Would a National Lockdown Have Saved the U.S. From COVID-19?
A comparison of Texas and California suggests that legal edicts matter less than The New York Times thinks.
Epidemiology
If Carelessness Gave Us the Current COVID-19 Surge, Individual Precautions Can Abate That Trend
Recent upward trends in cases and deaths seem to reflect virus transmission tied to holiday gatherings.
U.S. Cancer Death Rate Continues 30-Year Decline While the Incidence Rate Is Flat
Good news from the latest Cancer Statistics 2021 report
The Biden Administration Will Release All Available COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Immediately
He will count on future production to provide second doses.
COVID-19 Herd Immunity Is Possible Before Spring If the FDA Gets Out of the Way
The government must move quickly to approve a one-dose regimen for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
The More Transmissible U.K. COVID-19 Variant Could Make the Pandemic a Lot Worse
Ramp up the vaccinations now!
Newly Recorded COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Are Falling in the U.S.
It's not clear how long those hopeful trends will continue.
Is Anthony Fauci Right That Federalism Undermined the U.S. Response to COVID-19?
Centralization makes sense only if you ignore differences in local conditions—and trust the feds to make the right choices.
Americans Are Sick of Arbitrary COVID-19 Restrictions
A year into the pandemic, politicians still have not digested the dangers of careless public health measures.
Has Restaurants' Role in Spreading COVID-19 Been Exaggerated?
The evidence is limited and mixed, but data from New York, Minnesota, and California suggest that restaurants there account for a small share of infections.
California Judge Blocks Enforcement of State and Local Bans on Restaurant Dining in San Diego County
The decision says the government failed to present any evidence of virus transmission in restaurants that follow COVID-19 precautions.
Why Use Two Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines When One Works Almost as Well?
We could double the number of Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.
SCOTUS Declines To Let Kentucky Religious Schools Reopen Without Addressing the Constitutionality of Closing Them
The justices emphasized that K-12 schools are currently scheduled to reopen after winter break.
Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine 'Highly Effective,' Says FDA Analysis
Now we wait for the FDA to get around to approving it later this week.
California's Health Secretary Concedes There Is No Empirical Basis for the State's Ban on Outdoor Dining
The ban is "not a comment on the relative safety of outdoor dining," Mark Ghaly says, but part of the effort to keep people from leaving home.
'I'm Not Sure We Know What We're Doing,' Says a Newly Skeptical California Lockdown Advocate
San Mateo County Health Officer Scott Morrow, who supported last spring's stay-at-home orders, airs his misgivings about reviving that policy.
Are Americans Insufficiently Alarmed by COVID-19?
Press coverage of the pandemic tends to exaggerate risk and ignore encouraging information.
Will the COVID-19 Vaccines Soon Crush the Pandemic?
The vaccines are great news, but the winter still looks bleak.
Many Epidemiologists Want Social Distancing and Masks Forever—Even After the Vaccine
Everyone has a right to dissent from the epidemiologists' contentment with the way things are now.
The U.K. Approves COVID-19 Vaccine While the U.S. FDA Dawdles
It's not like we're in the middle of a pandemic or anything, right?
Vaccines Don't Save Lives. Vaccinations Save Lives.
Especially if the COVID-19 inoculations are deployed speedily and accepted widely.
Paul Krugman Thinks Holding Religious Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Like 'Dumping Neurotoxins Into Public Reservoirs'
The New York Times columnist misconstrues the issues at stake in the challenge to New York's restrictions on houses of worship.
SCOTUS Blocks New York's COVID-19 Restrictions on Houses of Worship, Saying They Are Not 'Narrowly Tailored'
Gov. Andrew Cuomo described his policy as a "fear-driven response," cut by a "hatchet" rather than a "scalpel."
Senseless Restrictions on Outdoor Activities Undermine the Goal of Curbing COVID-19
By arbitrarily foreclosing relatively safe social and recreational options, politicians encourage defiance, resentment, and riskier substitutes.
Americans Are Nowhere Near Herd Immunity to COVID-19
Blood test study finds that only about 10 percent of Americans are immune to the virus.
Gavin Newsom's French Laundry Outing Crystallizes the Arrogance of COVID-19 Dictators
After violating his own rules, California's governor offers deceitful excuses and announces new restrictions for the little people.
A New Prevalence Estimate Suggests the COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate in Texas Is Roughly 0.4 Percent
That makes the disease much deadlier than the seasonal flu but not nearly as deadly as modelers initially assumed.
Cuomo's COVID-19 Rules Discriminate Against Religion
The case gives SCOTUS another chance to enforce constitutional limits on disease control measures.
Arbitrary COVID-19 Control Measures Will Not Make Americans More Likely To 'Hang in There' Until Vaccines Are Available
Legal responses to this fall's surge in new cases, like last spring's lockdowns, are frequently illogical and unscientific.
Masks Are a Tool, Not a Panacea
They help keep the disease from spreading, but they won't single-handedly keep the COVID-19 numbers from going up.
Justice Samuel Alito Highlights the Legal Issues Raised by 'Previously Unimaginable' COVID-19 Restrictions
When "fundamental rights are restricted" during an emergency, he says, the courts "cannot close their eyes."
Joe Biden's COVID-19 Death Forecast Looks Less Plausible Every Day
So far the president-elect's "expectation" is off by a factor of more than three, which does not bode well for his approach to the pandemic.
How Biden Would Handle the COVID-19 Pandemic
Unfortunately, COVID, COVID, COVID this winter is unlikely to be Fake News.
Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Is 90% Effective
And there looks to be more good vaccine news coming.
Why Is Donald Trump So Mad at Anthony Fauci?
The president's COVID-19 adviser is not always right, but at least he is attempting to describe reality.
What Current Data Tell Us About How the Pandemic Could Play Out This Winter
Peaks and valleys, a fall peak, or a slow burn?
New Evidence Suggests Better Treatment Is Contributing to Falling COVID-19 Fatality Rates
Even after adjusting for age and comorbidities, researchers in New York and England found large improvements in patient survival.
White House Says 'President Trump's Coronavirus Response Has Saved Over 2 Million Lives'
That claim is wildly implausible and contradicted by the president's suggestion that COVID-19 was never much of a threat.
'CASES, CASES, CASES … Cases are up because TESTING is way up,' Tweets the President
COVID-19 Cases are increasing faster than is testing, and that's not "fake news."
Trump and Biden Are Both Misleading Us About COVID-19
The president claims success based on a completely implausible worst-case scenario, while his opponent projects more than 3,700 deaths a day.
A New Study Estimates That COVID-19 Is Responsible for 2.5 Million Years of Life Lost in the U.S.
That is much lower than the toll from unintentional injuries, cancer, or heart disease but higher than the loss attributed to suicide or homicide.
The CDC's Latest Antibody Data Confirm Huge Interstate Differences in COVID-19 Fatality Rates
The findings suggest that people infected in Connecticut were 10 times as likely to die as people infected in Utah or Oregon.
An Overdue Rebuke to Politicians Who Think Anything Goes in a Pandemic
Two courts say COVID-19 lockdowns in Michigan and Pennsylvania were unconstitutional.
Trump's Muddled Mask Message May Be His Best Attempt To Reconcile Irreconcilable Extremes
Both sides in the debate about face masks make claims that are not justified by the scientific evidence.
The Latest CDC Estimates of COVID-19's Infection Fatality Rate Vary Dramatically With Age
In younger age groups, the estimated risk is substantially lower than the overall IFR for the seasonal flu.
Why Have Belarus and Other Eastern European Countries Seen Relatively Few COVID-19 Deaths?
And is their luck running out?
