Haphazard as it may be, and fraught with risk, the world is emerging from pandemic emergency-control mode. As we try to anticipate what lies ahead, Ajay Singh Chaudhry offers a bracing reflection on the prospects for planetary climate change action; Els Torreele argues for launching an open, collaborative, public interest R&D model for vaccine development; Hera Aly unpacks the crossroads at which the humanitarian sector finds itself “after Covid”; and more…
We’re not in this together: there is no universal politics of climate change
Why we must understand “right-wing climate realism“: an unflinching reflection on the political economy of global climate action and current trajectories toward (un)common futures.
by Ajay Singh Chaudhary, The Baffler, No. 51, April 2020
Read here.
Why charging incels with terrorism may make matters worse
Linking “incels” with “terrorism” is a bad and dangerous idea.
by Reem Bahdi & Fahad Ahmad, The Conversation, June 16, 2020
Read here.
Collective intelligence, not market competition, will deliver the best Covid-19 vaccine
We are wasting a lot time and money in an ineffective competitive and commercial business model instead of investing it into an open, collaborative, public interest R&D model that can deliver vaccines at cost.
by Els Torreele, STAT, June 10, 2020
Read here.
In the stay-at-home era, why have we so sorely neglected home care?
Revitalizing the “decimated” home-care sector—a hidden victim in the Covid response—will be an important element in assuring a humane future for the elderly.
by André Picard, The Globe & Mail, June 15, 2020
Read here.
How deadly is the coronavirus? Scientists are close to an answer
Public-health researchers use the infection fatality rate to gauge how to respond to a new disease, but it’s tricky to calculate.
by Smriti Mallapaty, Nature, June 16 2020
Read here.
Malaria may still be 2020’s biggest killer
The coronavirus has shut down large-scale treatment and prevention programs around the globe, which could send malaria deaths skyrocketing this year.
by Tim Hirschel-Burns, Foreign Affairs, June 12, 2020
Read here.
Global, regional, and national estimates of the population at increased risk of severe COVID-19 due to underlying health conditions in 2020: a modelling study
Understanding the number of individuals at increased risk of severe COVID-19 and how this varies between countries should inform the design of possible strategies to shield or vaccinate those at highest risk.
by Andrew Clark, Mark Jit, Charlotte Warren-Gash, Bruce Guthrie, Harry H X Wang, Stewart W Mercer, et al., The Lancet, June 15, 2020: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X30264-3
Read here.
To understand who’s dying of Covid-19 look to social factors like race more than pre-existing diseases
“…studies cast doubt on whether individual risk factors are as important as social determinants of health in affecting someone’s chances of contracting severe and even fatal Covid-19 … More and more evidence is pointing to social determinants of risk, which puts the role of underlying health conditions in a new light.”
Sharon Begley, STAT, June 15, 2020
Read here.
COVID-19: rethinking risk
“The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic … shows the need to strengthen the nexus between underlying conditions, their risk factors, and infectious diseases. This requires acknowledging the importance of interventions to address structural inequity, universal health coverage, and wider social protection schemes as part of the response.”
by Nina Schwalbe, Susanna Lehtimaki & Juan Pablo Gutiérrez, The Lancet Global Health, June 15, 2020: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X30276-X-
Read here.
This global pandemic could transform humanitarianism forever. Here’s how.
An exploration of the critical crossroads at which the humanitarian sector finds itself, “before”and “after” Covid-19, and, going forward, the challenges and choices facing international NGOs and their civil society counterparts.
by Heba Aly, The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News), June 8, 2020
Read here.
Note to readers: Like many of you I am feeling the need to step back, turn off the screens, get out in the sunshine and breathe deeply. So…Murphy’s Log is taking a break, and these regular weekly links are ‘going fishing’ for awhile. I will still occasionally distribute items on the radicalroad email list, and may do an occasional editorial post here on the Log. But mainly…I’ll just be experiencing the quiet, and discovering what moves in the stillness (I hope that you might manage a bit of that too!). ~ Brian