<p>Donald Trump's new campaign manager is looking on the bright&#xa0;side of the candidate's abysmal poll numbers.</p><p>Kellyanne Conway <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-campaign-responds-low-polls-227146">told CNN's "New Day"</a> on Thursday that being behind in the polls "lights a fire" under the Republican presidential nominee's campaign.</p><p>"I think it helps us to be a little bit behind, and we are," she said. "It lights a fire under us and it reminds us what we need to do to get this done."</p><p>Conway insisted that Trump still has good chances of winning in November.</p><p>"We like our odds in this sense, we're the ones going out and giving these policy speeches, we're the ones talking to the press and not ignoring them," Conway said. "We're the ones who have the issues set in our favor, because at the end of the day, this is 2000, this is 2008, all over again. This is a change election."</p><p><div></div></p><p>Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has been beating Trump in national polls fairly consistently throughout this election cycle. Some key battleground states seem to be leaning toward Clinton, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/electoral-college-hillary-clinton-trump-uva-2016-8">electoral college maps</a> put her far ahead of Trump in electoral votes.</p><p>Trump saw a brief bump after the Republican National Convention last month, but his poll numbers dipped again after the Democrats had their convention the following week.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/penn-jillette-reveals-what-it-was-like-to-work-with-donald-trump-2016-8">Penn Jillette reveals what it was like to work with Donald Trump on 'Celebrity Apprentice'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="lkY2o1NTE6xShPmvnGaN8SPs8l1aIVEf" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Trump's new campaign manager says bad poll numbers 'help' them

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Startups have raised billions on the promise of disrupting <keyword id="11897506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare" source="Orion">healthcare</keyword>.</li><li>To win over <keyword id="11910420" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="investors" source="Orion">investors</keyword>, startups often present their businesses through a slide deck.</li><li>Here are the presentations obtained by Insider that healthcare startups have used to raise millions.</li></ul><p>In the past few years, investors have bet billions on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-most-promising-startups-healthtech-2023-6?r=dispensed-deck-lp">healthcare startups</a> looking to disrupt the industry. </p><p>In 2022, that activity cooled off <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-startups-1-billion-valuation-unicorns-2022-6">as the market stumbled</a> and companies postponed their public debuts. The slowdown has persisted into 2023, with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-healthcare-startups-getting-big-checks-others-scrambling-h1-funding-2023-7?r=dispensed-deck-lp">funding set to fall to the lowest level since 2019, according to Rock Health</a>.</p><p>Winning over investors can be a long process, and it often involves a slide deck that lays out what the startup does, and where the company is heading. </p><p>Insider rounded up all the presentations we've published that healthcare startups have used to raise cash from investors. </p><h2>Early on, startups sell investors on often newly tested ideas</h2><p>When startup founders pitch investors ahead of a seed or Series A round, they haven't gotten far off the ground. </p><p>Presentations can be helpful at laying out the how they plan to take on a particular business.</p><p>For instance, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/14-slide-pitch-deck-kinspire-occupational-therapy-36-million-seed-2023-1?r=dispensed-deck-lp">a dad used this presentation to raise millions to give kids with ADHD and autism the same kind of therapy that helped his son.</a></p><p>And <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miga-health-pitch-deck-12-million-seed-funding-round-2022-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">check out the 13-slide presentation heart-health startup Miga Health used to raise $12 million in seed funding</a>. </p><p>Others can use the presentations to share their new approaches. Here's the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-nest-health-15-million-seed-funding-louisiana-2023-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">presentation the former Louisiana health chief used to raise $15 million for her approach to providing care for families at home</a>.</p><p>They can also show how a startup might stand out in a competitive field.  Here's the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-insurance-startup-angle-health-58-million-pitch-deck-2023-1?r=dispensed-deck-lp">12-slide presentation Angle Health, a health-insurance startup, used to land $58 million after its public competitors tumbled</a>. </p><p>And <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-mental-health-startup-brightside-series-a-pitch-deck-2021-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Brightside used this presentation to break through a crowded field of mental health startups and convince VCs to invest $24 million.</a></p><p>In 2023, some startups have raised fresh early-stage funds to back different approaches they're trying. For instance, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-clinical-trials-startup-inato-20-million-series-a-2023-4?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Inato used this 16-slide presentation to raise $20 million after ditching its old product to solve a $50 billion problem for Big Pharma</a>. </p><p>You can see more presentations below.</p><p><strong><em>Read more:</em></strong></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/medeloop-pitch-deck-raise-8-million-general-catalyst-ai-2023-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 10-slide presentation a startup used to land $8 million from General Catalyst to speed up medical research with AI</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eureka-health-pitch-deck-raise-7-million-seed-khosla-ventures-2023-8?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 11-slide presentation a startup used to raise $7 million to help patients find new treatments using AI</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-alfie-health-seed-funding-treat-obesity-ai-ozempic-2023-6?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 10-slide presentation a startup used to raise seed funding for a new approach to obesity treatment</em></a></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-laguna-health-15-million-series-a-2023-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 17-slide presentation an AI startup used to raise $15 million to improve post-hospital care</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uwill-30-million-series-a-pitch-deck-presentation-mental-health-2023-5">See the presentation a digital-health startup used to raise $30 million to bring mental-health care to college students</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-msk-startup-vori-series-a-pitch-deck-nea-2021-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the pitch deck a neurosurgeon used to raise $45 million for a new approach to back pain</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-adonis-used-in-round-led-by-general-catalyst-2023-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 19-slide presentation that got General Catalyst to back a startup tackling a $25 billion problem for hospitals</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-twentyeight-health-used-to-raise-83-million-2023-2?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here's the 15-slide presentation Twentyeight Health used to raise $8.3 million to give Medicaid patients better reproductive healthcare</em></a></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-clinical-trials-startup-inato-20-million-series-a-2023-4?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 16-slide presentation a startup used to sell investors on a new approach to solving a $50 billion problem for Big Pharma</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-disclo-used-to-raise-5-million-general-catalyst-2023-2?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the presentation that got General Catalyst to bet $5 million on Disclo, a startup helping people with disabilities get accommodations at work</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labviva-pitch-deck-20-million-series-a-round-2023-3?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 14-slide pitch deck Labviva used to raise $20 million to overhaul a crucial but overlooked task for Big Pharma</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-stationmd-used-to-raise-millions-2022-3?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 14-slide presentation StationMD used to raise $3.2 million for its approach to providing care online to people with disabilities</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-evernow-285-million-series-a-nea-gwenyth-paltrow-2022-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the presentation that convinced Gwyneth Paltrow and NEA to back digital menopause-care startup Evernow</em></a></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-general-catalyst-certifyos-series-a-oscar-health-2022-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 11-slide presentation that convinced General Catalyst to back a startup building a better system to help insurers track their doctors</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-reverence-home-care-target-global-2022-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 15-slide presentation a former Googler used to raise $9 million for his new approach to home care</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/circles-pitch-deck-series-a-funding-round-16-million-2022-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here's the 17-slide presentation Circles used to raise $16.5 million for group counseling</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-the-presentation-menopause-startup-alloy-used-to-raise-seed-2021-10?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here is the 23-slide presentation a former Marie Claire editor-in-chief used to get millennial men to invest in a startup that treats menopause symptoms</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-belong-healths-pitch-deck-it-used-to-raise-40-million-2021-12?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here is the 29-slide presentation a former Cigna executive used to raise $40 million to improve how lower-income older adults receive healthcare</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-concierge-emergency-care-startup-sollis-healths-pitch-deck-2021-12?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 14-slide presentation a members-only concierge emergency-care startup used to raise $30 million in Series A funding</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-data-analytics-startup-akido-labs-series-a-pitch-deck-2021-12?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here is the 12-slide presentation that convinced health-tech juggernauts like Anne Wojcicki and Elad Gil to back a public-health-data analytics startup</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-home-care-startup-medarrive-series-a-pitch-deck-2021-11?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 16-slide presentation a former Uber exec used to raise $25 million to tackle the growing in-home care market</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vital-series-a-pitch-deck-for-er-management-2021-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 24-slide presentation the Mint founder used to sell investors and hospitals on his new emergency-room management startup</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-clearing-raise-20-million-in-seed-funding-2021-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the presentation a serial entrepreneur used to raise $20 million from Bessemer and Founders Fund for his solution for Americans living with chronic pain</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-death-planning-startup-cake-37-million-seed-pitch-deck-2021-7?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the presentation a startup used to raise $3.7 million for an entirely new approach to helping millennials plan for their deaths</em></a></p><h2>By Series B, startups are looking for a chance to grow big</h2><p>By their Series B rounds, startups are raising higher sums at higher valuations. They're often still early into their existence and are looking for ways to get big. </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-carta-healthcare-20-million-series-b-2022-11?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Health-data startup Carta Healthcare raised $25 million</a> as it navigates a path to profitability. </p><p>And <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/devoted-series-b-slide-deck-revenue-and-margin-projections-2019-2?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Devoted Health raised $300 million at a $1.8 billion valuation</a> in 2018 before it had signed on any customers. </p><p>Women's healthcare startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-womens-health-startup-tia-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Tia used this 30-slide presentation in 2021 to raise $100 million</a> one year after losing all its revenue 'overnight' because of COVID-19. Tia planned to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-womens-health-startup-tia-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">use the funding</a> to expand its in-person clinics in new locations. </p><p>And even amid the 2022 market downturn, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/folx-health-30-million-series-b-pitch-deck-2022-10?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Folx Health raised raise $30 million to provide more telehealth options for LGBTQ+ patients with this 17-slide presentation</a>. </p><p>Tomorrow Health, a home-care startup, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-tomorrow-health-andreessen-horowitz-backed-home-health-2022-7?r=dispensed-deck-lp">used this 12-slide presentation to raise $60 million in Series B funding</a>. It's backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz. </p><p>Meanwhile tech startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/value-based-care-startup-stellar-health-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Stellar Health raised $60 million from General Atlantic with this presentation</a> with its approach of rewarding doctors for providing better care. </p><p><strong><em>Read more:</em></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-jonathan-bush-zus-health-2023-3?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the pitch deck Zus Health used to convince top VCs like Andreessen Horowitz, F-Prime, and Maverick to back its solution for healthcare's $140 billion data-sharing problem</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/xealth-pitch-deck-24-million-series-b-2021-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 29-slide pitch deck that a digital health startup used to raise $24 million entirely from its hospital customers</em></a></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-pitch-deck-hint-health-used-to-raise-45-million-2022-8?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 15-slide presentation Hint Health used to sell its vision of cutting insurance companies out of primary care</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-dermatology-startup-zerigos-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-10?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 17-slide presentation that convinced Livongo's Glen Tullman to invest in a dermatology startup</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-cognitive-testing-startups-10-million-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-11?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here is the 12-slide presentation two academics used to sell investors on their virtual cognitive-testing startup</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strive-health-kidney-care-dialysis-startup-series-b-pitch-deck-2021-3?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Alphabet's VC arm just sank $140 million into a startup that wants to unseat dialysis giants like DaVita. We got the pitch deck that convinced CapitalG to back Strive Health.</em></a></p><h2><strong>Late-stage rounds can give startups the fuel to scale or gear up for a public debut</strong></h2><p>The presentations used to secure later rounds of funding can be used to show investors how far the startup's come, and what's ahead.</p><p>Often, the investors start to look different as well, and startups can find themselves pitching asset managers or industry incumbents, like health insurers. </p><p>For instance, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/medable-healthcare-unicorn-pitchdeck-series-d-millions-2022-4?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Tiger Global and Blackstone backed decentralized trials startup Medable in its Series D</a>.</p><p>Tiger Global — alongside health insurer Humana — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-dispatch-health-at-home-care-series-d-pitch-deck-2021-3?r=dispensed-deck-lp">also backed the at-home healthcare startup Dispatch Health in its Series D</a>. </p><p>And <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nocd-pitch-deck-valuation-cigna-34-million-7wireventures-2023-2?r=dispensed-deck-lp">hot mental-health startup NOCD won over investors including Cigna Ventures in January with this presentation</a>.</p><p>The later-stage rounds can signal that a company is on the verge of making a major change. In 2023, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-98point6-investment-to-license-software-2023-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">98point6 sold its virtual-care service and raised $30.7 million for its pivot to selling software using this pitch deck</a>. </p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omada-health-pitch-deck-raise-192-million-2022-7?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Omada Health used this presentation to raise $192 million as it gears up for an IPO</a>. Digital health startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-tebra-72-million-merger-ipo-2022-7?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Tebra similarly used this 23-slide presentation to raise $72 million as it prepares to go public</a>. </p><p>Insurer Centene has backed some later-stage rounds, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-hazel-health-raised-335-million-for-kids-telehealth-2020-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Hazel Health's Series C</a> and Vida Health's $110 million round. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-vida-raises-110-million-general-atlantic-centene-2021-5?r=dispensed-deck-lp">The upstart shared the presentation that helped it raise the funds toward a new vision for the hardest kind of healthcare.</a></p><p>The presentations at this stage can help land startups like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/primary-care-startup-aledade-valued-at-22-billion-2021-1?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Aledade high valuations. Aledade raised $100 million in a round that valued the company at $2.1 billion</a>.</p><p>Sometimes, if the founder is well-known, companies might even get unsolicited funding. This happened to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/glen-tullman-transcarent-pitch-deck-raise-200-million-2022-1?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Glen Tullman's new startup Transcarent, which raised a $200 million Series C round that valued the company at $1.62 billion.</a></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> </em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-osso-vr-raised-66-million-from-oak-hcft-2022-8?r=dispensed-deck-lp">Here's the 12-slide presentation that convinced Oak HC/FT and Tiger to bet on a virtual-reality startup to train surgeons</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-everside-health-164-million-nea-oak-hcft-2022-9?r=dispensed-deck-lp">See the 13-slide presentation that convinced Oak HC/FT and NEA to bet on a hot primary-care startup</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/podimetrics-pitch-deck-45-million-series-c-diabetes-funding-2022-6?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>Here's the 11-slide presentation digital-health startup Podimetrics used to land $45 million for its remote-monitoring tech</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-the-pitch-deck-twin-health-used-series-c-sequoia-2021-10?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>See the 14-slide presentation that convinced ICONIQ and Sequoia to lead a $140 million investment in a startup focused on treating metabolic conditions</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-story-humana-investment-telehealth-startup-heal-2020-8?r=dispensed-deck-lp"><em>This pitch deck helped telehealth startup Heal raise $100 million and win a major partnership with healthcare giant Humana. Here's how the deal came to be.</em></a></p>

