A Covid-19 reading list for March 25

Want to stay up-to-date on coronavirus? Here’s what we’re reading.

Here is a list of coronavirus-related articles, podcasts, and threads from around the internet that caught our eye:

• The Senate struck a $2 trillion legislative deal on the coronavirus stimulus on March 25. Here’s what’s in it. And here’s why more will be needed.
• Congressional Democrats have introduced multiple bills that would require private companies to prioritize the production of supplies that medical workers sorely need, including face masks, ventilators, and gloves. This Twitter thread from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker illustrates why this issue is of such immediate importance.
• This thread documenting a day in the life of a medical doctor on the frontlines of this crisis and these testimonies from nurses across the country are essential for understanding what’s happening right now in our health care system.
• There is a lot we know, but a whole lot more we don’t know, about the risk of dying from Covid-19. Here’s a thorough breakdown of the knowns and the known unknowns.
• There are certainly legitimate questions about the accuracy of China’s data, but the latest model update from Imperial College indicates that China’s aggressive social distancing strategy appears to have brought the country’s coronavirus spread under control for now.
• A few weeks ago, it looked like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan had managed to control the outbreak of coronavirus in their respective countries. Today, their caseloads are rising again. This episode of Today, Explained is a must-listen.

• Denmark has taken some remarkable — and quite radical — measures to address the economic impact of coronavirus. Derek Thompson’s interviews with a Danish economist and Denmark’s Employment minister are essential for understanding them.
• While we should be thinking hard about the economic recession, we also can’t forget about the social recession that will impact us all, but especially the elderly and disabled.
• A study of 30 patients published by the Journal of Zhejiang University in China found that hydroxychloroquine, the malaria medicine that President Donald Trump has touted as a treatment for coronavirus, was no more effective than conventional care. More research is needed, but it’s disappointing.
• Despite his administration’s botched response to coronavirus, Donald Trump’s approval ratings have remained steady. David A. Hopkins outlines four reasons to be cautious about those numbers.
• How will coronavirus impact the 2020 election? Nate Silver runs through the evidence on how economic conditions impact incumbent performance and poses some alternate scenarios that could play out between now and November.
• Can Trump just cancel the November election? The short answer is no. But a more plausible possibility is that we fail to get coronavirus under control, don’t prepare our election system, and thus the vote itself is chaos or considered illegitimate. Max Feldman and Wendy Weister at the Brennan Center have some recommendations to prevent this.
• This thread from a US-based reporter with family in the Wuhan region really puts the ongoing crisis in America in perspective.
• If you’re looking for informative podcasts on the state of the economy, the psychology of pandemics, or the moral trade-offs that our health care system will face, check these out.
• If you’re looking for a longer read: Leading economists have co-authored a free e-book on blunting the Covid-19 economic crisis. Contributors include Paul Krugman, Jason Furman, Pinelopi Goldberg and more.