"#HealthcareWorkersRock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge [Video + Lyrics Included]

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

As COVID-19 cases rise exponentially, entrepreneur, philanthropist, songwriter and executive producer Ken Freirich today released a remix and video for his song "Healthcare Workers Rock!". 

The song was written as a rock anthem and the heartfelt lyrics have already struck a chord with frontline healthcare workers around the world fighting COVID-19 and putting their lives on the line every day to help others. 

"The truth is healthcare workers are at their breaking point. The stress of the pandemic right now is unbearable. The music and lyrics of Healthcare Workers Rock! give us an emotional release that make every day more tolerable," said Joseph Varon, MD, Chief Medical Officer of United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, who has been on the frontlines of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. "I've literally witnessed our workers humming and singing the song to help lift their own spirit and the spirit of others. I had a nurse cry when she was asked to be in the video, because it reinforced what a difference she's making for so many. The song and the video are just what the doctor ordered, especially now as we enter what will possibly be the darkest days of the pandemic. We must now get this music therapy to every hospital around the world because it's a boost that will keep our healthcare workers going."

The driving force behind the song is Ken Freirich, a songwriter and drummer who lives by a daily mantra of "making the world a better place." He felt a calling to write and produce a song that could bring people together in a time of crisis. For the song remix, Freirich served as the executive producer and recruited P!nk Drummer Mark Schulman to play drums on the song, GRAMMY Award-winning Producer and Mixer Scott Jacoby to produce and remix the song and GRAMMY Award winner Emily Lazar to master the single. 

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

In addition, Freirich's new record label, Better World Records, LLC is partnering with #FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative created by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation to provide frontline healthcare workers with the physical and psychological support and resources they so desperately need as they serve on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

#FirstRespondersFirst provides essential supplies and protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to ensure that frontline workers are protected, well-supported and resilient.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

Since the song's initial release last month, doctors, nurses, EMTs, former COVID-19 patients and loved ones have expressed how the song has become their anthem, helping capture their experiences and feelings, while creating a positive and uplifting movement to help counter one of the toughest years in recent history. The song is on repeat as people travel to and from work and has inspired some workers to create and share their own TikTok videos featuring the song.

"When Ken asked me to play on the track and be in the video, I grabbed my sticks, asked my daughter to be in the video and I jumped at the opportunity," said Mark Schulman, P!nk Drummer. "Healthcare workers are long overdue for an anthem, and the lyrics and video really capture all elements of today's healthcare experience. I'm looking forward to helping spread the message and the video so everyone can celebrate the heroism of these amazing people."

Freirich is an active philanthropist who loves the convergence of music and the opportunity to help others. "Healthcare Workers Rock!" is on Freirich's new record label, Better World Records, LLC, also home to his new band, Random Acts of Kindness. From his position as CEO of Health Monitor Network, the largest patient education/engagement company in the United States, known for its exam room digital posters, Freirich has a unique perspective on the plight of healthcare workers, while his passion for music provides a creative way to honor them.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

"Working 'round the clock, strong and courageous, never gonna stop," part of the chorus belts out with lyrics that embody Freirich's vision for the song. He was inspired to write and produce the track after seeing medical professionals in desperate need of resources and watching colleagues' family members pass away from COVID-19. From his position as CEO of Health Monitor Network, Freirich understands the monumental change in the hospital setting since COVID-19 and wanted to reinforce how everyone supports our healthcare workers.

"I want to have the song played all over the world to give healthcare workers something to rally around as they continue to work through difficult days and nights and the reactions I've received so far have been incredibly moving," says Freirich. He notes how he's heard from the healthcare community how relatable the lyrics are and how they have uplifted them at a time when they need all the support they can get. ­ "The song's pre-chorus lyrics, 'This is what we do, day in and day out,' are for the selfless healthcare workers who are out there working and giving everything they've got to their patients. I wanted to deliver an anthem for them that was empowering and uplifting."

The Video:

The Lyrics:

©2020 Better World Records.

