Coronavirus49 Stories

Here are the states that will suffer the worst hospital bed shortages

Every state’s health-care capacity will have an outsize impact on covid-19 deaths.

Why some covid-19 tests in the US take more than a week

The messy network of labs rushing to increase testing capacity has some big problems, but they’re fixable.

The coronavirus test that might exempt you from social distancing—if you pass

There is a lot of hype around the potential for antibody testing to help get us back outside sooner rather than later. Here’s how it works.

Lockdown was supposed to be an introvert’s paradise. It’s not.

Calendars cleared by coronavirus are filling up with virtual happy hours, and some people are starting to feel exhausted.

Meet the parents using Trello to plan their kids’ coronavirus homeschooling

Families in indefinite lockdown are turning to Asana and Trello to run their households.

What the hell is going on with coronavirus testing in the US?

The country is woefully behind where it should be, and that’s going to make it much harder to track and curtail the coronavirus’s spread.

How coronavirus is transforming online dating and sex

Quarantines and lockdowns are forcing us to relearn how to date—and figure out how to have sex without touching.

How 3D printing could save lives in the coronavirus outbreak

Digital manufacturers are stepping in to crank out nasal swabs, ventilator parts, and more as critical supply chains fail.

Why I am volunteering to get the coronavirus vaccine

We spoke to Ian Haydon, who will soon be one of 45 people who will get an experimental covid-19 vaccine in Seattle.

Forget Zoom—children are using Facebook Messenger Kids to deal with coronavirus isolation

Kids are getting a crash course on texting and social media with “technology on training wheels.”

Ventilator firms are racing to boost production as the pandemic accelerates

But it’s not clear whether unusual partnerships and shared designs will be enough to stay ahead of escalating coronavirus infections.

Coronavirus is forcing a trade-off between privacy and public health

The crisis has governments and companies scrambling to decide when it’s appropriate to lift data privacy protections and AI ethics guidelines.

People with coronavirus may be most infectious in the first week of symptoms

That could lend more weight to the argument in favor of wearing a mask while in public.

Your biggest questions about coronavirus, answered

Battling the spread of Covid-19 is going to be a long-haul effort. Here’s what you asked us.

Warmer weather could slow the spread of coronavirus—but not by much

Several initial analyses of transmission data suggest the pandemic could ease up in summer. But that doesn’t reduce the need for measures like social distancing.

We need more ventilators. Here’s what it will take to get them.

Manufacturers need fast-track regulatory approvals and government contracts. STAT.

This blood test can tell us how widespread coronavirus really is

A test can see if a person has ever been infected, even if they had no symptoms.

What is herd immunity and can it stop the coronavirus?

Once enough people get Covid-19, it will stop spreading on its own. But the costs will be devastating.

A new app would say if you’ve crossed paths with someone who is infected

Private Kit: Safe Paths shares information about your movements in a privacy-preserving way—and could let health officials tackle coronavirus hot spots.

A bloody battle or a long war? The ethical dilemma of tackling coronavirus

Francois Balloux, a computational epidemiologist who worked on an influential new coronavirus model, on the trade-offs that have to be made.

We’re not going back to normal

Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever.

Amazon is hiring 100,000 new workers in the US to deal with the coronavirus boom

The hiring spree is to cope with an unprecedented surge in demand for online deliveries during the outbreak.

Here’s how social media can combat the coronavirus ‘infodemic’

With millions on lockdown, Facebook and Twitter are major sources of Covid-19 news. They’re also where misinformation thrives. How can platforms step up?

Over 24,000 coronavirus research papers are now available in one place

The data set aims to accelerate scientific research that could fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

US coronavirus testing is slowly ramping up, but way too late

Private and academic labs are rushing to fill the void left by CDC’s mistakes, hoping to slow the deadly pandemic in the US.

This is how the CDC is trying to forecast coronavirus’s spread

It has tapped one of the nation’s best flu-forecasting labs to retool its prediction algorithms for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Worst-case coronavirus scenario: 214 million Americans infected, 1.7 million dead

The worst-case figures are what would happen if no action is taken to slow the virus, which spreads person to person.

No, coronavirus is not a good argument for quitting cash

Though it’s theoretically possible, there is no evidence that physical money—or any inanimate surface, for that matter—helps the virus spread.

How to practice social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic

Not everyone can work from home or cease traveling. Here’s what you can do when circumstance forces you to be out and about during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Singapore is the model for how to handle the coronavirus

The key features: quick action, extensive testing, and relentless tracking.

AI could help with the next pandemic—but not with this one

Some things need to change if we want AI to be useful next time, and you might not like them.

Here’s how long the coronavirus can live in the air and on packages

The virus prefers steel and plastic, materials commonly found in hospitals and homes.

Chinese hackers and others are exploiting coronavirus fears for cyber espionage

Headline news and global disorder are tools hackers take advantage of to make their next breach.

Why the coronavirus outbreak is terrible news for climate change

It’ll sap funding and political will—but actually, it should.

China’s travel lockdown sharply slowed the global spread of Covid-19

A coronavirus vaccine will take at least 18 months—if it works at all

A fast-track vaccine will be tried on people soon but it uses an unproven technology.

The best, and the worst, of the coronavirus dashboards

There are dozens of sites that show you how coronavirus is spreading around the world. Here is our ranking.

South Korea is watching quarantined citizens with a smartphone app

Thousands in coronavirus lockdown will be monitored for symptoms—and tracked to make sure they stay at home and don’t become “super spreaders.”

Why the CDC botched its coronavirus testing

The first testing kits from the Centers for Disease Control had a simple fault, and red tape prevented other labs from creating their own.

Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens

Genetic data shows that countries are getting hit with multiple introductions of the virus.

How coronavirus turned the “dystopian joke” of FaceID masks into a reality

Thousands ordered masks that let them unlock their phones during outbreaks. But this viral art project doesn’t just work with surveillance technology—it works against it, too.

How to prepare for the coronavirus like a pro

Some of the smartest people I know are getting ready for a crisis—including me.

What are the best coronavirus treatments?

Here’s a list of promising drugs being tried on people infected with the virus.

Biologists rush to re-create the China coronavirus from its DNA code

Synthetic versions of the deadly virus could help test treatments. But what are the risks when viruses can be synthetized from scratch?

China’s coronavirus app could have unintended consequences

Tracking people to tell them whether they’ve been in close contact with a virus carrier might cause a whole new series of complicated issues.

The coronavirus is the first true social-media “infodemic”

Social media has zipped information and misinformation around the world at unprecedented speeds, fueling panic, racism … and hope.

This is what happens when you get the coronavirus

Hospitals in China are reporting their experiences with hundreds of patients so far.

Satellite images show how coronavirus brought Wuhan to a standstill

Photos taken from space show how little activity there is in Wuhan since China shut down all transportation in the city of 11 million people.

Meet the Chinese crowdsourcers fighting coronavirus censorship

Faced with information suppression and untrustworthy news, citizens in China and Hong Kong do their best to chronicle the coronavirus outbreak and sift fact from fiction.