Coronavirus Information Resources: Revised List v2

Coronavirus Information Resources: Revised List v2

Today is March 26, 2020. As the Coronavirus continues to spread, I've decided to restart my dormant blog. For the immediate future, my intention is to provide a list of Coronavirus related resources including websites, simulators, social media links and videos. My intention is to share what I've found useful and to make it easy for others to locate these resources. The list is not intended to be exhaustive and it is naturally subjective. Furthermore, I will share personal commentary on certain sources where relevant.

Now today is April 4 and moving on as the list is updated.. Dating is troublesome but this is more like v2 than the intial list.


A. Data Sources
(Sources that provide statistical data on the Coronavirus)

• BNO News: https://bnonews.com (click on the Coronavirus heading)
• Worldometer: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
• Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data
• Evrim Ağacı: https://evrimagaci.org/covid19 (Turkey specific data set)

BNO News has news updates which helps to put daily developments in perspective.

Worldometer has easy to use global statistics and a page that shows the global population on page.

Our World in Data is an impressive data source that provides extensive and customizable charts that you can also use in your own publications. I'm pretty impressed by this resource.

B. Governmental, Intergovernmental and Quasigovernmental Sources

• World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• Nuclear Threat Initiative: https://www.nti.org

C. Twitter - People and Organizations

(Various people that have something to say regarding Coronavirus ranging from health experts to economists.)

• Nicholas A. Christakis: https://twitter.com/NAChristakis (Sterling Professor of Social & Natural Science at Yale)
• Caitlin Rivers: https://twitter.com/cmyeaton (Assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security)
• Robin Brooks: https://twitter.com/RobinBrooksIIF (Chief Economist at IIF)
• Uratu Seker: https://twitter.com/uosseker (Synthetic Biology, Genetic Circuits @BilkentUniv)
• Uri Alon: https://twitter.com/UriAlonWeizmann (Alon Labs)
• Erdal Yanbuloğlu: https://twitter.com/qujunil

D. Twitter - Specific Tweets

(Links to specific tweets and floods.)

• Pandemic Waves Chart: https://twitter.com/GurkaynakGonenc/status/1239152888502538240/photo/1
• Let’s talk about what happens if you get COVID19 and recover: https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1240689935557865472
• Latest figures released by China Mobile show that they have lost 8.116 million users in Jan and Feb.: https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1241025420562178050 (This and related posts either point out to a major risk or to an interesting anti-China campaign. The latter does not concern me but if the former is true then we have a much bigger global healthcare crisis than envisaged at the moment.)
• New York City restaurant 232 Bleecker is selling dinner bonds.: https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1240733804215635968
• Ireland has just effectively nationalized its health service in response to the pandemic.: https://twitter.com/CaelainnH/status/1242506138383519759
• Bitcoin's correlation to traditional assets and especially to gold has increased during this period: https://twitter.com/gaborgurbacs/status/1246122670372139016
• Emerging market currencies are very hard hit during this period: https://twitter.com/RobinBrooksIIF/status/1245843029249974272
• Opening up: https://twitter.com/kr3at/status/1244474617034661896 

Public - Private cooperation in its mild nationalization form is used in countries such as Ireland, Spain and Turkey to name a few. Effectively state extends a temporary control over private healthcare resources during the pandemic. Being a liberal myself, I think this is a rational choice in an emergency as (i) it can deliver more effectively and more efficiently (that it would is a matter of execution but it can) and (ii) it does not violate free market principles as such controls are temporary. Lacking such public outreach, private actors are neither incentivized nor penalized enough to mount a fully dedicated response to a public health emergency situation.

My own back of the envelope model suggests that last week of April to first of May could see the peak infections for this cycle. Newsflow will be bad up until late May but things will start open up gradually from May onward. General mood will not shift to be more positive before June but keen data watchers will see peak offs from April in to May. (April 4)

E. Articles

(Various articles on Coronavirus and more importantly on its impact on a social, economic or politic item.)

• Coronavirus Pandemic: Countries start hoarding food: https://countercurrents.org/2020/03/coronavirus-pandemic-countries-start-hoarding-food
• Washington Post's Corona Simulator article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
• Tomas Pueyo with The Hammer and the Dance: https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56
• Trump’s Itch to Reboot the Economy Would Be a Fatal Error from Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-itch-to-reboot-the-economy-would-be-a-fatal-error/
• Containing SARS-CoV-2 with a two-day workweek: https://medium.com/@urialonw/containing-sars-cov-2-with-a-two-day-workweek-fbdea4030d30
• Corona Mathematics: https://medium.com/@coronamathematics/corona-mathematics-aa274869a9e0
• What the Science Really Says About Ibuprofen and Coronavirus: https://elemental.medium.com/heres-what-we-know-about-ibuprofen-and-covid-19-212960b28e03
• The Digital Dictators from Foreign Affairs     
• Support for fiscal measures by Mahfi Egilmez (in Turkish): http://www.mahfiegilmez.com/2020/04/gelir-harcama-zinciri-koparsa.html
• Not a post-capitalism but an adaptation idea by Ali Akay (in Turkish): https://t24.com.tr/yazarlar/ali-akay/post-kapitalizm-mi,26119

