Is it safe to nip out for milk? Should I download the COVIDSafe app? Is it OK to wear my pyjamas in a Zoom meeting? All these extra decisions are taking their toll.
Perceptions about coronavirus “only killing old people” highlight the ageist way we sometimes refer to death and dying. Greek myth shows this isn’t new and ancient plays laid out the distinction.
It is normally a bad idea to let super funds borrow, but these aren’t normal times. There’s a (limited) case for allowing them to borrow from the Reserve Bank.
Google searches for the word “prayer” have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic. With the world feeling vulnerable, more people are finding solace in online religious gatherings.
Nic Geard, The University of Melbourne; Jodie McVernon, The University of Melbourne, and Katherine Gibney, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Testing and isolating cases only after they develop symptoms might not be enough to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19. Sentinel surveillance, by testing randomly in the community, can go further.
In a crisis, there’s no time to get perfect evidence. The evidence that lockdowns contain contagion and boost subsequent economic growth is persuasive.
Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Howard Njoo are reflected in a computer screen showing date on Canada’s COVID-19 situation during a news conference in Ottawa on April 13, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Gathering race-based data during the coronavirus pandemic is essential for Indigenous communities, racialized people and those with disabilities and mental health challenges.
Despite veiled threats from the Chinese government, and the desire in some parts of the Australian community for a split, China and Australia need each other.
Economists are using models to try to determine what short- and long-term impacts the coronavirus pandemic will have on the global economy.
(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
As countries get ready to re-open their economies, will there be a post-pandemic recovery? History and current economic models suggest those looking for a quick rebound will be disappointed.
Colourized scanning electron micrograph of a cell heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles.
(The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Flickr)
Fundamental research has informed what we know about coronaviruses up until the pandemic. With possible future outbreaks, continuing and developing this type of work is crucial.
Testing in cells is an important and exciting first step.
elkor/E+ via Getty Images
Nevan Krogan, University of California, San Francisco
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, identified nine existing drugs that show promise to treat COVID-19. The proteins they target haven’t been tried before.
A black swan event must meet three criteria: it must be an outlier, must have a major impact and must be declared predictable in hindsight.
(Buiobuione/Wikimedia)
The danger of treating COVID-19 as an astronomically rare and improbable event is that we will treat it as such and fail to prepare for the next pandemic. And there will be another pandemic.
Economic distress was the norm for many before the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic is an opportunity to provide an economically secure future for all.
A worker walks through a tunnel in the Cameco uranium mine at Cigar Lake, Sask., in 2015.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne