We are living in the middle of the emergency over coronavirus all over the world. The reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on societies and economies around the world cannot be understated. Because an estimated 15% of COVID-19 patients require hospitalization and 5% require intensive care (Z. Wu and McGoogan 2020), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has the potential of posing a substantial challenge to medical systems around the world (Remuzzi and Remuzzi 2020; Grasselli, Pesenti, and Cecconi 2020).
Necessity is the mother of invention. A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem. This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is an English-language proverb. It means, roughly, that the primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.
Here are some examples of sort of ingenuity we need now in the middle of pandemia. Already many people contributed those efforts. Check out on those links what is already done if you can find any useful information or can contribute to those efforts you see as good idea. Start your reserach with 7 open hardware projects working to solve COVID-19 article.
I have collected here a list of interesting open hardware project and instructions that can be useful or educational. Hopefully this list I have contributed here will be useful for someone. Keep in mind that many of those ideas are potentially dangerous if the instructions are not entirely correct, implemented exactly right and used by people that know what they are doing. You have been warned: Do not try those at home yourself! We are dealing here with things that can easily injure or kill someone if improperly implemented or used – but at right place the best ideas from those could potentially save lives.
Repairing hospital equipment
The right thing to do in his situation is that medical companies to release service manuals for ALL medical equipment so they can be repaired and maintained where they are most needed.
In the face of ventilator shortages for COVID-19 victims, iFixit is looking to make maintaining and repairing equipment as easy as possible. iFixit Launches Central Repository for Hospital Equipment Repair and Maintenance Manuals
https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
Site http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com offers links many service manuals
Robotics
COVID-19 pandemic prompts more robot usage worldwide article tells that the coronavirus has increased interest in robots, drones, and artificial intelligence, even as some testing of autonomous vehicles pauses on public roads. It is believed that these technologies can help deal with massive staffing shortages in healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chains; the need for “social distancing;” and diagnosis and treatment.
Here are some robotics related links that could be useful:
Medical robotics expert Guang-Zhong Yang calls for a global effort to develop new types of robots for fighting infectious diseases.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/coronavirus-pandemic-call-to-action-robotics-community
Elements of Robotics Open Access Textbook
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-62533-1
Ventilators
A ventilator is a machine designed to provide mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators are sometimes colloquially called “respirators”.
A ventilator, also called a respirator, is designed to provide mechanical ventilation by oxygen into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. The machines can be used to help a person breath if they have conditions making it difficult to breathe, such as lung diseases, during and post-surgery. For patients critically ill with coronavirus access to a ventilator could be a matter of life or death.
In its simplest form, a modern positive pressure ventilator consists of a compressible air reservoir or turbine, air and oxygen supplies, a set of valves and tubes, and a disposable or reusable “patient circuit”. Modern ventilators are electronically controlled by a small embedded system to allow exact adaptation of pressure and flow characteristics to an individual patient’s needs.
They work by placing a tube in a person’s mouth, nose or small cut in the throat and connect it to a ventilator machine. The air reservoir is pneumatically compressed several times a minute to deliver room-air, or in most cases, an air/oxygen mixture to the patient.
Because failure may result in death, mechanical ventilation systems are classified as a life-critical system, and precautions must be taken to ensure that they are highly reliable. Modern commercial ventilator is a relatively complex piece of equipment with lots of components and a dedicated supply chain.
Because there is a lack of ventilators on many hospitals in several countries, there has been a lot of creative work done to help this problem.
There has been projects going on to repair old and non-working ventilators to a working conditions. For repairing some older devices, there has been problem to get spare parts from the manufacturer and that those spare parts can be very expensive. Also getting the service information for repairing those equipment seems to be hard to get from manufacturer, Ifixit has started a project Help commit industrial espionage for the greater good! to get the service information on-line at https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
In middle of the emergency some people have worked on to make their own spare parts when official parts are not available, thus making more devices available. For example a startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours. An Italian hospital that ran out of life-saving equipment for coronavirus patients was saved by a ‘hero’ engineer who used cutting-edge technology to design oxygen valves within a matter of hours. At least 10 lives were saved in this way.
So great thinking for 3d printing of valves. Are they sterilized and suitable? 3D printing has been used in numerous cases for medical parts already. Most 3D printing operates at relatively high temperatures and printed objects are actually naturally sterilized when they are made. Anyway the right kind of plastic needs to be selected and the part needs to be built in exactly right way that is works reliably as designed. If they are used and the individual gets worse, does the fact that equipment not medical certified (environment, storage, shipping, etc) put the hospital in additional jeopardy for a lawsuit? All valid questions each medical liability officer will have to address. But if people are going to literally die if you do nothing, then taking a risk with a part that you 3D print seems like an idea that is worth to try.
