Ed Yong, a widely-admired science journalist, recently announced that he’s leaving his position at The Atlantic after eight years at the publication. He also published the latest in a series of articles explaining the challenges of Long COVID, a subject that he’s become well-known for covering.
Sources and updates for the week of July 30 include new papers about wastewater surveillance, Long COVID’s economic impacts, outdoor transmission, and more.
For the last few months, I’ve been working with the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) on a new resource website for science journalists and communicators. The site launched this past week, and I’m sharing it here because I think it might be useful for a lot of COVID-19 Data Dispatch readers.
Several major metrics continue to point to a summer increase in COVID-19 spread. Coronavirus levels in wastewater are up in all major regions, as is test positivity from the CDC’s network. Hospitalizations have started ticking up as well.
Longtime readers may remember that I am no fan of “The Morning,” a daily newsletter from the New York Times that has frequently downplayed COVID-19 in recent years. Well, this week, the newsletter has done it again, with a dismissive portrayal of excess deaths data.
Sources and updates for the week of July 23 include new studies about Long COVID, global pandemic preparedness grants, dogs sniffing out COVID-19, and more.
The White House has launched a new office focused on high-level pandemic preparedness, about six months after Congress requested this. The new Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy will be a permanent office in the executive branch, according to a fact sheet from the Biden administration.
After I shared my travel experience last week, a couple of readers reached out asking for more details on using a portable HEPA filter, essentially a small air filter that can be moved from one place to another. So, here are a few tips and resources.
COVID-19 data in the U.S. is showing increasingly clear signs of a summer surge, with infections rising across the country. However, thanks to the federal public health emergency’s end, we have less and less data to track this trend.
In May 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Walgreens, and Labcorp started offering free PCR tests at select pharmacy locations. The program appears to still be available following the end of the federal public health emergency.