COVID-19: TreatmentsA Multipronged Attack against a Shared Enemy

Teams of medical researchers at Harvard have joined the frantic race to find a treatment for the novel coronavirus as the global pandemic intensifies. The approaches are varied and include designing small molecules that can inhibit proteins in the virus, harnessing the natural power of the human immune system by extracting antibodies from recovered patients, and repurposing existing antivirals made to fight other diseases.

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ExtremismUN Report Highlights Threat of Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism

The UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) has just issued a new report on the dangers posed by the rise of right-wing terrorism. The report cites experts who have identified extreme right-wing terrorism as a unique form of political violence with often fluid boundaries between hate crime and organized terrorism. It is a not a coherent or easily defined movement, but rather a shifting, complex and overlapping milieu of individuals, groups and movements (online and offline) espousing different but related ideologies, often linked by hatred and racism toward minorities, xenophobia, islamophobia or anti-Semitism.

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Energy securityUncertain Climate Future May Disrupt Energy Systems

Extreme weather events – such as severe drought, storms, and heat waves – have been forecast to become more commonplace and are already starting to occur. What has been less studied is the impact on energy systems and how communities can avoid costly disruptions, such as partial or total blackouts.

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PerspectiveThreats to Democracy Spread with the Virus, We Must Keep Both in Check

As the coronavirus pandemic has spread, governments have responded predictably to the threat by agitating for increased authority. Melissa Hooper writes that the worst of these, the Hungarian proposal, was easily enacted into law on Tuesday, “setting a terrible precedent for other countries, in the West and around the world.” She adds: “Under the legislation, Hungary’s parliament will be disempowered in favor of rule by executive decree. The parliament now loses the ability to check the power of Viktor Orbán and his executive branch. Since the Fidesz government has hamstrung its court system, already limiting judicial oversight, this would remove the last obstacle to a dictatorial government. This is especially true since expanded executive power will be granted indefinitely: The bill has no sunset clause.”

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COVID-19: UpdateAs Global COVID-19 Total Passes 850,000, Study Shows 1.4% Fatality Rate

A steady surge of COVID-19 activity on many continents pushed the global pandemic total past 850,000 infections yesterday and sent the number of deaths over 41,000. In research developments, a team from the United Kingdom published a new case-fatality rate estimate of 1.4 percent, based on all available data on deaths in and outside of China, and another group found that illness rates in South Korea trended younger and more female compared with patterns seen in China’s outbreak.

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COVID-19: European responseCoronavirus Measures May Have Already Averted Up to 120,000 Deaths Across Europe

By Ryan O'Hare and Dr. Sabine L. van Elsland

Strong social distancing measures to slow and suppress the spread of COVID-19 across Europe are estimated to have averted thousands of deaths. According to the research, up to 120,000 deaths may have already been averted in 11 countries, including the U.K., Italy and Spain. However, they add that the estimated proportion of people to have been infected with the virus may only be between 2 percent to 12 percent of the population (2.7 percent in the U.K.).

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Pandemic drones“Pandemic Drones”: Useful for Enforcing Social Distancing, or for Creating a Police State?

By Michael Richardson

As COVID-19 restrictions tighten around the world, governments are harnessing the potential of drones. From delivering medical supplies, to helping keep people indoors – drones can do a lot in a pandemic. But these measures may be difficult to rollback once the pandemic passes. And safeguards will be needed to prevent unwanted surveillance in the future.

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CybersecuritySome Mobile Phone Apps Contain Hidden Secrets Compromising Users’ Private Data

Researchers have discovered that a large number of cell phone applications contain hardcoded secrets allowing others to access private data or block content provided by users. The study’s findings: that the apps on mobile phones might have hidden or harmful behaviors about which end users know little to nothing.

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PerspectivePartisanship Is the Strongest Predictor of Coronavirus Response

The U.S. is a land divided. Americans have sorted themselves into opposing factions, with different values, sources of authority, and shared understandings. David Roberts writes that in some ways, there is no longer any meaningful U.S.“public,” but rather two publics that want and believe different things. America is facing what Roberts calls an “epistemic crisis.” Epistemology is the branch of philosophy having to do with knowledge and how we come to know things. In the face of the coronavirus crisis — and future epidemics – “the epistemic gap could have devastating public health consequences,” he writes.

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Also noted

·  Authoritarianism in the Time of the Coronavirus

·  Hungary’s Orban Given Power to Rule By Decree With No End Date

·  China Isn’t Helping Italy. It’s Waging Information Warfare.

·  U.S. Could Take Equity Shares in Coronavirus-Hit Airlines: Officials

·  Trump Team Failed to Follow NSC’s Pandemic Playbook

·  “He’s Going to Do Whatever He Wants”

·  Countries Rush to Dump ‘Defective’ Chinese COVID-19 Tests

·  DHS Wound Down Pandemic Models Before Coronavirus Struck

·  Job Vacancies and Inexperience Mar Federal Response to Coronavirus

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