Links:
A startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-italian-hospital-3d-printed-breathing-valves-covid-19-patients-2020-3?r=US&IR=T
https://it.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-manca-la-valvola-per-uno-strumento-di-rianimazione-e-noi-la-stampiamo-in-3d-accade-nellospedale-di-chiari-brescia/
Firm ‘refuses to give blueprint’ for coronavirus equipment that could save lives
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/firm-refuses-give-blueprint-coronavirus-equipment-save-lives-12403815/
3D printed life-saving valves: already a dozen in operation
https://www.embodi3d.com/blogs/entry/436-3d-printed-life-saving-valves-already-a-dozen-in-operation/
Volunteers produce 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments
Volunteers made the valves for about $1
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184308/coronavirus-italy-medical-3d-print-valves-treatments
Another tried trick is try to use one ventilator with more than one patient. Daily Mail writes that ventilators can be modified to help FOUR coronavirus patients breathe at the same time if the NHS is still critically short of the machines when the outbreak peaks, scientists say. Here are some links to material on using one ventilator to more than one patient:
https://emcrit.org/pulmcrit/split-ventilators/
SAVING 4 PATIENTS WITH JUST 1 VENTILATOR
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/saving-4-patients-with-just-1-ventilator/
Here has been work going on in creating an open source ventilator design project. Here are some links to this project and some other DIY ventilator designs.
There’s A Shortage Of Ventilators For Coronavirus Patients, So This International Group Invented An Open Source Alternative That’s Being Tested Next Week
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/03/18/theres-a-shortage-of-ventilators-for-coronavirus-patients-so-this-international-group-invented-an-open-source-alternative-thats-being-tested-next-week/
Open-source Oxygen Concentrator
https://reprapltd.com/open-source-oxygen-concentrator/
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/17/designing-a-low-cost-open-source-ventilator-with-arduino/
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Pandemic-Ventilator/
Macgyvilator Mk 1 (3-19-2020) – “ventilator” for disasters and/or low resource environments
Macgyvilator Mk 1 is a disaster “ventilator”, a simple apparatus to compress a bag-valve-mask with some control over tidal volume and rate. Constructed quickly and simply using wood, PVC, velcro, common fasteners, and easily sourced and assembled electronic components.
An Arduino based Open Source Ventilator to Fight against COVID-19?
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/03/21/an-arduino-based-open-source-ventilator-to-fight-against-covid-19/
Low-Cost Open Source Ventilator or PAPR
https://github.com/jcl5m1/ventilator
Low-cost Ventilators
https://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2020/03/low-cost-ventilators.html
Arduino Respirator Prototype (pen source solution from Reesistencia Team, which is undergoing testing)
https://www.facebook.com/official.arduino/videos/2557115014604392/
OxyGEN project
https://oxygen.protofy.xyz
“OxyGEN is an open hardware project to build an emergency mechanism that automates an AMBU type manual ventilator in extreme shortage situations such as the one caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in some parts of the world.”
NOTE: Take a look at the expression VILI before thinking about trying one of these. It is hard making a ventilator that doesn’t harm the lungs. It is easy to get Ventilator-associated lung injury or die if the ventilator does not work exactly correctly all the time.
Testing for infection
There are many approaches thought to be helpful to finding out if someone is infected or something is contaminated.
Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus. However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever (it can take 2-10 days before infected people get the fewer).
Open-Source Collaboration Tackles COVID-19 Testing
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/10/open-source-collaboration-tackles-covid-19-testing/
Low-cost & Open-Source Covid19 Detection kits
https://app.jogl.io/project/118?
This Open Source Device Can Detect Coronavirus on Surfaces
The Chai team has developed a detection test that works with their Open qPCR tool.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-open-source-device-can-detect-coronavirus-on-surfaces-3da1d7b1c73a
Prevent touching face
It is recommended to stop touching your face to minimize spread of coronavirus and other germs. People touch their faces frequently. They wipe their eyes, scratch their noses, bite their nails and twirl their mustaches.
Not touching your face is a simple way to protect yourself from COVID-19, but it’s not easy. If you can reduce face-touching, you can lower people’s chances of catching COVID-19. Why is it so hard to stop? Face-touching rewards us by relieving momentary discomforts like itches and muscle tension.
