The COVID-19 pandemic has ripped the rug out from under many Americans. Our social and work lives are now filtered through a screen—if we’re lucky enough to keep working at all. Our health is under constant siege. Even once-boring tasks like grocery shopping now feel risky.
The result, writes TIME editor-at-large Jeffrey Kluger, is a second pandemic: one that affects our mental, as well as physical, health.
As anxious as we all feel right now, the effects are of course worse for those with preexisting mental health conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and social anxiety disorder. Not only are these individuals likely seeing mental health flare-ups—they’re also left to deal with them largely on their own. “Someone with social anxiety disorder will say, ‘I was in the middle of treatment, I was just getting out and meeting people and this is setting me back,’” Chicago-based psychologist Patrick McGrath tells Kluger.
There are, however, a few strategies that can help. Telemedicine has proved immensely helpful during the outbreak, since people have been unable to see doctors in person except for urgent issues. The good news is telemedicine is particularly well-suited to therapy and other mental health appointments, and is widely available for this purpose.
Acknowledging your COVID-19-related worries can also be counterintuitively helpful. Writing down your worst fears about the outbreak, then reading them over and over again, can help “strip them of their power,” Kluger writes.
The U.S. now leads the world in confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 1,200 Americans have died from the disease.
New York continues to be the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with more than 37,000 confirmed cases as of March 26. New York City is piloting a program that would close certain streets to vehicular traffic, in hopes of giving pedestrians more space to move around outside at a safe distance from others. As the U.S. health care system grows more and more overwhelmed by the influx of COVID-19 patients, New York state is looking to construct overflow medical facilities in each New York City borough, as well as in the state’s hardest-hit counties outside of the city.
As the domestic situation worsens, concerns about visitors crowding U.S. National Parks are also mounting. The Trump Administration has drawn criticism for its decision to keep parks open during the outbreak.
The Global Situation
Here’s every country with over 3,000 confirmed cases, as of Thursday night at 8 PM eastern time:
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be leading his country’s “national fightback against coronavirus” from home, after testing positive for the illness himself. Johnson said on Friday morning that he has a mild case of COVID-19, with symptoms including a temperature and a persistent cough. He joins several other global figures, including Prince Charles, in testing positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, with well over 500,000 cases confirmed globally, countries around the world continue to enforce strict viral containment measures. Singapore announced that breaking social-distancing protocols could be punished by up to six months in jail and/or up to $7,000 in fines. And China, seeking to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 after encouraging signs of the virus waning there, will ban almost all international visitors from entering the country.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of March 26, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Isolation Helped These Islands Delay a COVID-19 Outbreak. Now, Being Remote Could Be Their Biggest Problem
Social distancing has been relatively easy for the roughly 3,000 people who live on the remote Falklands archipelago, a British territory 400 miles off the coast of Argentina. But with a suspected COVID-19 case announced Thursday, residents are steeling themselves for the downsides of that isolation in the face of a possible outbreak. Read more here.
We Need Preparation—Not Reaction—to Beat Pandemics
The U.S. could have avoided some of its COVID-19 woes had it predicted likely problems rather than just reacting to them, argues former Baltimore Public Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. “We can’t just focus on the needs that have been identified; we need to start to anticipate what’s to come,” she writes. Read more here.
Crowded Wuhan Funeral Homes Raise Questions About COVID-19’s True Impact
Families in Wuhan, China, that lost loved ones to COVID-19 were allowed to pick up their relatives’ remains this week. As they descend upon the city’s funeral homes, huge crowds and truckloads of urns thousands deep are raising questions about whether China has suppressed information about COVID-19’s true death toll. Read more here.
Humor Can Help Ease the Anxiety of Coronavirus
Laughing may be the last thing you feel like doing right now, but it may be just what the doctor ordered. Humor can help alleviate many stressors associated with the outbreak. Read more here.
Century-Old Newspaper Ads Show History Repeating Itself
Most Americans have never experienced anything like the COVID-19 outbreak. But as newspaper ads run during the 1918 flu pandemic show, there are plenty of parallels with the past. Read more here.
How Will the Pandemic Play Out?
If there’s one question we’re all asking, it’s, “How will this situation end?” In this comprehensive article from the Atlantic, science writer Ed Yong dives into what may be ahead of us. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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