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If the Social Security Administration (SSA) is refusing to update your gender marker without surgery then they are not following policy.From the SSA:Accept any of the following:full-validity, 10-year U.S. passport with the new sexNOTE: Do not accept passports with less than ten years of validity.;State-issued amended BC with the new sex;court order directing legal recognition of change of sex;medical certification of appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition in the form of an original signed statement from a licensed physician (i.e., a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.)). The statement must include the following:physician’s full name;medical license or certificate number;issuing state, country, or other jurisdiction of medical license or certificate;address and telephone number of the physician;language stating that the individual has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender (male or female);language stating the physician has either treated the individual in relation to the individual’s change in gender or has reviewed and evaluated the medical history of the individual in relation to the individual’s change in gender and that the physician has a doctor/patient relationship with the individual;language stating “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the forgoing is true and correct.”NOTE: See RM 10212.200C in this section for a sample letter from a licensed physician that includes all required information to certify to the individual’s gender change.IMPORTANT: Surgery is no longer required to change the sex field on the Numident. However, if an individual presents an original or certified letter from a physician stating the individual has undergone sexual reassignment surgery, accept it as evidence to change the sex field when it meets the requirements in GN 00301.030 and contains sufficient biographical data (e.g., name, date of birth) to clearly identify the individual.[1]That policy has been in place since 2013. The SSA is particular about what kind of medical provider can issue a medical certification and personally, this caused me a bit of trouble with the SSA early in my transition. I saw a Nurse Practitioner for my primary care (NP), a Naturopath for my hormone therapy (ND) and a Psychologist (PhysD) for my transition related mental health care. I actually didn’t have an MD or DO on my provider team. My ND offered that one of the other doctors in her practice would see me to write the letter but it would cost me $200 out of pocket because I was on a grandfathered healthcare plan with trans exclusions… I chose to wait until after top surgery and get a letter from my surgeon instead.It is not the policy of the SSA to require surgery and it has not been for several years.As of 2011, the SSA has updated their policies to not inform employers of gender marker changes.[2] This isn’t a policy the SSA should be following and has not been for even longer than the requirement for surgery was removed. If the SSA has changed this policy, I can find no evidence of a change in that directive. (Which doesn’t mean they haven’t gotten new marching orders from the Trump administration, just that I can’t find anything indicating that they have.)TL:DR — Both of these things used to be policy but neither of them reflect current policy and they have not been part of SSA policy for several years.Footnotes[1] RM 10212.200 - Changing Numident Data for Reasons other than Name Change - 09/30/2013[2] Social Security Administration No Longer Notifying Employers About Gender

I thought to write this Anonymously for some reasons but then I let my heart speak!It still gives me goosebumps. It still reminds me that life is not the way how I am living. It was the worst experience I had and could have been worse for anyone else!BackgroundMy wife and I got married in 2013. It was an arranged marriage but love is all that we knew (read know). After a couple of years (and visiting 7 countries and many honeymoons) we decided to plan for a baby.Fortunately, in two months, I got the good news! We were expecting!I was more than happy. I am a family man and what else I would have asked life at that stage?But it seems God planned something else! We miscarried that child and lost it soon. Yes, it was the worst. We hear such news about our friends, cousins etc but when it happens it feels the worst.We didn’t have the courage to plan again but Yes, time heals everything. Last year, we got ready and again We were expecting! Every single night, every single test and doctor visit were so stressful. All I wanted was to remain normal.Early reports were good and then that night came!8th November 2016 -My life’s longest night!It was the same night when demonetization was announced. We were at the hospital for some checkup and injections and I was getting calls about all this news from friends and family members. During the day, there were some routine blood tests done too.I came back home and was talking to my friend about Demonetization and how it will affect us, country etc etc. And, then I found this unread Email on my laptop (it was sent to my wife’s Email which was auto-forwarded to my Email ID)I was expecting this report. It is so normal and convenient to get reports via Email. I kept talking to my friend while browsing the report. Everything looked normal until I saw this:Now, normally, if there is any problem with the report, they make it Bold. I checked this and didn’t find anything problematic. But I was expecting Negative instead of Reactive. I was still on call!I started searching on the Internet. I had no idea what is Reactive, Non-reactive, or what kind of test it is. It says HIV 1 + 2 ANTIBODY so I had no clue if this was good.So, the initial searches I found said Reactive means Positive. Later, I found that it is not good to have this as Reactive. And, then I got this WhatsApp from my wife who was sitting in another room, asking me to come as she wants to discuss the report.By the time I sensed something, and I disconnected the call and I rushed to the room where she was sitting. She was looking bit tensed as she has already done the research.Without asking her anything,I said “Yes, I have read the report. Not