Communities feeling loss of newspapers

Even before virus, communities feeling loss of newspapers

How diseases like COVID-19 and misinformation spread

The Contagion Detective: The COVID-19 pandemic was some epidemiologist’s nightmare when Adam Kucharski was writing Rules of Contagion. Released this week, the book, which includes brief mentions of the encroaching COVID-19 storm, draws on ideas from “outbreak science” to illuminate how and why viruses spread. Information from biology, Kucharski expertly demonstrates, has helped scientists understand how misinformation rages like fire in the fields of politics and finance. Kucharski is entitled to feel like Nostradamus, but people in his field “always have the next pandemic on the radar,” he told Wired.

Black, Asian Americans Experienced Discrimination Amid Coronavirus

Many Black, Asian Americans Say They Have Experienced Discrimination Amid Coronavirus: About four-in-ten Black and Asian adults say people have acted as if they were uncomfortable around them because of their race or ethnicity since the beginning of the outbreak, and similar shares say they worry that other people might be suspicious of them if they wear a mask when out in public

County plans to resort to subpoenas to compel people to work with contact tracers

Rockland County, Probing New Cluster, Uses Subpoenas as People Resist Contact Tracing: Health officials are investigating a new cluster of eight or more COVID-19 cases in Rockland County tied to a large party earlier this month, but they're running into trouble with contact tracing because people refuse to cooperate.

The county plans to resort to subpoenas, as it did during its measles outbreak some years ago, to compel people to work with contact tracers as they work to contain a new potential outbreak. It may mark the first time in the tri-state area that such a measure has been taken over COVID contact tracing noncompliance.

Covid-19 and Other Diseases

Covid-19 and Other Diseases: the Covid-19 pandemic is predicted to cause an additional 400,000 malaria deaths this year; an additional 700,000 HIV-related deaths in Africa alone; 15 million unintended pregnancies; and up to 1.4 million additional tuberculosis deaths by 2025. The list continues: at least 80 million children under one are at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, rubella and polio, as routine immunisation services have been disrupted in almost 70 countries. There could be an additional 113,000 maternal deaths in the next 12 months because of disruption to care before, during and after childbirth. Global poverty, a major driver of poor health, is set to worsen. Mathematical modelling can only describe a range of possibilities – possibilities that are highly sensitive to our actions. But these numbers should nevertheless give us pause.

Coronavirus Will Reshape U.S. Cities

How Coronavirus Will Reshape U.S. Cities: The pandemic will likely accelerate the pull of the suburbs for families while pushing young people and businesses into more affordable urban areas.

Broadband Policy After COVID-19

Lessons From the Pandemic: Broadband Policy After COVID-19: U.S. broadband networks weathered the COVID-19 surge in traffic better than most peer nations. The pandemic should galvanize policymakers to ensure broadband can serve as an essential lifeline for everyone, including low-income and rural residents.