Coronavirus and COVID-19 Trackers and Articles

Here is a list of COVID-19 tracking tools and other useful articles and resources about Coronavirus and COVID-19. I don’t claim this to be authoritative or anywhere near complete. It’s merely a collection of the better things I have read over the past months. I compiled this list mostly for my own reference but if it can be of value to anyone else I will be pleased.

About Coronavirus and COVID-19

• 11 charts that explain the coronavirus pandemic by Dylan Matthews | Vox
  What symptoms are most common, which groups are most at risk, and more.
• How we know the new coronavirus comes from nature | Futurity
  The coronavirus behind the global COVID-19 pandemic evolved from nature and not a lab, according to a new genetic study.
• Hypothesis: Is COVID-19 severity tied to hair loss? | Futurity
  Researchers hypothesize that the same male hormones that cause hair loss may be linked to the vulnerability of patients to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
• Immune response can predict who gets severe COVID-19 | Futurity
  The differing immune system responses of patients with COVID-19 can help predict who will experience moderate and severe consequences of disease, according to a new study.
• Team pinpoints the origin story of SARS-CoV-2 | Futurity
  The lineage that gave rise to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has been circulating in bats for decades, researchers report.
• The essential coronavirus FAQ | PBS
• Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing by Ed Yong | The Atlantic
  A guide to making sense of a problem that is now too big for any one person to fully comprehend.
• Seven months later, what we know about Covid-19 — and the pressing questions that remain by Andrew Joseph, Helen Branswell, and Elizabeth Cooney | STAT
• You can get reinfected with Covid-19 but still have immunity. Let’s explain. by Brian Resnick | Vox
  A 33-year-old man was confirmed to be reinfected with Covid-19. This likely isn’t as bad as it sounds.
• Does warm weather impact COVID-19? by Jaimee Bell | Big Think
  Various studies examine the impact of humidity, temperature, rain, and sunshine on COVID-19.
• This theory might explain “Covid toes” and other mysteries of the disease by Lois Parshley | Vox
  Bradykinin storms are the hottest new hypothesis for why Covid-19 can wreak havoc on the body.
• Teams find clues to puzzling COVID-19 cases in kids | Futurity
  New findings may clarify the surprisingly small percentage of COVID-19 cases in children.
• This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic by Zeynep Tufekci | The Atlantic
  It’s not R.
• 3 factors shed light on COVID-19 oxygen level mystery | Futurity
  Researchers have begun to solve one of COVID-19’s biggest and most life-threatening mysteries: how the virus causes “silent hypoxia,” a condition where oxygen levels in the body are abnormally low.
• A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air by Javier Salas, Luis Almodóvar, Heather Galloway | El País
  The risk of contagion is highest in indoor spaces but can be reduced by applying all available measures to combat infection via aerosols. Here is an overview of the likelihood of infection in three everyday scenarios, based on the safety measures used and the length of exposure
• Coronavirus: New Facts about Infection Mechanisms | NHK
• Antibodies may trigger scary COVID-19 blood clots | Futurity
  Blood clots continue to wreak havoc for patients with severe COVID-19 infection, and a new study explains what may spark them in up to half of patients.
• Weather doesn’t affect COVID’s spread | Futurity
  The weather has little influence on COVID-19 spread, according to new research.
• An Explanation for Some Covid-19 Deaths May Not Be Holding Up by Gina Kolata| NY Times
  Recent studies have created doubts about an agent in cytokine storms, and suggest that treatments for it may not help.
• ‘Cytokine storms’ aren’t behind most COVID-19 lung failures | Futurity
• Evidence Builds That an Early Mutation Made the Pandemic Harder to Stop by James Glanz, Benedict Carey and Hannah Beech | NY Times
  Scientists were initially skeptical that a mutation made the coronavirus more contagious. But new research has changed many of their minds.
• Stronger early immune reaction might make COVID worse | Futurity
  While having a robust immune response to coronavirus infection may sound helpful, a new study shows the opposite may be true.
• They Say Coronavirus Isn’t Airborne—but It’s Definitely Borne By Air by Roxanne Khamsi | Wired
  The word “airborne” means different things to different scientists, and that confusion needs to be addressed.
• COVID-19 death risk is much higher than the flu | Futurity
• The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep by James Hamblin | The Atlantic
  The coronavirus can cause insomnia and long-term changes in our nervous systems. But sleep could also be a key to ending the pandemic.
• A wild mink in Utah has Covid-19. Veterinarians fear this is just the beginning. by Brian Resnick | Vox
  Which animals can catch Covid-19, which can’t — and why it matters.
• The Brazil Variant Is Exposing the World’s Vulnerability by James Hamblin | The Atlantic
  Somehow the coronavirus is rampaging through a city that was supposedly immune.
• T cells may reveal why women get severe COVID less than men | Futurity
• COVID-19 survivors face higher risk of death and serious illness | Futurity
• High heat disarms SARS-CoV-2 in less than a second | Futurity
• Immune response may clarify odd COVID reaction in kids | Futurity
• The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins by Katherine Eban | Vanity Fair
  Throughout 2020, the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark.
• Where Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling. by Zeynep Tufekci | NY Times
• Covid-19’s Genetic Flashpoints Identified in Giant Global Study by Kristen V Brown | Bloomberg
• What Scientists Know About the Risk of Breakthrough Covid Deaths by Emily Anthes | NY Times
  Deaths among people who have been fully vaccinated remain rare, but older adults and those with compromised immune systems are at much higher risk.
• Oxford Scientists Find Gene That Doubles Risk of Dying From Covid-19 by Suzi Ring | Bloomberg
• Why older adults have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 | Futurity
  A new study uncovers the cellular mechanism (chitinase 3-like-1) and molecular events that explain why some people, including the elderly, have a higher risk of COVID-19 infection as well as of severe side effects and death.
• How the delta variant is altering the course of the pandemic by Umair Irfan | Vox
  The delta variant has made Covid-19 more dangerous than ever for unvaccinated people.
• We Know a Lot More About Omicron Now by Derek Thompson | The Atlantic
  Here’s how to think about all the emerging data.
• How Long Does Omicron Take to Make You Sick? by Katherine J. Wu | The Atlantic
  The new variant seems to be our quickest one yet. That makes it harder to catch with the tests we have.
• Studies Suggest Why Omicron Is Less Severe: It Spares the Lungs by Carl Zimmer and Azeen Ghorayshi | New York Times
  Compared with earlier variants, Omicron may cause less damage to the lungs, new animal research suggests.
• Calling Omicron ‘Mild’ Is Wishful Thinking by Katherine J. Wu | The Atlantic
  We are far past the point of hoping this variant will spare us.
• We Study Virus Evolution. Here’s Where We Think the Coronavirus Is Going. by Sarah Cobey, Jesse Bloom, Tyler Starr and Nathaniel Lash | New York Times
• The Coronavirus in a Tiny Drop by Carl Zimmer and Jonathan Corum | NY Times
• Op-Ed: On the front lines, here’s what the seven stages of severe COVID-19 look like by Karen Gallardo | Los Angeles Times

COVID-19 Trackers

• Bing COVID-19 Tracker
  This is my favorite tracker. You view data by country and overview data will show you the number of infections, active cases, deaths and recoveries. Numbers for total to date and last 24 hours are usually provided, but sometimes last 24 hour information is not available. A map is included that you can zoom in on to get more localized stats. It will default to your current country location but you can also save multiple countries to quickly access their data on repeat visits. 
• 91-DIVOC
  This is an interactive visualization of the exponential spread of COVID-19. You’ll find trendline graphs for total new cases and new cases normalized by population. One of each is available country data and for state (U.S.) data.
• CDC COVID-19 Case Tracker
  This page is only for the United States and is updated based on data confirmed at 4:00pm ET the day before. There are related pages for hospitalization, testing, deaths, mathematical modeling, epidemiology, and race and ethnicity.
• Worldometer Live Coronavirus Update
  Useful live stats for the entire world. Includes sections or separate pages of graphs, country data, death rate data, symptoms, incubation, transmission, and news. The main chart lists various statistics by country, sorted by total cases, though you can choose to sort on any individual statistic column. New cases and new deaths stats seem to be missing for most countries on the default live display but are available if you select “yesterday” or “2 days ago.”
• COVID-19 Projections
  Find projected cases as determined by a model created by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Projections are available for multiple scenarios regarding social distancing and the use of masks. Graphs are available for total deaths, daily deaths, daily infections and testing, hospital resource use, and social distancing.
• CSSE COVID-19 Dashboard
  This tracker is from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. There is a desktop and mobile version.
• HealthMap COVID-19 Tracker
  This is a large world map with bubbles of varying colors and sizes to illustrate the prevalence of COVID-19 cases. I find the map itself to be fairly unhelpful, but the cool thing about this site is the timeline tracking. Hit the “Play” button to see how COVID-19 cases spread across the world over time. Note that the last time I check it had been updated the prior date (July 26, 2020) but the timeline feature only went to June 3, 2020 so I am not sure if they are actively updating/maintaining that feature.
• nCoV2019.live
  This is the site that became famous, in part because it was developed early by a high school student. Charts are available by country and by region. The U.S., Canada and Australia get more detailed breakdown charts. Ships also get a dedicated chart. Where available, testing data is also included.
• See the Data on Breakthrough Covid Hospitalizations and Deaths by State | New York Times

Economic Issues

• How can a disease with 1% mortality shut down the United States? by Franklin Veaux | Quora
  Franklin Veaux tackled this question on Quora by going into detail about the real dangers of Covid-19 that go beyond the number of people who lost their lives.
• New Thinking on Covid Lockdowns: They’re Overly Blunt and Costly by Greg Ip | Wall Street Journal
  Blanket business shutdowns—which the U.S. never tried before this pandemic—led to a deep recession. Economists and health experts say there may be a better way.

Face Masks

• Do Homemade Face Masks Help Stop the Spread of the Coronavirus? by Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
• The growing scientific evidence for masks to fight Covid-19, explained by German Lopez | Vox
  It’s true the evidence for masks was weak before. That’s changed.
• What’s the Evidence on Face Masks? What You Heard Was Probably Wrong by Adrien Burch, PhD | Medium
  Despite hearing that face masks “don’t work,” you probably haven’t seen any strong evidence to support that claim. That’s because it doesn’t exist.
• Face mask study reveals worst material for blocking COVID-19 by Stephen Johnson | Big Think
  A study published Friday tested how well 14 commonly available face masks blocked the emission of respiratory droplets as people were speaking.
• Face masks: what the data say by Lynne Peeples | Nature
  The science supports that face coverings are saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the debate trundles on. How much evidence is enough?
• When You Can Take Your Mask Off Outdoors, According to the CDC by Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
• Behind the Masks, a Mystery: How Often Do the Vaccinated Spread the Virus? by Apoorva Mandavilli
  The C.D.C.’s new masking advice was based in part on data showing that the virus can thrive in the airways of vaccinated people. The findings are expected on Friday.
• We Did the Research: Masks Work, and You Should Choose a High Quality Mask if Possible by Jason Abaluck, Laura H. Kwong and Stephen P. Luby | New York Times
• Masks Cut Covid Risk in Half, New Study Shows by Marthe Fourcade | Bloomberg

Immunity

• Common cold exposure can protect against COVID-19 | Futurity
• COVID-19 survivors have broad, longer-term immunity | Futurity
• 1 antibody neutralizes a bunch of COVID virus variants | Futurity
• New Studies Find Evidence Of ‘Superhuman’ Immunity To COVID-19 In Some Individuals by Michaeleen Doucleff | NPR
• COVID patients face risk for self-attacking antibodies | Futurity
• The New COVID Panic by Susan Matthews | Slate
  What vaccinated people should really know about their risk from the delta variant.
• COVID reinfection is likely for unvaccinated people | Futurity
• New Study Finds Evidence of COVID Antibodies in Breast Milk of Vaccinated Mothers | University of Rochester
  Immunity from both prior infection and vaccination produces antibody response in breast milk
• Immunity to past colds might make COVID-19 worse | Futurity
• How Omicron Upended What We Thought We Knew About Natural Immunity by Maggie Koerth | FiveThirtyEight

Miscellaneous

• How the Virus Won by Derek Watkins, Josh Holder, James Glanz, Weiyi Cai, Benedict Carey and Jeremy White | The New York Times
  Invisible outbreaks sprang up everywhere. The United States ignored the warning signs. We analyzed travel patterns, hidden infections and genetic data to show how the epidemic spun out of control. 
• Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die by Ed Yong | The Atlantic
• The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis | Vox
• I’m In The Vulnerable Class for COVID-19. A Plea To Take This Virus Seriously. by Jodi Ettenberg | Legal Nomads
  This is one of the best things I have read about COVID-19 and, instead of coming from a major news source, NGO or government it is from a travel blogger I have followed for years. The title hints at the emotional and physical circumstances that have inspired her to write this (mostly dealt with at the beginning), but the contents are far more than hinted at by the title. It is long but if you skim or read on you will find a lot of useful and interesting information all gathered in one place.
• The Uncounted Dead by Maggie Koerth | FiveThirtyEight
  Why some people who likely died from COVID-19 aren’t included in the final numbers.
• Must-Read Stories of the Pandemic | Pocket
  Stand-out stories that help make sense of the coronavirus pandemic, curated by science journalist Ed Yong.
• Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us by Ed Yong
  As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.
• Who has died from Covid-19 in the US? by Youyou Zhou and Julia Belluz | Vox
  To get a clearer sense of the shifting burden of Covid-19 deaths over time, Vox analyzed coronavirus mortality by age, region, and race from the past year, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University.
• Death, Through a Nurse’s Eyes by Alexander Stockton and Lucy King | The New York Times
  A short film offering a firsthand perspective of the brutality of the pandemic inside a Covid-19 I.C.U.
• How Covid Upended a Century of Patterns in U.S. Deaths by Denise Lu | NY Times
• The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill by Megan Molteni | Wired
  All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences.
• The Last—And Only—Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out by Michelle Fay Cortez | Bloomberg
  Virologist Danielle Anderson paints a very different picture of the Wuhan Institute.
• Desperate Patients Are Shelling Out Thousands for a Long Covid Cure. Is It for Real? by Kiera Butler | Mother Jones
  Two doctors, their unusual treatment program, and the “wild bisons” who swear by it.
• The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online by Sheera Frenkel
  Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.
• 3 factors can limit virus spread indoors | Futurity

Pandemics

• The Deadliest Virus Ever Known by Malcolm Gladwell | The New Yorker
  The Spanish-flu epidemic of 1918 reached virtually every country, killing so many people so quickly that some cities were forced to convert streetcars into hearses.
  Note: It’s not a scientific paper but I did learn a lot from it. How the worldwide influenza detection/surveillance network works, drifting vs shifting, how yearly vaccines are made, and how strains are classified were most interesting to me.
• The Deadliest Flu: The Complete Story of the Discovery and Reconstruction of the 1918 Pandemic Virus by Douglas Jordan with contributions from Dr. Terrence Tumpey and Barbara Jester | CDC
  The Gladwell New Yorker article kind of finishes without a conclusion so I started Googling to see what became of Dr. Duncan’s efforts to find and sequence the 1918 virus. In short, they were unsuccessful, though nearly 20 years later she ended up as Canada’s first Minister of Science. Though Duncan’s work was a bust, Jeffery Taubenberger and Ann Reid, both mentioned in the article, were successful and subsequent work included making a live version of the virus at the CDC to study it and learn more about its unusual virulence. In fact, reading about that was just as or more interesting as the original Gladwell article.
• Why Does the Pandemic Seem to Be Hitting Some Countries Harder Than Others? by Siddhartha Mukherjee | The New Yorker
  While the virus has ravaged rich nations, reported death rates in poorer ones remain relatively low. What probing this epidemiological mystery can tell us about global health.
• The Flu Vanished During Covid. What Will Its Return Look Like? by Keith Collins | NY Times
• Epidemics Reveal the Truth About the Societies They Hit by Anne Applebaum | The Atlantic
  A nation’s response to disaster speaks to its strengths—and to its dysfunctions.
• 10 lessons I’ve learned from the Covid-19 pandemic by Helen Branswell | STAT

Public Policy Issues

• Tracking Our COVID-19 Response
• Each state’s progress towards a new normal
• 5 Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating by Zeynep Tufekci | The Atlantic
  We can learn from our failures.
• Travel bans do little to stem COVID-19 spread | Futurity
• How the West Lost COVID by David Wallace-Wells | New York Magazine
  How did so many rich countries get it so wrong? How did others get it so right?
• Contact-tracing apps have serious physical, biological limitations by Susan Landau | Big Think
  Contact-tracing apps can be a useful tool for public health, but they have considerable false positive and false negative rates.
• California mandated masks. Florida opened its restaurants. Did any of it matter? by Dylan Scott | Vox
  Which Covid-19 restrictions really worked — and which ones really didn’t?
• They Relied on Chinese Vaccines. Now They’re Battling Outbreaks. by Sui-Lee Wee | New York Times
  More than 90 countries are using Covid shots from China. Experts say recent infections in those places should serve as a cautionary tale in the global effort to fight the disease.
• The Complex Psychology of Covid-19 Compliance by Wilson Cyrus Lai | INSEAD Knowledge
  Three main psychological factors helped determine whether people responded to first-wave Covid restrictions with deference or defiance.
• UK opts not to vaccinate most under 18 against COVID-19 by Danica Kirka | PBS
• Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong by Benjamin Mueller and Rebecca Robbins
  After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.
• Israel’s Covid Surge Shows the World What’s Coming Next by Daniel Avis | Bloomberg
  The former leader on vaccines is now focusing on boosters to protect the vulnerable after cases rose to a record.
• Why We Can’t Turn the Corner on Covid by Joanne Kenen | Politico
  After a hot vax summer that wasn’t, it’s clearer than ever that there will be no easy end to the pandemic.
• The Coronavirus Is Here Forever. This Is How We Live With It. by Sarah Zhang | The Atlantic
  We can’t avoid the virus for the rest of our lives, but we can minimize its impact.
• Our Most Reliable Pandemic Number Is Losing Meaning by David Zweig | The Atlantic
  A new study suggests that almost half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic cases.
• What’s Really Behind Global Vaccine Hesitancy by Olga Khazan | The Atlantic
  Countries with low vaccination rates are suffering from more than just inequity.
• The COVID Externalities Have Changed by Emily Oster | The Atlantic
  This phase of the pandemic need not be about individual sacrifice. What’s required now is merely communal common sense.
• Facts Alone Aren’t Going to Win Over the Unvaccinated. This Might. by Anupam B. Jena and Christopher M. Worsham | New York Times
• How Denmark Decided COVID Isn’t a Critical Threat to Society by Derek Thompson | The Atlantic
  The country became the first in the EU to lift all COVID restrictions despite leading the world in per capita infections.
• The COVID Strategy America Hasn’t Really Tried by Sarah Zhang | The Atlantic
  The clearest way to reduce deaths is to push to vaccinate more of the elderly—yes, still!

Symptoms and Treatments

• Check your risk for COVID‑19
  An online test based on best clinical practices, CDC guidelines, illness severity and risk factors like age and pre-existing conditions.
• The Key to Defeating COVID-19 Already Exists. We Need to Start Using It by Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD | Newsweek
• The odd, growing list of Covid-19 symptoms, explained by Umair Irfan and Brian Resnick | Vox
  Fever, Covid toes, and a loss of taste: Why are Covid-19 symptoms so weird and varied?
• 4 changes doctors have made to better treat Covid-19 patients by Dylan Scott | Vox
  Improved treatment options could help save lives in the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Analysis: Steroids cut COVID-19 death rates, but not for everyone. Here’s who benefits by Bryan McVerry | PBS
• Team finds vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 infection link | Futurity
• Covid Doctors Find a Turning Point in Life-Threatening Cases by Jason Gale | Bloomberg
• Coronavirus Drug and Treatment Tracker (NY Times)
• Can gargling saltwater replace nasal swab COVID tests? | Futurity
  A new COVID test that relies on gargling with saltwater instead of using a nasal swab shows encouraging initial results, researchers say.
• Can mouthwash kill the coronavirus? | Futurity
  Certain oral antiseptics and mouthwashes may offer a way to inactivate human coronavirus, according to a new study.
• Antidepressant may prevent severe COVID complications | Futurity
  The antidepressant drug fluvoxamine appears to prevent some of the most serious complications of COVID-19, according to a study of patients with mild-to-moderate disease attempting to recover at home.
• The many strange long-term symptoms of Covid-19, explained by Lois Parshley | Vox
  Long Covid “is a phenomenon that is really quite real and quite extensive,” Anthony Fauci said.
• Huge number of COVID infections are from people with no symptoms | Futurity
• 6 COVID-19 treatments helping patients survive by William G. Bain, Georgios D. Kitsios, Tomeka L. Suber | PBS
• How the UK found the first effective Covid-19 treatment — and saved a million lives by Dylan Scott | Vox
  The United Kingdom is not a pandemic success story. But its massive Covid-19 trials program is.
• Scientists hope they’re closing in on a cure for COVID-19 by Corey Meador | PBS
• Vitamin D may not actually protect against COVID-19 | Futurity
• There Are Few Good COVID Antivirals, but That Could Be Changing by Charles Schmidt | Scientific American
  Developing pills that block the novel coronavirus has been challenging. A new Biden administration program aims to boost the effort
• The dubious rise of ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment, explained by Kelsey Piper | Vox
  Evidence suggests ivermectin is not a Covid-19 “miracle drug.” How did it get so popular?
• Everything You Need to Know About Merck’s Game-Changing Covid Pill by Jason Gale | Bloomberg
• An Unsolved Mystery: Why Do More Men Die of Covid-19? by Ezekiel J. Emanuel | NY Times
• Antidepressant prevents most serious COVID-19 complications | Futurity
• Convalescent plasma may keep COVID-19 patients out of hospital | Futurity
• Women’s Periods May Be Late After Coronavirus Vaccination, Study Suggests by Roni Caryn Rabin | New York Times
  An analysis of thousands of menstrual records offers support for anecdotal reports of erratic cycles after shots.
• For vulnerable people who catch COVID, quick action and these treatments can help by Isabella Isaacs-Thomas | PBS

Testing

• ‘It’s Kitchen Sink Time’: Fast, Less-Accurate Coronavirus Tests May Be Good Enough by Katherine J. Wu | The New York Times
  Experts are revising their views on the best methods to detect infections, setting aside long-held standards so that the spread of the virus can be more quickly tracked and contained.
• Saliva-based coronavirus test funded by NBA, NBPA gets emergency authorization from FDA by Zach Lowe | ESPN
• Rapid $1 Covid-19 tests exist. Why can’t we get them? by Katherine Harmon Courage | Vox
  A new testing strategy prioritizes infectiousness instead of infections.
• A New Era of Coronavirus Testing Is About to Begin by Alexis C. Madrigal | The Atlantic
  A newly authorized test promises to double America’s monthly testing capacity, thanks in part to a huge purchase by the Trump administration. Can the test deliver?
• Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. by Apoorva Mandavilli | The New York Times
  The usual diagnostic tests may simply be too sensitive and too slow to contain the spread of the virus.
• COVID-19 spit tests work just as well as nose swabs | Futurity
• Fast blood test flags patients at risk for severe COVID-19 | Futurity
• Dogs can sniff out COVID-19 in human sweat | Futurity
  New research adds to a small but growing consensus that trained medical scent dogs can effectively screen individuals who may be infected with the COVID-19 virus by smell.
• Phone device flags COVID-19 in less than an hour | Futurity
• On the Covid Front Lines, When Not Getting Belly Rubs by Hannah Beech | NY Times
  In Thailand and around the world, dogs are being trained to sniff out the coronavirus in people. So far, the results have been impressive.
• A Covid Test as Easy as Breathing by Emily Anthes | NY Times
  Scientists have been dreaming of disease-detecting breathalyzers for years. Has the time for the technology finally come?
• Blood test confirms COVID-19 vaccination in 5 minutes | Futurity
• ‘DRUL’ saliva test tops nasal swabs for detecting COVID-19 | Futurity
• Here’s Why Rapid COVID Tests Are So Expensive and Hard to Find by Lydia DePillis and Eric Umansky | ProPublica
• New method flags false positives in COVID-19 test results | Futurity
  Researchers have developed and tested a process to identify potential false positive COVID-19 test results.
• Must This Swab Go That Far Up Your Nose to Test for Covid? by Livia Albeck-Ripka and John Yoon | NY Times
  Some testers gently swab the front of your nostril and send you on your way. Others dig deep, bringing the pain. What’s the gold standard?
• Why the U.S. is lagging behind in rapid COVID-19 testing by Hari Sreenivasan and Lydia Depillis | PBS
• A Message From Britain on Using Rapid Tests by Alan McNally | New York Times
• Rochester leads development of novel integrated photonic COVID-19 sensor | University of Rochester
• Sensor makes COVID-19 testing faster, more accurate | Futurity

Travel Restrictions

• Where in the World Can I Go? | The New York Times
  For Americans, this might be the best regularly updated rundown of where you can travel right now. Each country on the list is accompanied by the specifics of its policy toward U.S. travelers.
• COVID-19: Latest Travel and Immigration Updates | Newland Chase
• COVID-19 Travel Regulations Map* (powered by Timatic)
  requires a paid subscription after viewing 3 countries
• How risky is air travel in the pandemic? Here’s what the science says. by Julia Belluz and Brian Resnick | Vox
  The airline industry says getting on a plane is safe. But nothing is perfectly safe when it comes to Covid-19.

Vaccine

• The people with hidden immunity against Covid-19 by Zaria Gorvett | BBC
  While the latest research suggests that antibodies against Covid-19 could be lost in just three months, a new hope has appeared on the horizon: the enigmatic T cell.
• New type of HIV vaccine works in monkeys | Futurity
  A new type of vaccination can substantially enhance and sustain protection from HIV in monkeys, researchers report. 
• A Vaccine Reality Check by Sarah Zhang | The Atlantic
  So much hope is riding on a breakthrough, but a vaccine is only the beginning of the end.
• The Path to a Covid Vaccine by Peter Coy | Bloomberg
  In a special Vaccine Issue, Bloomberg Businessweek looks at the biggest challenges, promising solutions, and the weirdest science, from the molecular level on up.
• These Covid-19 vaccine candidates could change the way we make vaccines — if they work by Umair Irfan | Vox
  Why adenovirus and mRNA vaccines could start a revolution.
• Why people are volunteering to get covid-19 by Laura Bult | Vox
  Would you volunteer to get Covid-19? Over 30,000 people from nearly 150 countries have said they would — here’s why.
• A Vaccine That Stops Covid-19 Won’t Be Enough by Adam Finn and Richard Malley | The New York Times
  The best vaccines don’t just prevent a disease; they also prevent the pathogen causing the disease from being transmitted. So why aren’t we focusing more on those?
• On pins and needles: Will COVID-19 vaccines ‘save the world’? by Gaurav Agrawal, Michael Conway, Jennifer Heller, Adam Sabow, and Gila Tolub | The McKinsey Quarterly
  Innovators are sprinting to develop inoculations against the novel coronavirus. Here, we summarize the latest information on research timelines and the potential impact of a vaccine on the pandemic—and society.
• A COVID-19 vaccine may be different from others | Futurity
  The process for creating a COVID-19 vaccine may be different from other common vaccines, Andrea Amalfitano says.
• What Happens After We Develop a COVID-19 Vaccine? by Johanna Benesty | TED
  An effective COVID-19 vaccine is just the first step in ending the pandemic, says global health strategist Johanna Benesty. In this illuminating talk, she explores the various barriers to “equitable access” — making sure COVID-19 therapeutics are available to all — and shares a creative approach to research and development that could ensure vaccines are rolled out fairly, efficiently and at a global scale.
• Politics, Science and the Remarkable Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine by Sharon LaFraniere, Katie Thomas, Noah Weiland, David Gelles, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Denise Grady | NY Times
  The furious race to develop a coronavirus vaccine played out against a presidential election, between a pharmaceutical giant and a biotech upstart, with the stakes as high as they could get.
• Is ‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Better Than a Vaccine? by Apoorva Mandavilli | NY Times
  And if you’ve already had Covid-19, do you still need a vaccine? Experts tackle questions about vaccine immunity.
• We Had the Vaccine the Whole Time by David Wallace-Wells | Intelligencer
• How mRNA Vaccines Work by Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
• Why the Covid-19 vaccines may feel different from other routine shots by Julia Belluz | Vox
  The side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, explained.
• Yes, people who’ve had Covid-19 can still benefit from the vaccine by Brian Resnick | Vox
  Immunologists explain why.
• How mRNA and adenovirus vaccines work | Futurity
• How scarce will coronavirus vaccines be in the US? by Youyou Zhou and Julia Belluz | Vox
  It depends on where you live.
• Biden’s Covid-19 Plan Is Maddeningly Obvious by Ezra Klein | The New York Times
  It is infuriating that the Trump administration left so many of these things undone.
• Study finds AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine may reduce virus transmission by Danica Kirka, Lauran Neergaard | PBS
• AstraZeneca’s Vaccine Does Not Work Well Against Virus Variant in South Africa by Benjamin Mueller, Rebecca Robbins and Lynsey Chutel | New York Times
• The scientist who’s been right about Covid-19 vaccines predicts what’s next by Julia Belluz | Vox
  Hilda Bastian on the most important pandemic vaccine in the pipeline and why we’re on track for annual booster shots.
• 1 simple way to understand how effective the Covid-19 vaccines are by Dylan Scott | Vox
  All of the Covid-19 vaccines are more effective than your annual flu shot.
• Why the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is more effective than you think | University of Rochester
• How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine compare to other coronavirus vaccines? by Maureen Ferran | PBS
• mRNA vaccines, explained by Vox | YouTube
• How the Sinovac Vaccine Works by Jonathan Corum and Carl Zimmer | NY Times
• Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine by Carl Zimmer | NY Times
  A new formulation entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic.
• If you’ve had COVID-19, should you get the vaccine? | Futurity
  As eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccines expands nationwide, Stanley H. Weiss has answers to several questions on vaccination.
• What COVID vaccine side effects can and can’t tell you about your body’s immune response by Robert Finberg | PBS
• Is 1 vaccine dose enough if you’ve had COVID-19? | Futurity 
• One Vaccine to Rule Them All by James Hamblin | The Atlantic
  What if a single vaccine could protect us against SARS, MERS, COVID-19, and every other coronavirus-related disease, forever and ever?
• How Pfizer Makes Its Covid-19 Vaccine by Emma Cott, Elliot deBruyn and Jonathan Corum | NY Times
• Will Covid-19 vaccines protect you against variants? 9 questions about variants, answered. by Umair Irfan | Vox
  How coronavirus variants are affecting vaccines, treatments, and our attempts to return to normal.
• Meet the Four Kinds of People Holding Us Back From Full Vaccination by Sema Sgaier | NY Times
• Mix-and-match COVID vaccines trigger potent immune response by Ewen Callaway | Nature
  Preliminary results from a trial of more than 600 people are the first to show the benefits of combining different vaccines.
• Why Covax, the fund to vaccinate the world, is struggling by Sigal Samuel | Vox
  Covax wanted to send 2 billion doses worldwide this year. It’s 3.4 percent of the way there.
• Can people vaccinated against COVID-19 still spread the coronavirus? by Sanjay Mishra | PBS
• Does the AstraZeneca vaccine have a future? by Hannah Kuchler and Anna Gross in London and Michael Peel | Financial Times
  Hit by a multibillion-euro lawsuit and rare side-effects, the jab that was going to save the world has an uncertain outlook
• Why you shouldn’t get a COVID antibody test after a vaccine by Laura Santhanam | PBS
• Pfizer, AstraZeneca … or Both? A Mixed Approach May Hold Promise. by Roxanne Khamsi | NY Times
• New ‘recipe’ could lead to better COVID-19 vaccines | Futurity
• A mix-and-match approach to COVID-19 vaccines could provide logistical and immunological benefits by Maureen Ferran | PBS
• Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Protects Against Delta Variant, Company Reports by  Apoorva Mandavilli | NY Times
  The vaccine also produced long-lasting immune responses, researchers said. Booster shots seem unnecessary, at least for now.
• 12 lessons COVID-19 taught us about developing vaccines during a pandemic by Helen Branswell, STAT | PBS
• J&J Vaccine Recipients Seek mRNA Booster Without CDC’s Blessing by Riley Griffin | Bloomberg
• COVID-19 vaccines likely activate strong, lasting immunity | Futurity
• 7 questions about Covid-19 booster shots, answered by Sigal Samuel | Vox
  Will you need a booster? Does it matter if you got Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, or another vaccine?
• You could inhale new COVID-19 vaccine | Futurity
• The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better by Hilda Bastian | The Atlantic
  Persistent hype around mRNA vaccine technology is now distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic.
• Vaccinations Reduce Chance of Covid Death in India to 0.4% by Bibhudatta Pradhan  | Bloomberg
• BioNTech Shot Produces 10 Times More Antibodies Than Sinovac, Study Finds | Bloomberg
• Why your second shot COVID vaccine really matters | Futurity
• Israeli Data Suggests Possible Waning in Effectiveness of Pfizer Vaccine by Carl Zimmer
  The new numbers still show overwhelmingly strong protection against severe disease but diminished effectiveness against infection.
• Citing New Data, Pfizer Outlines Case for Booster Shots by Carl Zimmer, Apoorva Mandavilli and Sharon LaFraniere
  Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine may become slightly weaker over time, the company reported. But experts said that most people won’t need boosters anytime soon.
• COVID-19 Vaccines: Science and Safety | YouTube
  Dr. Monica Gandhi explains how the vaccines work and provides details on the efficacy of the current vaccines.
• Scientists debate potential benefits of intranasal COVID-19 vaccines by Helen Branswell | PBS
• How Vaccine Side Effects Compare to COVID Symptoms by Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
  Spoiler alert! The vaccine is a lot easier on your body.
• Why Your Doctor Doesn’t Want to Give You an ‘Off Label’ COVID Vaccine by Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
  Approved medicines can usually be given “off label,” but this vaccine is different.
• The debate over Covid-19 vaccine boosters, what to call them, and whether they’re needed by Helen Branswell | STAT
• J&J Shot Study Shows Covid Infections Halved in Health Workers by Janice Kew and Antony Sguazzin | Bloomberg
• What to know about booster shots if you received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine by Maureen Ferran | PBS
• COVID vax elicits response in 90% of weakened immune systems | Futurity
• COVID vax works even without the side effects | Futurity
• Why mRNA vaccines won’t replace all others | Futurity
• 15 million Covid vaccine doses thrown away in the U.S. since March, new data shows by Joshua Eaton and Joe Murphy | NBC News
  As countries across the world clamor for vaccine doses, U.S. pharmacy chains and state health departments have thrown millions away.
• For countries with few vaccine doses, fighting COVID-19 is ‘a race from behind’ by Laura Santhanam | PBS
• China’s vaccine faces scrutiny as Indonesians die despite shots, U.S. pledges donations by Nick Schifrin | PBS
• What to know about booster shots if you received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine by Maureen Ferran | PBS
• A ‘mix and match’ approach to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination by Meagan E. Deming and Kirsten E. Lyke | Nature
  Heterologous dosing with the adenovirus-based ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) vaccine followed by an mRNA vaccine induced stronger immune responses than did the homologous ChAdOx1 vaccine series, according to recent immunogenicity studies.
• Moderna, Racing for Profits, Keeps Covid Vaccine Out of Reach of Poor by Rebecca Robbins | NY Times
  Some poorer countries are paying more and waiting longer for the company’s vaccine than the wealthy — if they have access at all.
• What We Know So Far About Waning Vaccine Effectiveness by Amy Schoenfeld Walker and Josh Holder | NY Times
• Moderna and U.S. at Odds Over Vaccine Patent Rights by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Rebecca Robbins | NY Times
  Moderna’s patent application names several employees as the sole inventors of a crucial component of its coronavirus vaccine, excluding three government scientists.
• Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters’ Mix-and-Match Efficacy by Ana Rivas | Wall Street Journal
  NIH study suggests which booster is most effective depending on whether you got the Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson shot
• How Easily Can Vaccinated People Spread COVID? by Yasmin Tayag | The Atlantic
  Vaccination is the best protection against infection. But when breakthroughs do occur, a very basic question still has an unsatisfying answer.
• Big questions about the Covid booster shot, answered | Vox
• Singapore Breaks Down Covid Deaths by Vaccine, With Moderna Seeing Lowest Rate by Low De Wei | Bloomberg
• The extraordinary success of Covid-19 vaccines, in two charts by Umair Irfan | Vox
  Deaths tell one story of the pandemic. The lives saved tell another.
• Mix-and-Match Covid Boosters: Why They Just Might Work by Carl Zimmer | NY Times
  The F.D.A. may authorize booster shots of vaccines different from the ones that Americans originally received. The science behind the move is promising.
• We’re Asking the Impossible of Vaccines by Katherine J. Wu | The Atlantic
  Complete protection against infection has long been hailed as the holy grail of vaccination. It might simply be unachievable.
• Who Had Covid-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases? by Aliza Aufrichtig and Amy Schoenfeld Walker | NY Times
• You’re Vaccinated for Covid-19, and You Just Tested Positive. Now What? by Johnny Diaz | NY Times
  Although the risk of vaccinated people becoming infected with the coronavirus is low, it can still happen, the C.D.C. says. Here’s what you need to know.
• As Virus Data Mounts, the J.&J. Vaccine Holds Its Own by Apoorva Mandavilli | New York Times
  Once dismissed as less effective, the vaccine now seems to be preventing infections and illness about as well as the two mRNA options.
• Can personalized booster shots work better? | Futurity

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