Epidemics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bob Woodward’s new book of interviews with Trump and figures in his administration records how Trump told the reporter in mid-March that he plays down the coronavirus to avoid a panic. According to CNN, which obtained Woodward’s tapes, Trump said: “I wanted to always play it down. I still like […]

Donald Trump

Fourth World: Or American Carnage from a Pandemic President

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) – The year was 1991 and the United States was suddenly the globe’s lone superpower, its ultimate hyperpower, the last and greatest of its kind, the soon-to-be-indispensable nation. The only one left — alone, utterly alone and triumphant atop the world. Who could have asked for more? Or better? It had been a […]

Epidemics

A Doctor Went to His Own Employer for a COVID-19 Antibody Test. It Cost $10,984

ProPublica

This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. By Marshall Allen | – ( ProPublica) – When Dr. Zachary Sussman went to Physicians Premier ER in […]

Climate Crisis

Another Pandemic Looms: Global Heating will put new Areas at Risk for Malaria

The Conversation

By Mark Smith and Chris Thomas | – Of an estimated 228 million cases of malaria worldwide each year, around 93% are in Africa. This proportion is more or less the same for the 405,000 malaria deaths globally. That’s why there are huge efforts underway to provide detailed maps of current malaria cases in Africa, […]

Epidemics

Fears Pandemic could Spur Dramatic Spike in Homelessness

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Jessica Myers (Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship): ( Cronkite News) – PHOENIX – For more than three decades, André House just west of downtown has provided food, showers, temporary housing and other services to Arizonans experiencing homelessness or poverty. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of families seeking such services has […]

Epidemics

Palestinians in Gaza Face Covid-19 Alone and Isolated, in Israel’s Open-Air Prison

Middle East Monitor

By Eman Abusidu | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Since Covid-19 first appeared, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have tackled the pandemic with typical determination. Without delay, they implemented a strict quarantine regime with mandatory 21-day isolation in government-run facilities adjacent to the border posts. This seems to have worked well until last […]

Arab World

Coronavirus in the Middle East: a testing time for relations between regimes and their citizens

Brian Whitaker

( Al-Bab.com ) – THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic is not only testing the ability of governments to manage an unusual kind of crisis – it is also testing their relationship with the people they govern. Success in confronting the virus depends on governments and citizens working together, but among the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East […]

Donald Trump

6 Million Stricken with Covid-19: Trump has turned the US into a Sh*thole Country

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US reported its six millionth coronavirus case, and deaths are headed toward 200,000. It is hard to explain just how bad the US death rate under Trump from the novel coronavirus is. Reuters: “U.S. coronavirus cases top 6 million” It isn’t only that it is worse than other industrialized […]

Donald Trump

Rotten in Denmark: The Centers for Disease Control stopped Recommending Testing and Tracing

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Centers for Disease Control guidelines on testing in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic have once again become a subject of attention and controversy. CNN summarizes the change: “The CDC, changing its Covid-19 testing guidelines, no longer recommends testing for most people without symptoms, even if they’ve […]