The Pandemic (Timeline)

Learn from the news about how the pandemic has spread, what models have projected, how the virus spreads from person to person and how the spreading is controlled.

Click on dark blue words or terms to see their meaning in the glossary.

CNN: Covid-19 was third leading cause of death last year, CDC confirms in early data
(March 31, 2021)

CNN: Coronavirus likely spread to people from an animal — but needs more study, new WHO report says (March 30, 2021)

• “As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table.” – WHO Director-General

nature: Five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible
(March 18, 2021)

1. “It’s unclear whether variants prevent transmission”
2. “Vaccine roll-out is uneven”
3. “New variants change the herd-immunity equation”
4. “Immunity might not last forever”
5. “Vaccines might change human behaviour”

nature: Has COVID peaked? Maybe, but it’s too soon to be sure (March 18, 2021)

Visual Capitalist: Visualizing the History of Pandemics (March 14, 2021)

SciAm: CDC’s ‘Huge Mistake’: Did Misguided Mask Advice Drive Up COVID Death Toll for Health Workers? (March 12, 2021)

Visual Capitalist: The COVID-19 Pandemic – One Year In (March 11, 2021)

Visual Capitalist: Explained: The 3 Major COVID-19 Variants (March 11, 2021)

nature: Multitude of coronavirus variants found in the US — but the threat is unclear
(March 5, 2021)

STAT: FDA authorizes new test, built with machine learning, to detect past Covid-19 infections
(March 5, 2021)

STAT: ‘This isn’t done’: Experts warn that no matter what our Covid end goal is, we have a ways to go (March 5, 2021)

Harvard: Origins of Disease (March 4, 2021)

• “To understand the mechanisms of infection, neither the human host nor the pathogen can be studied in isolation—a disease is invariably a function of the interplay between the two.”
• “In SARS-CoV-2, the body appears to deploy different immune mechanisms that limit viral replication and infection in the upper airways versus the lungs.”
• It is still unknown if SARS-CoV-2 is “a mere amplifier of preexisting heart problems, direct cause of cardiac muscle demise or an indirect driver of myocardial injury.”

STAT: The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus
(March 4, 2021)

nature: The search for animals harbouring coronavirus — and why it matters
(March 2, 2021)

Science: Critics slam letter in prestigious journal that downplayed COVID-19 risks to Swedish schoolchildren (March 2, 2021)

PopSci: COVID-19 cases aren’t dropping anymore (March 2, 2021)
Updated on September 8, 2021

nature: Can COVID spread from frozen wildlife? Scientists probe pandemic origins
(February 26, 2021)

nature: Where did COVID come from? Five mysteries that remain
(February 26, 2021)

STAT: CDC estimated a one-year decline in life expectancy in 2020. Not so — try five days
(February 25, 2021)

PopSci: How Northern California’s COVID-19 variant stacks up against the rest
(February 24, 2021)
Updated on February 22, 2022

PopSci: Why COVID cases are falling around the world
(February 23, 2021)

SciAm: How Will the Coronavirus Evolve?
(February 19, 2021)

WSJ: We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April
(February 18, 2021)

• A valid optimistic expert opinion on how the pandemic situation is quickly improving.

nature: The coronavirus is here to stay — here’s what that means
(February 16, 2021)

CNN: CNN Exclusive: WHO Wuhan mission finds possible signs of wider original outbreak in 2019
(February 15, 2021)

Al Jazeera: The ‘superspreaders’ behind COVID-19 conspiracy theories
(February 15, 2021)

SciAm: A Visual Guide to the New Coronavirus Variants
(February 11, 2021)

PopSci: Why you shouldn’t ever wear your mask around your neck

DW: Coronavirus: Face mask, face shield, FFP2, N95, KN95 — what’s the difference?

• Parts of Germany have stricter requirements on the kinds of masks that should be worn by the public.

Al Jazeera: COVID maths: All the virus in the world would fit in a coke can
(February 10, 2021)

SciAm: Safely Reopening Requires Testing, Tracing and Isolation, Not Just Vaccines
(February 9, 2021)

BBC: Covid: WHO says ‘extremely unlikely’ virus leaked from lab in China
(February 9, 2021)

• “China is a very big place and South East Asia is a very big place. The supply chains to the Huanan seafood market were extensive, they were coming in from other countries, they were coming in from various parts of China, so to really trace that back it’s going to take some work.” – WHO team member

SciAm: The Pandemic Has Caused a Steep Decline in Living Standards
(February 5, 2021)

Science: Danish scientists see tough times ahead as they watch more contagious COVID-19 virus surge
(February 3, 2021)

nature: Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces
(February 2, 2021)

CSM: Confused by pandemic data? Here’s some help reading it.
(February 1, 2021)

SciAm: The Most Worrying Mutations in Five Emerging Coronavirus Variants
(January 29, 2021)

SciAm: COVID-Overwhelmed Hospitals Strain Staff and Hope to Avoid Rationing Care
(January 27, 2021)

STAT: Those Covid-19 variants? ‘Don’t worry yet,’ vaccine expert says
(January 27, 2021)

STAT: Covid tests are complicated. A guide to understanding types and trade-offs (VIDEO)
(January 26, 2021)

STAT: The pandemic slingshot: propelling from national crisis to a resilient health care system (February 22, 2021)

nature: Fast-spreading COVID variant can elude immune responses
(January 21, 2021)

SciAm: Another Way to Protect against COVID beyond Masking and Social Distancing
(January 19, 2021)

• “Boosting indoor humidity in winter can hinder transmission of the virus”

nature: Alarming COVID variants show vital role of genomic surveillance
(January 15, 2021)

PopSci: What COVID-19 will look like once the pandemic ends
(January 14, 2021)

Science: After aborted attempt, sensitive WHO mission to study pandemic origins is on its way to China
(January 13, 2021)

The Guardian: This is what an ‘overwhelmed NHS’ looks like. We must not look away
(January 12, 2021)

Science: Captive gorillas test positive for coronavirus
(January 12, 2021)

NPR: 2 Gorillas In California Contract The Coronavirus
(January 11, 2021)

STAT: 5 scenarios for containing the Covid-19 pandemic and returning to a ‘new normal’
(January 6, 2021)

SciAm: A Virologist Helps Keep Uruguay Safe from COVID with a Homegrown Test
(January 6, 2021)

Science: Viral mutations may cause another ‘very, very bad’ COVID-19 wave, scientists warn
(January 5, 2021)

BBC: South Africa coronavirus variant: What is the risk?
(January 4, 2021)

• “While changes in the new UK variant are unlikely to harm the effectiveness of current vaccines, there is a chance those in the South African variant may do so to some extent, say scientists.”