We are on the frontline
Putting ourselves in danger
Trying to save the lives
Of oh so many strangers
Don’t look at them as numbers
That’s not what you mean to us
We’re brothers, sisters, mothers
Like family, it’s all worth the fuss

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win
Let’s Rock!

Never seen a thing like this
In my whole career
The battle’s really tough
Feels like more than a year
Supplies are getting short
Still we try to make the best
One day at a time
‘Cause we can never rest

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win

It’s time we all remember
The real heroes are at home
Our partners, daughters and sons
We miss each and every one

The world needs us now
So we are standing strong
Putting patients first
All day and all night long
We will make it through
One way or the other
Stay true to the cause
Caring for one another

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win

Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win
Let’s Rock!

People can download the song on Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes and view the video at HealthcareWorkersRock.org. Freirich, CEO of Health Monitor Network, has been on a global crusade to help healthcare workers. 

• Every time the video is shared from the Random Acts of Kindness  Facebook or Twitter pages with #HealthcareWorkersRock, a donation of $1 will be made to #FirstRespondersFirst (up to $100,000).

About Healthcare Workers Rock!:

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" was written by Freirich, songwriter and drummer, and is his newest music / philanthropic initiative. Freirich is an active philanthropist who loves the convergence of music and the opportunity to help others. He felt a calling to write and produce a song that could fulfill an unmet need; a tribute and anthem for all of the frontline healthcare workers around the world who put their lives on the line each and every day to help others.

For the past five years, he has been in a band called MedROCK, a 501c3 organization that "brings the world together through music and makes it a better place through philanthropy." The band put on a benefit concert in Turks and Caicos to help buy instruments for a local school's music education program and has partnered with and raised money for Teen Cancer America, founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. Freirich also played a song on drums with The Who at a charity to benefit concert for Teen Cancer American and UCLA Health in Southern California last fall.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (PRNewsfoto/Better World Records)

About Better World Records: 

Better World Records LLC was started to release incredible music across numerous genres, while having a positive impact on the world. The company will use its artists and music to bring people together and will incorporate its strong philanthropic beliefs to projects and initiatives to do good. Random Acts of Kindness is the first band on the label and is a collection of musicians (Random Acts) pulled together with the goal of having a positive impact on the world through music.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | Soundcloud

About #FirstRespondersFirst: 

#FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation, takes a whole human approach to addressing the needs of our frontline workers in order to support their ability to serve on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. #FirstRespondersFirst's fundraising call to action helps provide essential supplies, protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to this demographically and socially diverse workforce, ranging from minimum-wage hourly workers in home-care settings to social workers, nurses, physicians, and beyond, through its implementing collaborators Americares, Bright Horizons, CORE Response, Direct Relief, Give An Hour, Global Health Corps, Hispanic Federation, IHG Hotels & Resorts, InnerHour, International Rescue Committee, Marriott International, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Black Nurses Association, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Omada Health, Osmosis, Pivot, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, World Central Kitchen, and You Okay, Doc?. Powered by Thrive Global's behavior change platform, #FirstRespondersFirst also provides access to Harvard Chan School's evidence-based content, specifically tailored to this critical workforce, to help improve the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers.

SOURCE: Better World Records

Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers

Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers (AndriiKoval/Shutterstock)

People are increasingly aware of the harm plastic waste causes to wildlife, and many would avoid buying single-use plastics if they could help it. But are the alternatives to plastic much better?

Let’s look at one example – fizzy drinks. You might assume that plastic bottles are the least green option, but is that always the case?

To find out, we compared five different types of pressurised drinks containers. We tested their environmental impact according to a range of criteria, including how each contributes to climate change and the pollution each produces during manufacture, use and disposal.

Here they are, ranked from worst to best.

Fifth place: glass bottles

It might come as a surprise, but glass bottles actually ranked last in our analysis. You might instinctively reach for a glass bottle to avoid buying a plastic alternative, but glass takes more resources and energy to produce. Glass making involves mining raw materials such as silica sand and dolomite, and that can release pollution which, when inhaled, can cause the lung condition silicosis.

