A coronavirus pandemic linkfest 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 please stay safe.
Quote of the Day
"Beyond the tautological — good government is preferable to bad government — the world has amazingly little insight to show for its year of anguish."
(Janan Ganesh)
Chart of the Day

The Midwest is the only region seeing a decline in Covid-related hospitalizations.
UK variant
- The UK-variant of the novel coronavirus is officially in the US. (washingtonpost.com)
- And the variance is likely everywhere by now. (npr.org)
- Why a new more transmissible version of the virus is dangerous under current conditions. (theatlantic.com)
- The new variant makes vaccinating people all the more urgent. (marginalrevolution.com)
Oxford/AstraZeneca
- The UK has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca ($AZN) coronavirus vaccine. (bbc.com)
- India has now give the Oxford/AstraZeneca ($AZN) coronavirus vaccine approval as well. (theguardian.com)
- How the Oxford/AstraZeneca ($AZN) coronavirus vaccine different from the mRNA vaccines. (wsj.com)
Vaccines
- Vaccines have historically been one our most effective health interventions. (nautil.us)
- Coronavirus vaccine take a few days to generate antibodies, so post-vaccination infection is possible. (nytimes.com)
- Unrelated problems are going to get attributed to the coronavirus vaccines. (statnews.com)
- Social media outfits are already struggling to keep up with vaccine misinformation. (politico.com)
- Some signs that vaccine hesitancy seems to be melting away. (nytimes.com)
- Moderna ($MRNA) is ensuring its workers get vaccinated. (wsj.com)
China vaccines
- China is ready to vaccinate millions, but has little data on its vaccine candidates. (nytimes.com)
- China has approved the Sinopharm vaccine for widespread use. (npr.org)
Global vaccines
- European governments are coming under criticism for lagging on the vaccination front. (ft.com)
- Developing countries are at the back of the line for the vaccines. (nytimes.com)
Vaccine passports
- LA County has teamed with startup Healthvana on an app that will that will store vaccination records in Google or Apple wallets (engadget.com)
- A 'vaccine passport' is more than just a record of your vaccination. (cnn.com)
Shots in arms
- The states knew a coronavirus vaccine was coming and were still unpreprared. (marginalrevolution.com)
- Frustration over the slow pace of vaccinations is growing. (washingtonpost.com)
- Getting shots into arms is admittedly the hard part. (wsj.com)
Monoclonal antibodies
- Why doses of monoclonal antibodies are sitting unused. (wsj.com)
- Overwhelmed hospitals are not prioritizing the use of monoclonal antibodies. (washingtonpost.com)
Long haulers
- Long haulers are putting additional pressure on the hospital system. (nytimes.com)
- In part, because they need a lot of support and services. (nytimes.com)
Second-order effects
- Why the pandemic is increasing the risk of big measles outbreaks. (statnews.com)
- We're still trying to get a handle on the toll, missed treatments during pandemic. (statnews.com)
Data
- Aaron Carroll, "Getting a vaccine appears to be orders of magnitude safer than getting infected with the virus." (nytimes.com)
- The weight of the evidence points to schools not being a huge driver of infection. (washingtonpost.com)
- Our understanding of the pandemic depends on how statistics are presented. (fastcompany.com)
States
- The worst of the third wave has shifted from the Midwest to California, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. (theatlantic.com)
- How Los Angeles became a hot spot. (vox.com)
Global
- After avoiding the worst of the pandemic, some countries in Africa are feeling the pain. (nytimes.com)
- Nursing homes have been vulnerable all around the globe. (wsj.com)
- How India came to embrace mask-wearing. (wsj.com)
- UK hospitals are overwhelmed. (washingtonpost.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: little steps. (abnormalreturns.com)
- There's only one way through the pandemic tunnel. (abnormalreturns.com)
- The 'Swiss cheese model' and the importance of avoiding single points of failure in pandemic and life. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Get used to the term 'digital health passport' as the coronavirus vaccine rolls out nationwide. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)