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COVID-19 Comics

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Last updated 04/01/20

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic. There is much information available online.  (Not all of that information has been reliable, so be sure to verify information!)

There are also dozens of comics about COVID-19 coming across our feeds. The comics are educational, social justice oriented, humorous/coping, or a combination of any and all of the above. Here are some of them for you. We have tried to include only comics with reliable information. We have also included a few historical plague-themed comics and non-comic resources for reliable information about COVID-19.

Categories:
Educational
Ethics
Comics by Care Providers
Comics by Patients
Humorous/Coping
Historical/Pandemic-Related
Non-comic Resources

More comics and resources will be added as we find them.

Also check out this collection, curated by A. David Lewis. And Short Run Seattle is collecting community-made comics here.

We welcome your submissions to add to this post!

Educational

Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris, with help from Dr Siouxsie Wiles, explores three important points about Covid-19.

Whit Taylor and Allison Shwed created this comic to debunk some Covid-19 myths. 

 

Ellen Forney created this tutorial on proper hand washing technique.

Malaka Gharib with NPR created this comic based on a radio story by Cory Turner. She intended for children to have access to facts about coronavirus. The original story includes the entire comic. Then she posted a follow up story, because libraries and schools have been translating and disseminating the comic. Malaka has also made the zine version available here to download for noncommercial use.

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Weiman Kow wanted to create comics to help explain how coronavirus works. She has created a website for her infocomics. Since her original COVID comic, she has added more about specific topics, such as hand washing and wearing a mask. Here is an article from The Hindu about her work.

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An excellent gif to show why social distancing is important. Click the image for the gif.

click to activate GIF

Emergency medicine physician, cartoonist, and Medicina Gráfica organizer Monica Lalanda has been making comics and infographics with the most recent information available to keep health care providers and all following Coronavirus best practices. You can find all of them on her website here.

This series of educational illustrations are drawn by Sonny Liew, in consultation with Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases) and supported by the Singapore Population Health Improvement Centre (SPHERiC). Click image for full comic.

Sesame Street using Elmo and his Mom in a comic to help parents talk to their children about COVID-19.

Image

Spanish nurse, illustrator, and Medicina Gráfica co-organizer Tolo Villalonga has created several educational posters in Spanish. Click the link below to see more on his Instagram.

and Medicina Gráfica has collected more from the Spanish-speaking world in this post.

The Vietnamese health department posted this animated video.

One more animation – on how the Corona Virus works inside the body.

Ethics

Bioethicist Craig Klugman creates comics to illustrate his blog posts. His most recent comics are organized here and have addressed the ethical issues arising from Covid-19.

Rachael L House

Comics by Care Providers

Graphic Medicine site founder and co-manager Ian Williams created this comic about one of his clinic visits.

Physician/cartoonist Grace Ferris has been posting coping comics. See her Instagram feed for more.

View this post on Instagram

Some options

A post shared by Grace Farris, MD (@coupdegracefarris) on

Shirlene Obuobi is an internal medicine resident in Chicago.

View this post on Instagram

Weirdly was really motivated to get a comic out today. Won’t go deep into this, but honestly? Covid is starting to really worry me. The worst of the pandemic has yet to hit, and we are already out of ppe. The patients we’re seeing get sick aren’t necessarily old with a laundry list of comorbidities. We’re losing a lot of healthcare personnel to quarantine after exposure vs COVID rule out while waiting for testing in coworkers who are ill (which is showing me, if anything, how often residents just tough it out and come to work sick.) I’m technically seventh in line for jeopardy, but I was pulled out of clinic to cover the MICU for a couple of days. And there’s a sense of foreboding in the air that I, personally, can’t seem to shake. .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m going to attempt to catch a few zzzs. #comic #webcomic #coronavirus #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse #physician

A post shared by Shirlene Obuobi (@shirlywhirlmd) on

Mike Natter is a physician-cartoonist on the front lines of this crisis in New York.

