Study finds ‘single largest driver’ of Coronavirus misinformation: Donald Trump

‘Of the flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and falsehoods seeding the internet on the coronavirus, one common thread stands out: President Trump. That is the conclusion of researchers at Cornell University who analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-language media around the world. Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic” — falsehoods involving the pandemic.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 30, 2020)

Coronavirus deaths pass one million worldwide

‘More than HIV. More than dysentery. More than malaria, influenza, cholera and measles — combined. In the 10 months since a mysterious pneumonia began striking residents of Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide as of Monday — an agonizing toll compiled from official counts, yet one that far understates how many have really died. It may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and unlike all the other contenders, it is still growing fast.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 28, 2020)

Covid-19 may have a hidden impact on the heart, including that of healthy athletes

‘Last month, several college conferences, the Big Ten and the Pac 12 among them, postponed their sports seasons, including football, citing the risks posed to athletes by the coronavirus. A major factor in those decisions, according to some physicians, was the uncertain implications of a July paper in JAMA Cardiology. In this study of 100 people who had Covid-19, M.R.I.’s showed at least some signs of myocarditis in 60 of them, meaning they had inflammation in the heart muscle, which can weaken the organ and, on rare occasions, lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Another study, published this month in the same journal, looked at 26 Ohio State athletes who experienced Covid-19 with mild or no symptoms and detected evidence of possible myocarditis in five of them and lesser abnormalities in nine more. The condition poses a heightened risk to those whose physical activity puts stress on the heart: Even before the pandemic, myocarditis was a leading cause of death in young, otherwise healthy athletes.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 23, 2020)

A Covid-19 vaccine for children may not arrive before Fall 2021

‘The pandemic has many parents asking two burning questions. First, when can I get a vaccine? And second, when can my kids get it? It may come as a surprise that the answers are not the same. Adults may be able to get a vaccine by next summer. But their kids will have to wait longer. Perhaps a lot longer.

‘Thanks to the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed and other programs, a number of Covid-19 vaccines for adults are already in advanced clinical trials. But no trials have yet begun in the United States to determine whether these vaccines are safe and effective for children.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 21, 2020)

To beat the coronavirus, build a better fence: Tomas Pueyo

‘No country has been able to control the virus without a fence. Fences are not enough to stop the virus on their own, but they’re a necessary part of the solution. European countries and U.S. states had hoped otherwise. They were deluded. They opened their arms to their neighbours too soon and got infected in the hug.

‘They need to realise that not every country or state is effectively fighting the virus. Why should their citizens sacrifice so much for so long, with lockdowns and business closures, only to waste their efforts when their neighbours visit?

‘And as long as states fail to control their borders, the coronavirus will come back.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 14, 2020) 

Coronavirus crisis shatters India's big dreams

‘Not so long ago, India’s future looked entirely different. It boasted a sizzling economy that was lifting millions out of poverty, building modern megacities and amassing serious geopolitical firepower. It aimed to give its people a middle-class lifestyle, update its woefully vintage military and become a regional political and economic superpower that could someday rival China, Asia’s biggest success story. But the economic devastation in Surat and across the country is imperiling many of India’s aspirations. The Indian economy has shrunk faster than any other major nation’s. As many as 200 million people could slip back into poverty, according to some estimates. Many of its normally vibrant streets are empty, with people too frightened of the outbreak to venture far.

‘Much of this damage was caused by the coronavirus lockdown imposed by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, which experts now say was at turns both too tight and too porous, both hurting the economy and spreading the virus. India now has the fastest growing coronavirus crisis, with more than 80,000 new infections reported each day.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 5, 2020)

Steroids can be lifesaving for Covid-19 patients, scientists report: New data in hand, the WHO recommended that doctors give the drugs to critically ill patients worldwide

‘International clinical trials published on Wednesday confirm the hope that cheap, widely available steroid drugs can help seriously ill patients survive Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Based on the new evidence, the World Health Organization issued new treatment guidance, strongly recommending steroids to treat severely and critically ill patients, but not to those with mild disease...

