A weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the clone of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast so you can get it wherever you can get your podcast you can also find us at dot com slash science. For many of us when the lockdown began there was nowhere to go but online. The pandemic drastically affected the way we work and how we interact with others. Changes that would have taken years to have been implemented in just days. But will we ever change back. What does the crisis tell us about the future of work. Welcome to this 19 special whats in berlin its good to have you with us so the coronavirus pandemic has had a massive impact on the world of work and seen millions of people lose their jobs as industries were obliterates as a business is closed. But for many of those lucky enough to remain employed its revolutionized the way they operate. The way to work is one of the few things that hasnt changed but for tomas last this morning is just like starting over its really the 1st time in 3 months ive been in the office ive worked from home the whole time. In the past the Management Consultant was always on the go in the office or visiting clients since the virus though many workplaces that answered and young have become restricted areas business trips have gone online but will things stay that way thats what hes investigating on behalf of the German Environment Ministry he is giving a report today to one of the coronavirus measures and countermeasures have forced changes to behavior and routine that many people find positive thats why things will stay that way permanently. In the long term according to his study the number of business trips will probably decrease by 30 percent compared to the time before the pandemic and traffic in general by at least 8 percent. When the lockdown began in march germany experienced a forced digitalization that would otherwise have taken years data traffic jumped by 10 percent that month more than a year working digitally from home was a huge effort for many or 30 some companies but suddenly became the norm. But it wasnt all good news for especially assurances Environment Ministry which also says digitalisation threatens the climate. The surge weve seen in data traffic is just a sign of more to come im not one of those who says streaming will replace flying on the contrary still we have to make progress in all these areas if we really want to meet our climate goals. Powering the internet is already producing 800000000. 00 tonnes of c o 2 emissions worldwide each year thats about as much as all of germany or Worldwide Air traffic before the crisis but the overall environmental balance of the coronavirus period has been positive and that can teach us something about upcoming crises says sociologist how. This got what it all shows us is that change is possible much faster than we have in normal politics where there are always opposing sides whenever you might think nothing works. Well then you can say you can get things done if there is a lot of political will. Only in one area have things taken an environmental step backwards in germany while public transport remains as empty in many places as it was at the beginning of the crisis roads have filled up with private cars for fear of infection people are driving more often as much as before the crisis. Lets speak to philip fry whos boss of the Digital Technologies and social change Research Group at the institute for Technology Assessment and systems analysis and calls right here in germany thanks for joining us so all the changes weve seen in working join the coronavirus pandemic a good approach for the long. Well yes were going to get too excited about the current changes as they call it the terrible cost but generous you know well say for instance the reduction of commuting hours or under additional business trips is certainly something that is welcome news to me but i would suggest that the Current Crisis also churches us more to ask ourselves what fundamentally whether we want to return to the old normal or whether we want to build a better towards a more socially and people out of sustainable economy you talked about shorter work times youve done research into this and you came up with a figure of around 20 hours as potentially an ideal working week that would be a huge reduction for many full time workers around the world whats the thinking behind that how do you make that work well generally theres a number of policy options at hand i mean you can room regulation on a government level the National Level but also theres of course kind of arguing its rules that can be used to. Decrease working hours collective agreements basically and how do you reduce working hours without limiting productivity. Well that depends what you mean by productivity it if you mean of or economic output then i would say that might indeed debatable but thats a sensible orientation in the future given that we already at least in the global not consume way too many resources. But im straight generally theres also strong economic argument made for working under dutch actually oftentimes people think that working climate options are something like. 2 workers in the most productive economy so that people in the u. S. Or journey so productive they can work a little less but theres a lot and there is a strong correlation between higher productivity and shorter working times internationally but what i actually find quite interesting is that researches suggest that collected working time and such as force employers to use a lot of labor time but theyre officially ebo your organizing work and introducing d you to acknowledge their far theres actually a stronger evidence that work and some of that shes used productivity growth but is there a danger that actually the coronavirus pandemic through increasing the amount of working from home actually means people are working longer i mean weve heard from union saying thats exactly what is happening when people are working from home. Yeah theres definitely a risk i mean but one thing that the human psyche to emphasize is that we can a barrier between the private and professional minds which clearly a place over all but i would say theres also in what general threat because governments but what are facing an immense pressure from employers to see asians to be only existing labor regulations and i think also individual workers faced with the looming Unemployment Crisis actually want to show that theyre dependable workers and they want to save some money so they work longer hours i dont think we should consider strongly whether we actually want to have an economy where millions unemployed and many more millions are working over hours and actually are on the brink of collapse or an out that is that has caught. Or whether you want to just this year of the work more or equally throughout society philip fry from the institute for Technology Assessment and systems analysis and cause for thanks for joining us thanks for having me. When i was the boss of the program where you get to ask the questions to ask science correspondent Derek Williams. What percentage of the population has been infected in the United States the number of confirmed cases of coke at 19 in the u. S. At the moment stands at over 2 and a half 1000000 and the daily count is trending upwards around to around 40000 new cases joined them every day then last week the director of the Country Centers for Disease Control hazarded a guess at a statistic that lots of experts have been trying to pin down ever since this pandemic began the number of people who get the disease that are never listed as confirmed cases Health Care Officials in the u. S. Now believe that only around one in 10 people in the u. S. Who contract covert 19 are ever actually counted now i think that we can view that as a pretty rough estimate but even if it is just in the ballpark it would mean around 20000000 americans have or have already had the disease. Is it true that people in the old positive blood group are resistant to covert dying teen its grown pretty clear that blood type plays a role in whether or not you might contract coded 19 several independent studies have links the blood group oh both positive and negative with resistance to acquiring the virus and also to less severe outcomes one of the studies says people with type o. Are only 65 percent as likely to be infected as others its not yet clear exactly why but since the genes that determine blood type affect surface structures on cells that could be playing. A preventive role and less severe outcomes in people from the blood group of who might also be tied to the risk of developing blood clots which is different from blood type to blood type. Can you get covert 19 and the flu at the same time. Yes people have tested positive for both at the same time although from the limited information we have it doesnt appear to happen very often when it does doctors refer to the 2 diseases as as Co Infections we also dont have much information on what that kind of double whammy might mean for the patient but but it seems clear that having both respiratory diseases at the same time would be a pretty unpromising state of affairs and when we know more it might turn out to be more common that we think when doctors Start Testing for both diseases at once on a wide scale we might discover that thats just one more reason why its important for as many people as possible to get a flu shot before the onset of flu season this fall. Science correspondent Derek Williams now for Business People dealing with the clientele of a scene sometimes a Video Conference simply wont do but for those who simply must fly they can at least get tested for corona virus during that trip. Germanys 1st effort based test center has just opened in frankfurt be a tech Company Center gene is running it in cooperation with a lot of fans and the effort itself tests are voluntary and have to be paid for by the traveler themselves the people behind it have caught it a blueprint for the new normal of traffic. And thats all from a young face covered 900. 00 special if you want more visit the coronavirus section of the data for your website thanks for joining us. You know gloomiest world. Where everything is connected. All it takes. To set things in motion. Local hero show how their ideas can change the world. Global 3000. Next on d. W. Better isnt bad for our health. 5 gene telecoms technology. But how does it differ from. 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