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Category: Health

Sweden has suffered ‘a self-inflicted wound.’ The choice between lives and paychecks is a false one

Sweden has suffered ‘a self-inflicted wound.’ The choice between lives and paychecks is a false one

The New York Times reports: Ever since the coronavirus emerged in Europe, Sweden has captured international attention by conducting an unorthodox, open-air experiment. It has allowed the world to examine what happens in a pandemic when a government allows life to carry on largely unhindered. This is what has happened: Not only have thousands more people died than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden’s economy has fared little better. “They literally gained nothing,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a…

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The pandemic experts are at risk of burning out

The pandemic experts are at risk of burning out

Ed Yong writes: Saskia Popescu’s phone buzzes throughout the night, waking her up. It had already buzzed 99 times before I interviewed her at 9:15 a.m. ET last Monday. It buzzed three times during the first 15 minutes of our call. Whenever a COVID-19 case is confirmed at her hospital system, Popescu gets an email, and her phone buzzes. She cannot silence it. An epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, Popescu works to prepare hospitals for outbreaks of emerging diseases….

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Do many Americans understand how badly the U.S. is dealing with the pandemic?

Do many Americans understand how badly the U.S. is dealing with the pandemic?

Thomas Chatterton Williams writes: As Donald Trump’s America continues to shatter records for daily infections, France, like most other developed nations and even some undeveloped ones, seems to have beat back the virus. The numbers are not ambiguous. From a peak of 7,581 new cases across the country on March 31, and with a death toll now just below 30,000—at one point the world’s fourth highest—there were just 526 new cases on June 13, the day we masked ourselves and…

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Spain’s coronavirus antibodies study adds evidence against herd immunity

Spain’s coronavirus antibodies study adds evidence against herd immunity

CNN reports: Spain’s large-scale study on the coronavirus indicates just 5% of its population has developed antibodies, strengthening evidence that a so-called herd immunity to Covid-19 is “unachievable,” the medical journal the Lancet reported on Monday. The findings show that 95% of Spain’s population remains susceptible to the virus. Herd immunity is achieved when enough of a population has become infected with a virus or bacteria — or vaccinated against it — to stop its circulation. The European Center for…

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All across America, Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus

All across America, Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus

The New York Times reports: Teresa and Marvin Bradley can’t say for sure how they got the coronavirus. Maybe Ms. Bradley, a Michigan nurse, brought it from her hospital. Maybe it came from a visiting relative. Maybe it was something else entirely. What is certain — according to new federal data that provides the most comprehensive look to date on nearly 1.5 million coronavirus patients in America — is that the Bradleys are not outliers. Racial disparities in who contracts…

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How Hong Kong beat coronavirus and avoided lockdown

How Hong Kong beat coronavirus and avoided lockdown

CNBC reports: When Apple closed its retail stores around the globe amid the coronavirus pandemic, a handful of outlets were exempt, including its six locations in Hong Kong. In fact, much of Hong Kong has felt relatively normal this year compared with its peers, which enacted strict lockdown measures. Since its first confirmed case of Covid-19 on Jan. 22, Hong Kong went through phased closures of government offices, schools, gyms and bars. But other services were relatively unaffected, including dine-in…

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Mounting evidence the coronavirus is airborne, 239 experts say

Mounting evidence the coronavirus is airborne, 239 experts say

The New York Times reports: The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm what many scientists have been saying for months: The virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby. If airborne transmission is a significant factor in the pandemic, especially in crowded spaces with poor ventilation, the consequences for containment will be significant. Masks may be needed indoors, even in socially-distant…

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Going to the beach during the pandemic may not be as reckless as it’s portrayed

Going to the beach during the pandemic may not be as reckless as it’s portrayed

Zeynep Tufekci writes: We’ve entered another risky, uncertain phase of America’s pandemic summer. COVID-19 cases are surging across most states, and once again, intensive-care units are filling up. Eighteen states have either paused or rolled back their plans to reopen, and even Republican governors who previously resisted public-health guidelines about masks are now asking people to mask up. So why on Earth do so many articles about this crisis feature pictures of people frolicking on wide-open beaches? Why is an…

