Research guides: Navigating COVID-19 Information Overload: Get started

Library-Recommended Information Sources

Staying up-to-date with the latest COVID-19 information is important, but it can also be overwhelming. To help you select reliable media to follow during this time, Library staff have curated a list of their go-to news and data sources.

Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list, and there are many other reliable sites that could be used to fill in the gaps. To find credible content, stick to the facts: avoid buzzy headlines and overly-biased articles.

Many media outlets are making their COVID-19/coronavirus content freely-available, however the Library also has subscriptions to most sources. Check Omni, the Library's catalogue, for access to the titles below, or look at the guide on News Sources for more information.

Local - Waterloo Region

CBC Radio
Canadian national public broadcaster. The Morning Show - the Current, now combined with Q - broadcasts 8:37 a.m.-12pm, with Prime Minister's message from 11-11:45am. Condensed version from 9-11pm. Also great coverage on their news and current affairs shows – As It Happens, 6:30-8 p.m., The World At Six, 6-6:30 p.m. and Ontario Today, noon-1 p.m.
For Kitchener-Waterloo, tune in at 89.1. For Toronto, tune in at 99.1.
CBC website
Canadian national public broadcaster for news and current events. Kitchener-Waterloo website updated for local coverage.
Region of Waterloo 2019 Novel Coronavius website
Region of Waterloo public health website, including number of local positive cases.

Canada

CBC Radio
Canadian national public broadcaster. Broadcasts the Prime Minister’s daily press briefing from 11 a.m.-noon including analysis; broadcasts Ontario Premier's press briefings at about 1-2 p.m.
CBC Website
Canadian national public broadcaster for news and current events.
CTV News
Canadian national news coverage.
Global News
Canadian national news coverage.
Globe and Mail
Canadian-centric newspaper. Some global coverage.
Government of Canada - Coronavirus
Latest public health information on COVID-19, Canada-centric.

US-Centric

The following resources were recommended by Library staff members. For more US-Centric news, check out the Library's subscription to Pressreader, which allows you to browse by country.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Latest public health information from US Department of Health and Human Resources.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The latest research information about COVID-19 from US Department of Health & Human Services.
New York Times - Coronavirus
New York Times has made their coronavirus content publicly available. The Library also has a subscription through the Factiva database: just search for New York Times as the source.

International

The following resources were recommended by Library staff members. For more international news, check out the Library's subscription to Pressreader, which allows you to browse by country.

Aljazeera
News, current events, and analysis from the Middle East & worldwide.
BBC Website
British national public broadcaster.
The Guardian
British Daily Newspaper.

Data Sources, Modelling, and Academic Sources

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Interactive map of international coronavirus cases presented by Johns Hopkins.
COVID19 Ontario Case Count Summary File
Through 2020, the Government of Ontario has been posting near-daily COVID19 status reports at https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus. Using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/), this data has been indexed for improved time-based analysis by researchers, journalists, and the public.
COVID-evidence
A database of various clinical trials, research from the WHO and recent research created by the University of Basel.
Dimensions
All COVID-19 related published articles, preprints, datasets and clinical trials from Dimensions in one file, updated daily, and free for anyone to access.
For command-line users: covid-cli
Code repository with some examples: https://github.com/ahmadawais/corona-cli
IHME
Institute of Health Modeling and Evaluation at the University of Washington (funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
Worldometer: COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Regularly updated data on international coronavirus data. Case graphs, death graphs, cases by country, age, etc. available.

Standards & Guidelines

Some standards publishers are providing open access to standards that could help support COVID-19 response.

AAMI Standards
Standards from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation.
ASTM Standards
Standards from the American Society for Testing and Materials.
BSI Standards
Standards from British Standards Institute.
FAQs on 3D Printing of Medical Devices, Accessories, Components, and Parts During the COVID-19 Pandemic
FAQs on 3D Printing to support COVID-19 efforts, presented by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Resources

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