What type of coronavirus newsletter is best for you?

While you can read informative coronavirus newsletters from major media sites like the NYT, The Guardian, The Washington Post, etc, until you’re blue in the face, they are all really quite similarly written. Independent writers, on the other hand, provide several distinct styles of covid-19 newsletters which may fit how you like to consume your coronavirus information even better -- or at least spice it up. These independent newsletters range from link-compilation, to summaries of information, to analysis of information, to analysis/commentary with some personality thrown in, to just going deep on one aspect/question at a time.

We invite you to figure out which type of coronavirus newsletter fits you best...

Just a long set of links and some summaries

If you enjoy having someone collect all of the important links for you so that you can go directly to all of the sources to get more information, this type of newsletter is for you.  Here are a few to check out:

• Coronavirus Readings (by The Syllabus).This seriously has more links than one can possibly imagine. We find it overwhelming, but if you really want ALL the recently published links about the coronavirus, this is totally for you. 

• Daily Covid-19 Updates (by Julien Chien) and Coronavirus Memo from a News Hound (by Kathy Gill) both provide daily newsletters with lots of data, some summaries, and reasonable amounts of links out to the sources. 

Links with some commentary and analysis

If you like someone summarizing information about the coronavirus, providing commentary, and analyzing data, ALONG with links out for you to read more, give these a try. The three below all come on a daily/near-daily basis.  

• Lunchtime Pandemic Reading (by Christopher S. Penn). He takes some of the key information/news/data that’s out there, summarizes it and adds his own two cents of what it really means or the impact of it. And, as the name implies, you can enjoy reading it during your lunch break, at home, around your kitchen table in a few minutes. 

• Smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19 (by Robin Lloyd). She breaks the email into different categories, like “Public health”, “Science”, “Health Care”, “Practical”. “Entertainment”, etc, with a summary about what’s going on in each category and a link to read more. The structure is super clean and clear.

• Coronavirus Reads Daily Digest (by Veda Shastri). This one has a more global focus than many of the others which have a strong US bias to their content. Veda (a former NYT journalist) is based in India and presents a lot of quality commentary and summaries, along with links out to various news sources. It is definitely helpful for understanding what’s going on in the world.

Summary of the most important stuff you need to know, all in one email, without needing to follow links out

If your preference is for someone to summarize what’s going on, leaving you to just open an email from your inbox, read it, and then think “done - got what I needed!”, this type is for you. 

• Covid Stuff (Luca Dellanna). Instead of coming daily/near daily as many of the other news roundups do, “Covid Stuff” comes when Luca has something interesting to analyze/say/share-- and you’ll gain good perspective by reading it.

Some attitude, personality along with your hard facts & data

If you enjoy getting to know the writer and their personality while also getting information served up about the coronavirus, this type is for you. Most of the newsletters above are just pretty much straight-up information. But in these, you’ll feel the humanity of the writer and you’ll have a sense about what the writer is thinking/feeling, their sense of humor, etc-- and you’ll get your facts and data too...

• 5+5: Coronavirus edition, by Josh Butler. He presents five corona things you ought to know and five non-corona things, with a surprising range of topics... some more obscure (and interesting!) than you might expect. This newsletter would keep you in the know without bogging you down. He’s also based in Australia, so you’ll get a little more insight about what’s going on there than you otherwise might.

• Mike's Newsletter, by Mike Lewis. You’ll get an easy-to-read analysis of what Mike finds interesting/intriguing that’s going on with the coronavirus, written in the first person.  From Corona toes, to Star Wars pre-corona choke holds vs post-corona social distancing choke holds, to straight up data, his newsletters are human, interesting, and fact-ful.

Deep on one thing -- keep it simple

If you’re tired of getting coronavirus summaries of facts and updates all of the time, and you’d just prefer reading about one thing in depth, this type is better for you.

• Not a Doctor (by Melody Schreiber). Melody normally has a single theme or question to each issue newsletter, which she discusses or answers thoroughly for you. Examples include: How long does the coronavirus last on surfaces? Or “the ethics of delivery”. They’re enjoyable, straightforward reads and you’ll feel a bit smarter on a topic after reading them.

Enjoy reading!

Also, if you run across any other Covid-19 / Coronavirus newsletters we should be aware of, please email us: newsletters@narrowscale.com.

~ Team narrowSCALE