Chevron Develops Innovative Methods to Protect its Customers and Support Communities in NeeD

Chevron

Chevron has mobilized local, regional and global teams to address the pandemic’s impact on the company and to proactively address potential risks. Chevron’s priority is keeping its workers, families, communities and customers safe. The company has also made a series of financial contributions to aid the response to this global crisis. Chevron is working closely with governments and healthcare experts around the world to ensure the company takes appropriate action to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Chevron is committed to striking a balance between social distancing and supplying the world with the energy that is essential to slowing the growth of the disease.

Protecting Customers

At Chevron-operated gas stations, the company has been following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines and the guidance of international and local health authorities. It has increased the frequency of cleaning at its stations, provided gloves to cashiers and encouraged employees to take advantage of its paid sick leave program to stay at home if they have cold or flu-like symptoms or a fever. All frequently touched surfaces, like countertops, door handles, dispensers, buttons on equipment and self-service food equipment are cleaned approximately every 30 minutes. The company has also recommended that Chevron and Texaco retailers who operate their own stations follow safety guidelines issued by the CDC and World Health Organization.

Chevron is committed to providing customers with quality fuels and products in a safe environment and remains well-positioned to do so.

Supporting Communities in Need

Chevron believes in the power of humanity to solve any challenge. Together with its global partners, Chevron is enacting a series of social investments and support initiatives to help communities and nonprofits address the COVID-19 public health crisis.

In the U.S. alone, the company has donated more than $5 million to local relief efforts in several states including $2 million to match 2:1 employee contributions to U.S.-based nonprofits. Outside the U.S., Chevron is working with global partners on a variety of initiatives, such as helping to fund emergency services in remote parts of Western Australia and providing medical supplies to hospitals in Thailand. To date, Chevron has committed more than $12 million around the world to COVID-19 response efforts.

Learn more about Chevron’s COVID-19 response here.

Chevron in Thailand

P&G COVID-19 Response Focuses on Protecting P&G People, Serving Consumers, Supporting Communities

P&G

Protecting P&G People:

P&G people can work confidently knowing the Company stands with and behind them.

P&G is constantly evaluating and updating the robust measures already in place to help its people who are making, packing and shipping P&G products stay safe at work, and, where possible, enabling others to work from home.

This includes access control measures like temperature scans, shift rotations, queueing avoidance and physical distancing; protective equipment including hand sanitizers and masks; and comprehensive, methodical cleaning of all production areas, including regular sanitization and surface disinfection that exceeds the most rigorous health authority standards.

P&G built sustainable and robust employee policies and a culture that can support, nurture, and endure for the long term, with robust health & wellness benefits, access to virtual medical visits without cost, pay continuity, paid leave, flexible work arrangements and more.

Serving Consumers:

P&G is maximizing the availability of products that help people and their families with their health, hygiene and cleaning needs, which have never been greater. 

P&G is running extra shifts, putting idled equipment back into service quickly, and constantly finding new ways to deliver more of the products consumers depend on.

Millions of P&G products are also being donated, helping to ensure families have basic access to the everyday essentials many of us take for granted.

P&G is using marketing and communications expertise to encourage consumers to help flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus.

And P&G is using our brands’ voices to share important safety, cleaning and hygiene messages with consumers

Supporting Communities:

P&G has a long history of supporting communities in times of need – now is no exception.

P&G product and in-kind donations so far add up to tens of millions of dollars across more than 30 brands, more than 200 different organizations, and in more than 30 countries – and will continue to increase as it works with communities around the world to support their efforts.

P&G modified equipment to produce hand sanitizer in nearly a dozen global manufacturing sites, using it to ensure its people can continue operating safely and sharing it with hospitals, health care facilities and relief organizations.

Work is underway to produce critically needed non-medical face masks in every region of the world.

And P&G leveraged P&G R&D, engineering and manufacturing capability to quickly produce face shields which are currently being used in hospitals and COVID-19 testing centers.

IBM Leads the Way to a COVID-19 Cure With Supercomputers & Trusted Data

IBM

IBM recently announced with the White House a new IBM-led effort to make an unprecedented amount of computing power—more than 400 petaflops—available to help government and academic researchers better understand COVID-19, its treatments and potential cures. The collaboration involves the U.S. Department of Energy, MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as six national labs and other technology providers, and the pooled resources will create the most powerful high -performance computing platform on the planet, all devoted to accelerating scientific discovery to fight COVID-19. According to IBM, it’s like a Manhattan Project for attacking the coronavirus, and IBM is proud to have convened this critical effort.