BBC: China Covid-19: Nearly 500,000 in Wuhan may have had virus, says study
(December 30, 2020)

PopSci: The ‘darkest days’ of COVID-19 are still to come (December 28, 2020)

PopSci: Can you spread COVID-19 after vaccination? Here’s what we know.
(December 28, 2020)

STAT: Charting the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, through STAT headlines
(December 24, 2020)

SciAm: What’s Your Risk of Catching COVID? These Tools Help You Find Out
(December 24, 2020)

Science: The coronavirus may sometimes slip its genetic material into human chromosomes—but what does that mean? (December 16, 2020)

STAT: Covid-19 is temporary. The health ramifications of failing to provide adequate economic relief may last decades (December 15, 2020)

UC Berkeley: New CRISPR-based COVID-19 test uses smartphone cameras to spot virus RNA (December 4, 2020)

nature: COVID research updates: Smell tests could sniff out rising COVID case counts
(December 4, 2020)

MIT Technology Review: While mainland America struggles with covid apps, tiny Guam has made them work (November 30, 2020)

Science: Federal system for tracking hospital beds and COVID-19 patients provides questionable data (November 29, 2020)

STAT: How much did Thanksgiving contribute to Covid-19 spread? It’s wait and see for now
(November 29, 2020)

nature: How Iceland hammered COVID with science (November 25, 2020)

SciAm: Pandemic of Hunger (November 25, 2020)

SciAm: COVID Models Show How to Avoid Future Lockdowns (November 24, 2020)

STAT: ‘Essential workers’ likely to get earlier access to Covid-19 vaccine
(November 23, 2020)

nature: Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly ten million residents of Wuhan, China (November 20, 2020)

• Around 93% of Wuhan residents were tested for Covid-19 five to eight weeks after the end of the lockdown. Only 300 asymptomatic cases (cases that never ended up being symptomatic) were discovered. Contact tracing provided evidence that such individuals that never end up having symptoms may be less infectious than others who test positive. However, residents there must still wear masks.

SciAm: Evaluating COVID Risk on Planes, Trains and Automobiles
(November 19, 2020)

PopSci: A step-by-step guide to grocery shopping during a pandemic
(November 19, 2020)

nature: What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections (November 18, 2020)

• “People without symptoms can pass on the virus, but estimating their contribution to outbreaks is challenging.”

STAT: FDA allows first rapid coronavirus test that gives results at home
(November 18, 2020)

CNN: Covid-19 has killed 250,000 people in the US. That’s 10 times the deaths from car crashes in a year (November 18, 2020)

• In the US, “Covid-19 has killed more people than strokes, suicides and car crashes typically do in a full year — combined”.

Science: As COVID-19 soars in many communities, schools attempt to find ways through the crisis (November 18, 2020)

The Local ch: ‘Practically all full’: Swiss sound alarm as ICU units reach capacity
(November 18, 2020)

nature: COVID mink analysis shows mutations are not dangerous — yet
(November 13, 2020)

nature: Simulating the pandemic: What COVID forecasters can learn from climate models
(November 13, 2020)

SciAm: Dating During the Pandemic: Can You Trust an ‘Antibody Positive’ Claim?
(November 13, 2020)

SciAm: Divide and Conquer Could Be Good COVID Strategy (November 12, 2020)

• “COVID might be fought efficiently with fewer shutdowns by restricting activities only in a particular area with a population up to 200,000 when its case rate rises above a chosen threshold.”

STAT: A hidden success in the Covid-19 mess: the internet (Opinion)
(November 11, 2020)

• Among advantages mentioned, “people locked themselves down faster than governments acted”.

nature: Why do COVID death rates seem to be falling? (November 11, 2020)

• “Hard-won experience, changing demographics and reduced strain on hospitals are all possibilities — but no one knows how long the change will last.”

nature: Where did COVID come from? WHO investigation begins but faces challenges
(November 11, 2020)

• “Tracing the virus’s path is important for preventing future viral spillovers, but scientists say the WHO team faces a daunting task.”

SciAm: The Real Danger Posed by Coronavirus-Infected Mink (November 11, 2020)

STAT: Restaurants and gyms were spring ‘superspreader’ sites. Occupancy limits could control Covid, new study predicts (November 10, 2020)

nature: How to stop restaurants from driving COVID infections (November 10, 2020)

• “The study highlights how real-time big data on population mobility offers the potential to predict transmission dynamics at unprecedented levels of spatial granularity.” – British epidemiologist

SciAm: How to Minimize COVID Risk and Enjoy the Holidays (November 10, 2020)

• Excellent advice for protection against Covid-19 that is relevant for travelers and family gatherings anywhere in the world.

Pueyo: Coronavirus: The Swiss Cheese Strategy (November 8, 2020)

STAT: The hidden public health hazard of rapid Covid-19 tests
(November 5, 2020)

CSM: As coronavirus surges anew, Vermont may show US a path forward
(November 5, 2020)

Science: Gyms. Bars. The White House. See how superspreading events are driving the pandemic (October 30, 2020)

MIT: Artificial intelligence model detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs (October 29, 2020)

nature: Why schools probably aren’t COVID hotspots (October 29, 2020)

SciAm: A Flu Shot Might Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Early Research Suggests
(October 27, 2020)

CR: Guide to Going Out Safely During the Pandemic (October 26, 2020)

nature: Why COVID outbreaks look set to worsen this winter (October 23, 2020)

PopSci: The current state of the pandemic in five graphs (October 23, 2020)

MIT: Engineers design a heated face mask to filter and inactivate coronaviruses
(October 21, 2020)

STAT: Covid-19’s wintry mix: As we move indoors, dry air will help the coronavirus spread
(October 21, 2020)

STAT: CDC expands definition of ‘close contacts,’ after study suggests Covid-19 can be passed in brief interactions (October 21, 2020)

SciAm: Debunking the False Claim That COVID Death Counts Are Inflated
(October 20, 2020)

Zeit: “It’s Up To Us” (October 8, 2020)

• A leading German virologist gives advice for how to make it through the coming winter.

