When every day feels like this nightmare we’ve found ourselves in has gotten worse, and there’s no end in sight, it’s hard to remember to look for the bright spots. In times of crisis, though, we must remember to - in the words of Mr. Rogers - “look for the helpers.”

All over my community, and I’m sure yours, people are coming together to make sure everyone is fed, that local businesses will be able to weather this storm, and that we’ll all make it through to the other side in one piece.

Here’s an example of “the helpers” that brings me to tears every day when I see it.

In my city, enough of the students NEED free breakfast and lunch that the entire school system just gives it to everyone. When schools around the country started closing in response to COVID-19 last week, my Facebook feed was suddenly full of panicked posts from local friends worrying about how the kids in our city would be fed.

We would like to thank everyone who attended our Ask Us Anything COVID-19 webinar with Dr. Greg Jacobson and Dr. Mason Mileur. If you weren't able to attend, you can read all the answers to the questions below, after the video.

I’ve heard a lot of conflicting information, especially online -- where should I go to fact check things related to COVID-19?

We created a list of resources with 20-30 different links. Feel free to use the links to update yourself on current information and to forward to your network.

Key differences between COVID-19 and flu?

Last Updated On: April 1, 2020

With so much information available online, it's hard to know what's true and what isn't. We tried to find a list of good sources to share with you, and couldn't - so we put our heads together with the smartest people we know, and made our own. Share yours in the comments!

COUNTERS

Want an accurate count of the status of COVID-19 cases around the world? These trackers are easy to read and are updated frequently. There’s a slight variation in numbers between the sites, but this is likely due to small delays in reporting and updating the pages.

• Worldometer
• Bing
• nCoV2019
• New York Times
• Social Distancing Scoreboard

This one from Johns Hopkins University looks like it’s going to be awesome, though not all of the modules are built out yet as of this writing.

I've been helping our KaiNexus CEO Dr. Greg Jacobson prep for the webinar he and two other doctors are participating in on Wednesday March 18:

Ask Us Anything! COVID-19

It's been beyond fascinating to see the questions that people have submitted. I've spent a lot of time going through them and categorizing them... here is what's on people's minds. And maybe that speaks to gaps in effective communication from the government and the healthcare field.

You can register and submit your own questions here. 

We decided to just copy and paste the questions so you can see what people are asking. Greg and the other doctors, pediatrician Whitney Morgan and internist Mason Mileur won't be able to answer them all necessarily: 

Today I wanted to share with you a message that I just got from my friend, a pediatrician.

"It’s time to ‘name and shame’ the people who are putting others at risk. Name and shame the businesses that are hosting public events. Name and shame those who attend them. Leaving the house right now is like driving drunk through a school zone of old people. You will kill someone, but in this case, you won’t even realize it.”

In this time of crisis, we have an ethical duty and responsibility to stay home and stay physically distant. Every day you choose to run an errand, go out to dinner, or meet up for a playdate with your stir-crazy kids, you are contributing to the exponential spread of this virus. Every day, every hour, every minute that it spreads, real people will die.

Check out this blog post about what exponential growth means and why you should care.

The thing about exponential growth is that it’s not exciting, until it is. 

The growth rate looks slow at first. 

It’s been 24 hours since my last post, and I’ve come to see that part of the problem is that people don’t understand what the word “exponential” means.

The word exponential has been floating around a lot lately as concern about COVID-19 grows and spreads around the world. It’s perhaps the most important word in understanding all of this, and since it’s been a while since most of us took a math class, I thought this would be a good time to review the concept and how it relates to the current pandemic.

So first. What does exponential growth mean? It means that the growth is increasing at a faster and faster rate. When it comes to the spread of a virus, an exponential growth rate means that as we go from one day to the next, the number of cases multiplies by some constant number that’s greater than one. I’ll also explain how physical distance plays into the equation and why that will save the life of your grandmother (and mine).

I awoke this morning (3/15/20) and thought every rational and caring person that I know understood the importance of social distancing. I spent yesterday talking to dozens of people and getting dozens of small social events canceled. I thought my job was done. This morning I spoke to my close friend - a smart and compassionate person - and found that he was heading with his family to a bike shop and the Container Store... I realize my job had just begun. 

With more new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed every day and the recognition that we’re only at the beginning of this pandemic, the health and safety of employees is a top priority of companies around the globe. Our hearts go out to the many people around the world who will be affected by this development. In an effort to do our own small part, on Thursday, March 12 our company transitioned into a virtual company with all staff working from home indefinitely. Our system is hosted on Google servers, which are state-of-the-art, and we don’t anticipate there being any issues in continuing to provide our platform.

When we chat with people about making the switch to digital continuous improvement, many of the benefits are immediately apparent. People know that using software with workflow capabilities to manage projects is a much better option than using spreadsheets and email. They sense that having a platform designed for the purpose will streamline work and get individual projects across the finish line more often.

Eliminating waste is at the heart of the Lean Business methodology.  The goal of Lean is to spend more of your time creating value for customers by reducing or eliminating everything else - the waste. Several common types of waste have been identified and together represent the “7 Wastes of Lean” (sometimes expressed as "8 types of waste, including the additional "waste of human potential" or "waste of talent").

Some types of waste are fairly self-explanatory, but others can be a bit difficult to grasp. Here are some practical examples of each.