A coronavirus-focused linkfest is a weekly feature here at Abnormal Returns. Please stay safe, get a booster and at a vaccination site near you. You can read last week’s edition here.
Quote of the Day
"The frustration with hygiene theater is really nothing other than misplaced frustration with the pandemic itself, which has been unfazed by premature pronouncements of its demise."
(Colin Dickey)
Chart of the Day

Case counts are clearly back on the rise in the U.S. heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Pfizer
- Why Pfizer ($PFE) is against lifting vaccine IP restrictions. (bloomberg.com)
- Pfizer ($PFE) has asked the FDA to authorize its new antiviral pill. (biopharmadive.com)
- Pfizer ($PFE) is licensing its antiviral treatment to more countries. (washingtonpost.com)
Boosters
- The CDC expanded booster eligibility to all adult Americans. (statnews.com)
- Even prior to the CDC's move, a lot of states and localities had already expanded access to boosters. (wsj.com)
- Germany is recommending boosters for all adults. (reuters.com)
- Why you should get boosted. (theatlantic.com)
Vaccine mandates
- Why vaccine mandates work - the psychology of regret. (washingtonpost.com)
- Disney ($DIS) is mandating vaccines for children for its cruises. (fortune.com)
- The AMA, and others, are urging businesses to mandate vaccinations. (washingtonpost.com)
- A short history of school vaccine mandates. (npr.org)
Antivirals
- It's not clear that antivirals will be as effective in the vaccinated population. (ft.com)
- Eight unanswered questions about the two new antiviral pills including 'Would they work better in combination?' (statnews.com)
Testing
- How universities have used vaccine mandates and testing to get back to some semblance of normal. (businessinsider.com)
- Startup Sherlock Biosciences has a CRISPR-derived Covid test. (fastcompany.com)
Children
- Why pro-vaccine parents are sometimes reluctant to get their children vaccinated. (slate.com)
- Schools are turning to testing as a substitute for quarantine. (nytimes.com)
- Why getting a child vaccinated is such a relief. (esquire.com)
Treatments
- Covid patients on SSRIs are less likely to die. (sciencedaily.com)
- Dexamethasone does not seem to be nearly as effective in treating women with severe Covid-19. (fastcompany.com)
Research
- Mask-wearing is the single most effective public health measure at tackling Covid. (theguardian.com)
- We really don't know about the extent of co-infection, i.e. Covid and influenza. (theatlantic.com)
- Who produces the most respiratory aerosols? (sciencedaily.com)
- Why some people resist Covid-19 infections. (scientificamerican.com)
- Covid-19 increases the risk of stillbirth. (news.yahoo.com)
Global
- Austria has become the first Western country to announce it will make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory. (fortune.com)
- Not all countries are moving forward with vaccines for children. (wsj.com)
- France and Austria are taking two very different approaches. (theatlantic.com)
Public health
- The countries best adapting to the coronavirus have high societal trust. (bloomberg.com)
- Some politicians want to restrict all vaccine mandates, not just for Covid. (statnews.com)
- The prior administration was interfering early, and often, with the CDC. (politico.com)
- A vaccinated police officer on why other officers are not getting vaccinated. (washingtonpost.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: other respiratory illnesses (abnormalreturns.com)
- There's only one way through the pandemic tunnel. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Why we are eventually going to need digital health passes, i.e. vaccine passports. (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)
Society
- Despite all the happy talk, the pandemic isn't over yet. (marketwatch.com)
- It's clear a lot of Americans are done with Covid, even though Covid isn't done with us. (citizen-times.com)
- Covid misinformation is alive and well on talk radio and podcasts. (nytimes.com)