Science: New test detects coronavirus in just 5 minutes (October 8, 2020)

MIT: 3 Questions: Why getting ahead of Covid-19 requires modeling more than a health crisis (October 6, 2020)

nature: Face masks: what the data say (October 6, 2020)

SciAm: Protecting against COVID’s Aerosol Threat (October 1, 2020)

nature: COVID has killed more than one million people. How many more will die?
(September 30, 2020)

STAT: Fast, low-cost testing is essential for averting a second wave of Covid-19
(September 28, 2020)

STAT: Fast, low-cost testing is essential for averting a second wave of Covid-19
(September 23, 2020)

SciAm: COVID-19 Testing Lab Shows How Colleges Can Reopen Safely (September 23, 2020)

STAT: The Road Ahead: Charting the coronavirus pandemic over the next 12 months — and beyond (September 22, 2020)

STAT: Give teachers high priority access to Covid-19 treatments and vaccines (September 21, 2020)

nature: Fast coronavirus tests: what they can and can’t do (September 16, 2020)

PopSci: Google search data can help pinpoint COVID-19 hotspots before they flare up
(September 15, 2020)

nature: ‘We didn’t model that people would go to a party if they tested positive’ (September 11, 2020)

PopSci: Wearing a mask could protect you from COVID-19 in more ways than you think
(September 10, 2020)

STAT: Coming to terms with the real bioterrorist behind Covid-19: nature
(September 9, 2020)

CSM: What nursing homes need: Lockdown safety – and room for hugs (September 9, 2020)

NatGeo: How to safely go to the dentist during the pandemic (September 8, 2020)

CSM: How a pandemic exposed – and may help fix – inequalities in education
(September 8, 2020)

Science: As the pandemic erodes grad student mental health, academics sound the alarm
(September 4, 2020)

Science: Can you catch COVID-19 from your neighbor’s toilet? (September 4, 2020)

PopSci: Herd immunity alone won’t stop COVID-19. Here’s why. (September 2, 2020)

nature: How many people has the coronavirus killed? (September 1, 2020)

Science: Poop tests stop COVID-19 outbreak at University of Arizona (August 28, 2020)

STAT: To improve our dismal Covid-19 performance, establish common ground between lockdown and open economy (August 25, 2020)

Science: New drool-based tests are replacing the dreaded coronavirus nasal swab
(August 24, 2020)

STAT: Infections acquired in health facilities are a big problem. National reporting can help fix it (August 21, 2020)

SciAm: ‘Instant Coffee’ COVID-19 Tests Could Be the Answer to Reopening the U.S.
(August 21, 2020)

Science: Pianissimo, please! Soft singing could reduce risk of spreading COVID-19
(August 21, 2020)

SciAm: Schools Have No Good Options for Reopening during COVID-19 (August 20, 2020)

SciAm: COVID-19 Spit Tests Used by NBA Are Now Authorized by FDA (August 20, 2020)

nature: Progress report on the coronavirus pandemic (August 19, 2020)

The Economist: Bill Gates predicts the end of the pandemic (VIDEO) (August 19, 2020)

PopSci: How to make your own disinfecting wipes (August 19, 2020)

nature: How schools can reopen safely during the pandemic (August 18, 2020)

Science: COVID-19 hits U.S. mink farms after ripping through Europe (August 18, 2020)

Visual Capitalist: Global COVID-19 Containment: Confirmed Cases, Updated Daily
(August 17, 2020)

PopSci: Scientists are still unsure how frequently kids and teens pass COVID to others
(August 17, 2020)

STAT: FDA clears saliva test for Covid-19, opening door to wider testing (August 15, 2020)

PopSci: The CDC clarifies that COVID-19 immunity and antibodies are still a mystery
(August 14, 2020)

Science: How will COVID-19 affect the coming flu season? Scientists struggle for clues
(August 14, 2020)

Science: What does the COVID-19 summer surge mean for your cats and dogs?
(August 14, 2020)

NYT: The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000 (August 13, 2020)

JAMA: Comparison of Estimated Excess Deaths in New York City During the COVID-19 and 1918 Influenza Pandemics (August 13, 2020)

PopSci: Social distancing saves lives. Here’s the proof. (August 13, 2020)

STAT: Instead of lockdowns, teach people how to socialize safely in the time of coronavirus
(August 13, 2020)

NatGeo: Measure the risk of airborne COVID-19 in your office, classroom, or bus ride
(August 11, 2020)

STAT: Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing (August 10, 2020)

• “I think if children were dying, this would be … a different situation, quite honestly.” – a Harvard expert.

NPR: Is Singing Together Safe In The Era Of Coronavirus? Not Really, Experts Say
(August 10, 2020)

nature: Why deforestation and extinctions make pandemics more likely
(August 7, 2020)

• Reducing biodiversity by such actions as deforestation increases the chance that the species that survive are hosts for diseases that can spread to humans.
• “We’ve been warning about this for decades,” says ecology author Kate Jones. “Nobody paid any attention.”

EuroNews: ‘Love is not tourism’: EU bids to reunite couples split by coronavirus restrictions
(August 7, 2020)

STAT: This California company has a better version of a simpler, faster Covid-19 test
(August 6, 2020)

• LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), developed by a Japanese scientist, is works differently the commonly used PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests.
• LAMP does not require the expensive “thermocycler” used in PCR that repeatedly raises and lowers temperature.
• Results can be read simply by adding a substance that changes color based on acidity levels produced by the process.
• LAMP tests are generally less sensitive, so they are better suited for tests that try to detect most people who are infected rather than for diagnosing a particular individual.
• California company Color Genomics purifies and concentrates the RNA in samples before the LAMP test to compensate for the lower sensitivity.
• For the time being, only Color Genomics will use their technology. They are now able to run around 10,000 tests a day.

nature: How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond (August 5, 2020)

STAT: Ventilation should be part of the conversation on school reopening. Why isn’t it?
(August 5, 2020)

SciAm: Nine Important Things We’ve Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far
(August 4, 2020)

1. “Outbreaks of COVID-19 can happen anywhere.”
2. “COVID-19 can sicken and kill anyone.”
3. “Contaminated surfaces are not the main danger.”
4. “It is in the air.”
5. “Many people are infectious without being sick.”
6. “Warm summer weather will not stop the virus.”
7. “Masks work.”
8. “Racism, not race, is a risk factor.”
9. “Misinformation kills.”

