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In the midst of this global pandemic, people are talking about the urgent and critical need for personal protective equipment. They are sharing concerns about the impending lack of respirators and the need for testing. And they are encouraging people to #flattenthecurve through social distancing. But no one is talking about a potential mental health crisis facing health care workers on the frontlines of this pandemic. (Jessica Gold, 4/3)

By all accounts, we are merely in the opening salvo of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., and already our defenses are falling apart. Many thousands of Americans rely on independent family physicians, and if we do not act boldly and quickly to save them, we risk eviscerating the heart and soul of healthcare in communities nationwide. (Farzad Mostashari, 4/2)

The devastating coronavirus has already claimed the lives of over 50,000 people across the world -- and shows little sign of letting up anytime soon. But if there is one glimmer of hope in this global nightmare, it's that it may inspire a generation of Americans to consider pursuing careers in the medical and scientific fields, just as other crises have inspired past generations in particular ways. (Zelizer, 4/2)

I tested positive for Covid-19 not long ago. It wasn’t a worried-well test, or even a test I got because I had recently traveled to Italy or China, or had been in contact with someone diagnosed with Covid-19. I got tested because I felt awful. (Anne Kornblut, 4/3)

On Tuesday, the White House projected an alarming possibility: Between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the efforts in place to minimize the spread of the disease. Yet these 100,000 to 240,000 deaths are not inevitable. Far from it. (Jeffrey Sachs, 4/3)

"There's never a good time to start a family," as the saying goes. It's meant to reassure anxious would-be parents that there's rarely a feeling of confident preparedness that precedes having children -- and there isn't. But the aphorism takes on a new meaning in the age of a pandemic, in which life has radically changed and the future is uncertain. (SE Cupp, 4/2)

Our country and the world are facing one of the most dramatic events in our combined history. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues across the U.S., many long-term care facilities have restricted visitors’ access. While well-intentioned and meant to protect residents, these bans on all visitation have left hospice providers unable to reach patients with life-limiting illnesses due to confusion about the definition of "essential service." (Perry Farmer, 4/1)

New York -- I asked for the dateline in pride for my beloved city. For the third time in 20 years it’s been the epicenter of a world-class crisis—9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and now the 2020 pandemic. No one asks—not one person has asked—Why us? We think: Why not us? Of course us. The city of the skyscrapers draws the lightning. There are 8.6 million of us, we are compact, draw all the people of the world, and travel packed close in underground tubes. Of course we got sick here first. The crises are the price we pay for the privilege of living in the most exciting little landmass on the face of the Earth. What do we know? That we’ll get through it. We’ll learn a lot and it will be hard but we’ll get through, just like all the last times. (Peggy Noonan, (4/2)

No one likes the specter of police driving by churches to assess if services are in progress, with government officials following up by issuing citations. But that’s what happened with two churches in St. Louis last weekend — and it’s fair to ask what other choice those churches think the city had. Just as the constitutional right to free speech doesn’t allow someone to falsely yell “fire” in a crowded theater, so the right to religious observance doesn’t allow churches to risk the health of their own worshipers and the wider public by violating crowd limits during a pandemic. City officials cited Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in the Lewis Place neighborhood and St. John Church of God in Christ in College Hill for violating the city’s 10-person limit on public gatherings last Sunday. (4/2)