What Covid-19 has done to our well-being, in 12 charts

‘How has Covid-19 and the related shift to WFH affected workers? A group of researchers surveyed HBR readers and others in the fall of 2020 and found that the vast majority reported declines in both general and workplace well-being. The biggest culprits? Mental health struggles, increased job demands, and home-life challenges. A much smaller percentage reported an increase in well-being, attributing it to reduced commutes and business travel and having more time to focus on health.’

Read here (Harvard Business Review, Feb 10, 2021)

How influencers, celebrities, and FOMO [fear of missing out] can win over vaccine skeptics

‘Drawing from product innovation theory, Rohit Deshpandé and colleagues offer three recommendations to speed adoption of COVID-19 vaccines...

‘Governments are prioritizing certain groups to receive the vaccine, with medical professionals and certain government personnel at the top, followed by first responders and vulnerable populations, and then the general population. The diffusion of innovations model indicates that each of these groups will have five customer segments based on their willingness to get vaccinated earlier or later. For example, some medical professionals will be eager to get vaccinated early (the innovators, early adopters, and majority) while others will wait (the late majority and laggards).

‘So, how do we maximize the number of individuals in any prioritized group who are willing, if not eager, to get vaccinated as soon as possible?

‘The answer requires keen understanding of each segment, for example, of both the seniors in the early majority and the seniors that are laggards less keen on taking the vaccine. The diffusion of innovations research indicates that a combination of personal and societal factors influence the rate of adoption within and between segments factors, with the ultimate driver being word of mouth.

‘For the COVID-19 vaccine, the personal factors include people’s perceived efficacy and need for the vaccine, past immunization experiences, and opinions about vaccines more generally, along with those of their families.

‘Societal drivers include the advice of experts, media, and other influencers within their demographic, socioeconomic, and innovation adoption segment. Influencers will need to mitigate concerns about the “newness” of the vaccine, such as the probability of side effects and solutions when they occur. They will also need to reinforce the positive consequences of taking the vaccine, such as the ability to visit family, go to work, and have more entertainment options.’

Read here (Harvard Business School, Jan 29, 2021)

Covid-19 vaccine — Frequently asked questions

Paul Sax, M.D., a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an infectious disease specialist, provides concise and engaging answers to clinicians’ questions about Covid-19 vaccination and to the questions and concerns patients will raise.

Read here (New England Journal of Medicine, as at Jan 18, 2021)

The anti-lockdown scientists’ cause would be more persuasive if it weren’t so half-baked

‘The [Great Barrington] declaration, which calls for an immediate resumption of “life as normal” for everyone except the “vulnerable”, is written by three science professors from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, giving it the sheen of academic respectability. But there is much to set alarm bells ringing. It makes claims about herd immunity – the idea that letting the virus rip among less vulnerable groups will allow a degree of population-level immunity to build up which will eventually protect the more vulnerable – that are unsupported by existing scientific evidence... And what are scientists doing fronting a campaign whose back office is run by a thinktank that flirts with climate change denial?’

Read here (The Guardian, Oct 11, 2020)

Merck CEO Ken Frazier discusses a Covid cure, racism, and why leaders need to walk the talk

‘As chairman and CEO of the leading vaccine producer in the world, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Ken Frazier has one of the highest-profile positions in global business.

‘But Frazier, who is leading one of the firms on a charge to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, is unique in another way: He is just one of four Black CEOs leading a Fortune 500 company. Frazier is also outspoken, having resigned from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council to make a clear statement against “hatred, bigotry and group supremacy” that surfaced in protests at Charlottesville, Virginia.

‘In the video [with transcript] below, Frazier provides insights into this turbulent period of American history with Tsedal Neeley (@tsedal), the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Topics ranged from corporate America’s role in hiring more African Americans to the experience of being raised just one generation away from slavery.’

View/read here (Harvard Business School, July 13, 2020)

Fact-checking claims coronavirus might have started in August 2019

‘There's been criticism of a study from the US suggesting that the coronavirus could have been present in the Chinese city of Wuhan as early as August last year. The study by Harvard University, which gained significant publicity when it was released earlier this month, has been dismissed by China and had its methodology challenged by independent scientists...

‘The Harvard study has gained a lot of traction in the media, with President Trump, who has been highly critical of China's pandemic response, tweeting a Fox News item highlighting the researchers' findings. The tweet has been viewed more than three million times.’

Read here (BBC, June 15, 2020)

The relation between media consumption and misinformation at the outset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the US

‘A US national probability-based survey during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 spread in the US showed that, above and beyond respondents’ political party, mainstream broadcast media use (e.g., NBC News) correlated with accurate information about the disease’s lethality, and mainstream print media use (e.g., the New York Times) correlated with accurate beliefs about protection from infection. In addition, conservative media use (e.g., Fox News) correlated with conspiracy theories including believing that some in the CDC were exaggerating the seriousness of the virus to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. Five recommendations are made to improve public understanding of SARS-CoV-2.’

Read here (Harvard Kennedy School Misinforrmation Review, April 20, 2020)

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Intermittent social distancing may be needed through 2022 to manage Covid-19

‘On-and-off periods of social distancing will likely be needed into 2022 to ensure that hospitals have enough capacity for future Covid-19 patients in need of critical care, according to a new modeling study from researchers at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

‘The research, published April 14, 2020 in the journal Science, predicted several scenarios for how the coronavirus might spread over the next five years, taking into account factors such as whether or not the virus will exhibit seasonality, whether people who are infected go on to develop short-term or long-term immunity, and whether people would get any cross-protective immunity from having been infected with other types of coronaviruses that cause common colds.’

Read here (Harvard School of Public Health, April 14, 2020)