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Thursday, May 21, 2020

A cabinet of minor pieces


MATT RIDLEY: The growing evidence on vitamin D and Covid. “The argument that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to more severe cases of Covid is gaining ground. It is now reaching the point where it is surprising that we are not hearing from leading medical officials and politicians that people should consider taking supplements to ensure they have sufficient vitamin D. This is not the same as arguing that vitamin D is a magic bullet that will cure the disease. Vitamins are not medication, the taking of which will have positive effects on everybody. They are top-ups: things that hurt you when you don’t have enough of them in your system but do no extra good when you have enough. Indeed, with many vitamins, including D, taking too much can be toxic.”




If I had only a few books that I could read for the rest of my life, I would want one to be Ted Kooser’s Winter Morning Walks. As the title suggests, the poems in this collection record the experience of one season in a year of Kooser’s life. For this poet, the season was literal as well as metaphorical, and it can be so for the reader, as well. While we are currently surrounded by the beauty of spring, we’re also in the middle of a kind of winter we have not experienced before.
Spared


“Every literature possesses, besides its great national gallery, a cabinet of minor pieces, not less perfect in their polish, possibly more so. In reality, the characteristic of this class is elaborate perfection—the point of inferiority is not in the finishing, but in the compass and power of the original creation, which (however exquisite in its class) moves within a smaller sphere.”
A cabinet of minor pieces


What is the “clean hand, dirty hand” technique? Penn State University video – “CIDD’s Dr. Beth McGraw explains the concept of “clean hand, dirty hand,” a useful tactic that can help you keep potential contaminants away from your clean personal areas. To see more coronavirus questions answered by experts at the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, submit a question of your own, or learn how you can do your part to #flattenthecurve, visit http://askcidd.psu.edu.”

 

Economist data journalist James Tozer via Twitter – “NEW, FREE DATA: We have just published the code and data behind our excess mortality tracker on Github. We believe this is the first public resource to provide this information, and we hope academics and journalists can use it for their research https://github.com/TheEconomist/covid-19-excess-deaths-tracker. For several weeks @martgnz and myself have been cleaning, analysing and presenting this data on our tracking page @TheEconomist, which provides interactive charts and is free to read. Excess deaths are now being widely used to analyse the covid-19 pandemic, as the most comparable measure across countries. But as @MaxCRoser pointed out yesterday, none of this data has been turned into a public resource yet. Eagle-eyed readers might note that we have several countries in our Github repo that are not included yet on the tracking article page @TheEconomist. We are redesigning the page and will be launching it next week. I will be keeping this repository updated throughout the pandemic. If you have any suggestions, either for things to change or countries to add, please email me: jamestozer@economist.com.” 



ABSURD DECISION

Benin investigative journalist Ignace Sossou remains in jail over a factual tweet today. His sentence was reduced from 12 to six months, but his fine was increased to $800 – ten times the average monthly salary of a journalist in Benin! His lawyers are outraged, and say the “absurd” decision “testifies to a serious attack on the freedom of the press.”

ANOTHER EPIDEMIC

There is fresh hope for sugar cane workers, and other laborers, that small changes can yield life-saving health benefits after a new study found a worker safety program – consisting of rest, water, and shade – reduced the rate of chronic kidney disease by more than 70%. Jason Glaser, one of the study’s authors, said the results showed the effectiveness of worker safety measures in tackling a mysterious illness that has killed tens of thousands – a lesson that could be applied to the coronavirus.

ALLERGAN WARNED

The United States health authority has issued a warning to breast implant manufacturer Allergan for not properly conducting post-market studies. Allergan did not meet standards for recruiting and following up with patients, which included a type of implant that was recalled last year due to cancer risks. Allergan announced a recall of its Biocell products in the wake of our Implant Files investigation.

PUNISH CHINA

U.S. lawmakers want to sanction Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. The bill was approved by the Senate last week, but must go back to the House of Representatives before hitting President Donald Trump’s desk. It would give the administration 180 days to identify officials responsible for mass internment camps and other abuses in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Province.

MISINFORMATION STORM

One of our Ecuadorian members, Arturo Torres, and his team at Código Vidrio have been investigating the use of social media to manipulate public opinion. At the head of one operation they found former president Rafael Correa. Correa has since targeted Torres on Twitter, condemning the findings. But the work has inspired a national campaign against misinformation in Ecuador with residents taking to the streets.

   A heartwarming and interesting “CBS Sunday Morning” piece about “CBS This Morning’s” Tony Dokoupil and MSNBC’s Katy Tur, a married couple both doing their TV shows from their home basement makeshift studio while taking care of their 1-year-old.’
 The Washington Post’s Ariana Eunjung Cha and Chelsea Janes with “The Girl Who Died Twice” — the story of a 12-year-old who survived two heart attacks that might have been caused by the coronavirus.
 With somber photos from Philip Montgomery and text by Maggie Jones, The New York Times Magazine asks, “How Do You Maintain Dignity for the Dead in a Pandemic?”
  Are coronavirus deaths in the U.S. undercounted or overcounted? Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver gives his thoughts.
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