sure what it means. I am still searching on the Internet”She said, “It looks like I am HIV Positive”It was already 10.30 PMI kept searching the Internet and read every possible information I could have gathered. There was lots of lots of information on this. It all pointed out that Reactive means she is HIV Positive. I read the consequences, treatment and everything. I started trembling. I didn't know how this was possible. This could not be happening with me! not with us!She was pregnant and I read about that situation as well. Last time when we miscarried, we didn’t go through these tests so I had no clue and no answer for Why? and How? and What Next?I stopped searching as there was nothing left. I was so restless, nervous and that feeling I can’t describe under words.My wife was calm.I asked her to call the doctor and discuss the same. It was 11.00 PM then and that was not a very good time to call 74 years’ old doctor when we recently met her and were not that much friendly with her.She did. Doctor asked the details and her voice was clearly hinting that it was something serious.Still, she said, “Don’t worry, come tomorrow early morning. I will check everything and will suggest what to do next. And don’t worry, let's meet tomorrow.”My wife said, “Doctor, we read on the Internet and we are really very tensed. Is everything fine?”Doctor Said “I need to check but no need to worry. We will see what it is. Let’s meet tomorrow at 10 AM - first appointment”However she was trying to give the best of her advice about not thinking anything else, it didn’t work. With her tone and stress on “don’t worry”, we were sure that there were reasons to worry.We had 11 hours to pass. Longest 11 hours. And then there was a thought that it is not just 11 hours.. maybe.. lots of bad thoughts started pouring in my mind.What will I do without her?How can this happen to me?Will I lose her?How much time she has?My baby?Was it me who got her infected??I immediately asked her if she had any blood transfusion or had any injection where the needle wasn’t changed. She wasn’t able to remember anything.She was, still, just calm. We both were trying to act normal referring doctor’s statement that she will talk and take care of it. Though, inside, we both were restless.We were holding each other’s hands and were trying to talk about something else. But in my mind, again:It has to be me! But I never did anything which can have such consequences. I have been so good in life. Then why?What will happen If I lose her?Who will die first?My insurance will cover this, right?I have a family who needs support?What will happen to them?And it was all random and most negative thoughts kept coming to my mind. I didn’t check my pulse but I am sure it must be 125+.I can’t live without her!Why there is no treatment?How about that treatment which says one can live longer by changing lifestyle?But just why?The thoughts moved in another direction where I started analyzing how I lived my life. What did I actually achieve? Did I live a life worth anything? All of sudden, I started assuming that not only she but I was also infected.And, then I thought of people who have gone through this. Those people who are still fighting with it. They are fighting with the smile and not be like what I was then.But then I thought “I am not like them. I am so weak. I am actually.”For hours, my wife and I didn’t directly talk about this. We tried to calm each other. I am proud of her that she reacted so calmly to this situation.It was already 4 AM.I was feeling so much pressure on my heart. For the first time in my life, I wanted to share all the negative things which I was feeling. I opened up. We had this emotional conversation. I told I am afraid that it might have reached to you from me and I could be infected as well. I told her how afraid I was.I told her all those things which I always would sugar-coat. But this time, it was all different. My tone was different.We didn’t sleep the whole night.We reached the hospital before time. Because it was the first morning of demonetization, it was total chaos. People wanted to spend money on hospitals as there was a confusion that hospitals will accept old notes. There were big lines. People were shouting, arguing and everybody was after old notes.This is how we live! We are after those things which make no sense when the time comes. This is how I have lived!People were making jokes about the situation and I had to fake a smile. I was still restless. After a few long minutes, I was able to make the payments and get the receipt.I rushed to the doctor’s cabin. She wasn’t there. We sat on the chair and waited for her. I saw a known family and had to greet them, talk to them though I was in no mood for doing anything. There was another doctor, whom I knew, who passed in front of me but I tried to ignore him.And then the Doctor came.We went inside. And she said,“Are kya ho gaya beta. Aise kyon dull dull ho rakhe ho. Lao report dikhao” (What happened daughter? Why are you guys so dull. Show me reports. )She said, “How did you get this report?”I said, “We got these tests done at XYZ lab (one of the best in town) and they sent it via email last night.”She said, “What? You got this report via Email. The procedure says, if the person is HIV Positive, they have to re-run the test and they can’t hand this report to anyone, not even to the patient. They have to inform the doctor (her) and a counsellor who have the rights to share this news with Patient by meeting in-person and discuss various options. And they just Emailed you like this. How irresponsible. ”She continued, “I want to test it again. Please give your sample in this hospital.”I asked, “Will they give the report today itself as we are so stressed and we won’t be able to wait for 1 day.”She said, “Ok, I will see if that can be done now.” She instructed her assistant to do the needful.I asked, “But doctor, how is it possible? She has never donated any blood or there is no reason she should have this.”She said “This is not something which happened recently. Maybe during childhood, she got infected.”I too read somewhere that the symptoms start showing after 5–15 years. I asked her if I need to be tested too which she agreed and wrote about my tests in a prescription.We came out of her