• Viruses and Violence: How COVID-19 Has Impacted Extremism

    In April 2020, the Tony Blair Institute acknowledged that “extremist groups are beginning to recognize the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing opportunities to exploit fears, exacerbate tensions and mobilize supporters while government are occupied with trying to address COVID-19.” Extremists across the ideological spectrum have incorporated the pandemic into their messaging and their operations, though groups have differed on just what COVID-19 means and how to best exploit the pandemic and its resultant unrest.

  • Gear Treated with “Forever Chemicals” Poses Risk to Firefighters

    Firefighters face occupational hazards on a daily basis. Now, new research shows they face additional risk just by gearing up. Fabric used for firefighter turnout gear tested positive for the presence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), according to a new study.

  • French High Court: Most of New Hate Speech Bill Would Undermine Free Expression

    In what free-speech advocates hail as aa victory for the free speech rights of French citizens, France’s highest court last week struck down core provisions of a bill meant to curb hate speech, holding they would unconstitutionally sweep up legal speech.

  • Universal Flu Vaccine May Be More Challenging than Expected

    Some common strains of influenza have the potential to mutate to evade broad-acting antibodies that could be elicited by a universal flu vaccine, according to a study led by scientists at Scripps Research. The findings highlight the challenges involved in designing such a vaccine, and should be useful in guiding its development.

  • Coronavirus: A Wake-Up Call to Strengthen the Global Food System

    A new commentary in the journal One Earth highlights not only climate-related risks to the global food system, such as drought and floods, but also exposes the coronavirus pandemic as a shock to the system that has led to food crises in many parts of the world. To address the challenges of a globally interconnected food system, a systems approach is required.

  • Manufacturers to Rethink Global Operations in Face of COVID-19

    Manufacturers must redesign and reform their Global Supply Chains or Global Production Networks (GPN) if they want to survive and prosper in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study argues. The virus’ impact demonstrates that global manufacturing concerns must switch from large production sites in a single location, such as China, to numerous smaller facilities around the world to reduce business risk. Stability, reliability, resilience and predictability are critical in the design of global production networks that balance risk versus reward and harmonize economic value with values related to reliability, resilience and location.

  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Pledges to Keep State Open, Downplays Rise in Coronavirus Cases

    Gov. Ron DeSantis, responding to criticism, is playing down the state’s increase in new cases in recent weeks, attributing it to more testing among low-risk individuals and saying he won’t roll back reopening efforts. Kennedy and Zac Anderson write in the Palm Beach Post that DeSantis noted that many of the new cases are younger people who are less at risk of becoming seriously ill. The governor noted that the median age of those infected has dropped significantly, and said identifying asymptomatic young people with the infection will help “stop the spread” because they will be isolated. The governor also noted that the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care unit beds and on ventilators has gone down significantly over the last 60 days. He said there are 6,400 ventilators “sitting idle.”

  • Younger Adults Are Increasingly Testing Positive for The Coronavirus

    As much of the country presses forward with reopening, a growing number of cities and states are finding that the coronavirus outbreak now has a foothold in a younger slice of the population, with people in their 20s and 30s accounting for a larger share of new coronavirus infections. Will Stone writes for NPR that the demographic shift has emerged in regions with different populations and political approaches to the pandemic – from Washington state and California to Florida and Texas. North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin and Colorado also all report clusters that have a larger proportion of young adults than they had previously seen.

  • Forget the Doom and Gloom. The Retreat of COVID-19 Is a Great Cause for Optimism

    While respiratory viruses nearly always evolve towards lower virulence, essentially because the least sick people go to the most meetings and parties, this one was never very dangerous for most people in the first place. Its ability to kill 80-year-olds in care homes stands in sharp contrast with its inability to kill younger people.Matt Ridley writes in The Telegraph that the influential Imperial College modelers have unrealistically assumed that all the reduction in coronavirus transmission was due to interventions. But as an expert scourge of dubious models, Nic Lewis, has shown, with arguably more realistic assumptions, Imperial’s own model implies lockdowns did not make the largest contribution towards ending this wave of the pandemic. Will there be another wave in the autumn? Most medics think so. But if we learn the lessons of the first wave – mainly that shielding the old and vulnerable is key – and we manage at least some effective contact tracing, then the winter wave should be more like a series of small, local outbreaks. A second national lockdown would be a huge mistake, given the harm the first one has done to everything from cancer diagnosis to mental health, let alone employment.

  • COVID-19 Sparks Technology Innovation

    Researchers say the swift development of wearable sensors tailored to a pandemic reinforces how a major crisis can accelerate innovation, Kane Farabaugh writes in VOA News. “I think it’s really opened people’s eyes to what’s possible, in terms of modern technology in that context,” said John Rogers of Northwestern University Technological Institute.

  • Fear of Infection Hurt the Economy More Than Lockdowns

    There’s good reason, though, to believe that most of the economic damage from the lockdowns weren’t due to stay-at-home orders, but because of public fear of the virus. For example, people started avoiding restaurants before lockdowns began in late March. Noah Smith writes in Bloomberg that it might seem strange that lockdowns can be both effective at protecting people from coronavirus and yet not have a big impact on the economy. But it’s definitely not impossible. This suggests that new lockdowns need not be as restrictive as the ones in March to protect the public. This sort of lockdown-lite might achieve the best of both worlds for states and cities experiencing coronavirus spikes. But it also needs to be paired with vigorous testing, contact tracing and isolation of infected people.

  • Air Bridges for Holidaymakers Could Be Restricted to Under Ten Destinations from Beginning of July

    Air bridges for holidaymakers to sidestep quarantine are set to open with fewer than 10 predominantly short-haul destinations, The Daily Telegraph understands. Charles Hymas, Gordon Rayner, Sam Meadows, and Hugh Morris write in The Telegraph that a list of about a dozen potential countries including Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and France is being considered for bilateral agreements where British holidaymakers could fly from July 4 without facing the 14-day quarantine on their arrival or return. Officials are drawing up criteria by which to determine the risk posed by each destination of spreading coronavirus on tourists’ return.

  • How Safe Is Flying in the Age of Coronavirus?

    With many governments loosening travel restrictions to restart economies, airlines have begun restoring flights that were put on hold as the coronavirus pandemic spread. Charlotte Ryan and Naomi Kresge write in the Washington Post that business is slow, as would-be passengers worry about being stuck in a cabin for an extended time with possibly infectious strangers. The record shows the risks aren’t negligible.

  • In This Coronavirus Wave, China Tries Something New: Restraint

    As China tries to stifle the new outbreak in its capital city, it is applying something often alien to the instincts of the country’s rulers: restraint. Keith Bradsher and Chris Buckley write in the New York Times that the brunt of the government’s measures has been borne by food traders at markets that were sealed off after cases were found, and by the residents of more than four dozen apartment complexes placed under lockdown. But in many other Beijing neighborhoods, the shops, restaurants and even hair salons are still operating. Traffic is a little lighter than usual, but plenty of cars are still on the road. City sidewalks remain busy.

  • The Dangers of Tech-Driven Solutions to COVID-19

    Although few sensible people have anything good to say about the federal government response, reactions to tools for managing the pandemic designed by tech firms have been more mixed, with many concluding that such tools can minimize the privacy and human rights risks posed by tight coordination between governments and tech firms. Julie E. Cohen, Woodrow Hartzog, and Laura Moy write for Brookings that contact tracing done wrong threatens privacy and invites mission creep into adjacent fields, including policing. Government actors might (and do) distort and corrupt public-health messaging to serve their own interests. Automated policing and content control raise the prospect of a slide into authoritarianism.