Resources PVPA staff have found to be reliable

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has a web page dedicated entirely to giving people up-to-date information about COVID-19 in Massachusetts. It lists all current cases in the state, as well as providing a set of links to other sites for information about travel, social distancing, the virus itself, and many other relevant topics.

The Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, is the national organization actively working to combat COVID-19 and one you've probably heard about in the news. Despite some controversy, the CDC runs a tight ship full of experts who maintain a great informational web page with up-front links about symptoms, community resources, and a daily update about cases in the US.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, is the department of the United Nations that monitors the public health of the world and they have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak from the beginning. Their web page has information, videos, and an interactive map about the situation on a world scale and is useful for putting the outbreak in a global perspective.

National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is part of the Department of Health and Human Services and runs another great COVID-19 fact page. Additionally, they are currently a lead organization in the US on COVID-19 research and publish their findings in very readable articles, like this one about how long COVID-19 can stay on surfaces.

Reading stuff is great, but sometimes we just want to be told something. When watching videos about COVID-19, check the sources listed in the show notes, that block of text underneath the video that you usually have to click SHOW MORE to see all of. If a video lists any of the above organizations as sources (Mass Dept. of Public Health, the CDC, or WHO), then chances are it will be fairly reliable and you can compare the information it's telling you to what you read in on the web pages. Here are a few good videos that reference the CDC and WHO:

• Is COVID-19 a Pandemic? | March 2020 Update - SciShow with Hank Green
  This video is a little dated (from March 6th) but it gives good info about what COVID-19 is and what makes a pandemic. As of March 11th, WHO officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, but all of the scientific information in the video and the questions it raises about community response is still an excellent 10 minute summary of what is going on.

• Estimating actual COVID 19 cases (novel corona virus infections) in an area based on deaths
  Not a cheerful title, but if you want to hear some really in-depth analysis of WHO's COVID-19 data, look no further by Khan Academy. Break out your calculator.