See the presentations that hot healthcare startups used to raise millions from top VCs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Experiencing some level of concern when you or a loved one has symptoms that could be COVID is a healthy reaction intended to keep you safe. </li><li>Manage <keyword id="15418" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="anxiety">anxiety</keyword> and reduce your risk by controlling what you can, like learning the differences between <keyword id="6363126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cold">cold</keyword>, <keyword id="43544" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flu">flu</keyword>, and coronavirus symptoms and getting the flu shot. </li><li>Regularly practicing stress-relief techniques like meditation can also strengthen the part of your brain that allows you to observe facts without your emotions taking over. </li><li>If your worry is affecting your daily functioning, seek professional help from any of the many virtual practices available these days.  </li><li>Have a coronavirus quandary for Anna? <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A6lexHgkxC50xduuuMz8I5xZIEoKKBTiQXPBxDbKMl8">Submit it anonymously here</a>. </li></ul><p><em>Dear Anna, </em></p><p><em>I have chronic <keyword id="25918" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="allergies">allergies</keyword>, so every time I get a scratch in my throat I become alarmed and wonder: Is this COVID?! My panic isn't limited to me. Every time my kids cough, I fear it's "corona cough," and when my husband told me he had a sore throat (that turned out to be allergies), I freaked. He now wishes he hadn't told me.</em></p><p><em>I've used deep breathing to help calm down in the moment and got a rapid test once, but I've also done some crazy things like drink garlic water (gross). </em><em>How can I stay both safe and sane this winter when there will be even possible explanations — like the cold and flu — for these symptoms? </em></p><p><em>— Ashley, Washington, DC </em></p><p>Dear Ashley,</p><p>I feel you. I woke up in the middle of the night in April with a sore throat and a piping hot forehead, and proclaimed: "I've got it." By the morning, I was convinced I would die — and I'm usually the opposite of a hypochondriac. </p><p>While my symptoms passed within 24 hours, the emotional impact was startling. You're smart to be thinking about how to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2">manage similar anxieties</a> as the seasons change yet again. </p><p>First, recognize that your fears serve an important purpose. As one of my favorite anxiety pros, <a href="http://www.juliepike.com/">licensed psychologist Julie L. Pike</a>, told me, "Anxiety is mother nature's way of trying to protect us by pushing us to resolve uncertainty and figure out a solution." </p><p>If you didn't have some level of concern when you or a loved one had coronavirus symptoms, you'd be more likely to make reckless decisions that could harm your <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword>, your community, and the trajectory of this very real and deadly disease. </p><p>The key is keeping those anxieties in check so as not to shatter your well-being and ability to carry out responsibilities, like caring for your kids and doing your job. I talked to Pike and other experts about what works best to strike this balance. </p><h2>Take control of what you can, like wearing a mask and getting the flu shot </h2><p>Ever since first hearing the phrase "action is the antidote to anxiety," it's stuck with me because it's so true.</p><p>In the case of the coronavirus, there are a lot of actions you can take (or, in many cases, not take) to protect yourself and your family. Wear a mask when you're in public, choose outdoor over indoor settings when possible, avoid close contact with people outside of your household, you know the drill. </p><p>The more public-health strategies you heed, the lower your risk of contracting COVID-19 and the less likely your scratchy throat can actually be contributed to the virus. </p><p>Educate yourself on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/difference-between-coronavirus-symptoms-flu-allergies-common-cold-chart-2020-9">the difference between coronavirus, cold, flu, and allergy symptoms</a>, too. While there's plenty of overlap, coronavirus patients often develop a fever before a cough, while the common cold typically announces itself with a sore throat, my colleague Aria Bendix <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/difference-between-coronavirus-symptoms-flu-allergies-common-cold-chart-2020-9">has reported</a>. </p><div type="image" title="h1n1 flu vaccine" height="833" width="1200" msid="78583762" hostid="261"></div><p>It's also <a href="https://www.insider.com/when-is-too-late-to-get-flu-shot-coronavirus-2020-3">critical you and your family get the flu shot</a>. While it doesn't guarantee you won't get the flu, it does drastically lower your risk and again can help you narrow down what any symptoms may be attributed to. </p><p>As a bonus, the flu shot can indirectly protect you from COVID-19, since getting the flu weakens your immune system, making you more susceptible to the coronavirus. And it is <a href="https://www.insider.com/rita-wilson-had-breast-cancer-covid-getting-flu-shot-2020-9">possible to get both at once</a> (not to add more to your panic pile). </p><p>Finally, don't be afraid to call a healthcare professional to ask whether or not your symptoms and situation warrant <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-to-get-tested-for-covid-quarantine-2020-10">a coronavirus test</a>. While it's not necessary to get one every time you feel less than 100%, testing is a critical tool that can both help answer your question (Is it COVID?) and contribute data to national efforts to conquer this pandemic. </p><h2>Incorporate other stress management strategies </h2><p>You said you use deep breathing to handle stress in the moment, which is awesome. Pike also recommended strategies like putting your hands over your head the way you might crossing a finish line to signal to your brain that you're safe. </p><p>"Our thoughts are really a product of what our body is experiencing," she said. </p><p>It's also a good idea to incorporate other stress-management techniques when you're not in the depths of panic. </p><p>Pike told me that regular practices like yoga, meditation, and Tai Chi "actively build up and strengthen the part of your brain that allows you to observe without reacting emotionally." In other words, meditating just a few minutes a day can help you stay calm the next time your kid coughs. </p><p>Making a daily "gratitude list" can work wonders building psychological resilience, too, Pike said. </p><p>That "helps us to stop narrowly focusing on potential threats or negative elements in our environment, which our limbic brain ... is wired to do," she said. "Widening our perspective and recognizing that while things are challenging and uncertain, there are also good things in our daily lives" can make a big difference. </p><h2>Don't be afraid to get help</h2><p>Everyone who's paying enough attention to the state of our world is dealing with elevated stress right now. But a startling portion of them are dealing with something more: clinical levels of anxiety and depression.</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/cdc-11-percent-us-adults-seriously-considered-suicide-in-june-2020-8">A CDC report out in August</a> found that about a quarter of Americans had symptoms of anxiety and about the same percentage had symptoms of depression during the month of June. That's three and four times higher, respectively, than those who met the same criteria during the second quarter of 2019. </p><p>The better news is that therapists around the country have shifted their practices online, allowing you access to far more than you'd have if you were limited to those in the DC area. Plus, virtual therapy services like <a href="https://www.brightside.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brightside</a> and <a href="https://www.talkspace.com/">TalkSpace</a> remain available, and some therapists are <a href="https://www.insider.com/online-mental-health-resources-for-coronavirus-related-anxiety-stress-2020-3">holding free online group therapy sessions</a>. </p><p>Pike told me not to get caught up in the "trauma Olympics" <em>— </em>for example, telling yourself you don't need help because other people have it way worse. Instead, consider this the perfect time to build lifelong tools for coping with stress and anxiety. Your future self will thank you. </p><p><strong><em>Senior health reporter Anna Medaris Miller is here to help you make</em> <em>decisions about living life in the current "normal," which is anything but. Drawing on her in-depth reporting on the pandemic; connections with medical, mental health, and public health experts; and own life and common sense, she'll help you get through coronavirus quandaries big and small.  </em></strong><strong><em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A6lexHgkxC50xduuuMz8I5xZIEoKKBTiQXPBxDbKMl8">Submit your questions for Anna anonymously here</a>. </em></strong></p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2">12 ways to cope with coronavirus anxiety, according to psychologists</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-to-get-tested-for-covid-quarantine-2020-10">How long you should wait before getting a coronavirus test if you think you've been exposed</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-experiencing-adjustment-disorder-as-lockdowns-end-2020-5">People are experiencing 'adjustment disorder' as lockdowns end and society reopens, a psychiatrist says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/should-you-visit-older-relatives-for-the-holidays-during-coronavirus-2020-9">My grandfather died from the coronavirus, and I want to visit my newly widowed grandmother for Thanksgiving. Is that a bad idea?</a></li></ul>

