Coronavirus Reads, Digest 20
WHO questions efficacy of antibody testing, Trump battles US States over social distancing restrictions.
It’s Saturday, April 18th.
Please don’t rely on rumors or panic about how the virus spreads. Stick to the guidelines of social distancing, washing hands, and disinfecting common surfaces. For everything else, rest easy and read this very helpful piece addressing FAQ’s (answered by health experts!) on where the virus lives: regarding clothes, hair, mail packages.
Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper?, The New York Times
Also importantly, the WHO has questioned the accuracy of rapid antibody tests and said that there is no evidence that “the presence of antibodies in blood can determine whether someone has immunity to the coronavirus.” That’s not great news for plans to get people back to the workforce based on such tests.
India news
The Indian Express today had a stunning photograph on its front page, a (literal) window into a quarantine facility in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.
India’s infections are nearing 15,000. Delhi’s containment zones have increased to 76. Madhya Pradesh continues to see a rapid increase. Indore alone saw a rise of 244 new cases in a single day, with 361 for the whole state.
In The Wire, Priyanka Pulla details how the Indian medical community’s policy of giving hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic (preventative) medicine to healthcare workers has little scientific basis.
There is a lot of discussion on the time it’s taken for India’s infections to double, and whether it’s slower than in other countries. Public health expert K Srinath Reddy sheds some light on how to examine and compare such data. Reading the Covid-19 numbers right, Financial Express
And Salil Tripathi offers lessons India can learn from NYC’s handling of the pandemic, including politicians calling out a lack of resources and supplies ahead of time which allowed the city to scale up. Lessons for India from ground zero New York, LiveMint.
U.S. and International
President Trump continues to clash with public health expert advice and states on when to reopen businesses and relax social distancing guidelines. Thousands of right-wing Americans attended protests across the country against social distancing guidelines. Trump tweeted his support especially targeting states with Democratic governors, using the term “liberate.”
However, many American governors say they aren’t ready to lift advisories considering the continuing high rate of infections.
Thousands of Americans backed by rightwing donors gear up for protests, The Guardian
Experts say that the US needs to be testing at 3x the amount they currently are in order to consider easing social distancing restrictions.
Federal Reserve researchers have presented a paper noting that areas that put in place strong social distancing guidelines and shutdowns in the 1918 flu pandemic had a better economic recovery and growth.
Pandemic Shutdowns Actually Helped Economic Growth in 1918 Flu, by Max Reyes, Bloomberg
COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at disproportionately higher rates than any other group in the US. In a NYTimes Op-Ed, Jamelle Bouie writes about why: “black susceptibility to infection and death in the coronavirus pandemic has everything to do with the racial character of inequality in the United States.” He explains that from the higher likelihood of Black Americans working in service sector jobs to a higher rate of comorbidities, the history of segregation and racial hierarchies resulting in deeper poverty in these communities has everything to do with the reasons.
Opinion | Why Coronavirus Is Killing African-Americans More Than Others
Deaths in the Latino community are also higher than for white Americans. Vox breaks down the data of hospitalizations and deaths in this chart.
Navajo Nation, Native American reservation in Arizona has been hit hard with as many as 1,042 infections (third in the country in terms of number of infections per capita after NYC and NJ). The reasons include high levels of underlying conditions, remoteness in terms of access to healthcare facilities and lack of protective equipment, lack of running water, and multigenerational homes where the young could expose the elderly.
Coronavirus Cases Spike In Navajo Nation, Where Water Service Is Often Scarce
Side Effects of the Pandemic
Here is a touching photo essay with accounts from the high school class of 2020 from Omaha, Nebraska. They describe what their expectations were from a now cancelled prom. Calla Kessler photographed them in their prom outfits.
All Dressed Up, With No Prom to Go To, The New York Times
In Himal Magazine, Nur Nasreen Ibrahim reflects on her experience in lockdown in Lahore, Pakistan, where there is tension over closing the mosques for prayers. She writes:
But in Pakistan, policemen stand at the gates of mosques, begging crowds of congregants to go home. An Islamic missionary movement went ahead with planned gatherings in Lahore, resulting in at least 500 cases, according to official figures....A sense of nervous panic has taken over those of us sitting inside, cut off from the streets, but has not fully translated to concrete action from the authorities. Television programs hosted debates between religious leaders, scholars, politicians, and activists, all arguing for and against leaving the mosque open.
Have you been having strange dreams? I have and it was relieving to learn that this is happening more commonly, and there’s science for it.
“Dream experts believe that withdrawal from our usual environments and daily stimuli has left dreamers with a dearth of “inspiration,” forcing our subconscious minds to draw more heavily on themes from our past.”
The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams. Here's why. By Rebecca Renner, National Geographic.
Lions in South Africa are loving the lockdown. Photographs by park ranger Richard Sowry show them resting in the middle of roads in a national park. Please look at them.
Lions lounge on road in Kruger National Park during South Africa's coronavirus lockdown, CNN.
Coping with the Pandemic
There are tons of book lists circulating right now, but here’s a bunch unlikely recs from independent bookstore staff.
36 Great Books You Might Not Know About, Buzzfeed
I love board games (Catan all the way!) and they’re a great way to take breaks while we’re stuck indoors. PBS has recommendations for 10 games.
Illustrators and graphic artists are creating some fantastic work in quarantine. The NYTimes is featuring them in a series here, called “Art in Isolation.”