Music: Pierre de Bethmann Quintet — ‘Ilium’
A $74 billion investment in testing, tracing and isolation could quickly rescue the economy
Alex Tabarrok and Puja Ahluwalia Ohlhaver write: With the unemployment rate at its highest level since the Great Depression — 14.7 percent and climbing — many Americans are clamoring to reopen the economy, even if it means that thousands of daily covid-19 deaths become part of the backdrop to life. It’s time to move on as “warriors,” President Trump has said, because “we can’t keep our country closed down for years.” We, too, favor markets and share the president’s eagerness…
How sunlight, the immune system, and Covid-19 interact
Markham Heid writes: Last month, during a now-infamous press conference, Donald Trump speculated about the ways in which sunlight and chemical disinfectants could help protect people from the threat of Covid-19. Trump seemed to suggest that injecting disinfectants could have some utility — a comment that drew immediate scrutiny and scorn. Much less attention was paid to the president’s statement that sunlight might safeguard people from the virus. “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet…
Covid-19: A seven-week roller coaster of ill health, extreme emotions, and utter exhaustion
Paul Garner writes: In mid March I developed covid-19. For almost seven weeks I have been through a roller coaster of ill health, extreme emotions, and utter exhaustion. Although not hospitalised, it has been frightening and long. The illness ebbs and flows, but never goes away. Health professionals, employers, partners, and people with the disease need to know that this illness can last for weeks, and the long tail is not some “post-viral fatigue syndrome”—it is the disease. People who…
WHO Special Envoy on Covid-19 makes an impassioned plea for global leadership
Dr David Nabarro: We just have a complete fracture in global leadership right now. To the point where a UN Security Council resolution on Covid was not approved because the World Health Organisation was mentioned in the resolution. The people of the world actually should be going completely crazy with anger. There should be a petition of 500 million people to the world leaders saying, “What on earth are you doing? What on earth are you playing at?” We…
As Americans fear for their lives and livelihoods, Trump stokes divisions and pursues personal vendettas
The New York Times reports: Even by President Trump’s standards, it was a rampage: He attacked a government whistle-blower who was telling Congress that the coronavirus pandemic had been mismanaged. He criticized the governor of Pennsylvania, who has resisted reopening businesses. He railed against former President Barack Obama, linking him to a conspiracy theory and demanding he answer questions before the Senate about the federal investigation of Michael T. Flynn. And Mr. Trump lashed out at Joseph R. Biden Jr.,…
Secretary of State Pompeo under investigation; Trump fires State Department Inspector General
Politico reports: President Donald Trump has removed State Department Inspector General Steve Linick and replaced him with an ally of Vice President Mike Pence — the latest in a series of moves against independent government watchdogs in recent months. Trump informed Congress of his intent to oust Linick, a Justice Department veteran appointed to the role in 2013 by then President Barack Obama, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday night. The president said he “no…
American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase
Adrienne LaFrance writes: The origins of QAnon are recent, but even so, separating myth from reality can be hard. One place to begin is with Edgar Maddison Welch, a deeply religious father of two, who until Sunday, December 4, 2016, had lived an unremarkable life in the small town of Salisbury, North Carolina. That morning, Welch grabbed his cellphone, a box of shotgun shells, and three loaded guns—a 9-mm AR-15 rifle, a six-shot .38‑caliber Colt revolver, and a shotgun—and hopped…
Music: Stacey Kent — ‘Double Rainbow’
Elizabeth Warren is making a case for herself as Joe Biden’s vice president
Edward-Isaac Dovere writes: The coronavirus has transformed Joe Biden’s campaign, and his search for a running mate. And it has transformed Elizabeth Warren’s chances of being picked for the job. The Massachusetts senator and the former vice president don’t have much of a personal relationship. She was determined to run for president by swearing off big donors; the first event of his campaign was a high-dollar fundraiser at the home of a top executive at one of the country’s biggest…
Growing friction between White House and CDC hobbles pandemic response
The Washington Post reports: The meager guidelines for safely reopening the country released this week are the latest sign of the Trump administration’s efforts to sideline the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the increasing tension between the White House and the world-renowned public health agency. With Americans waiting for expert advice on how to resume a semblance of normal life during the pandemic, the CDC released just six short “decision trees” Thursday while the rest of its lengthy…
The coronavirus is mutating, but that’s not necessarily good or bad
Jeremy Draghi and C. Brandon Ogbunu write: In early March, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Science Review published a peer-reviewed study titled “On the Origin and Continuing Evolution of SARS-CoV-2.” The authors argued that the various strains of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, could be grouped into two clusters: An “L” type, which was predominant during the early weeks of the outbreak in Wuhan, and an “S” type, which could be distinguished from the L type by only…
Former federal judge who brought down crime boss, John Gotti, steps into Flynn case
CNN reports: Nearly three decades ago, John Gleeson made his name by successfully prosecuting the man known as “The Teflon Don.” Now he finds himself mixed up in a case tied to the modern-day inheritor of that nickname. On Wednesday, Gleeson became the latest participant in the turbulent criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, after the federal judge overseeing the case appointed Gleeson to oppose the Justice Department’s effort to drop it. An esteemed…
Vitamin D determines severity in Covid-19
Trinity College Dublin: Researchers from Trinity College Dublin are calling on the government in Ireland to change recommendations for vitamin D supplements. A new publication from Dr. Eamon Laird and Professor Rose Anne Kenny, School of Medicine, and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), in collaboration with Professor Jon Rhodes at University of Liverpool, highlights the association between vitamin D levels and mortality from COVID-19. The authors of the article, just published in the Irish Medical Journal, analyzed all…
Sweden’s Covid-19 outbreak has been far deadlier than those of its neighbors
The New York Times reports: By late March, nearly every country in Europe had closed schools and businesses, restricted travel and ordered citizens to stay home. But one country stood out for its decision to stay open: Sweden. The country’s moderated response to the coronavirus outbreak has drawn praise from some American politicians, who see Sweden as a possible model for the United States as it begins to reopen. “We need to observe with an open mind what went on…
Insecure men view face covering as threat to their masculinity
MarketWatch reports: As the coronavirus death toll ticks up and some states ease their restrictions, a new study suggests that men might be more likely to leave their face coverings at home. Men in the U.S. report less intention than women to wear face coverings, especially in counties that don’t mandate wearing them, according to a paper authored by researchers from Middlesex University London in the U.K. and the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. This, the authors say,…