A linkfest dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic is now a weekly feature here on Abnormal Returns. You can read last week’s edition here. Please be careful, get a flu shot and stay safe.
Quote of the Day
"Small reductions in the IFR lead to small reductions in deaths, and that’s good. But small reductions in R rapidly lead to very big reductions in deaths, and that’s even better."
(Tom Chivers)
Masks
- Masks aren't perfect but it's hard to dismiss the idea they could have helped prevent the President's infection. (vox.com)
- White privilege and mask wearing. (ozy.com)
Spread
- How 'overdispersion' helps explain the spread of the coronavirus. (theatlantic.com)
- An aerosolized virus is a challenge indoors. (scientificamerican.com)
- Easy, cheap cross-border travel was the vector by which the global pandemic occurred. (nytimes.com)
- Mass transit may be much safer than previously thought. (wsj.com)
Testing
- Testing is only half the equation. The other half is about behavior. (wired.com)
- How someone can test negative for Covid and still have it. (gq.com)
- Some 20,000 Amazon ($AMZN) workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. (arstechnica.com)
- Colleges doing the most testing are doing a better job getting a handle on the coroanvirus. (nytimes.com)
Vaccine logistics
- Danielle Groen, "Making a successful vaccine is one challenge. Making enough of it to satisfy world demand is another." (thewalrus.ca)
- The first Covid-19 vaccines approved are also going to be the hardest to deal with logistically. (theatlantic.com)
- A lot of sharks are going to die to help us make Covid-19 vaccines. (vice.com)
Vaccines
- Moderna ($MRNA) says its vaccine won't be ready until later November at the earliest. (ft.com)
- Pfizer ($PFE) designed its Phase 3 trial for speed. (nytimes.com)
- The big Phase 3 trials don't need a lot of cases to crop up to show efficacy. (wsj.com)
- China is dispensing with traditional testing regimes and giving its new coronavirus vaccine widely. (nytimes.com)
Treatment
- A significant percentage of severe Covid-19 patients have a deficit of type I interferon. (sciencemag.org)
- President Trump will have access to care that millions of Americans don't. (theatlantic.com)
Risk management
- There's really no good way to socialize indoors yet. (elemental.medium.com)
- How to protect yourself from aerosolized coronavirus. (kottke.org)
Bubbles
Wisconsin
- Wisconsin's hospitals are nearing capacity. (chicagotribune.com)
- Wisconsin is in the midst of a surge in coronavirus cases. (theatlantic.com)
Immunity
- Why children seem to have a more robust immune response to the novel coronavirus. (nytimes.com)
- Does exposure to the common cold help reduce the severity of Covid-19? (scientificamerican.com)
- Researchers are trying to unravel the relationship between obesity and severe Covid-19 cases. (nytimes.com)
Herd immunity
- About 85 to 90 percent of the American population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. (nytimes.com)
- Spain as a counterexample on herd immunity. (marginalrevolution.com)
Excess deaths
- The US in 2020 is set for its largest increase in annual 'excess deaths' since 1918. (msn.com)
- Beware people telling stories with incomplete data. (econbrowser.com)
- A comparison of excess death rates across Europe and the US. (voxeu.org)
Public health
- Dr. Christian Drosten is Germany's Dr. Fauci but people actually pay attention to what he says. (bloomberg.com)
- A study find that President Trump has been the largest driver of virus misinformation. (nytimes.com)
- Americans say they trust scientists but don't act like it. (scientificamerican.com)
Policy
- How the strategy to combat HIV could help guide the fight against the novel coronavirus. (wired.com)
- The US keeps making the same mistakes over and over again with the coronavirus. Why things are setting up for a rough Winter. (vox.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: a natural by-product of hard times. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)