If you you want to change, you can try to replace it with a competing response that opposes the muscle movements needed to touch your face. When you feel the urge to touch your face, you can clench your fists, sit on your hands, press your palms onto the tops of your thighs or stretch your arms straight down at your sides. Some sources recommend object manipulation, in which you occupy your hands with something else. You can rub your fingertips, fiddle with a pen or squeeze a stress ball.
Related links:
This pair of Arduino glasses stops you from touching your face
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/10/this-pair-of-arduino-glasses-stops-you-from-touching-your-face/
Don’t Touch Your Face
Don’t touch your face — easy to say, hard to do. This device, worn like a watch, will buzz whenever your hand aims for trouble.
https://www.hackster.io/mike-rigsby/don-t-touch-your-face-e8eac3
Hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer is a liquid or gel generally used to decrease infectious agents on the hands. It depends on the case if hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer is preferred. For Covid-19 WHO recommends to wash your hands with soap and water, and dry them thoroughly. Use alcohol-based handrub if you don’t have immediate access to soap and water.
It seems that there are many places where there is shortage of hand sanitizers. This has lead to situation where people have resorted to making their own. Recipes for DIY hand sanitizer are popping all over the internet. A quick search reveals news articles, YouTube how-to’s and step-by-step visual guides. But think twice about joining them — experts are wary and even caution against the idea. The World Health Organization even has an official guide to making hand sanitizer. But it’s intended for populations that do not have clean water or other medical-grade products in place. Don’t try to make your own hand sanitizer just because there’s a shortage from coronavirus.
Can’t get your hands on hand sanitizer? Make your own
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-make-your-own/
Photos show why hand sanitizer doesn’t work as well as soap and water to remove germs
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-photos-why-you-should-wash-hands-with-soap-water-2020-3?amp
Emergency DIY hand sanitizers (read the description)
“Every time a new health incident occurs there’s a rush on hand sanitizers, often causing shops to sell out.
Here’s how to make some simple emergency sanitizers at home, noting that they are not as effective as just washing your hands, and only some viruses can be damaged by simple sanitizers. These options are offered as a last resort when commercial versions are not available.”
“For the alcohol one the higher the percentage of alcohol the better, up to around 70-80%.”
Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer At Home When It’s Sold Out Everywhere
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/03/make-your-own-hand-sanitizer-at-home-when-its-sold-out-everywhere/
Sanitizing things
With deadly coronavirus spreading worldwide at an alarming speed, personal hygiene has become paramount importance to contain the infection spread further. Mobile phones are known to house several germ, and if you thing they are contaminated, you should maybe disinfect them. The CDC recommends that everyone “clean all “high-touch” surfaces every day” to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
How to Disinfect Your Smartphone article says CDC recommends that for your smartphone you should use 70% rubbing alcohol or alcohol-based disinfectant spray to wipe down the back and sides of your device. For example Apple recently updated its official cleaning advice, so ccording to Apple, it’s now safe to clean your iPhone with disinfecting wipes if you do it correctly. You should not try to spray any liquid to your phone.
The other option is to use a smartphone sanitizer device that cleans using UV rays. Sanitizers that use ultraviolet (UV) rays to kill bacteria and viruses have been around for a while now and they can kill 99% of bacteria in as little as five minutes. However its efficacy hasn’t been tested against nasties like SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Coronavirus effect: Samsung offers UV-C sanitizing service for Galaxy devices. Samsung is using Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) disinfection technology, which uses of uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV-C) light to kill or inactivate bacteria, virus, molds and other pathogenic microorganisms on smartphones.
The UV-C light is capable of destroying nucleic acids and DNA. It will kill many things, but you don’t want that hitting your eye or skin. World Health Organization only states: “UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands, or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.”
Here are some UV C related links:
https://www.light-sources.com/blog/killing-bacteria-with-uv-light/
https://russellsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-gtl3-bulb-simple-and-inexpensive.html?m=1
Good UV versus bad UV. All available on eBay.
Protective masks
The protective mask ratings used by hospitals are typically N95, FFP2 or FFP3. FFP2 protection level is 94%. FFP3 protection level is 99%. N95 protection level is 95%. An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses. The N95 mask is mainly for use if you already have the virus to keep it from spreading and many have argued that coronavirus is smaller than the 0.3 micron filter rating of the mask and thus, not that helpful, for people outside of healthcare. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General wants consumers to stop buying masks.
Due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, there has been a huge shortage of N95 masks. Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation claims that widespread use of masks by the general population could be an effective strategy for slowing down the spread of COVID-19: “Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”.
