Leading evolutionary scientists have expressed concern about the impact of lockdown on our exposure to novel pathogens. Proper cognitive development, they note, “requires adequate and diverse microbial exposure”.
Even discounting side effects, it’s unethical to vaccinate 12–15 year olds when a such small share of the population in poor countries has been offered a vaccine. Britain should donate its leftover vaccines now.
A new RCT on mask efficacy was shared online recently. However, there's one big problem: it wasn't actually an RCT of mask-wearing, but rather of mask promotion campaigns. This makes interpreting the results difficult.
There’s been very little debate about whether lockdowns are justified ethically. In a new paper, two philosophers argue that each of the main justifications for lockdown has implications most people would not accept.
Why have COVID death rates been so low in East Asia? One factor that's often mentioned is lack of obesity. But this can’t explain more than a small part of the difference between East Asia and the rest of the world.
Last year, school districts across the U.S. took the unprecedented step of closing schools and instead providing remote-only instruction. A new study finds that this caused a large decline in school enrolment.
An Israeli study finds that natural immunity provides much more protection against infection than the Pfizer vaccine. If the finding proves to be robust, government priorities may shift substantially going forward.
The relationship between COVID-19 death rates and population density in Europe is surprisingly weak. While density probably does matter, it is not the most important factor affecting death rates in Europe.
The age-standardised rate from January through July was only 0.8% higher than the five-year average. Another month without many excess deaths and 2021 will officially be an 'average year' for English mortality.
In a new paper, the economic consultant L. Jan Reid has attempted a cost-benefit analysis of lockdown in the United States. He concludes that the “cost of the lockdowns was up to ten times greater than the benefits”.
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