COVID-19 Updates

Coronavirus Briefing: Immunity windows, mask mania and a pandemic data primer

CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING

Want something to feel positive about during these dark times? There are enough COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the pipeline to launch a regularly updated vaccine tracker. A great majority of these will likely fail – hell, they might all fail – but the scientific and research communities are putting forth a herculean effort that should inspire us all.

That’s going to be my focus from here on out, because pessimism and despair are a drag. Feel free to circulate Karen videos and photos that misleadingly make it seem that beachgoers are sitting in each other’s laps. Me, I’ll be celebrating science, decency and compassion, and wearing a totally rad Eddie Van Halen guitar mask while doing so. Happiness is sometimes a matter of choice.

This week’s Haymarket Media Coronavirus Briefing is 1,206 words and will take you seven minutes to read.


The science
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Not to keep crushing on the scientific community, but the volume of knowledge it has accumulated in fewer than six months is just mind-boggling.

The Takeaway:
We’ve blown the mitigation part of the assignment, to the extent that it seems we’re going to have to repeat it at home before too long. But it’s starting to look like we’re acing the science part.
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The masks
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Whether or not you believe wearing a mask infringes on your personal liberty, a preponderance of the evidence suggests that masks help prevent the spread of coronavirus. So for me, the issue boils down to a simple question: Do you want to get sick or contribute to others getting sick? I don’t, so I’ll wear a mask.

The Takeaway:
If wearing a mask makes me a sheep, BAAAAAA! BAAAAAAAAAAAA!
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The confirmations
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At the start of the coronavirus crisis, we deep-thinky types made all sorts of predictions – that the quick changeover to virtual work would turbocharge a trend several years in the making, for instance. As we approach the start of its sixth month, many of those predictions have been borne out. If you’re patting yourself on the back for adept prognostication, you’re kind of missing the point.

The Takeaway:
Call it foresight or call it recognition of the obvious – even in unprecedented times, it’s not impossible to connect the dots in advance. But it’s still a shot to the gut when the direst prophecies come to pass.
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The recovery
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And here’s where we present the weekly compilation of “things are moving, many in a promising direction” bits. We’re adapting, slowly in some cases and quickly in others. It feels like we’ll be able to reuse this intro paragraph several more times before all of this is through.

The Takeaway:
Yeah, it’s gonna be a while. At least we get baseball back tomorrow.


The rest
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…and some (more) songs

Thanks for reading and for masking up. Look for the next edition of the Haymarket Media Coronavirus Briefing on Wednesday, July 29. Be well, everybody.