#Gavin Yamey, "How not to fight COVID -19," TIME, November 2-9, 2020. - "Scientists estimate that a larger share of the population, 50% to 80%,would need to be immune to reach herd immunity against COVID-19. A recent study from Stanford University suggests that only about 9% of the U.S. population has anti-bodies to the coronavirus. Around 156 million more Americans would need to be infected to reach the 50% threshold for herd immunity from natural infections." "Assuming that the virus only affects us until the end of 2021, the COVID-19 crisis will cost the U.S. economy an estimated $16 trillion; a herd immunity strategy would likely push this much higher." "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over 40% of Americans are at an increased risk of infection because of preexisting conditions, so all of these people would have to be shielded."
#Carolyn Kormann, The New Yorker, December 14, 2020. - "Our immune system recognizes these new spike proteins as antigens, foreign invaders and creates antibodies to neutralize them. Then, if the actual SARS-COV-2 virus tries to break our cells, our body will be prepared." "Several biotech companies released a pledge to 'stand with science to make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals their top priority,' and to 'adhere to high scientific and ethical standards' for clinical trials."
A recent survey found that forty-three percent of Black Americans said that they would agree to receive a vaccine as soon as one was available, versus fifty-nine percent of white Americans. "In order to achieve herd immunity and halt the pandemic, at least seventy-five percent of the population will have to be vaccinated, [according to the head of Operation Warp Speed.]" Rick Bright, the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority, had said that he 'hasn't seen a lot of transparency from the current Administration about how complex the challenge is, once the vaccine is produced and pushed out from the factory.' (Bright was fired by President Trump).
#Tara Law, "The toll on doctors," TIME, November 30/December 7, 2020. - As of late November, early December in the U.S. alone, "more than 218,400 health care workers have contracted the virus, and at least 800 have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; an estimated 12% of U.S. health care workers have been infected, compared with approximately 3.4% of the general population."
#Jamie Ducharme, "Far from over," TIME, November 30/December 7, 2020. - "The U.S. is now locked in a deadly cycle of setting, then shattering records for new cases and hospitalizations." "Rallying cries about flattening the curve have been replaced with a desire to return to normal life at all costs. Solid leadership is in short supply, with the outgoing Trump Administration refusing to concede the election, and give President-elect Joe Biden the tools he needs to take over the pandemic response."
#Michael Mine, "The test we need," TIME, November 30/December 7, 2020. - "We need a multipronged public-health strategy that includes a national testing plan that utilizes widespread, frequent, rapid, antigen tests to stop the spread of the virus." "Antigen tests are 'contagious.' "They are extremely effective in detecting COVID-19 when individuals are most contagious." "If just 50% of the population test themselves in this way every four days the outbreak collapses."
My Comment: Public-health experts disagree on percentages, for example, Dr. Anthony Fucie maintains that if a minimum of 70% of the general population wore masks regularly, it would have a major impact on the spread of Covid-19. (The use of capitals in spelling the virus is vary inconsistent).
#Eric Alterman, "The Fish Rots From the Head," The Nation, October 19-26, 2020. - Michael Caputo, who exercised strong political power over the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), made the infamous claim that when the looting starts, "the shooting will began." He also advised gun-carrying Trump supporters to immediately buy ammunition.
Caputo's aide, Paul Alexander, instructed CDC director, Robert Redfield, to tamper with previously-issued reports that Caputo judged to be "hit pieces on the administration." "Presumably, to mask this anti-science, pro-coronavirus agenda, Caputo, who lacks any scientific training, insisted that the CDC's scientists walk 'around like they are monks,' and engage in 'rotten science.' "
Alterman says that this "well-reported story should be an example for other journalists. Unfortunately, it is also an exception to the far more common normalization of the crazytown comments that characterize Trump's Washington: a place where ignorance, arrogance, and deliberate deception come together to destroy our democracy, undermine our freedoms..."
ADDENDUMS:
*Bryce Covert and Mike Konezal "Class Act," The Nation, October 19-26, 2020. - "According to the most recent Census data, median annual household income in the United States is $68,703." "Just 16% of private sector workers get paid family leave from their employers, leaving everyone else to cut back on spending or go into debt to take time off."
*Jesse Rosenfeld, "More Misery for Moria's Refugees, The Nation, October 19-26, 2020. - "While Germany has offered to resettle 1,500 refugees, Greece's hardline approach is being encouraged by other major countries." "Those actions include the Greek coastguard's practice of pushing back migrants at sea -- illegal under EU and international law-- and the turn toward detention centers."
*"Fire Donald Trump," The Nation, October 19-26, 2020. - "And this is without even reckoning the way the coronavirus pitilessly exposed his terrifying inadequacy as a leader, his literally fatal inability to take advice or rise to an occasion. As the pandemic continues to spread, with our country leading the world in death and suffering, Americans should ask themselves, 'Do I feel safer than I did four years ago?"
*"It doesn't matter whether you like Biden or not," Norm Chomsky argues. "Another four years of Trump may literally lead us to the stage where the survival of organized society is deeply imperiled."
#Eben Shapiro, "Expanding the Pie," The Nation, October 19-26, 2020. - "A survey by 'Harvard Business Review' found that diverse companies have significantly higher revenues from innovation and greater margins. Research shows that if women participate equally in the economy, global GDP would increase 25% by 2025."
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