Coronavirus

How Coronavirus Is Like Venereal Disease, and Other Bad Analogies

The Reason Roundtable grapples with virus-swapping, policy-bungling, and Libertarian politics.

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Today the United States is likely to pass a grim milestone: 100,000 estimated deaths from COVID-19. To mark the occasion, and also to provide a snapshot of New York/Washington, D.C. life in these tentatively de-quarantining times, Reason Roundtable podcasters Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch deliver a series of faulty metaphors including but not limited to: "I, Pencil," on-campus sexually transmitted diseases, government hole-digging, and probably something having to do with Spider-Man.

The gang also discusses the Libertarian Party's busy nominating weekend, Sputnik Sweetheart, and Suderman's new splattercore band Viral Death Radius.

Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.

Music credit: "Chasin' It" by Audionautix

Relevant links from the show:

"The President and Governors Alike Botched the Pandemic Response," by J.D. Tuccille

"Liberals Have Rediscovered the 10th Amendment's Value During the Coronavirus Pandemic," by Ira Stoll

"The CDC's New 'Best Estimate' Implies a COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate Below 0.3%," by Jacob Sullum

"It's Going To Be Hard Enough To Get Kids Back to Day Care After COVID-19," by Shoshana Weissmann

"How Much Credit Should Lockdowns Get for Reducing COVID-19 Transmission?" By Jacob Sullum

"D.C.'s So-Called Reopen Plan Is a Suicide Pact for the Restaurant Industry," by Robby Soave

"COVID-19 Herd Immunity Is 'Still Very Far Away,'" by Ronald Bailey

"Jo Jorgensen Wins Libertarian Party Presidential Nomination," by Brian Doherty

"Libertarian Party Picks Spike Cohen as Its Vice-Presidential Candidate," by Brian Doherty