.. title: Covid-19 Testing, Ventilators, and Therapeutic Accelerators
.. slug: covid-19-testing-ventilators-and-therapeutic-accelerators
.. date: 2020-04-06 08:42:52 UTC-07:00
.. tags: 
.. category: 
.. link: 
.. description: 
.. type: text

I noticed today morning that CVS has come up with Rapid Testing via drive through, and it is free of cost.

https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

At the moment it is available for Georgia and Rhode Island, but I certainly see this sprouting in all other states of
US.

.. image:: https://i.imgur.com/xMkHTJw.png
   :target: https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing


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Tesla has a ventilator in making using the car parts. Even if this only a technical demo, I appreciate it, and the
language used in the demo was appropriate and careful for the purpose.

.. youtube:: zZbDg24dfN0
   :align: center

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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the therapeutics accelerator to find the vaccine for covid-19. They are
funding almost 8 companies working in parallel and joined by other `life sciences companies`_ too.

Companies participating in the collaboration include

* Bayer
* BD
* bioMérieux
* Boehringer Ingelheim
* Bristol-Myers Squibb
* Eisai
* Eli Lilly
* Gilead
* GSK
* Johnson & Johnson,
* Merck (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada)
* Merck KGaA
* Novartis
* Pfizer
* Sanofi.


.. _life sciences companies: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/03/Life-Science-Companies-Commit-to-the-Fight-Against-COVID-19-Pandemic-alongside-Gates-Foundation

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Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff took a 8 step pledge, and with few pledges being, *No significant layoff for next 90
days* and encouraging employees to keep their own hourly workers like gardeners, home cleaners employed with pay.
I really appreciate the social responsiblity shown by Marc.


.. image:: https://i.imgur.com/ZkvaDQ6.png
   :target: https://twitter.com/Benioff/status/1242608667771330560