Every time I feel a little under the weather, I panic that I have COVID-19. How can I deal with hypochondria going into the winter?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When Americans were first told or required to stay home to help control the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic, our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2">collective anxiety skyrocketed</a>. </li><li>But now, after adjusting to life "safer at home," many are experiencing a second wave of <keyword id="15418" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="anxiety">anxiety</keyword> due to the prospect or reality of resuming activities like going to work or seeing friends. </li><li>One psychiatrist is calling it "phase two adjustment disorder," referencing the term that describes symptoms of depression and anxiety tied to major life chances like a divorce, job loss, or move. </li><li>To cope, experts recommend taking things day by day, get professional help if necessary, and remember that most people will adjust and symptoms will subside. </li></ul><p>The day the Illinois governor announced a shelter in place order March 20, Mallory Bradford, a Chicago resident, broke down crying in a grocery store aisle. </p><p>A song had come on that reminded her of a concert she'd gone to with her dad, and she knew it would be a long time before she could experience something like it again. Bradford, a tech company employee by day and <a href="https://www.mallorybradford.com/">standup comedian</a> by night, also knew it would be a long time before she could perform or enjoy a carefree cocktail in a restaurant with friends. </p><p>The grief, she told Insider, "was real." </p><p>But now, after more than two months largely staying home, Bradford is experiencing another wave of distress: How and when will she be able to take a train, laugh into a microphone, hug her parents, or meet friends for a drink without feeling on edge?  </p><p>"I don't know that I'll be able to fully enjoy that unless there's a vaccine," she said. </p><p>As the country begins to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-minimize-your-coronavirus-risk-at-restaurants-shops-beaches-2020-5">reopen offices, restaurants, beaches, and even salons</a>, many Americans like Bradford are experiencing a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2">similar type of anxiety</a> that overcame them when such places were first shut down.</p><p>Experts are calling it "phase two adjustment disorder" and "<a href="https://wjla.com/features/good-morning-washington/overcoming-reentry-panic-syndrome?fbclid=IwAR1GbdcgK8Cv61bSY_hfPrGPBSQXzd3hlcp5cYxQmPndu8HDKK_-PgTZ8kA">re-entry panic syndrome</a>," with one summing up the feeling like this: "What if the new normal sucks?"  </p><p>But, like the first time, while the discomfort can morph into more serious <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword> consequences if not well-managed, humans are largely adaptable, and most of us will adjust, again. </p><h2>An adjustment disorder is prompted by big life changes</h2><p>Adjustment disorder is a psychological term to describe symptoms of depression and anxiety prompted by a big life change like a job loss, divorce, or move. Being thrust into — or out of — a lockdown situation fits the bill too, Dr. Mimi Winsberg, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at the mental health telemedicine service <a href="https://www.brightside.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brightside</a>, told Insider.</p><p>"When we started to shelter in place, we were forced to adapt to new routines, and with that came <keyword id="23666" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="stress">stress</keyword> and anxiety," she said. "Now, as we return to work with a new landscape and new perceived risks, we are having to adjust all over again." </p><p><div type="image" title="medical coronavirus flu virus nyc street face mask gloves covid19 stores shut down closed restaurants social distancing delivery cox 141" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76048724" hostid="261"></div></p><p>People are experiencing "phase two" adjustment disorder, she said, related to multiple areas of their lives, like the prospect or reality of returning to an office or public transportation, <a href="https://www.insider.com/sweden-preschool-teacher-warning-of-school-outbreaks-2020-5">putting their kids back in childcare</a>, and expanding their "germ bubbles" to include more friends.</p><p>The stress comes both from fears about potentially spreading or contracting the novel coronavirus and worries about what new routines aimed at keeping them safe will look like. (As New York City physical therapist <a href="https://pelvicpainrelief.com/about/">Isa Herrera</a> is questioning: if gathering at a vacation home means taking people's temperatures upon arrival and forbidding hugging, is it even worth it?)</p><p>For some, the stress also comes from the prospect of leaving their comfortable bubble and navigating the real world. "I'm upset at the idea of spending money on a dinner with someone I don't like, or working late to meet a deadline that won't matter, or even to be looked at and judged by people again," <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/y3maaw/im-afraid-of-going-back-to-my-old-life-after-the-lockdown">an anonymous reader wrote to Vice</a>. </p><p>The anxiety is exacerbated by the uncertainty of it all: Employers can't say with confidence if or when they'll open and what protocols will be in place when they do; public-health officials can't say when the pandemic will be over or that any activity is risk-free; and <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-make-good-enough-choices-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-5">family and friends can't agree on what activities are safe enough</a>.</p><p>And, unlike the first phase of lockdown, "it's not a 'just stay at home and only leave for necessary activities'" message, Winsberg said. "There'll be more room for interpretation, and with that may come some anxiety and disagreements about how that's interpreted." </p><h2>Focus on what you can control</h2><p>Most people who experience phase-two adjustment disorder will, well, adjust, and eventually see their symptoms dull or come to an end. </p><p>"Human beings are incredibly adaptive and capable of tectonic shifts in life, as our collective ability to adapt seemingly overnight has proven," <a href="http://www.juliepike.com/">Julie L. Pike</a>, a licensed psychologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told Insider. </p><p>But, in some cases, feelings of depression and anxiety can persist and worsen. "Adjustment disorder is the tip of the iceberg," said Winsberg, who recommends taking a <a href="https://www.brightside.com/assessment/">free online assessment</a> to gauge the severity of your symptoms and connect to professional help if necessary. </p><p>Before it gets to that point, though, you can take some ways manage the discomfort around re-entry. First, continue with the practical habits that can help keep you safe: practicing excellent hygiene, wearing a mask when you may come into close, prolong ued contact with others; and staying home if you're sick. </p><p>Next, communicate — with your manager about telework options, for example, and your family and friends about their past behaviors and what they're comfortable with going forward. </p><p>"It's a little like those conversations that you have when you're first dating somebody and you're trying to negotiate exclusivity," Winsberg said. "You're like, 'OK, we'll hang out together, but how many other people are you hanging out with so I know what I'm exposed to?" </p><p><div type="image" title="Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida coronavirus re-opening" height="1860" width="3000" msid="76048731" hostid="261"></div></p><p>You may also want to take the discomfort as an opportunity to re-evaluate, and change, some of the activities you're dreading returning to. Maybe you've realized certain friendships are more draining than supportive, or that you don't need to return to the gym because outdoors walks have brought you more joy.</p><p>"If you can continue a more sheltered life with less public interaction and you can still accomplish what you need to work-wise and family-wise, it's important for each individual to strike that balance," Winsberg said. Just be careful you're not using the pandemic as a cover for unhealthy, socially isolating behaviors, she added. </p><h2>Try to take things day by day, and don't think too far into the future</h2><p>Finally, and importantly, take things day by day, realizing that obsessing over an unknown future "is a drain of our energy, creates a negative space mentally" and is ineffective. </p><p>She encourages clients to be aware of their thought processes and to catch themselves when they ruminate about something they have little or no control over. </p><p>"Have compassion for yourself that these are difficult times, we are all doing the best we can in a given moment," she says. "Trust that we will adapt as mother nature has programmed us to." </p>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-experiencing-adjustment-disorder-as-lockdowns-end-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

People are experiencing 'adjustment disorder' as lockdowns end and society reopens, a psychiatrist says

