A citizen's guide to tackling Covid-19 (beyond washing your hands)

I very recently had to take a trip to the ER where I spent a couple of hours lying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm (not Covid-19 related, don’t worry). Visitors were not allowed in to avoid unnecessary spread of the coronavirus, and so it’s safe to say that this gave me a lot of time to reflect and appreciate certain things while lying there by myself. I realised how powerless and disconnected I’ve recently been feeling in relation to my personal contribution to this whole Covid-19 situation. Is washing my hands, keeping my social distance and remaining in quarantine the only things I can do right now to help, or is there more?

It doesn’t quite seem fair to me that while doctors, nurses, care workers, farmers, scientists, engineers and many others are working long hours and risking their health to keep the rest of us safe, I among others sit comfortably at home contributing very little. Don’t get me wrong, following all of these safety measures is fundamental and a very important step to help halt the spread of the virus. For those of you taking it seriously, thank you.

But what more can a citizen like you or me do to contribute our part to help tackle this virus? I believe there are many options. Lucky for you, I've done some research and put together a number of suggestions to get you started. I hope some of these will help bring your mind at ease, boost your motivation and inspire you.

A citizen’s guide to tackling Covid-19

1.    Contribute To Research

Regardless of whether you're healthy, infected or recovered from COVID-19, providing your health data can greatly help the scientific community identify, monitor, and create models of the coronavirus spread. Completing daily health logs no matter whether you show symptoms or not is statistically speaking, just as important for the collection of accurate data. If you have anything to contribute this will greatly accelerate community-driven research and global investigations:

• COVID Symptom Tracker: an app developed by King’s College London and Zoe Global Limited asks participants to take one minute a day to report on whether they feel healthy or not, and to answer questions on a wide range of symptoms (UK based)
• Flusurvey: webtool managed and monitored by Public Health England (PHE) and designed to monitor community prevalence and trend of symptoms related of the novel coronavirus (UK based)
• Corona report: a research project that aims to understand the social impact of Covid-19 on citizens by analysing citizen’s stories. Download the app and contribute anonymously (EU based)
• Babylon Health, the British digital health unicorn, has designed a symptom tracking app for Covid-19 and care assistant that facilitates taking care of yourself and others (UK based)
• Velmio has developed a similar symptomatic tracking app to estimate Covid-19 risk levels and shares anonymous data with researchers

2.    Ditch The Games

For the more scientific driven individuals, or those interested in something different, something new:

• Fold it: an online game that challenges players to design and fold new protein structures. The Foldit team is now challenging citizen scientists to design antiviral proteins that can bind with the coronavirus. The highest scoring designs will be manufactured and tested in real life.
• Folding@home: a distributed computing project that brings together citizen scientists who volunteer to run simulations of protein dynamics on their personal computers. Insights from this data are helping scientists to better understand biology and providing new opportunities for developing therapeutics. Donate computing power to help run simulations of the dynamics of Covid-19 proteins and hunt for new therapeutic opportunities.

3.    Donate Blood

I know this isn’t for everyone but there is a huge shortage of blood around the world right now, so for those that are eligible and can, please consider donating blood or platelets for those who need it! Leaving your house to donate blood is considered ‘essential travel’ in most countries.

• UK based
• Spain based
• Netherlands based

4.     Support Local, Support Crowdfunding

Before you scroll down any more online shopping pages deciding which new shoes or shirt to order, consider donating to funds, charities, small businesses, start-up projects in need of crowdfunding to support their businesses and employees.

• The United Nations Foundation, Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and WHO have come together and created a fund for Covid-19 pandemic response. Available on the Covid-19 Information Centre on Facebook
• Gofundme Coronavirus fundraising: donate or start a donation page if you think you can help support any local business owners or causes 
• List of EU start-ups specialised in tackling Covid-19 related issues you may be interested in supporting
• Support non-profit science journalism like EFSJ

5.    Volunteer & Connect

Remote volunteer work is one of the easiest and fastest ways for anyone to feel like they are actively contributing to their community (local or global).Here are just a few ideas for you to looking into:

• NHS volunteers
• The Red Cross  (UK link)
• Food banks such as The Trussell Trust
• Patients like me: share your stories and connect with others suffering from covid-19 related issues
• Community help feature on Facebook where you can volunteer to pick up groceries, ask someone to run an errand or donate to fundraisers
• For my Imperial  College friends, ‘What the Tech’ is looking for volunteer sign ups to support older isolated residents around the White City Campus via phone/video call befriending and tech support scheme for older isolated residents. Message me for the sign-up form

6.     Stay informed - Flatten The Anxiety Curve

Spreading false information augments concern, uncertainty and unnecessary panic and anxiety throughout the community. Please be mindful of what you are reading and sending to others. Don’t believe everything you read, and check whether the information has come from a credible source before you pass it on.Anxiety can greatly decrease your immune system and put you under other psychological risks like stress. Some of my go to-places include:

• The New Scientist Newsletter: reliable scientific writing and news stories
• El Sevier’s Coronavirus Information Center: find the latest early-stage and peer-reviewed research and guideline information for free
• Coronavirus Project by FAS (Federation of American Scientists) are on a mission to debunk misinformation circulating the web on matters of public health and safety 
• John Hopkin’s Covid-19 Data Centre: track global cases and trends with interactive dashboards and graphs
• More useful links can be found in The Scientific Knowledge Centre

This list is primarily focused on UK and EU based initiatives, however I’d love to hear more about others from across the world. Please share any other resources and knowledge with the rest by leaving a comment.