Author: Common Dreams

As U.S. states move to reopen their economies and loosen restrictions put in place to stem the spread of COVID-19, new modeling released Thursday shows a majority of the U.S. deaths thus far from the coronavirus could have been prevented had social distancing policies been implemented more quickly. The epidemiological modeling (pdf) from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health researchers looked at the virus’s national spread through May 3, 2020, at which point deaths had passed 65,000. The researchers found nearly 62% of reported infections—703,000 cases—and 55% of deaths — over 35,000 people — could have been avoided...

Aleha Landry, the wife of an airman in Colorado told me, “When he first came home, it was tough.” She was describing her family’s life since her husband, who lives with chronic depression, completed a partial hospitalization program and, in March, along with other members of his unit, entered a pandemic lockdown. He was now spending full days at home with her and their four children, which offered needed family time and rest from the daily rigors of training. Yet the military’s pandemic lockdown had its challenges as well. Aside from weekly online sessions with his therapist – the...

A new study published on May 18 showed a strong correlation between the April 7 in-person primary election in Wisconsin and an increase in coronavirus infections in the state, bolstering calls for a robust national vote-by-mail system for November. Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Ball State University found clear spikes in cases in counties that had the most in-person voting locations on April 7, and found that far fewer new cases were confirmed in counties with widespread absentee ballot voting. Though public health experts had urged against holding the election due to the risks, the in-person voting was...

With unemployment approaching Great Depression levels, the nation is waving the white flag on controlling the coronavirus. It appears not to shock the senses at the White House or at many governors’ mansions around the country that the 76,000 deaths from COVID-19 in three months could fill the Superdome with coffins. Instead, these leaders are pushing to “open up America” as much as they can for commerce. Following the lead of the Trump administration, governors tell us we cannot let the cost of the lockdown become worse than the disease. But scientists are already raising their death estimates by...