cabin.Her assistant gave me some forms (pink-coloured I think, I am a bit colour blind so can’t remember) and asked us to fill them. A lot of people were looking as I was filling the form for me and on wife’s behalf which says “HIV Test” in H1 heading.She asked to take these forms and deposit money for tests and come back with receipts.Again same line and this time everybody was trying to read why I am carrying this pink form. Few raised eyebrows. All of sudden I realized that if people are so reactive reading just form, how they would react to a real HIV patient.I folded it.My turn came and I gave folded forms of me and my wife to receptionist along with the prescription. She checked them, looked at me with a straight face and gave the receipt.We took the receipts and went to the assistant who asked us to wait to give our blood sample in some other lab. After a few minutes, we both had given our blood sample and we were told to wait for at least 3–4 hours.I was not in the mood to go anywhere, so we decided to wait there itself. Meanwhile, lots of queries came in our mind as we forgot to ask about the baby to the doctor so we visited her again. She said, “Let the report come first”We had another query but then she got busy. We were restless now. We waited for a few minutes inside the hospital, then outside. Again, inside the car. And, then again decided to go into the hospital. We saw the doctor leaving then. She said, “I am going home. Collect the reports and give me a call. And, don’t worry, be strong.”We decided to leave the hospital and just spend time together while driving as we used to do. For the next 2 hours, we just kept going here and there. I even joined a big line for fuel as people were getting their cars’ tank full due to demonetization where pumps were accepting old notes. Remember those big lines and pumps were having no fuel!Two hours passed, and I thought of dropping the idea of fuel and getting back to Hospital.We reached the hospital and inquired if they have our reports. They said that they don’t have it yet and it will take more time if the results are positive. We were scared to death, again.Meanwhile, my parents kept calling for which I said that we are busy in the hospital and assured everything is fine. We didn’t tell this to anyone.We were hungry. I do not remember if we had dinner last night but I know we didn’t have anything since morning. My wife asked to have something at the hospital’s cafe. I agreed. We ordered something and sat on a table which was a bit isolated from the crowd.She said “If there is anything which should not have happened, then don’t worry. Just take it easy. And if there is any chance, let’s save baby first.”Now I was trying to hold myself since night but looking at her eyes while holding her hands, and when I listened to this, I broke down. I am an emotional guy and there was no way I could have controlled.I cried. We cried.Few minutes passed. It was some 3.15 PMI went again to check if the report had come even though I knew he had told me that I will receive a text first but I wasn’t able to stop myself.He checked and the reports were there. He asked for our IDs and asked us to sign a form which said: “If our reports are positive, we will go to a counsellor or something like that.” Honestly, I didn’t care to read that. He handed two different envelopes which had no names.Do you know what is nervousness?Checking your CAT Result? AIEEE Result? America Visa Status? Interview Result? Funding Email? No. What, then?It is while checking your 2nd HIV test where you were positive first time.I opened the first envelope. Without checking the name, I just tried to check Reactive or Non-Reactive.It was NON REACTIVE. I checked the name, it was mine.I immediately opened another report, which was of my wife now.And you know what? It was NON REACTIVE too.We hugged each other! I don’t remember if we laughed, cried or what. But, next moment, we were out of the hospital.Last 15 Hours were worst. I learnt a lot. My opinion about life changed. Everything is changed now. Maybe I am more sorted now.It seems like nothing happened, or I over-reacted to a situation which wasn’t there but trust me, this is what I went through.This was my worst experience.PS: Later we called the doctor from outside the hospital who was herself so relieved hearing that. Though she told how she consulted with other senior doctors and already inquired about the treatment, and what to do with the baby. She was a real friend and not less than God to us. Lots of respect for her.Doctor and we all were so angry at the MD who signed this report and didn’t even care to follow the procedure and re-test the same. She just signed it.I went to that lab and told the scenario. I said I should have abused you, thrown chairs, broken all the furniture on your face but I won’t. I needed an explanation.I was calm, then. Very calm.The branch-head assured me to check everything and asked me to sit and appreciate that I am not losing my calm on a situation where one should. He told me it never happened in his career of 16 years. They have many branches but he never heard of such a case.I left and after a few hours I got a call from this Doctor (MD) who signed this test. The lady called herself as the branch-head asked her to deal with me, directly. She said she was sorry a million times. She knew the blunder she had done. I told her the complete story and asked her what I should do now. She said, “Please let me know if anything I can do for you. It was a machine which gave wrong figures and without checking I signed it; It is totally my fault; etc”. Indirectly she offered me money and wanted to settle anyhow.I could have sued her, got her license cancelled or even asked for a few lakh Rupees for this mental harassment as there were other cases I read where a victim was paid heavily for giving wrong HIV report as damages.All I said “Learn from this and make sure because of your insincerity, no one else suffers like this ”After all, everybody deserves second chance! I got mine!PS 2: They re-tested the sample and sent the NON Reactive report again by Email. *Ufff*PS 3: Sorry for making it too long. Please ignore if there are any typos, spelling mistakes or grammar issues.PS 4: If you are moved by this answer and need