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Category: Society

The coronavirus could cause a social recession

The coronavirus could cause a social recession

Vivek H. Murthy and Alice T. Chen write: In early March, as cases of the novel coronavirus were increasing far more quickly than doctors in the United States could detect, the two of us knew we had to change how we and our two small children were living our lives. We canceled birthday parties, medical conferences, restaurant outings, and our children’s classes. We began greeting people without physical contact—not an easy task for two people who are inclined to hug…

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Italy, pandemic’s new epicenter, has lessons for the world

Italy, pandemic’s new epicenter, has lessons for the world

The New York Times reports: As Italy’s coronavirus infections ticked above 400 cases and deaths hit the double digits, the leader of the governing Democratic Party posted a picture of himself clinking glasses for “an aperitivo in Milan,” urging people “not to change our habits.” That was on Feb. 27. Not 10 days later, as the toll hit 5,883 infections and 233 dead, the party boss, Nicola Zingaretti, posted a new video, this time informing Italy that he, too, had…

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Younger adults are large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations in U.S., according to new CDC data

Younger adults are large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations in U.S., according to new CDC data

The Washington Post reports: The deadly coronavirus has been met with a bit of a shrug among some in the under-50 set in the United States. Even as public health officials repeatedly urged social distancing, the young and hip spilled out of bars on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. They gleefully hopped on flights, tweeting about the rock-bottom airfares. And they gathered in packs on beaches. Their attitudes were based in part on early data from China, which suggested covid-19…

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‘Terrified’ package delivery employees going to work sick

‘Terrified’ package delivery employees going to work sick

The New York Times reports: Hour after hour, day after day, the packages keep arriving: food, medicine, clothes, toys and a million other items brought to the doorsteps and building lobbies of Americans who are hunkering down as the coronavirus sweeps the land. An increasing number of the workers sorting those boxes, loading them into trucks and then transporting and delivering them around the country have fallen sick. They have coughs, sore throats, aches and fevers — symptoms consistent with…

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Nicholas Christakis: How will coronavirus impact us as a society?

Nicholas Christakis: How will coronavirus impact us as a society?

  Nicholas Christakis is a physician, sociologist and author who has an important message for us all: even in trying times, humans show an innate instinct for good. It’s a case he makes in his latest book “Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.” He speaks with Hari about this latest theory. He also explains the importance of social distancing and why it actually works as well as how coronavirus compares to other pandemics in the past 100 years;…

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Like previous pandemics, Covid-19 will shape the fates of nations

Like previous pandemics, Covid-19 will shape the fates of nations

By Richard Heinberg, Undark, March 20, 2020 For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been delving back into one of my favorite books, “Plagues and Peoples,” by the celebrated historian William H. McNeill. Its relevance to today’s headlines is fairly obvious. What makes the book so compelling is McNeill’s ecological sensibility: He understands human beings as biological organisms embedded in living systems. For him, conquerors like Genghis Khan are macropredators, disease organisms are micropredators, and human history is the tale…

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Coronavirus could overwhelm U.S. without urgent action, estimates say

Coronavirus could overwhelm U.S. without urgent action, estimates say

The New York Times reports: The coronavirus has infected far more people in the United States than testing has shown so far, and stringent measures to limit social contact in parts of the country not yet seeing many cases are needed to significantly stem the tide of illness and death in the coming months. Those are the conclusions of Columbia University researchers who used a New York Times database of known cases and Census Bureau transportation data to model how…

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Coronavirus will radically alter the U.S.

Coronavirus will radically alter the U.S.

