Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Comparing the US’s coronavirus response with its Western European peer group

Comparing the US’s coronavirus response with its Western European peer group Western Europe is a reasonable peer group of countries against which to compare the US response to coronavirus. The 5 largest countries in Western Europe in particular – in order, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain – together have a population of about […]

Coronavirus dashboard for May 4: new infections, deaths continue slow decline

Coronavirus dashboard for May 4: new infections, deaths continue slow decline Here is the update through yesterday (May 3). As usual, significant developments are in italics. The bottom line is the same as several days ago: trends in new infections, deaths, and in testing have all turned positive – if not positive enough. But the good […]

Coronavirus dashboard for May 2: good news, but still primarily due to NY

Coronavirus dashboard for May 2: good news, but still primarily due to NY Here is the update through yesterday (May 1). As usual, significant developments are in italics. The trends in new infections, deaths, and in testing have all turned positive – if not positive enough. But the good news remains primarily a NY story. I […]

Coronavirus dashboard for April 30: the US has the worst record in the world, by far

Coronavirus dashboard for April 30: the US has the worst record in the world, by far Here is the update through yesterday (April 29): Number of new and total reported Infections (from Johns Hopkins via arcgis.com and 91-divoc.com): Number: South Korea: ZERO (4 detected from incoming flights at airport) Number: Taiwan: ZERO Number: Vietnam: ZERO Number: Germany: […]

The widely followed IHME model of coronavirus cases has been much too optimistic

The widely followed IHME model of coronavirus cases has been much too optimistic   The IHME model by the University of Washington has gotten a lot of attention in the past month, most likely because it has always forecast a much lower number of total deaths caused by coronavirus than, for example the Imperial College […]

Abbreviated coronavirus dashboard for April 29: actual good news on testing, deaths 

Abbreviated coronavirus dashboard for April 29: actual good news on testing,deaths  Here is the update through yesterday (April 28). This is somewhat abbreviated since I want to post about a couple of other items. As usual, new items of significance are in italics. Yesterday was the 3rd day in a row of not just significantly increased […]

Coronavirus dashboard for April 28: good news on testing at least

Coronavirus dashboard for April 28: good news on testing at least Here is the update through yesterday (April 27). s usual, significant developments are in italics. There were some late-reporting States for testing yesterday, so the initially discouraging number was actually pretty good. We are now seeing much more testing, and for the last two […]

The biochemistry of how COVID-19 attacks the body: a synopsis of the medical studies

The biochemistry of how COVID-19 attacks the body: a synopsis of the medical studies I’ve been doing some reading over the past several weeks, trying to understand how the COVID-19 virus attacks the human body. Below are quotes I found most noteworthy or interesting from these articles. In essence, they indicate that biochemically the novel […]