High temperatures are also needed to melt these materials, a process overwhelmingly powered by fossil fuels. During production, the glass itself releases carbon dioxide.

Our analysis found that glass bottle production used the most natural resources, due to the sheer amount of material used. A one-litre glass bottle can weigh up to 800g, while a similar plastic bottle weighs around 40g. That extra weight means vehicles transporting glass bottles consume more fossil fuels to deliver the same amount of liquid. For these reasons, we found that glass bottles have about a 95% bigger contribution to global warming than aluminium cans.

More weight means more emissions. (Makushin Alexey/Shutterstock)

Fourth place: recycled glass bottles

If a regular glass bottle is the worst, then surely those made from 100% recycled glass are much better, right? Unfortunately, no.

Some energy is saved in recycling rather than extracting, processing and transporting raw materials. But recycling glass still uses a lot of energy because of the high temperatures needed to melt it. More energy means more greenhouse gas emissions, and during the process, the glass may release carbon dioxide again.

In the UK, the recycling rate for glass is 67.6%. This would need to improve for glass bottle production to be self-sufficient by recycling alone.

Third place: plastic bottles

In third place is the plastic bottle. Plastic has ideal qualities for containing drinks. It’s strong, resistant to chemicals (so the ingredients in your drink don’t degrade the plastic), and it’s lightweight, meaning more can be transported on less emissions. That gave plastic a significantly lower impact on global warming than glass in our analysis.

But the effects of plastic waste globally are well documented. Glass and aluminium don’t break up into harmful microparticles like plastic does.

Plastic recycling requires less energy due to the lower temperatures involved in melting the raw material. But plastic, unlike glass or aluminium, cannot be endlessly recycled. Each time it’s recycled, the chains of molecules that make up plastics are shortened. All plastic reaches a point when it can no longer be recycled and so becomes destined either for landfill, incineration or the environment.

Second place: aluminium cans

In second place are aluminium cans. We found that they contribute less to global warming than glass and plastic because making them consumes less energy and resources. Cans are lighter than glass and aren’t made from fossil fuels either, like plastic.

Because of the processes involved in making them, cans also contribute less to environmental problems like acid rain and oxygen-free zones in the ocean. That’s because creating glass and plastic requires more electricity, and so it generates more sulphur dioxide pollution on average – a leading cause of acid rain. Making glass and plastic, and extracting the materials to make them (particularly soda ash for glass production), also releases more phosphates into the environment, which can overload rivers and coastal seas and deplete oxygen from the water.

But aluminium has its own environmental impacts. Making it involves refining bauxite ore, and mining bauxite can pollute water in the countries it’s sourced, including Australia, Malaysia and India. Rivers and sediment contaminated with heavy metals threaten the health of people and wildlife near mines.

Bauxite exists in the topsoil of some tropical and subtropical countries. (Alexey Rezvykh/Shutterstock)

First place: recycled aluminium cans

Recycled aluminium cans were the least environmentally damaging single-use container we looked at. Aluminium can be constantly recycled with no change in properties. Recycling an aluminium can saves 95% of the energy used to make a new can and no new material needs to be mined or transported.

But aluminium isn’t always recycled. The UK’s recycling rate for aluminium packaging is just 52%. This must be drastically improved to make recycling the main supply of new cans.

Even if some of these containers are better than others, all of them have an environmental impact. The best option would be to phase out single-use packaging entirely, and introduce a system of reusing containers. Think self-serve drinks machines in local shops, where you could fill a bottle that you bring from home, or bottle return and reuse schemes.

Reducing waste and reusing materials, where possible, should come before recycling something. By reusing bottles, we reduce the amount of single-use packaging that needs to be created, reducing waste and a whole host of global environmental problems.

