COVID-19 Online Resources

QUESTION
We purchased your Business Continuity Plan recently. Over the last few weeks, we have been using it as a guide. We like the idea that one of the Directors spends time with us at the outset to make sure we understand the plan’s requirements. 

Now, we are building an online website for our employees to handle disaster recovery, business continuity, and pandemic issues. We want a website page with resources for all these areas, and especially we need resources for the COVID-19 challenges. 

Your Business Continuity Plan Checklist provides a huge number of resources and informative links. 

Do you have any suggested COVID-19 links that we can put on our new website?

ANSWER
Thank you for this question, as it gives me a chance to provide some additional feedback. I think you should be using - 

(A) our complimentary Checklist – Business Continuity Plan Checklist (Includes COVID-19 Pandemic Response) – along with -

(B) our inexpensive Plan – Business Continuity Plan – Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Plan, Includes Pandemic Response. 

Taken together, they provide a considerable amount of information that will strengthen your business continuity as well as your pandemic response.

The Checklist is now 208 pages and is on Update # 7. Update # 8 will be published as soon as the next stimulus is signed into law. The Plan is available, of course, and one of our Directors does a “walkthrough” with you to answer questions and show you how to use it.

I do have some suggested resource links that, in my view, should be placed on your new website. It is a good idea to notify your visitors that a new link has been added. Keep your visitors current all the time, because the pandemic is dynamic, meaning it spreads and mutates in complex ecosystems. Today’s medical and statistical information may differ from yesterday’s analyses.

Following basic hygienic guidelines will not change: wear protective masks (viz., protect yourself and others), maintain social distancing, wash hands, avoid meetings where people are arranged closely together, stay clear of settings where aerosol transmission easily happens. 

Be alert to changes in federal and state responses to the coronavirus, as politics has unfortunately been contaminating scientifically derived guidance. That places an extra burden on your website because visitors are going there for facts, not politics; and they want reliable scientific and medically reliable resources, not controversy and opinions.

Providing online resources is a great idea. Don’t be concerned if some visitors dispute the reliability of some links. People tend toward confirmation bias, so they screen out what they don’t want to believe. Don’t be surprised if some visitors say they do not believe in science. Science is not a belief; it is not subject to faith; it does not accept unfalsifiable theories. To date, the scientific method is the best means known to humankind to validate and verify physically identifiable aspects of life. Give visitors a chance to use the links, and most of them will be grateful that your organization takes everyone’s health and welfare seriously.

The following are some online links that I suggest you consider for the COVID-19 pandemic. They run the range from statistical information to preparation and also to progress regarding treatments and vaccines.

CNN.com – Tracking COVID-19  

Coronavirus Dashboard 

Coronavirus Tracker  

COVID-19 Tracking Project

COVID World Map, The Guardian 

GlobalEpidemics.org 

Health.com – Coronavirus 

Johns Hopkins – DOVID-19 Dashboard 

StatNews.com 

Rt (Effective Reproduction Number) 

Worldometer – Coronavirus (Countries) 

Worldometer – Coronavirus (USA) 

Worldometer – Coronavirus (World) 

A word about the Rt (Effective Reproduction Number) listed above. 

Rt (Effective Reproduction Number) 

The statistic, Rt, measures how fast the virus is growing. It is the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If Rt is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. If Rt is below 1.0, the virus spread slows down and eventually stops. The idea is that it is not possible to capture the exact moment when somebody becomes infected. Instead, scientists do a sort of reverse engineering. Thus, data such as derived from testing, hospital admissions, and deaths, are used to estimate the velocity of propagation of the virus.

Mathematically, if the Rt (effective reproduction number) is greater than one (viz., >1.0), the rate of spread increases exponentially; that is, the rate of change accelerates rapidly, and the virus propagates quicker and quicker. 

Medically, this means that there are more and more infections and many more deaths involving the coronavirus and deaths related to comorbidities - the coexistence of two or more disease processes (such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer) - affected by the coronavirus infection.

Economically and logistically, any population growing exponentially must, sooner or later, encounter shortages of various resources, such as beds in ICU, availability of medications, medical staff, medical supplies, and gradual financial incapacitation. 

It is only by bringing the effective reproduction rate down that we can return to some semblance of normality. Monitor the Rt for your state, and proceed with appropriate caution and care.

Finally, I recommend that you hold periodic calls to discuss the new website, particularly emphasizing your company’s safe hygiene plans. Encourage questions and suggestions. Act as a team, as a corporate family, and you will get through the pandemic knowing that you have done all you could to ensure a safe and healthy world for you, your colleagues, and your families.

Jonathan Foxx, Ph.D., MBA

Chairman & Managing Director

Lenders Compliance Group