A linkfest dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic is unfortunately 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 larger moral tragedy here is that because our leaders have failed, and too often actually worked to damage the infrastructure, expertise, and goodwill accumulated over generations, we have no consistent, authoritative guidance on what we should and should not do. We do not know who to trust."
(Tim Carmody)
Data
- Ellie Murray, “We may not really have a full picture of what happened post-Thanksgiving until sometime in January.” (theatlantic.com)
- Excess death rates continue to exceed the headline numbers. (econbrowser.com)
- In 9 U.S. states at least 1 in 1000 people have died of coronavirus-linked causes. (washingtonpost.com)
- Every measure of the pandemic is spiking going into the Thanksgiving holiday. (theatlantic.com)
- In pandemic more Americans have become food insecure. (nationalgeographic.com)
Masks
- Wide swaths of the West and Midwest continue to resist the use of masks. (statnews.com)
- Evidence from Kansas that mask mandates help to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (thehill.com)
- How North and South Dakota became Covid-19 hotspots. (ft.com)
Vaccines
- Two-shot regimes will make it harder to vaccine everyone. (washingtonpost.com)
- Researchers are going to have to keep an eye on the novel coronavirus for mutations that may make vaccines less effective. (nytimes.com)
- The Covid vaccines are going to come with some side effects. (cnbc.com)
- Among the three vaccines to-date, the Oxford/AstraZeneca ($AZN) shot may have the biggest global impact. (wsj.com)
- How South Korea used public health messaging to fight vaccine misinformation. (nytimes.com)
Vaccine logistics
- A look at the complicated logistics of vaccine distribution. (washingtonpost.com)
- Covid-19 vaccines have a finite life, so there are worries some of it will get wasted. (politico.com)
- It's not clear when children will be vaccinated. (npr.org)
Digital health passes
- Australia's national carrier Qantas will require future international travelers to prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 before flying. (cnn.com)
- Many employers are thinking about making a Covid-19 vaccine mandator. (npr.org)
- Get used to the term 'digital health passport' as the coronavirus vaccine rolls out nationwide. (abnormalreturns.com)
Testing
- Walmart ($WMT) heirs have invested in a company developing cheap, at-home Covid tests. (wsj.com)
- Economists believe idespread coronavirus testing would pay for itself. (anderson-review.ucla.edu)
Spread
- Any early mutation of the novel coronavirus made it easier to spread. (nytimes.com)
- We just don't know how much small, private gathering are having in the spread of coroanvirus. (nytimes.com)
- According to a study meatpacking plants were hot spots early in the pandemic. (bnnbloomberg.ca)
Behavior
- Three biases that make it difficult for us to heed pandemic warnings. (theatlantic.com)
- Three ways our brains have failed us in pandemic. (marginalrevolution.com)
- Just because you are vaccinated doesn't mean you can't pass the virus along to others. (fastcompany.com)
- A negative Covid test is not a license to go about your business. (vox.com)
Public health
- Public health officials say the U.S. should be doing much more to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (reuters.com)
- Americans are rightfully confused about the current state of restrictions. (theatlantic.com)
- America never truly locked down. (slate.com)
- Swedish officials say they are not seeing much evidence of herd immunity. (bloomberg.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: unbridled incompetence. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)