About Today's Contributors:

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton and Alice Brock, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, University of Southampton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

Related Stories:

• Oceana Report: Soft Drink Industry Can Stop Billions Of Plastic Bottles From Polluting The Ocean By Switching To Refillables
• World Oceans Day is a Reason to Celebrate and Reflect
• Reimagine Products to Ease Plastic Pollution, Says Sagentia

Assassin's Creed TV Series: Why It's So Hard To Adapt Video Games For The Screen

Michael Fassbender in the Assassin’s Creed film. (20th Century Fox/Youtube)

The Assassin’s Creed franchise is leaping forward (off the top of a building, presumably) with the release of the 12th game in the series – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – and the recent announcement of an upcoming Netflix show.

While the games are hugely popular, we will have to hope this new show is an improvement on the 2016 film. It had great actors playing bland characters, and perfectly adequate action scenes but no discernible narrative content. Indeed, Assassin’s Creed provides a classic lesson on the difficulties of turning even an expansive, multi-dimensional gaming world into a story that’s suitable for other formats.

The Assassin’s Creed games use the framing device of a present-day conflict and the dramatically recreated memories of the characters’ ancestors in historical periods. These memories form the main action of the game and its main appeal. If anything, the present-day plot elements seem rather odd and superfluous by comparison.

For instance, in the first game (2007), the player controls a 12th-century Levantine assassin named Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad during the Third Crusade. His 21st-century descendant, Desmond Miles, is forced to experience Altaïr’s life so that the present-day Templars can find prehuman artefacts known as Pieces of Eden. If that doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, well, it doesn’t.

This is no Shakespearean play-within-a-play device with two separate narratives that merely reflect and comment on each other. Rather, the stories directly affect one another – you must go into the past to uncover the secret locations of present-day artefacts.

Incoherent narrative

Assassin’s Creed never really attempts the moral depth and world-shaking decisions of, say, the critically-acclaimed Deus Ex videogame franchise. Deus Ex’s background of warring conspiracies is nuanced enough that the player feels that real choices are being made.

The 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie was bad partly because the entire franchise – despite its many genuinely brilliant qualities of gameplay, atmosphere, and graphics – is narratively incoherent. This might be forgivable in a game built around atmosphere, cool weaponry and stylish moves, but it’s not enough for a viable film.

There are great examples of transmedia storytelling across multiple formats, such as the Marvel cinematic universe, Tolkein’s Middle-Earth or, indeed, Deus Ex. In these cases, each new book, film or game builds on the narrative of the previous ones while maintaining a sense of wonder and the unknown. But the Assassin’s Creed franchise doesn’t bother making the effort, as though its creators Ubisoft believe the occasional media studies experts who suggest that videogames should stay in their lane and not even try to tell stories.

It seems snobbish to assume that video games are just no good at narrative, but it’s almost as reductive to believe they should emulate filmic storytelling instead of embracing videogames’ unique strengths. Interactivity, agency, emotional engagement and immersion combine to provide players with experiences that would be impossible to achieve in purely linear stories.

The structure of games is inherently different from that of films, and this is most apparent when it comes to endings. Writing a narratively satisfying ending for a novel or film is notoriously tough – and even tougher if you also have to give your audience the choice of how to finish the story.

Every time you let the player make a significant yes or no decision in gameplay, you double the number of possible endings. No storyteller wants to have to come up with hundreds of satisfactory endings.

Game designers have a variety of tricks available to reduce that number, giving the illusion of choice while gradually steering the player back onto the main plot. Still, most players will be happier if the series of interesting decisions include more than just selecting tactical options to overcome challenges. They need ethically weighty choices that empower them to playfully explore their value systems.

From winging it to fixing it?

The Assassin’s Creed franchise seems to have been winging it with its worldbuilding since the start, each story building haphazardly on the previous ones. I see three ways forward.

They could continue to ignore concerns about coherence, concentrate on cool stunts and environments, and hope that fans will accept new instalments as merely each new creative team’s take. But the narrative threads sprawl so much that it’s going to be a tough sell.

