Answering reader questions about data interpretation, good masking

December 11, 2022.Reading time 14 minutes.

This week, I’m sharing answers to three questions from readers that came in recently, through emails and the COVID-19 Data Dispatch Google form. The questions discuss interpreting wastewater and case data, and an interesting masking conundrum.

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Potential data fragmentation when the federal COVID-19 public health emergency ends

September 18, 2022.Reading time 14 minutes.

COVID-19 is still a public health emergency. At the moment, this is true according to both the general definition of this term and official declarations by the federal government. But the latter could change in the coming months, likely leading to more fragmentation in U.S. COVID-19 data.

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Reflections and format shifts following the CDD’s first hiatus

September 4, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

This is my first COVID-19 Data Dispatch issue after my August hiatus! Here are a few updates on how that went and changes I’m thinking about for the publication going forward.

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Nine areas of data we need to manage the pandemic

June 26, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

Will we ever get control of this pandemic? We can, but better data will go a long way in helping us get there. Here are nine areas where I’d like to see improvement.

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Interpreting limited data in our undercounted surge

May 22, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

There’s no sugarcoating it: we are in an extremely confusing and frustrating phase of the pandemic. We see the rising (yet undercounted) case numbers, we hear from friends and family members who have recently tested positive. And yet the CDC’s official COVID-19 guidance is still based on a mostly-green map, while local leaders refuse to reinstate mask mandates or other safety measures.

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Answering reader questions: Encouraging policy changes

February 13, 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

In this post, I’m answering reader questions about how individuals can impact COVID-19 policies. Such questions feel particularly pertinent this week, as leaders of several states loosen up on mask mandates and other COVID-19 safety measures.

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Reader question: How long will COVID-19 restrictions continue?

November 21, 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a reader question from a friend of mine who recently got engaged! He and his fiancée are planning a wedding in summer 2023, and he asked me: “How likely do you think it is that (1) the COVID-19 pandemic remains a serious danger to our safety in the summer of 2023 and (2) the government still has the energy to keep enforcing COVID-19 restrictions?”

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Thinking about COVID-19 risk as winter approaches

November 14, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

I recently received a question from a COVID-19 Data Dispatch reader that followed a similar theme to many questions that readers, friends, and family members have asked me in the past few months. The question essentially outlined an event in the reader’s personal life that they’d been invited to attend, and asked for my advice: should they go? How risky was this event?

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Send me your holiday COVID-19 questions

November 7, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

This year, the risk of spreading COVID-19 at a holiday gathering is still present—but for many gatherings, it’s much more manageable thanks to vaccines. Still, there’s a lot of potential uncertainty involved in planning gatherings this winter

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12 Long COVID stats that demonstrate the importance of vaccination

October 10, 2021.Reading time 12 minutes.

Though it’s now been well over a year since the first Long COVID patients were infected, there is still so much we don’t know about the condition. For example, we don’t know a very rudimentary number: how many people in the U.S. are struggling with Long COVID. We also don’t have a clear, detailed picture of Long COVID symptoms, or how these symptoms arise from a coronavirus infection, or how they impact the daily lives of Long COVID patients.

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