A coronavirus pandemic linkfest is now a weekly feature here on Abnormal Returns. Please stay safe. You can read last week’s edition here.
Quote of the Day
“The single biggest lesson I’ve learned during the pandemic is that epidemiological modeling struggles with prediction, because so much of it depends on human behavioral factors.”
(Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle)
Vaccine efficacy
- Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Covid vaccine received unanimous approval from the FDA advisor panel. (statnews.com)
- Some real world data on the effectiveness of the Oxford-AstraZeneca ($AZN) vaccine. (marginalrevolution.com)
- A Scottish study shows high efficacy even after one vaccine dose. (ft.com)
- The Pfizer ($PFE) vaccine is largely effective after the first dose. (nytimes.com)
Vaccine manufacturing
- Pfizer ($PFE) and Moderna ($MRNA) have overcome hurdles to higher production. (washingtonpost.com)
- How Novavax ($NVAX) broke through to create a seemingly powerful coronavirus vaccine. (wsj.com)
- Why CureVac is lagging behind the vaccine leaders like BioNTech ($BTNX). (ft.com)
- Companies are teaming up to help manufacture already approved vaccines. (wsj.com)
- The Pfizer ($PFE) can be stored at higher temperatures than first assumed. (elemental.medium.com)
Vaccine hesistancy
- Mass vaccination sites make sense, but to get everyone vaccinated outreach is going to have to increase. (vox.com)
- The Ad Council has launched a campaign to encourage vaccinations. (washingtonpost.com)
- The historical reasons why Black Americans are reluctant to get vaccinated. (ft.com)
Behavior
- Rachel Gutman, "The best way forward for us all is for vaccinated people to spend their extra risk points in ways that don’t put unvaccinated people in danger." (theatlantic.com)
- We are in a strange interregnum when some people are fully vaccinated and others not at all. (elemental.medium.com)
Data
- Don't let your guard down: case counts in the U.S. stopped falling this week. (msn.com)
- Covid cases are falling globally, but there are still some countries seeing a rebound in cases. (ft.com)
- We still don't really know why the coronavirus is hitting some countries worse than others. (newyorker.com)
Testing
- The U.S. is not tracking variants as widely as it should. (wired.com)
- Many researchers biggest fear right now is the emergence of additional variants. (wsj.com)
- The world is short of monkeys for vaccine testing purposes. (nytimes.com)
Re-opening
- New York is gearing up to provide rapid testing to help reopen the economy. (politico.com)
- The CDC reports that gyms have served as a vector for virus transmission. (nytimes.com)
Work
- The CDC still hasn't established rules for air handling in the workplace. (nytimes.com)
- Why firms can't require workers to get a vaccine that is in use under an EUA. (statnews.com)
Long haulers
- Long haulers are having a hard time getting back to work. (wsj.com)
- A novel treatment for long term Covid sufferers. (reasonstobecheerful.world)
Treatments
- The rheumatoid arthritis drug tocilizumab plus steroids seems to make for better clinical outcomes. (wsj.com)
- What can we learn from people who are unusually resistant to the coronavirus? (bbc.com)
Small town stories
- This town in Alabama is trying to fill the void from two lost community leaders. (wsj.com)
- This small town in Southern Illinois avoided the pandemic, until it didn't (washingtonpost.com)
Rememberances
- As the pandemic turns a year old, a look at what was lost and what we will remember. (justinpaterno.com)
- Don't expect a memorial to the 500,000+ people who died of Covid. It's simply too big and random to fathom. (politico.com)
- What research into PTSD can teach us about how to process the pandemic. (wired.com)
Global
- China wants to be a leading provider of coronavirus vaccines to the developing world. (wsj.com)
- Some fear that Canadians aren't coming forward with Covid cases for fear of being shamed. (nytimes.com)
- Israel is now struggling to keep the vaccination momentum going with less urgent populations. (wsj.com)
- Why the U.S. is winning the vaccine race against Europe. (theatlantic.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: the eye of a hurricane. (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)