With masks sold out during the coronavirus outbreak, many people will have to make do with what some scientists have called “the last resort”: the DIY mask. Many people have been working on designs for a DIY mask that may be able to protect those who haven’t been able to secure their own masks. It seems that cotton homemade masks may be quite effective as alternatives and there are also other ideas. For any DIY ideas, be warned that there is no guarantee that those designs are effective. So I don’t recommend to use them as alternative to proper mask when they are available. Bit of proper marks are not available, they can be better than nothing.
Keep in mind the right filter type to use: Hepa filters do have the ability to filter particles and viruses, but they wont protect you 100% of the time. The real secret is layers. The problem is, more layers, more restriction. Keep in mind that charcoal filters will make your air fresher, but have almost no effect on cleaning the air of viruses. Coronavirus virions (or ‘particles’) are spherical particles with diameters of approximately 125 nm (0.125 microns). The smallest particles are 0.06 microns, and the largest are 0.14 microns. This means coronavirus particles are smaller than PM2.5 particles, but bigger than some dust particles and gases.
General information:
Guide to Dust Mask Ratings
https://www.seton.co.uk/your-guide-to-dust-masks-ratings
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
Hengityksensuojaimet
https://www.tays.fi/fi-FI/Ohjeet/Infektioiden_torjunta/Mikrobikohtaiset_ohjeet/Hengityksensuojaimet(51207)
DIY project links:
Homemade N95 Masks In A Time Of Shortage
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/18/homemade-n95-masks-in-a-time-of-shortage/
“According to a studied performed at Cambridge University during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, while surgical masks perform the best at capturing Bacillus atrophaeus bacteria (0.93-1.25 microns) and Bacteriophage MS virus (0.023 microns), vacuum cleaner bags, tea towels, and cotton T-shirts were not too far behind. The coronavirus is 0.1-0.2 microns, well within the range for the results of the tests.”
What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/
“Data shows that DIY and homemade masks are effective at capturing viruses. But if forced to make our own mask, what material is best suited to make a mask? As the coronavirus spread around China, netizens reported making masks with tissue paper, kitchen towels, cotton clothing, and even oranges!”
Can DIY Masks Protect Us from Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/
“DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. Data shows masks work incredibly well, and they’re also really cheap. Surgical masks cost a few pennies, and they’re capable of filtering out 80% of particles down to 0.007 microns (14 times smaller than the coronavirus).”
“The homemade cotton masks captured 50% of 0.02-1 micron particles, compared with 80% for the surgical mask. Although the surgical masks captured 30% more particles, the cotton masks did surprisingly well. The researchers concluded that homemade masks would be better than nothing.”
“The Cambridge data shows that homemade masks made using cotton t-shirts can filter out some particles that are 0.02–1 microns in size. That’s pretty good, however its only one test.”
Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
This old hack doesn’t require any cutting or sewing:
http://how2dostuff.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-make-ninja-mask-out-of-t-shirt.html
Copper 3D makes the free N95 mask design to fight COVID-19 pandemic spread
https://3dprintingcenter.net/2020/03/18/copper-3d-makes-the-free-n95-mask-design-to-fight-covid-19-pandemic-spread/?fbclid=IwAR2iXJD5ybU8ReADakvCyDKsfzuRDOBEWxZ3ACCjZoz2dKNwvy07htUhon4
“Copper 3D – A Chilean manufacturer of innovative antibacterial filaments designed the own version of the popular N95 protective mask and prepared it perfectly optimized for 3D printing on desktop 3D printers of the FDM / FFF type. The project is released under an open-source license and has been simultaneously patent pending to prevent other entities from commercializing it.”
“Copper 3D team quickly got to work on developing the patent for a model similar to a standard N95 mask but with some peculiarities (Antiviral, Reusable, Modular, Washable, Recyclable, Low-Cost), which were completely designed in a digital environment so that it could be downloaded anywhere in the world and 3D printed with any FDM/FFF equipment, even a low cost one. The mask was called “NanoHack”.”
#HackThePandemic site offers the technical details of the N95 mask and download set of STL files for printing on own 3D printer
https://copper3d.com/HACKTHEPANDEMIC/
SaltMask
https://robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/pub/web/Cookbook.SaltMask.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39956
“This is NOT a straight replacement for a N95 mask. In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Prusa Protective Face Shield – RC2
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25857-prusa-protective-face-shield-rc1
“In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation
https://medium.com/@matthiassamwald/promoting-simple-do-it-yourself-masks-an-urgent-intervention-for-covid-19-mitigation-14da4100f429
“Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”
“Potentially, simply wrapping a suitable, large cloth around the face is easy to implement (Fig. 2), would arguably be more socially acceptable than surgical masks, and would be superior to a complete lack of face mask use.”
