The Coronavirus Brief: Why we're acting like teens

Weekend Edition: April 19-20, 2020 BY JAMIE DUCHARME Why You’re Regressing While You’re Stuck at Home A few weekends ago, I played The Sims for so long that the game actually congratulated me for my streak. It was sobering. As I came to, I realized I’d spent the better part of an afternoon hunched over a screen, shoveling cookies into my mouth. I was acting exactly like I did when I was 14, only without parental supervision to force me to go breathe fresh air and eat a vegetable. Surely, I thought and hoped, I am not the only one doing this. I began asking around and investigating on social media, and quickly learned this phenomenon is common. COVID-19 lockdowns have many people regressing to some version of their teenage selves—reverting to some combination of the music preferences, diet, sleep habits, pastimes or general demeanor of a previous decade. Lori Gottlieb, a psychotherapist based in California, says that’s actually a pretty typical reaction to stress. Acting like a kid may help you subconsciously feel like you’ve transported back to “a time when we felt safer and more protected,” Gottlieb says. “It’s the same reason people keep their stuffed animals in their closet”: for comfort. Gottlieb says some kinds of regression can be healthy. You may fall back in love with a long-neglected hobby, and rediscover “something [in your life] that is very nourishing,” Gottlieb says. Or you might get eye strain from playing computer games. One of the two. If you’ve regressed in not-so-healthy ways, Gottlieb says it’s possible to pull yourself back to present day. First, take a moment to acknowledge what’s happening, then think about how you’d deal with stress during a normal situation. (Gottlieb recommends taking a bath, going for a walk, calling a friend or reading a good book.) “We need to remember what our actual age is,” she says, “and that we should use those adult skills.” Read more here. OVER THE WEEKEND On Saturday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that daily COVID-19 related deaths in the state fell below 550 for the first time in over two weeks. That doesn’t mean New York’s problems are over, by any means; Cuomo also said hospitals are still reporting almost 2,000 new patients every day. Cuomo is one of a number of governors saying that it will be impossible to meet the Trump administration’s demands to reopen their stalled economies without federal government assistance to get the supplies needed to control the spread of the virus. Specifically, they say, more tests are essential; over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to produce a test kit quickly at least in part due to contamination at the agency’s central lab complex in Atlanta, Georgia. “We are fighting a biological war,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on CNN earlier today. “We’re fighting a biological war. We’ve been asked, by the way, as governors, to fight that war without the supplies we need.” When asked about Vice President Mike Pence’s recent statement that “we have a sufficient amount of testing to meet the requirements of Phase One reopening if state governors choose to do that,” Northum called it “delusional.” Meanwhile, in Canada, which has also seen a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the U.S.-Canada border would stay closed to non-essential travel for at least another 30 days, and likely longer. Early on, South Korea and Singapore were both widely heralded for their effective response to COVID-19. But over the weekend, news developed suggesting the two places might be on diverging trajectories. On Saturday, Singapore reported 942 new cases, a single-day high there, capping a week during which total cases in the city-state doubled. And on the other hand, South Korea on Sunday reported just eight new cases, marking the first time in two months that the daily increase was in single digits. 6 GREAT READS FROM LAST WEEK Meet the Medical Students Becoming Doctors in the Middle of a Pandemic All across the country, medical schools are allowing students to graduate early and enter the hospital force to join in the COVID-19 response. “Starting our career in the middle of a global pandemic isn’t exactly what we signed up for, but helping people navigate really scary times is what we signed up for,” Randy Casals, a med student at Columbia University, told TIME reporters Abigail Abrams and Jamie Ducharme. Read more here. The Race for a COVID-19 Treatment There is not yet any proven way to cure or treat COVID-19, but researchers are leaving no stone unturned, reports TIME senior health writer Alice Park. Some teams are recycling old drugs; others are using machine-learning techniques to analyze both existing and in-development drugs; and still others are using the human body as a drug of its own, seeking treatments in the blood of patients, for example. Read more here. These Graphs Show How COVID-19 Is Ravaging NYC’s Low-Income Neighborhoods TIME’s director of data journalism Chris Wilson analyzed New York coronavirus numbers and IRS income data, and found that the ZIP codes in the bottom 25% of average incomes represent 36% of all cases of the disease, while the wealthiest 25% account for under 10%. Read more here. What Went Wrong in the U.K.? As some European countries begin to lift lockdown measures, the U.K. is extending its isolation orders. It has no choice, writes TIME reporter Billy Perrigo from London: early blunders and misguided governmental responses have put the U.K. in a dangerous position. Read more here. The Science Behind Your Weird Coronavirus Dreams (And Nightmares) If it seems like your dreams have become more vivid, stranger, and more disconcerting, you are not alone—and there are some possible scientific explanations. As Sophie Weiner reports, there’s a burgeoning field of research looking into how various social environments (including isolation) can impact the content and tenor of our dreams. Read more here. The Escapist Art That Emerges From Dark Times Stephanie Zacharek, TIME’s film critic, writes about the work of New York City-based visual artist KangHee Kim, who posts as @tinycactus on Instagram. Due to a mix-up in the U.S.’s immigration system, Kim is able to live and work in the country, but she can’t ever leave if she wants to return. Her work grew out of wanting to cultivate optimism despite feeling trapped. The current pandemic makes her art extremely resonant today: “I feel like this whole situation is the extreme version of what I’ve been dealing with,” Kim says. Read more here. Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you were forwarded this and want to sign up to receive it daily, click here.