Ask HN: What can programmers do to help with the coronavirus? Apart from helping getting groceries or medicine for the quarantined, what can programmers do to help in this health crisis? How can we use our skills to aid the effort to prevent spreading of the virus, effort to help the affected or the effort to put the economy back on track when we're through this? |
Follow the CDC advice, wash your hands, social distancing, encouraging smart policies at your company. Avoid contact with the elderly and stop thinking you're so smart surely YOU'RE the one who's going to solve this problem (with your magical skillset to build CRUD apps).
Use tech skills to help people setup video conferencing so that more people can be less emotionally isolated, while still be physically isolated.
Create a crud app where you can "trade grandmas" - I help bring groceries to your relatives nearby me, you help to bring some to my relatives near you.
This situation is serious we can no longer afford nihilists.
There could be unforeseen consequences of this, such as criminals using it to find vulnerable people to rob. If you were a grandmother living alone, would you be comfortable opening your door to a random person who found you on a web site? Or would you rather trust a neighbor who lived in your own apartment building?
No need to minimize the value of people's skills.
Hospitals don't just need doctors, they also need plumbers, electricians and janitors. If you think programmers can't put their skills to use against this, you're not a good programmer.
- Social isolation of the elderly => provide TV/media installation help?
- More spare time => relax, do a bit more reading, look at some software projects you use and try to fix a random bug or two?
- Risks to public health and healthcare => become well-informed, be on the look out for misinformation online, and try to stay optimistic and good-natured to help everyone through it
Although there's always a big temptation to hack on something huge and world-changing (a new social platform, building healthcare equipment) -- it could be more realistic to step back and do some smaller things in your community, especially if they already know what help they need and are asking for assistance.
Food service workers are exposed to many more people and typically lack the salary/benefits programmers get. If they get infected by the virus or laid off from economic slowdown the extra money will help them the most.
Outside of that, one way to help very directly, depending on where you live, is to join a volunteer fire department / EMS squad. But not all areas are covered by volunteer departments, and there's a lot of latency in terms of training time to do a lot of things (eg, you can't just become an EMT overnight). But there are always people needed around the station to do maintenance on equipment, clean, help with paperwork, etc.
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Amateur_Civil_Emergency_...
Everyone who can write code can read code and find bugs. The projects that are in scope for the Google patch rewards program are a good starting point: https://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/patch-rewards/
Ideally their kids or caregivers could help with this, but not everyone is tech savvy. There could be an opportunity here -- matching tech-savvy folks with these folks. The trick is how to do it without personal contact.
I think the biggest problems many are going to face aren't related to the illness itself, but the effects of self-isolation and the outcomes, such as:
* Dealing with your loved ones getting sick or dying - online services to talk to others that are suffering or going through tough times would be good.
* Boredom - putting that "empty time" to good use by building your skills.
* Loneliness - providing a platform to utilise existing or new social networks to make people feel that they aren't alone.
* Volunteering - one of the biggest hit areas is going to be in elderly care, and to be honest it wouldn't be unsurprising to see care homes shut down and relatives being left to look after their relatives. Anything that can help people in these situations would be welcomed, whether it's supplies, stuff for people to do, etc.
* Aiding remote workers. For many, remote working is an alien concept, so if you've got experience in working from home in an optimal way create an in-depth guide to help others.
* Small gym relief funds - many gyms or martial arts schools have shut down, and many practitioners rely on teaching as their sole form of income. Building a relief fund for those small businesses would help tremendously, on the basis that it can be "paid forward" in the future through private lessons, online instructionals, etc.
How do we help small businesses weather this?
Gift cards have been suggested, and they work for some scalable businesses, but not non-scalable ones with finite capacity. Barbershops for instance have a finite number of appointment slots, so when people redeem their gift cards in the future, they lose future income.
The question is: how do we creatively come up with a form of an business/economic model that will help consumers help small businesses stay afloat and sustainably ramp back up in the future?
(If anyone knows a place in need, feel free to email me. Brussels, BE)
"why does soap work so well on sars cov-2?"
* https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236549305189597189.html
On the other hand, maybe your old computer science teacher would appreciate a few kind words and some remote conversation online.
> "Due to Covid-19, the talks in Spain will not occur on the dates previously planned"
Rresspuista correcta, Señor Bond...