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Michael Yang</span></p><p class="caption">Michael Yang, a managing partner at OMERS Ventures, is leading the expansion into the US.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The C$95 billion Canadian pension fund OMERS is expanding into Silicon Valley to make<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/venture-capital"> venture investments</a> in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-and-biotech-unicorns-going-into-2019-venture-capital-i2018-12">US startups</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.omersventures.com/">OMERS Ventures</a> hired Michael Yang as a managing partner from Comcast Ventures to lead the effort. He's planning to staff up and open offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto.</li><li>US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-startups-unicorns-2018-full-list-2018-11">venture capital funding</a> has been climbing, with almost $100 billion invested last year, an 18-year high.</li><li>Yang is planning to invest in industries like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-and-biotech-unicorns-going-into-2019-venture-capital-i2018-12">healthcare</a>, transportation, and media.</li></ul><p>A huge Canadian pension fund is plotting to expand into <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</a>, seeking to place bets on hot US tech startups.</p><p><a href="https://www.omers.com/">OMERS</a>, which manages more than <a href="https://www.omers.com/Investing/How-We-Invest">C$95 billion</a> ($72 billion) on behalf of municipal workers in the province of Ontario, hired Michael Yang as a managing partner of OMERS Ventures to open the venture arm's first US offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto.</p><p><a href="https://www.omersventures.com/">OMERS Ventures</a> oversees about C$880 million invested in 35 companies, mainly in Canada. The goal of expanding to the Bay Area is to gain better access to investment opportunities in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-and-biotech-unicorns-going-into-2019-venture-capital-i2018-12">innovative startups</a>, Yang said in an interview. OMERS itself has been opening offices outside Canada to broaden its investment opportunities.</p><p>"Just look at where the deals are, the dollars are, where the innovation is," he said. "As they look to deploy more dollars, invest in more and more interesting projects, they need to expand their geographic horizons."</p><h2>Venture capital investment in the US reached the highest level in nearly 2 decades last year</h2><p>Yang, 47, was previously a managing director at <a href="https://comcastventures.com/">Comcast Ventures</a> based in the Bay Area. Michelle Killoran of OMERS Ventures will also move to the Bay Area to help with the expansion, and the group plans to make additional hires over time, Yang said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-healthcare-and-biotech-predictions-2019-2018-12">6 top VCs give their best 2019 predictions for healthcare, from a biotech correction to a 'shadow cash economy' stepping into the light</a></strong></em></p><p>Venture capital investment in the US is soaring, increasing valuations and raising questions about whether <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-valuable-us-startups-failed-went-out-of-business-2018-11">another bubble</a> is emerging. About $99.5 billion in VC funds were invested last year in the US, the highest total since 2000, according to the <a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/technology/moneytree.html">PwC/CB Insights MoneyTree report</a>. That helped boost the valuations of 53 startups to over $1 billion, making 2018 a record year for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-and-biotech-unicorns-going-into-2019-venture-capital-i2018-12">unicorn creation</a>.</p><p>Yang said he's hoping that if funding becomes more scarce as other VCs pull back or market turbulence increases, that could create better opportunities for him to invest.</p><p>"There's been a lot of high burn rate companies that had access to easy capital that benefited from that and developed bad operating habits," he said. "A lot of people are hoping for a little bit of a pause in valuations and pricing."</p><h2>OMERS Ventures will target startups in fields like healthcare, transportation, and media</h2><p>Over time, Yang's group plans to focus its investments in five main areas: healthcare, transportation, the future of work, retail innovation, and new forms of media. The group has the flexibility to make investments ranging from seed stage (less than $1 million) to later-stage rounds where checks could be $40 million.</p><p>At Comcast Ventures, Yang invested in and served on the board of the healthcare startup Accolade, and more recently helped found financial wellness firm Brightside. Other investments included virtual reality firm Felix &amp; Paul Studios, autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai, and Precision Hawk, which helps businesses use drones.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-and-biotech-unicorns-going-into-2019-venture-capital-i2018-12">16 billion-dollar startups revolutionizing healthcare that you should be watching in 2019</a></strong></em></p><p>Yang said he may bring the strategy of helping founders start companies -- rather than simply investing in startups -- to OMERS Ventures. OMERS Ventures already offers its startups services to help them grow.</p><p>Yang said he's mindful of the responsibility he's taking on to the roughly half-million people who rely on the OMERS plan to fund their retirements.</p><p>"We want to be good stewards of their future, of their capital," he said. "We want to make the right bets."</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>Read more:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vc-billions-fueled-the-rise-of-digital-media-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Billions from VC companies like Lerer Hippeau and Lightspeed fueled the rise of digital media and stoked crazy expectations for growth - here's why insiders say that approach is killing companies</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-healthcare-and-biotech-predictions-2019-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">6 top VCs give their best 2019 predictions for healthcare, from a biotech correction to a 'shadow cash economy' stepping into the light</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2019-was-supposed-to-be-a-banner-year-for-ipos-but-now-its-turning-into-a-shitshow-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">2019 was supposed to be a banner year for IPOs but now it's turning into a 'shitshow'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-ipo-outlook-2019-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Uber, Lyft, China, and more - top tech investment bankers share their biggest hopes and fears for IPOs in 2019</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exercise-workout-shape-routine-2016-12">An exercise scientist reveals exactly how long you need to work out to get in great shape</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A $72 billion Canadian investor is poised to start making venture capital bets in Silicon Valley

<ul class="summary-list"><li>As states open up and Americans get out more, many are wondering how to see friends in safe way. </li><li>As with any activities, risks of spreading or contracting the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> largely come down to how close you are to others and for how long, and whether you're outdoors or indoors. </li><li>One of the least risky activities is a brief, socially distanced walk with one friend, while one of the most risky is going to a crowded house party. </li></ul><p>It's an unusual summer in America, with many of the typical markers of the season — kids at sleepaway camp, extended families reuniting for vacations, and friends going to midday movies when it gets too hot — conspicuously absent. </p><p>But after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-can-still-go-outside-while-quarantining-sheltering-in-place-2020-4">months staying home</a>, and with many states opening up stores, <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword>, and beaches, Americans want to do <em>something</em> — and to do it with friends they haven't seen in real life in what seems like ages. </p><p>The good news is that you can see friends, just perhaps not in the ways you did last summer, at least if you want to stay safe. </p><p>As with any activity during the coronavirus <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword>, nothing is risk-free, but the level of risk depends mostly on how close you are to others and for how long, how many people are involved, and whether you're outdoors or in. </p><p>As Dr. Erich Anderer, a New York City neurosurgeon, <a href="https://www.insider.com/can-you-go-for-a-run-coronavirus-quarantine-social-distancing-2020-3">previously told Insider</a>, "The general principle should be: Outside is better than inside; open is better than closed; fewer is better than more people; and stay away from sick people." </p><h2>Eating together indoors is not the best idea</h2><p>"This virus really likes people being indoors in an enclosed space for prolonged periods of close face-to-face contact," William Schaffner, an infectious-disease expert at Vanderbilt University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-minimize-your-coronavirus-risk-at-restaurants-shops-beaches-2020-5">previously told Business Insider</a>.</p><p>That's basically the definition of indoor restaurant dining. To make the situation more risky, you can't wear a mask while you eat and are, naturally, talking to your friend between bites. </p><p>All that adds up to decent chances of spreading or contracting the coronavirus, since it typically spreads via <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-coronavirus-travel-through-air-droplets-aerosols-2020-3">droplets</a> that spray up to 6 feet between people. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/loud-talking-singing-spread-coronavirus-further-than-6-feet-2020-3">Loud talking</a> could allow them to travel further, some research suggests. </p><p><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: As Phase One of reopening begins in Northern Virginia today, a waiter in a face mask to protect against the coronavirus (COVID-19) serves diners seated outdoors at a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., May 29, 2020.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque" height="541" width="800" msid="76186034" hostid="261"></div></p><p>If you must eat out indoors, where it's permitted, do so with just a few (at most) friends, keep it brief, make sure the area is well-ventilated, and, if possible, sit next to each other rather than facing each other. If the staff isn't wearing masks, leave, Schaffner suggests. </p><h2>Picnicking outdoors is lower risk  </h2><p>The reasons your chance of infection might be lower outside, Schaffner said, are that it's easier to maintain social distance outdoors and that the virus has to navigate wind, heat, and humidity to jump between people.</p><p>That's why outdoor dining tends to be safer than indoor dining, and picnicking may have some advantages to al fresco dining at a restaurant: You can more easily spread out, face the same direction, and each bring your own food, which is safer than sharing. </p><p>Outside of a restaurant, you can also better control how long you hang out. It's best to keep your meal short: According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing/contact-tracing-plan/contact-tracing.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, your risk of getting sick goes significantly up after about 15 to 30 minutes of exposure to the virus. </p><p>And don't forget to thoroughly wash your hands or, if that's not possible, use hand-sanitizer before and after eating. </p><h2>House parties and other large indoor events are very risky</h2><p>This is not the summer to pack into house parties, which fall into the category of "super-spreader events," or those in which a COVID-positive person is likely to pass on the virus to more people than a typical infected person. </p><p>So far, super-spreader events have mostly involved indoor gatherings in which lots of people from different households were in close, extended contact, such as religious services, birthday parties, and choir practices.</p><p><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold placards as they rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo" height="533" width="800" msid="76186124" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>Outdoor concerts and protests still come with real risks</h2><p>While outdoors is better than in, you can still be at risk if you're with large groups of strangers coming into close contact for hours. An outdoor concert, for example, is concerning, especially if people are tightly packed and singing along without masks. </p><p>Joining a protest with friends comes with more complicated considerations. </p><p>"As an African-American physician, I do not want to tell people not to protest, because I think it's been an effective tool to press groups to try to fight for change and try to fight for equal rights," <a href="https://twitter.com/garthwalkermd">emergency medicine Dr. Garth Walker</a>, who treats coronavirus patients in Chicago, <a href="https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-and-protests-what-experts-are-saying-about-virus-spread-2020-6">previously told Insider</a>.</p><p>If you plan to protest, wear a face mask, try to maintain a distance from others, and quarantine yourself from vulnerable populations when you get home. </p><h2>Going to a pool or the beach is relatively safe, with precautions </h2><p>Water itself is quite safe from the coronavirus, with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-it-safe-to-swim-in-pool-during-coronavirus-chlorine-2020-5">fresh and saltwater thought to quickly inactivate it</a> and chlorine to kill it. </p><p>Like picnicking outdoors, relaxing on a beach blanket has benefits over sitting on a couch with friends indoors, if you can keep far enough apart. It's even better if you keep moving, also decently distanced, by walking along the beach rather than sunbathing. Wearing a mask too will keep you even safer. </p><p>One of the biggest risks of going to a pool or beach is the "going" part: If you can walk, bike, or drive separate cars to get there, you're pretty safe. But if you're piling a group of friends into an Uber or subway car to get there, you're at much higher risk. </p><p><div type="image" title="Flag towel woman beach" height="1499" width="1999" msid="76186035" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Again, it matters how long you stay: Best to keep it short enough to not need to use public restrooms or locker rooms, where people are often packed tightly and high-touches surfaces might harbor the virus. </p><p>The particular beach or pool matters a lot too. Beaches that are packed with non-mask-wearing partiers could be coronavirus hotspots, while outdoor pools with strict capacity limits and closed locker rooms are less likely to be. </p><h2>Inviting a friend for a short walk is pretty safe </h2><p>Like walking on the beach with a friend tends to be less risky than lounging next to each other on chairs, taking a short walk with a pal can be pretty safe — especially if you can do it somewhere pretty isolated where you can keep sufficient space between you.</p><p>Even if not, walking has the bonus of each friend facing the same direction and, unlike dining, can be done while wearing a mask. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-can-still-go-outside-while-quarantining-sheltering-in-place-2020-4">risks of transmission from contracting the virus from a passing stranger</a> are very low, too. </p><p>"I would not worry about walking by someone," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, <a href="https://slate.com/business/2020/04/coronavirus-parks-beaches-open-them.html">told Slate</a>. "Even in a health-care setting, contact is defined by being near someone for a certain amount of time. I would not worry about these fleeting encounters." </p><h2>Your friends also matter </h2><p>Before inviting a friend to do anything, it's a good idea to chat about how you've been behaving the past several months. If they've taken social distancing and other precautions less seriously, now may not be the time to combine forces. </p><p>"It's a little like those conversations that you have when you're first dating somebody and you're trying to negotiate exclusivity," Dr. Mimi Winsberg, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at the mental <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> telemedicine service <a href="https://www.brightside.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brightside</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-experiencing-adjustment-disorder-as-lockdowns-end-2020-5">previously told Insider</a>. "You're like, 'OK, we'll hang out together, but how many other people are you hanging out with so I know what I'm exposed to?" </p>