Please note that there is limited but growing concern that preventative healthcare measures taken will impact food production. I'll try to add links to such resources. I'm not qualified to comment on the subject but if there is a risk on this front, there could be precious little time to address it. (April 2 Update - General chatter is become calmer on this topic.)

I am in the process of burbling out my thoughts on the post coronavirus expectations and I tend to Agree with Ali Akay on this one. The prevailing is order is not to change and capitalism can adapt much more easily than expected by some intellectuals. Most importantly on my part, I see the problem more of the way we are dealing with the virus than the virus itself - as possibly triggered by Chinese Wuhan containment success and Italy (and Spain) death spiral; our policies have shifted to quasi intelligent lockdowns. However only intelligent measures can seek maintain balance between health and all else that matters.

F. Tools

(Various tools)

• Epidemic Simulator on GitHub: http://gabgoh.github.io/COVID/index.html (Incredible flexible simulator with a host of variables.)
• Covid Sim: http://covidsim.eu

G. YouTube

(Various videos)

• Steve Lookner with Daily Live Coverage of Coronovirus on Agenda-Free TV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCshCsg1YVKli8yBai-wa78w (Impressive job by Steve and he is focusing on Corono for weeks now.)
• Refet Gürkaynak on the economic impact of Covid-19 (in Turkish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBZI76m4NfA
• Coronavirus vs. Every 2000s Epidemic (March 19 update) Fatality comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4no04822NQ
• Coronavirus Pandemic: Real Time Counter, World Map, News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgylp3Td1Bw
• Müge Çevik from St. Andrews Hospital - Evrim Ağacı Interview (in Turkish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1608&v=-L_pQuZeowY&feature=emb_logo
• Emrah Altındiş from Boston College - Halk TV Interview (in Turkish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtCSaYA1rkE&list=PLYOqbFWV7F4-PEf7gGDYL0CNTb9AyMXLu&index=3&t=0s
• Arvin Ash on a frightening mathematical model of Coronavirus spread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znWrG9xp7Q4&t=220s
• Arvin Ash mentions this German mathematician Daniel Regenberg - this is his YouTube channel on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_fFqo1PsGTSa2C68yqqpwQ

H. Presentations, Papers and Related Resources

• The economics of a pandemic: the case of Covid-19 by Paolo Surico and Adnrea Galeotti: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wm521646rszpl90/slides_Covid19_final.pdf?dl=0
• Exploring Potential Super Infection in SARS-CoV2 by Genome-Wide Analysis and Receptor: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0310/v1 (This paper deals with mutation aspect of the virus - check out the twitter feed in Turkish about this here https://twitter.com/CagatayTarhan/status/1242905613228744707 )
• Global Health Security Index: https://www.ghsindex.org

I. Charts:

• More than a billion students impacted by school closures from Statista:

• The Emissions Impact of Coronavirus Lockdowns, As Shown by Satellites: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/coronavirus-lockdowns-emissions/
• The Size of Coronavirus Locdowns from Statista:

• The Math Behind Social Distancing: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-math-behind-social-distancing/
• Prdocuts Suddenly Interesting During a Lockdown:

J. News

• Interview with Byung-Chul Han: https://aldianews.com/articles/culture/social/keys-coronavirus-why-are-western-countries-failing-control-pandemic/57969

"The virus will not defeat capitalism. The solidarity that consists of keeping our distance from each other is not a solidarity that allows us to dream of a different, more peaceful, more just society. We cannot leave the revolution in the hands of the virus. Let us hope that behind the virus comes a human revolution. It is WE, PEOPLE gifted with REASON, who have to rethink and radically restrict destructive capitalism, and also our unlimited and destructive mobility, to save ourselves, to save the climate and our beautiful planet."

• Covid-19 could devastate poor countries - the Economist: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/03/26/covid-19-could-devastate-poor-countries?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2020/03/26n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/E/436254/n

If covid-19 is left to ravage the emerging world, it will soon spread back to the rich one.

• New Yorker on How Does the Coronavirus Behave Inside a Patient?
• Lessons from Past Outbreaks Could Help Fight the Coronavirus Pandemic from Scientific American
• Why grocery shelves won't be empty for long from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200401-covid-19-why-we-wont-run-out-of-food-during-coronavirus