SciAm: Can a Cartoon Raccoon Keep Schoolkids Safe from COVID-19? (August 4, 2020)

STAT: Children will pay long-term stress-related costs of Covid-19 unless we follow the science (August 4, 2020)

STAT: Measuring excess mortality gives a clearer picture of the pandemic’s true burden
(August 3, 2020)

STAT: Nearly half of low-income communities have no ICU beds in their area (August 3, 2020)

Science: Radical shift in COVID-19 testing strategy needed to reopen schools and businesses, researchers say (August 3, 2020)

STAT: Nearly half of low-income communities have no ICU beds in their area (August 3, 2020)

PopSci: Why you might need to sport a mask inside your own home (August 3, 2020)

SciAm: Animals Use Social Distancing to Avoid Disease (August issue) (August 1, 2020)

SciAm: Too Many Black Americans Are Dying from COVID-19 (August issue)
(August 1, 2020)

Chicago Tribune: Children may carry high levels of the coronavirus, up to 100 times as much as adults, new Lurie Children’s Hospital study finds (July 31, 2020)

• A study at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital compared the “cycle threshold” (CT) of Covid-19 RT/PCR tests in three age groups (0 to 4 years, 5 to 17 years, and 18 to 65 years). The RT/PCR tests work in cycles, with each cycle multiplying the amount of RNA material in a sample. CT is the number of cycles required in order to clearly measure the amount of RNA corresponding to SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the lower the CT, the higher the amount of this RNA initially in the sample. Results showed that the younger the age group, the lower the CT and thus the higher the level of viral RNA in the sample. This does not by itself mean that the RNA corresponds to viable viral particles (which would be infectious), but other studies have found a correlation (connection) between the two. It also does not demonstrate directly how likely an age group would shed (spread) viral particles, but it increases the evidence that children could be contributing significantly to the spread of Covid-19.

NYT: Should you travel this year? (Interactive) (July 31, 2020)

NYT: Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds
(July 30, 2020)

The Atlantic: We Need to Talk About Ventilation (July 30, 2020)

• “How is it that six months into a respiratory pandemic, we are still doing so little to mitigate airborne transmission?”

SciAm: COVID-19: The Big Questions That Remain (VIDEO) (July 28, 2020)

SciAm: Little Evidence that Mass Transit Poses a Risk of Coronavirus Outbreaks
(July 28, 2020)

SciAm: World War II’s Warsaw Ghetto Holds Lifesaving Lessons for COVID-19 (July 24, 2020)

PopSci: Face masks with valves don’t stop COVID-19 from spreading
(July 23, 2020)

STAT: Actual Covid-19 case count could be 6 to 24 times higher than official estimates, CDC study shows (July 21, 2020)

STAT: Public health group calls for standardized data collection to more clearly track Covid-19 (July 21, 2020)

SciAm: Contact Tracing, a Key Way to Slow COVID-19, Is Badly Underused by the U.S.
(July 21, 2020)

NPR: Kids Get Coronavirus, But Do They Spread It? We’ll Find Out When Schools Reopen
(July 20, 2020)

Science: ‘Ethically troubling.’ University reopening plans put professors, students on edge
(July 20, 2020)

nature: The explosion of new coronavirus tests that could help to end the pandemic
(July 17, 2020)

nature: Reconstruction of the full transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in Wuhan
(July 16, 2020)

NYT: Mask Rules Expand Across U.S. as Clashes Over the Mandates Intensify (July 16, 2020)

STAT: If everyone wore a mask, Covid-19 could be brought under control, CDC director urges (July 14, 2020)

SciAm: A Rush to Reopen Could Undo New Yorkers’ Hard Work against COVID-19
(July 12, 2020)

NYT: How to Reopen Schools: What Science and Other Countries Teach Us (July 11, 2020)

nature: The mathematical strategy that could transform coronavirus testing (July 10, 2020)

• “Four charts show how pooling samples from many people can save time or resources.”

Science: ‘Huge hole’ in COVID-19 testing data makes it harder to study racial disparities
(July 10, 2020)

PopSci: Masks help prevent the spread of the coronavirus—here’s a breakdown of how effective they are (July 10, 2020)

nature: Scientists call for pandemic investigations to focus on wildlife trade (July 10, 2020)

• “The World Health Organisation is sending scientists to China this weekend to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Science: A WHO-led mission may investigate the pandemic’s origin. Here are the key questions to ask (July 10, 2020)

NYT: 68% Have Antibodies in This Clinic. Can Neighborhood Beat a Next Wave?
(July 9, 2020)

• “Data from those tested at a storefront medical office in Queens is leading to a deeper understanding of the outbreak’s scope in New York.”

NYT: The Coronavirus Can Be Airborne Indoors, W.H.O. Says (July 9, 2020)

STAT: It’s time to begin a national wastewater testing program for Covid-19
(July 9, 2020)

nature: Mounting evidence suggests coronavirus is airborne — but health advice has not caught up (July 8, 2020)

CNN: Coronavirus positivity rate: What the term means (July 8, 2020)

SciAm: Lessons for COVID-19 from the Early Days of AIDS (July 7, 2020)

PopSci: Experts say COVID’s airborne transmission may deserve more attention
(July 7, 2020)

NPR: Aerosols, Droplets, Fomites: What We Know About Transmission Of COVID-19
(July 7, 2020)

Science: School openings across globe suggest ways to keep coronavirus at bay, despite outbreaks (July 7, 2020)

CSM: California seemed to do everything right. So why are COVID-19 cases surging?
(July 7, 2020)

STAT: Why were we so late responding to Covid-19? Blame it on our culture and brains
(July 6, 2020)

nature: Six months of coronavirus: the mysteries scientists are still racing to solve
(July 3, 2020)

nature: A guide to R — the pandemic’s misunderstood metric (July 3, 2020)

CNN: Which international destinations are reopening to tourists? (July 3, 2020)

STAT: Fever checks are a flawed way to flag Covid-19 cases. Experts say smell tests might help (July 2, 2020)

STAT: No one wants to go back to lockdown. Is there a middle ground for containing Covid-19? (July 1, 2020)

SciAm: To Spot Future Coronavirus Flare-Ups, Search the Sewers (June 30, 2020)

STAT: Learning from Taiwan about responding to Covid-19 — and using electronic health records (Opinion) (June 30, 2020)

SciAm: Misplaced Analogies: COVID-19 Is More like a Wildfire Than a Wave (June 29, 2020)

NYT: How the world missed Covid-19’s silent spread (June 27, 2020)

NatGeo: Here’s how to stop the virus from winning (June 26, 2020)

SciAm: Easy to Say ‘Get Tested’ for the Coronavirus—Harder to Do: Here’s How
(June 25, 2020)

• “Experts explain the best time for testing after exposure and how to find test sites.”

