Helpful Links to COVID-19 Virus Information 4/07/20 K.Agee

As we deal with the COVID-19 / Corona Virus pandemic, sometimes it is hard to get reliable information. There have been numerous cases of faulty information passed around thru social media, which is easy to understand once you realize articles deemed “popular” thrive, while others (sometimes more factual) do not.

In general, forwarded articles should be viewed with suspicion, because it’s likely to be out-of-date and has had several chances to be modified by unqualified “editors”.

Even in this internet-age, radio & television still have their place in passing along news. They tend to have their information double and triple-checked before it goes out over the airwaves, and more importantly, the information is delivered immediately.

Aside from that, the government has several good websites where information is closely checked and tends to be closely linked to the academic and scientific communities who gathered the information in the first place.

A good example is this link provided by Johns Hopkins University:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

In this case, it has mapping capabilities down to the county level that is updated several times a day.

Following are other known-good sources of COVID-19 information:

Ø Garland Health Dept’s Disease Information page:

https://garlandtx.gov/2060/Disease-information

Ø Dallas County’s Corona Virus Resource Page

https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/

(near the bottom is a link with data updated every Tue & Fri)

Ø Texas Dept of Health COVID-19 Resource Page

https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/

(has good tips on disinfecting your home near bottom)

Ø Federal Government Corona Virus Page

https://www.usa.gov/coronavirus

(has links to CDC, FEMA, myth debunking, etc)