While testing capacity is gaining ground, the road ahead remains long. The health system has never had to manage testing at the scale needed to control this pandemic, and doing so may require extraordinary solutions, expecting that the gap between testing need and testing capacity will only be wider as states reopen.

Health experts have called for testing well beyond current levels. But increasing capacity will be a challenge at every step in the process.

Step 1

A sample, such as saliva (唾液) or sample from the nose or throat, is collected.

Challenge:

Supplies such as swabs (拭子) and vials (瓶子) are specialized and controlled. This makes the supply chain weak to demand increases. In March, testing was held up by a shortage of swabs.

Step 2

The sample is placed in a solution and delivered to lab technologist.

Challenge:

Workforce is already an issue at many labs Hiring is difficult, as only certified technologists are trained to handle the patient samples.

Step 3

Chemical liquids called reagents (试剂) extract and strengthen the virus’s genetic material.

Challenge:

Labs have faced reagent shortages, and industry groups have already noted that a rise in testing demand has the potential to use up supplies.

Step 4

Machines detect the presence of the virus in a sample.

Challenge:

Dozens of test systems have been FDA approved, but many labs lack the up-front money to invest in the technology and growing up.

Problem-solving is part of everyone’s daily life. If you’re facing a tough problem at work, you truly are better off getting a good night’s sleep before making any decisions, as findings from a study at Northwestern University suggest.

Because many tricky problems are solved by thinking of them in a fresh way, Sanders and cognitive researchers Samuel Osburn, Ken A. Paller, and Mark Beeman assumed that processing unsolved problems during sleep would help people purify their memories of the problems, and improve their chances of solving them the next day.

To test that assumption, they used a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR) with 61 study participants. In two evening laboratory sessions, the participants attempted to solve verbal, space, and other puzzles one at a time with the experimenters randomly pairing each puzzle with a musical sound. If the participants failed to solve a puzzle within 2 minutes, the corresponding sound played one more time. After failing to solve six puzzles each evening, they replayed the puzzle-sound pairings until they had them down.

After those sessions, participants took home technology that provided the sound cues while they slept.

Across the two mornings, they solved more cued puzzles than uncued puzzles. In fact, they solved 55 percent more puzzles when the corresponding sound had been played while they slept.

“While we use tricky puzzles in our study, the underlying cognitive processes could relate to solving any problem on which someone is stuck or blocked by an incorrect approach,” Sanders explains. “They advised, however, that the effect may only apply to situations in which an individual already has some background information to help solve a problem.” Beeman says.

Still, the study reveals important information about sleep, memory, and incubation (潜伏期) for problem-solving. The team plans to further study these processes, to further pin down the mechanisms and to see how it occurs in real-life problem-solving.

It can’t be easy playing the movie version of a noble real-life figure like Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN diplomat from Brazil who in career devoted to humanitarian (人道主义) efforts, died in the 2003 terrorist bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad. But in Sergio, director Greg Barker’s drama about the last years of Sergio’s life, Wagner Moura (from Netflix’s Narcos) gives it his all.

Sergio was sent to Irag in 2003 as the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General to help the country move forward after the fall of Saddam Hussein. In an early scene, we see Moura’s Sergio and his small followers rolling up to the hotel that will serve as headquarters for what’s intended to be a four-month assignment. They’re greeted by U.S. troops who have been assigned to protect them, but whose every presence speaks of menace and mistrust, Sergio leaves his vehicle and approaches one of the soldiers for what looks like a friendly conversation but we don’t hear what he’s saying.

That moment will be vital, but we don’t understand its meaning until near the end of Sergio. This is a short description of one man’s life of service to the world. The film also covers Sergio’s time in East Timor, where, seemingly against all difficulties, he assisted with the country’s independence from Indonesia. And it’s there that he meets and falls in love with Carolina Larriera (Ana de Armas), who will accompany him to Bagdad on his last, fatal mission.

Sergio’s intentions are pure, and the movie is pleasingly old-school in the way it combines political drama—and tragedy—with romance. Moura makes us see the shining role model, but it’s much harder to see the man underneath—and you can’t leave a property without first having had a heartbreak.

Before your feet hit the floor in the morning, think of something that you’re grateful for. Making this a focus for yourself and teaching your kids to do the same can have a significant impact on your emotional health during the COVID-19 Pandemic.     11     And if we begin our day with a feeling of hopeless and sadness, then we have let the negative feeling start going freely.

    12     One way to counteract (消除) that feeling is by making regular schedule and sticking with it. When you organize and structure your life you know what to expect. Make sure you have a family routine. Remember, kids are used to routine and structure in schools. Many kids grow having consistency in their lives, which consequently helps them feel in control, something kids need now more than ever.

Not only will having plan help you stay centered, it will also keep you focused on the tasks at hand. A study published in the Annual Review of Psychology on psychological habits showed people rely on their routines and habits when they are stressed.     13     Establishing healthy routines could help with physical, emotional and mental health during difficult times like these.

    14     The first item on the list should be to make your bed. According to a survey by OnePoll and Sleepopolis, which provides mattress reviews, people who make their beds regularly tend to report feeling happier and more productive.     15