vacCOVID-19

Last update: Sunday 7/11/21

This guide provides an evolving framework for understanding the U.S. exit from the Coronavirus pandemic after the approval of the first vaccines in early December 2020. (The last update of the original edition that covered February through early December 2020 can be found on our oldCOVID-19 page.) Alerts about top stories are posted on the blog's @neoskeptics Twitter account on Sundays; updates are posted throughout the week.

... under continuing reconstruction ...

Top stories in past week 
  • "The C.D.C. Issues New School Guidance, With Emphasis on Full Reopening",  Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Emily Anthes, Sarah Mervosh and Kate Taylor, NY Times, 7/9/21
  • South Korea, "South Korea reverses loosening of mask mandate, ramps up curbs as cases soar", Min Joo Kim, Washington Post, 7/9/21
  • World, "WHO sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta spreads to 100 countries", Washington Post, 7/8/21
  • "More than 605,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S. -- More than 33,734,000 cases have been reported.", Washington Post, 7/7/21
  • "Biden Calls for Door-to-Door Vaccine Push; Experts Say More Is Needed", Michael D. Shear and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 7/6/21

The ten sections of the framework are divided into two groups: dashboard and publications.

Dashboard (sections A, B, and C) contains links to data pages on the Web that include the tables, maps, and charts most frequently cited by the publications in the second part of the guide. Readers who encounter references to COVID-19 data in a publication can quickly confirm (or refute) the citations by clicking appropriate links in the dashboard to the sources of the data.

Publications (sections D through J) contains links to reports, news articles, and opinions.  New links are added every day. Recent links are red; older links are blue. Most of the links in the dashboard sections are always red because they point to Web pages that are updated frequently by their editors, sometimes every day. Older items in the publication sections whose content has been overcome by events are deleted. This enables the overall size of the publications sections to remain more or less the same as newer links are added. However enough older articles remain so that readers can always get a quick sense of where we are and how we got here by skimming the titles of the articles in chronological order.

A. Info | B. MedMods | C. Trackers | D. World | E. U.S response | F. Context | G. Unequal | H. TreatVax | I. Opinions | J. Hindsightt

... Dashboard ... 

A. Comprehensive information resources 
B. Medical impact models
  • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluaton (IHME) Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), COVID-19, 7/2/21 ... Editor's note:  IHME displays "reported deaths" and "excess deaths" since early May 2021. IHME excess deaths from COVID for every country are higher than reported deaths, about 50 percent higher for the U.S. This methodology explained HERE
  • "Where The Latest COVID-19 Models Think We're Headed — And Why They Disagree", Ryan Best and Jay Boice, FiveThirtyEight, 5/28/21
C. Focused Trackers ... Infections, Hospitalizations, Deaths, & Vaccines

... Publications ...

D. Exit strategies from the pandemic outside the U.S.
  • Africa,"A Continent Where the Dead Are Not Counted", Ruth Maclean, NY Times, 1/3/21
  • United Kingdom, "Alarm in U.K. Over Virus Variant Bolsters Case for Lockdown", Mark Landler and Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 1/24/21 ... Note: Alarm has been triggered by evidence that the new variant may be more fatal, as well as more infectious
  • United Kingdom, "Vaccine Rollout Gives U.K. a Rare Win in the Pandemic", Mark Landler and Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 1/29/21
  • China, "Power, Patriotism and 1.4 Billion People: How China Beat the Virus and Roared Back", Steven Lee Myers, Keith Bradsher, Sui-Lee Wee and Chris Buckley, NY Times, 2/5/21
  • France, "France Stalls Between Stubbornly High Infection Rates and Slow Vaccine Rollout", Aurelien Breeden, NY Times, 2/10/21
  • China, "On W.H.O. Trip, China Refused to Hand Over Important Data", Javier C. Hernández and James Gorman, NY Times, 2/13/21
  • European Union, "Amid Slow Vaccine Deliveries, Desperate E.U. Nations Hunt for More", Matina Stevis-Gridneff, NY Times, 2/28/21
  • Brazil, "A Collapse Foretold: How Brazil’s Covid-19 Outbreak Overwhelmed Hospitals", Ernesto Londoño and Letícia Casado, NY Times, 3/27/21
  • "AstraZeneca Vaccine Faces New Setbacks in U.K. and European Union", Benjamin Mueller, NY Times. 4/8/21
  • Chile, "Chile leads the Western Hemisphere in vaccinations. The coronavirus is still surging.", John Bartlett, Washington Post, 4/15/21
  • India, "India Blames a Virus Variant as Its Covid-19 Crisis Deepens", Jeffrey Gettleman, Shalini Venugopal and Apoorva Mandavilli,
    NY Times, 4/29/21
  • World, "Global Virus Cases Reach New Peak, Driven by India and South America", Lazaro Gamio and Alexandria Symonds, NY Times, 5/1/21
  • World, "As Covid Ravages Poorer Countries, Rich Nations Spring Back to Life". Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 5/5/21
  • India, "Covid Desperation Is Spreading Across India", Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj, NY Times, 5/13/21
  • India, "India’s coronavirus vaccination drive is faltering just when the country needs it most", Joanna Slater, Washington Post, 5/17/21
  • World, "U.S., Europe Rise in Best Places to Be in Covid; Asia Suffers", Jinshan Hong, Rachel Chang and Kevin Varley, Bloomberg, 5/25/21
  • World, "More Than 1.71 Billion Shots Given", Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, 5/25/21
  • World, "As Vaccines Turn Pandemic’s Tide, U.S. and Europe Diverge on Path Forward". Benjamin Mueller and Marc Santora, NY Times, 6/5/21
  • China, "China Returns to Its Strict Covid Limits to Fight a New Outbreak", Keith Bradsher, NY Times, 6/9/21
  • England, "England Extends Covid Restrictions, Delaying Opening One Month", NY Times, 6/14/21
  • Asia, "Why Asia, the Pandemic Champion, Remains Miles Away From the Finish Line", Damien Cave, NY Times, 6/15/21
  • World, "They Relied on Chinese Vaccines. Now They’re Battling Outbreaks.", Sui-Lee Wee, NY Times, 6/22/21
  • World, "This Is the Plan to Rescue Poor Countries From the Pandemic", Peter S. Goodman and Alan Rappeport, NY Times, 6/24/21
  • Australia, "Sydney locks down parts of city in race against outbreak of delta variant", Rachel Pannett, Washington Post, 6/25/21
  • World, "As Delta Variant Surges, Outbreaks Return in Many Parts of the World", Hannah Beech and Livia Albeck-Ripka, NY Times, 6/3021
  • Israel, "Israel sees drop in Pfizer vaccine protection against infections", Reuters, 7/5/21 ... Note: Delta variant
  • World, "WHO sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta spreads to 100 countries", Washington Post, 7/8/21