1,350 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
This USB bottle generates surface sanitiser from water and salt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5kcER2Z4-8
Initially I was sceptical about this device since it shares a common appearance to the “hydrogen water enrichers”. But in reality this odd USB spray bottle does actually make sodium hypochlorite sanitiser from plain tap water and salt using a process called electrochlorination.
And it works really well. The water stinks of chlorine afterwards and an ill advised taste test gave a strong salt and chlorine taste. When it was poured into tea/coffee stained mugs it had a profound cleaning effect when left for a while.
Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article about the technology:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrochlorination
Electrochlorination is the process of producing hypochlorite by passing electric current through salt water. This disinfects the water and makes it safe for human use, such as for drinking water or swimming pools.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iltalehti.fi/terveysuutiset/a/2d7351c4-55e4-47e3-9e19-73d2a6052af4
CEN PUBLISHES A FREE WORKSHOP AGREEMENT ON COMMUNITY FACE COVERINGS
https://www.cencenelec.eu/News/Press_Releases/Pages/PR-2020-004.aspx
Brussels, 17 June 2020 – In light of the evolving situation of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, after the urgent request from the European Commission, developed a new CEN Workshop Agreement on community face coverings, which is made available for free today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2600net/permalink/2755177504705357/
This is a pretty good explanation of the Exposure Notification system to be enabled in phones soon.
What? Me worry?!?
Quote:
“Apple and Google today made available the first public version of their exposure notification API, which was originally debuted as a joint contact-tracing software tool. The partners later renamed it the Exposure Notification system to more accurately reflect its functionality, which is designed to notify individuals of potential exposure to others who have confirmed cases of COVID-19, while preserving privacy around identifying info and location data.
The launch today means that public health agencies can now use the API in apps released to the general public. To date, Apple and Google have only released beta versions of the API to help with the development process.
To be clear, this launch means that developers working on behalf of public health agencies can now issue apps that make use of it — Apple and Google themselves are not creating an exposure-notification or contact-tracing app. The companies say that many U.S. states and 22 countries across five continents have already asked for, and been provided access to, the API to support their development efforts, and they anticipate more being added going forward. So far, Apple and Google say they have conducted more than 24 briefings and tech talks for public health officials, epidemiologists and app developers working on their behalf.”
Apple and Google launch exposure notification API, enabling public health authorities to release apps
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/20/apple-and-google-launch-exposure-notification-api-enabling-public-health-authorities-to-release-apps/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The NBA is using a smart ring in an effort to keep players and staff safe from COVID-19 when the season restarts in Orlando. The device is capable of predicting symptoms up to three days in advance with 90% accuracy.
https://cnb.cx/37RE5Uo
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-great-ventilator-rush
The projections were horrifying. Experts were forecasting upwards of 100 million people in the United States infected with the novel coronavirus, with 2 percent needing intensive care, and half of those requiring the use of medical ventilators.
In early March, it seemed as if the United States might need a million ventilators to cope with COVID-19—six times as many as hospitals had at the time. The federal government launched a crash purchasing program for 200,000 of the complex devices, but they would take months to arrive and cost tens of thousands of dollars each.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quora.com/In-UV-sterilization-lamp-disinfection-generally-how-long-does-it-take-to-disinfect
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/majordomo/permalink/10160013901454522/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ShockBIT
https://hackaday.io/project/170429-shockbit
A Cheap Disposable PPE Device for low to moderate risk areas
Tomi Engdahl says:
3DVerkstan Based Face Shield – Supercell Remix
Custom designs based on 3DVerkstan face shields.
https://hackaday.io/project/170808-3dverkstan-based-face-shield-supercell-remix
Design based on 3DVerkstan Face Shield by Erik Cederberg
https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/https://www.youmagine.com/designs/protective-visor-by-3dverkstan
Tomi Engdahl says:
Covid 19 washable origami mask
https://hackaday.io/project/170725-covid-19-washable-origami-mask
A simple mask based on origami. A plastified sheet, an active carbon filter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elevated body temperature detector (Cloud Enabled)
https://hackaday.io/project/170728-elevated-body-temperature-detector-cloud-enabled
An automated system that takes IR measurements and tries to determine the elevated Body Temperature of a person.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Real Lessons About 3D Printed Face Shields: Effective Engineering Response In Times Of Crisis
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/08/the-real-lessons-about-3d-printed-face-shields-effective-engineering-response-in-times-of-crisis/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultrasonic Sensor Helps You Enforce Social Distancing
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/09/ultrasonic-sensor-helps-you-enforce-social-distancing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Does A Dependable Open Source Ventilator Look Like?
