Diablo Magazine recognized Choicelunch as a local food service business that is "Helping the Most Vulnerable" during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the announcement of school closures across California, Choicelunch swiftly moved from delivering 17,000 lunches across the state to providing grocery staples to their customers to combat food shortages and difficulties presented by the traditional grocery story model. Choicelunch was recognized alongside Monster Pho, the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and Doubling Helping Hands.

The Hill op-ed piece about how most media coverage of the epidemic "in the United States" overlooks, excludes, ignores, the US territories - e.g. Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa - that are also under great threat from this disease.

A series of tweets using a Mongol siege as a metaphor for the current lockdown, and the absurdity of trying to open up again too early.

YouTube video from Ask a Mortician, in which mortician Caitlin Doughty addresses some misconceptions about whether New York City's response to the coronavirus - esp. the use of refrigerated trucks, holding bodies in parking lots, anonymous mass graves - are exceptional and worth being upset about, pointing out that most of these practices are actually very reasonable, practical, and standard practices.

An illustration of a piece of matzah, with the words "next year in person" inscribed on it. The Passover Seder traditionally ends with an expression of hope to celebrate "next year in Jerusalem," a hope related to aspirations for the ancient Jewish homeland, and for peace. This year, separated by stay-at-home practices, we simply hope to celebrate "next year in person."

Stan's Donuts in Westwood, Los Angeles was a long-established fixture located just outside of the UCLA campus. It is one of countless small businesses which sadly have not survived this crisis.

Ritô Keizai Shinbun article compiling requests from various remote islands around Japan for visitors/travelers to avoid coming to the island. Many islands around Japan, and around the world, are trying to restrict or discourage entry into the island, as epidemic spread on small islands could quickly overwhelm limited medical capability on the island.

Posted by Reconsidering Cinema on Twitter (https://twitter.com/coenesqued/status/1248158106988630016/photo/1). A funny reference to the 1985 film Back to the Future, in which Marty must be very careful to not alter the timestream - referring here, of course, to us all having to be careful to stay home, and not risk spreading the disease.

Blog post by Prof. Amy Stanley about individuals' ability during disasters to take action.

AsAm News report on acid attack on a Brooklyn woman. Hate crimes against people of Asian and Jewish descent have increased dramatically during this crisis, as people pin the blame on scapegoats.

NY Times article on St. John the Divine coming to be used as a field hospital,

Parody of the famous Rene Magritte painting "The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe)." During this crisis, many schools around the world have moved to an online-learning format. Most educators (and most students) say this is no substitute for in-person classes, however. There may be pressure once this is all over for online / distance learning to remain a prominent element of education, but many educators are pushing back against this.

Kyodo News article about Japanese government granting visitors a three-month extension on having to apply to renew their visas.

NPR report on coronavirus in Turkmenistan

Japan on the Record podcast by Tristan Grunow, talking with Dr. Eiko Maruko Siniawer about crises and toilet paper panic buying.

This was, for many of us, the first Passover that we could not celebrate together, in person, as a family. Various rabbinical authorities even authorized that it was okay to celebrate Passover over Zoom, even though all electronics are normally off-limits during the first two nights/days of the holiday. Passover is, of course, a holiday which celebrates a story in which Ten Plagues brought down upon the Egyptian slavemasters by God, feature prominently. Many of us, particularly in the United States, have been privileged to never have to suffer from anything we might call a "plague." Most years, the Ten Plagues are a much more abstract concept - some families even joke around about the plagues, with a wide variety of children's toys available to help make the Passover Seder more tolerable / enjoyable for little ones. This year, I would imagine there was far less interest in making light of the Plagues. *From Creator: Cheryl Rosen (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1039073053139568&id=100011106495553)

As of late February and into March, many parts of the world still had not yet seen major outbreaks. Many felt that their governments - in New York, Washington, Tokyo, and elsewhere - were not doing nearly enough to prepare for what was coming. People circulated memes and explanations about how exponential growth can sneak up, seeming small for a long time until suddenly it explodes into a crisis-level. This meme, drawing on a clip from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, makes fun of that process.

New York Post article on 1%ers "escaping" to the Hamptons and putting severe pressure on local communities.

As countries around the world began to institute travel bans, many universities began to urge their students studying abroad to come home. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology posted that "this applies especially if you are staying in a country with poorly developed health services and infrastructure and/or collective infrastructure, for example the USA." The coronavirus pandemic has made all the more stark just how poor, how less than ideal, the health insurance system in the United States - and numerous other aspects of our infrastructure and structural systems - are. Though the Norwegian university later changed their post, their initial honesty about how many in Europe and elsewhere see the United States helped call this into stark relief.

Tweet by Prof. Louis Fishman highlighting suggestions by some in Turkey that Zionism could be behind the coronavirus.

Japan Times article on fears of the spread of coronavirus in Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang, China.

Online article about severe lockdown in Micronesia.

Japan Today article reporting the 2nd new infection, on Jan 24.

Prof. Louis Fishman shares a clip from Turkish television, in which an "expert" blames Israel for the coronavirus.

Daily Mail news article about Orthodox Jews being major source of plasma donations during the crisis.

A comic strip about the dangers to workers of reopening.

One of many Facebook posts by the organizers of Honolulu's annual Okinawan Festival, calling upon Honolulu residents to patronize local Okinawan-Americans' businesses, to help them stay in business despite lockdown.

