Giving to the poor is an essential part of the holy month, which began Friday, and with so many people thrown out of work, observers say it's particularly needed now.

A leading U.S. arts organization released a survey of more than 10,000 artists and creative workers on Friday. It found 95% of them have experienced income loss as a result of COVID-19.

Experts say it could be dangerous to rely on overseas production of medicine in a crisis, but the U.S. largely does. Rebuilding domestic capacity would take years and substantial investments.

La spesa sospesa means paying in advance for someone who can't afford it — an act of charity in which donors don't show off and recipients don't have to show gratitude.

For architect Grace Kim, the antidote to isolation is co-housing. She describes how she built a home—and a community—by designing an apartment building for her family and eight other families.

As a cancer patient, Suleika Jaouad spent years in and out of hospital rooms, isolated from the outside world. She shares her insights on finding creative solitude during periods of forced isolation.

For Jonny Sun, loneliness felt like being an alien on a distant planet, alone in the universe. But when he shared those feelings online, he found a community of people who felt precisely the same way.

Psychologist Susan Pinker explains why face-to-face connection is a human necessity. But during this period of isolation, she says some ways of connecting online are better substitutes than others.

The way Illinois finally got the masks it needed was practically the plot to a heist thriller — so we turned it into one for the first of our Quarantine Edition of Planet Money Shorts.

Two weeks after Perla Pimentel was laid off, her father lost his job as a transportation contractor for Disney World. The warehouse where her mom works has also begun to furlough employees.