SciAm: Electrified Fabric Could Zap the Coronavirus on Masks and Clothing (June 24, 2020)

SciAm: How ‘Superspreading’ Events Drive Most COVID-19 Spread (June 23, 2020)

• 10 to 20% of infected individuals may be infecting 80% of those with Covid-19.
• “Speech emits more particles than normal breathing. And emissions also increase as people speak louder. Singing emits even more particles.”

SciAm: Summer Weather Won’t Save Us from Coronavirus (June 19, 2020)

• In a Harvard Medical School study analyzing weather in 4,000 locations, the largest reduction of transmission of Covid-19 found was 30% to 40% with “higher temperatures and increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight”.
• However, this is considered “modest”, as Covid-19 case numbers would still rise exponentially.

SciAm: Coronavirus Antibody Tests Have a Mathematical Pitfall (July 2020 ed.)
(June 17, 2020)

An excellent graphical explanation of the math that affects such tests.

Science: Source of Beijing’s big new COVID-19 outbreak is still a mystery
(June 17, 2020)

• The outbreak in Beijing is linked to the Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market. After testing 356,000 people, 137 cases were confirmed. Surfaces at the market have been found to be contaminated with the virus, including a cutting board used to cut salmon.
• Although it seems more likely that people brought the infection to the market, imported fish may also have been contaminated abroad. Genomics might provide more data.

NYT: Flushing the Toilet May Fling Coronavirus Aerosols All Over
(June 17, 2020)

• “Flushing a toilet can generate a cloud of aerosol droplets that rises nearly three feet. Those droplets may linger in the air long enough to be inhaled by a shared toilet’s next user, or land on surfaces in the bathroom.”
• To limit these aerosol clouds, “close the lid first” and then flush.

Visual Capitalist: When Will Life Return to Normal? (INFOGRAPHIC) (June 17, 2020)

nature: How deadly is the coronavirus? Scientists are close to an answer
(June 16, 2020)

• The infection fatality rate (IFR) has been particularly difficult to calculate for Covid-19 for several reasons:
  • Many people with mild or no symptoms.
  • Time between infection and death can be as high as two months.
  • The challenge of counting deaths.
  • The risk of death varies among individuals and sections of society.
  • Death rates decrease as medical intervention improves.
• The IFR is important to know for proper preparation.
• Serious studies seem to calculate an IFR of between 0.5% and 1.0%.
• A serological study last week in Geneva calculated 0.6%.
• More results from serious studies are expected in the near future.

SciAm: African Countries Scramble to Ramp up Testing for COVID-19 (PAYWALL)
(June 16, 2020)

Science: Could a global ‘observatory’ of blood help stop the next pandemic?
(June 13, 2020)

• A new endeavor called the Global Immunological Observatory (GIO) plans to start with a “pilot project” to track Covid-19 antibodies in blood collected for any reason in health-care settings in the US (and then anonymized) and hopes to evolve to become a watchdog for detecting antibodies from novel pathogens that could potentially start a pandemic.
• Today’s pandemic has made it clear that the US needs a surveillance system that works more rapidly than the current one.
• Chips are already commercially available from companies such as VirScan and Luminex that can detect hundreds of thousands of antibodies, and these can be scaled up in the future for a larger number of samples and with batch processing.
• Antibodies can be nonspecific, meaning they can be produced upon infection by related pathogens, such as antibodies that protect against earlier coronaviruses and that can appear after Covid-19 infections. In this way, antibodies can be detected from unknown pathogens, such as a novel coronavirus.

Science: ‘Obsessed with staying alive’: Inmates describe a prison’s piecemeal response to a fatal Covid-19 outbreak (June 12, 2020)

• “Like nursing homes and cruise ships, prisons are designed to concentrate a large group of people in a small area, crowding them into communal spaces with little room to isolate the sick. In prisons, many of the public health recommendations for coronavirus prevention — 6 feet of social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and wearing face masks — are difficult to achieve. Those challenges are only exacerbated by overcrowding, aging inmate populations with a high rate of preexisting conditions, and the inherent focus on safety, rather than public health, in correctional departments.”

nature: Why more coronavirus testing won’t automatically help the hardest hit
(June 12, 2020)

• One reason (for example) is that drive-through testing favors those who have a car.

nature: A massive number of viral imports seeded the UK outbreak (June 11, 2020)

• A team at Oxford using genomics found 1,356 introductions of cases into the UK.
• About one-third came from Spain, just under one-third from France.
• Only 0.1% came from China.
• Not yet peer reviewed.

NYT: Surging Coronavirus Cases Push Latin America ‘to the Limit’ (June 10, 2020)

Al Jazeera: Which countries have not reported any coronavirus cases?
(June 10, 2020)

• Twelve countries have not reported any coronavirus cases: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, North Korea, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

STAT: ‘We don’t actually have that answer yet’: WHO clarifies comments on asymptomatic spread of Covid-19 (June 9, 2020)

• The WHO explains a confusion from its remarks about what science does not yet know regarding how much spreading occurs from individuals not having symptoms of Covid-19.
• Part of the confusion regarded the use of the word “asymptomatic“. The strict sense of the term refers to individuals who will never show symptoms for their case. Science already knows very well that there is considerable spread a day or two before an individual shows symptoms, so it would be best to use the term “presymptomatic” for greater semantic clarity, if we are talking in general or about past situations when it is known whether or not symptoms developed. Language can lead to confusion, even with scientific terms.

PopSci: The truth about asymptomatic COVID-19 (June 9, 2020)

• On the same topic discussed in the STAT article above.
• Masks should be used for several reasons, such as initial viral load. “There’s also a striking correlation between those countries that implemented mask-wearing early—mostly those previously hit by SARS, but also [the Czech Republic] —and low death rates from coronavirus.”

Science: Coronavirus rips through Dutch mink farms, triggering culls to prevent human infections (June 9, 2020)

• The Netherlands is the only country reporting the spillover of Covid-19 to mink.
• Two people are believed to catch Covid-19 from mink, leading to the decision to kill all the mink to prevent more people from catching the virus from them.

NPR: Banned From Nursing Homes, Families See Shocking Decline In Their Loved Ones
(June 9, 2020)

NatGeo: In this sprawling city within a city, fighting coronavirus requires solidarity
(June 9, 2020)

• In Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.

