#quarantinelife week 4 in media, marketing, internal comms: time to lift your team's spirits, and lay off the media (they are drowning in pitches)

Hoorah! Week four of #quarantinelife is coming to an end, and it hasn't been all that bad. Or has it? Much depends on your frame of mind. Hopefully you are taking care of yourself and your teams. Hopefully you are cutting everyone a little more slack. Hopefully you're realizing that kidbombing a Zoom meeting is just a part of the new normal, and that's okay. So this next installment is all about raising your spirits as we continue through what is a holy period for many. Whether you are celebrating Easter, Passover or National Pet Day (that would be Saturday 4/11), enjoy your time with the family you can't escape.

SIP happens, aka #staythefhome. Thankfully our shelter in place efforts are not going to waste. This week, CNN reported that California’s response has helped to flatten the curve. Perhaps this is why Georgia's governor finally jumped on board. But what are states like Nebraska waiting for? Larry David made a PSA telling idiots to stay home, which was picked up everywhere from the San Jose Mercury News to Rolling Stone.

Still, the number of coronavirus cases is rising, along with a corresponding rise in the consumption of alcohol and kitchen follies. As CBS Los Angeles and The Conversation both reported, drinking a popular activity in Corona Times. CB Insights reported in its April 3 newsletter that alcohol consumption in the San Francisco Bay Area was up 42% for that week. Zoom was also up 20x over December, they said. For many, drinking and Zoom are going hand in hand, marked by the rise of the Zoom Happy Hour. Apparently drinking is up in Canada as well, according to CBC. And while some may be enjoying their spirits in isolation, others are raising their spirits in the kitchen. Here’s a look at what people have been cooking, provided by CNN.

Say hi to a senior and lift their spirits, please. Kevin.md ran an important call to action from Dr. Jason Bae, M.D., the medical director at Prealize. With so much talk about how dangerous the coronavirus may be for seniors, there isn’t enough focus on what we can do to help them with equally detrimental threats caused by the pandemic: social isolation and lapses in care. Dr. Bae discusses how the collective “we” can help.

Corona overload is weighing on everyone, including the media. Meltwater retrieved over 1,000,000 articles and releases containing coronavirus for the past week. That’s a nearly a 70 percent increase over the previous week, and I didn’t think the number would go higher. Company news guardians must continue to be vigilant in making sure that what we pitch has value. Reporters are drowning in pitches. Be relevant or your pitch will fall on deaf ears.

One thing we aren't drowning in is humor and music. Bring it on! And alas, we have something to look forward to on April 18. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert are teaming up to host a comedy and music extravaganza on April 18 that will air on ALL of the major networks and then some. We know you aren’t going anywhere.

Someone else is writing the comedic script on coronavirus. 30 Rock’s coronavirus episode caught my eye on Vulture, which also has episodes from Frazier, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

This week’s tracker. We wanted to report on Facebook’s COVID-19 tracking capabilities, but honestly they aren’t as consumer facing as I would have thought and I got tired of looking at the page. So instead, here is the COVID-19 tracker from Bing. What I like about this is you also see recovered cases. Bing doesn’t get enough attention. Whenever we run a news analysis, Bing is one of four resources we turn to. Its algorithms uncover news that Google’s misses, for a more complete picture.

Virtual event tickets available now for <$100. Collision from Home starts June 23. Healthcare and IT Marketing starts May 12. Tickets are cheap for those who want to check out these events. As a reminder, you may want to check in with the lists on healthcare, IT and other live events that have been canceled or moved. This week The Information hosted a discussion on marketing and advertising in the world of COVID-19. The overwhelming insider sentiment on the staying power of virtual events: while good for now, virtual events can't possibly replace the physical events in the long view.

Though insiders believe that events won't disappear, polling says attendance will be low at JPM next year. STAT reported today that yesterday’s reader survey predicts low attendance at JP Morgan Healthcare in Jan. 2021. About 49% of respondents said they’d absolutely be skipping JPM next year, while 34% said they weren’t sure whether they’d go. Just 17% said they’d definitely be there.

What day is it anyway? On Thursday I decided to close our agency for two days. Why? The holidays. To regenerate following a near-four week sprint that has revolved in circles around the same milestone marker: COVID-19. The media is tired. We’re tired. And, also, many on our team members were beginning to wonder what day it is anyway. And with that, I bid you adieu.