I’m not about to go over eveything you’re hearing on a daily basis regarding the coronavirus pandemic, or COVID-19 as it has officially been named. I intended on publishing a post around three weeks ago. Unfortunately, this thing spreads fast, so my information was already out of date a few hours after I’d prepared. We’ve had a few weeks of COVID-19 in England. At the time of typing, we have 2,626 confirmed cases (in reality, taking into account mild cases, probably well in excess of 30,000) and one accurate figure – 103 deaths.

I’ll update you on a few things I’ll be doing through England Reborn. Primarily, I’ll be updating Twitter – something I’ve been doing through my personal account recently. Twitter is important during this pandemic. News travels fast and although not all of it can be instantly verified, it leaves an observer with a real sense of where things are. A few things I’ll be looking at in depth and sharing on Twitter @England_Reborn are as follows:

• A look at potential treatments as they are covered, often by experts and shared on Twitter.
• Whether ACE Inhibitors and ARBs – common drugs used to treat high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, are detrimental or beneficial should you catch COVID-19 (the jury is still out at the time of posting).
• How, if you are self isolating or even quarantined, you can keep fit and healthy from home.
• General new developments throughout England and our neighbouring countries. Whether this be incoming lockdown and deployment of the army, financial measures, deployment of troops and so on. If it’s related to COVID-19 in England and not widely reported on, I’ll try to cover it.

Getting information out

The plan, in general, is to cover COVID-19 information that is not being shared through the general media. Things travel slowly in traditional news organisations. We’re all at saturation level regarding general COVID-19 news. I’ll try and put something different out.

To finish off, here are links to two maps. I have seen many people ask how to access the maps you often see in news reports. The first is the UK Gov COVID-19 dashboard, which includes a zoomable map. Links are for desktop version and mobile version.

The second is for the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre world map – click here to access it.

COVID-19 primarily affects lifestyle if you’re fit, healthy and under 60. You may be thinking ‘but I’ll be fine if I catch this, I just want to go about my business as usual’. Unfortunately, due to the risks posed to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, this is not possible – in England and elsewhere, life is going to change for a few months at least. Follow @England_Reborn on Twitter for information as I get it.

Remember – social distancing – stay safe – and wash your hands.