June release: COVID-19 repository

June release: COVID-19 repository - Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation Blog: we have added in some of the key findings from the CDEI’s survey of public attitudes towards the use of technology to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

The First U.S. Contact-Tracing App to Use the Apple-Google System Is Finally Here

The First U.S. Contact-Tracing App to Use the Apple-Google System Is Finally Here: It’s a little hard to know what to make of how slowly the United States has moved in using mobile phones to trace the spread of COVID-19 and notify exposed individuals. Four months ago, Apple and Google announced a privacy-protecting system to use Bluetooth for contact-tracing apps. Yet only this week did the first state—Virginia—release an exposure notification app using that Apple-Google framework.

How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond

How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond: This coronavirus is here for the long haul — here’s what scientists predict for the next months and years.

Nine Important Things We've Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far

Nine Important Things We've Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far: Some early public health messages about COVID-19 have been overturned

Misinformation kills. The president of the United States, other politicians, anti-vaccine activists, and members of the right-wing media, to their everlasting shame, have used the pandemic to stoke racism, spread misinformation and amplify conspiracy theories. Their followers have threatened health officials, including Tony Fauci and his family; refused to wear masks; refused to cooperate with contact tracers; and rejected proven basic public health advice about social distancing.

Representative Louie Gohmert, who refused to wear a mask in the Capitol and reportedly discouraged his staff and interns from wearing masks, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and is being treated with hydroxychloroquine, a drug that Trump has endorsed but that has failed in clinical trials. Trump supporter Herman Cain died of COVID-19 on July 30, weeks after attending a rally in Tulsa without a mask. Calls to poison-control centers spiked after Trump speculated that injecting or ingesting disinfectants could protect against the coronavirus. Early evidence suggests people who watched Fox News were more likely to downplay the pandemic, worsening the spread.

The most important public health measure during a pandemic of a disease with no cure or vaccine—as many countries around the world that have controlled the virus have shown—is to help experts share clear, trustworthy, accurate, actionable information based on the best evidence. Spreading lies has spread this disease.

Masks Do More Than Protect Others During COVID-19

Masks Do More Than Protect Others During COVID-19: Reducing the Inoculum of SARS-CoV-2 to Protect the Wearer: Although the benefit of population-level public facial masking to protect others during the COVID-19 pandemic has received a great deal of attention, we discuss for one of the first times the hypothesis that universal masking reduces the “inoculum” or dose of the virus for the mask-wearer, leading to more mild and asymptomatic infection manifestations. Masks, depending on type, filter out the majority of viral particles, but not all. We first discuss the near-century-old literature around the viral inoculum and severity of disease (conceptualized as the LD50 or lethal dose of the virus). We include examples of rising rates of asymptomatic infection with population-level masking, including in closed settings (e.g., cruise ships) with and without universal masking. Asymptomatic infections may be harmful for spread but could actually be beneficial if they lead to higher rates of exposure. Exposing society to SARS-CoV-2 without the unacceptable consequences of severe illness with public masking could lead to greater community-level immunity and slower spread as we await a vaccine. This theory of viral inoculum and mild or asymptomatic disease with SARS-CoV-2 in light of population-level masking has received little attention so this is one of the first perspectives to discuss the evidence supporting this theory.

Are German Schools Ready to Reopen?

The Great Coronavirus Experiment: Are German Schools Ready to Reopen? many teachers say that too much time has been wasted and that there is still a lack of clear guidelines.

"The Authorities Should Focus Their Efforts on Super-Spreaders"

German Health Expert Karl Lauterbach: "The Authorities Should Focus Their Efforts on Super-Spreaders": German parliamentarian and health expert Karl Lauterbach says Germany's coronavirus strategy must change. Instead of contact tracing, he demands that more attention be focused on super-spreaders.