World Health Organization: Let’s flatten the infodemic curve. “We are all being exposed to a huge amount of COVID-19 information on a daily basis, and not all of it is reliable. Here are some tips for telling the difference and stopping the spread of misinformation. Due to COVID-19, most of us have a new word in our vocabulary: epidemiology. It is the branch of medical science that deals with the ways diseases are transmitted and can be controlled in a population. Now it is time to learn another new word: infodemiology.”
Monthly Archives: October 2020
New York Intelligencer: The Pandemic Has Men Shaving Less, But Not Women
New York Intelligencer: The Pandemic Has Men Shaving Less, But Not Women. “Consumer packaged-goods giant Procter & Gamble continues to have a very good pandemic, all things considered. Sales in the quarter ending September 30 were 9 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago, with most of the growth being driven by higher sales volume. It seems people are still buying a lot of paper towels and soap.”
At 172 Years Old, London’s Regent Street Cinema is Rallying to Survive: ‘We’re Independent. We Can Do This.’ (Variety)
Variety: At 172 Years Old, London’s Regent Street Cinema is Rallying to Survive: ‘We’re Independent. We Can Do This.’. “Located at 307 Regent Street, a short distance from the bustle of Oxford Street’s shopping district, the theater has long been considered the birthplace of British Cinema. Though it was opened in 1848 to host live stage productions, it became the first U.K. venue to screen moving images with a short movie by the Lumiere brothers in 1896, and went on to serve as a cinema until 1980. The University of Westminster, on whose land the Grade II-listed building resides, reopened it as a repertory cinema in 2015 after a three-year restoration project at the cost of £6.1 million ($7.9 million).”
New York Times: I Spoke to a Scholar of Conspiracy Theories and I’m Scared for Us
New York Times: I Spoke to a Scholar of Conspiracy Theories and I’m Scared for Us. “Lately, I have been putting an embarrassing amount of thought into notions like jinxes and knocking on wood. The polls for Joe Biden look good, but in 2020, any hint of optimism feels dangerously naïve, and my brain has been working overtime in search of potential doom. I have become consumed with an alarming possibility: that neither the polls nor the actual outcome of the election really matter, because to a great many Americans, digital communication has already rendered empirical, observable reality beside the point.”
Editorial: Biggest constant during COVID-19 crisis has been lack of leadership (Argus Leader)
Argus Leader: Editorial: Biggest constant during COVID-19 crisis has been lack of leadership. “Forgive us here at the Argus Leader Editorial Board if it feels like we’re going insane. Time and again, we have urged state and city leaders – most notably Gov. Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken – to take stronger action in response to a COVID-19 crisis that has led to 34,000 cases and 333 deaths in South Dakota, a state that leads the nation in current per capita hospitalizations. From the day when the first case was confirmed in March to our predicament seven months later, with stressed hospitals entering a critical fall and winter, calls for firm and consistent leadership have largely gone ignored in favor of the governor’s ‘positive pants’ rhetoric and anti-mask talking points. In the interest of accuracy, we’re not actually going insane. We’re just frustrated as hell.”
CNN: States grapple with mask rules at polls to avoid dangers of both superspreaders and standoffs
CNN: States grapple with mask rules at polls to avoid dangers of both superspreaders and standoffs. “Secretaries of state or election boards in 29 of the 33 states with current mask mandates told CNN that their rules would not prevent someone who refused to wear a mask from casting a vote. The four other states did not respond to questions about the issue. Elections officials in nearly all of those states say masks are strongly encouraged for people voting in person. Many states will be offering voters free masks at polling places, as well as requiring poll workers to wear masks.”
PCMag UK: Google Calls Out Windows Zero-Day Vulnerability That Remains Unpatched
PCMag UK: Google Calls Out Windows Zero-Day Vulnerability That Remains Unpatched. “Google has revealed the details on a new zero-day Windows bug that it says is currently being exploited by hackers. The vulnerability, which is yet unnamed, has been classified as CVE-2020-17087. Google’s security outfit Project Zero took to its Chromium repository to post the vulnerability, asking Microsoft to resolve the issue in one week. Microsoft failed to do so, and as such the vulnerability has been published for all to see.”
Washington Post: Virus shutdowns took a grim toll on amputee veterans who died by suicide, families say
Washington Post: Virus shutdowns took a grim toll on amputee veterans who died by suicide, families say. “As coronavirus restrictions unfurled a dangerous mix of depression and anxiety, the scourge of suicide cut through a tiny community of amputee veterans in recent months, claiming at least three in a group where isolation is already a potent risk factor.”