And there’s great potential for supercomputers to make a meaningful difference in this fight. Perhaps you’re already seen that IBM Summit, the world’s fastest supercomputer, is already helping researchers speedily find drug compounds that could hold promise in fighting the coronavirus. Out of more than 8,000 potential drug combinations that might work, Summit has helped researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee identify 77 most likely candidates, and IBM data scientists are working with the DOE to speed the search.

Putting trusted data and insights at the fingertips of citizens and health experts
Trusted data is at the heart of IBM’s newly-launched Watson Assistant for Citizens “chatbots,” which bring together advanced analytics and speech recognition capabilities to help government agencies and other organizations deal with an unprecedented flood of requests from citizens. The solution puts years of experience in AI and natural language processing technologies to work in creating virtual assistants that pool and understand trusted data from external sources — including health guidance from national agencies and local sources such as links to school closings, regional health news, insight on unemployment claims processes, and documents on government websites — to automate responses to frequently asked questions about COVID-19 that come in via a phone call or text, and to get that information into the hands of citizens in seconds or minutes, not hours. IBM has provided this IBM Cloud-based technology to health agencies and governments in Europe and the US.

Putting technology in the hands of the first responders
In mid-March, IBM unveiled a program for independent developers to work on COVID-19 issues. The “Call For Code” program has brought thousands of developers together on projects like helping first responders in California fires and with rebuilding Puerto Rico after the hurricane; more than 210,000 participants from 165 nations have taken part in Call for Code and created more than 8,000 applications focused on natural disaster preparedness and relief.

Now, IBM is steering resources to marshal the “Call for Code Global Challenge” to focus on solutions aimed at COVID-19…. aimed specifically at improving communication for medical teams and emergency services, and improving remote learning, since millions of students around the world are now in virtual classrooms. Working with IBM technical experts, it’s all going to be built on open source software and powered by Watson, with data from The Weather Company.

Helping virtual education around the globe
In Europe, 10 countries (and more than 1200 schools) are receiving support from a partnership between IBM and Cisco to implement distance learning tools and curriculum, enabled in part by the volunteer efforts of 3,000 IBMers. More than a million students are getting access to their studies, as well as a special curriculum that allows students to earn digital badges that can help them qualify for jobs. This week IBM began a similar effort across Latin America, and is working with educators in the United States as well, including in New York City, where IBM is helping 300,000 city students access their lessons.

And there’s more…

• Early on, IBM’s Watson Health unit made the IBM Clinical Development system available without charge to national health agencies to help accelerate the development of drug treatments — it’s technology used by pharma companies to reduce the time and cost of clinical trials by centralizing and organizing clinical trial details, and provides access to clinical trial data from any web-enabled device. The IBM software was first offered to Chinese health officials, and now is being provided to a wider network of national health agencies.

• IBM’s World Community Grid launched a crowdsourcing project with Scripps Research to tap the spare computing power on our personal computers to screen compounds that might be utilized to treat COVID-19. To help Scripps conduct virtual experiments that require the processing of an immense amount of data, anyone around the world with a computer or laptop can download a World Community Grid app and “donate” surplus computing power when the devices are idle. This “virtual supercomputing” effort complements the HPC Consortium that IBM helped launch in partnership with the White House, creating a platform that anyone can contribute to.

• Even simpler things are important now. IBM’s senior exec in California located and donated 15,000 medical masks to the Silicon Valley Medical Center Foundation, and IBM engineers in Argentina have recruited hundreds from across the country to design and print 3-D masks, with the goal to create 48,000 masks at a fraction of the cost of buying them.

AT&T Develops Unique Initiatives that Help Overcome COVID-19

AT&T

As AT&T responds to COVID-19, the health and safety of its employees and customers remains a top priority. The work AT&T is doing is critical to millions of people and companies around the world, and AT&T is committed to being there when its customers and colleagues need them most.

Here are just some of the ways AT&T is responding:

• AT&T is helping feed front line responders through a $5.5 million commitment to provide much needed support – in the form of nourishing meals – for first responders, medical personnel and others impacted by COVID-19. The effort kicks off with a $1.5 million contribution to World Central Kitchen.  For more on how AT&T is connecting first responders, click here.