to read something light, you can read this Ashish Biyani's answer to What made you happy today? :)Update 1 (27–08–2017, 3:45 AM)Thanks, friends for your love and blessings. I am really overwhelmed and can’t thank enough for the way you understood and felt our painful experience. Thanks a lot!I don’t know if this is usual but we all have a great connection with each other. I am amazed that the emotional values we have are exactly the same. I received over 300 comments, and I will try to reply to every single person. Your words mean a lot to me.Yes! We became parents of the cutest daughter on 24th June 2017 and named her Sinaya (Siya). We always wanted a girl and she is our prayers. She is healthy and I am fortunate that she looks like me, not so calm :) Though she shares common blood group with her mother :) Perfect mix :)RegardsAshishUpdate 2 (06–10–2019, 04.30 PM)Siya is already 2+ and a big-time chatterbox (Credit definitely goes to me). She has all the stories in the world which she can tell you. And yes, she throws everything. Everything means everything. :)Disclaimer: This answer can’t be used or reproduced without my permission. Message me for the same!

I can’t compare to all states of India with Kerala and its not fair too at this stage to make any comparisons. We are in the middle of a crisis and this is not just applicable to Kerala or South India or India as whole… Rather it's applicable to the entire world.Every government in this world is trying their level best to serve their citizens in the crisis. We can’t claim, ONLY we are doing the best. Everywhere, govts are trying to do best for their people. Maybe in some areas, we might be standing slightly better, some areas we may be lacking too.So I am not into any comparison at all. But since I write about Kerala in Quora, I feel I will write what all Kerala State has done in its fight against Corona Virus. I am talking only in specific to Kerala, not in comparison with any others.And please note, this is an evolving crisis and every day something new is being added to the fight. So sticking to things as of yesterday- 28/03/2020Contact trackingFor me personally, I consider this job done by Kerala’s DHS (Directorate of Health Services) as something the best they could do for us. Learning from Nipah outbreak experience, Kerala has used its resources to track contacts and people who been associated with the index patient (first patient in a cluster) to identify a cluster and isolate from the community. This includes detailed tracking of patient’s route from the moment he/she landed in Kerala until the moment he/she been quarantined into the hospital. Most of the tracking is done thro’ inputs made by the patient which are cross verified by officials of Public Health Inspectorate and Community Medicine Department, apart from using Police’s intelligence sources like Cyber cell to track down the mobile tower locations of the patient, special branch reports, phone records, CCTV camera recordings etc. By this manner, DHS able to identify a cluster comprising of potential secondary and tertiary contacts made by the index patient who will be either home or hospital quarantined and if any symptoms are shown, their blood samples will be tested.The DHS frequently makes regular route maps of patients and publishes in public to let people know about the time and place where the patient was and ask the public to declare to DHS, if they were in at that place at the specified time, to be declared as part of a cluster.Route Map of Patient 1 of Pathanamthitta which resulted in the start of second wave since March 2020This kind of tracking helped Kerala as of now to contain the disease to cluster level, though some have jumped out of quarantine and their actions created more clusters and patients.How Kerala's flowchart model is helping effective coronavirus contact tracingKerala launches contact-tracing programme to neutralise coronavirus threat2. TestingI have written answers before. Kerala’s strategy in combating this disease is by constant testing of samples. Kerala so far is the state that has done the highest number of testing among Indian states and its testing ratio is somewhat at par with many major affected countries like Japan or similar.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why are no COVID-19 deaths reported in Kerala even though the state has the highest number of cases?States That Are Testing More Are Detecting More Cases, Data Show |If Kerala has done anything good in this sector, its solely because of regular testing and able to identify people quickly.As of yesterday (28/02/2020),Kerala tested 6,067 samples5,270 samples were negative165 are currently on treatment (Confirmed cases)1,34,370 are in isolation/surveillance (not yet confirmed)8 have recovered and still kept in observationand 1 death has been reported (the very first death in the state)This massive Pro-testing approach has helped Kerala to have nearly 10 Testing Virology labs in the state, including an NIV unit that helps faster and regular testing. As of now, Kerala has the highest number of blood sample testing facility in IndiaAs yesterday Kerala announced massive rapid testing after getting in-principle approval from ICMR. Kerala is the first state to announce so and was pressing ICMR for rapid testing permission for every single one in isolation/quarantine for last few days.3. Medical preparednessKerala was expecting to have Corona right soon after China declared its condition way back in Jan 2020. Kerala due to its very high non-resident Malayalee population living in many countries of the world was sure, they will soon get this new disease thro’ them and it was so right its judgement when the first Covid Case of India was reported in Kerala way back in Feb 2020. And it fully contained the first wave of Covid entry in Feb when it could isolate all cases and avoid spread etc.In the second wave, which happened thro’ an irresponsible family’s actions that created multiple clusters and later thro’ various foreign imports (some again were of irresponsible actions), the medical teams were so prepared to deal with emergencyDHS by March mid has already completed setting up various contingency plans, which were titled as PLAN A, PLAN B AND PLAN C. These plans were effectively