Sources

Last update: Sunday 1/1/23 

As per the blog's "platform", its editor's primary sources of information are publications posted on government websites, especially the CDC, NIH/NIAID, FDA, and COVID.gov. His secondary sources are the online publications of some of the nation's most prominent media, accessible to anyone via modest paywall subscription fees. Wait a minute, you say. Lots of media is accessible on the Web to any browser with no paywall. Yes, but the most reliable sources of COVID information are not free.

When deciding which media to rely on, the editor had to acknowledge two personal constraints:

• First, his blog is a hobby, his focus for only three or four hours each day; it is not a full-time gig; so he can only scan a limited set of publications each day.
  
• Second, as a hobby his subscription fees are not tax deductible business expenses; so he can't afford to subscribe to every worthwhile publication.

His preference for paywall media was a matter of quality control. Only highly profitable media can afford to retain squads of reporters who focus on one area of interest, e.g., COVID. In today's market, the most profitable media earn income from advertising AND paywall subscriptions. As for their high quality, reporters on a "beat" not only tell readers what happened; they can also tell what should have happened and/or what usually happens, which is sometimes the most important feature of a COVID story.

• For example, readers who peruse links to the stories featured on the the news pages on this blog will observe that the NY Times employs a COVID squad of award winning specialists that includes: Noah Weiland, Emily Anthes, Apoorva Mandavilli, Sharon LaFraniere, and Carl Zimmer, among others.

Unfortunately, as the pandemic gave way to the endemic at the end of 2022, major media reduced their coverage of COVID events and research. So the editor invested in a paid subscription to STAT.  China's recent pivot from "Zero COVID" will make it a major site of important COVID news throughout 2023. The NY Times has squads of reporters in China; but Reuters also has a large presence there. Finally, his membership in the Coronavirus Reddit has provided links to a wide range of high quality sources of free information about COVID and long COVID, that is accessible to the public, links selected by other members of this Reddit whose interest in COVID issues has not waned.