The Economist A special edition on the coronavirus pandemic

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From: The Economist this week - Saturday Apr 04, 2020 11:10 am
Covid-19 presents world leaders and policymakers with stark choices between life, death and the economy. Should medical resources go to covid-19 patients or those suffering from other diseases? How much unemployment is too much? And for how long should social distancing continue if it fails to stop the spread of the disease? Trade-offs such as these will only get harder as the pandemic rages on.
   
April 4th 2020 Read in browser
   
  The Economist this week  
 
  Our coverage of the new coronavirus  
   
 
 
   
  cover-image   
     
  Welcome to our newsletter featuring The Economist’s best coverage of the unfolding pandemic. Our cover this week analysed the grim trade-offs that the virus imposes. Should medical resources go to covid-19 patients or those suffering from other diseases? Some unemployment and bankruptcy is a price worth paying, but how much? If extreme social distancing fails to stop the disease, how long should it persist? Leaders cannot escape the fact that every course of action open to them will impose vast social and economic costs. It sounds hard-hearted but, if they are to see their way through the harrowing months to come, they will have to think systematically about the costs and benefits of each.

In this issue we looked in depth at how governments can use epidemiological and economic models to guide them through these agonising choices. We report on America, which now finds itself in the eye of the storm, as well as on a worrying series of unexplained deaths in parts of Europe. We set out how to design and use antibody tests and describe the best way to rescue businesses without ruining taxpayers. And we look at what living under an enforced quarantine can do to your mental health.

We have also been focusing on the disease on Economist radio and in Economist films. In our science podcast, Babbage, this week we report on how to use mobile-phone location data to help with social distancing, we ask if the internet can cope, and we speak to Larry Brilliant, who helped stamp out smallpox, about beating covid-19.

As you dig in at home for the long haul, I hope you find our coverage of the pandemic informative, stimulating and, yes, enjoyable reading. 		 
 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-In-Chief  
     
Must-reads from our recent coverage
 
  Editor’s picks  
 
   
 
 
 
Between tragedies and statistics
The hard choices covid policymakers face

Epidemiological models are among their only guides
Briefing
 
 
 
Fatal flaws
Covid-19’s death toll appears higher than official figures suggest

Measuring the total number of deaths tells a grimmer tale
Graphic Detail
 
 
 
Uniting the states
Covid-19 and America’s political system

How will a decentralised country that spans a continent fight what is now the world’s largest outbreak?
United States
 
 
 
The coronavirus pandemic
An antibody test for the novel coronavirus will soon be available

Use it wisely
Science and technology
 
 
 
Bottomless Pit, inc
Bail-outs are inevitable—and toxic

How to design corporate bail-outs to protect taxpayers
Leaders
 
 
 
Only connect
How will humans, by nature social animals, fare when isolated?

Covid-19 will harm people’s mental health
International
 
 
 
Babbage
Can mobile-phone data help curb contagion?

Our weekly science and technology podcast covers apps and covid-19, the strain more home-bound users place on telecommunication networks and insights from an epidemiologist who helped defeat smallpox
Economist Radio
 
 
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