Search results

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the co-authors of this article have often held opposite viewpoints on many aspects of the issue. Despite coming from different disciplines with competing perspectives, they join forces to address puzzling questions about coronavirus mortality statistics.

Research shows that religious belief is good for the individual and for society. However, Steven Pinker recently claimed that belief in an afterlife, particularly by evangelicals, is a "malignant delusion." This is a rare misstep from a public intellectual who really ought to know better.

In the first days of the pandemic, our thinking was greatly influenced by models of viral spread and the Imperial College. Also, IHME work comes readily to mind. As we enter months four and five, we have more and more objective evidence from our experience with COVID-19. So the question now is: Should we make policy based upon the models, or the evidence?

Another “novel” feature of COVID-19 is coming to our attention: some individuals are more capable than others of sharing their viral load and infecting others. What’s up with that? Let's take a look.

Royce Chen, M.D., an ophthalmologic surgeon at NY-Presbyterian Hospital, was looking at far more than eyes once the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York. He and other physicians were redeployed to the ICU to help care for the new influx of patients. His article addresses an interesting question - which specialties were hardest hit? And how did physicians in the New York area feel about the PPE provided for them? (Hint: not so good.)

Consumer labels for pot, epidemic "waves," are there "laws" to mankind's history, the Masque of the Red Death, and a bonus video of old-time New York City before COVID-19

Virtually every day there's news about one or more clinical trials in progress or being planned. But most people don't fully understand what the different trials mean. ACSH advisor Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke gives us a primer that clearly explains the entire process. Timely reading.

Scientists say that talcum baby powder doesn't cause cancer. Trial lawyers say it does. As usual, the lawyers win. Scientists, common sense, and Americans lose.

American culture, specifically our disdainful attitude toward expertise and leadership, is not conducive to making improvements to public health policy. Don't expect many changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The most general advice physicians give to patients is this: watch your weight, exercise, drink if you must (but only in moderation) and don’t smoke. Turns out, given the current value put on a quality year of life, that advice is worth almost a million bucks. Here's why.

Air pollution and COVID-19 share at least one attribute: their concentrations and your exposure differ inside and outside. Are we better off, indoors or outdoors?

It has been some time since my children were in school, even longer since I was in high school let alone elementary school. One of the first realizations from COVID-19 was how our public schools have become the daily source of food for so many of our children. Education and feeding the hungry have become so intertwined. How has COVID-19 changed school and child care? These images are from a report by McKinsey and Co, Charting the path to the next normal.

As we turn to social mingling once again, those of us blessed with 20-20 hindsight are increasingly angry at the models used by policymakers in locking us down. It is time to speak of the misuse of tools and regret.

Somewhere along the way, our achievable goal of "flattening the curve" for COVID-19 has mutated into "finding a cure," which is perhaps an impossible one. Public health and economic policy must be based on reality, not starry-eyed wish-making. Otherwise, people's lives and livelihoods are in grave danger.

Stop me if you heard this one: Fourteen dermatologists walk into a bar... (Actually, it was 8, and 6 other scientists, walked into a February meeting in Germany.) At least 13 (maybe 14) walked out with a coronavirus infection. How did they manage this? Plus a hilarious Oliver North quote, a woefully amateurish food review, and some awful puns. Feel free to add your own.

Somehow a drug has turned into a political tool. This is nuts. Hydroxychloroquine may or may not end up having any utility as a COVID-fighting drug. But its cardiac toxicity is real, unlike the nonsense surrounding it. Let's stick to the science: Torsades de pointes, not talking points.

Every morning we're greeted by another set of indicators telling us how bad or good the COVID-19 pandemic is trending. There are lots of numbers to consider, but which are actually useful?

Belief in human overpopulation is not just factually incorrect. It also leads otherwise decent people to endorse policies that are pure evil. How the British responded to the Irish Potato Famine serves as a case-in-point.

As a result, we're now paying the price for perverse, wasteful research spending.

Publishing propaganda as news is dishonest and lets readers down. Dr. Henry Miller (pictured), the founding director of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology, explains.

It looks like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has become completely dysfunctional. Meanwhile, some of the CDC guidelines on dealing with coronavirus defy logic and science. In all, this is a living nightmare. Who could have imagined what is now happening to science in this country?

Dr. Michael Osterholm, ACSH advisor and infectious disease epidemiologist, has co-authored a report on the coronavirus, drawing upon lessons learned from previous influenza pandemics. He and his co-authors predict one of three scenarios for how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out.

Is sticking your finger down your throat a pleasant experience? How about sticking it down there and leaving it for three weeks? You probably wouldn't want to be awake for that, but a shortage of IV hospital drugs is causing some real problems for intubated patients on ventilators. And guess what drug they're out of? Fentanyl(!). And if you read on you'll get that, plus a bubble bath with Kim Jong-un, all in one idiotic article.

Two great articles on what we really know about COVID-19 and a graphic explanation of vaccines, how government regulations are working against us, and having spent the last two months indoors, perhaps we should become a bit more serious about our indoor air quality.

Without complete testing, we will never have definitive numbers on how many died from COVID-19. Death certificates do not always capture truth, the underlying cause of death (UCOD), but they always capture the best story for connecting the dots. While the media points out that our statistics may be under-reported and therefore COVID’s toll is even higher, connecting the dots may also lead to over-reporting. From the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System Guidance.