NPR: Nothing Like SARS: Researchers Warn The Coronavirus Will Not Fade Away Any Time Soon (June 8, 2020)

• “This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away.”
• “But the novel coronavirus might not have the staying power of some of these other endemic viruses. For one thing, it doesn’t mutate as fast as flu. And it doesn’t usually appear to hide out in the body after the initial infection, WHO specialists say.”

BBC: Coronavirus: Lockdowns in Europe saved millions of lives (June 8, 2020)

nature: Critiqued coronavirus simulation gets thumbs up from code-checking efforts
(June 8, 2020)

• “Released in mid-March, the original study suggested there could be half a million UK deaths if nothing were done to stop the virus, and modelled how various policy interventions might help. But Imperial scientists did not immediately make the code available for public scrutiny.”
• “The successful code testing isn’t a review of the scientific accuracy of the simulation, produced by a team led by mathematical epidemiologist Neil Ferguson. But it dispels some misapprehensions about the code, and shows that others can repeat the original findings.” It is important to have a model verified in this manner.

CSM: Why coronavirus modeling is so hard to pin down (June 8, 2020)

• The IHME model that has been making projections in the US “uses a technique called ‘curve fitting’ in which researchers try to find patterns from previous COVID-19 outbreaks in other countries and apply them to current ones.”
• “Part of the reason these kinds of predictions are so hard is that the model changes according to how we react to it. If a dire outlook prompts us to take stricter measures, then it might, in virtue of its own predictions, become less accurate. That’s because you are part of the system.”
• The article includes a clever comic strip.

nature: The biggest mystery: what it will take to trace the coronavirus source
(June 6, 2020)

I find this to be a very informative article that explains the evidence pointing to a natural origin of the virus and the lack of any evidence that indicates the virus is engineered. – MH

SciAm: What Social Distancing Reveals about East-West Differences
(June 6, 2020)

nature: Why scientists are struggling to show how the coronavirus passed to people
(June 5, 2020)

I find this to be a very informative article that explains the evidence pointing to a natural origin of the virus and the lack of any evidence that indicates the virus is engineered. – MH

STAT: Contact tracing technology must protect people from discrimination as well as disease (June 5, 2020)

• A contact tracing app was able to locate thousands of people possibly infected in bars in a gay neighborhood in South Korea. However, very many of them did not want to come forward for fear of discrimination after strong “anti-gay rhetoric” in the media.
• Principles to safeguard privacy in Bluetooth contact tracing have been written up in Data Rights for Exposure Notification and in the Contact Tracing Joint Statement.
• “Key principles” include voluntary participation, trust, no punishment or stigmatization, no buying or selling of data and no “fear of consequences”.

Reuters: Distancing and masks cut COVID-19 risk, says largest review of evidence
(June 2, 2020)

• In the largest review so far, an analysis of evidence from 172 studies in 16 countries shows that the best protection against Covid-19 is:
  • Maintaining a distance of at least one meter (3 feet).
  • Wearing face masks and eye protection.
• Also critical:
  • Frequent handwashing and good hygiene.
• However, even all these measures together do not offer complete protection.

SciAm: Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread (June 1, 2020)

• This article contains an informative graphic showing visually how the virus spread around the world as determined by mutations.

SciAm: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End (June 1, 2020)

• “The end game will likely involve a mix of efforts that stopped historic outbreaks: social-control measures, medications and a vaccine.”
• “How long control measures such as social distancing must stay in place, for instance—depends in large part on how strictly people obey restrictions and how effectively governments respond.”
• “The question of how the pandemic plays out is at least 50 percent social and political.”

nature: What’s the risk that animals will spread the coronavirus? (June 1, 2020)

• Although several mammals have been found to catch Covid-19 from humans, there’s only evidence so far of one mammal, the mink, having passed the virus on to humans. (However, it is very difficult to prove the direction of the transmission.)
• “The virus could be spreading undetected in some animals that we don’t know about.” It is important to find out which mammals can pass the virus back to humans, because this makes it more difficult to control the pandemic.

Science: NIH-halted study unveils its massive analysis of bat coronaviruses (June 1, 2020)

• “There is plenty of evidence that some of these [other coronaviruses] are spilling over to humans all the time in southern China, Daszak says. In an earlier paper, Daszak and co-workers found SARS-related antibodies to coronaviruses in about 3% of people they sampled in China living near bat caves, suggesting they had been infected by some of these viruses. He argues that the world needs to change its approach and go from reacting to pandemics to trying to identify dangerous coronaviruses before they emerge.”

STAT: Contact tracing could help avoid another lockdown. Can it work in the U.S.?
(May 29, 2020)

STAT: When did the coronavirus start spreading in the U.S.? Likely in January, CDC analysis suggests (May 29, 2020)

STAT: Digital event: Confronting a Pandemic — Part 4: The foundations of reopening
(May 28, 2020)

• “The first part took place on May 7 and discussed new biopharma collaborative models for Covid-19. The second part took place on May 14 and discussed telemedicine during the Covid-19 pandemic. The third part took place on May 21.”

STAT: Wastewater testing gains traction as a Covid-19 early warning system (May 28, 2020)

• Wastewater testing offers a possibility of detecting Covid-19 infections from RNA fragments passed through stools in order to warn of rising levels.
• As there have been problems with testing in the US, this might be a more accurate indicator.
• Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands already have wastewater testing programs for Covid-19.
• “Work is moving in a direction where you may be able to count the cases in a community, but we aren’t there yet.”

nature: How countries are using genomics to help avoid a second coronavirus wave

• Genomics here refers specifically to using the data found in the entire RNA strand of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This helps with contact tracing. As minor mutations occur regularly, a comparison of the entire genome (the entire strand) helps in finding links and clusters.
• So far the data of 32000 genomes has been shared online.

DW: Dogs can sniff out COVID-19 (May 27, 2020)

NPR: Virus Hunters Seek To Solve The Mystery Of Coronavirus Origins (VIDEO)
(May 26, 2020)

Science: Study tells ‘remarkable story’ about COVID-19’s deadly rampage through a South African hospital (May 25, 2020)

• The contagion throughout the hospital was mostly by staff and through the surfaces of medical devices, likely “from hands and shared patient care items like thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and stethoscopes.”

This story is “remarkable” in how it could be reconstructed in such detail. This provides some evidence as to how very contagious the virus is through surfaces.