communicated to entire medical and administrative officials of the states and everything has been well defined. This even includes thresh-holds for initiating each plan. Medical infra audits were carried out as part of this medical contingency plansThe Plan A which is currently ongoing has seen mobilization of resources associated with 50 Govt hospitals and 2 private hospitals on standby with total of 974 isolation beds and 22 ICUs readied for Corona carePlan B which has been initiated last day has mobilized resources for an additional 71 govt hospitals and 55 private hospitals for combating this disease which will add another 1408 beds.Plan C is the next stage (once the diseases spread comes to 3rd stage) which will mobilize 81 govt hospitals and 41 private hospitals with another addition of 3028 beds and 218 ICU bedsThese plans were drawn in March 1st week, which shows the extend of planning of Kerala Govt.The new set of plans (unofficially codenamed as PLAN D) will feature nationalization or semi-nationalization of entire Private hospitals of Kerala featuring a total bed of 69,434 beds and 5507 ICU beds. As of the latest decision, the govt decided to take over unused private hospitals and those medical colleges whose operations were suspended by MCI. 3 hospitals facilities and one Hostel complex were taken over in last 48 hours (PVS Hospital in Kochi, Anjarakady Medical College in Kannur, Shanti Jamaath Islami Hospital in Kozhikode and Sree Sankaracharya University Hostel Complex in Kochi)Collector Ernakulam (Kochi) taking over an unused hospital in Kochi city to be converted into a Covid Care Hospital facility.The Plan D features taking over hotels, hostels, lodges and other commercial units to develop into Isolation centres and Temporary Isolation centres, which shall be more than 2 Million rooms.As of now, Kerala Govt has announced opening Exclusive Covid Hospitals in every district of Kerala (14 Covid Hospitals in the level of tertiary care facility) and the first one is opened in Kochi- CMC (Cochin Medical College) which is a government Medical college and others are expected to open by this weekKerala’s first dedicated Covid Care Hospital centre in Kochi with 500 isolation beds and 70 plus ICU bedsGovt has been in talks with various community organizations and they all pledged their support for the fight. The Catholic Hospitals Association which is the second-largest Medical group after Government hospital network has decided to give all their hospitals to DHS along with their medical Staff (2660 Doctors, 10,300 Nurses, 5,500+ Paramedics and 6800 Admin staff). The Nair Service Society has assured Govt to provide its 2 hospitals and 100 plus educational institutions which they can convert into field hospitals if required. The SNDP Trust also assured Govt to provide its 1000 plus schools to be converted as field medical hospitals or treatment centres. It also assured to give its medical college to the state upon demand. So as Muslim Educational Society and Jammat e Hind Islami also assured to provide all its hospitals, madrasas, schools and colleges to the government for its better use.4. Upgrading Covid Hospital facilitiesOne key factor Kerala Govt focused on improving the facilities at all Covid care hospitals to ensure the public do not hide their medical cases to avoid visiting or isolating themselves.All Govt Covid Isolation rooms and treatment rooms are modernized and sanitized as per WHO protocols. Patients were brought to such isolation wards in dedicated Covid care ambulances and the isolation rooms were all modern and neatThe govt took extra care to ensure the food patients get at these hospitals should be as inviting as possible to shed all bias and prejudices against Govt hospitalsCovid patients gets inviting meals with options like Soups, fruits, eggs, Dosa, Appams, Rice-fish curries, chappatis, curd etc while foreign patients gets continental meals like Toasted breads, cheeses, omelettes/scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, biscuits etc. Patients do get daily milk, tea, coffee, fresh fruit juices, packed mineral water and daily newspapers (courtesy from Hindu).Dosa, eggs, oranges, fish fry: Here's the menu at COVID-19 isolation wards in KeralaThe hospital authorities have taken every wish of patients as much as possible, for example an covid affected Kid from Italy in treatment at Kochi were treated with Italian pasta, Ravoli and pizzas as the kid likes only Italian food which were ordered from an Italian restaurant nearby.5. Medical Industrial PreparednessKerala Govt has taken extra note in preparing itself for a major medical emergency. The state’s Medicine production has gone into full swing. The state-run Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceutical Corporation has been entrusted with bulk mass production of Hand sanitizers which produced more than 1 Lakh bottles of Sanitizers and increased production targets to 1 million (10 lakh) by end of this week.1 lakh bottles of hand sanitizers in a day: Kerala goes all guns blazing against Covid-19KSDP also entrusted with mass production of 8 critical generic drugs and 2 drugs for which it holds patents to ensure no shortage.The state’s Electricity board has ordered to procure 500 new medical ventilators exclusively for Covid operations (Kerala state holds 5000 ventilators in total which is approx 12% of total available ventilators in the country). The state is going to enter talks with various manufactures for portable ventilatorsIn addition, the industry department has been asked to explore the possibility to produce 1 lakh N95 masks with any tech partnership with companies using facilities available to the department. In the meantime, the state will continue the mass production of cloth and surgical masks.As of today’s (28/03/2020) cabinet decision, Kerala Govt decided to form a medical industry cluster to manufacture indigenous medical equipment supplies at the earliest using existing facilities.The Kochi Superfab Lab, India’s only such facility were given the charge to design equipment required for such a major medical emergency. The state will produce its own Respirators, Ventilators, N95 Masks, Oxygen cylinders, Bio-Medical equipment preparing itself for the worst medical emergency.ISRO’s VSSC