Can’t decide whether to attend a Thanksgiving dinner this year? Or even the grocery store? Now there’s a way to help assess the risk of attending events anywhere in the U.S. If you want to know where the coronavirus risks are, this COVID risk calculator can help. The COVID-19 Risk Assessment Planning Tool was built by […] More
A new report from the BlackRock Investment Institute predicts the coronavirus pandemic will lead to just a fraction of the economic damage caused by the 2008 financial crisis. The report may seem hard to believe, as the U.S. coronavirus case numbers continue to break records, but BlackRock says promising vaccine news from Moderna and Pfizer […] More
Live music seems like one of the last events likely to return in a post-pandemic world, given the close proximity of screaming fans at concerts. After months of canceled music festivals, closed venues, and virtual gigs, however, new research has people wondering if indoor concerts are safe to attend during the pandemic. In early November, German […] More
Amazon collected more profits in the first nine months of 2020 than it did in all of 2019, according to the company’s third-quarter earnings report. The giant online marketplace continues to benefit from a pandemic-induced increase in e-commerce spending. According to data from IBM’s U.S. retail index and the U.S. Census Bureau, department store sales […] More
A new algorithm can accurately give a coronavirus diagnosis solely through the sound of a cough. Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Auto-ID Laboratory, the artificially intelligent technology was recently tested on 2,500 people. It correctly identified 97.1% of those with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 100% of those with asymptomatic cases. Researchers behind […] More
An altered version of the coronavirus called the D614G mutation now accounts for close to 85% of all COVID-19 cases in the world. Experts believe new research suggests the mutation is more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain. A recent study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal mBIO surveyed more than 5,000 coronavirus patients at […] More
In a single week, the United States broke its coronavirus case record and the White House claimed to “end” COVID-19. Now, rumors are swirling that President Donald Trump’s administration is adopting a herd immunity strategy. According to the Daily Beast, President Trump’s COVID-19 advisors are pushing for the controversial strategy. The White House has denied […] More
After closing its borders to international travelers on March 18, Costa Rica began welcoming them back on Aug 1. The country opened in phases, first accepting visitors from non-US regions before allowing American residents from select states on Sept 1. By Nov. 1, everybody from the U.S. will be welcome, so yes, Americans can travel […] More
Drugmaker Regeneron said in late October that patients who received its experimental COVID-19 cocktail made about 57% fewer coronavirus-related medical visits than those who received a placebo during a 29-day period. The antibody therapy made headlines earlier this month after it was revealed that it speeded up President Trump’s recovery time from COVID-19. “They gave […] More
Four prominent COVID-19 vaccines currently in development could increase the risk of HIV, according to a report published in medical journal The Lancet. The vaccines in question use a modified virus called adenovirus 5 (Ad5) as a vector to administer the protein gene SARS-CoV-2—the viral cause of the coronavirus—into the body. Scientists are concerned because […] More
As more schools reopen around the world, growing evidence suggests little correlation between in-person learning and the spread of the coronavirus. In the U.S., 24 of the 50 largest school districts in the states have resumed in-person schooling, and 11 more plan to do the same in the coming weeks. Although school teachers have died […] More
A recent study by researchers at King’s College London revealed that older people, women, and those with a myriad of symptoms in their first week of COVID-19 are more likely to develop “long COVID.” The paper defines “long COVID” as having symptoms for more than four weeks. A shorter bout of COVID-19 typically causes symptoms […] More