  • South Korea, "South Korea reverses loosening of mask mandate, ramps up curbs as cases soar", Min Joo Kim, Washington Post, 7/9/21
U.S. response to coronavirus
  • "FDA authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, first approved in the U.S.",  
    Carolyn Y. Johnson, Laurie McGinley, Paulina Firozi, Kim Bellware, Erin Cunningham, Hamza Shaban, Miriam Berger and Lateshia Beachum, Washington Post, 12/10/20
  • "F.D.A. Authorizes Moderna Vaccine, Adding Millions of Doses to U.S. Supply", Denise Grady, Abby Goodnough and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 12/19/20
  • "Biden’s 17 Executive Orders and Other Directives in Detail", Aishvarya Kavi, NY Times, 1/21/21 ... Note: Some orders relate to COVID
  • "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness", President Joseph R. Biden, 1/21/21
  • "Types of Masks", CDC, updated on 2/10/21 
    "For better fit and extra protection wear two masks: Disposable mask underneath AND cloth mask on top ...     OR ... A cloth mask can be combined with a fitter or brace"
  • "FDA authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine, adding to the nation’s arsenal against the pandemic", Laurie McGinley and Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 2/27/21
  • "CDC Reduces School Guidelines on Distancing to Three Feet", Betsy McKay and Jennifer Calfas, Wall Street Journal, 3/19/21
  • "The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are very effective in real-world conditions at preventing infections, the C.D.C. reported.", Gina Kolata, NY Times, 3/29/21
  • "CDC director warns of 'impending doom' as Covid-19 cases spike in most states", Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan, CNN, 3/29/21
  • "Has the Era of Overzealous Cleaning Finally Come to an End?", Emily Anthes, NY Times, 4/8/21
  • "Johnson & Johnson Vaccinations Paused After Rare Clotting Cases Emerge", Noah Weiland, Sharon LaFraniere and Carl Zimmer, NY Times. 4/15/21
  • "100 Million People in the U.S. Are Fully Vaccinated, White House Says", White House, 4/30/21 ... video, may load slowly
  • "CDC acknowledges airborne transmission", Jennifer Hassan, Kim Bellware and Meryl Kornfield, Washington Post, 5/7/21
  • "F.D.A. Authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine for Children 12 to 15", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 5/10/21
  • "Vaccinated Americans May Go Without Masks in Most Places, Federal Officials Say", Roni Caryn Rabin, Apoorva Mandavilli and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 5/13/21 ... Editor's extensive comments 
  • "Biden administration tells federal agencies they should not require employees to be vaccinated to work on-site", Eric Yoder, Washington Post, 6/9/21
  • "Biden administration to buy 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to donate to the world", Tyler Pager and Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, 6/9/21
  • "F.D.A. Tells Johnson & Johnson That 60 Million Vaccine Doses Cannot Be Used",  Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 6/11/21
  • "A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It.", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 6/17/21 ... Editor's comment -- Obviously it's a good idea to invest billions of dollars to develop high tech treatments for people who experience serious illness from Covid infections. But meanwhile, how about also investing millions of dollars to greatly expand the supply of existing, effective, low cost, low tech protections, i.e., N95 masks for everyone, not just for healthcare professionals. N95 masks would also keep people from getting infected if super resistant coronavirus mutations appeared, thereby substantially limiting the need for expensive high tech treatments.

    Rhetorical question: Why does the U.S. medical system continue to focus on high tech treatment of illness, rather than on low tech prevention of illness? Rhetorical answer: U.S. doctors only get paid when people get sick; they don't get paid for keeping people healthy.

  • "White House Says U.S. Is Not Expected to Meet Vaccination Goal, NY Times, 6/22/21 ... video, loads slowly
  • "‘Now we are trying to figure out how to live with it’: Inside Biden’s push to crush covid", Ben Terris, Washington Post, 7/2/21
  • "Biden Celebrates Progress Against Virus, but Acknowledges Hurdles Ahead", Zach Montague, NY Times, 7/5/21
  • "Biden Calls for Door-to-Door Vaccine Push; Experts Say More Is Needed", Michael D. Shear and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 7/6/21
  • "The C.D.C. Issues New School Guidance, With Emphasis on Full Reopening",  Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Emily Anthes, Sarah Mervosh and Kate Taylor, NY Times, 7/9/21
F. U.S. context
  • "First Coronavirus Vaccines Head to States, Starting Historic Effort", Abby Goodnough, Reed Abelson and Jan Hoffman, NY Times, 12/14/20
  • "The number of people with the virus who died in the U.S. passes 300,000.", Amy Harmon, NY Times, 12/14/2020
  • "The virus death toll in the U.S. has passed 400,000.", Patricia Mazzei, NY Times, 1/19/21
  • "Younger Military Personnel Reject Vaccine, in Warning for Commanders and the Nation", Jennifer Steinhauer, NY Times, 2/27/21
  • "As Biden Urges Caution on Covid, Governors Split on How Fast to Reopen", Julie Bosman, Michael D. Shear and Reid J. Epstein, NY Times, 3/4/21
  • "‘I’d Much Rather Be in Florida’", Patricia Mazzei, NY Times, 3/13/21
  • "Despite Encouraging Downward Trend, U.S. Covid Deaths Remain High", auren Leatherby, NY Times, 3/13/21
  • "As Biden Confronts Vaccine Hesitancy, Republicans Are a Particular Challenge", Annie Karni and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, NY Times, 3/16/21
  • "Nearly half of schools are open full-time, survey finds", Laura Meckler, Washington Post, 3/24/21
  • "What the Covid-19 war was really like in Trump's White House", Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 3/28/21
  • "Why Are Millions Of N95 Masks Sitting In A Factory Without A Buyer?", Darian Woods, NPR, 4/7/21
  • "Covid-19: U.S. Surpasses 500,000 Covid-19 Deaths, a Monumental Loss", NY Times, 4/12/21
  • "Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics", Jan Hoffman,
    NY Times, 4/30/21
  • "U.S. Vaccinations Are Slowing. What’s to Blame?", Josh Holder and Amy Schoenfeld Walker, NY Times, 5/4/21
  • "They Haven’t Gotten a Covid Vaccine Yet. But They Aren’t ‘Hesitant’ Either.",  Amy Harmon and Josh Holder, NY Times, 5/12/21
  • "Federal Mask Retreat Sets Off Confusing Scramble for States and Cities", Edgar Sandoval, Kate Taylor and Mitch Smith, NY Times, 5/14/21
  • "723 Epidemiologists on When and How the U.S. Can Fully Return to Normal", Claire Cain Miller, Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz, NY Times, 5/15/21
  • "Scarred but Resilient, New York City Tiptoes Toward Normalcy", Michael Wilson, NY Times, 5/19/21
  • "Super-Sniffer Dogs Could Shorten Covid Testing Lines at Airports", Corinne Gretler, Bloomberg, 5/23/21
  • "For Many Workers, Change in Mask Policy Is a Nightmare", Noam Scheiber, NY Times, 6/2/21
  • "Yes, Your Employer Can Require You to Be Vaccinated", Jenny Gross, NY Times, 6/11/21
  • "‘A Momentous Day’: New York and California Lift Most Virus Restrictions", Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Shawn Hubler, NY Times, 6/15/21
  • "As Pandemic Recedes in U.S., Calls Are Growing for an Investigative Commission", Sheryl Gay Stolberg, NY Times, 6/16/21
  • "Covid has claimed more than 600,000 lives in the U.S.", Dan Levin, NY Times, 6/16/21
  • "You’re Vaccinated for Covid-19, and You Just Tested Positive. Now What?", Johnny Diaz, NY Times, 6/23/21
  • "Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from covid-19", Damian Paletta and Yasmeen Abutaleb, Washington Post, 6/25/21
  • "3607 US healthcare worker deaths", The Guardian, 7/1/21
  • "Craving freedom from virus, U.S. heads into July 4 with sharply divided risk", Fenit Nirappil, Ryan Slattery and Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 7/3/21
  • "More than 605,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S. -- More than 33,734,000 cases have been reported.", Washington Post, 7/7/21
G. Unequal impact on life, health, income, education, careers 
  • "Disadvantaged Students More Likely to Be Learning Remotely, Study Finds", Jason DeParle, NY Times, 12/24/20
  • "In Minority Communities, Doctors Are Changing Minds About Vaccination", Gina Kolata, NY Times, 12/31/20
  • "Missing in School Reopening Plans: Black Families’ Trust", Eliza Shapiro, Erica L. Green and Juliana Kim, NY Times, 2/1/21
  • "Race and ethnicity data missing for nearly half of coronavirus vaccine recipients, federal study finds", Akilah Johnson, Washington Post, 2/1/21
  • "Vulnerable Inmates Left in Prison as Covid Rages",  Roni Caryn Rabin, NY Times, 2/27/21
  • "The Pandemic Hit the Working Class Hard. The Colleges That Serve Them Are Hurting, Too.", Stephanie Saul, NY Times, 4/2/21
  • "Hispanic Americans are most vulnerable to covid-19", The Economist, 6/5/21
  • "Despite Ample Shots and Incentives, Vaccine Rates Lag Far Behind in the South", Rick Rojas and Mitch Smith, NY Times, 6/9/21
  • "Which Groups Are Still Dying of Covid in the U.S.?", Denise Lu, NY Times, 6/10/21
  • "Huge disparities in vaccination rates are creating islands of vulnerability across the country", Washington Post, 6/14/21
  • "Spread of delta coronavirus variant exposes poorly vaccinated regions to renewed danger", Ariana Eunjung Cha,  Karla Adam, Ben Guarino and Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, 6/23/21

