Yesterday, I had to rescue the robot vacuum cleaner (Dustin') from under the difficult-to-navigate coffee table. This morning, one of our smart home smoke detectors started falsely alarming at 4 AM. There are days when I have the sneaking suspicion that I am serving the tech more than technology is serving me. However, I do not believe I live in a Wachowski-esque dystopian Matrix. I cannot imagine a sentient super-computer would unleash a pandemic into a simulated reality. I hope.
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Latest Data
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
There is a continued slow decline in new cases in the US (40,000 a day) and slightly decreased deaths @ 2.8 per million (or still about 900 deaths per day), but the data varies by state and region.
Also, look at:
https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally:
The NY Times state-level data visualization:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide
is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
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The Cleveland Clinic offers a consumer-level review of data on how masks prevent the spread of coronavirus. Though I previously highlighted the referenced article from Duke, the Cleveland Clinic article's expert commentary offers some good analysis.
It appears that Dr. Fauci is entering the crosshairs of our President's "Sauronic eye." Dr. F. offered comments in response to reports that the CDC would reclassify COVID-related deaths by the underlying comorbid conditions, not by the virus that killed the patients.
An appropriate comment from an orthopedic surgeon on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/cadiulus/status/1300408867717812231
A loyal reader sent this case report on coronavirus-induced bilateral orchitis. Our conversation (which I am paraphrasing) concluded that if this symptom/complication were more prevalent in adult males, we would have full-body PPE, military-grade E.T.-style containment, and a world-wide response akin to movies with alien invasions."
https://www.ajemjournal.com/article/S0735-6757%2820%2930761-0/fulltext
As the Weinstein family is working its way through day 3 of remote schooling, I found this article in TIME reporting on how epidemiologists are working through the complex calculus of sending kids back to school (or not). There are no right answers here.
https://time.com/5883677/school-coronavirus-epidemiologists/
Here is an article from Madison, Wisconsin, covering historical premature vaccine deployments (pre-adequate phase 3 testing). The author is a bit alarmist, but the stories are accurate. I think the most rational takeaway is that there are trade-offs to early and emergency use of vaccines. We should, collectively, acknowledge and appreciate those trade-offs.
Infographic of the day #1- Crude Oil!
https://www.rigsourceinc.com/news/crude-oil-products/
As an aside, I have always thought the notion of "crude" oil was judgy. It evokes visions of oil belching while on a distressed couch drinking cheap beer. Unrefined, uncouth, uncultured oil all seem like more pleasant alternatives.
Infographic of the day #2 Heimlich for Dogs
I should not still be surprised between the overlaps of human and veterinary medicine. (Mammals are mammals, right?) I had not considered the need to rescue choking dogs, but alas, here you go:
https://www.chelmsforddogassociation.org/ufaqs/dog-heimlich/
---Bonus Round - The Never-Ending Rand
One of my big takeaways from college political science was the nearly bible-like belief some conservative economists held in the philosophy espoused by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged. I read Atlas Shrugged, thinking I could better understand. It was entertaining enough, but the characters were two-dimensional, and the story melodramatic. Nevertheless, it is a very concrete guidepost in the often confusing landscape of political philosophy. And while far, far from perfect, it is a mental handle to grasp as politicians create whirlwinds of claims about "socialism" or "the free market." I was surprised to learn that Ayn Rand was a topic on social media last week and even more surprised to find a thoughtful article about the problems and prose of Atlas Shrugged this morning. Join me for PolySci 201: The Randian World
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/ayn-rand-atlas-shrugged-sam-leith/#
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam