Brilliant long read about New York.

One of the realities of the past few weeks, however, is that optimism has zero medical ability to stop the spread of a pandemic.

Grim all round.

The stories told in films about pandemics.

Fascinating. (Thanks to @carrarars.)

"Belgapom [the Belgian potato farmers' association] is now calling on the population to make up for the shortfall by eating frites twice a week at home instead of once."

Tremendous.

We'll all be getting masks.

And should we listen to them?

I do hope this is not just wishful thinking.

The Zoological Society of London producing material for kids even in time of crisis.

Good question, some answers.

@cstross: “No it won’t.”

Brilliant reporting.

Gender-balanced, that is. From @RickZednik @WPLeadersOrg

Actually a very good point.

@KatieRoseEllena @IFES1987: "At the time of writing, elections in 47 countries are postponed, which represents nearly a quarter of the countries in the world."

Fair, from David Frum.

Forensic and specific.

from @fivethirtyeight, which has been very good on the US statistics.

@cdotcampbell: “The world as we knew it in February 2020 is gone.”

It’s a lie by Victor Davis Hanson.

Forensic and convincing; UK scientists got it wrong.

Forensic analysis.

Balanced and fair, by Max Boot.

Balanced from @IanJamesParsley.

James Baker: "Every Marine knows better than to pull a knife in a gunfight. But so far, that appears to be the federal government’s approach to battling Covid-19."

Country-by-country comparison, in case you were wondering.

So true, by @pennyred.

"The real mystery is not why Germany and Austria have so few deaths but why we expect answers to such questions in the early stages of a fiendishly complex global health crisis."