Jodi is a former lawyer turned award-winning travel writer and photographer who shares resources and stories from a decade of eating and living abroad. Her expertise has led to features in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Travel, CNN, The Guardian, and more. Jodi also has celiac disease, and her longform gluten free guides and translation cards (over 18,000 cards sold!) have helped fellow celiacs eat safely as they travel.
Following a lumbar puncture that left her disabled in 2017, her work has shifted to focus on curiosity, chronic pain, and the challenges we all face when life changes drastically. She was named a 'Most Influential Health Advocate' of 2023, and also sits on the Board of Directors for the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation. Please see the About page for more.
Thanks so very much, Jodi – this is comprehensively helpful and seriously expressive.
I am a cancer survivor of 2 kinds of cancer – I am also my mother’s sole caregiver.
I do the shopping for two households, organize the appointments, collect the medications – most of which I can do by walking but there is a store at the end of each outing with people. Oddly enough every winter my mother and I sniffle and blow our noses endlessly – we aren’t ill (in other years) but this year there may be a different cause. We don’t have many visitors luckily – It is going to be a difficult thing to be able to distinguish if we are ill or not.
I meet the criterion for high susceptibility as does my 100 year old mother. I am also on the edge of that 70 years and older category I hear about on TV. So, all over, I am as at risk as my mother is.
Thank-you for making that clear.
I do use vinyl gloves often and will begin using them more of the time especially when outside. Luckily, (in one aspect) I live in a reasonably small community – the risks are not the same as a city – at least for getting in contact with the virus – but much worse than a city for dealing with an infection.
Well, deep breath, it is about time to start pulling together and maintaining only online or telephone connections as much as possible. It is a difficult thing to confront one’s mortality with calmness and courage. Thank-you and please know that I wish you a safe and protected future. as much as possible.
Thank you SO MUCH for this post that I will be sending out to everyone I know.
Great distillation of information and sticking to the facts rather than opinions. I think the lesson is to think collectively and expect short term for long term gain. As a fellow traveller who’s been on the road since the entire outbreak, I spent most of my time in Taiwan and saw first-hand how good the government response was, and in turn, the minimal panicking of society in general. Communication is the single most important asset we have in this situation and everyone has the tools to use it appropriately.
I think given the drastic measures now being taken by Governments around the world, particularly in Europe, that we should hopefully see changing of the tide soon.
Thanks for the comment, Kan. I plan to add a bit about Taiwan as well, since their reaction and protocols have been so impressive. I’m glad you’ve stayed safe and hopefully well.
Thank you for sharing this considerate and intelligent article Jodi! I hope people read it and listen to your voice of reason. Working in healthcare as my “day job” remote work is not an option for me. And as a therapy clinic our services are not life-saving but they are essential for quality of life, promoting independence, and promoting functional engagement in our clients. I’m worried for the young clients with severe autism who depend on daily therapy to function in society. Obviously we want to protect ourselves and our clients from COVID-19 but this is going to have lasting negative effects in other aspects of their health. It’s a frightening time.
Thank you for writing this comprehensive article! I love to travel but, with a heavy heart, have cancelled all my travel until May and keep an eye on the situation using reliable sources. I’m well but in case of an infection I don’t want to pass on the virus, and neither do I want to be out because of quarantine because I’m a health care worker, I watch Italy (and other countries beside my own) and brace myself for a situation we may or may not have in a few days time. This is Central Europe where health care is available to every one at low personal cost and plenty of hospital beds are available. Government is now slowly creaking into action but more important is information and responsibilitity of every individual to help slow the spread. Thank you again for this very matter of fact and detailed article!
Thank you for canceling your travels, Anja.
Great job, Jodi!
Very comprehensive. I’ve already forwarded it to several people who are both interested and also not quite worried enough. Perhaps this will help.
Thank you for writing this! I have been saying this for a while lately that people need to stay away from one another as much as possible to stop this from spreading. It is of course tough, in the short term, but if we can flatten the curve, as you mention, then it gives our long term a much better outlook. And I have stressed to people, it’s not just about whether or not you personally are going to be okay if you get it, but the prospect of others becoming ill who have far more susceptibility to not being able to recover. Planning to share this so that others can hopefully become better informed. We are all in this together!
Jodi, thank you for this very well-thought out and well-researched article. I completely agree that we need to protect our vulnerable populations during this outbreak, but I keep asking myself, at what cost? In the US especially, where our safety nets are not what they are in other developed countries, extreme social distancing measures are putting other vulnerable populations at risk in different ways. For many people, if they don’t work, they can’t put food on the table or pay their rent. If kids aren’t in school, they can’t access free lunches and other social services. It feels like we have to choose between protecting our medically-vulnerable population or our economically-vulnerable population. The obvious answer is to put those safety nets in place, but realistically, that’s not going to happen overnight in this country. I’d love to get your thoughts on this dilemma.
hi Kristina, my thoughts are that it’s very difficult to answer those questions because the moral imperative – protect society as a whole, including the most vulnerable – supersedes the economic imperative, at least in my mind. Yes, there’s no safety net in the USA and pandemics like this highlight the fault lines in the system there very brightly. The US government will hopefully continue to pass bills that address unemployment and sick leave and more, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to suggest one sacrifices the vulnerable because the country did not previously bother to take care of its citizens. There’s no room for a fine balance with a pandemic, is the thing. Either people stay home as much as possible and do what is best for the collective, or the virus continues to spread. It has no bank account or passport, and the more people are out and about, the more it will jump from person to person. Telling only the vulnerable to quarantine does not fix the problem; I’ve actually updated the post with data modelling the differences with only ‘at risk’ people staying home, vs. widespread social isolation. Frankly, given what we’re seeing from Italy where there are hundreds of deaths per day and thousands of new cases daily STILL, I can’t see an argument for balance right now. The world over will suffer economically because of this pandemic, for sure. And I am not being stoic about those who can’t make ends meet – I have many friends in that space, with businesses that depend on travel and service-based social occasions. It’s awful, and will be awful for some time to come. I just don’t see a way out of this mess that doesn’t involve a lot more deaths if we don’t take drastic steps immediately.