‘JAMA published that paper and three related studies, along with an editorial describing the research as an “important step forward in the treatment of patients with Covid-19.” Corticosteroids should now be the first-line treatment for critically ill patients, the authors said. The only other drug shown to be effective in seriously ill patients, and only modestly at that, is remdesivir. Steroids like dexamethasone, hydrocortisone and methylprednisolone are often used by doctors to tamp down the body’s immune system, alleviating inflammation, swelling and pain. Many Covid-19 patients die not of the virus, but of the body’s overreaction to the infection.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 2, 2020)

WHO ‘living guidance' on corticosteroids for Covid-19:

Download here (WHO)

CDC tells states how to prepare for Covid-19 vaccine by early November

‘The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November.

‘The new C.D.C. guidance is the latest sign of an accelerating race for a vaccine to ease a pandemic that has killed more than 184,000 Americans. The documents were sent out on the same day that President Trump told the nation in his speech to the Republican National Convention that a vaccine might arrive before the end of the year.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 2, 2020)

Meet the philosopher who is trying to explain the pandemic: Giorgio Agamben criticises the “techno-medical despotism” of quarantines and closing

‘In a society that respects science, expertise confers power. That has good results, but it brings a terrible problem: Illegitimate political power can be disguised as expertise. This was an idea of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who used it to explain how experts had expanded definitions of criminality and sexual deviancy. One of Italy’s most celebrated thinkers, Giorgio Agamben, has recently applied similar insights to the coronavirus, at the risk of turning himself into a national pariah...

‘Mr. Agamben’s name may ring a bell for some Americans. He was the professor who in 2004, at the height of the “war on terror,” was so alarmed by the new U.S. fingerprinting requirements for foreign visitors that he gave up a post at New York University rather than submit to them. He warned that such data collection was only passing itself off as an emergency measure; it would inevitably become a normal part of peacetime life.

‘His argument about the coronavirus runs along similar lines: The emergency declared by public-health experts replaces the discredited narrative of “national security experts” as a pretext for withdrawing rights and privacy from citizens. “Biosecurity” now serves as a reason for governments to rule in terms of “worst-case scenarios.” This means there is no level of cases or deaths below which locking down an entire nation of 60 million becomes unreasonable. Many European governments, including Italy’s, have developed national contact tracing apps that allow them to track their citizens using cellphones.’

Read here (New York Times, August 21, 2020)

Vietnam let down its guard, and cases surged

It’s a familiar story in Asia: Vietnam seemed like a miracle, where months went by without a single coronavirus death or even local transmission. 

 

The economy reopened, travel restarted and residents began leaving their masks at home. But over the weekend, the country announced that the virus was lurking after all — and spreading. Experts do not know the source. 

 

It followed a pattern in places that seemed to have done everything right: Japan, China, Australia and South Korea all recorded spikes on Wednesday. And the mystery is worrying medical experts and residents alike. 

 

Details: Shortly after a 57-year-old man from Danang tested positive, clusters emerged in five hospitals. By Wednesday, the virus had spread north to Hanoi, south to Ho Chi Minh City, to two provinces in the country’s center and even the remote Central Highlands. 

 

Quotable: “In my opinion, this outbreak is more dangerous than the previous one because it is happening at the same time in many places,” said the dean of public health at Quang Trung University.

Read here (New York Times, June 29, 2020)

239 experts with 1 big claim: The coronavirus is airborne

‘The World Health Organization has long held that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets that, once expelled by infected people in coughs and sneezes, fall quickly to the floor. But in an open letter to the WHO, 239 scientists in 32 countries have outlined the evidence showing that smaller particles can infect people, and are calling for the agency to revise its recommendations. The researchers plan to publish their letter in a scientific journal next week.’

Read here (New York Times, July 4, 2020)

The national humiliation we need

‘What’s the core problem? Damon Linker is on to a piece of it: “It amounts to a refusal on the part of lots of Americans to think in terms of the social whole — of what’s best for the community, of the common or public good. Each of us thinks we know what’s best for ourselves.”

‘I’d add that this individualism, atomism and selfishness is downstream from a deeper crisis of legitimacy. In 1970, in a moment like our own, Irving Kristol wrote, “In the same way as men cannot for long tolerate a sense of spiritual meaninglessness in their individual lives, so they cannot for long accept a society in which power, privilege, and property are not distributed according to some morally meaningful criteria”.’