The riskiest and least risky activities you can do with friends during the pandemic

<p><div type="image" title="Warm weather draws crowds to the oceanfront, Saturday, May 16, 2020 in Virginia Beach, Va. (Kaitlin McKeown/The Daily Press via AP)" height="2458" width="3600" msid="75950154" hostid="261"></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>As states begin to reopen, many people are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-assess-your-risk-of-catching-coronavirus-2020-5">weighing the risks of new activities</a>, like going to the beach, on top of old ones, like touching doorknobs. </li><li>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/risk-of-coronavirus-transmission-lower-outdoors-evidence-2020-5">there's no such thing as risk-free</a>, and the changing and stress-inducing nature of the pandemic makes decision-making even harder. </li><li>But there are ways to make good-enough decisions without obsessing over every pro and con, which will exhaust you and lead to poor choices.  </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-minimize-your-coronavirus-risk-at-restaurants-shops-beaches-2020-5">Understand the general principles</a> that make something high versus low risk, weigh your values, and set boundaries around your <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> consumption and decision making. </li></ul><p>The Fourth of July is a big deal for the Thomas family — they all meet up at the Jersey shore each year.</p><p>But this summer, they're not sure it should happen. On the one hand, given the grandparents' age and <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> status, it could be the last time the whole family gets together this way, and the event brings them joy. On the other, elderly family members are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Plus, one couple has a newborn and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-pregnant-women-should-know-about-the-coronavirus-2020-3">another is pregnant</a>; the risks for them are unclear. </p><p>"No one's sure what the right thing is to do," Kelly Thomas, a lawyer in New York City, told Insider. </p><p>As states begin to open restaurants, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/should-you-go-to-the-beach-on-memorial-day-weekend-2020-5">beaches</a>, and workplaces to varying degrees, many people like Thomas are asking themselves new questions about what's safe: Go to the family gathering or settle for Zoom? <a href="https://www.insider.com/sweden-preschool-teacher-warning-of-school-outbreaks-2020-5">Send kids back to preschool</a> or keep them home? (That, of course, comes on top of the tough decisions that are now old-hat — order delivery or brave the grocery store?) </p><p>Unfortunately, nothing is 100% risk-free, and what experts know continues to change. Throw in evolving and false information, humans' propensity for cognitive error, and the judgment-clouding stress of living through a pandemic, and day-to-day life gets exhausting fast. </p><p>That won't end any time soon.</p><p>But infectious-disease and <keyword id="6363047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="psychology">psychology</keyword> experts agree on a few effective ways to assess risk and make good-enough decisions without going mad. </p><h2>First, understand the factors that distinguish low- and high-risk situations</h2><p><div type="image" title="medical coronavirus flu virus nyc street face mask gloves covid19 stores shut down closed restaurants social distancing delivery cox 103" height="1667" width="2500" msid="75950163" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The first step is to understand the general principles that make something high- or low-risk. </p><p>"This virus really likes people being indoors in an enclosed space for prolonged periods of close face-to-face contact," William Schaffner, an infectious-disease expert at Vanderbilt University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-minimize-your-coronavirus-risk-at-restaurants-shops-beaches-2020-5">previously told Insider</a>.</p><p>That's because the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news">coronavirus</a> typically spreads via <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-coronavirus-travel-through-air-droplets-aerosols-2020-3">droplets</a> that jump up to 6 feet between people.</p><p>So it's not surprising that your risk of infection is probably <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/risk-of-coronavirus-transmission-lower-outdoors-evidence-2020-5">lower outside than indoors</a>. One <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029272v2">preliminary report</a> from scientists in Japan (which has not been peer-reviewed) suggested that the odds that an infected person "transmitted COVID-19 in a closed environment was 18.7 times greater compared to an open-air environment."</p><p>Still, that doesn't mean people can safely congregate in the park or on the beach. No matter where you are, everyone should stay at least 6 feet apart.</p><p>According to Schaffner, the most important thing to consider when evaluating an activity or a place is how well you can social distance. </p><p>He also recommends checking whether patrons and staff at stores and restaurants are  wearing masks. If they're not, go somewhere else.</p><p>Another factor is how well ventilated a space is. Scientists still aren't certain to what degree a cloud of tiny <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> particles — known as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-coronavirus-travel-through-air-droplets-aerosols-2020-3">aerosols</a> — can linger in the air and infect the next person who walks by. But research has suggested that more live viral particles are found in the air in enclosed rooms with little airflow.</p><p>That could make <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elevators-could-be-coronavirus-hotspots-return-to-offices-2020-5">elevators</a> and offices risky. </p><p><div type="image" title="grocery store coronavirus brooklyn new york" height="1423" width="2000" msid="75950171" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Lastly, Schaffner suggests minimizing how long you spend in an indoor space that's not your home.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#clusters">worst coronavirus clusters</a> around the US have been tied to places that force people into close quarters for extended periods, like nursing homes, correctional facilities, and meatpacking plants.</p><p>"The farther away you are and the shorter duration of contact between you and other people means you get less efficient virus transmission," Schaffner said.</p><h2>Then, consider your values and priorities</h2><p>Once you have a grasp on the practical risks associated with various activities, consider what you value about them rather than what you fear could happen if you pursue them, <a style="font-size: 15px;" href="http://www.juliepike.com/">Julie Pike</a>, a clinical psychologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told Insider. </p><p>"Focusing the whole time on what could happen to us during the activity defeats the purpose," she said. "Instead, focus on why you are leaving the house — for example, 'I am seeing my parents because I value our relationship and being connected with my family.'"  </p><p>Haley Neidich, <a href="https://www.haleyneidich.com/">a therapist </a>in Saint Petersburg, Florida, said she and her husband took that approach when considering whether to see her sister and brother-in-law, who live three blocks away. Pre-coronavirus, they saw each other at least every other day. </p><p>After five weeks working from home while caring for a toddler, Neidich and her husband had had it. The four adults compared their definitions of social distancing, and agreed to see each other but to otherwise only leave their houses for essential trips. While not all states and counties support this sort of <a href="https://www.insider.com/can-i-see-friends-if-weve-all-been-isolated-2020-4">isolation-cell setup</a>, ultimately, the family felt the benefits to their <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword> were worth it. </p><p>"I just cannot tell you the positive impact it has had for all of us," Neidich told Insider. </p><h2><strong><div type="image" title="kid parent face mask" height="1800" width="2500" msid="75950179" hostid="261"></div></strong></h2><h2><strong>Make the small choices habits to beat decision fatigue </strong></h2><p>While some decisions like what to do for July 4th are only made once, others like whether to wear a mask happen daily. If you exhaust yourself with the more minor ones, you'll have less mental capacity for the bigger ones, and make worse choices overall. </p><p>"We are drawing from a single well, and when you deplete it in one domain there's less left over in another domain," Dr. Mimi Winsberg, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at the mental health telemedicine service <a href="https://www.brightside.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brightside</a>, told Insider.</p><p>Developing routines where you can helps. Maybe Tuesday morning is your grocery day. You wear your mask anywhere you take your wallet. High-touch surfaces are wiped down nightly. No seeing non-family members within 6 feet, period. </p><p>"Once we have it down, we don't have to question it," Winsberg said."It's the questioning that causes the fatigue."</p><h2>Create your own 'fear schedule' </h2><p>There's still a whole lot experts don't know about the coronavirus, and that alone "really messes with us, because we can't run the math on risk, and then there's too many choices and then we get paralyzed," Kate Bowler, an associate professor at Duke Divinity School, recently <a href="https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/273-get-grounded-kate-bowler">said on the Happier podcast.</a></p><p>To manage that, every two weeks, she does an in-depth catch-up on the news, talks to trusted medical experts, reevaluates her own personal risk as a cancer survivor, and decides what behaviors to keep or change for the two weeks going forward. </p><p>Setting this "fear schedule," as she calls it, allows her to not constantly worry; she simply chooses to be comfortable with a set of decisions for a period of time.</p><p>"We have to live with the story of the choices we made," she said. "In the future, something might happen and we didn't know, but we also need to have said, 'We couldn't have known.''' </p><p><div type="image" title="family dinner zoom" height="3756" width="5760" msid="75950192" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Bowler's approach to the news aligns with advice from many experts, who recommend limiting your consumption and sticking to a few trusted sources.</p><p>While it can seem like information about what's risky changes by the minute, the reality is that "reliable information accumulates very, very slowly," Baruch Fischhoff, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University and expert in risk assessment, told Insider. That's especially true for scientific research.  </p><p>Being glued to every update can also lead to panic-driven decisions based on the latest headline rather than level-headed ones based on the bigger picture. </p><p>Plus, getting too deep into the weeds of conflicting data and misinformation can lead to confusion that skews your judgment. "When there are competing narratives and competing information, people are going to lean in the direction of what they wanted to do anyway," Tony Lemieux, a social psychologist at Georgia State University, <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-quarantine-fatigue-how-to-combat-it-2020-5">told Insider</a>.</p><p>That, in turn, can lead to "outcome bias," Fischhoff said: when you "judge the quality of the decision by how things turned out, rather than the quality of the thinking that went into it." </p><h2>Give yourself a break </h2><p>Ultimately, making decisions during coronavirus 2.0 is going to be imperfect. "There are no safe ways to do things; 'safe' implies something absolute," Schaffner said. </p><p>So try to accept risk as non-binary and make peace with a long list of unknowns.</p><p>"We've got to go a little easy on ourselves right now to do the best we can, but recognize there's this uncertainty and cloud hanging over that can thwart the best of intentions," Lemieux said. "Give that its due space."</p>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-make-good-enough-choices-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-5">Insider</a>

