August's age-standardised mortality rate was 2.5% higher than the five-year average. But looking at age-adjusted mortality in the first eight months of the year, 2021 is the sixth least deadly year on record.
Researchers analysed data from eight countries, and found a consistent gender difference in attitudes to lockdown, with women being more pro-lockdown. This is despite the fact that COVID-19 is more lethal in men.
Many people – including some world leaders – see the vaccines as a way to ensure that nobody ever has to get COVID. But this view is based more on safetyism than on science. And ironically, it’s causing real harm.
In April, the ONS estimated that 12% of people who test positive end up getting long COVID. That estimate has now been revised down to 2.5%. And when it comes to children younger than 11, the figure is less than 1%.
Jay Bhattacharya has been denounced in a petition by his own colleagues. They claim that he "sows mistrust of policies designed to protect the public health" because he questioned the efficacy of community masking.
Back in January, six teaching unions argued that reopening schools would put teachers at “serious risk of ill-health”. A new study confirms that Scottish teachers were not at elevated risk, even when schools were open.
Vaccine passports could have unintended consequences. If vulnerable people are led to believe – wrongly – that the vaccines have strong efficacy against infection, they might take more risks than they otherwise would.
The fallacy of 'politician's logic' was popularised by the much-loved British sitcom Yes, Prime Minister. And it seems to explain lockdown: 'Something must be done; lockdown is something; therefore we must do it.'
After acquiring information about the WIV, Josh Rogin called around to get reactions from US officials. He discovered that “a large swath of the government already believed the virus had escaped from the WIV lab”.
Many left-wing commentators are still reluctant to concede that COVID might have escaped from a lab in Wuhan. A new study confirms that recent coverage of the theory has been driven by right-wing media.
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