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DNA linked to severe Covid-19 was inherited from Neanderthals, study finds

DNA linked to severe Covid-19 was inherited from Neanderthals, study finds

The New York Times reports: A stretch of DNA linked to Covid-19 was passed down from Neanderthals 60,000 years ago, according to a new study. Scientists don’t yet know why this particular segment increases the risk of severe illness from the coronavirus. But the new findings, which were posted online on Friday and have not yet been published in a scientific journal, show how some clues to modern health stem from ancient history. “This interbreeding effect that happened 60,000 years…

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Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic has turned America into a pariah

Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic has turned America into a pariah

Anne Applebaum writes: [E]veryone can look at everyone else’s country, read its media and social media, see how its institutions are coping with the crisis. We can’t leave our houses, but we can meet in cyberspace, where we can keep talking. While we are there, we can see how other countries are dealing with the pandemic. Some are doing well, especially those that have decent bureaucrats, respect for science, and high levels of trust: South Korea and Taiwan, Germany and…

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No one wants to go back to lockdown. Is there a middle ground for containing Covid-19?

No one wants to go back to lockdown. Is there a middle ground for containing Covid-19?

STAT reports: First came the freezes. Governors last month started to “press pause” on the next phases of their reopenings as Covid-19 cases picked back up. Now, in certain hot spots, they are starting to roll back some of the allowances they’d granted: no more elective medical procedures in some Texas counties. Bars, only reopened for a short time, are shuttered again in parts of California. And on Monday, Arizona’s governor ordered a new wave of gym, bar, and movie…

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Coronavirus infections are peaking again. Here’s how it’s different this time

Coronavirus infections are peaking again. Here’s how it’s different this time

The New York Times reports: The first wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States never really ended, and cases are surging again. But this time, a different and much bigger swath of the country is feeling the effects. The first peak came at the beginning of April: About 30,000 cases were reported per day, but the biggest hotspots were concentrated in just a few regions. With the right steps, public health experts said, there was still a chance…

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Young Americans are partying hard and spreading Covid-19 quickly

Young Americans are partying hard and spreading Covid-19 quickly

Bloomberg reports: Covid-19 is increasingly a disease of the young, with the message to stay home for the sake of older loved ones wearing off as the pandemic wears on. The dropping age of the infected is becoming one of the most pressing problems for local officials, who continued Wednesday to set curfews and close places where the young gather. U.S. health experts say that they are more likely to be active and asymptomatic, providing a vast redoubt for the…

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With new Covid-19 cases hitting a high, Trump revisits his fantasy: The virus will just go away

With new Covid-19 cases hitting a high, Trump revisits his fantasy: The virus will just go away

Philip Bump writes: Over the past five months, President Trump’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic has swerved around a bit, with the president at times embracing strict controls meant to contain the virus and, at others, the urgent need to scale back those controls to boost the economy. But there’s been no more consistent message from Trump than his most defiantly optimistic one: At some point, the virus will simply disappear. Speaking to Fox Business’s Blake Burman on Wednesday, the…

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Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 50 percent last month, led by states that reopened first

Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 50 percent last month, led by states that reopened first

The Washington Post reports: Coronavirus infections in the United States surged nearly 50 percent in June as states relaxed quarantine rules and tried to reopen their economies, data compiled Wednesday showed, and several states moved to reimpose restrictions on bars and recreation. More than 800,000 new cases were reported across the country last month, led by Florida, Arizona, Texas and California — bringing the nation’s officially reported total to just over 2.6 million, according to data compiled by The Washington…

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Trump refuses to lead as pandemic gets worse and allies desert him on masks

Trump refuses to lead as pandemic gets worse and allies desert him on masks

Stephen Collinson writes: Most Presidents would try to stop the United States from barreling toward disaster. But Donald Trump has nothing to say and no answers to mitigate a calamity unfolding on his watch that he seems resolved to ignore. On the day when the government’s top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci said he would not be surprised to see the US record 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day, Trump refused to break his deafening silence. And the day after…

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