Top 5 Coronavirus Resources

These are the go-to places journalists are heading for Covid-19 information

There are a lot of smart people working on and writing about the novel coronavirus pandemic, but there’s also a lot of noise and misinformation. As the senior writer at Elemental, Medium’s health and wellness publication, here’s what I (and the rest of the journalists at Medium) are reading and using to verify our own stories.

1. The CDC: There’s no better resource in the U.S. for reliable Covid-19 information than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their website includes links to information about prevention and what to do if you’re sick, as well as practical guidelines for businesses and schools.
2. WHO: Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) is the best source for information, with daily updates on the current situation worldwide.
3. State Health Departments: For a more local perspective, check out your state health department’s website, which will have the most up-to-date information on school closings, social distancing requirements, and case numbers. For example, New York, California, and Washington all have dedicated Covid-19 pages.
4. Johns Hopkins coronavirus map and The Covid Tracking Project: If you want real-time updates, check out these two independent projects that have emerged to help track the spread of the virus worldwide and the number of tests conducted in the U.S.
5. Medical journals: For those who really want to dig deep, you can go directly to the source of the latest research on the pandemic that scientists, physicians, and epidemiologists are publishing. Four of the largest, most reputable journals are:

• Journal of the American Medical Association
• New England Journal of Medicine
• The Lancet
• British Medical Journal