A coronavirus-focused linkfest is for now a weekly feature here on Abnormal Returns. Please stay safe and find a vaccination site near you. You can read last week’s edition here.
Quote of the Day
"The lesson to armchair epidemiologists: picking winners in the middle of a fight is a mistake. Recall how poorly last month’s claims of victory panned out before rushing to declare new winners this month. Recognise that the virus has a long-term survival plan of its own."
(Ruchir Sharma)
Chart of the Day
The pandemic has turned Pfizer ($PFE) and Moderna ($MRNA) into household names. (chart via @ycharts)
Vaccines
- The J&J vaccine has been authorized for use in the UK. (newscientist.com)
- More J&J ($JNJ) doses are set for release in the U.S. (wsj.com)
- The Pfizer ($PFE) vaccine can now be stored at refrigerator-type temperatures. (marginalrevolution.com)
- The Moderna ($MRNA) vaccine was shown to be safe and effective in teenagers. (statnews.com)
- The AstraZeneca ($AZN) Covid vaccine may never be approved in the U.S. (ft.com)
- Fractional dosing would free up vaccine supplies. (marginalrevolution.com)
- There are hopes that immunity will last for years or even a lifetime. (nytimes.com)
- Researchers are looking beyond the spike protein for future vaccines. (theatlantic.com)
Vaccine hesistancy
- Taking time off worker is holding back some people from getting vaccinated. (washingtonpost.com)
- Ohio's Vax-a-Million just announced its first winners. (marketwatch.com)
- The U.S. should add dollar stores to its vaccine distribution locations. (nber.org)
- State in the U.S. South have some of the lowest vaccination rates. (nytimes.com)
- Bribing people to get vaccinated is troubling, but it's better than the alternative. (theatlantic.com)
Long haulers
Masking
- The CDC has updated its mask guidelines for summer camps. (washingtonpost.com)
- With masks coming off we are going to see a resurgence in colds and flu. (statnews.com)
- Don't throw out your masks. You may need them again. (theatlantic.com)
- Vaccine passports would help get us back to normal, but the road is rocky. (wired.com)
- We should expect that the unvaccinated are going to go unmasked. (theconversation.com)
Treatments
- Most of the trials testing Covid treatments were not well-designed. (wired.com)
- The FDA has approved a third antibody treatment for high-risk individuals. (nytimes.com)
Testing
- More jurisdictions are training dogs to sniff out Covid infections. (wsj.com)
- Just because case counts are falling doesn't mean we should throttle back on testing. (fortune.com)
- Singapore has approved a one-minute Covid breath test. (bloomberg.com)
- Why app-based contact tracing apps failed. (nytimes.com)
Data
- The Fall should see an increase in Covid cases. The question is from what base and how high? (vox.com)
- We still don't know how big a role seasonality will play with Covid. (bloomberg.com)
- The case rates for the unvaccinated are not really falling. (washingtonpost.com)
Public health
- Abraar Karan, "Mistrust will be a long-standing public health ripple effect from the Covid-19 pandemic." (statnews.com)
- The CDC needs to provide better messaging for parents of children 12 and younger. (theatlantic.com)
- Medical jargon isn't just a problem with Covid. (npr.org)
Global
- India is not the only country seeing a surge in cases. (cnbc.com)
- Seychelles has done a good job vaccinating the population but case counts are rising. (ampvideo.bnnbloomberg.ca)
- How pregnant women and their babies are being killed by Covid in Brazil. (wsj.com)
- Hong Kong residents are not getting vaccinated. (news.yahoo.com)
- The pandemic will rage on as long as the rest of the world isn't vaccinated. (ft.com)
- Why has Covax failed? (wsj.com)
Lab leak
- Why the origin of the novel coronavirus is largely irrelevant for how we prepare for future pandemics. (theverge.com)
- Is the lab theory is correct, what comes next? (medium.com)
- Lab leaks are not a new phenomenon. (bloomberg.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: becoming endemic. (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)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)