How to make good enough choices during the coronavirus pandemic, since making risk-free decisions is impossible

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/sears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sears</a> is enticing top executives to stick around by touting $25.3 million in potential bonuses, according to the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-bonuses-bankruptcy-court-1215-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Tribune</a>.</li><li>Meanwhile, laid-off Sears store employees told <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/3/18124450/sears-bankruptcy-eddie-lampert-workers-severance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vox</a> they had stopped receiving severance checks a few weeks after the retailer filed for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-ceo-eddie-lampert-email-to-employees-about-bankruptcy-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bankruptcy</a> in October.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/bernie-sanders">Sen. Bernie Sanders</a> and other commenters took to social media to blast this discrepancy.</li></ul><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/shld-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sears</a> has got people fuming over the fact that top executives stand to pick up major bonuses while laid-off Kmart and Sears store employees have seen their severance pay nixed.</p><p>Last week, a bankruptcy court gave the company the go-ahead to set aside $25.3 million in bonuses for top executives, according the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-bonuses-bankruptcy-court-1215-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Tribune</a>. The retailer argued that it required the money in order to get these execs to stick around.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-bonuses-bankruptcy-court-1215-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Tribune</a> reported that 19 executives will receive bonuses from a pool of $8.4 million if they help the company hit its goals for next six months, while 315 senior employees could draw from a pool of $16.9 million.</p><p>Meanwhile, laid-off Sears store employees have reported that they stopped receiving severance checks after the company filed for bankruptcy.</p><p>Sears and Kmart store employees posted a <a href="https://www.riseupretail.org/sears-employee-letter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the company on Rise Up <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retail">Retail</keyword>'s website, demanding that the retailer "guarantee severance pay and create a hardship fund for thousands of laid off Sears and Kmart employees to help our families get back on our feet."</p><p>"It has been devastating," laid-off Kmart employee Sheila Brewer told <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/3/18124450/sears-bankruptcy-eddie-lampert-workers-severance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vox</a>. Brewer said she received severance for two weeks before the money stopped coming. "In addition to losing my job and having anxiety about who is going to hire me, since I haven't had a job interview in almost 20 years, I am counting on this money. I'm already behind on my rent, and I am the sole provider for my family."</p><p>A representative for Sears did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</p><p>Sen. Bernie Sanders took to Twitter to <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1074009472606105600" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denounce</a> Sears, calling the move indicative of a "rigged economy."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-kmart-sales-increased-for-first-time-years-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sears' and Kmart's sales increased for the first time in years - but it's probably not going to save the business</a></em></p><p>But Sanders, who recently took on both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-amazon-fight-minimum-wage-raise-stop-bezos-act-win-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-walmart-minimum-wage-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walmart</a> over worker wages, wasn't the only one with something to say. Plenty of other Twitter users chimed in with their own criticisms of Sears.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more on Sears' bankruptcy:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-sears-biggest-holder-bids-46b-for-rest-of-bankrupt-chain-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund are bidding $4.6 billion for the rest of Sears</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-should-close-all-stores-creditors-say-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Creditors urge Sears to shut down all its stores, calling its plan for survival 'wishful thinking'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retail-bankruptcies-list-this-year-2018-4" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Retail defaults are at an all-time high - here are all the bankruptcies and liquidations so far in 2018</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-bankruptcy-how-eddie-lampert-gains-when-sears-loses-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Eddie Lampert steered Sears into bankruptcy, but he's found ways to gain if it sinks</a></li></ul><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-retail-ai?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen_future-of-retail-ai"></a></p><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-outlet-home-store-walmart-target-home-depot-jcpenney-stores-2017-2">How Sears went from retail icon to empty stores</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Sears is catching heat for dedicating over $25 million to exec bonuses while reportedly cutting off severance for laid-off store workers

<p><div type="image" title="fitness health pushup abs squats weights resistance bands workout home workout exercise" height="2592" width="3456" msid="76145164" hostid="261"></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Some surveys have suggested that, contrary to expectations, gym closures and lockdowns have prompted previously inactive people to move more.</li><li>The absence of gyms has broadened our idea of what "<keyword id="6358589" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="exercise">exercise</keyword>" means and, in some ways, made it more accessible to people who previously recoiled at the word.</li><li>Even people who love the gym have gotten creative with their workouts, which can be good for their bodies and minds.</li><li>The reasons many people are discovering or rediscovering physical activity — to relieve stress, boost their mood, and just get outside — are those that research has found are likely to lead to a lifetime of fitness.</li><li>So as gyms reopen, it's worth questioning: Aside from their risks for spreading the coronavirus, do we even need them?</li></ul><p>Wendy Schultz was one of those people gyms count on for profit: She paid for a membership but never went, always prioritizing <a href="https://thesimplelifehospitality.com/?fbclid=IwAR1bJdt21RVwwHZHHTey7gw_OS_8YFPHOlKREVMVqsH2dYfnocNdyVVypqA">her business</a> and kids over fitness.</p><p>But once the coronavirus pandemic hit, Schultz, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, started walking a few miles a day to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-can-still-go-outside-while-quarantining-sheltering-in-place-2020-4">get out of the house</a> and relieve stress. By consequence, but not intention, she's lost 20 pounds.</p><p>"Now I see that I don't need to carve out much time in my day to get in some exercise and improve my <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword>," Schultz told Insider.</p><p>She plans to keep up her routine post-pandemic — without setting foot in the gym. She canceled her membership in March.</p><p>Diana Karlinsey's tale has a similar theme. Formerly an avid gymgoer who rotated among three facilities, she's dusted off old fitness DVDs and spent more time outdoors in lockdown. She'll be nixing two of her memberships once the gyms reopen, going only to an occasional class at the local YMCA where her husband works out.</p><p>"I realized that I could get a good workout at home, and I could do it when I wanted," Karlinsky, a retired labor-relations specialist in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, told Insider. "I also realized that going to the gym stressed me out, which is the main reason I will be quitting."</p><p><div type="image" title="medical coronavirus flu virus nyc street face mask gloves covid19 stores shut down closed restaurants social distancing delivery cox 69" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76145167" hostid="261"></div></p><p>As gyms around the country begin to reopen, anecdotes like these raise a question: Do we even need them?</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-safely-go-to-the-gym-reduce-risk-coronavirus-2020-5">Risks related to spreading or contracting the novel coronavirus aside</a>, life without gyms has led to some people who were inactive getting moving and those who love the gym getting creative.</p><p>Others have found that the absence of gyms and the emergence of other options have eliminated some of the barriers that kept them from exercising in the first place.</p><p>And the reasons that many are seeking exercise today — to relieve anxiety, boost confidence, and gain energy — are those that research has found lead to lifelong fitness the way a gym discount, social-media challenge, or weight goal rarely can.</p><h2>One online survey found that formerly infrequent exercisers were moving 88% more</h2><p>People speculated that lockdown measures would only exacerbate <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/sitting-disease-how-a-sedentary-lifestyle-affects-heart-health">the US's sitting problem</a> and surely lead to weight gain with the "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-05-07/weight-gain-during-quarantine">quarantine 15</a>," but it's not clear that's happening. In some cases, the reverse is.</p><p><a href="https://blog.withings.com/2020/05/01/data-quarantine-isnt-making-us-gain-weight-or-slow-down/">Withings, a digital-health company, found that</a> while on average its US users' daily step count dropped by 7% when lockdown measures were put in place, states with historically more sedentary populations actually started moving more. In West Virginia, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/data/inactivity-prevalence-maps/index.html">the eighth-least-active state in the US</a>, daily step counts increased 9%.</p><p>In an <a href="https://runrepeat.com/exercise-covid-19-study">online survey of 12,913 visitors to the website RunRepeat.com</a> conducted in March — which was not representative of the general population — those <a href="https://people.com/health/two-thirds-of-americans-going-easier-on-themselves-during-pandemic/">who were already quite active</a> indicated they were cutting themselves some slack or simply unable to keep up their intense routines during the pandemic, while those who said they previously exercised once or twice a week increased their exercise frequency 88% when stay-at-home orders were put in place.</p><p>Participants in the poll who said they normally exercised three times a week upped their game by 38%.</p><p><div type="image" title="fitness health pushup abs squats weights resistance bands workout home workout exercise" height="2592" width="3456" msid="76145171" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Mallory Bradford, a tech company employee in Chicago, is one of them. She used to take classes at a gym once or twice a week, but couldn't run a mile without stopping. Now, she can run six and is considering training for a triathlon — sans gym. </p><p>"Sweating with other people? No thank you, ever, for as long as I live — or at least until there's a vaccine," she told Insider. </p><h2>Redefining exercise as something that doesn't have to happen in a gym can be liberating  </h2><p>The absence of gyms has spawned <a href="https://www.insider.com/work-out-at-home-free-gym-fitness-resources-workouts-2020-3">massive libraries of virtual workouts</a>, and in some neighborhoods, a cultural acceptance for jumping rope in a closed-down street, doing burpees in a 6-foot circle in the park, or hula-hooping on your lawn. </p><p>In other words, we're redefining what "exercise" means, and that's a good thing for those who recoil at the word alone. </p><p>"People believe that there are right and best places to be active, and it's usually formal exercise in a gym," <a href="https://michellesegar.com/">Michelle Segar</a>, a behavior change scientist at the University of Michigan, told Insider. "That gets in people's way."</p><p>For years, it got in Jen Doran's way. The Long Island travel industry worker and mom dreaded going to the gym — and so by default, doing any exercise — because her large chest made her not only uncomfortable, but self-conscious, working out.</p><p>Once she found online "quick burn" workouts (<a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-find-sports-bra-that-fits-when-to-replace-2020-1">and a better bra</a>) about a year ago, she started to enjoy movement and the ability to take her routine on the road. With the help of a medical team and diet changes, she lost 50 pounds and quit her gym membership during the peak of her weight loss. </p><p>Now, about a year later, Doran is especially grateful she'd already mastered working out from home. She stays motivated "knowing what my body is able to do now [at 43] that I couldn't do at 25," she told Insider.</p><h2>Even people who plan to return to gyms are getting creative, and that's empowering</h2><p>Nearly 80% of US adults in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-widely-oppose-reopening-most-businesses-despite-easing-of-restrictions-in-some-states-post-u-md-poll-finds/2020/05/04/495ddc3a-8e36-11ea-9e23-6914ee410a5f_story.html">Washington Post-University of Maryland poll</a> are opposed to gyms reopening now. Half of 6,636 US gym members in <a href="https://runrepeat.com/gyms-reopening-coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR3wJMh-9S6L3cW_tYrPmmyUgQDrZPitL6UfCw9w5KR5mBq9bUM6bl4FfpY">another poll</a> said they won't return.  </p><p>But eventually, some will, and should — slowly and safely. Fitness and health clubs are a <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/1141/health-and-fitness-clubs/">$30 million industry in the U.S.</a>, critical to the economy and many people's livelihoods. </p><p>And plenty of people, including yours truly, really like them. You simply can't recreate the camaraderie of a fitness class, hands-on attention of a yoga class, or the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/is-it-safe-to-swim-in-pool-during-coronavirus-chlorine-2020-5">presence of a swimming pool</a> through Zoom. </p><p><div type="image" title="Gym reopen France masks cardio equipment" height="2971" width="4566" msid="76145175" hostid="261"></div></p><p>But their shutdown has allowed, or perhaps forced, some gym rats to get creative with their routines, and that's not a bad thing. </p><p>"Anything we have a long-term relationship with — careers, marriages, parenting — Segar said. Our relationship with physical activity is no different. "Resilience is about rolling with the punches," she said.</p><p>Practically speaking, changing it up "will allow your body rest and healing, decreasing your chances of overuse injury, while simultaneously strengthening areas previously neglected," <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dr_jedidiah_/">Dr. Jebidiah Ballard</a>, an emergency medicine physician, <a href="https://www.insider.com/can-you-go-for-a-run-coronavirus-quarantine-social-distancing-2020-3">previously told Insider</a>. </p><p>Psychologically speaking, trying new (or old) activities like outdoor running or indoor dancing can be empowering because whether or not you return to or join a gym post-pandemic, "the reality is, these options will always be there," Segar said.</p><p>For Dick Lynch, a retired business professional quarantining in Burlington, Wisconsin, rediscovering running after a several-year hiatus has been "incredibly pleasurable," giving him time to think unlike his pre-pandemic CrossFit workouts.</p><p>While he'll eventually return, "I would not have gone back to running if not for the virus," he said. </p><h2>Exercising for immediate benefits leads to lifelong fitness </h2><p>Not everyone has the desire, ability, or privilege of being more active during the pandemic. Some people aren't safe exercising outside, others are coping with losses of loved ones and jobs, and some are healthiest if they take these months to simply be still. </p><p>But many of those who are discovering or rediscovering movement are doing so for the reasons that give them a shot at maintaining their routines when society reopens. </p><p>Quite simply: They want to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-psychologist-2020-2">feel better right now</a>. </p><p>Segar, who wrote "No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness," calls this "the right why" — that movement brings on an immediate boost in mood, energy, confidence, and other positive emotions.</p><p>Research shows that type of "high-quality" motivation is lasting, while exercising because you want to fit into your pre-pandemic jeans, you signed up for a race, or you're paying for a personal trainer is not. </p><p>Being freed up to simply move one way to today and then adjust your strategy tomorrow based on whatever didn't feel right — a "learning," not "achieving" mindset — is also a pillar of sustainable fitness, <a href="https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2016-04-01/how-to-plant-the-motivational-seeds-for-a-physically-active-lifestyle">Segar says</a>. </p><p><div type="image" title="Circles designed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus by encouraging social distancing line San Francisco's Dolores Park, Thursday, May 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)" height="3070" width="4806" msid="76145181" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Plus, people who've been at a fitness routine for at least six weeks have a good chance of continuing it post-pandemic, since that's about how long it takes to form a habit, Dr. Mimi Winsberg, a triathlete, psychiatrist, and chief medical officer at <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword> telemedicine service <a href="https://www.brightside.com/about/">Brightside</a>, told Insider.</p><p>That's the case for Ashley Bernardi, who committed to practicing yoga daily over two months ago to get some peace of mind between homeschooling her three kids and running her public relations business while her essential-employee husband went to work. </p><p>Now, she says, "it's become a habit like brushing my teeth, so I don't think it's going to disappear when things open up again." </p><p>If stories like hers continue to come out of the pandemic, Winsberg said, "Hallelujah. That would be wonderful side effect." </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-experiencing-adjustment-disorder-as-lockdowns-end-2020-5">People are experiencing 'adjustment disorder' as lockdowns end and society reopens, a psychiatrist says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-can-still-go-outside-while-quarantining-sheltering-in-place-2020-4">Stop shaming people for going outside. The risks are generally low, and the benefits are endless.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/can-you-run-walk-go-outside-during-shelter-in-place-2020-3">How you can safely spend time outside while under a 'stay at home' or 'shelter in place' mandate</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-make-good-enough-choices-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-5">How to make good enough choices during the coronavirus pandemic, since making risk-free decisions is impossible</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/dont-need-to-reopen-gyms-we-never-really-needed-them-2020-6">Insider</a>

