Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. The world has over 10.9 million cases. Cases are growing by more than a million week by week. The US has
When it comes to knowing what’s next with the pandemic, I’ve found the following two methods have yet to let me down: I keep close tabs on what infectious disease experts are saying, and I regularly mask up and go outside to look around. For the first method — listening to experts — part of
Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. There are over 10.5 million global cases. Cases have grown by more than a million in the last week for multiple
We’ve talked before about the pros and cons of using UV-C light for disinfecting packages and other surfaces that might be contaminated by COVID-19. The major downside of UV-C: it’s a hazard to humans. So that basically makes us say ‘no thanks.’ But a new study published in Nature explores the possibility of using far-UV-C light to
Parts one and two of this three-part feature addressed what we have learned about the disease biology of COVID-19, and about pharmaceutical interventions to prevent and treat it. This third and final part will address the events that have elapsed since January and the current state of affairs. We’ll wrap up this series by talking
When you pass an unmasked person on the street or in the store, it’s become common practice to sigh a little bit and then give them a wide berth. Six feet, if space allows. But a study published just this morning shows that distance might not be enough. Without a mask, researchers say droplets from
Cases of COVID-19 are exploding across the United States. Cases have been on the rise for two weeks now, but the 7-day moving average of daily deaths is still relatively flat. A lot of people have wondered why. They expect our record-high cases to be accompanied by record-high deaths, not slow, steady death counts. That’s
Back in April, we told you that you probably shouldn’t decontaminate disposable N95 respirators in your home oven, but we also showed you how to do it if you were determined. Now, though, the United States Department of Homeland Security is recommending a way to decontaminate those masks at home in a programmable pressure cooker
After the COVID-19 outbreak and a spat of turmoil in big cities, more and more people are looking to escape to the country: “Americans are considering moving to less populated areas to avoid coronavirus” in the New York Post “Escape to the Country: Why City Living Is Losing Its Appeal During the Pandemic,” writes the Wall
Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. The world has over 9.68 million cases. Cases have grown globally by over one million in the last week, as they
A lot has been made of the President’s claim that we should “slow the testing down,” a claim that he doubled down on in subsequent remarks to reporters. Most commentators state that he’s under the mistaken impression that if we just don’t look at the problem, it’ll go away. But I follow a bunch of
ICUs in some areas of the United States are about to go into overflow mode, as you’ve probably seen. You may have even shared a story about this on a social media site. And if you shared one of those “ICU occupancy is surging” stories, odds are good that someone responded to by suggesting that
For months, we’ve been saying that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can survive on surfaces—even when the CDC appeared to be saying the opposite. We’ve also written about how asymptomatic cases are probably underestimated. At this point, we’re preaching to the choir. But this afternoon, a new study was published in mSphere, and it examines
In this multi-part series, we step back from the flood of day-to-day pandemic news, and put our attention back on the big questions. This series is divided into three major parts: disease biology, therapies, and the progress of the pandemic. We’ll close by discussing the future. This is Part II, on therapies and vaccines. Read
Here in Texas, we’re still having a hard time getting reusable cloth masks of decent quality. My wife ordered some fancy-looking masks from Canada over a month ago, and they’ve yet to ship. I recently waited three weeks for some overpriced masks that fell apart on first use. Luckily, more clothing makers and brands are