facility in Trivandrum and Kochi’s Technology Innovation Zone along with Kerala Start Up Mission will be fully utilized to design and develop newer and practical technologies and existing factories in Palakkad’s Kanjikode Industrial Cluster will be fully converted to produce equipment required for the medical sector. For this, a meeting of industrialists will be called tomorrow and setting the plan in motionThe state has opened a new challenge to all its technocrats and tech student entrepreneurs and start up promoters to come up with ideas for effective tech solutions to deal with a major emergency.A website- http://WWW.BREAKCORONA.IN has been started by Kerala Govt to invite newer ideas that can easily be put into action for which Kerala Govt will support financially and these projects will also generate employment and opportunities in the economy.6. Technology Usage and War RoomOne main feature which Kerala’s DHS used to control Covid spread was its Control Room set up at Kerala State Disaster Management Authority complex in Trivandrum and district headquarters. This was something which I feel, gave real-time updates to DHS on the spread and ways to control and contain it.These multiple data recording and analysis units helped to track patient history, procure data from multiple sources, feed in data and help control room unit officials to analyze patterns of travels and contact detailsIn a way, it was a full-fledged health surveillance facility. Patients route maps were made, their contacts were identified and their movements were tracked from this Hitech facility. These 24 hours of data control rooms, helped to give a clearer picture and understand the extent of spread thro’ interactive maps etc.This also includes geo-surveillance, monitoring those in quarantine with geo-fencing, GPS enabled trackers, electronic anklet monitoring systems etcScreenshot of portal that highlights patients under GPS enabled Geo-fencing to track their movements as used by District Administration- PathanamthittaCoronavirus | GPS-based tracking of all those quarantined in PathanamthittaIn addition, Kerala is using multiple data collection methods to track vulnerable people and develop maps to identify potential hot spots and nearest medical facilities. The disease mapping helps to have a strong information flow for various strategic decision making to control community transmission.Kerala uses open source public utility to fight COVID-19 - Geospatial WorldKerala govt to use ration card data for digital map on COVID-19Disease mapping to stem community transmissionApart from this, the centralized health support centre- DISHA (Direct Intervention System for Health Awareness) played a crucial role in tracking and supporting patients and other suspect cases. DISHA is a centralized call centre of DHS with a toll-free number- 1056 which was started to support patients for telemedicine and tele-support like counselling etc. But during this COVID time, it was fully converted into COVID Support and call centre facility. They notified the patient records, their queries and supported back with real-time updates of their medical conditions, moving ambulance support for them and mental counselling etc to alleviate stress.Disha 1056 call center, the nerve point of Anti-Corona operationsCoronavirus: This team at Kerala helpline desk works round the clock in fight against the pandemicNow, the state is coming up with a sophisticated Hitech War Room in the State Secretariat that has senior Bureaucrats as members to control and coordinate entire Covid operations including logistics movements during lockdown etc. A new secured line has been established- 0471-2517225 for the public to call at War Room directly.War room to coordinate effortsWar room in Kerala to supervise COVID-19 containment activities8. Lockdown SupportThe Lockdown as announced by Central Govt has affected every Indians. Kerala is no exception to this grave situation.During lockdown time, the state has focused on maximizing deliveries of essential supplies at home.The state has partnered with Zomato in Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode to supply essentials from state-run Supermarket chain- Supplyco to public. 40 stores of Supplyco will start services of Zomato for home delivering of essentials including the essential kit of basic food items priced at Rs 500 (5 Kg rice, 1 litre coconut oil, 1 kg sugar, half kg of 2 kinds of pulsesSupplyco ties up with Zomato for online delivery of essential items in KochiThe state’s Consumerfed also entered into Online delivery starting from 1st of April and will extend to all districts of Kerala at the earliest. In addition, the state’s milk brand- Milma has aggressively pushed its online delivery- AM Needs more in 2 main cities which shall supply Milk, Milk products and breakfast items like bread, eggs etc. Efforts are made to extend this to other main cities too.Consumerfed’s online delivery from April 1Kerala Govt along with Police Cyberdome and a private company has launched a new Online app- ShopsApp and now asking all shops selling essential goods to mandatorily register in the ShopsApp portal. Once all the shops register, the newly formed volunteer army will be used for home delivery which will be spread across the state, not just cities alone.Shopping from local stores with home deliveryഅവശ്യ സാധനങ്ങളുടെ ലഭ്യത ഉറപ്പാക്കാൻ പൊലീസ് ആപ്The state has assured home-delivery of its essentials kits and ration supplies to the houses of poor (BPL cardholders) across the state, even in rural areas thro’ services of postal personnel as well as its own staff. Right from the day when schools where closed, personnel from Angawadi (kindergarten) and other educational departments were home delivering essentials for kids and children enrolled under each school directly.The state announced ambitious schemes to ensure HUNGER FREE Kerala. The govt clarified, not a single person in the state will starve due to the lockdownEvery family who is currently home quarantined will get Rs 1000 worth Essentials Kit of Food items from the govt for free which shall be home deliveredBPL card holders will get 35 Kg of Rice and APL cardholders will get 15 KG of Rice from Ration shops for free.Covid-19 lockdown: In a first, Kerala to home deliver