We don't need gyms to reopen. We never really needed them in the first place.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">I've never regretted saying "yes" while traveling.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>After traveling to dozens of countries, I've found that the best experiences I've had haven't come from fancy meals or tourist attractions, but from saying yes to meeting new people.</li><li>On a recent trip to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egypt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Egypt</a>, I contacted a distant acquaintance for tips and ended up being offered a place to stay in a beautiful <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/red-sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Red Sea</a> resort town and attending a feast of homemade Egyptian food. </li><li>While being a good judge of character is essential to trusting strangers while traveling - particularly if you are a woman - I have found that I have been rewarded time and again by saying "yes" to opportunities while traveling. </li></ul><p>Sometimes, I look around while traveling, pause in awe for a moment, and wonder, "How did I get here?"</p><p>There was the time I belted "Mr. Brightside" at 5 a.m. to a packed karaoke bar hidden in a Tokyo alleyway that gave out free Jägermeister. There was the time I started a night <a href="https://langenacht.orf.at/en/">exploring Vienna's world class museums until past midnight</a> and ended it making friends with Austria's national hacky sack team. And there was the day I spent trading stories with a troupe of <a href="http://afropop.org/articles/feature-gnawa-music-of-morocco">Moroccan gnawa musicians</a> while eating homemade fish tagine near the beach.</p><p>When I think back to those experiences - which were far more memorable than anything else I did visiting those countries - I see one commonality: I said yes. Yes to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1">a Couchsurfing meetup to see an obscure electrorock band</a> while alone on a business trip in Tokyo. Yes to not booking a hotel for my one-night layover in Vienna. And yes to taking a ride down the coast with a musician I had met hours before in a coffee shop.</p><p>Without fail, when I've said yes to some crazy proposition while traveling, I have found the universe has paid back the good karma.</p><p>In December, my partner Annie and I had an experience in Egypt that drove home for me how transformative saying "yes" can be.</p><p>Shortly before arriving in Cairo, I messaged an acquaintance on Facebook that I had met briefly seven years before. She is the only Egyptian I know, an activist lawyer I had met when I first moved to New York City. At the time, I was sleeping on my brother's couch post-graduation. She was staying there a few nights, too, while she found a sublet to live in during her summer internship. We had hung out one day - and that was it.</p><p>We hadn't spoke since but I knew she lived in Cairo so, a couple weeks before I arrived, I asked her for a few tips on the city. It turned out she had moved after President <span>Abdel Fattah </span>al-Sisi came to power to a resort town on the Red Sea a few hours from Cairo. She couldn't help us with Cairo, she said, but why not come to the Red Sea and stay with her a few days.</p><p>Why not?</p><p>I wasn't sure what to expect since we'd only spoken a couple of times, but we ended up hitting it off. She took Annie and me to a local pub for karaoke night, got her friend that ran a nearby co-working space to gift us visitors' passes, and even worked in a tennis lesson.</p><p>On our third night, we went out for drinks at a swanky cocktail lounge. I was tired, but she wanted us to meet two of her friends, so we took a cab to the couple's house. It turned out that her friends had developed several businesses since the Arab Spring Revolution and talked to us deep into the night about the state of Egypt.</p><p>Her friend turned out to be an incredible cook and had been toying with opening a catering business. Had we tried molokhia yet, she asked.</p><p>She then went on to whip up a hearty bowl of the rich, leafy green traditional Egyptian soup, and added rice, spiced chicken, and locally produced whiskey to boot. The hospitality was a bit shocking at first. But in truth, we had seen nothing yet.</p><p>As we ate the molokhia, she quizzed us on Egyptian delicacies we had yet to try. By the time we left, she had told us to come back around lunchtime the next day and she'd have cooked all of the dishes she'd mentioned.</p><p>When I woke up hungover the following morning, I had half-assumed she had been joking. One of those grand promises you make that seem brilliant at 3 a.m., but are soon forgotten. I was wrong.</p><p>I received a text with "the menu."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The menu for the feast.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>When we arrived in the late afternoon, we found that she had arranged an entire dinner party with her friends and family in the span of 12 hours. And just as she said, every dish she'd talked about was cooked.</p><p>From Alexandria-style chicken livers ....</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Alexandria-style chicken livers.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>... to Baladi salad, homemade potato chips, and roz bil sh'reya (white rice mixed with golden-brown noodles) ...</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Salads, chips, and mac &amp; cheese.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>.... and, who could forget, the entire roasted lamb.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">A roasted lamb.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Now, I should note: There's a risk to saying yes. Sometimes, you end up in a village in China and have to convince a taxi driver who doesn't speak English to drive several hours away to a city whose name you can't pronounce. Sometimes you end up crammed in a Egyptian minibus with 14 other people for six hours and no bathroom breaks. Occasionally, you might find yourself on a 12-hour hike that your guide told you was six hours long.</p><p>If you are a woman, the sad reality is that you have to be doubly or triply careful. Often, the risk isn't simply a boring or annoying encounter, but a dangerous one. Having a sharp BS-detector and being an expert judge of character is essential, as is having a backup plan.</p><p>But as we sat around eating, watching Egyptian football, and talking about the politics of the Middle East, I had that feeling: None of this would have happened if I hadn't taken the leap to contact a person I had met once seven years ago.</p><p>I said yes.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More tips from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/diehard-iphone-ios-user-switches-to-android-oneplus-6t-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I switched to Android after more than a decade with the iPhone, and I'm not going back. Here's why.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-tip-find-healthy-good-cheap-food-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I use the same trick in any city I visit to make sure I find amazing food</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Couchsurfing has a hidden feature that helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/multicity-flights-expedia-skyscanner-mistake-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I found out the hard way that one of the best strategies to save money on flights can end up costing you big time</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-travel-advice-skip-attractions-that-dont-interest-you-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">The single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-advice-biggest-travel-mistakes-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again</a></li></ul>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-285-million-nyc-apartment-2019-2">Take a look inside a $28.5 million NYC apartment on Billionaires' Row</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

