Search Results for: contact

July 22, 2020 By e-Patient Dave 2 Comments

America hasn’t, but Europe re-opened safely. We can catch up. Here’s how.

As a subscriber to Amazon’s Audible books, I get a really good daily digest from the Wall Street Journal: four selected articles plus an editorial. Not surprisingly, many recent articles have been about the virus, including two yesterday. The first was the usual roundup of statistics, with no holds barred on how bad it is in the US, due to stupid re-openings. The second had coverage from Europe that bears repeating: How Europe Kept Coronoavirus Cases Low Even After Reopening. Key points:

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July 6, 2020 By e-Patient Dave 5 Comments

Zeke Emanuel: “Reopen intelligently. Reopen safely.”

Ezekiel Emanuel MD is the profane, street-wise Chicago politician widely considered (among people I trust, anyway) to be the architect of the Obamacare legislation, not least because of his ability to design it so enough anti-reform forces would let it through. Those pragmatic compromises are the source of much distress among those people I trust, because the law’s not perfect. But it is perfect in the sense that the legislation passed, and has survived all attempts by vehement opponents to cut its nuts off (so far). So when he gives advice, I believe it will be pragmatic and street-wise. And probably blunt. But winning.

Here’s his advice, last week, on what activities are relatively safe or dangerous as this country continues re-opening for better or worse.

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June 11, 2020 By e-Patient Dave 25 Comments

How is herd immunity working out for Sweden?

Two months ago I blogged about virus data, and noted that a “natural experiment” was happening in Scandinavia, where Sweden was trying a strategy of herd immunity. It appears to be a complete failure.

The idea was that herd immunity would cause the number of new COVID-19 cases to decline, without the shutdown policies and economic impact adopted by its Scandinavian neighbors. But the rate of new cases in Sweden hasn’t declined, while its neighbors’ all have:

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May 28, 2020 By e-Patient Dave 2 Comments

How universal masking minimizes COVID-19 risk (great graphic)

I’ve been blogging about personal responsibility, particularly understanding the risks of emerging into an uncertain world and taking effective action to protect ourselves.

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May 27, 2020 By e-Patient Dave 1 Comment

The next risk: sick people who can’t afford to stay home from work

Last week I wrote about emerging from quarantine (if you want to – it’s optional) into a world where we can’t know with certainty what’s safe and where danger is. My primary focus was “It’s going to be dangerous out there because a lot of people are rejecting common sense science.” But this weekend we learned of an additional risk: workers who can’t afford to stay home sick.

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