Primafila Correspondents offer a comparative view on the global efforts to combat COVID-19 with local expert writers and photographers in more than 30 countries
“Like nothing anybody has ever seen before”
A globally comparative view on the COVID-19 pandemic from the Primafila Correspondents medical writers team, with exclusive photography and videography.
For more than 30 years of content marketing, we have been proud of our global Primafila Correspondents team and their local expertise, but never more so than in this time of crisis. From all over the world, the correspondents are sending in updates about the current situation in their country and giving us a unique chance to compile an overview on how each region and each individual can contribute to combatting the coronavirus pandemic.
“Fearing catastrophic economic fallout,” reports Justus Krueger from Hong Kong, “the urban government hesitated before it finally closed the border on February 5. But the citizens were already taking action. Hong Kong’s heavy death toll from SARS, nearly 300 people, had prepped them to take the news of the novel virus from China extremely seriously.”
From Milano, Claudia Flisi’s report followed soon after: “Living in Italy for decades, I have often benefitted from the second-best healthcare system in the world (ranked by the World Health Organization). So when lockdown occurred more than three weeks ago, I and fellow residents were less likely to dismiss the situation as ‘fake news’ than people in some other countries.” She later cautions: “People have to stay at home. The most insidious thing about this virus is how easily it spreads, and avoiding contact is the only way to control it.”
A refrigerated truck outside of the Lenox Hill Hospital in the West Village, Manhattan, April 6. , 2020. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deployed 85 refrigerated trucks to New York City to serve as temporary morgues, where hospitals will place the overflow of bodies, as the coronavirus death toll climbed steadily
Public life in New York City comes to a standstill during the corona crisis. Most stores are closed, very few people walk the empty streets in Manhattan.
New York City during the Corona Crisis 2020
Martin Suter in New York City – the current epicenter of the pandemic – writes: “Notorious for its noise, New York has fallen eerily quiet. The quality of my sleep has grown, but so has my fear of having to visit one of the city’s chaotic emergency rooms.” He quotes Dr. Scott Gottlieb, an informal advisor to the President’s Coronavirus Task Force and a former physician in one of the worst hit areas in Queens, the largest of New York’s five boroughs: “This is like nothing anybody has ever seen before who’s practicing medicine, who’s alive today.”
In the search for a cure and how to treat patients, Peter Jaret, our expert in California on epidemiology and viral illnesses, has been closely following research coming out of China about transmission patterns. He – as well as imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) expert Philipp Grätzel von Grätz in Berlin – are looking into the potential of more than sixty drugs, including Remdesivir and Hydroxychloroquine, that researchers are investigating to combat the virus.
Through our associate photo agency Fotogloria, the correspondents work with some of the world’s best photo- and videographers, even if under the current conditions the teams cannot go on location together. Fotogloria with their global team ensure that important stories can be told locally and according to regional customs, even in times of crisis.
We are proud of the precautions our correspondents and photographers take in keeping themselves safe and not impeding healthcare professionals and other essential workers. “Human lives come first – we have to do what we can to protect ourselves and others,” says Reinaldo Lopes from Sao Paolo, Brazil, where cases continue to double every five days.
But it is not just the 30 medical writers who work in a completely transformed field. How, for example, do you secure the energy supply in times like these? What infrastructural challenges do you need to overcome? What logistics are needed to build a hospital within weeks? These are stories our writers are currently working on.
The list of renowned publications that these journalists have served spans the globe. Now they stand together to provide you with what you want to know about pandemic diseases and what we all can do to keep the world turning.
Find out more about what the Primafila Correspondents team reports from the frontlines of healthcare, energy and infrastructure systems. See what services the Primafila Correspondents team can offer you to make use of our local expertise on a global scale. We look forward to working with you.
With best regards – stay safe!
Viviane Egli, Managing Director
egli@primafila-cm.com
Roman Elsener, Managing Editor North America
roman.elsener@primafila-cm.com
Zurich, New York, April 2020