H. Treatments, vaccines, testing, tracing
  • "Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask",  Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 12/9/20
  • ''How Much Herd Immunity Is Enough?", Donald G. McNeil Jr., NY Times, 12/24/20
  • "Only one covid-19 treatment is designed to keep people out of the hospital. Many overburdened hospitals are not offering it.", Laurie McGinley, Washington Post, 12/31/20
  • "Covid-19 Vaccines Expected to Work on South Africa Coronavirus Strain", Gabriele Steinhauser, Wall Street Journal, 1/4/21
  • "Post-infection coronavirus immunity usually robust after 8 months, study shows", Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 1/7/21
  • "Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 1/20/21
  • "Why Vaccines Alone Will Not End the Pandemic", Matthew Conlen, Denise Lu and James Glanz, NY Times, 1/24/21
  • "How the Search for Covid-19 Treatments Faltered While Vaccines Sped Ahead", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 1/30/21
  • "Mutated virus may reinfect people already stricken once with covid-19, sparking debate and concerns", Carolyn Y. Johnson and William Wan, Washington Post, 2/5/21
  • "U.K. coronavirus variant spreading rapidly through United States, study finds", Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 2/7/21
  • "Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say", Manuela Andreoni, Ernesto Londoño and Letícia Casado, NY Times, 3/3/21
  • "Some Nations Could Wait Years for Covid Shots. That’s Bad for Everyone.", Abdi Latif Dahir and Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 3/22/21
  • "Regeneron Covid-19 Antibody Drug Reduced Risk of Hospitalization, Death by 70% in Late-Stage Trial", Joseph Walker, Wall Street Journal, 3/23/21
  • "Rich Countries Signed Away a Chance to Vaccinate the World", Selam Gebrekidan and Matt Apuzzo, NY Times, 3/25/21
  • "Virus Origins Remain Unclear in W.H.O.-China Inquiry", Javier C. Hernández and James Gorman, NY Times, 3/29/21
  • "Factory Mix-Up Ruins Up to 15 Million Vaccine Doses From Johnson & Johnson", Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, NY Times, 4/1/21
  • "Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Still Highly Effective Six Months After Second Dose", Jared S. Hopkins, Wall Street Journal, 4/1/21
  • "Virus Variants Threaten to Draw Out the Pandemic, Scientists Say", Apoorva Mandavilli and Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 4/4/21
  • "Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 4/5/21
  • "The future of coronavirus testing is in Greenville, N.C.", Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, 4/28/21
  • "How the United States Beat the Variants, for Now", Carl Zimmer and Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 5/14/21
  • "Timeline: How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible", Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, 5/25/21
  • "A Wrap-Up: The Five Major Metrics of COVID-19 Data", Kara W. Schechtman & Sara Simon, COVID Tracking Project  (The Atlantic), 5/24/21
  • "Immunity to the Coronavirus May Persist for Years, Scientists Find", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 5/27/21
  • "Yes, we’ll probably need coronavirus booster shots. But which one?", Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 5/27/21
  • "The coronavirus variant discovered in India has a new name: Delta.", Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, 5/31/21
  • "Vaccination rates fall off, imperiling Biden’s July Fourth goal", Dan Diamond, Dan Keating and Chris Moody, Washington Post, 6/6/21
  • "How the ‘Alpha’ Coronavirus Variant Became So Powerful", Carl Zimmera, NY Times, 6/8/21
  • "Delta variant accounts for 6 percent of new U.S. coronavirus infections", enny Bernstein, Washington Post, 6/8/21
  • "Novavax Offers U.S. a Fourth Strong Covid-19 Vaccine", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 6/14/21
  • "Pfizer to study vaccinated people who get infected for guidance on booster shots", Katerina Ang and Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 6/15/21
  • "Scientists Report Earliest Known Coronavirus Infections in Five U.S. States", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 6/15/21
  • "High Hopes for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid Vaccine Have Fizzled in the U.S.",  Noah Weiland, NY Times, 6/18/21
  • "A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years Ago, New Study Finds", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 6/24/21
  • "Three Studies, One Result: Vaccines Point the Way Out of the Pandemic", Apoorva Mandavilli, Carl Zimmer and Rebecca Robbins, NY Times, 6/28/21
  • "Masks Again? Delta Variant’s Spread Prompts Reconsideration of Precautions.", Roni Caryn Rabin, Apoorva Mandavilli and Shawn Hubler,
     NY Times, 6/29/21
  • "Moderna says vaccine works against delta variant, as WHO warns of global spread", Erin Cunningham, Washington Post, 6/30/21
  • "Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Protects Against Delta Variant, Company Reports", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 7/1/21
  • "Should People With Immune Problems Get Third Vaccine Doses?",  Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 7/4/21
  • "The rise of Delta", Carl Zimmer, NY Times, 7/6/21 ... Note: This podcast ends with audio clip of Dr. Fauci advising vaccinated people to wear masks in communities where vaccination rates are low -- contradicting the CDC 
  • "Covid News: Pfizer and BioNTech Are Developing a Vaccine That Targets Delta Variant", NY Times, 7/8/21
  • "Covid’s Lambda Variant: Worth Watching, but No Cause for Alarm", Emily Anthes, NY Times, 7/8/21

