The world is anxiously awaiting effective treatments for Covid-19, which is ravaging most countries. Fortunately, some of the best minds in our public and private sectors are putting everything they have into developing effective vaccines, drugs, and tests that are so desperately needed. Because of the Bayh-Dole Act, which allows academic institutions and federal laboratories to effectively license their discoveries so they can make the leap from being laboratory concepts into useful products, these partnerships are proceeding at full speed. Unfortunately, some want to undo this model at the very time we need it the most.

COVID-19 has swept the world in a global pandemic of extraordinary proportions. The debate about its eventual health costs continues to rage, but one Centers for Disease Control estimate suggested anywhere between 200,000 and 1.7 million deaths could be expected in the United States alone, depending on the eventual fatality rate, and not adjusting for corrective measures currently in place (although in recent days a revised projected figure of 60,000 deaths has been reported by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation). This makes the pandemic a terrifying proposition—one that has appropriately galvanized public attention globally.

We live in a world that values youth above almost everything else, and the business world is no different. Thanks to the success of silicon valley, when most people think of the word “entrepreneur” these days they instantly imagine a young Steve Jobs working out of his garage or Mark Zuckerburg launching Facebook from his Harvard dorm room. 

I wish I’d been taught entrepreneurship when I was young for lots of reasons. 

As a farm boy in Idaho, all I knew about my potential career was that I didn’t want to be poor when I grew up. My grandpa, who was a successful doctor, suggested I become an anesthesiologist, and I latched onto his advice as if it were gospel. 

But if I had found out I was wired to be an entrepreneur early on, I would have entered my college years with a stronger sense of who I was, and had a more deliberate plan.  

It may seem like a long time ago, but back at January’s annual gathering of the World Economic Forum, there was little mention of coronavirus. At the time the outbreak was already prevalent across mainland China, and yet, as senior political and business leaders from our biggest economies debated prominent global threats such as climate change and weapons of mass destruction, the virus barely got a look in.

Weeks into the new reality of stay-at-home orders, remote work, and being constantly bombarded by news of how bad things can get, we’re all getting used to new ways of getting business done. For many of us, one detrimental result is that we’re struggling more than ever to find the focus we need to be productive. This means the practice of attention management is more important than ever, not just for our productivity, but for our peace of mind.

The coronavirus pandemic has struck at the very heart of what makes sales organizations tick. Sales leaders are asking: What should we do now to keep our field-sales organization safe and productive? And what does this mean for the future of selling?

The answers vary across industries, as captured vividly by a recent Goldman Sachs headline, “Light at the End of the Tunnel or an Oncoming Train? Depends on Where You Are Standing.” Some industries, such as transportation, hospitality, and real estate, have suffered immensely and are facing an existential crisis.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted an “emergency use authorization” of a blood test for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It is the first such test to receive approval for the U.S. market. And it comes at a time when health experts and leaders are embracing immunity as a potential end point to the pandemic. In Colorado, a company that makes a coronavirus antibody test has donated kits to the state’s San Miguel County so that everyone there can be tested if they want to. And in Italy, politicians want to use antibody status to determine which people will get “back to work” passes.

As President Barack Obama reflected on his time in office, he had a way of acknowledging his waning time in the position: a joke about his graying hair.

"Right now, we are waging war under authorities provided by Congress over 15 years ago — 15 years ago," he said in December 2016.

"I had no gray hair 15 years ago."

Indeed, despite his close-cut hairstyle, it was impossible not to notice the trademark presidential graying, as the president's short black hair became more of a salt-and-pepper color.

One of the worst symptoms of any plague is uncertainty—who it will strike, when it will end, why it began. Merely understanding a pandemic does not stop it, but an informed public can help curb its impact and slow its spread. It can also provide a certain ease of mind in a decidedly uneasy time. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 pandemic from TIME’s readers, along with the best and most current answers science can provide.

Image: Illustration by Jameson Simpson for TIME

Despite the myriad of economic assistance available through the recently passed legislative initiatives, there might still be the need for additional funding, according to Barbara Weltman, author of J.K. Lasser’s “Small Business Taxes 2020.” “A number of small businesses are turning to crowdfunding for support in order to stay afloat,” she said.

Crowdfunding — the process of raising money from a large number of people through the internet for projects, ventures, or donations — has grown in popularity in recent years.

“Over the last decade, crowdsourced online fundraising has become increasingly widespread,” said Joyce Beebe, a fellow at Rice University’s Center for Public Finance. “The proliferation of online digital platforms — including GoFundMe, Indiegogo, Kickstarter and Fundrise — connect like-minded individuals to make financial contributions toward various projects.”

With much of society shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, the big question on everyone's mind remains: When will things go back to normal?

