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

Coronavirus dashboard for April 11: new high in daily infections as testing falls further behind

Coronavirus dashboard for April 11: new high in daily infections as testing falls further behind Here is the update through yesterday (April 10) I’ve changed the format, moving the “just the facts, ma’am” data to the top, and comments to the end. Significant new developments are indicated in italics. The four most important metrics are starred […]

Remdesivir and Transfer Pricing III

Remdesivir and Transfer Pricing III Robert Waldmann posted his Remdesivir III: I do not understand the need for “evidence-based medicine” or rather I do not understand how the phrase is used by doctors. There is no evidence that Covid 19 patients (without heart disease) do better without Chloroquine. I learn that “evidence based medicine” does not […]

Lessons from the Pandemic

Lessons from the Pandemic First, all who produce things we need or want are “essential workers”.  Health care practitioners are essential, but so are the people who stock pharmacies and grocery and hardware stores or staff customer service phone lines.  Truck drivers are essential.  Farmworkers who pick the crops we plan on eating are too.  […]

CDC Early Release – Syndrome Coronavirus 2

“High Contagiousness and Rapid Spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2,” CDC, Emerging Infectious Diseases Doing my usual morning reading, I ran across a comment concerning an early release article by the CDC which as the CDC points out is not considered to be a final versions. I believe what is important about the […]

The superiority of stay at home orders vs. voluntary social distancing: two graphic proofs

The superiority of stay at home orders vs. voluntary social distancing: two graphic proofs Here are a couple of graphs I pulled last week that I’ve been meaning to post. Together they show that mandatory “stay at home” orders have been much more effective than voluntary social distancing. First, here is a graph of the […]

Coronavirus dashboard for April 9: Are new cases peaking? Or is a lack of testing failing to pick up continued spread

Coronavirus dashboard for April 9: Are new cases peaking? Or is a lack of testing failing to pick up continued spread Here is the update through yesterday (April 8) (NOTE: significant new developments in italics) I’ve changed the format, moving the “just the facts, ma’am” data to the top, and comments to the end. The four […]

Coronavirus dashboard for April 8: peak new infections *may* have occurred on April 4

Coronavirus dashboard for April 8: peak new infections *may* have occurred on April 4 – by New Deal democrat Here is the update through yesterday (April 7) I’ve changed the format, moving the “just the facts, ma’am” data to the top, and comments to the end. The four most important metrics are starred (***) below. Number […]

Where-oh-where would we be without Trump’s firm leadership in this crisis?

Kevin Drum reminds us that our fearless leader restricted air travel from China after the airlines had already done so. And today’s New York Times: New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first confirmed case, and that travelers brought in the virus mainly […]