Thanks Jodi, saw this on Instagram and came here to so I can share it with others. This offered some real perspective and helped me see things I did not think of. I vacillated between whining that I am home alone and panic and so this helped get over all that. (By the way, I have been following you here and on instagram for years.). Please be safe and hope to safe you walking with the ducks soon!
Thank you Sharon! Stay safe too <3
There is an inaccuracy. You report that doctors recommend that if you have a fever and cough you should call your public health department for testing. Testing is not readily available, at least at this time. You should and can call your health department, hospital, emergency department or primary care physician for advice.
Hi Dr. Wespiser. I had previously added an extra note to call someone’s PCP/GP if they have one, or local hospitals. However, testing is not readily available in America but is available more easily in many other countries. (I’m not American, and my readers are also from all over the world.) Thank you for reading!
Beautifully written, Jodi, as per usual! Thank you for sharing. The whole situation has been scary and stressful for our students (domestic and international) and visiting researchers (Will study abroad programs be canceled? Will they get stuck in transit? Will they even be able to go home?, etc). It’s difficult to stay calm when there is so much uncertainty. Thinking of you and sending well wishes from Riverside, CA!
Hi Shanon, I can only imagine the NAFSA world and what chaos must be going on in the schools and universities. I’m sure it’s been scary for all of you. Hoping things work out as best they can during this very unique time in our lives. All the best back!
Thank you for finally a sensible, comprehensive post on this.
I’d like to add it’s been really bothering me to read people use terms like “spreaders”, “super spreaders”, “carriers”, “super carriers”, and even “10-second hand washers”. This virus has shown us it’s time to unite, to sacrifice for a greatest good and for humanity as a whole, not as individuals – so using these terms to single people out/shame them is actually going to do the opposite. Maybe we should just refer to each other as humans?
I also fear for the future of those living with virus that do not go away like HIV and the damage this type of shaming and name-calling can do to decades fighting stigma. We cannot let this happen. Compassion is key here.
Thank you
Hi Shannon, I agree that shame rarely helps get people to change their minds. It is important to state the facts, and that is that 20 seconds is needed and that people can unknowingly be carriers/vectors without showing symptoms. There’s a way to do it, and then there’s the people who refuse to abide – like the guy in Kentucky who is under armed guard after testing positive and refusing to quarantine. Hopefully reasonable, united minds continue to be the exception and not the norm here. Thank you for commenting!
This has to be the most comprehensive article and response to the CoVid crisis I have seen outside of medical websites and news reports. I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the law background.
Thank you for your insight as an immuno-compromised person, Jodi. It is an article I will be passing on to friends and family members to help them understand the situation better as well.
Much appreciated for the time and great effort it must have taken to stand and type this. It only illustrates further how important it is to take care of everyone in society right now.
Wishes for good health and a safe drive back to Canada.
Thanks for this. I consider myself very well-read on this topic (needed for my job… a large chunk of my days have been dealing with COVID-19 stats) but I am absolutely impressed by how you laid this whole thing out. Your writing certainly was the reason I bookmarked this site years ago.
I was one of those who minimized this disease and made fun of people who panicked. Then I was angry and resentful at the actions that restricted my freedom and tanked my investments. Slowly, though, I’ve come to see eye to eye with you. The virus is hitting us too fast (if because we should have taken it more seriously when it was still only overseas) that there is a serious lag in information, realization, and emotional response. I tend to believe that people are insensitive because they haven’t fully understood what it could mean for them on the personal level. It takes time… but of course, with good writing like this, hopefully we can shorten that time.
Stay safe. And thanks for spreading the words.
Hello Jodi,
Thank you for your post first. I accidentally saw the post and couldn’t help but want to say something, I like your attitude.
I am a Chinese working in foreign trade, and also concerned about this disaster. I understand the intention of your article very well because at first, I was just as worried as you.
Your 12 anti-epidemic guidelines are what we have been doing. From closing the city, shutting down, and gradually returning to work from the end of January to the present, our country has experienced too many difficulties and made many efforts. To be honest, I was also very pessimistic at first, but now it seems to be gradually getting better, and the elementary school is gradually starting this month.
Although many indoor gathering places such as theaters are not yet open, 99% of people on the street still wear masks, but it seems that 99% of people have this awareness of anti-epidemic, and no one feels that this will limit our freedom, even few-year-old children know to wash their hands and wear masks at any time, not to go to crowded places. I think it may be that this universal consciousness really works.
Therefore, it is really useful to have one mind on this very spreading virus. As long as we break the way of transmission, everyone will take good isolation measures, I believe that it will overcome the virus a little faster than doing nothing. This is good for all.
All the Best wishes! If any help please let me know, I’ll try best.