Article: New York Times Publication

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These simple tips will help you relax and put things in perspective — in between washing your hands, of course.

“Life is one thing after another,” Dr. Harriet Lerner, a psychologist and author, said. “And just because the universe has already sent us one big stress, it doesn’t mean we won’t be hit with others.”

Dr. Lerner has spent much of her career researching the effects of anxiety and fear on individuals, families and larger systems. She has also managed anxiety in her own life (documented in her best seller “The Dance of Fear”). That makes her the perfect person to help us tackle the rise in panic accompanying Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Last week the World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic. The virus has infected approximately 210,000 people globally, rattling financial markets, upending local economies and resulting in over 8,700 deaths worldwide, with numbers expected to climb. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 5,300 cases in the United States and, as of publication, close to 100 people have died.

It is easy to succumb to fear in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability. Yet, despite panic-inducing op-eds and a new study that estimates more than 9,000 Americans may already be infected, experts insist there is still room for a bit of optimism. In Italy, one of the primary hot spots of the pandemic, the number of recoveries continues to rise above its death toll. A new study shows that often-milder cases, while prolific, are about half as infectious as confirmed ones. And a team of researchers from McMaster University and the University of Toronto have isolated the agent within the novel coronavirus that will help the world develop better diagnostic tools and, eventually, a vaccine...

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Author: Simran Sethi