This newsletter now has its own Twitter account at @buzz_corona. I’m only doing one of these newsletters a day so they’re going to be enormous. Wash your hands. I love you.

NEW RESOURCES

News-Medical Net: CRG launches new database to advance international research efforts on COVID-19. “Researchers from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have launched a new database to advance the international research efforts studying COVID-19. The publicly-available, free-to-use resource (https://covid.crg.eu) can be used by researchers from around the world to study how different variations of the virus grow, mutate and make proteins.”

RadioToday: Facebook Group created for coronavirus radio ideas. “A new Facebook Group has been created for all radio stations around the world to curate and exchange ideas on how they are dealing with coronavirus COVID-19. It’s been set up in America by Benztown and P1 Media Group, providing research, strategies and consulting for anyone wanting to join and share.”

Fox59: FSSA offers new tool to help Hoosiers in need of food assistance. “The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration partnered with the state’s food banks, the Indy Hunger Network and Feeding Indiana’s Hungry to create a map that helps Hoosiers in need of food assistance. It is searchable by address.”

PR Newswire: UMAI launches largest database of restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia that sell gift cards to help keep favorite restaurants afloat (PRESS RELEASE). “On 27th March 2020, UMAI has launched the largest directory of Singaporean and Malaysian restaurants and cafes that offer gift cards and vouchers, making it easier for diners to support their favorite restaurants by purchasing for themselves, loved ones, or the less fortunate. Buying full or discounted value vouchers will help restaurants with immediate cashflow, and offset lost income amidst the COVID-19 health crisis.”

State of Maine: Governor Mills Launches New Online Resource Outlining Ways Mainers Can Help Mainers During COVID-19 Pandemic. “In response to the extraordinary generosity of Maine people, businesses, and organizations looking to help during these challenging times, Governor Janet Mills today launched a new online resource, coronavirus.maine.gov/mainehelps, to outline ways in which Maine people can support efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Stage: Coronavirus: Database launched to help theatremakers share skills. “A skills-sharing database for theatre has been set up to help artists and organisations create work during lockdown. Set up this week, the database already includes nearly 200 individual offers to help in areas including producing and administration, dramaturgy, marketing and mentoring.”

MLive: Want to support your favorite Michigan restaurant? New website offers gift card guide. “A new, Ann Arbor-based website… is encouraging you to buy gift cards to help support the restaurant industry in our state.”

KOAM: New website connects those in need of help to volunteers in Kansas. “Dramatic and sudden changes in our day to day lives due to COVID-19 are leaving Kansans feeling frightened, especially the medically vulnerable advised to socially isolate, and people whose livelihoods are impacted by mandated closures. While the government is ramping up to do what they can to help with these burdens, Volunteer Kansas wants to help by leveraging its online platform to connect people who need help with those who want to help.”

JD Supra: In Case You Missed It: New Website Provides Acquisition-Related Coronavirus Information. “If you’re looking for a single place to find information concerning the federal government’s response to the coronavirus that impacts contractors, the General Services Administration (GSA) recently uploaded a webpage on the acquisition.gov website that aims to deliver: https://www.acquisition.gov/coronavirus.”

USEFUL STUFF

ArtsHub: Digital art guide to beat coronavirus closures. “The world may be in lockdown, but self-isolation doesn’t mean we have to stop experiencing art. Despite COVID-19 closures, Australian art is finding new ways to go viral. Artists, museums, galleries, institutions, and more are exploring innovative ways to reach audiences, spreading some timely comfort and unity. Below is our ever-growing list of Australian art ready for you to discover.” Decent-sized list, good annotation.

MiLB: Free Preview. “If you are missing baseball like we are, we hope we can spark some cheer in your life by inviting all baseball fans to enjoy a free preview of the MiLB.TV archives, including more than 6,500 games, countless memories and highlights from the 2019 season.”

NME: Sonic Youth release archive recordings of 12 live shows to help you through quarantine. “Sonic Youth have released archive recordings of 12 live shows from throughout their career. The iconic noise rock band formed in 1981 and split in 2011, following Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s separation.”

People: Levi’s Hosts Free Nightly Concerts During Self Isolation Featuring Questlove, Brett Young and More. “As millions across the country self-isolate amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Levi’s is doing its part to keep people motivated, energized and safe inside their homes with its new Instagram Live concert series. Each day, the brand is hosting special performances by A-list talent to give all those sheltering in place exactly what they need at the end of the day — a dance party.”

Bustle: How To Find Instagram Live Videos For Workouts, Concerts, & More. “As the country settles into new lockdown restrictions and focuses on social distancing, social media remains a saving grace for connectivity, entertainment, and engagement. Knowing how to find live Instagram videos that you actually want to watch will be a great utility during these trying times. Watching a video in real time is essentially as close to human connection as is advised right now, so why not take advantage of the feature and tune into the kind of content you want to see?”

Los Angeles Times: Yoga routines and classes to keep you grounded while you’re stuck at home. “You have a lot of yoga options right now, including ones that support local businesses. There are free videos from YouTube and other sites, there are apps, and many L.A.-area yoga studios and teachers offering streaming classes on Instagram and on Zoom.”

Freelancers Union: Announcing Freelancers Relief Fund. “Freelancers Relief Fund will provide financial assistance of up to $1,000 to freelancers who are experiencing sudden hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether as a result of illness, lost work, or caregiving responsibilities.”

