Information and viruses have a pretty interesting kinship.

Information can go viral just like a virus, meaning it can spread rapidly and widely from one user to another.

And computer viruses can bring down the whole information infrastructure, just the way the coronavirus is pretty much bringing down – temporarily – the whole human infrastructure.

What do you want to know about coronavirus and Colorado’s response?

Information is also the best weapon we’ve got against this virus right now.

Information is the key to knowing and doing the right things at the right time to slow this thing down.

What other countries and cities have done already to get ahead of it are vital for us to know so we can model our response on theirs.

Who has been infected and where is crucial information as well, so we can quarantine those people and places and avoid spreading the infection further.

What the exact symptoms are and how to take care of yourself to keep from getting infected, and where and how to get tested if you think you are infected, are vital bits of information as well.

Trusted local information sources are really the best way to find out what you need to do in your own backyard to keep yourself safe. Good information vs. bad, in the coming weeks, may literally spell the difference between life and death.

That’s why many newspapers like Colorado Politics and The Gazette have given everyone access to their coronavirus coverage for free, because, at the end of the day, we provide a public service as vital as any, especially in a crisis like this that depends desperately on the right information at the right time.

That’s also why this week, Facebook and the Lenfest Institute announced they will provide $1 million in grants for COVID-19 coverage. Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network received a separate $1 million from Facebook to administer grants to widen its early efforts to flag false information about the epidemic and another $1 million from WhatsApp to battle COVID-19 hoaxes on messaging apps. Twitter is cracking down on coronavirus content that contradicts health authorities, as are other tech giants. 

What happens when you don’t have access to vital and accurate information? Well, the spread of coronavirus in China happens. The birth and metastasizing of this thing are an abject lesson in the necessity and worth of the First Amendment, and the huge dangers that places that don’t have freedom of information pose to the whole world.

Washington Post columnist Mark Thiessen makes the point that Chinese officials punished doctors for trying to warn the public about the virus in its early stages and concealed information that might have saved lives.

According to the Times of London, Chinese doctors who had identified the virus in early December received a gag order from China’s National Health Commission with instructions to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news.

“This is what totalitarian regimes do,” Thiessen wrote. “First, they lie to themselves, and then, they lie to the world. The system creates such fear that people are terrified to report bad news up the chain, causing ‘authoritarian blindness.’ Then, when those at the top finally discover the truth, they try to cover it up – because leaders who abuse their people are less concerned with saving lives than making sure the world does not discover the deadly inefficiency of their system.”

Axios reports that if the Chinese government had acted just three weeks earlier to suppress the virus rather than suppress information about it, the number of cases could have been reduced by 95%.

If China had a free flow of information, with a government held accountable by a free press, we might not be on lockdown today in Colorado Springs.

That also means that, because we are a democracy here, one empowered by a free flow of information, we can’t blame our government if this thing gets out of hand, or solely rely on it to save us. We have to do the job of fighting this virus ourselves.

We have to isolate ourselves as much as we can so that this thing can’t spread any faster. We may have to ration lifesaving medical resources. We have to listen to the information we’re being provided and act on it fast, responsibly and generously.

We have to take full advantage of the most effective antivirus any country has for this thing.

It’s called “true news.” And it’s back. 

Vince Bzdek is editor of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, the sister publication of Colorado Politics.