food kits to the poorIn addition, a mechanism for home-delivering items from nearby shops by volunteers is plannedPolice delivering essentials to houses of elderly people who can’t go out9. Community KitchenThe govt directive is for Hunger-Free Kerala. No one will starve in KeralaFor this, the state has directed every Local Govt bodies to start Community Kitchens to cook food in bulk and provide packed food kits to people who don’t have access to cooked food. This includes homeless people, elderly people, sick people, migrant labour community and those got trapped in hostels or similar facilities overnight. All these shall be delivered to homes for a free or nominal token amount of Rs 20Meals shall be also delivered any needy just thro’ phone calls. The whole scheme has been worked out by Kudumbashree workers and packed meals costs Rs 20 only for veg and extra Rs 30 for a Chicken/Beef/Fish dishhttps://www.thenewsminute.com/article/inside-kerala-community-kitchen-during-coronavirus-lockdown-121325As of now, 748 Community Kitchens have been opened and an additional 300 will be set up soon. This service is available for lunch and dinner.So my parents who are in Kerala tried the community kitchen meal which was home delivered for Rs. 25. Rs. 30 extra if you want fish/beef/chicken. #Kerala #Alappuza @vijayanpinarayi @drthomasisaac @CMOKerala @shailajateacher pic.twitter.com/Ws2snAq5EQ— JF (@Potatodrink) March 27, 2020Kerala's Solution For Food Needs Amid Lockdown: 1,000 Community KitchensAgriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar inspecting the facilities at Kochi’s Community kitchenKerala’s 43 lakh-strong women self-help network power community kitchens during coronavirus lockdown10. State Volunteer ArmyThe state announced an ambitious idea of forming an army of 2.45 Lakh volunteers to support various volunteering activity under a single command. Ever since the lock-down, multiple organizations are into volunteering activity causing many law & order issues and unauthorized movements. Also, there is a lack of coordination in these activities.To deal with it, the state formed a new directorate- Directorate of Social Service Force under State Youth Commission. The Directorate is to raise an army of trained volunteers to support various activities classified as 18 categories.https://www.quora.com/share/Arun-Mohan-520The key part of Volunteers is to develop emergency Isolation centres as required as movers as well as technicians. Apart from that, they are heavily required for logistics operations across the state, to supply deliveries to home, to work as care-takers and home-sitters for elderly and Covid affected patients etc.The govt announced this day before yesterday and invited online registrations thro’ its new portal- https://sannadham.kerala.gov.in/ (Sannadham in Malayalam means Volunteering) and despite of a technical glitch in registration, by now 30,000 youngsters registered for volunteering. This also includes Kerala Youth Volunteer Action Force- KYVAF (Red Shirts as known locally) designed after 2019 floods to have trained volunteer guards (5000 such trained red shirts are now available). So far only Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have formed such volunteer army.News in Asianet News about huge number of applications and responses to forming Kerala Volunteer ArmyRed Shirts in public sterilization programsKerala to set up Community Volunteer Force to support better deliveryKerala govt to form volunteer army of 2 lakh youngsters for the COVID-19 fightTechies turn volunteers to assist Kerala to contain Covid-1911. Transparency Flow of InformationThe biggest positive thing which Kerala is doing (which some proactive CMs of other states also doing) is effective and transparent flow of information.One of the important lessons learnt after Oockhi crisis of 2017 which Kerala changed since then and effectively used during floods time of 2018 and 2019 and Nipah time, was holding regular press meets and effective passing of all information available and cutting the spread of fake news.The government for the last 56 days were constantly holding daily press briefing both at State Level and district level to pass all information of the day. On the day 1 of first reporting of Covid case, a press conference was held even at an unusual hour of 1:30 AM late night to pass all information to media. Ever since that, media briefing became a mandatory thing at State level which was initially at 8 PM by Health Minister and as the state entered into Stage 2 and probably gearing for Stage 3 where multiple departments need to be involved, the baton moved to CM’s daily press meetings at 6 PM sharp.The daily press meetings of Kerala CM along with Health Minister and Chief Secretary has attracted huge public response, as a clear source of information on Covid situation.Today most of these press meetings are widely watched by entire Malayalee community, where all information of the day, all policies taken by Cabinet, all the government orders and action plan for next day are discussed with mediaPerhaps, one key tool to combat fake news is Transparency. The state issues health bulletins at every 6 hours for all affected people, all collectors are required to hold press meets or press releases on daily basis, district information officers are required to open lines to quell all public queries as well as organize programs to dispel public doubts and help the public in knowing the updates etc.Transparency Has Been Kerala’s Biggest Weapon Against the Coronavirus12. Campaign programs and quick responsesKerala government has realized the importance of massive Public Campaigns and Public relations to be used to the highest level to ensure its desired objectives reach to the public. The most successful campaign done was BREAK-THE-CHAIN campaign which has been adopted by Central Govt too and listed as a National agenda laterArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to How many people participate in the campaign "break the chain" in Kerala?