Resources on Coronavirus (COVID-19) From the Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and CFR’s Think Global Health website offer resources on the coronavirus pandemic, including background and expert analysis.

Find all of CFR’s coronavirus-related content on our topic page. Be sure to check back often for additional content on this evolving global crisis.

A Global Pandemic

Public health experts Larry Brilliant, Tara O’ Toole, and Mark Smolinski discuss in a conference call the latest on COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness.

CFR’s Tom Frieden, former director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shares lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak in a CNN op-ed. In a follow-up article, he argues for restricted visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly.

In a Why It Matters podcast episode, Frieden joins American University President Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Financial Times Columnist Rana Foroohar, and CFR’s Shannon K. O’Neil to discuss the world’s response to the pandemic.

CFR’s Stewart M. Patrick writes that development and globalization are driving a new era of infectious disease in World Politics Review.

A backgrounder explains how the COVID-19 outbreak compares to other epidemics and what countries around the world are doing to contain the virus.

A backgrounder looks at the World Health Organization, which declared coronavirus a global health emergency.

The U.S. Response to COVID-19

Frieden argues in Think Global Health that the United States should protect vulnerable populations, encourage social distancing, and accelerate work on effective treatments and vaccines.

In Vox, Frieden outlines seven potentially deadly errors the United States is making in its coronavirus response.

In a conference call, CFR’s Thomas J. Bollyky discusses epidemic preparedness in the United States.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Bollyky discusses the U.S. response to the pandemic to date.

In a conference call, Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California system and former secretary of homeland security, discusses university and state responses to the outbreak.

CFR's Yanzhong Huang warns that the coronavirus outbreak could lead to drug shortages due to U.S. dependence on China and India for its drug supply.

CFR’s Edward Alden discusses former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s universal basic income proposal as coronavirus takes an economic toll on the United States.

The International Response

CFR’s Elizabeth C. Economy analyzes Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the pandemic.

Following an initially “atrocious” response, China is now using its coronavirus campaign to build global soft power, writes CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick.

CFR’s Mira Rapp-Hooper, Kirk Lancaster, and Michael Rubin assess the potential impact of COVID-19 on China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Think Global Health shares a tracker on travel restrictions on China due to COVID-19.

CFR’s Scott A. Snyder writes that despite South Korea’s high capacity for response, COVID-19’s spread may provoke human, economic and political disasters over the long term.

Snyder calls North Korea’s coronavirus quarantine “more effective than sanctions” after the country closed its borders to halt the spread of the virus.

CFR’s Amy M. Jaffe explains the breakdown in Saudi-Russian cooperation on oil markets and the reduced global demand for oil.

Low turnout in recent Iranian parliamentary elections due to the pandemic has dealt a blow to the Iranian regime’s legitimacy, writes CFR’s Ray Takeyh in Think Global Health.

CFR’s Bollyky and Jason S. Bardi interview Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Chikwe Ihekweazu on Nigeria and West Africa’s preparedness for a coronavirus pandemic for Think Global Health.

CFR’s John Campbell warns that “Though the incidence of the novel coronavirus has been relatively low in Africa, health systems there are still highly vulnerable to an outbreak.”

Campbell notes that Nigeria looks to be “building on lessons learned from the 2014 Ebola response” in its efforts to contain coronavirus.

Follow Think Global Health (@ThinkGlobalHlth) and CFR’s global health experts @TomBollyky, @DrTomFrieden, and @YanzhongHuang on Twitter.

To request an interview with an expert, please contact [email protected] or call 212.434.9888.

About CFR

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. 

CFR takes no institutional positions on policy issues and has no affiliation with the U.S. government. All views expressed in its publications and on its website are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.

For more information, please visit our Media Resources.