A still from the very first Assassin’s Creed (2007). (Ubisoft/IGDB)

If the new series is going to be any good, it would be better to bring in a good universe runner. Someone who can work out how most of the universe hangs together and cut out the bits that don’t.

Alternatively, they could start again, with a worldbuilding process not just a story idea. Videogames can tell amazing stories, despite what their detractors may think, but they do need a consistent background in which to set those stories. Creating a believable world first, would only make the next franchise stronger.

About Today's Contributor:

Ian Sturrock, Senior Lecturer in Game Design and Games Studies, Teesside University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom

Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom (Image by Tumisu)

Europe is dealing with its “second wave” of COVID-19. And governments seem powerless to stem the tide. Dutch political leaders find it difficult to convince their citizens to wear face masks. A large majority of French voters think that Emmanuel Macron’s government has handled the pandemic badly. And Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, is facing anger from all sides about the circumstances that led to a new English lockdown.

According to these leaders, the arrival of a second wave has nothing to do with their own policy failures, or poor communication. No, the numbers are rising because Europeans are freedom-loving people and it’s hard to make them follow rules. “It is very difficult to ask the British population, uniformly, to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary,” said Johnson for example, in response to criticism of his government’s testing policy. Similarly, in the Netherlands some were quick to attribute soaring infection rates to the fact that the Dutch are famously averse to being “patronised”.

The same explanation is often invoked to account for why Europe is doing significantly worse than countries in East Asia, where the disease seems more under control. According to some commentators, the authoritarian, top-down political culture of countries like China and Singapore makes it far easier to implement strict measures than in liberal Europe.

Singapore’s “effective crisis management”, for instance, was supposedly made possible by the fact that its government “has always wielded absolute control over the state, with an iron fist and a whip in it.” Conversely, many believe that a devotion to “individual liberty” doomed the west to its ongoing crisis.

A coronavirus screening centre in Singapore. (EPA-EFE)

Is this true? Is a poorly functioning government indeed the price that must be paid for freedom? If that is the case, then perhaps we had better give up on liberty. After all, anyone who is dead or seriously ill does not benefit much from being free.

Collective freedom

Fortunately, that’s a conclusion we needn’t draw. As history shows, freedom is quite compatible with effective government. Western political thinkers ranging from Herodotus to Algernon Sidney did not think that a free society is a society without rules, but that those rules should be decided collectively. In their view, freedom was a public good rather than a purely individual condition. A free people, Sidney wrote for instance, was a people living “under laws of their own making”.

Even philosophers such as John Locke, it is worth noting, agreed with this view. Locke is often portrayed as a thinker who believed that freedom coincided with individual rights, rights that should be protected at all costs against state interference. But Locke explicitly denied that freedom was harmed by government regulation – as long as those rules were made “with the consent of society”.

“Freedom then is not … a liberty for every one to do what he lists, to live as he pleases, and not to be tied by any law,” he wrote in his famous Second Treatise. “But freedom of men under government, is, to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power erected in it.”

It was only in the early 19th century that some began to reject this collective ideal in favour of a more individualistic conception of liberty.

A new liberty

In the wake of the French Revolution, democracy slowly expanded across Europe. But this was not universally welcomed. The extension of the right to vote, many feared, would give political power to the poor and uneducated, who would no doubt use it to make dumb decisions or to redistribute wealth. 

Storming of The Bastile, Jean-Pierre Houël, 1789. (Wikimedia Commons)

Hence, liberal elites embarked on a campaign against democracy – and they did so in the name of freedom. Democracy, liberal thinkers ranging from Benjamin Constant to Herbert Spencer argued, was not the mainstay of liberty but a potential threat to freedom properly understood – the private enjoyment of one’s life and goods.

Throughout the 19th century, this liberal, individualistic conception of freedom continued to be contested by radical democrats and socialists alike. Suffragettes such as Emmeline Pankhurst profoundly disagreed with Spencer’s view that the best way to protect liberty was to limit the sphere of government as much as possible. At the same time, socialist politicians such as Jean Jaurès claimed that they, and not the liberals, were the party of freedom, since socialism’s goal was “to organise the sovereignty of all in both the economic and political spheres”.