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/09/what-does-a-dependable-open-source-ventilator-look-like/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/09/decentralized-privacy-preserving-proximity-tracing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Iceland Is Doing Its COVID-19 Proximity Tracing The Open Source Way
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/10/iceland-is-doing-its-covid-19-proximity-tracing-the-open-source-way/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disinfect PPE On The Cheap With This Hardware Store UV-C Cabinet
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/12/disinfect-ppe-on-the-cheap-with-this-hardware-store-uv-c-cabinet/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/16/google-and-apple-reveal-their-corona-tracing-plans-we-kick-the-tires/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/raspberry-pi-why-sales-have-rocketed-in-the-middle-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/19/enforce-social-distancing-with-high-voltage/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/washing-your-hands-with-20000-volts/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/16/a-pulse-oximeter-from-very-little/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/15/high-voltage-experiment-pipes-power-with-water/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/19/self-shutting-face-mask-is-hackers-delight/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/18/new-breakout-board-for-grid-eye-thermal-sensor/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/17/defense-department-funds-wearables-to-detect-covid-19/
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/27/coronavirus-testing-crispr-technology-set-to-streamline-viral-testing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Contactless Temp Control of Employees on RFID Pass-Through © GPL3+
Employee access to the enterprise using RFID tags and employee temp measurement using a contactless thermometer that sends data to the cloud
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/victor-petin/contactless-temp-control-of-employees-on-rfid-pass-through-de6d29
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.genano.com/fi/uutiset/sairaalat-ympari-maailman-desinfioivat-ilmaa-sars-cov-2-sta
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.designnews.com/medical/these-transparent-face-masks-will-put-smile-on-your-face/48811880963190?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13514&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bobbie Johnson / MIT Technology Review:
The UK government’s efforts to build a centralized contact tracing app from scratch were plagued by poor technical execution and chaotic personnel management
The UK’s contact tracing app fiasco is a master class in mismanagement
The failed rollout of Britain’s covid-19 app will damage digital contact tracing efforts worldwide—but its troubles were the result of clear, specific errors.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/19/1004190/uk-covid-contact-tracing-app-fiasco/
Big data, big ideas
Digital contact tracing—phone-to-phone notifications that can alert users of potential exposure to disease—is a new technology, and the usefulness of such apps to assist track-and-trace efforts is largely untested. But perhaps if the app could also collect information to help track the virus in other ways—looking for patterns in the way the disease spreads, identifying clusters, finding outbreaks early, or even adding demographic and other data—then its potential could be dramatically increased.
This is what motivated officials and developers within the NHS to advocate a centralized model for their app. They believed it could gather the information it had collected on contacts into a protected data store, with the potential to be de-anonymized so people could be alerted if they had come in contact with someone who presented coronavirus symptoms or had received a positive test result.
The centralized approach would allow much more data analysis than decentralized models, which give users exposure notifications but don’t allow officials nearly so much access to data. Those models—such as the one proposed by Google and Apple which is now being used by the NHS—are far less invasive to privacy. The hope is that those privacy protections increase trust in the app, leading more people to use it.
There were other factors that led the UK toward developing a centralized app: its limited testing apparatus and relatively small number of human contact tracers meant that the system might be quickly overwhelmed if it was alerted to every notification of a potential positive case—while a centralized model based on confirmed cases rather than suspected ones was more in line with capacity.
Meanwhile, officials were looking for glory (and even knighthoods), and ministers were focused on rolling out a “world-beating” app, rather than just a successful one, so that they could claim victory on the world stage. The momentum toward a centralized system became unstoppable—and the challenges of building one were largely brushed aside.
Technical trouble—and organizational chaos
Among the many technical obstacles has been the performance of Bluetooth. Nearly all contact tracing apps rely on a phone’s Bluetooth function to track who has been in proximity to whom. In theory, if it running constantly, this can be very accurate, providing reliable results without flooding the health-care system with false positives that could undermine confidence, necessitate thousands of extra tests, and force people to self-isolate needlessly. But in practice, getting accurate results is difficult, and improving their quality has required substantial extra work from app designers across the world.
These systems are being honed and improved, but the UK’s early approach also ignored another important fact: Apple and Google had an existing policy to protect users’ privacy by specifically blocking apps from constantly running Bluetooth scans and sending the data somewhere else—and they were refusing to change the policy for coronavirus apps. Instead, the tech giants were creating their own toolkit to help decentralized apps do something similar, without handing over user data to a central authority.