An epic feast I had at a stranger's home in a remote town in Egypt is a perfect example of why I always say 'yes' when I travel

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Chris Wattie/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">There's a dealmaking boom in the cannabis sector.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Aurora Cannabis bought Medreleaf in a $2.3 billion stock deal - the largest <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/cannabis">cannabis</a> merger ever.</strong></li><li><strong>It's a sign that M&amp;A is heating up in the cannabis space.</strong></li><li><strong>The deals are driven by the excitement around legalization, competition for scale, and specific expertise on the medical side of the sector. </strong></li></ul><p>A dealmaking boom in the marijuana sector is ramping up as excitement around legalization grows. </p><p><span>Aurora Cannabis, one of the largest Canadian growers, bought its rival Medreleaf for a $2.3 billion stock deal, the companies announced in a joint statement on Monday. The combined firm will be the largest cannabis company by market cap, leapfrogging its chief rival, Canopy Growth. </span></p><p><span>The behemoth will produce a total of 1.25 million pounds of cannabis in its facilities and will have access to the increasingly important European market. </span></p><p><span>The deal is one of many to pop up in the cannabis sector in recent days.</span></p><p><span>"Merger Monday, a Wall Street adage, is back in vogue but in a new space, the cannabis sector," said Morgan Paxhia, Chief Investment Officer of cannabis industry-focused hedge fund <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/poseidon-asset-management-emily-and-morgan-2016-8">Poseidon Asset Management</a>. </span></p><p>With the ink barely drying on the Aurora-MedReleaf deal, a consortium of four cannabis companies - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/baker-the-salesforce-of-pot-raises-35-million-from-vcs-2017-3">Baker Technologies,</a> Sea Hunter, Brightside, and Sante Veritas Therapeutics - announced a merger on Tuesday, operating under the name <a href="https://www.tiltholdings.com/">TILT</a>. The new conglomerate will list on the CSE, a secondary Canadian exchange. </p><p>Here's a rundown of the other major Monday announcements:</p><ul><li><span>Canopy Growth announced it would <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-canopy-growth-tweed-marijuana-grow-site-2017-3">seek to list on the NYSE</a> and begin trading shares at the end of May (pending approval), amid a wave of excitement about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chuck-schumer-introducing-legislation-to-decriminalize-marijuana-2018-4">marijuana legalization sweeping the US</a>. </span></li><li><span>Green Thumb Industries, a Chicago-based cultivator, announced it's going public through a reverse-takeover agreement with the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Bayswater Uranium Corporation. </span><span>The new public company will list on the CSE.</span></li><li><span>IAnthus, a firm that operates cannabis cultivation facilities in a number of US states, announced it received a $50 million investment from cannabis-focused private equity firm Gotham Green Partners, in the largest-ever single public investment by one investor into a cannabis company. </span></li></ul><p><span>"We expect to see transaction activity in M&amp;A, IPOs, and private funding to continue hitting record levels as the velocity and size of capital is still relatively low but picking up meaningfully around the world," Paxhia said. </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A worker collects cuttings from a marijuana plant at the Canopy Growth Corporation facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><h2><span>The strategy behind cannabis deals </span><span></span></h2><p><span>Cam Battley, Aurora's Chief Corporate Officer, told Business Insider that the merger is intended to help the company make inroads into new markets.<br /></span></p><p><span>"<span style="font-weight: 400;">We didn't actually go to do this in order to achieve scale," Battley said. "It was a byproduct of the strategic rationale."</span></span></p><p><span>Nonetheless, Battley said the merger gives Aurora everything it needs to "rapidly expand around the world." </span></p><p><span>"We're operating based on a very clear strategic plan that calls for both organic growth and growth by M&amp;A and for all of that to happen incredibly quickly," said Battley. </span></p><p><span>Battley said the company is continuing to build out its 800,000 square-foot production facility near the Edmonton, Alberta airport, as well as a number of other state-of-the-art cultivation facilities in Canada and in Denmark. </span></p><p><span>Aurora has also been on an acquisition spree in recent months, completing eight acquisitions and eight partnerships in the last year alone.</span></p><p><span>"<span style="font-weight: 400;">The whole sector moves fast, but we move at what we call the speed of Aurora," Battley said. "And no exaggeration, the entire management team works seven days a week."</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is all good news for shareholders. Each shareholder of MedReleaf will receive 3.575 shares of Aurora, equating to around 40% of the combined company. </span></span></p><p>"MedReleaf's shareholders will be getting a healthy premium," Vahan Ajamian, an analyst at the Toronto-based Beacon Securities said in a note. "We believe this development will spark M&amp;A enthusiasm across the sector." </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger</span></p><p class="caption">An employee cuts cannabis buds in a laboratory at the headquarters of AGES agency in Vienna, Austria March 15, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Why specific expertise makes for a good acquisition target</h2><p>In the US, tech and pharma companies that have specific expertise in the cannabis sector make for the best acquisition targets.</p><p>Each of the <a href="http://businessinsider.com/legal-marijuana-states-2018-1">29 states with some form of regulated cannabis</a> - whether medical or recreational - has its own regulations around the legal cannabis industry, creating what amounts to "29 unique markets," Alex Coleman, the new CEO of TILT, told Business Insider.</p><p>The Trump administration's stance toward cannabis is still unclear, though there are a number of legalization bills floating around Congress. Canada, on the other hand, is set to legalize cannabis federally this year and roll out recreational markets as early as September, pending deliberation in the Canadian Senate. </p><p>"I think you're going to be seeing more strategic acquisitions," Coleman said. "I think those acquisitions will mostly be smaller in-state acquisitions with companies that have proven themselves to have some point of difference."</p><p>These acquisition targets could be companies with specific geographic expertise, or more likely smaller startups  geared toward the pharmaceutical side of the industry that have patented some sort of extraction method, Coleman said.</p><p>For example, if a startup came up with a treatment that could address a medical condition using certain combinations of CBD and THC (two of the most well-known active chemical compounds in cannabis) that would make the company a prime acquisition target, Coleman said. </p><h2>From Canada to the world </h2><p><span style="color: #000000;">Though there's lots of activity on the pharma and tech side in the US, it's the big Canadian companies that are poised to<span style="font-weight: 400;"> get a first-mover advantage to the global medical cannabis export market, Karan Wadhera, the managing partner of Casa Verde Capital, <a href="https://www.pehub.com/canada/2018/05/america-can-learn-canadas-first-mover-advantage-cannabis/">wrote.</a></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">"There's a very unusual situation that exists today whereby a handful of Canadian companies have an opportunity to establish and invents the global cannabis industry," Battley said. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Canada's cannabis industry is the most mature, and Canadian companies can access capital much easier than US companies, where investors are largely <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sessions-crackdown-on-cannabis-cole-memo-legal-marijuana-industry-2018-1">reticent to jump into the industry</a> because of the federal government's stance. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Aurora would have "done fine" in launching consumer brands in Canada following legalization, the big economic opportunity lies in the global medical market, Battley said. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">As new medical markets open up around the world, Canadian companies like Aurora will have the supply and infrastructure to export cannabis to countries in the European Union - as well as Australia, Israel, and others - as those markets open up.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Battley said Aurora doesn't have any real US competitors because cannabis remains federally illegal, so US cultivators can't deduct business expenses (lest they get in trouble with the IRS), can't sell product across state lines (because of the Interstate Commerce Act), and largely can't access public exchanges. </span></span></p><h2>Read more of our cannabis industry coverage here:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-industry-rising-investment-stars-2018-3">The rising stars of marijuana's investment scene that everyone from Wall Street to Silicon Valley should know</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-industry-rising-investment-stars-2018-3"></a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/highest-valued-marijuana-companies-insights-industry-2018-3">The highest-valued marijuana companies of 2017 reveal 2 key insights about the booming industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-choose-marijuana-investments-according-to-privateer-ceo-2018-4">The CEO of a Peter Thiel-backed cannabis private equity firm reveals his 3-pronged strategy for choosing investments</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bi-prime-navy-capital-investing-in-the-public-marijuana-market-2018-2">A hedge fund that focuses solely on marijuana is crushing it</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/green-bits-cannabis-tech-tiger-global-2018-4">A $22 billion investment firm led one of the largest ever funding rounds for a cannabis tech company - here's why it's a big deal for the industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-plan-dominate-marijuana-industry-2018-5">Inside Shopify's strategy for dominating the booming cannabis industry</a><br /><section id="l-content" data-track-page-area="Post" data-post-content=""><section><div></div></section></section></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-survive-alligator-attack-2018-4">How to survive an alligator attack</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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Anna Medaris Miller,Aylin Woo…

How to make good enough choices during the coronavirus pandemic, since making risk-free decisions is impossible

Anna Medaris Miller,Aylin Woo…

Sears is catching heat for dedicating over $25 million to exec bonuses while reportedly cutting off severance for laid-off store workers

Áine Cain

We don't need gyms to reopen. We never really needed them in the first place.

Anna Medaris Miller

An epic feast I had at a stranger's home in a remote town in Egypt is a perfect example of why I always say 'yes' when I travel

Harrison Jacobs

A $2.3 billion merger has created the world's largest marijuana company - and it's a sign of a dealmaking boom in the sector

Jeremy Berke