CNN online article and video about coronavirus in Sioux reservations.

Japan Times article on the spread of coronavirus within asylum seekers' detention centers in Japan.

A podcast interview with Dr. David Slater (Sophia University) about coronavirus and asylum seekers' detention in Japan.

In Judaism, there are blessings to be said for nearly any action or occasion. For lighting candles, for waking up in the morning, for getting dressed. A blessing for wine, a different one for bread, a different one for fruits. This blessing can be said when putting on a facemask, and emphasizes the central and important place in Judaism of the divine commandment to protect life.

Article from Scientific American. Even though so many people all around the world are now staying at home, not driving, etc., the total drop in CO2 emissions hasn't dropped by all that much, showing that it really is industry, and not individual citizens, that needs to take drastic action to reduce carbon emissions if we want to escape the impending doom of climate change.

This image was a part of a Facebook post. It is evidently racist and indicates an underlying suspicion of the ‘Chinese’ community which has arisen out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussion of the cause of the Covid-19 outbreak, particularly regarding its supposed origins in a wet market, has contributed to a growth in anti-Chinese sentiment and ethnocentric thought in Tasmania. The image depicts a toy bat on a plate, with the caption describing it as a ‘Chinese meal’. This refers to the belief that bats are commonly eaten in China and that such practices caused the Covid-19 outbreak. The last line of the post is also evidently racist, with the name ‘Sum Ting Wong’ often being derogatively used by racist individuals to refer to Chinese and other ‘Asian’ people in Australia. It must be noted, however, that not all Tasmanians believe such horrid tropes. I immediately was horrified when I saw this post, and others I have showed it to have reacted in disgust. Nevertheless, it sadly still represents a faction of the community who have reacted to Covid-19 with suspicion and racism. From my personal experience, I feel as though this racism has reduced to some degree in the community, as the virus has spread throughout the world and beyond China.

New York Times article on the discussions and debates happening at US universities as to the many considerations involved in potentially reopening campuses for Fall 2020.

Facebook post by Dr. Michael Berry, translator of Fang Fang's Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City, as it was released (in English) on May 17.

As more meetings, classes, and social events moved to online video chat platforms like Zoom. This is one of many Facebook posts sharing images to use as one's virtual background on Zoom, placing oneself in the scene of a television show, or elsewhere, for humor value and in order to block the potentially unattractive actual view of one's home.

The very idea of staying home, wearing masks, etc. became politicized as some on the Right decided that stay-at-home orders and the like were undemocratic or authoritarian measures. This haiku encapsulates a kind, caring, non-politicized perspective on the reasons we are practicing self-isolation and social distancing as we are.

Soundscape recordings of pre-Covid New York City life, from the New York Public Library

A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.

A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.

A blog post by an American postdoctoral scholar living in Tokyo, about his experience of self-isolation and working from home.

A Facebook group promoting efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in Okinawa.

Bloomberg news article on tight lockdown measures in Hawai'i, aimed at protecting the islands from infection by incoming visitors.

Journal of Elia Lara Coria

Journal of Hector Lopez

A short recap of what my weeks look like while taking online classes during the pandemic.

April 20, 2020 Day 15 That day I could not sleep, I was trying to sleep but every time I closed my eyes I just wanted to open them up again, so I started to watch The Office and then I realized that it was time to get ready for class. To be honest I was getting tire during class but I knew I had to be awake and the weird part was that when the class end I could not sleep. My friends were sending me messages about going out to eat since its been weeks when we last saw each other but they were not saying yes or no because we would get off track from the conservation. So I decided to sleep and I set my alarm around 3 PM then the next thing I had about 20 missed calls from them and it was 4 PM then started to get ready, it was funny. We went to eat Cane’s and just hanging out. I went back home and I ended my day with doing homework.

Beginning on May 16, 2020, Jewish communities in Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok teamed up to hold weekly Havdalah services over Zoom, allowing us all, even isolated in our homes all across East Asia, to join together. Havdalah is a short service held every Saturday evening, marking the end of the Sabbath. A special candle is lit, and spices passed around and smelled, to remind us of the light and beauty of the Sabbath as we re-enter the regular week. Though we cannot experience the candle or the spices in the same way at a distance, and though reciting or singing prayers together over Zoom is difficult (given the lag time and so forth), it has been wonderful to have this opportunity for a sense of community and spirituality during this difficult time. I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me personally, I am a rather secular person and generally just find myself too busy to take the time to go to synagogue on any regular basis at all. But during a time like this, one finds that one appreciates that human connection, and connection to community, identity, heritage, spirituality, comforting traditions, more than usual. And as with academic conferences, simply speaking with friends & family, and many other things we are now doing over Zoom - not only in religious life but in general - we are building connections we might not have built otherwise. I don't know if the various Jewish communities of Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok have ever done these sorts of online communal events before; it's a wonderful feeling to "meet" people from all across the region. I hope it might continue.

Front page of the official website of the Jewish Community of Japan (the primary Jewish community center and house of worship in Tokyo), reading: "Dear Members and Guests of the JCJ “The preservation of health is a mitzvah which overrides all other .” We are in the midst of a global pandemic which requires caution and responsible action. Social distancing has been suggested as one of the best ways to prevent the quick spread of the virus. It is for this reason that we have decided to cancel all Shabbat and festival services at the JCJ until further notice. "

A compilation of customers behaving disgustingly to essential workers and others.