That left the UK trying to persuade the world’s most powerful technology companies to let it be the exception—or to build an app that specifically circumvented protections Apple and Google had designed, and presumably simply hope they didn’t close whatever backdoors the developers made use of.
Progress on the UK app actually went better than some skeptics thought it would: developers found tricks that helped it sort of work, at least on Android phones. But “sort of” isn’t good enough for a tool intended for widespread deployment during a global health crisis.
So more than a month ago, the UK government quietly commissioned a team to start developing a second app that used the decentralized model. The two competing systems were developed in tandem, at substantial cost.
This coincided with a chaotic series of reorganizations in top management of the UK’s broader track-and-trace efforts. New bosses came in, and the agencies responsible for different parts of the effort were swapped around, all of which left the broader tracing program confused and disconnected: at various points the scripts given to contact tracers didn’t even match those in the apps.
This week, the government made public what was already apparent behind the scenes: the UK would give up on its centralized app in favor of the decentralized backup.
Given its late arrival and the fact that other countries have had mixed success with their own decentralized tracing apps, it is not clear whether the new system will ever play anything more than a peripheral role in the UK response to the coronavirus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coronavirus Spurs Use of 3D Printing
In what may be an unexpected application for 3D printing, thousands of face shields were formed by Raytheon Technologies for emergency workers fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus.
https://www.mwrf.com/markets/defense/article/21133321/coronavirus-spurs-use-of-3d-printing?utm_source=RF+MWRF+Today&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200617035&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here’s how 15 roboticists have been adapting to the closures of labs, classrooms, and businesses by taking their robots home with them to continue their work.
How Roboticists (and Robots) Have Been Working from Home
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/how-roboticists-and-robots-have-been-working-from-home
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uusi tutkimus: voimakas kesäaurinko tappaa koronaviruksen 34 minuutissa
Aurinko on hyvin tehokas viruksentuhoaja.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/72da6958-7dbc-4aed-adb4-5bac57b94e85
Kun koronavirusta yskitään tai muuten levitetään niin, että se laskeutuu erilaisille pinnoille, kesäaurinko tekee siitä nopeasti selvää. Tämä selviää tutkimuksesta, joka on julkaistu Photochemistry and Photobiology -tiedelehdessä.
Tutkimuksen mukaan virus leviää tehokkaimmin joulukuusta maaliskuuhun. Silloin se voi elää erilaisilla pinnoilla jopa päivän ja tartuttaa ihmisiä.
Tutkijat selvittivät miten nopeasti auringon UV-B-säteilu tappaa viruksen eri vuodenaikoina, eri puolilla maailmaa. Voimakas kesäaurinko tuhoaa 90 prosenttia tai enemmän koronaviruksista 34 minuutissa, selviää tutkimuksesta.
Estimated Inactivation of Coronaviruses by Solar Radiation With Special Reference to COVID-19
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32502327/
Using a model developed for estimating solar inactivation of viruses of biodefense concerns, we calculated the expected inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 virus, cause of COVID-19 pandemic, by artificial UVC and by solar ultraviolet radiation in several cities of the world during different times of the year. The UV sensitivity estimated here for SARS-CoV-2 is compared with those reported for other ssRNA viruses, including influenza A virus. The results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 aerosolized from infected patients and deposited on surfaces could remain infectious outdoors for considerable time during the winter in many temperate-zone cities, with continued risk for re-aerosolization and human infection. Conversely, the presented data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 should be inactivated relatively fast (faster than influenza A) during summer in many populous cities of the world, indicating that sunlight should have a role in the occurrence, spread rate, and duration of coronavirus pandemics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
France released StopCovid three weeks ago.
French contact-tracing app StopCovid has been activated 1.8 million times but only sent 14 notifications
https://tcrn.ch/3eqXspR
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Amsterdam restaurant set up individual greenhouses to keep diners apart—take a look inside
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/05/11/amsterdam-restaurant-allows-visitors-to-dine-inside-greenhouses.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE Member Rejin Narayanan formed volunteer group Breath of Hope in response to the pandemic. Its 46 members have produced 7 new medical devices.
India’s Breath of Hope Volunteers Designed 7 Medical Devices for COVID-19 Patients
https://spectrum.ieee.org/news-from-around-ieee/the-institute/ieee-member-news/indias-breath-of-hope-volunteers-designed-7-medical-devices-for-covid19-patients
We started talking about a basic respirator apparatus, and it became our first project,” he says. “Soon our friends and their friends joined, and we started working on multiple projects.
