Poor COVID-19 testing hampering treatment research

There’s no doubt that poor rollout of tests by the Trump Administration has made the pandemic worse, but it turns out it’s also retarding our ability to develop treatments. Researchers are trying to use blood plasma from patients who have had the coronavirus and recovered to treat currently infected patients who are still at a…

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Infectious disease expert: “The risk is low” to get infected from shopping and delivery packages.

Joseph Allen, Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science Department of Environmental Health, Harvard In an op-ed to the Washington Post, a literal professor of infectious disease exposure says that you’re unlikely to be infected through groceries or packages, and if you’re worried, even a few of the steps people are adopting should help reduce the…

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Extremely cautious advice for buying and sanitizing groceries

Jeffrey VanWingen, a family physician in Grand Rapids, MI, does a video about applying sterile Operating Room procedures to your groceries and take out. He’s pretty up front about doing it with current and somewhat incomplete knowledge about how the virus lives on surfaces and in the air. It’s very thorough, and if you were…

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21 days later

This graph really shows the broad spread of the virus in just 21 days. Modern life, with all its interconnectedness, certainly made us primed for a pandemic. I always thought it would be ebola, or maybe Spanish Influenza. I guess that last one was pretty close.

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The Three Body Problem

Review haiku In the blackest night The smallest glowing campfire Invites predators. —- Do not call for help Not everyone who hears you Wants to offer it. — A perfectly good civilization, screwed by One disgruntled staff. — Like wizard’s true names If I know where you live I can control you.

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A reading list for those suffering from fatalism

Why the reading list? The bibliography Why the reading list? My whole life, but especially since the election of Trump I have found myself periodically gripped by despair when it appears impossible to visualize much needed change in the world. Here are some examples: Twenty six and seven year old children were murdered at their…

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The bar mitzvah drash of Moishe Ben Imber Safdar

At the bar mitzvah of a youth in Judaism, they are expected to give a short speech (a “drash”) about the Torah portion appropriate to that week.  This is the one my son delivered at his bar mitzvah on June 23, 2018. In my Torah portion Chukat, the Israelites are demanding water to survive in…

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