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What impact will this bring on the public as the introductory video of Kerala Police doing handwashing dance gone viral?Break The Chain Campaign was to have massive ground level sanitization and handwashing program to ensure the virus don’t spread quickly and break the chain of spread. This campaign helped the public to realize the importance of washing hands frequently and using sanitizers. Public washing kiosks came up and hand-sanitizers at the entrance of any facility became a regular thing. Videos of effective hand washes became common and the handwashing awareness video of Kerala Police became viralThe much viral Handwashing Video awareness dance by Kerala PoliceApart from campaigns, the government ensured, they are into heavy public relations. They are listening to every complaint, every grievance and standing with the public. For this govt machinery are focused on addressing public needs based on complaints reporting.For example, initially, the government didn’t give much thought about migrant labours and workers as the entire attention was over the local population. But when reports started coming in that migrant population have started fleeing to their homes and travelling on foot to their places when the lockdown came, the government machinery immediately set its attention to their problem. The govt started opening migrant workers camps across the state where they can stay and the entire cost of their food and other essentials were taken care of by the state Labour department and local MLAs. Kerala Govt even announced, they won’t use the term- Migrant Workers, rather will address them as GUEST WORKERS (Adithi Thozhilali) to honour their contributions to the state and will care themWhen Bihar’s Opposition leader Tejaswani Yadav highlighted the plight of some Bihari workers in Trivandrum over Twitter, the government quickly addressed to it and even reverted to him personally with an action taken reportI have visited the guest workers' labour camp today and spoke with workers and company representatives. The camp operates with all necessities including food and medicine.Kerala government is paying special attention to guest workers in this #COVID19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/uMsdq2NJQS— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 27, 2020As of now, Kerala opened 4603 Relief camps to accommodate 1 Lakh migrant workers across the state who lost their work and got stuck in the state with no place to go. More numbers are to be expected as no one actually knows an exact number of workers. Many have fled Kerala before the lockdown came in and some haven’t turned up to government facilities too. The facilities do have all the essentials to survive until an alternative mechanism to help these people reach back to their homes is decided upon. This includes free food and sanitary requirements.Kerala opens 4603 relief camps for over one lakh migrant 'guest' workersAround 35 plus camps are opened for destitute and street dwellers across the state to be accommodated during this period.This decision has prevented a massive exodus as seen in many other North Indian states.13. Welfare schemes and supportThe state has announced a huge economic package of Rs 20,000 Crore to support people during this Covid crisis.One key feature announced was providing 2 Month social security pension (March and April) together by yesterday and today to all registered people, by delivering to their homes and via their coop bank accounts.The Govt kept its word by distributing all pensions by nowMore Photos. pic.twitter.com/H5sckkiCrL— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 26, 2020How the Kerala government is shaping and implementing its Covid-19 responseKerala to disburse welfare pension for two months from next weekIn addition, the government has decided to support Tribal population by asking all tribal promoters and other officials to supply essential kits at their settlements inside the forest and educate them about the deadly virus spreadThe government announced One Month-long supplies kit per family to be supplied directly to their settlement and instructed forest guards and tribal department officials to ensure they remain insulated.Konni MLA comrade Jenish Kumar & District Collector P. B. Nooh IAS along with volunteers taking food materials to a tribal colony.It is important to work in sync during a crisis, as #Kerala has done in the past.With such common goals, we shall overcome. #KeralaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/3uJLUW3qVR— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 28, 2020Collector Pathanamthitta himself taking a load to remote forest interior as part of his personal interaction and awareness campaign among tribals of PathanamthittaThis includes conducting radio shows and public awareness videos/audios in tribal languages etc and holding tribal settlement meetings etc to ensure they listen and understand the implication of the diease.Radio shows, videos in tribal languages: How Kerala is spreading COVID-19 awarenessKerala fighting COVID-19: Awareness videos are made in various tribal languages. Local officials and health workers show these videos going to each tribal colonies.This one here is Oorali language. pic.twitter.com/VuilFvJcm5— Neethu Joseph (@neethujoseph_15) March 23, 2020How these Kerala youngsters are ensuring that the Attappadi's tribal folk are safe from COVID-19These are some measures which Kerala is doing at the moment to ensure the disease doesn’t spread much and prevent Kerala from going into a havoc situation.I am not saying, everything is perfect in Kerala. There are any shortcomings here too. But so far, Kerala is trying the best possible within its strengths, some inherent and some developed, for the betterment of community welfare.I don’t know how much of these are exclusive to Kerala. I don’t think, none of them remains and should remain exclusive to any place as we humans always try various ideas to save our fellow folks in times of mass disasters.The reason I highlighted all these, is to make a larger people aware of what we are doing to combat this virus spread and hopefully, these measures can be a guiding model for others to emulate if required, just like we too adopted many gestures from othersIn times of distress, these kind of positive stories are more of beacon of hope that humanity exists and something must be spread to all…..Let's all work together and may our humanity prevail over every disaster!!!