases they could collect information on every citizen’s 14-day travel history and ask those who visited high-risk areas to self-isolate. Mobile phones were tracked to ensure people stayed at home. Those who had not been to a high-risk area received a SMS to enable faster immigration clearance when traveling.

These measures were strict but combined with a high degree of transparency from the government. Daily press briefings were given and regular public service broadcasts were issued from the President’s office, and simple messaging about hand washing, face masks and the dangers of hoarding were effective.

Perhaps not all of these actions would be culturally appropriate for a European or American audience, but there can be little doubt that it has saved lives and is helping to prevent widespread panic. We should look to Taiwan and try to learn lessons for both the current outbreak, and for the inevitable outbreaks of disease that are now characteristic of our globalized world.

But there is a much wider issue. In the 21st century, almost all of our major challenges have cross-border elements to them: climate, health, trade and technology. We cannot afford geopolitical “blackholes.” We need Taiwan in the room, helping to shape the global policy with its highly educated, industrialized and high-tech expertise.

Until now, the world’s multilateral bodies have gone along with China’s pressure that Taiwan be excluded. But it has come at a cost to all of us, starting in this case, to China. Now it’s time that we tell China, there is a place for discussing geopolitics. The World Health Organization is not it.

Please send any tips, leads, and stories to virus@time.com.

New story in Health from Time: Limited Access to Clean Water Among India’s Poor Spawns Coronavirus Concerns

(NEW DELHI) — Dharam Singh Rajput can’t afford to buy hand sanitizer, which could help ward off transmission of the coronavirus in his community.
The Rajput family could opt for something more basic — soap and water — to achieve hand hygiene. But sometimes there is no clean running water in their neighborhood, which sits next to open sewage canals and mounds of garbage in the heart of New Delhi, India’s capital. “The kind of water we have access to has the potential to cause more diseases instead of warding off the virus if we use it to wash our hands,” Rajput said.

Experts say keeping hands clean is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus, in addition to social distancing. But for India’s homeless and urban poor who live in thousands of slums across major cities and towns, maintaining good hygiene can be nearly impossible.
About 160 million — more than the population of Russia — of India’s 1.3 billion people don’t have access to clean water. That could leave impoverished Indians like Rajput and his family at risk during the virus outbreak.
Read more: India Is the World’s Second-Most Populous Country. Can It Handle the Coronavirus Outbreak?
“It could prove disastrous for people who don’t have access to clean water,” said Samrat Basak, the director of the World Resource Institute’s Urban Water Program in India. With India being the world’s second-most populous country, and having weak health care facilities and growing concerns that there may be an undetected communal spread of the virus, the risks associated with the lack of clean water aren’t being overstated. UNICEF said last week that almost 20% of urban Indians do not have facilities with water and soap at home.
What could make things worse, experts say, is that social distancing is nearly impossible in many Indian cities that are among the world’s most densely populated areas. So far, the government has apparently been able to keep a lid on community transmission of the virus. Authorities have confirmed 147 cases and three deaths, all linked to foreign travel or direct contact with someone who caught the disease abroad.
While the coronavirus can be deadly, particularly for the elderly and people with other health problems, for most people it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. Some feel no symptoms at all and the vast majority of people recover.
India’s government has made fervent appeals to the public to practice social distancing and good hand hygiene. India also was one of the first countries to essentially shut its borders and deny entry to all but a select few foreigners. But in a country as big as India, community transmission is all but inevitable, experts say.
“Clean water is the first line of defense,” said V.K. Madhavan, India chief executive at WaterAid, a global advocacy group for water and sanitation. “If there is no access to clean water, the situation could worsen.”
Read more: Mapping the Spread of the Coronavirus Outbreak Around the U.S. and the World
India’s clean water problem isn’t new. Hundreds of thousands of people wait in line every day to fill buckets from government water trucks. Hospitals and schools struggle with clean water supplies. People are forced to wash utensils and clothes in dirty water.
About 600 million Indians face acute water shortages, according to government think tank NITI Aayog.
The water crisis hits the poor particularly hard since wealthy people can pay for water from private sources that those living in slums can’t afford. The mortality rate due to inadequate or unsafe water is also high. About 200,000 people die each year in India from diseases related to unclean water. Insufficient water also leads to food insecurity.
“When clean drinking water runs out, people will have no choice but to rely on unsafe water,” said Dr. Anant Bhan, a global health researcher. “It could expose India’s huge population to extreme vulnerability.”
Government promises to provide clean water to many Indians have so far failed despite efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that have been internationally lauded.
“Access to clean water is a basic human right,” said Madhavan. “No one should fear losing their life because they couldn’t practice the first line of defense, which is hand washing.”

New story in Health from Time: Hong Kong Dog Dies After Release From Coronavirus Quarantine

(Bloomberg) — The Hong Kong pet dog that was tested for coronavirus has died two days after it was released from quarantine.

The dog, identified by the South China Morning Post as a 17-year-old Pomeranian, died on Monday, Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in an email, citing the animal’s owner. The department said the cause of death couldn’t be determined after the owner, who recently recovered from a coronavirus infection, declined to conduct an autopsy.

Read more: Can Dogs Get Coronavirus? One Pet Tested Positive, but Experts Remain Skeptical

While the dog initially tested “weak positive” for the virus, it showed no symptoms and was released from quarantine on Saturday after further tests produced negative results. The case had been closely watched by animal lovers worried that their pets may be vulnerable to the disease or become potential spreaders. The virus has killed more than 7,800 people worldwide.

The World Organization for Animal Health has cautioned that there is no evidence of pets transmitting the virus to humans: “However, because animals and people can sometimes share diseases … it is still recommended that people who are sick with COVID-19 limit contact with companion and other animals until more information is known about the virus.”

Health Ministry issues guidelines for notifying COVID-19 in private facilities

Medical officers in government health institutions and registered private medical practitioners, including AYUSH practitioners, to notify such person(s) with COVID-19 affected person to concerned district surveillance unit.

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2 major pharma companies announce to co-develop potential COVID 19 vaccine

The companies have executed a Material Transfer and Collaboration Agreement to enable the parties to immediately start working together, a media release said on Tuesday.

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China gives go-ahead for human trials of potential COVID-19 vaccine -state media

China has given the go-ahead for researchers to begin human safety tests of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in the race to develop a shot against the COVID-19 epidemic.

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