Washington Post – “The novel coronavirus is changing how we live our lives, and our readers have questions. The Washington Post has catalogued and organized 13,202 questions about the pandemic and provided a guide to help you find the answers. Many of the questions fall into common themes, and this guide provides links to reporting… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Medicine
Coronavirus won’t disappear, even with a vaccine
Axios – “Pfizer yesterday took a giant step toward a COVID-19 vaccine, reporting that its vaccine candidate was effective in over 90% of uninfected clinical trial patients. Reality check: It’s a giant and welcome development, but the pandemic will be with us long after vaccine distribution begins. The Pfizer vaccine is not a silver bullet.… Continue Reading
New on LLRX for October 2020
Why there’s so much legal uncertainty about resolving a disputed presidential election – As stated in this article by Richard Pildes, Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University – the Constitution does not create rules or an institutional structure for resolving a modern, disputed presidential election. It provides a fail-safe mechanism for only one situation,… Continue Reading
In hunt for virus source W.H.O. let China take charge
The New York Times: “…Nine months and more than 1.1 million deaths later, there is still no transparent, independent investigation into the source of the virus. Notoriously allergic to outside scrutiny, China has impeded the effort, while leaders of the World Health Organization, if privately frustrated, have largely ceded control, even as the Trump administration… Continue Reading
Vaccine Safety in the United States: Overview and Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccines
CRS report via LC – Vaccine Safety in the United States: Overview and Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccines, November 4, 2020: “Widespread immunization efforts have been linked to increased life expectancy and reduced illness. U.S. vaccination programs, headed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),… Continue Reading
Tracking COVID-19: U.S. Public Health Surveillance and Data
CRS report via LC – Tracking COVID-19: U.S. Public Health Surveillance and Data, November 2, 2020: “Public health surveillance, or ongoing data collection, is an essential part of public health practice. Particularly during a pandemic, timely data are important to understanding the epidemiology of a disease in order to craft policy and guide response decision… Continue Reading
Masks really work – we will show you how
The New York Times – “The public health debate on masks is settled, said Joseph G. Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard. When you wear a mask, “You protect yourself, you protect others, you prevent yourself from touching your face,” he said. And you signal that wearing a mask is the right… Continue Reading
The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies
The New York Times – “A group of Stanford University economists estimates that there have been at least 30,000 coronavirus infections and 700 deaths as a result of 18 campaign rallies President Trump held between June and September…” Bernheim, B. Douglas and buchmann, Nina and Freitas-Groff, Zach and Otero, Sebastián, The Effects of Large Group… Continue Reading
COVID-19 masks FAQ: How can cloth stop a tiny virus? What’s the best fabric? Do they protect the wearer?
The Conversation: “Face masks reduce the spread of viruses passed on from respiratory secretions. While cloth masks are imperfect, widespread use of an imperfect mask has the potential to make a big difference in transmission of the virus. We started reading the research on cloth masks and face coverings at the start of the pandemic,… Continue Reading
Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States
Reiner, R.C., Barber, R.M., Collins, J.K. et al. Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States. Nat Med (2020) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1132-9 [full-text] “We use COVID-19 case and mortality data from 1 February 2020 to 21 September 2020 and a deterministic SEIR (susceptible, exposed, infectious and recovered) compartmental framework to model possible trajectories of severe acute respiratory syndrome… Continue Reading
Wikipedia and W.H.O. Join to Combat Covid Misinformation
The New York Times – The health agency will license much of its material to the online encyclopedia, allowing the information to be reposted widely into almost 200 languages. “As part of efforts to stop the spread of false information about the coronavirus pandemic, Wikipedia and the World Health Organization announced a collaboration on Thursday:… Continue Reading
State of the Facts 2020: 37% of Americans say it’s harder to find facts since the pandemic began
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (October, 2020). “State of the Facts 2020: COVID-19.” Topline Results Report “Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are still paying close attention, but few have trusted sources for factual information. Over half of Americans are paying close attention to information related to the virus these days. But 43%… Continue Reading
