Twitter on Thursday, 12th May 2020, announced employees can work from home indefinitely. Twitter employees have been working remotely since March in the wake of global lockdown due to COVID-19.

CEO of the social media giant, Jack Dorsey emailed the employees notifying them of the change, and it comes with no loss of pay. In the email, Dorsey said the company wouldn’t likely return to its offices before September, and even after lockdown measures end, employees could continue work from home if they want. This excludes, workers and staff who are required to be physically present in office premises such as those maintaining work servers.

“The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return.”

– read a statement published on the Twitter blog.

This move was preceded with Facebook and Google allowing work from home till the end of the year, although offices are scheduled to reopen in July.

Companies world over are working out of ways to reopen office and make the spaces safe in accordance with the social distancing measures.

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Illustration of a human sperm cell. (Pxhere)

We don’t know much about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but we are learning new things about it every day. The latest bit of the jigsaw puzzle comes from a small study conducted in China, which found SARS-CoV-2 RNA (the virus’s genetic code) in the semen of young COVID-19 patients.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, involved 38 patients undergoing treatment for severe COVID-19 disease at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in Henan province. Fifteen of the patients provided a semen sample during the acute phase of their illness and 23 shortly after recovering. In four of the 15 patients with acute disease and in two of the 23 recovering patients, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found in the semen samples.

These new findings differ from the results of an earlier study involving 12 COVID-19 patients and a case report. However, the earlier investigations focused on patients with mild disease after they had recovered, whereas the current study focused on hospitalised patients with severe disease, and all samples in this latest study were taken during disease or very shortly after recovery. In fact, all of the semen samples that were found to have viral RNA in recovering patients were taken at day two and day three after recovery. So the differences between the earlier studies and the current one are probably the result of differences in disease severity and the time of sampling.

Immunoprivileged

The testes, along with the eyes, placenta, foetus and central nervous system, are considered to be “immunoprivileged sites”, which means they are protected from severe inflammation associated with an immune response. This is probably an evolutionary adaptation that protects vital structures. So these are niches where viruses may be protected from the host immune response.

Immunoprivileged sites gained attention as places where viruses can persist after disease recovery during the 2013-16 West African Ebola virus outbreak. Ebola virus remained detectable in the semen of some survivors for more than three years and Ebola virus transmission through sexual intercourse can occur months after the patient has recovered.

We don’t know what the implications of the latest findings are yet. The presence of viral RNA in the patients’ semen does not necessarily indicate the presence of infectious virus. So it will be critical to show whether infectious virus can also be isolated from the semen of SARS-CoV-2 patients and survivors.

If this is possible, the next question will be whether – as the current data suggests – SARS-CoV-2 is predominantly found in the semen of patients with severe disease or whether significant virus levels can also be detected in the semen of patients with mild disease – or, indeed, in the semen of asymptomatic people.

Even if these things are shown, it’s probably of minor concern for virus spreading during acute infection. Given the high contagiousness of SARS-CoV-2 by non-sexual routes, it is difficult to imagine how this could be substantially increased by sexual transmission. The only scenario where sexual transmission of SARS-CoV-2 might be a problem would be if the virus persisted in the testicles for extended periods, and if COVID-19 survivors could sexually transmit the virus after their recovery.

We need more studies to investigate whether this is possible. In the meantime, it would still be sensible for those recovering from COVID-19 to use a condom until further research is done to clarify how long infectious virus stays in semen.

Peter Ellis, Lecturer in Molecular Biology and Reproduction, University of Kent; Mark Wass, Reader in Computational Biology, University of Kent, and Martin Michaelis, Professor of Molecular Medicine, University of Kent

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Photo used for depiction. (Małgorzata / Pixabay)

In February 2020, as the outbreak of coronavirus was declared a pandemic, countries world over came to a halt. As the infection rates increased exponentially and the death toll continued to rise, governments urged their citizens to stay home to control the spread. Bustling cities transformed into ghost towns as people were forced to stay within their homes practising social and physical distancing. While this may help in reducing numbers and controlling the contagion, social distancing and isolation negatively impact the mental health of both people locked in and those working on front lines to save lives. And those already vulnerable are having a difficult time procuring medicines required for their mental health.

With 3,318,428 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 234,250 deaths, a half third of the world’s population is currently under a massive lockdown. It separates loved ones from their families as travel restrictions have been put in place. While this has separated the elderly from their kids and grandkids, it has also forced women to stay back with abusive partners. Cases of domestic violence have increased since the lockdown globally, and in some countries by 49%. Before the lockdown, the victims would find solace in the outside world through counsellors, family and friends, but the current fight against the pandemic has left them with no regular help.

 “Earlier, we used to get 900-1000 calls per day of domestic violence, eve-teasing, molestation and ever since the lockdown we get around 1000-1200 calls per day, mostly of domestic violence” reports India Today.

Mandatory work from home and online classes have majorly upset the routine of millions around the globe. Although people are finding new ways to stay connected, news and uncertainty regarding the situation and lack of outside contact have left people anxious and depressed. Constant news of the crisis and worries of dying family members has surged anxiety in young people. The situation is difficult to grapple with as adults, but even more so for children, as they find comfort in school and friends in times of need; with schools shut, children are having a difficult time coping with the situation.

For healthcare workers, things are not easy either at work or at home. From helplessly fighting to resuscitate their patients to wellness, to being ostracized by the community in fear of being infected, doctors and nurses are subjected to discrimination and harassment in India. There have been multiple reports of paranoid landlords evicting the doctors and police assaulting them while getting to work over the last month.

The paper The Psychological Impact of Quarantine and How to Reduce it published by Lancet studied mental health during the previous SARS epidemic; it highlights the stressors and a wide range of psychological conditions associated with quarantine. From post-traumatic stress symptoms to confusion, anger, depression, stress, insomnia and emotional exhaustion.

The publication also highlights the effects of stigmatization on healthcare workers. “Health-care workers also felt greater stigmatisation than the general public, exhibited more avoidance behaviours after quarantine, reported greater lost income and were consistently more affected psychologically: they reported substantially more anger, annoyance, fear, frustration, guilt, helplessness, isolation, loneliness, nervousness, sadness, worry, and were less happy,” read the paper.

According to this research paper, the psychological detriments and stressors are not limited to the period of quarantine but also post-quarantine. The stressors of post-quarantine include finances and stigma. It is clear from the research, fight against the COVID-19 will end one day but the detrimental impact the disease and the lockdown has on the mental health of millions around the world is long-lasting.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Coronavirus and Other Deadly Outbreaks of the Past“.

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