Useful Pandemic Links

A few useful pandemic links:

• Here's the Johns Hopkins map of the Worldwide progress of the illness (number of confirmed cases, number of deaths, number of people who have recovered). (Start on the FAQ page at the link and then click the link at the top—that seems to be the most reliable way to get to the most recent update of the map.) New York City (!? They're breaking it out from the USA) has jumped onto the deaths list just in the past couple of days.
• For U.S. citizens, Kaiser Health News has a page with a county-by-county tally of the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, total countywide population, population over 60 by number and percentage, and number of citizens over 60 per ICU bed. The search bar is kinda tough to find (well, I didn't see it at first): it's at the top of the table, under where it says "ICU Beds, by County." For example, my county has 25,083 people, 6,750 of whom are over 60 (incl. Yr. Hmbl. Ed.), and 0 ICU beds.
• Mayo Clinic page that explains Donald Trump's personality disorder type.
• Fox Business page listing restrictions state-by-state (updated regularly).
• What kind of organism is this virus? Viruses are incredibly primitive lifeforms. It is "little more than a packet of genetic material surrounded by a spiky protein shell one-thousandth the width of an eyelash, and it leads such a zombielike existence that it’s barely considered a living organism." It's somewhere "between chemistry and biology," said Gary Whittaker, a Cornell University professor of virology, in the article. "It's switching between alive and not alive."
• Regarding the stock market crash, Julia is sick and is awaiting the results of her COVID-19 test, so she is quarantined away from husband Philip and their baby, who are also sheltering in place. But Philip goes lo-fi this week to explain the implications to ordinary investors of the bear market, on PBS's personal finance vlog "Two Cents."
• Simplified basic model of how viral epidemics come to an end. A development most devoutly to be wished and anticipated!

Know of another useful informational link from a page that's likely to be trustworthy? Send it to me personally by email, with the title "Possible CV19 Link," and please include some identifying verbiage in the body of the email so it doesn't get routed to spam. Please don't send more than one link URL in your email. Please don't add links in the comments, but you can provide enough identifying information (source, title) so other readers can Google for themselves if they want to.

Really, please don't put links in the comments right now*. Thanks.

Mike

*I do my best to vet links in comments so as not to unwittingly publish something objectionable. But it takes a lot of time. I worked on catching up with comments all day yesterday until 10:30 last night, a process that was slowed greatly by checking all the links. I'd rather spend less time doing that and more time writing!

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Please help TOP keep on keeping on

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Jim Arthur: "If you have never worked remotely before you may want to check out the 'SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit' for data security awareness info on how to stay secure at home. Their 'Securely Working From Home Factsheet' on the above mentioned page is worth a read. The cyber-criminals of the world are always lurking and waiting for a new opportunity. SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network and Security. Wikipedia says, 'The SANS Institute sponsors the Internet Storm Center, an internet monitoring system staffed by a global community of security practitioners, and the SANS Reading Room, a research archive of information security policy and research documents. SANS is one of the founding organizations of the Center for Internet Security.'"

V.I. Voltz: "The characteristics of life are growth, metabolism and reproduction. Viruses do not have metabolism, they need a host cell's metabolism to power and organise their reproduction. Technically they are self reproducing but not alive. Confusing."

Comments

[PDLanum]

I have to disagree on one point. Virii are not primitive forms of life, they are simple forms. If you think they are "alive" or not.

[Eolake]

Thanks, great links.

[Richard Parkin]

Sorry, Mike, but I don’t think anyone comes here for COVID-19 advice so why delay readers comments in order to give it?

[Because it's what's on my mind and occupying my time. That's what has kept this blog steaming along for nearly fifteen years--the fact that it is the reflection of my interests and my thinking and reading--so I gotta go with the program. If I were just writing entertainment as if it were a job or an assignment, I never would have lasted. I wouldn't have made it past year one.

As Popeye said, I yam what I yam and dat's all what I yam.

Oh and by the way, I finished the comments before I started that post. --Mike]

[Rod]

I feel for you over there. Contrary to Trumps claims, Australia is testing 25x as many people and in most states look to be coping (flattening the curve). 164 miles of wall does not lock a border down, inadequate testing and too few hospital beds will not stop it. I hope you do not go the way of Italy or Spain, but the figures say you are. Good luck to all.

[Michael Trupiano]

A well written article: "How the Pandemic Will End" by Ed Yong at The Atlantic, March 25, 2020.

[Don Spady]

A very good site is worldometers. Has lots of statistical stuff about lots of things in the world, but a very good section on the coronavirus.
You can get the link by googling worldometers.

Don

[Dave Sailer]

Thanks.

Also: "How the Pandemic Will End" by Ed Yong at "The Atlantic", March 25, 2020