I. Notable opinions and long reads 
  • "How Science Beat the Virus ... And what it lost in the process", Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 12/18/20
  • "Nicholas Christakis on fighting covid-19 by truly understanding the virus", Nicholas Christakis, The Economist, 12/19/20
  • "25 Days that changed the world: How COVID-19 slipped China's grasp", Chris Buckley, David D. Kirkpatrick, Amy Qin and Javier C. Hernández, NY Times, 12/31/20
  • "One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How the U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure", Sarah Mervosh, Mike Baker, Patricia Mazzei and Mark Walker, NY Times, 1/19/21
  • "Making us as cruel as dogs: plague in 16th and 17th century England", Andrew Wear, Vanity Fair, 6/20/15 
  • "Ancient Rome Has an Urgent Warning for Us", Kyle Harper, NY Times, 2/15/21
  • Podcast, "Can Bill Gates Vaccinate the World?", The Daily, NY Times, 3/3/21
  • "Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been", Mike Baker, NY Times, 3/12/21
  • "A City Ruptured", Photographs by Ashley Gilbertson, NY Times, 3/20/21 ... published on 3/21/21
  • "Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Manhattan May Never Be the Same.", Matthew Haag, NY Times, 3/30/21
  • "Vaccine Passports: What Are They, and Who Might Need One?", Richard Pérez-Peña, NY Times, 4/9/21
  • "Ron DeSantis Is the Republican Autopsy", Ross Douthat, NY Times, 4/17/21
  • "As Covid Death Toll Passes 3 Million, a Weary World Takes Stock", Mike Ives, Sameer Yasir and Muktita Suhartono, NY Times, 4/17/21
  • "Welcome to the YOLO Economy", Kevin Roose, NY Times, 4/22/21
  • "India’s sudden coronavirus wave is not a far-away problem", Washington Post, 4/23/21
  • "With masks and distancing, Biden’s speech sent the wrong message about the power of our vaccines", Leana S. Wen, Washington Post, 4/29/21
    Editor's comment -- This article makes an excellent point, but perhaps a few weeks too soon     too soon after the CDC director expressed her fear about "impending doom" ==> Whiplash !!! ... CNN, 3/29/211
  • "The Math That Explains the End of the Pandemic", Zoë M. McLaren, NY Times, 4/29/21

