How Companies, Governments and People Rise to the Conoravirus Challenge

Mikhail Kolesnikov/Shutterstock.com

Here are some good examples, both big and small, that make the world a little brighter while we combat coronavirus.

Depending on what part of the country you live in, you might be going into your fourth week of quarantine to fight the coronavirus pandemic, or you might just be starting out. Unfortunately, most evidence suggests that we are in for a long fight. This week I found my mental defenses finally breached by constant COVID-19 updates hammering more and more bad news into my brain. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling a little bit of a creeping despair along with a small side of exhaustion.

I previously covered important news about federal teleworking tips from NIST and CISA, and made some recommendations about products that might help agencies operate more safely during this crisis. However, this time out I want to focus solely on positive news. I’m doing that for my own mental health, and hopefully, it will lighten your spirits a little bit too.

The truth is that as bad as things are or will become, that a lot of people are doing what they can to help out. In fact, that may be the only really good thing to come out of this pandemic. There are literally thousands of examples of people and companies forgoing profits and trying to do the right thing. I wish I could talk about them all. Instead, I tried to collect some good examples, both big and small, that make the world a little brighter while we combat coronavirus.

The first news item comes from a company called Zello, which created a push-to-talk type service that can bypass typical cellular communications. It’s a lot like the old Nextel chirping phones and is designed for use by first responders, law enforcement personnel and others on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight. Because of the outbreak, Zello decided to make its premium push-to-talk service available for free to any first-responder organization that wants to deploy it. The service will be free for at least five years, which is hopefully enough time to kill COVID once and for all.

In terms of industries that are most affected by the virus, airlines and airports would be close to the top of the list. Most airports are expected to remain open, even though there are far fewer flights and passengers. And yet, even with collapsing revenue, most airports are taking steps to try and curtail the spread of the virus. Two companies, Woolpert and Esri, are trying to help them out. They developed a free toolkit so that airports could submit COVID-19 expenses to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It may seem like a small thing, but the toolkit may help encourage airports to work on anti-coronavirus measures during troubling times because they can now more easily get reimbursed by FEMA for up to 75 cents on every dollar they spend.

For residents of cities, the danger of coronavirus is even greater because of the increased number of people who live together in close proximity. We hear about problems in megacities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and even New Orleans, but cities and towns of all sizes are in trouble. To help coordinate a unified response, the Smart Cities Council created a free COVID-19 mitigation tool to allow municipalities to share their experiences and planning activities. Using the tool could help local officials learn what worked and what failed in other places, and share their own success stories. If the tool begins seeing widespread use, it could flatten the learning curve as cities work to flatten the infection rates.

Looking at the problem from a more global scale, the United Nation's Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development held an emergency meeting last week to discuss ways to bring broadband internet to more underserved places. With so many people being asked to stay and work from home, the longstanding issue of poor internet connectivity is coming to the forefront. It’s a lot easier to work from home and stay connected with friends and family if you have access to high-speed internet. Many places in the United States still don’t have reliable internet service, to say nothing of the world at large. The commission crafted an agenda for action to try and spur improvements to existing broadband while also speeding the deployment of new internet services wherever they are needed during the pandemic.

To wrap things up, I wanted to mention two purely fun activities, especially for all the federal workers and others who are trying to live, work and coexist with their families exclusively at home. For those of you who have a love of art and culture, or who are looking for an activity the kids can do during their quarantine, can check out some virtual tours of world class museums. We are talking about places like the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Guggenheim in New York. Although they are temporarily closed to visitors, there are some pretty interactive virtual tours that might make you feel like you are there all by yourself. Spending quiet time with classic works of art is soothing for your senses and your soul.

Finally, I know sports fans are especially bummed these days. Last week should have been the home opener here in Washington for the World Series Champion Nationals baseball team. Instead, fans had to sing baseball songs from outside the closed stadium. Other sports like basketball are also postponed or cancelled. There wasn’t any March Madness, and even the Olympics are postponed till next year.

Esports companies are trying to pick up a little bit of that slack, including Gfinity Esports which is hosting the world’s first professional virtualized Grand Prix race. Participants will race using the F1 2019 videogame, and the field includes real Formula One drivers. The events have full color commentary by sports announcers and last for hours on end, just like the real thing. Organizers say they plan to host an online race for every cancelled event in the real F1 circuit. There are even a few exhibition events planned where fans can race alongside their favorite drivers—something most of us would never get to do in real life.

The coronavirus hit us so quickly that we didn’t have much time to react, and today seems almost like a bad dream compared with life just a couple months ago. But companies, governments, private organizations and just ordinary people are all stepping up and trying to help however they can. As long as we all keep working together, we’ll get through this. In the meantime, please try and stay safe. And keep being good to one another.

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.