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There has been some discussion recently about the risk of terrible COVID-19 outbreaks happening in the developing world, where public health budgets are much smaller. This is happening in Ecuador right

Let's momentarily set aside the difficult ways that "lives" and "the economy" are intertwined. We all agree that they are, and if we're being careful we should probably admit that we

In some of my previous posts, I've talked about prioritising reality over ideology, and supporting policy on the basis of evidence and outcomes rather than on the basis of whether it's

When we're looking to improve ourselves or society, a very common problem is that we're trying to do too much. We notice that there are many things we in principle could improve: our sleep, our training

Most people who are pro-choice are "pro-choice, with caveats." For example, most pro-choice people I'm aware of are quite fine with abortions being illegal in the final trimester, except for

(Image: PA/GETTY) There are two basic attitudes one can have towards life. Some look at the world and say, "I want to live", while others say, "I don't want to die". A culture is kind

Senator Tom Cotton has proposed banning Chinese students from studying STEM fields in the United States, because he fears this will help China economically and technologically, and that a wealthier and

In cased you missed it, the World Health Organization deleted a misleading tweet about COVID-19 immunity. Rather than drawing conclusions about the characteristics of a new virus on the basis of a tweet

At this point, it's hard to believe that there are still virus deniers but alas, there are a plenty. Even as we succumb to 9/11 levels of fatalities each and every day, and are on course to surpass the

All of the following statements are true, to my knowledge: There are virology labs all around the world that study deadly viruses. Sometimes these labs have security breaches Smallpox accidentally escaped

Bill Gates was right when he said that when historians write about this pandemic, the larger part of that text will be documenting the months and years after the initial outbreak. While the curves appear

Say you're someone who believes that in order to most effectively address the COVID pandemic, a high amount of government restrictions on individual movement is necessary, including stay at home orders

In case you missed it, Trump pledged on Twitter to end immigration during the pandemic. Evidently an attempt to change the narrative from the intense criticism his administration is facing over the blunderous

One factor in responses to the pandemic that hasn't got much attention is the way health systems have developed over the last few decades. Back in 1970 in the UK, there was 9.3 hospital beds per thousand

I keep seeing folks complaining about how the "death toll isn't what was predicted." Isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that mean that some of our social distancing efforts WORKED? Here's what

In early February, forecasting tournaments, financial markets, journalists, random public health people, and amateurs all gave a low likelihood to a serious SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (<5%), and in hindsight,

I have seen many people discussing mechanical ventilators and the role they are playing in the treatment of COVID-19. Many have speculated that they may be overused. I'd like to give a little bit of background

People's views are heavily influenced by political tribalism. The simplest form is probably something like “my mom and dad and college buddies all vote [Republican/Democrat] in every election, so I'm going

One of the most frustrating things about modern American politics is that, in my experience, too few people actually have logically consistent and well-thought-out reasons for supporting or opposing policies.