The ‘free’ West

Only after 1945 did the liberal concept of freedom prevail over the older, collective conception of freedom. In the context of cold war rivalry between the “free West” and the Soviet Union, distrust of state power grew - even democratic state power. In 1958, liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin, in a one-sided reading of the history of European political thought, stated that “Western” freedom was a purely “negative” concept. Every law, Berlin stated bluntly, had to be seen as an encroachment on freedom.

The cold war is of course since long over. Now that we are entering the third decade of the 21st century, we might want to dust off the older, collective concept of freedom. If the coronavirus crisis has made one thing clear, it is that collective threats such as a pandemic demand decisive, effective action from government.

This does not mean giving up our freedom in exchange for the protection of a nanny state. As Sidney and Locke remind us, as long as even the strictest lockdown can count on broad democratic support, and the rules remain subject to scrutiny by our representatives and the press, they do not infringe on our freedom.

About Today's Contributor:

Annelien de Dijn, Professor of History, Utrecht University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives – And The Earlier You Start, The Better [Video Included]

A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives – And The Earlier You Start, The Better (screengrab)

Dr. Biplav Srivastava, professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, and his team have developed a data-driven tool that helps demonstrate the effect of wearing masks on COVID-19 cases and deaths. His model utilizes a variety of data sources to create alternate scenarios that can tell us “What could have happened?” if a county in the U.S. had a higher or lower rate of mask adherence. In this interview, he explains how the model works, its limitations and what conclusions we can draw from it.

What does this computer model do?

This is a nationwide tool which can show the effect that wearing masks can have. If it’s a county where people wear masks regularly, it will show you how many COVID-19 cases and deaths they avoided. If you pick a county where people don’t wear masks, it will show you how many cases and deaths could have been prevented there.

How does it do it?

We need a lot of data to do this. The New York Times surveyed almost every county in the U.S. over the summer and assigned a mask-wearing score of 0-5 to each of them, so this is at the heart of the model. We also use New York Times and Johns Hopkins data for real-time case numbers; census data for demographics such as population size, median age and more; and geographic data to measure the distance between counties.

It is based on a mathematical technique called robust synthetic control, which is often used in drug research, where there is a control group and there is a treatment group.

For example, let’s look at Wyandotte County, Kansas. It has a relatively high mask-wearing score of about 3.4. Because the model is designed to tell us the “what if?” scenario, it will look at what would have happened if the mask-wearing score was reduced to 3.0, which is our cutoff for “low mask-wearing,” but the user can experiment with other values too just to see what happens. We arrived at 3.0 based on analysis of nationwide mask-wearing habits. The actual values ranged between 1.4 and 3.85, with a national average of 2.98.

We can set a date at which the mask-wearing score changes to 3.0. If we set it to run from June 1 to Oct 1, it tells us that Wyandotte County would have had 101.5% more cases and 150 more deaths in that period. It tells the user how many deaths have occurred or been prevented based on a mortality rate parameter that the user can set. In this example, it was set at 2%.

How does the model create the “what if?” scenario if it didn’t actually happen? It does this by looking at other counties that are close by and have similar demographics and case count but a lower mask-wearing threshold. It tries to come up with a weighted average to form a synthetic control group which is similar to our county of interest (treatment group). The model then looks at how much the two groups have diverged in terms of the case counts. The difference in case counts between the two groups is converted to a difference in deaths using the mortality rate parameter.

Computer scientist Biplav Srivastava provides a demo of the simulation to show that earlier policies to recommend mask-wearing make a bigger difference on the spread of the coronavirus.(screengrab)

What does this tell us about the impact of mask-wearing policies?