SCMP: Coronavirus spread would dramatically drop if 80% of a population wore masks, AI researcher says (May 25, 2020)

Science: ‘The house was on fire.’ Top Chinese virologist on how China and U.S. have met the pandemic (May 22, 2020)

SciAm: Human Viruses Can Jump into Animals, Too—Sowing the Seeds of Future Epidemics
(May 20, 2020)

• There are somewhere between 260,000 and 1.6 million different animal viruses, but only slightly over 200 that affect humans.
• As viruses can exchange genetic material between them, creating novel viruses, it is particularly dangerous if they jump from humans to animals and back.
• The 2009 H1N1 flu virus (from pigs) had genetic material from humans, birds and two different species of pigs.
• Although a spillover from pigs is usually not that contagious between humans, there are great chances in the future of a severely contagious novel virus.
• However, Covid-19 is not likely to be spread from cats, dogs, etc. back to humans.

PopSci: Vets, farmers, and zookeepers can help prevent the next pandemic
(May 20, 2020)

DW: Why infectious diseases like COVID-19 are on the rise (VIDEO) (May 20, 2020)

A well-made video that explains various reasons for the increase of infected diseases in the world. The more people learn about science and search for the answers to such questions, the more one sees the consistency in explanations where science has advanced our knowledge of the world, as I see in the information given in this video. – MH

Science: Why do some COVID-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all? (May 19, 2020)

• The existence of “superspreaders” makes it much more difficult to determine which kind of activities have a higher risk of spreading Covid-19 in order to avoid them.
• An expert at UCLA says “most people do not transmit”. Superspreaders might be only 10% of those infected and contribute to 80% of the spread. This can explain how the disease spread undetected globally for weeks and then appeared in clusters.
• Ideas for why include:
  • Talking or singing loudly, perhaps producing aerosols
    • As in a meat-processing plant or in a church choir
  • Being infectious for only a short period of time.

CNBC: Wearing a mask can significantly reduce coronavirus transmission, study on hamsters claims (May 19, 2020)

• A “first of its kind” study in Hong Kong where a fan blew air between cages containing hamsters. “Masks” were placed either on the cage with the healthy hamster or the infected hamster and any resulting contagion was compared to the situation without masks. The mask significantly reduced the transmission.

NYT: What We Know About Your Chances of Catching the Virus Outdoors (May 19, 2020)

• Droplets can stay in the air for up to 14 minutes, but it is far less likely that these droplets would be infectious outdoors.
• In a study of over 7,300 cases in China only one individual was known to have caught Covid-19 outside, but he was talking to someone who had been in Wuhan.

I understand that being completely alone outdoors, far from other people, you are expected to be quite safe if you (or your clothes or anything that you are carrying) don’t touch anything and you don’t touch your face. – MH

SciAm: Stopping Deforestation Can Prevent Pandemics (June 2020 issue)
(May 19, 2020)

• “The more we clear, the more we come into contact with wildlife that carries microbes well suited to kill us—and the more we concentrate those animals in smaller areas where they can swap infectious microbes, raising the chances of novel strains. Clearing land also reduces biodiversity, and the species that survive are more likely to host illnesses that can be transferred to humans.”

nature: Animal source of the coronavirus continues to elude scientists (May 18, 2020)

• Computer models, cell studies and animal experiments are used to search for the exact animal that humans got the virus from.
• A geneticist says it would be “exceptionally lucky” if we can find it.
• We think it originally came from horseshoe bats, from which RNA was obtained that has a 96% match with SARS-CoV-2, maybe by way of an intermediate animal.
• A 96% match means the RNA had a common ancestor around 50 years ago.
• Scientists are checking samples that had been taken from bats, pangolins, etc.
• Scientists are also looking at RNA patterns that viruses may copy from their hosts.
• Scientists know so far that cats, fruit bats, ferrets, rhesus macaques, hamsters, pet dogs, tigers and lions at zoos, and farmed mink can carry the virus. Horseshoe bat cells can be infected in the lab, but not necessarily in the wild (in nature).
• Computers can check if the structure of the virus’s spike (a protein) can activate the ACE2 receptor to enter a cell (like a key that matches a lock).
• Scientists are focusing on farm animals that bats can access at night.

Reuters: Crowds at Wuhan clinics fear coronavirus testing could rekindle disease
(May 16, 2020)

• People waiting for Covid-19 tests in Wuhan (where the pandemic began) say they’re scared that they could catch the disease from others waiting for the test.

May 15, 2020

STAT: FDA says Abbott’s 5-minute Covid-19 test may miss infected patients (May 15, 2020)

• This Covid-19 test seems to have many false negatives (someone who tests negative might still be infected). However, someone who tests positive is quite certain to be infected.

STAT: Testing everyone for Covid-19 doesn’t make sense. We need to test smarter, not harder (May 15, 2020)

• False negatives happen very often in testing, which badly hinders success in contact tracing.
• There may also be “false alarms” as the RNA detected is still present while the individual has recovered and is no longer contagious.

Science: New helmet and tent aim to protect health care workers from the coronavirus
(May 15, 2020)

• “Devices would use negative pressure to capture virus-laden particles during medical procedures”

nature: Dogs caught coronavirus from their owners, genetic analysis suggests
(May 14, 2020)

• Two dogs in Hong Kong probably caught Covid-19 from their owners according to genetic tests. As only two out of 15 dogs in the household tested positive, the chance of spreading from humans to dogs appears low.
• There’s no evidence that dogs can transmit the virus to people or other dogs, but it is not certain, so it must be researched further.

BBC: Coronavirus may never go away, World Health Organization warns
(May 14, 2020)

• Covid-19 might stay as an endemic virus as HIV has done.
• We need to realize that this pandemic will not go away soon.
• There is some “magical thinking” (optimistic, unscientific thinking) that locking down and reopening work well, but they are both dangerous.

NPR: FDA Cautions About Accuracy Of Widely Used Abbott Coronavirus Test
(May 14, 2020)

• A study reported that the Abbott test might be missing up to 48% of the infections. These are called false negatives.
• “The Trump administration has promoted the test as a key factor in controlling the epidemic in the U.S., and it’s used for daily testing at the White House.”
• FDA office says they are continuing to look into this.
• Abbott says that a special solution they were transported in known as “viral transport media” could be to blame and that one should only test samples placed directly into the device.

