Welcome to Plugging the Gap (my email newsletter about Covid-19 and its economics). In case you don’t know me, I’m an economist and professor at the University of Toronto. I have written lots of books including, most recently, on Covid-19. You can follow me on twitter (@joshgans) or subscribe to this email newsletter here.
As I have been a little busy this week, I thought I’d drop a list of good articles I have read recently on Covid-19 that may satisfy your weekend reading itch.
Science: a call to stop throwing away important information from Covid-19 tests. It turns out that PCR tests provide a measure of viral load which could really help with Covid screening decisions. Why these are not used is still somewhat of a mystery? I suspect it is some form of distrust with giving people information which always sends me into a ‘pufferfish’ alert.
Bloomberg: Michael Lewis looks at the protestors for Covid restrictions.
The New Yorker: a heartbreaking account of how Covid online education is hurting significant groups of kids.
The Atlantic: it’s variance, variance, variance. We need to think twice about using data that shows us just averages as it can mask real and actional transmission patterns.
The Globe and Mail: how the Canadian government screwed up big time on the pandemic before it started by defunding the world’s most valuable pandemic alert system. Investigations continue.
Wired: an amazing story about a school-based pandemic management simulation. Must have for schools everywhere.
Fast Company: how the last big pandemic led to the Dixie Cup.
And, lastly, here are some links to pieces I have written recently, not part of this newsletter.
The Conversation: alert apps need a viral marketing strategy
The Toronto Star: push for rapid testing. Keep banging the drum!