Good Morning America: I lost my pregnant wife to COVID-19. This is what I want people to know.
Good Morning America: I lost my pregnant wife to COVID-19. This is what I want people to know.. “Juan Duran-Gutierrez is now a single father raising three young children, including a newborn, after his wife, Aurora Chacon-Esparza, died of COVID-19 during the global coronavirus pandemic. Chacon-Esparza was healthy and following safety precautions, according to Duran-Gutierrez, when she contracted COVID-19 in June while seven months pregnant with the couple’s third child together.”
CNN: Faulty US Covid-19 response meant 130,000 to 210,000 avoidable deaths, report finds
CNN: Faulty US Covid-19 response meant 130,000 to 210,000 avoidable deaths, report finds. “The Trump Administration’s faltering response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to anywhere between 130,000 and 210,000 deaths that could have been prevented, according to a report released [October 22] by a team of disaster preparedness experts.”
BuzzFeed News: People Have Nothing Left — Literally $0 — Because Of The Pandemic
BuzzFeed News: People Have Nothing Left — Literally $0 — Because Of The Pandemic. “When 2020 began, C. Adams started a new job at an engineering firm that paid $65,000. He had already downsized to a three-bedroom home in Georgia to help save for his two teenage daughters’ college funds. Expenses were manageable. When the pandemic began, he had $5,000 in savings after taking care of his late father and his debts. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was something his family could fall back on, a sense of security. He never expected it would all be gone so soon.”
New York Times: Iowa Never Locked Down. Its Economy Is Struggling Anyway.
New York Times: Iowa Never Locked Down. Its Economy Is Struggling Anyway.. “A growing body of research has concluded that the steep drop in economic activity last spring was primarily a result of individual decisions by consumers and businesses rather than legal mandates. People stopped going to restaurants even before governors ordered them shut down. Airports emptied out even though there were never significant restrictions on domestic air travel. States like Iowa that reopened quickly did have an initial pop in employment and sales. But more cautious states have at least partly closed that gap, and have seen faster economic rebounds in recent months by many measures.”
Washington Post: Alabama’s GOP lieutenant governor called mask rules an ‘overstep.’ Now he has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Washington Post: Alabama’s GOP lieutenant governor called mask rules an ‘overstep.’ Now he has tested positive for the coronavirus.. “When Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) ordered a statewide mask mandate in July as coronavirus deaths surged to record levels, her second-in-command blasted the move. ‘Wearing a face mask and maintaining social distancing are among the best ways to slow the spread of COVID-19,’ tweeted Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth (R) at the time. ‘However, it’s an overstep that infringes upon the property rights of business owners and the ability of individuals to make their own health decisions.’ Now, as Alabama once again sees an alarming rise in covid-19, Ainsworth, 39, announced [October 21] that he is among the newly confirmed cases.”
My husband died of COVID-19 and I have just one plea to make of you | Opinion (NJ .com)
NJ .com: My husband died of COVID-19 and I have just one plea to make of you | Opinion. “Rob’s first COVID-19 test was mislabeled, and the second one took too long to come back. When he collapsed at our home, we still did not know he had it. His coworkers rushed to our house and resuscitated him, risking their own lives to save his. In the hospital, a talented team of doctors and nurses gave him powerful drugs, and he recovered from the virus. However, Rob’s brain never rebounded from the lack of oxygen from when he collapsed. In the hospital, Rob’s mother and I saw him in person only twice because of restrictions during the pandemic — first on Mother’s Day, and then the next morning when he was taken off the ventilator. He was 45 years old.”
Washington Post: I invented the Rubik’s Cube. It can teach us about facing problems like covid.
Washington Post: I invented the Rubik’s Cube. It can teach us about facing problems like covid.. “The Cube contains more than 43 quintillion possible combinations, but only one is the starting, or solved, position. The sheer scope can make you feel paralyzed. Anyone who has ever received a new Cube finds it a perfectly ordered object with each side a single color. But it doesn’t take much — one turn, then another — to transform that tranquil landscape into a chaotic, multicolored jumble. Making matters worse, trying to see the puzzle in its entirety is hopeless, and yet you need to know what is going on with all the sides to solve it. Order can’t just be imposed, and the more we try to force it, the less likely we are to succeed. A scrambled Cube can elicit frustration, anger, anxiety and the sinking feeling of being lost. In this way, 2020 makes us all feel a bit like we’re trapped in a diabolical Rubik’s Cube.”