Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik bring their analytical thinking to timely discussions about the virus, how the media is covering it, and how governments and the public are responding.
How do we fight the pandemic without losing everything we're fighting for? Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss how to focus the fight on what works best, how to avoid an absolutist stand with impossibly high standards, and whether we can abandon the measures that are more like the performance of safety.
Episode reading list:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/briefing/trump-covid-chick-corea-olympics-president.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/americas-bipartisan-covid-19-illiteracy/617368/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/upshot/epidemiologists-virus-survey-.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/pandemic-restrictions-no-logic/617204/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/hygiene-theater-still-waste/617939/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/wear-your-mask-and-stop-talking/615796/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/world/asia/covid-cleaning.html
https://nypost.com/2021/01/19/3-out-of-4-riders-say-mta-cleaning-for-covid-makes-them-feel-safer/
10 Feb 2021
The Other Vaccines
The U.S. and Europe have grown accustomed to hearing about vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. How about vaccines developed in Russia, China, and India that have been administered for weeks or months and are being given to millions of people in dozens of countries? Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik consider the varied approaches to vaccination and ask whether there's a better way.
Episode reading list:
https://zeynep.substack.com/p/why-you-should-take-any-vaccine
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/08/the-sputnik-v-vaccine-and-russias-race-to-immunity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-coronavirus-vaccinations/2021/01/15/342a7282-55c9-11eb-acc5-92d2819a1ccb_story.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/argentina-is-a-testing-ground-for-moscows-global-vaccine-drive-11610965529
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-06/putin-s-once-scorned-vaccine-is-now-a-favorite-in-pandemic-fight
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-coronavirus-vaccine-sputnik/2020/11/25/8ebb62fe-186d-11eb-8bda-814ca56e138b_story.html?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_23
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/9/russia-china-seek-to-expand-mena-influence-through-vaccines
3 Feb 2021
Which Places Are Handling the Pandemic Best? How Can We Tell?
Before the novel coronavirus emerged, we had rankings of countries' readiness. Now we have rankings of countries' responses, using all kinds of measures. Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik consider the rankings. Do we know enough to say how well people and their governments have responded? How much does luck play a role? Is it too early for a true assessment?
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://news.yahoo.com/brazils-covid-19-response-worst-023523992.html
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/which-country-has-had-the-best-response-to-the-coronavirus.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02596-8
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-03/singapore-s-covid-success-isn-t-easily-replicated
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/03/swedish-model-failed-covid-19
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/sweden-coronavirus-covid-response/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-22/how-winter-california-covid-19-surge-got-so-bad
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/01/15/ireland-has-one-of-the-worlds-highest-covid-19-infection-rates
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/business/coronavirus-vaccines-global-economy.html
27 Jan 2021
Masking Up
Are masks truly the lowest-cost major measure we can take to curb the pandemic? Why do some people refuse to wear them? And why do most people in many countries still not have high-quality masks? Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik dive into the data and confusing messaging around masks.
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyregion/nyc-face-masks.html
https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-masks-and-the-experts
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/01/why-arent-we-wearing-better-masks/617656/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-was-consuming-india-until-nearly-everyone-started-wearing-masks-11609329603
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/31/21198132/coronavirus-covid-face-masks-n95-respirator-ppe-shortage
https://www.aier.org/article/the-question-of-masks/
20 Jan 2021
Everything Is A Tradeoff
From lockdowns to research spending to vaccine prioritization, every pandemic decision involves tradeoffs. Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik ask for better data to decide on tradeoffs, and clearer communication from leaders about how they decided what to trade.
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://www.wired.com/story/group-house-covid-risk-points/
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1350416428025962498.html
12 Jan 2021
How Can We Speed Up The Vaccine Rollout?
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik ask how well we're doing in administering the Covid-19 vaccine, what we can learn from the country at the top of the scoreboard, and whether it's such a bad idea to use a popular tech platform to schedule inoculations.
As always, there are caveats.
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-vaccine-slow-rollout/2021/01/11/2e804898-5100-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1348599933650296832.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vaccine-roll-out-israels-circumstances-arent-special-zvi-schreiber/?trackingId=eEZAhJjV98AQo5Zyz7GHnA%3D%3D
6 Jan 2021
Virus Mutations And The Sluggish Vaccine Rollouts
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss how the virus variants make the pandemic's exponents all the more dangerous, and consider ways to protect more people from outbreaks fueled by the more-contagious mutations.
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/12/virus-mutation-catastrophe/617531/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/world/covid-mutation.html
22 Dec 2020
Superspreader Events: How To Find Them And Stop Them
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik explore the numbers behind superspreader events. What makes an event a superspreader, how do we know the extent of the spread, and will society change permanently to stop them?
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Episode reading list:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/10/nation/biogen-conference-boston-likely-linked-330000-covid-19-cases-worldwide-researchers-say/
https://gijn.org/2020/10/26/tracking-the-superspreader-events-driving-the-covid-19-pandemic/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/world/asia/india-coronavirus-shramik-specials.html
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/10/22/trumps-campaign-made-stops-nationwide-then-coronavirus-cases-surged/3679534001/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/08/worst-case-scenerios-sturgis-rally-may-be-linked-266000-coronavirus-cases-study-says/
https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/sturgis-rally-covid19-explosion-paper.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-soccer-match-that-kicked-off-italys-coronavirus-disaster-11585752012
18 Dec 2020
How Will We Get To Herd Immunity, And How Will We Know We've Gotten There?
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik dig into herd immunity: Is there really such a thing, how do we get there, and how will we know we have?
Please let us know what you think of this and other episodes, and what you want us to cover next, in our feedback form:
https://forms.gle/ik7Mifxq7HMrg2nL8
Reading list:
https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/achieving-herd-immunity-with-covid19.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02948-4
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/herd-immunity-is-not-a-strategy/615967/
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-tricky-math-of-covid-19-herd-immunity-20200630/
https://ccdd.hsph.harvard.edu/2020/12/17/covid-19-vaccines-and-herd-immunity/
14 Dec 2020
Back To School: Is The Return To Classrooms Worth It?
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik analyze what's lost and gained when students are kept out of the classroom, and we plead for more data and research on the best way to keep students and staff safe and effective.
9 Dec 2020
All About Vaccines: How We Got Them, And Who Should Get Them First
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss the coronavirus vaccines that are making their way into arms around the world as we speak. How did we get them so quickly? How useful are they likely to be? And who should get them first, a nurse or LeBron James?
3 Dec 2020
How R and K Add Up To Dangerous Exponential Pandemic Growth
Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss how small changes and uncertainty in R0, Rt, and K can have big impacts on the pandemic—and the challenges of translating all that into a clear public-health message.
Relevant links:
https://rt.live/
http://metrics.covid19-analysis.org/
25 Nov 2020
What Should We Do About Thanksgiving?
In the pilot episode of their new podcast about Covid-19, Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss the forthcoming U.S. holiday, Thanksgiving, and the public-health recommendations against big celebratory gatherings. Taking an analytical approach to the virus, Jeff and Carl discuss:
Whether small gatherings are a major source of infection;
How limits to data availability are holding back policy;
How incentives, creativity, and harm reduction could aid the fight
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