    Editor's comment -- This article explains how exponential growth described the beginning of the pandemic: slow at first, but then huge surges. We should expect exponential decay to describe its end: large drops in hospitalizations and deaths at first, but then small declines

  • "The CDC’s mask guidance is a mess. Biden needs to clean it up.", Leana S. Wen, Washington Post, 5/16/21
J. Hindsight ... What really happened, why, and when should we have known it ...
  • "COVID proved the CDC is broken. Can it be fixed?", Jeneen Interland, NY Times, 6/16/21
    ... Editor's comment -- This is a "must skim" article. It's a "TLDR" for most folks ("Too long; didn't read"), but its core message must be grasped by anyone who wants to understand why the U.S. continues to botch its handling of the pandemic so badly. Yes, President Trump bears ultimate responsibility for what happened in 2020; but this article presents an ugly rambling look inside an agency that is underfunded and in a state of permanent disarray. If President Biden doesn't reorganize this crucial agency immediately, it will be his turn to bear ultimate responsibility for its future failures. For additional comments on this blog, see "An open letter to President Biden regarding the critical need to reorganize the CDC immediately")

  • "Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe", Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times, 5/3/21 ... Podcast of Mandovilli discussing her article and why she wrote it, The Daily, 5/7/21
    ... Editor's comment -- This is one of the most important articles on the coronavirus ever published by any media. Not surprisingly, it was written by one of the NY Times' best reporters on this topic. She reports on the quiet consensus that has recently emerged among experts that herd immunity is not a realistic goal for the U.S. for two obvious reasons: substantial vaccine hesitancy among various segments of the U.S. population and the fact that billions of people outside of the U.S. will not be vaccinated any time soon guarantees the continuing emergence of substantial mutations that will be more resistant (possible totally resistant) to our vaccines, no matter how quickly we "update" them. The best we can hope for is reducing the virus to a "flu", i.e., a serious but manageable disease. This logical end state was suggested in another note on this blog two months ago: "Ending the coronavirus pandemic when it becomes a 'flu'", 3/3/21.

  • Comprehensive reviews of scientific research on face masks -- "Face masks: what the data say", Lynne Peeples, Nature, 10/6/20 ... and the more recent "An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19", Jeremy Howard et al., PNAS, 1/28/21

  • "The CDC Waited 'Its Entire Existence for this Moment.' What Went Wrong", Eric Lipton, Abby Goodnough, Michael D. Shear, Megan Twohey, Apoorva Mandavilli, Sheri Fink and Mark Walker, NY Times, 6/3/20
    ... Editor's comment -- Similar conclusions were drawn by a subsequent note on this blog that also considered President Trump's task force ... "Where do we go from here?", 8/9/20

  • A Striking Disconnect on the Virus: Economic Pain With Little Illness", Michael H. Keller, Steve Eder and Karl Russell, NY Times, 6/6/20

  • "‘How Could the CDC Make That Mistake?’", Alexis C. Madrigal and Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 5/21/20

  • Imperial College (London) ... Report 9  (4/16/20)(Note: This link is to the summary of the report on the model's projections. Readers should click the download link on the summary to obtain a copy of the full report. This is the report that caused the UK to drastically increase its mitigation efforts)

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