COVID-19 
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
4/14/2022
Using DDT to Fight Polio was a Mistake, but Learning from it was Valuable
by Elena Conis
Recent Ivermectin mania echoes the moment in 1940s America when spurious science led American communities to demand to be sprayed with the noxious insecticide, believing it would prevent polio outbreaks; the episode underscores the need for patience in pursuing public health.
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SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
4/4/2022
Faculty Committee: U of Florida Fast-Tracked DeSantis Surgeon General Pick Into Faculty Post
The university’s faculty committee cited procedural irregularities in how Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo gained a tenured position.
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SOURCE: Vox
3/4/2022
What Can the History of Antivax Movements Tell Us about the Future of COVID?
Medical historian Nadja Durbach and philosopher Maya Goldenberg explain that challenges posed by vaccine resistance and mistrust of health authorities are not new; the lesson to learn isn't that resistance is inevitable, but that some of the social conflicts supporting it can be addressed.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
3/8/2022
How did this Level of Death Become Normal?
In absolute and relative terms, The United States has fared horribly in the coronavirus pandemic. Historians and social scientists help writer Ed Yong explain why the nation meets mass death with a collective shrug.
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SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
2/16/2022
The Paranoid Style Comes to Canadian Politics
by Eric Merkley
Canadian politics, until recently, seemed free of the kind of extreme sorting taking place in other democracies, where partisan affiliation, cultural values, and religious or ethnic identity all align closely. The Ottawa protests show cracks in the nation's liberal order that the far right is trying to exploit, says a political scientist.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
2/10/2022
Seat Belt Law History Shows Public Protections Don't Have to be Partisan
by Erica Westly
Seat belt laws originated in the conservative state of Tennessee, but spread with remarkable success to other states. Can this guide public policy around today's controversies like mask and vaccine mandates?
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
2/10/2022
Why Following Joe Rogan Seems Easier than Following the Science
by Yair Rosenberg
"But in order for this science to be followed, it has to include the science of how people interact with each other. In other words, there has got to be a science of the virus, and there’s also got to be a science of society."
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SOURCE: London Review of Books
2/1/2022
Whack-a-Mole
by Rivka Galchen
Reviewer Rivka Galchen looks at two recent books that highlight the importance of cultural beliefs in the acceptance or rejection of vaccines.
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SOURCE: TomDispatch
2/1/2022
How America's Two Pandemics Merged
by Tom Engelhardt
In pandemics past, disease was the single contagion threatening society; today there is also a pandemic of political nihilism.
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SOURCE: The Nation
2/3/2022
Wishful Thinking on COVID is as Dangerous as Prior Episodes of Denial
by Gregg Gonsalves
A convergence has emerged between the right and the center that the Omicron variant is the last hurrah of the COVID pandemic and a signal to go back to "normal." A public health scholar warns this is potentially sacrificing the vulnerable to the wishes of the powerful.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
1/31/2022
Blaming Teachers for COVID-Related Education Problems Misses the Big Picture
by Adam Laats
Too much of what plagues schools today is far beyond the control of teachers, but blaming them is easier for politicians than fixing inequality and underinvestment.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
1/25/2022
The Antivax Right is Bringing Human Sacrifice to America
Past debates about closing schools and businesses to control the pandemic at least could claim to be about balancing costs and benefits. The campaign to refuse vaccination will kill people for no purpose whatsoever.
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SOURCE: Forward
1/24/2022
A Complete List of Times RFK Jr. has Compared Vaccine Mandates to the Holocaust
The political activist has made a habit of comparing public policies he dislikes to the Holocaust, most recently in a speech at a Washington rally where he invoked Anne Frank.
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SOURCE: YouTube
1/19/2022
"Hello Internet": Barry Mehler Responds to Reaction to His Course Intro Video
The Michigan professor defends a controversial course intro video that resulted in his suspension, saying his purpose was to provoke thought and make students aware of the risks and dangers of in-person instruction.
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SOURCE: CNN
1/19/2022
Covidtests.gov is the Right Move, but More Needs to be Done
by David M. Perry
So far, the idea of directly distributing tests from the government to the public through the post office seems like a winner. But it remains to be seen if there is sufficient political will and resources to actually commit to cutting out middlemen and giving Americans tools to protect their health.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
1/18/2022
Student Protests over COVID Policy (and Adults Ignoring Them) is Part of a Long Tradition
by Jack Hodgson
"Their message: Education needs to be delivered in cooperation with young people. They have a right to advocate for their own welfare, feel safe in school and receive teaching, not just supervision."
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SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
1/14/2022
Michigan Professor's Intro Video Stunt Leads to Suspension (content: language)
Historian of Science Barry Mehler was suspended by Ferris State (Mich.) University after releasing a welcome video for his spring course that took what could be described as a bold and provocative approach to protesting the college's mandatory in-person teaching.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
1/11/2022
Will Omicron Break Up America's Unhealthy Cycle of January Gym Resolutions?
by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
Could one positive effect of the Omicron surge be that people are separating their personal motivations to exercise from the commercial imperatives of the fitness and diet industries?
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1/16/2022
What Happens When the "End Times" are Now?
by Martyn Whittock
Evangelical Christianity's enthusiasm for viewing current events as markers of the End Times is nothing new, but those tempted to mockery should nevertheless recognize how politically potent those ideas can be.
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SOURCE: The Baffler
1/12/2022
Online Christian Martyrs
by Peter Manseau
"Imagine if all the energy, resources, and marketing that have been used to inject ideas of martyrdom into issues of public health and safety had instead gone toward making real change."
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