Covid Resources

Under the SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie Grow
Last update: Jan 25, 2021 Email me at ajs@frii.com

This is a relatively short list of most-valuable links I've found, related to the covid-19 crisis, worth sharing or revisiting.

Facts

• Signs of the Times -- a web album by Alan of local (Fort Collins) images related to the covid crisis; note that you can click anywhere on an image to slideshow step to the next one; every image has a descriptive filename (bottom of screen); many images have explanatory captions below

• RealClear Politics Coronavirus Tracker -- big, interesting table; click on "Confirmed Case Fatality Rate" in particular
• Infection Trajectory -- excellent overall world plot by country (although not per-capita)
• Coronavirus Infection Trajectories -- global graphs and excellent visualizations

• Tracking The Pandemic -- How Quickly Is The Coronavirus Spreading State By State? (nice brief NPR data page)
• Daily confirmed new cases -- nice graphical summaries from Johns Hopkins (similar but different to previous)
• Rate of Positive Tests in the US and States Over Time -- and a very nice data representation also from JHU
• Confirmed C19 cases per capita -- clean, efficient US data per-capita (sometimes more meaningful than raw totals); hover-over for popup details
• Up-to-date values for Rt -- state-by-state estimates, with history

• Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker -- a quick dashboard view
• CDC COVID Data Tracker -- Vaccinations
• Cumulative doses -- very nice graphics including "play" mode

• Food delivery precautions -- (4/1) brief and factual advice about take-out and delivery
• Clinical Pearls Covid 19 for ER practitioners -- (3/25) detailed but fascinating medical technical details from a Texas ER doctor
• HealthWeather -- US body temperatures by county

Interpretations

• The Tip of the Iceberg -- (3/20) Caltech virologist David Ho speaks about COVID-19; very educational and well-presented
• Caltech Science Exchange -- Science Explained... brings expert insight to the scientific questions that define our time (including covid-related)
• COVID-19 Insights -- excellent short series of long blogs by an MD
• Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance -- (3/19) very clear and insightful models, and some good related links
  • Coronavirus: Part 1, Learning How to Dance -- (4/20) followup to above
  • Coronavirus: Part 2, The Basic Dance Steps Everybody Can Follow -- (4/23) followup to above
  • Coronavirus, Part 3: How to Do Testing and Contact Tracing -- (4/28) followup to above
• These Coronavirus Exposures Might Be the Most Dangerous -- (4/1) excellent opinion piece, based on science, on how much viral dose matters, and how to minimize it
• What Happens Next? -- COVID-19 Futures, Explained With Playable Simulations; a really excellent narrative with embedded, pre-programmed playable simulations that you can modify

• How the Pandemic Will End -- (3/25) insightful if dreary
• Lockdown Can't Last Forever -- (4/6) "here's how to lift it"; especially clear opinion piece that clarifies some terms and concepts about epidemic vs economic tradeoffs, and suggests how we should approach the longer-term
• Optimum/Efficient Tradeoff Curve -- (PDF) a one-page drawing by Alan trying to illustrate how we make A/B tradeoffs all the time, in this case between health and freedom, and how if we are inefficient, we can "fall off the curve" for a worse result than optimal

• Fun epidemic simulations -- long video (23:11) with interesting explorations of various anti-pandemic measures through cute simulations
• Inexpensive Action Lowers Hospital Infections... -- (Oct 2019) older, not too long, explanation of why dry air increases infections
• The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them -- (5/6 but updated) relatively brief and very useful essay by a biology professor; in short, beware long times in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation
• The Masks Masquerade -- (6/14) the author of "The Black Swan" weighs in (with some heavy math) on fallacies propagated by people saying masks should not be required; relatively brief if dense

Counterpoints

• Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease? -- (3/20) "there may be more targeted ways to beat the pandemic"; NT Times opinion by a specialist in preventive medicine and public health
• Why Flattening the Curve is Overrated -- (3/23) financial newsletter essay
• The data is in -- stop the panic... -- (4/22) an MD lays out five points making the case to switch sooner not later from broad distancing to targeted mitigation

Propaganda

• Do Re Mi - Covid 19 version -- video (5:40) using movie footage + well-done modern lyrics, good for kids, although it's basically a cute propaganda campaign
• Stay the F*ck at Home -- short (1:22) musical number (original lyrics) featuring a guy singing and playing piano
• Thou Shalt Stay the Hell Home! -- (4:33 video) "America's Best Christian" delivers a funny lecture to the masses who continue to crowd into church

Political

• We Are Living in a Failed State -- long, poignant opinion essay including scathing commentary on the Trump government
• Trump's Coronavirus Calendar -- (1:22 video) short but damning, reveals Trump's utter idiocy, using his own words in short clips
• The Liar Tweets Tonight -- (2:36 video) well-executed parody that's a blunt but hilarious attack on our commander-in-thief
• How to testing -- (0:59 video, 5/9) humorous mocking of Trump's stupid pronouncement about testing, cleverly done

