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Category Archives: Medicine

U.S. Virus Plan Anticipates 18-Month Pandemic and Widespread Shortages

The New York Times: “A federal government plan to combat the coronavirus warned policymakers last week that a pandemic “will last 18 months or longer” and could include “multiple waves,” resulting in widespread shortages that would strain consumers and the nation’s health care system. The 100-page plan, dated Friday, the same day President Trump declared… Continue Reading

Free Resources on the Coronavirus Pandemic to Help You Stay Informed

Book Riot – “The coronavirus pandemic has been riddled with misinformation and panic, including panic buying. Part of the panic is knowing so little about this particular strain of the virus. Fortunately, there are journalists and healthcare professionals rigorously researching information for us. Here’s a list of free resources on the coronavirus pandemic, many of… Continue Reading

What your health plan will cover if you get coronavirus

Washington Post “In his prime-time speech, President Trump announced Wednesday night [March 11, 2020] that health insurers had pledged to eliminate “all co-payments for coronavirus treatments” and “extend insurance coverage to those treatments. That is not exactly correct. A broad swath of the nation’s private health insurers has agreed to waive the charges for a… Continue Reading

Doctors and Patients Turn to Telemedicine in the Coronavirus Outbreak

The New York Times: “The use of virtual visits climbs as a way of safely treating patients and containing spread of the infection at hospitals, clinics and medical offices. While the notion of seeing a doctor via your computer or cellphone is hardly new, telemedicine has yet to take off widely in the United States.… Continue Reading

Google Scrubs Coronavirus Misinformation on Search, YouTube

Bloomberg – “Since Covid-19 began to spread, Google has aggressively intervened in some of its most popular online services to limit the spread of misinformation. This is a departure for a company that has relied heavily on software and automation to index and rank information throughout its 22-year existence. Google searches related to the virus… Continue Reading

The best advice is – Cancel Everything

The Atlantic – Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately. “…The coronavirus could spread with frightening rapidity, overburdening our health-care system and claiming lives, until we adopt serious forms of social distancing.  This suggests that anyone in a position of power or authority, instead of downplaying the dangers of… Continue Reading

Study – People ‘shed’ high levels of coronavirus but most are likely not infectious after recovery begins

Stat News: “People who contract the novel coronavirus emit high amounts of virus very early on in their infection, according to a new study from Germany that helps to explain the rapid and efficient way in which the virus has spread around the world. At the same time, the study suggests that while people with… Continue Reading

How Long Will It Take to Develop a Coronavirus Vaccine?

The New Yorker – “On Monday, Donald Trump held a meeting in the White House to discuss his Administration’s response to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has spread to every continent except Antarctica. At the time there had been more than a hundred and five thousand cases reported in at least eighty-three countries, leading to… Continue Reading

Key Source of COVID-19 Testing & Infection Data

TPM – Josh Marshall: “This seems to be the best and really only source of information I’ve seen with detailed and frequently updated data on the rate of COVID-19 testing and infections broken down by states within the United States. This is the breakdown by states. [Per the author – The utility is that it… Continue Reading

Gene sleuths are tracking the coronavirus outbreak as it happens

MIT Technology Review: “In the unprecedented outbreak of a new coronavirus sweeping the world, the germ’s genetic material may ultimately tell the story not just of where it came from, but of how it spread and how efforts to contain it failed.By tracking mutations to the virus as it spreads, scientists are creating a family… Continue Reading

Libraries and Accurate Information about the Coronavirus

Libraries 2020: “As designated essential disaster services, libraries are poised to serve a role in the national response to the Coronavirus and COVID-19. Some changes to libraries as a public gathering place may be temporarily required, but our mission of sharing information will likely continue unchanged. They will remain great resources to access credible medical… Continue Reading

How Information on the Coronavirus is Managed on Chinese Social Media

Citizen Lab – Censored Contagion – “Key Findings: YY, a live-streaming platform in China, began to censor keywords related to the coronavirus outbreak on December 31, 2019, a day after doctors (including the late Dr. Li Wenliang) tried to warn the public about the then unknown virus. WeChat broadly censored coronavirus-related content (including critical and… Continue Reading