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
"The bottom line is that when our leaders undermine public health messaging by not doing it themselves, they send a very clear signal to the American people that this stuff is actually not that important."
(Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health)
Chart of the Day

On the relationship between symptoms, viral load and positive tests. (image via @mugcevik)
Spread
- The novel coronavirus was spreading widely in the US before commonly thought. (wsj.com)
- To-date K-12 schools have not served as superspreaders. (theatlantic.com)
- Some evidence from India that children and young adults can spread the coronavirus. (marginalrevolution.com)
- More evidence that teenagers can spread the coronavirus. (nytimes.com)
Masks
- Masking may not only protect you from infection but also from severe illness. (nature.com)
- Wearing face masks would have helped blunt the spread of coronavirus in the White House. (vox.com)
- Speed and scale matter a lot more than effectiveness when it comes to fighting the coronavirus. (nytimes.com)
Vaccines
- 7 looming questions about the rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine including getting the vaccine to high-risk populations. (statnews.com)
- A special committee has recommended who should get first crack at a vaccine, including frontline healthcare workers. (wsj.com)
- So much for the theory that the BCG vaccine provides some level of protection against the coronavirus. (pnas.org)
- Challenge trials would speed the testing of vaccines. (marginalrevolution.com)
- Air cargo capacity is going to be a chokepoint for delivering the coronavirus vaccine. (wsj.com)
- What it's like to recruit volunteers for Covid-19 vaccine trials. (statnews.com)
Testing
- A firsthand account of what it's like to take a Covid test. (blairbellecurve.com)
- Take negative Covid tests seriously, but not literally. (fivethirtyeight.com)
Symptoms
- Why loss of smell may be a better barometer of Covid-19 than a cough. (bbc.com)
- One third of Covid-19 patients experience altered mental states. (nytimes.com)
- Covid-19 cases may be spurring diabetes in patients previously unaffected. (wired.com)
Treatment
- How much better have we gotten at treating Covid-19? (ft.com)
- Eli Lilly ($LLY) is seeking an EUA for its Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment. (statnews.com)
- Regeneron ($RGEN) is seeking an EUA for the Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment provided to President Trump. (cnbc.com)
- Why Vitamin D may not be a magic bullet against Covid-19. (elemental.medium.com)
Hotspots
- Midwestern states are opening up despite rising case counts. (politico.com)
- Wisconsin is a hot spot. (news.yahoo.com)
- Indian tribes have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. (nytimes.com)
Universities
- The diversity of universities is high. So is their response to the coronavirus. (vox.com)
- RAs are the front lines of the effort to rein in coronavirus infections. (wsj.com)
Global
- The story of why Sweden's nursing homes were so hard hit by the coronavirus. (nytimes.com)
- The lockdown in Germany suppressed the virus enough for other measures to take hold. (ft.com)
- Why Indonesia lags other countries in testing. (wsj.com)
Public health
- Tyler Cowen, "One of the worst things about not controlling the virus early is that it has created a class of citizens who are deciding to adapt to Covid-19 rather than avoid it." (msn.com)
- Women are more likely than men to follow public health guidelines. (sciencedaily.com)
- The New England Journal of Medicine has felt it necessary to endorse Joe Biden. (nejm.org)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: IR vs. R. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)