Humor

• Dave Barry -- written column goes back to 3/16, but the genius is still on his game
• Passage Through the Year of Covid -- hilarious essay by astronaut Mike Mullane
• 50 Coronavirus Jokes That Should Help You Get Through Quarantine
• 40 Of The Funniest Coronavirus Jokes...
• Week-long virtual cruise -- humorous daily "Cruise Compasses" for the "Virtual of the Seas", by a former cruise director; scroll down to flip pages

• When Flight Attendants Work From Home -- (4:05 video) hilarious!
• My Corona Home -- (2:57 video) parody musical
• She'll Be Missing You - Target Parody -- (3:36 video) musical about how much his wife misses shopping at Target
• Baby, It's Covid Outside -- (1:57 video) a couple does a parody of the famous song
• Six Long Months in Isolation -- (2:09 video) lovely a-capella rendition of Lanigan's Ball with funny topical lyrics

• Comedian Talks to 'Past Self' About COVID-19 -- (3:06 video by Julie Nolke) painfully funny hinting of how the world is about to change
• Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self Part 2 -- (4:09 video, 6/4) also very good
• Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self Part 3 -- (4:31 video, 10/8)
  Ah heck, she kept going, just see her entire collection here.

• A Spoonful of Clorox -- (3:12 video, 4/25) Randy Rainbow musically mocks the president's advice on using disinfectants and UV light
• SNL does Bartenson's Grocery Store ad -- (2:28 video, 4/25) an advertisement for a grocery store helps sell less-sought-after products (Pepto Oreos?)
• The 12 Days Of Quarantine -- (4:29 video, 11/27) a Chris Mann Music Parody

  And then the Holderness family deserves their own list! If you like these, you can search for others they've made.

• My Wife Has an STD (Sanitizing Things Disorder) -- (4:31 video, 3/1/2019, oldie but goodie, before covid!) Germs beware - Kim is on the rampage and she will find you!
• Special Occasions in Quarantine -- (3:14 video, 4/7) birthday, Mother's Day, etc
• New Normal in Quarantine -- (3:17 video, 4/14) LOL pro-quality humor; "OK guys, I'm heading to the store..."
• True Colors - Cyndi Lauper Parody -- (3:05 video, 4/17) Kim says, "I haven't seen my real hair color since 1998"
• It's Gonna Be May - *NSYNC Quarantine Parody -- (3:11 video, 4/20) it's gonna be May before some stuff arcs back toward normal!
• Marriage in Quarantine -- (3:10 video, 4/21) another LOL video from the Holdernesses, the games couples play
• Training for Real Life -- (3:12 video, 4/27) Kim teaches herself how to re-enter normal society!
• What Happens Now? -- (3:40 video, 5/7) getting ready to go out again!
• Holding Out for A Haircut -- (3:21 video, 5/11) Bonnie Tyler parody, very good as usual

Other Parody

• Hello (from the Inside) -- (4:57 video) parody musical based on "Hello" by Adele
• We Didn't Start The Virus -- (3:38 video) takeoff on "We Didn't Start the Fire"
• Coronavirus Rhapsody -- (6:02 video) superb parody musical (mainly with rewritten lyrics), well-sung
• The Sounds of Sirens -- (2:28 video, 4/25) just as haunting as the original! "will this lockdown ever end?"
• Sweet Caroline -- (3:12 video) Neil Diamond revisits a favorite with a guitar in front of a fireplace

Miscellaneous

• Concert in the Driveway -- (4:09 video, 5/9) local (Loveland, CO) duo performs a favorite, Stonehaven, in their minivan on their driveway!
• Downloadable books -- free source
• Why some heart patients may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19 -- "people with hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk severe bouts of the disease", crap, that includes me, I'm on 20 mg/day lisinopril (ACE inhibitor) for moderate high BP
• FCUU Circle 23 Doc -- Google Doc listing needs of people in our local UU circle

• For what it's worth, here's a March 28 commentary from yours truly:

  No matter what they say now, it's too late for the Trump administration to fix their astonishing blunders (and denial) from the last few months. As a nation we had plans in place, but they were ignored, and the relevant experts were fired, reorg'd out of power, or muzzled. I hope history will hold Trump & co accountable, even if their cultish see-no-evil followers do not.

  Worse, while we squandered a lot of precious time in Jan-Feb until getting serious this month, and now we are hopefully buying more time at tremendous cost (to society and to the national debt), I see little evidence showing that time is being wisely used top-down to do now what should have been done earlier: Marshalling national resources in an efficient and organized way to create more and better tests, PPE and ventilators, and vaccines. What is going on looks to me like a patchwork mosaic of bottoms-up efforts, while Trump & co fiddle to his base, and Rome burns.