• AT&T Expands Support for Customers Amid COVID-19 – AT&T is helping you stay connected.

• AT&T Offers Savings to Schools to Support eLearning – With the COVID-19 virus having unprecedented impacts on our society and keeping millions of students and teachers home for the foreseeable future, AT&T is stepping up to enable virtual classrooms across America.

• AT&T Connectivity Enabling Automated Robots for Health Care and Retail – AT&T is working with XENEX to connect their LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robots™ that use intense UV light to deactivate deadly pathogens and help hospitals fight infections and save lives. With Brain Corp, AT&T is helping to enable robotics for cleaning, inventory delivery, and shelf-analytics for retailers and other essential businesses.

• Business Cybersecurity Best Practices – Given the rapid move for many to work from home, organizations have either been scrambling to quickly roll out solutions to keep employees connected or relying upon their contingency plan in place. Protecting your organization and its suddenly remote workforce is essential.

To learn more about our COVID-19 support efforts for first responders, our employees and our customers, click here.

CenturyLink Connects Emergency Healthcare Facilities During COVID-19

CenturyLink

CenturyLink announced on April 1 that it is donating high-speed internet connections to temporary hospital facilities created to help ease the burden on the nation’s healthcare system. The company is immediately responding to requests for services and installing connections within 48 hours.

Connecting the Mercy Ship
CenturyLink installed and donated high-speed connectivity to the hospital ship U.S. Naval Ship Mercy  just hours after it arrived at the port of Los Angeles. The company also waived installation fees for a 1 gigabit Ethernet circuit connecting the Defense Information Systems Agency’s shored-based Naval Air Station North Island to USNS Mercy. The high-speed connection supports our nation’s military and healthcare professionals providing medical assistance to patients not associated with COVID-19 during this pandemic.

Connecting Field Hospitals and Quarantine Sites
Grappling with the sudden need for more hospital beds and overflow capacity due to COVID-19, local municipalities are transforming various facilities into temporary field hospitals. CenturyLink has committed to donate high-speed connectivity and waive fees for several field hospital operations in Seattle and Oregon.

The company is working with local and state agencies to provide speeds ranging from 200 Mbps to 1 Gigabit Ethernet connections at these locations – with an expectation that the following list will continue to grow and evolve:

• Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center in Salem, Oregon

CenturyLink is providing a 1 gigabit Ethernet connection to this temporary hospital for 250 non-coronavirus patients in recovery.

• King County, Seattle locations, Washington

CenturyLink activated high-speed fiber internet connections at eight quarantine locations in just three days throughout the city of Seattle in King County. These locations are serving coronavirus patients.

• Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Florida

CenturyLink’s quick response successfully connected the hospital to the metropolitan area’s only COVID-19 test site. In less than 24 hours, CenturyLink technicians established multiple connections, critical to relaying testing orders and results. This drive-thru test site at Northwood Center not only serves Tallahassee, but also the surrounding rural areas that make up Florida’s Big Bend.

• Hospital Posadas, Argentina

CenturyLink donated internet access up to 100 Mbps to Hospital Posadas, a medical assistance institution focused on prevention, treatment and health rehabilitation.

Additional activities include:

• United Christian Nethersole Community, Hong Kong

Our Hong Kong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team partnered with United Christian Nethersole Community, a local senior center, to provide critical protective supplies, such as surgical mask, hand sanitizers, rice, noodles and cleaning towels. Our donations will assist more than 250 seniors in need.

• Critical Supply Donations, Singapore

Our Singapore CSR team raised thousands of dollars to purchase hand sanitizer and other needed supplies for individuals in vulnerable areas. These items were donated to a local non-profit agency for distribution to those in need.

Pfizer Advances Battle Against COVID-19 on Multiple Fronts

Pfizer

USCIB member Pfizer announced on April 9 important advances in the battle against the global COVID-19 pandemic. As outlined in Pfizer’s five-point plan, the company has been collaborating across the healthcare innovation ecosystem ranging from large pharmaceutical companies to the smallest of biotech companies, from government agencies to academic institutions to address the COVID-19 global health care crisis.