The answer isn't straightforward and, in some cases, can be hard to swallow.

"We can open up in certain ways hopefully in the United States by early June if things go well," Bill Gates, the Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist, said in a new interview with LinkedIn's podcast "This Is Working." "But it won't be where you're doing large public gatherings or even filling up a restaurant."

Image: https://www.businessinsider.com

The coronavirus crisis, which began in China in late 2019 but emerged as a full-blown pandemic in March, has plunged us all into a global health crisis and an economic downturn. It has dramatically redefined what a normal life means. At such times, it is easy to overlook that in both Chinese and Japanese, the word “crisis” is written with two symbols signifying “danger” and “opportunity.” The truth is that every crisis, while deeply unsettling, also contains the seeds of opportunity. In this opinion piece, Yoram (Jerry) Wind, emeritus professor of marketing at Wharton, and Nitin Rakesh, CEO of Mphasis, an IT firm headquartered in Bangalore, India, discuss how to create opportunities in a time of crisis and offer 10 guidelines to help organizations and individuals do that effectively. This article has been adapted from a forthcoming book titled, Transformation in Times of Crisis, co-authored by Rakesh and Wind.

Elizabeth Ouanemalay slips on rubber gloves and wraps a black scarf with pink hearts around her face before venturing outside. She obsessively counts how many door handles she touches on the journey to pick up each of her meals: six. No one wants Covid-19, but she really doesn’t want it. She has lupus, an autoimmune disease.

The Wesleyan University freshman is fearing for more than just her physical safety, though. She is a first-generation student from a low-income family, and the virus has also upended her fledgling academic and financial security.

Image: Photographs by Bradley E. Clift for The Chronicle Elizabeth Ouanemalay, a first-generation college student at Wesleyan University, is facing the threat of the coronavirus alone on a largely deserted campus.

SEATTLE, April 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- After elevated venture capital (VC) investment in the past few years, deal activity maintained momentum in the first quarter of 2020 amid the impending economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will slow activity through the rest of the year, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, the authoritative quarterly report on venture capital activity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem jointly produced by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), with support from Silicon Valley Bank and Carta. While the novel coronavirus has sent shockwaves through many areas of the economy, its full effect on VC deal activity has yet to be seen in the data. The early stage saw strong capital investment in Q1, continuing a decade-long rise that seems primed to subside due to the fallout from COVID-19. Many of the VC market dynamics that have supported large deals sizes (i.e. more mature startups, high capital availability) persist in the market today, but recent macroeconomic realities and widespread market volatility will weigh on dealmaking, suppressing deal valuations and shifting terms in favor of investors for the first time in years.

Policymakers in Washington, D.C., fail to understand fundamental changes in the U.S. economy and the ways in which entrepreneurship and the small business landscape have changed over the past few decades. That misunderstanding is leading to poor decisions and poor policy and will lead to a failure of current stimulus measures to reach critical parts of the struggling U.S. economy.

Thousands of small businesses are probably gone for good because of the failure of the federal government to act quickly enough. More will be gone soon if we don’t change our actions now.

Millions of Americans find themselves strapped for cash with reduced work or lost jobs as the coronavirus pandemic roils the economy with no end in sight. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed in late March offers some respite with the promise of direct checks of $1,200 for individuals ($2,400 for couples) with an additional $500 for each child, and expanded unemployment insurance benefits. It also opens up a bigger cash window by waiving the 10% penalty on withdrawals of up to $100,000 from 401(k) accounts by those below 59.5 years of age. Earlier rules required those aged less than 59.5 years to pay a penalty on withdrawals.

The US is one country divided into 50 states, but it may also be a country comprised of several tribes or factions. 

That's according to award-winning author Colin Woodard, who writes in his book "American Nations," that there are 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided North America. 

"The country has been arguing about a lot of fundamental things lately including state roles and individual liberty," Woodard told Business Insider in a past interview. "(But) in order to have any productive conversation on these issues," he added, "you need to know where you come from."

Image: The 11 nations of North America Colin Woodward and Tufts/Brian Stauffer

The speed and scope of the coronavirus crisis poses extraordinary challenges for leaders in today’s vital institutions. It is easy to understand why so many have missed opportunities for decisive action and honest communication. But it is a mistake to think that failures of leadership are all we can expect in these grim times.

At some point covid-19 will be vanquished. By early April some 50 potential vaccines and nearly 100 potential treatment drugs were in development, according to the Milken Institute, and hundreds of clinical trials were already registered with the World Health Organization.

Even with all these efforts, a vaccine is expected to take at least 12 to 18 months to bring to market. A treatment may arrive sooner—one company, Regeneron, says it hopes to have an antibody drug in production by August—but making enough of it to help millions of people could take months more.

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com