Departments

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COVID-19

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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."