View this post on Instagram

COVID-19 🦠 We gotta talk about it. *We still are learning and Info subject to change as we get more data* (data per CDC) The symptoms include: fever (>100.4F), cough, and if advanced can cause shortness of breath and even pneumonia. 🦠 How does one GET the virus? It is thought to be spread by respiratory DROPLETS, (or so we think as of yet), so unlike measles, its spread by coming into contact with a droplet that contains the virus- someone with the virus coughed, sneezed, spit or snotted and you were either within range (<6 ft) of this or they touched a surface which you then touched. We still do not know how long the virus lasts for on surfaces. 🦠 How Infectious is it really? For every 1 pt infected, they will likely go on to infect 2 others. That is bad. It appears asymptomatic carriers can still shed the virus. 🦠 How deadly is it? The "death rate” is reported ~ 3.5%, when compared to the less than 1% death rate from the flu, that is CRAZY high. However, lets take a breath. We have yet to test most of the COVID cases in the US, so once we confirm more cases (which we will), the death rate will drop since ~80% of those infected typically recover. Those 20% who do worse *appear* to be the elderly and those w chronic med conditions / immunocomromised. The virus stirs up a cytokine storm usually leading to ARDS /resp failure. 🦠 Is there a vaccine? We hope to expect a vaccine in the next 12-18mo 🦠 What can we do? – Do not panic but rather exercise rational concern. Currently, the CDC recommends that if you DO NOT have symptoms or confirmed COVID19 or are a healthcare worker, you DO NOT need a mask. There is a SHORTAGE of masks (specifically N95's which are what health care workers NEED to protect ourselves). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP STEALING MASKS FROM HOSPITALS AND BULK BUYING N95s. These folks are creating a shortage for those who ACTUALLY need them. -WASH YOUR HANDS. A LOT. Soap and water is best and for at least 60s. An alcohol based hand sanitizer works well too. -Stop touching your face. -SOCIALLY ISOLATE. Chill with the hugs and kisses and handshakes if possible. -If you are feeling unwell, STAY HOME and CALL your doc. 🦠

A post shared by Mike Natter, MD (@mike.natter) on

And Alex Thomas of Booster Shot Media  is a physician-cartoonist in the Chicagoland area. His Instagram feed has more installments of “True Tales from the Outbreak”

Another nurse/cartoonist from Spain, Marina Peix, has also been creating comics about her clinical work.

Nathan Gray is a palliative care physician and cartoonist in North Carolina.


Nathan also created this comic about speaking with patients and families.

Rebecca Osborn is a second-year internal medicine resident at Yale. She submitted this comic directly to us.

Comics by Patients

Being a patient impacted by COVID-19 is not limited to those who have symptoms. Cities, states and nations have postponed nonessential surgeries and medical procedures. Myrtle.infertile has been posting comics about her IVF experiences on Instagram. Her latest post is about the impact of COVID.

Comic about cancellation of IVF cycle
With permission of myrtle.infertile

Medical illustrator and educator MERLIN has been posting drawings to Instagram about her experiences with Covid-19.

Humorous/Coping

The legendary Roz Chast.

View this post on Instagram

Coronapaper

A post shared by @ rozchast on

 

The Nib features four cartoonists responding to the Pandemic’s impact on their lives. 

Chris Ware created this for The New Yorker

Lunar Baboon cartoonist Christopher Grady posted this coping comic on March 29.

Montana cartoonist Vrah sent us a link to her great work.

Bill Doan has created this piece for Annals Graphic Medicine.

Another by Rachel House

“Creativity in Captivity” by Gemma Correll (click image for full comic on The Nib)

Katie Wheeler created “My parents and I both live in coronavirus epicenters — but we’re separated by thousands of miles” on The Lily. Click image for full comic. 

Robyn Jordan will be posting a series of comics for Mutha Magazine, “Home Not Sick”

Ms Mardou makes comics about life, and most recently Family Systems Therapy. See her Instagram feed for the ongoing series.

@Secondlina drew this comic about pets responding to their humans staying home

Embryo Stories with an inspiring comic of COVID-19 defeat

A politically oriented one by Jen Sorensen about reactions to social distancing. Jen has other COVID comics on her website

And here’s an XKCD from the perspective of a virus…

Historical/Pandemic-related

The top 10 most deadly epidemics are included in this comic, Death By The Numbers, on The Nib. Click image for full comic.

The Seattle Public Health Department launched this comic on quarantine preparedness, No Ordinary Flu, drawn by David Lasky, in 2016. It is available for order or download in many languages. Click image for more information.

 

Public health professional and cartoonist Whit Taylor created this prescient comic, America Isn’t Ready for a Pandemic, in 2018.

Robert Ullman made this comic, “Skating on Thin Ice” about the last time sporting championships were cancelled, 100 years ago, due to the 1918 flu pandemic.


“What Made The Black Death So Deadly & Who Were The Plague Doctors” – animated doc from The Infographics Show

Not a comic, but a fascinating visual of the history of pandemics.  Click for full post.

Resources of the non-comic variety

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a comprehensive website containing advice, facts, statistics, research, videos and more about the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

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Coronavirus at a glance from Johns Hopkins. Click for full infographic.

A go-to resource is https://coronavirus.gov, which leads to the CDC page with links to resources, articles, and news updates. The website is available in Spanish and Chinese.

3D Illustration of 2019-nCoV virus

Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering has a constantly updating Global Interactive Spread dashboard.

The US National Institute of Health (NIH) also has a site information and links to resources.

To close this post, Alice Bellchambers, a junior doctor working in London, UK, says, “I was introduced to comics and Graphic Medicine by Muna Al-Jawad, while I was a medical student in Brighton. I have been drawing and reflecting more frequently during recent times, and have just drawn the attached COVID-19 related poster/comic.”

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