DW: Coronavirus: When will the second wave of infections hit? (May 14, 2020)

PopSci: We have the tools to contain COVID-19 misinformation, we just aren’t using them
(May 14, 2020)

I think the best way to combat misinformation online is to present scientific information – as the vast majority of scientists understand it – at the right time, in the right place in the right way. We should not censure information, but we should make it clear to the public when most scientists are not in agreement with a particular “outlier” theory and why. Otherwise, the public gets the impression that the authorities are trying to suppress the truth. Science, because it deals with “objective truth” has the power to enlighten when people are honest and open to explaining it and understanding it. – MH

STAT: Cats can catch Covid-19 from other cats, study finds. The question is: Can we?
(May 13, 2020)

• None of the cats in this study looked like they were sick, but during six days they shed the virus from their nasal passages.
• They shed from 30,000 to 50,000 virus particles per swab. It is not known how many virus particles are infectious to humans, as such an experiment would be unethical.
• Still, the researchers advise people to consider keeping cats indoors, as it might be possible for cats to infect humans, although it seems much less likely than humans infecting cats.

STAT: Covid-19 experts lament dismissal of early warnings and disease’s impact on communities of color (May 13, 2020)

• “Minorities in the U.S. and other countries, especially African Americans, have been infected with Covid-19 — and have been dying — at rates that far outnumber the percentage of the population these groups make up.”
• “To address the seemingly intractable trends, … governments need to work more aggressively toward equal access to high-quality medical care. Black people and members of other minority groups are subject to unconscious bias from health care workers and tend to receive poorer quality of care”.

NPR: Different … Models Are Starting To Converge: 110,000 Dead In U.S. By June 6
(May 13, 2020)

• A team at UMass Amherst, USA have combined different models into one ensemble projection.
• “The scientists are getting new data; they are updating their methods as they calibrate their models against the reality to date; and Americans have stopped social distancing to the same degree as they had been in March and April — requiring models that assumed a longer stay-at-home period to adjust their forecasts upward.”
• Individual models are sensitive to the latest data “in different ways” and therefore need to be modified every week, but with an ensemble projection “there’s a certain consistency and robustness”.
• “We’ve been sort of building the car as we’re driving it at 90 miles an hour down the highway. And we’re learning as we go.”

BBC: Coronavirus: What does a ‘Covid-secure’ office look like? (VIDEO) (May 13, 2020)

• Guidelines developed in the UK for companies to follow.

Visual Capitalist: Where COVID-19 is Rising and Falling Around the World (May 12, 2020)

SciAm: How Coronavirus Spreads through the Air: What We Know So Far (May 12, 2020)

• The virus that causes COVID-19 can persist in aerosol form, some studies suggest, the potential for transmission depends on many factors, including infectiousness, dose and ventilation

Researchers develop system to control COVID-19-related fever and coughing
(May 11, 2020)

• A clever use of cameras and AI (Artificial Intelligence), developed in Spain, is able to alert care home managers of residents with a fever or coughing.

NYT: How Pandemics End (May 10, 2020)

• Learn here about how pandemics in world history have ended.

NPR: The Coronavirus Is Mutating. That’s Normal. Does That Mean It’s More Dangerous?
(May 8, 2020)

• “[S]mall changes” are occurring “at a relatively predictable and steady rate of around 1-2 changes per month”.
• “Viruses mutate naturally as part of their life cycle.”
• “These small, cumulative changes are useful to researchers, because they act as identification cards that help trace the pathway of the virus through groups of people over time.”
• “[A] mutation in this virus strain, which changes one amino acid in the part of the coronavirus that finds and binds to cells”, might be causing the virus “to spread more easily” but more experimental evidence is needed.
• “[T]he mutations are not directly on the receptor binding domain”, so these aren’t affecting the development of treatments and vaccines.

Canadian study finds temperature, latitude not associated with COVID-19 spread
(May 8, 2020)

DW: COVID-19 death rate sinking? Data reveals a complex reality (May 7, 2020)

• “Experts say we should be looking at all-cause death numbers instead — they tell a very different story.”

nature: How do children spread the coronavirus? The science still isn’t clear
(May 7, 2020)

• “[L]ess than 2% of reported infections in China, Italy and the United States have been in people under 18 years old.”
• “If children are driving the spread of the virus, infections will probably spike in the next few weeks in countries where children have already returned to school, say scientists.”
• Household studies in Australia gave evidence “that children are rarely the first person to bring the infection into a home”, but these studies may be biased “because the households weren’t randomly selected”.
• Children might produce lower levels of cytokine, but are they “sicker because they have higher cytokine levels, or do they have higher cytokine levels because they are sicker?” (In science, finding correlations is usually far easier than locating the cause.)

nature: Ignoring coronavirus outbreaks in homeless shelters is proving perilous
(May 7, 2020)

• “[T]he situation is out of control. Tests are rare. And outbreaks are spreading below the radar.”
• “Missed cases are a major problem because the disease has been shown to spread like wildfire in shared living spaces such as nursing homes, prisons and shelters.”
• Singapore seemed to have “controlled the epidemic, until thousands of cases were discovered among migrant workers living in over-crowded dormitories.”
• “The moment you get a positive test, there’s a spider web of decisions to make.”
• “Health departments in the United States have started implementing interventions, such as relocating homeless to stadiums, where beds are spaced two metres apart.”
• “California is releasing thousands “from prisons and jails to decrease the risk of outbreaks there, but they aren’t testing them first – and many have nowhere to go.”
• “As scientists, it’s our role to raise up these issues and help the public understand how viruses do discriminate since we live in an inequitable world.”

NPR: How What You Flush Is Helping Track The Coronavirus (May 7, 2020)

• As testing in the US is not yet at levels necessary to restart the economy, one way to determine how widespread an infection is in an area is to test wastewater, as the virus’s RNA is still intact and detectable at wastewater plants.

PopSci: How the CDC plans to track the mutating coronavirus (May 6, 2020)

JAMA: Estimated Demand for US Hospital Inpatient and Intensive Care Unit Beds for Patients With COVID-19 Based on Comparisons With Wuhan and Guangzhou, China
(May 6, 2020)

• “The findings of this study suggest that strict disease control strategies should be implemented early to mitigate the demand for inpatient and intensive care unit beds during a coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.” (This basically means we should social distance early to prevent overloading hospitals.)

nature: What stopped the epidemic in China? Two teams show there’s no easy answer
(May 5, 2020)

UK scientists create coronavirus antibody test with ‘99.8% accuracy and results in 35 minutes’ (May 5, 2020)

Shareable Science: Symptoms and Testing – May 4 Update (VIDEO) (May 4, 2020)

STAT: Three potential futures for Covid-19: recurring small outbreaks, a monster wave, or a persistent crisis (May 1, 2020)