COVID-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, is the topic on everyone's mind right now for obvious reasons. With most of the U.S. in damage-control mode, many individual states and cities on lockdown, and the entire world reacting to the spread of this ongoing pandemic, we're living through an event that has reached an almost-unprecedented scale and severity.

As you've probably noticed, RECOIL OFFGRID is not looking to sensationalize or exaggerate the situation — that's why you haven't seen us running round-the-clock coverage or touting this as the imminent apocalypse, as many other media outlets have. Instead, we've chosen to defer to true experts who can speak about the situation in a realistic and practical manner. This was the impetus behind our first ever OFFGRID Live panel discussion, which occurred today (3/26/20) at noon Pacific time.

Our OFFGRID Live video stream brought together three experts from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic: global risk and financial analyst Dennis Santiago, of California, retired NYPD detective and active fire chief Joey Nickischer, of New York, and cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Robert Riley, of Arizona. A fourth panelist, fire captain and medical first-responder Aaron Adams, was unable to attend as planned because he was called in to an emergency. Staff members Tom Marshall and Dave Merrill hosted the discussion and read questions from the audience to the panelists.

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For those of you who missed the 1-hour OFFGRID Live stream, you can watch it in its entirety using the embedded player at the top of this post.

After the discussion ended, Nickischer reached out to us to share the following links, which provide some useful additional information.

Cleaning tips:

• How to properly make and use sanitizers and disinfectants (shown by Nickischer on screen-share during the stream)
• More cleaning recommendations from the CDC
• How long does Coronavirus live on surfaces? by ScienceAlert

Resources for general information:

• Live map of Coronavirus COVID-19 global cases from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins
• Where to Donate Supplies and Volunteer During Coronavirus by CNET
• 6 Ways to Help Others During the Coronavirus Outbreak by MarketWatch

Nickischer also said, “I should have mentioned blood donation. Blood donations are way down as most local community blood donation events have been cancelled. We do need blood, so please encourage others to go to the local blood bank and donate.” On RedCrossBlood.org, you can find local blood banks and make a donation appointment.

Written by Patrick McCarthy