Read here (New York Times, July 2, 2020)

People have stopped going to the doctor. Most seem just fine

‘As stay-at-home orders ease and cities reopen for business, many doctors and hospital administrators are calling for a quick return of health care to pre-pandemic levels. For months now, routine care has been postponed. Elective procedures — big moneymakers — were halted so that hospitals could divert resources to treating Covid-19 patients. Routine clinic visits were canceled or replaced by online sessions. This has resulted in grievous financial losses for hospitals and clinics. Medical practices have closed. Hospitals have been forced to furlough employees or cut pay.

‘Most patients, on the other hand, at least those with stable chronic conditions, seem to have done OK. In a recent survey, only one in 10 respondents said their health or a family member’s health had worsened as a result of delayed care. Eighty-six percent said their health had stayed about the same.’

Read here (New York Times, June 22, 2020)

A plague of willful ignorance

‘We aren’t a nation of know-nothings; many, probably most Americans are willing to listen to experts and act responsibly. But there’s a belligerent faction within our society that refuses to acknowledge inconvenient or uncomfortable facts, preferring to believe that experts are somehow conspiring against them... Trump hasn’t just failed to rise to the policy challenge posed by Covid-19. He has, with his words and actions — notably his refusal to wear a mask — encouraged and empowered America’s anti-rational streak.’

Read here (New York Times, June 22, 2020)

In this coronavirus wave, China tries something new: Restraint

‘The city of Beijing has tested 1.1 million people in less than a week and has halted many flights, but has not imposed the citywide lockdowns used in provincial outbreaks...

‘The brunt of the government’s measures has been borne by food traders at markets that were sealed off after cases were found, and by the residents of more than four dozen apartment complexes placed under lockdown. But in many other Beijing neighborhoods, the shops, restaurants and even hair salons are still operating. Traffic is a little lighter than usual, but plenty of cars are still on the road. City sidewalks remain busy.’

Read here (New York Times, June 19, 2020)

How the coronavirus compares with 100 years of deadly events (United States)

‘Only the worst disasters completely upend normal patterns of death, overshadowing, if only briefly, everyday causes like cancer, heart disease and car accidents. Here’s how the devastation brought by the pandemic in 25 cities and regions compares with historical events.’

Read here (New York Times, June 10, 2020)

America fails the marshmallow test

Paul Krugman: ‘Why are we failing the test? It’s easy to blame Donald Trump, a man-child who would surely gobble down that first marshmallow, then try to steal marshmallows from other kids. But America’s impatience, its unwillingness to do what it takes to deal with a threat that can’t be beaten with threats of violence, runs much deeper than one man.’

Read here (New York Times, June 9, 2020)

Genes may leave some people more vulnerable to severe Covid-19

‘Variations at two spots in the human genome are associated with an increased risk of respiratory failure in patients with Covid-19, the researchers found. One of these spots includes the gene that determines blood types. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study...

‘The coronavirus triggers an overreaction of the immune system in some people, leading to massive inflammation and lung damage — the so-called cytokine storm. It is theoretically possible that genetic variations influence that response.’

Read here (New York Times, June 3, 2020)

‘They let us down’: 5 takeaways on the CDC’s coronavirus response

• Aging data systems left the agency with blind spots
• The CDC clashed with White House aides who viewed them as the ‘deep state’
• The CDC’s culture slowed its response
• Redfield felt he was ‘on an island’ between his agency and the White House
• Confusing guidance left doctors, public officials and others to look elsewhere

Read here (New York Times, June 3, 2020)

The CDC waited ‘its entire existence for this moment’. What went wrong?

‘The technology was old, the data poor, the bureaucracy slow, the guidance confusing, the administration not in agreement... The coronavirus shook the world‘s premier health agency, creating a loss of confidence and hampering the US response to the crisis...

‘The CDC.’s most fabled experts are the disease detectives of its Epidemic Intelligence Service, rapid responders who investigate outbreaks. But more broadly, according to current and former employees and others who worked closely with the agency, the CDC is risk-averse, perfectionist and ill suited to improvising in a quickly evolving crisis — particularly one that shuts down the country and paralyzes the economy.

“It’s not our culture to intervene,” said Dr George Schmid, who worked at the agency off and on for nearly four decades. He described it as increasingly bureaucratic, weighed down by “indescribable, burdensome hierarchy.”

Read here (New York Times, June 3, 2020)