I learned a lot about this pandemic (including how testing really works) from 2 podcast episodes:
The podcast Deep Background with Noah Feldman has recently featured especially good episodes with information about the COVID-19 pandemic. This twice-a-week podcast, hosted by the Harvard Constitutional Law professor who tested before the House Judiciary Committee during the hearings that led to Trump's impeachment, is in my regular rotation. As a layperson, I found these discussions both very informative and easy to follow. I hope you'll enjoy them as well.
You can listen to these podcast episodes on the show's home page, at the individual "Play in browser" links listed below, or in your favorite podcast app (for example Stitcher, IHeartRadio, or Apple Podcasts).
URL of show home page: https://pushkin.fm/deep-background
April 21, 2020 - The Roadblocks to Mass Testing
Omai Garner, the director of clinical microbiology testing at UCLA Health, explains why more Americans have not been tested for COVID-19.
Play in browser
April 22, 2020 - The Way out of the Pandemic? Generosity.
Pardis Sabeti, a computational biologist at Harvard and the Broad Institute, discusses when and how to re-open colleges and universities, why the US is behind other countries when it comes to containing the spread of coronavirus, and a plan to stop pandemics in the future.
Play in browser