10…9…8…7.. Hey wait a minute! It’s not New Year’s Eve. Yet, Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon and the entire socially-distanced and masked gang counted down to a Happy New Year on this year’s Emmy Awards Show. So it begins. We will not be having a traditional holiday season this year, thanks to COVID. Yet, it is more important than ever to celebrate with the people we love, whenever, wherever and however we can. We already have evidence-based tools to make our celebrations safer. Let’s use them!

Wear a mask AND keep your distance! It's the combination that helps control the spread of COVID-19. See the video here. If 95% of people in the US wear masks and keep their distance, we can prevent 33,000(!) deaths in the next 3 months. That's about the same number of people who have already died in New York State.

I made this video for the University of California, Berkeley in April. It's just as relevant today. Without social distancing (6 feet or 2 meters), the infection will spread--and fast!

The coronavirus that causes COVID19 is the stuff of science fiction. The virus transmits quickly, easily and when people don’t even know they’re infected. It’s no wonder no one notices what’s happening—until it’s too late. That’s part of the problem in trying to figure out how and where the coronavirus started. Increasingly, science provides evidence that the pandemic started much earlier than December 2019, it’s more widespread than the number of globally confirmed cases, and it most likely did not start in Wuhan.

Everyone is scrambling for ways to re-open the economy. One of the most popular ideas is also a simple one: If someone was infected with Covid-19—and they recovered—it should be safe for them to go back to work. Cities and countries around the world are considering giving ‘immunity passports’ to people who test positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the official name of the new coronavirus). Chile has already started to issue them. The approach is practical, but will it work.

Yup, it’s a thing. We’ve been home for days and days. It’s becoming increasingly clear that we’ll need to continue social distancing for some time to come. Many of us are sick of the people living in our households. There’s such a thing as togetherness, but come on! Many others are sick of having no one in their household. More than 1 in 4 Americans live by themselves. True, living alone is a very effective social distancing strategy. But in these times when we crave human companionship, being alone all of the time can take a mental toll.

I am an epidemiologist. I remember when I first learned about epidemiology and I thought: ‘WOW! Tell me what that is again?’ The short answer is that epidemiology is the what and how (the determinants) and the who, where and how many (the distribution) of disease. It all started with a guy named John Snow, (not the Game of Thrones guy). He was a 19th century British physician who figured out that the source of a deadly cholera outbreak in London was a local well.

You better make that the streaming series. This disaster has all the ingredients of a big budget thriller. An unstoppable virus, talking heads declaring doom, empty supermarket shelves. Settle in. This is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

You teach your parents a little epidemiology and look what happens. They make very smart decisions.

I’m supposed to be at my parent’s house in rural America right now. Instead, I’m at home. I was so worried about helping my older parents prepare for the oncoming coronavirus tsunami that I neglected to recognize what they did. Since I live and work in NYC, I am the biggest known threat to introducing coronavirus into their household.

It’s the apocalypse! Run for your lives! Ah, no it’s not. First of all, the apocalypse is the end. The coronavirus pandemic is going to end. It’s just going to take longer than we’d like. The reality is that YOU can make a difference. I’ve written about the practical actions that you can take to prevent getting coronavirus (covid-19) and to feel in control.

The new coronavirus that causes covid-19 disease is real and it is scary. People are getting infected. People are dying. You’re crazy if you’re not taking it seriously.