Were the Lockdowns a Mistake? A Soho Forum Debate
Physician Marty Makary vs. epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski on whether "the lockdown saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives."
Physician Marty Makary vs. epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski on whether "the lockdown saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives."
The episode illustrates the perils of confirmation bias on both sides of the debate about disease control measures.
Two models suggest that broad restrictions had less impact on the epidemic than commonly thought.
As SCOTUS declines to issue an injunction, the chief justice says the state's COVID-19 control measures seem consistent with the First Amendment.
Making cheap tests widely available would go a long way toward crushing the pandemic.
Two models generate strikingly different estimates.
Supreme Court precedent suggests COVID-19 restrictions that discriminate against churches are presumptively unconstitutional.
Control measures should be based on emerging evidence about the danger posed by the virus.
That rate is much lower than the numbers used in the horrifying projections that shaped the government response to the epidemic.
All of it, The New York Times assumes.
Studies from several countries find low infection rates.
The disease control agency is a poster child for bureaucratic incompetence.
The ruling says the state's top health official exceeded her statutory authority by ordering "nonessential" businesses to close.
When mask-wearing and social distancing rules are legally enforceable, the potential for violence cannot be avoided.
Courts are beginning to recognize that public health powers, while broad, are not a blank check.
The president is always in her prayers.
Stocks rise steeply on good news about mRNA vaccines.
The infection fatality rate probably varies from one place to another.
Sensible social distancing does not require staying in your house.
Estimates range from 70 to 10 percent.
A seemingly arcane dispute about administrative law has profound implications for the limits of public health authority.
The infection-fatality rate for COVID-19 in Indiana is 0.58 percent, nearly six times worse than seasonal flu.
An Illinois resident obtained a TRO by citing a 30-day limit, while a New Hampshire hair salon owner says the goal of her state's lockdown has been achieved.
What might learning to live with COVID-19 look like?
If you think much about the epidemic remains uncertain, The New York Times warns, you might be part of "the virus 'truther' movement."
Andrew I. Friedson says they flattened the curve. Lyman Stone disagrees.
Even the president is a better moral philosopher than New York's governor.
Not everything that states do in the name of protecting public health is consistent with the Constitution.
Courts so far have not been inclined to ask that question.
For each plausible theory, there are puzzling counterexamples.
When infection prevalence is low, a test with relatively low specificity can generate highly misleading results.
Varying state responses will provide the thing we need most right now: information.
While official death tolls clearly underestimate the epidemic's impact, total mortality numbers can be misleading.
The preliminary results imply an infection fatality rate of 0.2 percent, similar to estimates from two California studies.
Lab testing and epidemiology suggest a dog days reprieve could happen.
The president added that the procedure is something "you're going to have to use medical doctors with."
California and New York coronavirus infection rate estimates differ substantially.
Are the California numbers wildly off, or is New York different in important ways?
Too many false positives, nonrandom study population, and infection fatality rates out of whack with other data, critics claim.
Trump: "We'll take a look at that. We're always willing to take a look."
While denying Donald Trump's dictatorial impulses, William Barr notes that public health emergencies do not give governments unlimited powers.
Evidence that the virus is much less deadly than people feared weakens the case for maintaining lockdowns.
A New York Times analysis has little bearing on the infection fatality rate or the number of life-years typically lost to the disease.
Rough calculations from two preliminary population screening studies in California.
The tests indicate that the number of infections in the county is around 40 times as high as the number of confirmed cases.
This proposal might work, but it's doubtful that our politicians and president are competent enough to pull it off.
Massachusetts is the only state that has closed recreational outlets while allowing medical sales to continue.
Possible really good news from a population screening antibody test study in Santa Clara County, California