UPDATES

Gizmodo: Google Boots InfoWars App Off Play Store Over Bogus Coronavirus Claims. “Google has finally kicked the Infowars app from its Play Store, the company confirmed to multiple outlets Friday. The tech giant’s app store was one of the last major bastions for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as his show (and all the extremist views and tainted supplements it touts) has been booted from nearly every mainstream online platform.”

The Verge: Google ups Duo group calling limit from eight to twelve. “Google is increasing the maximum number of people who can participate in a Duo call from eight to twelve, the company’s senior director of product management announced on Twitter. ‘We recognize group calling is particularly critical right now,’ Sanaz Ahari Lemelson wrote. ‘We have increased group calling from 8 participants to 12 effective today.’ The announcement did not mention whether the increase was permanent.”

Archinect: How Art and Design Museums Switched to Working From Home and Sharpened Their Digital Experience. “With physical exhibitions now inaccessible and museum staff ordered to work from home, we wondered: How has the switch to remote work been going so far for institutions that rely so heavily on personal interaction with visitors? Have online programs, or even virtual exhibitions, been in place before the crisis hit? Can the self-quarantining public access and enjoy collections via the web, potentially offering a vastly expanded, global audience to most museums?”

Neowin: Google announces more than $800 million in financial grants amid COVID-19 fallout. “Google announced today more than $800 million in total funding to help businesses, health organizations, and governments weather through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. CEO Sundar Pichai says the new financial grants will aid in providing small and medium-sized businesses with capital as well as offer free ad slots to health authorities in order to help disseminate information on the virus.”

New Yorker: What the Coronavirus Crisis Has Changed About Social Media, and What It Hasn’t Changed. “In the run-up to the 2016 election, social media was more or less overrun by junk. In the current crisis, social-media companies have been more proactive about preventing the most overt liars and chaos agents—financial scammers, Russian spies, the President of the United States—from monopolizing their platforms. And yet this is where the distinction between disinformation and misinformation, which might normally seem pedantic, becomes relevant.”

SOCIETAL IMPACT

GoNintendo: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players Are Creating Custom Content For A Real-Life Museum. “In the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Blathers is the go-to guy when it comes to museums. In the real world, it turns out there’s another museum that has tied itself to the Animal Crossing excitement. The Museum of English Rural Life had to close its doors temporarily due to the coronavirus, but they’re continuing the fun online with a request from their followers. The Museum has a real-life exhibit showcasing rural smocks, which were outer garments worn by shepherds and waggoners. Since people can’t check out that exhibit right now, the museum curators thought it would be fun to create a digital collection.”

Archyde: EXCLUSIVE – Coronavirus: 50 million euros shortfall for CDs and vinyls in France. “A first estimate of the damage caused by the current crisis on CD and vinyl sales in France was established by a benchmark player on the market. And the number is important. ‘Between mid-March and the end of May, the shortfall will amount to 50 million euros including tax. In volume, the fall in physical sales could range from 90% to 95% over the period’, entrusts a connoisseur of the sector to ‘Les Echos’.”

Washington Post: Before the coronavirus epidemic, they didn’t know how to cook. Now they are scrambling to learn.. “With restaurants closed across more than two dozen states — though takeout and delivery are still available in many places — employment uncertainty and grocery store shelves periodically barren, a growing number of people are watching online tutorials, FaceTiming parents, and asking experts on Instagram and Twitter for help in an end-of-days-like scramble to learn how to cook.” If you’re in this situation, may I recommend the YouTube Channel You Suck at Cooking? Informative, tasty, surreal, and very funny. For you vegans out there, check out Pick Up Limes. Makes me hungry every time I watch.

WUSA: ‘Coronavirus discrimination’ against Asian Americans happening across country, including in DMV, report says. “At least 750 alleged racist or xenophobic incidents against Asian Americans have taken place across the country since March 18th, according to a new report released the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council.”

The Brussels Times: Coronavirus: 10,000 cultural events cancelled in Belgium. “More than 10,000 events have already been cancelled or postponed in Belgium due to the new coronavirus (Covid-19), Le Soir reported on Friday.”

RESEARCH

Illinois News Bureau: Survey of US academic libraries documents COVID-19 pandemic responses. “The project provides a national look at how academic libraries are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 800 academic libraries – of the more than 3,000 such institutions in the country – have provided information through the Academic Library Response to COVID19 survey.”

FUNNY

Yahoo Lifestyle: Museum challenges people in self-quarantine to recreate favorite works of art with objects at home. “The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, aka the Getty, is currently closed to the public as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. But the institution is doing its part to keep the art-loving community engaged during this difficult time, by challenging people to create their favorite works of art with objects at home.”

POLITICS AND SECURITY

Crain’s Detroit Business: Whitmer: Feds told vendors not to send medical supplies to Michigan. “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer suggested Friday that a growing rift with the White House is affecting shipments of medical supplies to Michigan amid exponential growth in confirmed coronavirus cases.”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Exclusive – War-Weary Syria 2 Months Away from Coronavirus Devastation. “The impact of the new coronavirus outbreak in Syria will be like no other across the globe. The virus may already be spreading in the war-torn country where people have fled their homes to tents to escape fighting and where hospitals have not been spared the conflict. The ravaged country has splintered into three regions that are controlled by different powers and different armies.”

Times of India: Database of people under isolation hacked. “In what could be termed as a serious breach of privacy, database of Covid-19 patients and quarantined persons in Pathanamthitta district has been hacked from the district administration’s computers.”

Seattle Times: ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired. “An emergency room physician who publicly decried what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel coronavirus at his workplace, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, has been fired.”

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