The Washington Post reports: When Jason Christie, chief of pulmonary medicine at Penn Medicine, got projections on how many coronavirus patients might soon be flocking to his Philadelphia hospital, he said he felt physically ill. “My front-line providers — we were speaking about it in the situation report that night, and their voices cracked,” Christie said Wednesday. They saw how quickly the surge would overwhelm the system, forcing doctors to make impossible choices — which patients would get ventilators and…

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U.S. economy deteriorating faster than anticipated as 80 million Americans are forced to stay at home

U.S. economy deteriorating faster than anticipated as 80 million Americans are forced to stay at home

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. economy is deteriorating more quickly than was expected just days ago as extraordinary measures designed to curb the coronavirus keep 84 million Americans penned in their homes and cause the near-total shutdown of most businesses. In a single 24-hour period, governors of three of the largest states — California, New York and Illinois — ordered residents to stay home except to buy food and medicine, while the governor of Pennsylvania ordered the closure of…

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A growing number of Americans say they can’t afford to stock up on groceries

A growing number of Americans say they can’t afford to stock up on groceries

The Washington Post reports: More than 37 million Americans — or about 1 in 9 people — struggled to put food on the table in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That number could soon double as the outbreak wreaks havoc on workers around the country, said Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of Feeding America, a nonprofit that oversees 200 food banks. Already, companies like Marriott International, MGM Resorts and Caesars have signaled plans to shed thousands of…

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A New York doctor’s coronavirus warning: The sky is falling

A New York doctor’s coronavirus warning: The sky is falling

Cornelia Griggs writes: Today, at the hospital where I work, one of the largest in New York City, Covid-19 cases continue to climb, and there’s movement to redeploy as many health care workers as possible to the E.R.s, new “fever clinics” and I.C.U.s. It’s becoming an all-healthy-hands-on-deck scenario. The sky is falling. I’m not afraid to say it. A few weeks from now you may call me an alarmist; and I can live with that. Actually, I will keel over…

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Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks

Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks

Gideon Lichfield writes: To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members. We all want things to go back to normal quickly. But what most of us have probably not yet realized—yet will soon—is that things won’t go back to normal after a few weeks, or even a few months. Some things never will. It’s now widely agreed (even…

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Coronavirus and the isolation paradox

Coronavirus and the isolation paradox

Abdullah Shihipar writes: In December, a woman in Tulsa, Okla., used a Craigslist post to plea for holiday companionship. “Anybody need a grandma for Christmas?” she wrote. “I’ll even bring food and gifts for the kids! I have nobody and it really hurts.” More than three in five working Americans report feeling lonely. Now that the country is facing a disease outbreak that demands measures like “social distancing,” working from home and quarantines, that epidemic of loneliness could get even…

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At ‘lockdown parties’ around the world, young people ignore their impact on the rest of humanity

At ‘lockdown parties’ around the world, young people ignore their impact on the rest of humanity

The Guardian reports: Authorities in countries around the world in lockdown over the coronavirus outbreak are warning young people to obey the rules on social distancing amid widespread reports of partying and gatherings. Scientists and health officials say that revellers meeting for “lockdown parties” and “end of world” drinking sessions were acting irresponsibly by contributing to the spread of the virus. Statistics show that young people are as likely as older people to get infected and spread the virus. But…

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COVID-19 social distancing guidelines are impossible inside overpopulated U.S. prisons

COVID-19 social distancing guidelines are impossible inside overpopulated U.S. prisons

Morgan Simon writes: At a time when across the country, states are limiting gatherings of over 250 people and those who can are choosing to self-quarantine, there’s one place where millions of people are involuntarily gathered in close proximity — our nation’s prisons and immigrant detention centers. An epidemiologist at Brown University has recommended that the United States could release close to 44,000 detained immigrants who are being held for civil, not criminal, infractions. This would not only prevent the…

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Anatomy of a pandemic

Anatomy of a pandemic

Kevin Patterson writes: Wuhan, in the province of Hubei, China, is a transportation hub of 11 million built where the Yangtze and Huan Rivers meet. In December, patients began presenting, in steadily increasing numbers, with symptoms and clinical findings suggestive of viral pneumonia. (Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs; it may be caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi.) Tests for known pathogens capable of causing such an illness came back negative. This raised the question of whether a novel…

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