A: A group of Michigan-based COVID-19 experts has put together a helpful set of activity “rankings.” TL;DR: Skip the buffet. Opt for tennis instead. Context: Nerdy Girls are here to help you #StaySMART this summer! A refresher of our SMART principles: S – Space. Keep your distance. M – Mask. Keep it on. A – …
Q: How do I tell my kids and my parents to stay safe? A: Stay SMART! Wow, these are some unusual times! Some of us are in the streets every day with large groups (see our recent posts on that), some of us haven’t left our homes in months. But many of us are starting …
A: “Covid Act Now” has put together a really useful website with COVID data and risk levels for all 50 states and 2100+ counties. They use four key indicators for gauging risk: 1) Is COVID spreading? Are cases and deaths increasing? 2) Are we testing enough? Is COVID testing widespread enough to identify new cases? …
A: With some modifications, there are opportunities to have some fun this summer. Promise. Risk happens on a continuum with all events outside your home carrying some level of risk. Some activities carry higher risks than others. It’s best to choose lower risk activities to limit transmission of the virus within your community and beyond. …
A: You’re unlikely to get COVID-19 *from* the pool, but you could certainly be exposed *at* the pool. To clarify: Pool water is heavily chlorinated, and COVID-19 is not waterborne in any case. So, being immersed in the pool or otherwise exposed to pool water is not risky in and of itself. The problem, of …
A: The nerdy girls have answered several questions about this topic recently, but we love another amazing smart lady’s interpretation (#DrLeanaWen), detailed here with a few more pearls. 1-Relative risk: For COVID-19, this is determined by type of activity, duration of activity, and how close you are to other people (see our previous posts). The …
A: Food trucks! Pittsburgh Magazine’s recent article showcases scrappy food truck owners working hard to re-open *safely.* It’s a joy to see the amazing work ethic and bright minds of these small business owners innovating evidence-based ways forward. What’s in their secret sauce? (Please pardon the pun). Three key themes: (1) METRICS: The food truck …
A: Short answer: Probably not. Longer answer: The White House published “gating criteria” in their Reopening America Again guidelines. These are data-driven criteria that each state or region should satisfy before reopening. They include things like having a 14-day downward trajectory or new cases, hospital capacity to treat all patients without crisis, and a “robust” …
A: As defined in the article below, “harm reduction refers to policies and practices designed to minimize negative health, social and legal impacts of a particular activity.” An example of public health efforts aimed at harm reduction are needle exchange programs where individuals using injected drugs can exchange used needles for clean ones as a …
A: As states move away from stay at home orders and change recommendations to permit gatherings of slightly larger groups, one option for addressing childcare needs may be for two families (i.e., households) to join together to form a slightly bigger “bubble”. Under this approach, two households combine exclusively (i.e., minimize all other outside contacts). …
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