Keeping up mask-wearing or implementing a mask policy at any time can be helpful. But its impact is highest when you do it early. When you run this model multiple times using different dates, you see that the impact reduces as you delay implementing a mask-wearing policy. So if a county implemented a mask policy on June 1, it would have prevented many cases. If it acted on July 1, it would have a smaller impact. If it acted in August, it would still have prevented cases, but a very small number.

What are the limitations of this model?

This tool works better for some counties than others. In general, it works best with counties that are closer to the average, because it will have closer matches to compare against. There is also a limitation in the sense that The New York Times mask adherence survey was done in the summer, and things keep changing. So if other researchers use this tool, they will have to account for the changes.

But what you see is that when you implement a mask policy or the population regularly wears masks, it makes a positive impact. And the earlier you do it, the more effective it is.

I would like to acknowledge the work of my team, Sparsh Johri, Kartikaya Srivastava, Chinmayi Appajigowda and Lokesh Johri, in developing this program.

The Video:

About Today's Contributor:

Biplav Srivastava, Professor of Computer Science, University of South Carolina

The computer model simulates how many COVID-19 cases could have been prevented in a particular county in the U.S. (Leontura/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

The Knight Bros. Slay COVID-19 [Video Included]

Wee Beasties - Written and Illustrated by Dr. David Knight, Music by Bradford Knight (The Knight Bros.) - a handwashing book and song for kids

Amid ongoing pressure from COVID-19 to keep kids and communities healthy, The Knight Bros. have created an illustrated children's book and song called Wee Beasties, that uses humor, art and rhyming verse to encourage good handwashing habits for early learners age 2 – 8, releasing November 16, 2020.

Wee Beasties is the first in a series of new illustrated books and songs by two brothers. Author and illustrator, Dr. David Knight, is a professor from Colorado State University who was en route to help lead an international program in Wuhan, China when the coronavirus effectively changed the world and put everyone on lockdown. His brother, Bradford Knight, is a singer-songwriter-musician living in southern California. 

• In an unexpected twist of fate, the brothers found themselves quarantined together for five-months, giving rise to a steady stream of creativity and the launch of The Knight Bros. Their works now include more than two dozen titles.

The Knight Bros. (image via theknightbros.com)

Commenting on Wee Beasties, Colleen Fracisco, a veteran nurse of 25 years' experience, said, "This book and song are great tools for parents and teachers to make handwashing meaningful for children. The book takes a hilarious look at germs and how they need to be washed away. It will help build quality hand hygiene skills that will last!" 

Preschool teacher, Kelly Gross, who has two decades of teaching experience at Los Angeles Unified School District, said, "Wee Beasties is an adorable picture book bound to inspire my preschoolers to wash their hands. The author's peppy and engaging rhyming text, combined with the bright and vibrant illustrations, and a creative song, lead to a fun reading and singing experience."

The Video:

Five more titles from The Knight Bros. collection will be released November 23 and December 12, building on safe, clean themes that both entertain and educate. 

• BONNIE McBOWER is about a girl who has an insatiable showering experience 
• BRUSHING brings attention to oral hygiene 
• SMELLY FEET focuses on cleaning relentlessly stinky feet
• BALLOON and ROLLER COASTER promote safety

Imparting important life lessons in a humorous way is the common thread woven through The Knight Bros. stories. While the primary audience is younger, the big kid in many of us will also enjoy it. 

SOURCE: The Knight Bros.

Related Stories:

• Hip Hop Public Health Completes Trilogy Of COVID-19 Music Video PSAs With Release Of #BehindTheMask [Video & Lyrics Included]
• Korean Pop Music Video "Be The Future" Released to Media and Schools to Urge Youth to Stay Safe During COVID-19 [Video Included]
• Hip Hop Public Health Launches 20 Seconds or More Initiative Harnessing the Power of Music to Encourage Hand Washing and Other Safety Protocols Amongst Young People to Battle the COVID-19 Pandemic
• "Corona Wuhan Na" - New Coronavirus Comedy Song But With A Serious Message [Video And Lyrics Included]