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This is the report from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team which, it seems, *finally* got the UK and US to realise that this is going to require a massive social-distancing and lockdown to avoid killing millions. The graph on the last page in particular is a kicker.
(tags: covid-19 health pandemics epidemics medicine social-distancing imperial-college uk)
Specifications for simple open source mechanical ventilator
from Julian Botta, Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Resident PGY-3 , Twitter: @julianbotta ‘This is a living document intended to give non-clinicians/non-respiratory therapists an idea of key ventilator features and one proposed simplified design. I encourage other healthcare professionals who are very familiar with ventilators and their use to give me feedback using the comments feature to improve these specifications.’
(tags: specifications ventilators open-source covid-19 medicine hardware)
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This is absolutely appalling behaviour. People are dying — free the blueprints!
A medical device manufacturer has threatened to sue a group of volunteers in Italy that 3D printed a valve used for life-saving coronavirus treatments. The valve typically costs about $11,000 from the medical device manufacturer, but the volunteers were able to print replicas for about $1 (via Techdirt). A hospital in Italy was in need of the valves after running out while treating patients for COVID-19. The hospital’s usual supplier said they could not make the valves in time to treat the patients, according to Metro. That launched a search for a way to 3D print a replica part, and Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Ramaioli, who work at Italian startup Isinnova, offered their company’s printer for the job, reports Business Insider. However, when the pair asked the manufacturer of the valves for blueprints they could use to print replicas, the company declined and threatened to sue for patent infringement, according to Business Insider Italia. Fracassi and Ramaioli moved ahead anyway by measuring the valves and 3D printing three different versions of them.
(tags: covid-19 ip patents italy 3d-printing hardware ip-rights law)
Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies | Facebook
A very active group of makers sharing designs and plans for open source face masks, ventilators, etc.
(tags: covid-19 open-source facebook medicine face-masks ppe hardware 3d-printing)
Global MediXchange for Combating COVID-19 – Alibaba Cloud
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation, together with the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, jointly established the Global MediXchange for Combating COVID-19 (GMCC) programme, with the support of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and Alibaba Health, to help combat the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. This platform was established to facilitate continued communication and collaboration across borders, as well as to provide the necessary computing capabilities and data intelligence to empower pivotal research efforts. The platform can provide frontline medical teams with the necessary communication channels to share practical experience and information about fighting the pandemic.
They’ve put together a handbook of COVID-19 preventation and treatment, based on the Chinese experience.(tags: treatment medical covid-19 china jack-ma alibaba medicine health)
Neil Jackman’s favourite places in Ireland, county by county
Fantastic list of ancient sites, from the archaeologist, podcaster and author:
It’s my first #StPatricksDay as an Irish citizen. There may be fewer parades & pints, but seeing the solidarity kindness & meitheal has made me love this country even more. I’ve been lucky to see a lot of this island over the last 21 years. Here’s some favourite places by county
(tags: ireland archaeology history paleolithic neolithic neil-jackman)
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Another privacy-preserving COVID-19 contact-tracing app, this one from MIT:
The news: An app that tracks where you have been and who you have crossed paths with—and then shares this personal data with other users in a privacy-preserving way—could help curb the spread of Covid-19, says Ramesh Raskar at the MIT Media Lab, who leads the team behind it. Called Private Kit: Safe Paths, the free and open-source app was developed by people at MIT and Harvard, as well as software engineers at companies such as Facebook and Uber, who worked on it in their free time.
(tags: mit contact-tracing privacy apps smartphones android ios covid-19 epidemics pandemics)