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Key developments for Tuesday, July 28, 2020

2 Comments on Key developments for Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still mainly COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go.

World events

Many are worried about the flooding that threatens the Three Gorges Dam in China. This dam is one of the world’s largest engineering projects, and if it fails the catastrophe will be world-historic on a level probably exceeding that of the pandemic. I did a brief thread, but plan to write more, soon:

US bill outlines Taiwan defense conditions: “Proposed legislation in the US outlines three conditions in which Washington would be authorized to protect Taiwan were China to invade, a report said yesterday.”

Pandemic news

Today the US death count passed 150,000. Even though new case counts have leveled off in the major metro areas, the deaths from that surge will keep piling up with a multi-week lag, so that count will go much higher before it levels off.

This is a fantastic county-by-county map that helps you assess your risk of being exposed to the coronavirus based on gathering size.

The FDA expands its list of potentially deadly hand sanitizers. More on this issue, here.

Mask Advocates Cite Plane Transmission Study in Call for Mandate

There is a looming eviction crisis, and congress needs to act immediately:

Everyone paying attention already knew this, but it’s good to see it repeated: Masks May Reduce Viral Dose, Some Experts Say

Existing evidence suggests face coverings do not lead to false sense of security

Pro sports is getting hit hard by COVID-19.

This is wild: Trained dogs were able to sniff out Covid-19 infections with 94% accuracy: study

Moderna’s Phase 3 trials begin, and will probably have results in a few months.

How the Child Care Crisis Will Distort the Economy for a Generation

Hygiene Theater is a Huge Waste of Time

In Error, Tricare Tells 600K Beneficiaries They’ve Had COVID-19

This is really good and much needed: A Vaccine Reality Check

Echoing Trump’s position, Fauci tells MarketWatch: ‘We should try as best as we possibly can to open up the schools’

Jon Stokes | jonst0kes

Jon Stokes is a co-founder of Ars Technica, founding editor of AllOutdoor, and contributing editor to The Firearm Blog. Jon's a lifelong knife collector, outdoorsman, and prepper.

  • 2 Comments
    • Vaylon July 29, 2020

      According to the county-by-county risk map, a week and a half ago, my county in Mississippi was at a risk level of 86% for an event size of 100 — meaning that if I attended an event with 100 people in it, I had an 86% chance of encountering someone affected with COVID-19.

      Today? Today my county has a risk level of 82% … for an event size of 50. The risk has gone up drastically.

      What’s it going to take for people to be serious about COVID-19? Will literally everyone have to have at least one family member who has died from it?

      5 |
      • Alisa Felix Vaylon July 29, 2020

        It’s a really cool tool but it’s also really depressing for the reasons you gave. The numbers aren’t as bad in my area but the increase over time was the same. 

        6 |