Health
Post-COVID Lockdowns, Early Big City Crime Stats Are Slightly Encouraging
Early COVID lockdown effects show no significant increases in most crime. In most cases, there were drops.
Wearing Masks Is an Effective Way to Control the COVID-19 Pandemic, Says New Study
"My mask protects you, your mask protects me"
NYC's Official Guide to Pandemic Sex Is Awkward but Accurate
The health department correctly recognizes that abstinence doesn't work, and kissing is riskier than sex.
Amid Coronavirus Fears, 2 States Will Allow Online Voting
West Virginia and Delaware are letting citizens vote via their phones and tablets. Security experts warn the tech is still risky.
Will a Rise in Coronavirus Numbers in 14 States Refocus Attention on the Pandemic?
Plus: Protest updates, a small blow against qualified immunity, a lesson in not feeding the trolls, and more...
Human Challenge Trials and COVID-19
Should we intentionally expose willing participants to the coronavirus?
How Many COVID-19 Infections and Deaths Did Lockdowns Avert?
Two new studies create counterfactual pandemic scenarios seeking to answer that question.
Is Asymptomatic Spread of COVID-19 Very Rare? Depends How You Define 'Asymptomatic'
Plus: Netflix out-trademarks the U.S. government, contraception shortages, and more...
Did the Lockdowns Save Thousands of Lives? A Soho Forum Debate
Physician Marty Makary vs. epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski on whether "the lockdown saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives."
New York Police Are Jailing Protesters For Days Without Charging Them
A New York State Judge has ruled that the twin crises of civic unrest and coronavirus justify holding people without charge beyond the normal 24-hour limit.
Part I of Interview about My Book "Free to Move" with Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin
Professor Balkin asked me many great questions in interview just published at his Balkinization blog.
Tear Down America's Immigrant Prisons
In the age of coronavirus, they are a danger to the lives of people both inside them and outside.
California County Will Allow Outdoor Social Gatherings of 12 People—and Outdoor Protests of 100 People
The phased reopenings happening around the country are becoming increasingly arbitrary.
What 9/11 and the Financial Crisis Teach Us About COVID-19
Sometime in 2021, the American people will be presented with a reorganized and newly empowered federal public health bureaucracy. As time passes, it will grow in size and scope.
When Should Force Be Used To Protect Public Health?
Since meager testing resources left officials ignorant of crucial facts about the epidemic, they made policy decisions without the evidence necessary to assess their proportionality.
The FDA Deserves Credit for Easing Food Ingredient Labeling Rules in Response to COVID-19
The flexibility will allow food makers to substitute small amounts of food ingredients temporarily without necessitating the creation or use of a new food label.
Alone Together in the Pandemic
How we lost our social spaces and how we found them again
Hydroxychloroquine 'Is Not a Treatment for COVID-19. It Doesn't Work.'
The antimalarial drug is being removed from United Kingdom's RECOVERY trial evaluating COVID-19 therapies.
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."
The COVID-19 Recovery Is Starting. Extending 'Bonus' Unemployment Benefits Will Slow It.
If Congress extends boosted temporary unemployment benefits into early 2021, nearly five out of every six beneficiaries would be earning more money by not working.
Markets Are Finding Ways To Survive the COVID-19 Shutdowns
Even after government had imposed an almost unfathomable level of intervention on the economy, the markets are chugging along much better than expected.
The Lancet's Hydroxychloroquine Study Is Retracted by Its Authors
The observational dataset on which it was based could not be properly audited.
Lockdown Supporters Embraced Wildly Wrong COVID-19 Projections That Fit Their Preconceptions
The episode illustrates the perils of confirmation bias on both sides of the debate about disease control measures.
Public Health Experts Have Undermined Their Own Case for the COVID-19 Lockdowns
Police violence is a metaphorical disease. Coronavirus is a literal disease.
Face Mask Volunteers DIY Their Own Kind of Division of Labor
Making masks, face shields, and other protective equipment is the bottom-up, COVID-19 version of rolling bandages or knitting socks for the troops.
The Panic About China Cutting Off America's COVID-19 Drug Supply Was Fake News
The Food and Drug Administration now says there is no evidence that any country attempted to cut off America's essential pharmaceuticals.
Does That Malaria Medicine Work on COVID-19 After All?
A major study in The Lancet said it doesn't—but it may have relied on fabricated data.
As COVID-19 Spread, the Department of Justice Cracked Down on Immigration and Drugs
It was business as usual for federal prosecutors.
Virtual Conference on Covid-19 & the Law
Next week the Federalist Society is hosting an online conference on the legal issues raised by the pandemic.
Democratic Leaders Praise George Floyd Protesters, Show Utter Contempt for Everyone Else Still in Lockdown
Bill de Blasio and Phil Murphy evince little sympathy for nail salon owners or Jewish mourners.
Virus Transmission Estimates Provide More Evidence That COVID-19 Lockdowns Are Overrated
Two models suggest that broad restrictions had less impact on the epidemic than commonly thought.
Audio of Federalist Society Teleforum on Whether Enterprises Closed by Coronavirus Shutdown Orders are Entitled to Compensation under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment
I debated Prof. F.E. Guerra-Pujol. Prominent takings lawyer Robert Thomas moderated.
Did COVID-19 Lockdown Orders Help Fuel Riots Nationwide?
Millions of people out of a job and stuck at home for months is a recipe for civil unrest.
I Can't Quit New York
How will residents of the City That Never Sleeps recover from being sentenced to their own apartments?
John Roberts Does Not Think California's Special Restrictions on Religious Services Discriminate Against Churches
As SCOTUS declines to issue an injunction, the chief justice says the state's COVID-19 control measures seem consistent with the First Amendment.
Roberts Accuses Kavanaugh of Judicial Activism in Coronavirus Church Closure Case
"Although California's guidelines place restrictions on places of worship," Roberts wrote, "those restrictions appear consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment."
Michael Munger Says 'Price Gouging' Gives Us Information We Need
Such laws end up causing more shortages than they solve, especially during a crisis.
Protesting Police Violence Is Critical. But Why Are the Social Distance Shamers Suddenly So Quiet?
What happened to staying at home to keep grandparents safe no matter what?
To Really Reopen the Economy, At-Home Diagnostic COVID-19 Tests Are Our Best Bet
Making cheap tests widely available would go a long way toward crushing the pandemic.