“Our volunteers come from diverse professional backgrounds including doctors, engineers from multiple disciplines, lawyers, and social workers—all of us contributing to the fight against COVID-19.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA’s JPL open-sources an anti-face-touching wearable to help reduce the spread of COVID-19
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/25/nasas-jpl-open-sources-an-anti-face-touching-wearable-to-help-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
JPL Scientists Invent Necklace to Help Combat COVID-19, Give Away Blueprints
—> https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/jpl-scientists-invent-necklace-to-help-combat-covid-19-give-away-blueprints/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/20/schools-consider-disinfectant-lights-step-efforts-open-september/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Figured it was a good “hack” that everyone needed to know
How to decontaminate an N95 mask in just 3 minutes
https://www.fastcompany.com/90521484/how-to-decontaminate-an-n95-mask-in-just-3-minutes?partner=rss&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss
Scientists have developed a method of steaming your mask in the microwave that kills all the viruses living on it. You have all the equipment you need at home.
Months after mask manufacturers ramped up production of N95 masks in response to the coronavirus crisis, hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes taking care of COVID-19 patients are still facing shortages of the respirators. Because of the lack of supply for essential workers, consumers still can’t buy the masks in many stores, despite the fact that they’re one of the best lines of defense against the virus. And as COVID-19 cases spike in many areas, the problem will get worse.
The masks are only designed for a single use. But a new study shows that they can be safely decontaminated for reuse with simple tools. While only some hospitals have fairly expensive disinfection and sterilization equipment, the process tested in the study could be used anywhere.
The researchers tested an approach that uses steam generated in a microwave. Steam isn’t a new method for disinfection, but it typically involves using commercial steam bags—they’re also in short supply right now. The new method uses only commonly available household supplies. In the study, the researchers used a rubber band to attach mesh from a produce bag to a glass container, filled the container with water, and then placed a virus-doused N95 respirator on top of the mesh.
They also tested a few variations, including suspending the mask over a ceramic mug (this worked, but didn’t fully decontaminate the straps) and putting the mug inside a Ziploc bag to concentrate the steam (the bag melted, and the method risked burning the person trying to retrieve the mask). But the glass container—the same type of simple container used to store food—worked perfectly. After three minutes in a standard 1,110-watt microwave, the steam from the water had killed the virus. And even after repeating the process 20 times, there was no change in the fit or function of the mask.
Of course, reusing masks that were never designed for reuse is still less than ideal. There are caveats
But the tests found that the decontamination process didn’t make them degrade or make them less effective at filtering the virus. They also tested only one type of mask, meaning that there might be variations in masks from other manufacturers.
Microwave-Generated Steam Decontamination of N95 Respirators Utilizing Universally Accessible Materials
https://mbio.asm.org/content/11/3/e00997-20?rss=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Next time you enter a building, smile to the thermal camera.
Entering a Building May Soon Involve a Thermal Scan and Facial Recognition
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/entering-a-building-may-soon-involve-a-thermal-scan-and-facial-recognition
The temperature of your body is no longer considered private information. That’s the stance that businesses around the world are taking as they install thermal imaging cameras, often equipped with facial recognition technology, in their buildings in an attempt to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Airports, office buildings, fast food restaurants, government offices, hospitals, shopping centers, universities—all sorts of places are rapidly adopting the technology. It’s a movement one might call the automation of temperature checks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AutoSteri © CC BY-NC-SA
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/davidbershadsky2/autosteri-7dad4b
AutoSteri is a small and compact automatic UV sterilization system that uses a PIR to detect a human and cleans when they leave.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yuval Harari, Elif Shafak, Dambisa Moyo, Eric Schmidt & Others: How COVID Will Change Us
Insights from around the world.
https://www.noemamag.com/yuval-harari-elif-shafak-dambisa-moyo-eric-schmidt-how-covid-will-change-us/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The World’s Best Banks: The Future Of Banking Is Digital After Coronavirus
https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/06/08/the-worlds-best-banks-the-future-of-banking-is-digital-after-coronavirus/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/biomedical/diagnostics/biosensors-key-mass-coronavirus-testing
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/05/28/announcing-the-touch-less-do-more-challenge/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Touchless Door Opener
Touchless door handle mechanism that can be used in every door just replacing the standard handle. Very useful for people with disabilities
https://www.hackster.io/jaumesr/touchless-door-opener-cf0637
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet COBO, a COVID-19 Self-Assessment Chatbot
https://spectrum.ieee.org/news-from-around-ieee/the-institute/ieee-member-news/meet-cobo-a-covid19-selfassessment-chatbot