diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 598d4b0..3fedec6 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@
         'click',
         'loguru',
         'pandas',
+        'pathos',
         'pyyaml',
+        'tqdm',
     ]
 
     test_requirements = [
diff --git a/src/covid_shared/parallel.py b/src/covid_shared/parallel.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7c1391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/covid_shared/parallel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+from multiprocessing import Pool as StdLibPool
+from typing import Any, Callable, List, Optional
+
+import pandas as pd
+from pathos.multiprocessing import ProcessPool as PathosPool
+import tqdm
+
+
+Loader = Callable[[Any, Optional[pd.Index], int, int, bool], pd.DataFrame]
+
+
+def is_notebook() -> bool:
+    """Are we running code in a jupyter notebook?
+
+    Code from https://stackoverflow.com/a/39662359
+    """
+    try:
+        # The get_ipython function will be in the global namespace if we're in
+        # an ipython-like environment (including jupyter notebooks).
+        shell = get_ipython().__class__.__name__
+        if shell == 'ZMQInteractiveShell':
+            return True   # Jupyter notebook or qtconsole
+        elif shell == 'TerminalInteractiveShell':
+            return False  # Terminal running IPython
+        else:
+            return False  # Other type (?)
+    except NameError:
+        return False      # Probably standard Python interpreter
+
+
+def run_parallel(runner: Callable,
+                 arg_list: List,
+                 num_cores: int,
+                 progress_bar: bool = False,
+                 notebook_fallback: bool = False) -> List[Any]:
+    """Runs a single argument function in parallel over a list of arguments.
+
+    This function dodges multiprocessing if only a single process is requested to
+    make functions more flexible to debugging. It also supports progress bars if
+    requested.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    runner
+        A single argument function to be run in parallel.
+    arg_list
+        A list of arguments to be run over in parallel.
+    num_cores
+        Maximum number of processes to be run in parallel. If num_cores == 1,
+        The jobs will be run serially without invoking multiprocessing.
+    progress_bar
+        Whether to display a progress bar for the running jobs.
+    notebook_fallback
+        Whether to fallback to standard multiprocessing in a notebook. We use `pathos`
+        for multiprocessing as it uses a more robust serialization library, but `pathos`
+        has some leaky state and doesn't properly close down child processes when
+        interrupted in a jupyter notebook.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    List[Any]
+        A list of the results of the parallel calls of the runner.
+
+    """
+
+    if num_cores == 1:
+        result = []
+        for arg in tqdm.tqdm(arg_list, disable=not progress_bar):
+            result.append(runner(arg))
+    else:
+        if is_notebook() and notebook_fallback:
+            processing_pool_class = StdLibPool
+        else:
+            processing_pool_class = PathosPool
+
+        with processing_pool_class(num_cores) as pool:
+            result = list(tqdm.tqdm(
+                pool.imap(runner, arg_list),
+                total=len(arg_list),
+                disable=not progress_bar,
+            ))
+    return result