Pfizer announced key advances in its commitment to protect humankind from this escalating pandemic and prepare the industry to better respond to future global health crises:

Anti-Viral Compound Screening

Applying Pfizer’s Long History in Vaccine Research Development Expertise to Finalize Agreement with BioNTech

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have entered into a global collaboration agreement to co-develop BioNTech’s potential first-in-class, mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine program aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection. In March 2020, the companies announced a letter of intent to collaborate and began working together at that time. The two companies plan to jointly conduct clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates initially in the United States and Europe across multiple research sites. BioNTech and Pfizer intend to initiate clinical trials as early as the end of April 2020, assuming regulatory clearance. The companies estimate that there is potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020 subject to technical success of the development program and approval of regulatory authorities and then rapidly scale up to capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021. For the terms of the agreement, please see the press release page of Pfizer’s website.

Analysis of Azithromycin as an Agent with Antiviral Activity

In an effort to share information that could benefit COVID-19 mitigation efforts, Pfizer researchers will publish a review in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics which assesses published in vitro and clinical data regarding azithromycin as an agent with antiviral properties. This open access review may serve to facilitate the use of azithromycin in future research on COVID-19. Azithromycin is not approved for the treatment of viral infections.

Studying Pfizer’s Existing Medicines for Critical Patient Populations in Need

Pfizer Inc. and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Respiratory Infection Clinical Research Group are launching two new studies to provide insights on the interaction between S. pneumoniae and SARS-CoV-2. Pfizer is expected to finalize in the coming days, a research collaboration agreement with Liverpool to provide funding and in-kind laboratory testing support for this research. The studies will help demonstrate whether patients infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of also developing pneumococcal pneumonia and if having both infections leads to more severe disease and poorer outcomes. Enrollment has already begun, and data are expected over the next few months.

For a comprehensive review of Pfizer’s initiatives, please click here.

Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology

Apple & Google

Google and Apple announced on April 10 a joint effort to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy and security central to the design.

Since COVID-19 can be transmitted through close proximity to affected individuals, public health organizations have identified contact tracing as a valuable tool to help contain its spread. A number of leading public health authorities, universities, and NGOs around the world have been doing important work to develop opt-in contact tracing technology. To further this cause, Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing. Given the urgent need, the plan is to implement this solution in two steps while maintaining strong protections around user privacy. 

First, in May, both companies will release APIs that enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities. These official apps will be available for users to download via their respective app stores. 

Second, in the coming months, Apple and Google will work to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms. This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities. Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort, and the companies look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders. Apple and Google will openly publish information about their work for others to analyze.

Google’s Fight Against COVID-19 Includes $800M Commitment

Google

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai recently published a blog post announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic. Google.org is also committing an additionally $50 million to the global COVID-19 response. As part of that support, Google will be matching up to $5 million in donations to the WHO’s new COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Google also made a $500,000 grant to a team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers working on HealthMap, a website that provides up-to-date trends of emerging public health threats and outbreaks. On 3/20 Google announced a $10M Distance Learning Fund to support organizations around the globe that help educators access the resources they need to provide high quality learning opportunities to children, particularly those from underserved communities. Grants from the fund to date: $1M grant to Khan Academy supporting resources to help teachers and students with remote learning, including localization in 15 languages.

Google continues to develop new resources to connect users to helpful information and resources, such as a global expansion of COVID-19 SOS Alerts and YouTube Information Panels, as well as homepage promotions around the world. Google is launching home page promotions, including a global “Do the Five” campaign to remind people to follow five simple practices to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Google also developed a website with resources dedicated to COVID-19 education and prevention. This launched in English first, with plans for global expansion.

Protecting users from misinformation and abuse

Google is removing COVID-19 misinformation across its platforms. Google’s Trust and Safety team has been working around the clock and across the globe to safeguard users from phishing, conspiracy theories, malware and misinformation, and is constantly on the lookout for new threats.  

Enabling productivity for remote workers and students

Google is seeing more people using the premium features of Meet, a Google video conferencing app, which was made available to all G Suite customers at no cost until July 1, 2020. Google shared tips and resources for remote workers of all kinds. For educators around the globe, Google created new distance learning resources, including a collection of training materials, Teach From Home Hub, a new YouTube Learning Hub, and a series of blog posts and webinars.

For a comprehensive review of all of Google’s initiatives to combat COVID-19, click here.