Important Coronavirus/COVID-19 resources for Arlington

UPDATE Please see https://mutualaidarlington.org for more current information!

Now that Arlington town government and all public schools are closed for ~two weeks~ a while, here are some key COVID-19 resources, both local and scientific.

Quick Links - Updated

• Need books? Library online resources or local bookstores with free shipping.
• Need food? Check out updated grocery store hours, or seek help (or donate) to ArlingtonEats/FoodLink.
• Need drugs? Here’s all the local pharmacies with phone numbers and estimated hours.
• Want delivery? Delivery services are still working, but with delays.
• Need help from neighbors? Please join in the new Mutual Aid Arlington network!
• • MassLive news site list of open or closed categories of businesses.

What Is Arlington Doing?

The town announced public facilities closures starting Thursday March 12th, for two or more weeks:

• Public schools closed through “at least 27 March”, including sports and other events.
• Town offices are limiting services - “through at least March 27… suspend most nonessential town services and cancel board and committee meetings until further notice.”:
  • All town committee/group meetings cancelled
  • Town Hall - CLOSED in person, only use telephone or email/request forms
  • Arlington Public Library - CLOSED
  • What other libraries are open? Check out my handy list here!
  • Arlington Recreation Department - CLOSED
  • Arlington Youth Counseling Center (AYCC) - CLOSED, however “AYCC clinicians will continue to offer their regular counseling and mental health sessions to current clients and client families via phone calls and telemedicine services.”
  • Arlington Senior Center - CLOSED
  • Playgrounds - CLOSED to groups
  • Local gyms (all kinds) - CLOSED
  • Senior rides and meals will operate
  • Arlington Police are of course still on the job! However they urge everyone to call or use online forms to make requests or reports when possible.
• Sign up for town alerts or follow on social media in the Communications Center
• League of Women’s Voters Candidates Night is cancelled. They still offer an online candidate’s guide for brief statements.
• ELECTIONS Anyone can request an absentee ballot by filling in the application, signing it, and either mailing or emailing a scanned/picture copy of it to the town clerk’s office. Be sure to allow time for it to be mailed to you.
• Town Meeting is scheduled to start 27-April. A decision will be made later if postponement or other changes are needed.

Food Resources

• UPDATE: Arlington official updates on food services being continued.
• Arlington schools are planning to provide to-go lunches for APS students from the Thompson School lobby starting Monday 16-March, from 10:30AM - Noon.
• Arlington Eats is continuing operations, and appreciates donations!
• Food Link is still operating from their new location at 888 Mass Ave and also appreciates donations!
• Great article from The Atlantic on How To Get Food During A Pandemic

Housing Resources

• Arlington Housing Authority (no new programs posted 14-Mar)
• Housing Corporation Of Arlington (no new programs posted 14-Mar)
• Somerville Homeless Coalition (donation link for their program)

Local Government Resources

• Quick high-level help and pointers come from Mass 211
• The CDC still has excellent advice, even in the face of reports of not enough tests.
• CDC Fact Sheets, including in Spanish and Chinese.
• Mass Department of Public Health information page lists local resources, with updates our the MA State of Emergency
• Boston Public Library has a great list of resources too.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) provides resources in other languages, like Arabic, French, Russian, and more.

Scientific And Trusted News Resources

There are a lot of scientists working on this - a lot of scammers too.
Check sources before sending articles along - it’s almost always worth finding the underlying scientific report or alert, instead of sharing that clickbait article on some website you found.

• Elsevier COVID-19 Information center and Science Direct with various peer-reviewed journals and practical papers.
• The Lancet’s respected scientific journals coverage of COVID-19.
• WHO’s meta-listing of scientific papers on COVID-19.
• New York Times coverage on COVID-19 is now free for all (not paywalled).
• NPR’s guide on preparing your home.
• This well-researched Medium article by Tomas Pueyo gives a good overview of the larger implications of COVID-19.
• Bob Sprague’s Your Arlington is worth reading regularly for hyper-local Arlington news.
• SSRN scientific papers custom listing of COVID-19 related topics.

Data Visualizations Related To COVID-19

There are a lot of fancy data maps or visualizations tracking the spread of COVID-91, including one by a high school student. A handful of ones from well-researched sources are here:

• Johns Hopkins public health has one of the best datasets and visualizations.
• The COVID19 Tracker team (from the Atlantic) are also analyzing detailed US data.
• Tableau software offers free visualizations you can re-use.
• Datawrapper software also has some free reusable charts.

Other Great Resources? Send In Updates!

If you have other good resources - especially from government sources or with serious scientific backing - please send them in, I’ll update this.
Similarly, if you are working on a resource list, or have a volunteer list to help people stuck at home, let me know and I can link it.

If you’re on Github’: just click “Propose change on GitHub” to make a PR. Otherwise, email shane@menotomymatters.com with your suggestions.

Thanks for reading!