- CBO: Social Security and Medicare to become insolvent in the next 10 years.
- Disappointing discovery: ChatGPT is politically biased.
- FDA Commissioner Robert Califf: Low Generic Prices Can Lead to Drug Shortages. (InsideHealthPolicy – gated)
- Florida Surgeon General issues an alert on adverse events connected to Covid vaccines.
- Reasons to have more sex: it reduces pain, relieves stress, improves sleep, lowers blood pressure and strengthens heart health. (NYT)
Category: COVID-19 and Public Health
States with the Most Restrictive Covid Measures Appear to Have Made Things Worse
- States with severe government interventions did not significantly improve health outcomes compared to states with more restrained approaches.
- This may be partly because government interventions appear to have increased excess mortality from non-COVID health conditions.
- Severe government interventions were strongly correlated with worse economic (increased unemployment and decreased GDP) and educational (fewer days of in-person schooling) outcomes.
- The economic and education damage was most severe for lower-income families and children.
Saturday Links
- Study finds health benefits (less asthma) from EV cars. Of course, that overlooks the death and maiming of children in cobalt mines in the Congo.
- Should prisoners be able to donate their organs in return for lighter sentences?
- Cystic Fibrosis drug costs $311,00 a year. But it’s “stunningly effective.”
- How deadly were Covid Lockdowns? “For Americans under 45, there were more excess deaths without the virus in 2020-2021 than with it.”
- Why isn’t it easy for nurses to practice across state lines? As a college professor, I never had any difficulty moving from state to state.
Covid Made the Doctor Shortage Worse but More Residencies Would Help
During the early months of the Covid pandemic many doctors would not treat the virus. My wife’s doctor, for instance, had a sign that read she didn’t treat Covid and patients with Covid or Covid symptoms were barred from entry. I heard similar stories from a number of people. Many medical offices were closed and isolating at home seemed to be the most common therapy until patients became sick enough to visit an emergency room or qualified for a hospital bed. Later in the pandemic as more was known about the virus doctors began experimenting with treatments.