A very wise dude said: 'Feel free to ignore the science, but doing so will not change the outcome'

⇒ Issue #67

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 07/03: 106,643*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 07/03: 8,700*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 07/03: 10,890,511*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 07/03: 521,694*

July 3, 2020 — Hello, CurveFlatteners. On this Friday morning you've got Chronicle staff editor, Cory Perla, reporting to you from the historic and welcoming lakeport city of Buffalo, N.Y. I'm here to wish a belated happy Canada Day (a.k.a., "Cory Perla's Birthday") to my Canadian friends and an early Happy Independence Day to my American friends, neighbours and relatives.

One friend who is Canadian planned on crossing the border into the U.S. about a week ago and here is what happened: She drove across the Peace Bridge to the U.S.A., where, as expected, she encountered custom agents. Her attempt to enter America was quickly—and predictably—thwarted and she was told to go home. No surprises there. She had been in the U.S. for all of a minute and a half and never left her car, but that triggered Canadian authorities to note her phone number and e-mail address, and to follow up with her daily for the next eight days to ensure that she was self-isolating, as policy dictates.

That degree of vigilance doesn’t seem to be happening here in the States. Why is it that we can’t or refuse to figure out how to handle this crisis in a manner comparable to every other developed country in the world? This is not rocket science, said Dr. Brooks Gump in an editorial for the U.S. News & World Report.

”Feel free to ignore the science, but doing so will not change the outcome,” he said. We can control the virus using testing, tracing and isolating, he said—the procedures that my Canadian friend encountered after her one-minute-and 35-second trip to the U.S.—but our federal leadership and that in some states relaxed restrictions too soon, sending us back to a very grim and very discouraging drawing board.

Small wonder that Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that he wants the border to remain closed to “reckless” Americans. According to the CNN cable network, the U.S. has 4 per cent of the world's population, but 25 per cent of its coronavirus cases.

To compound the problems caused by lack of testing, tracing, and isolating, it turns out that the current outbreaks happening in the southern parts of the U.S. could be caused in part by air-conditioning, according to Harvard University infectious disease expert Edward Nardell.

“The states that, in June, are already using a lot of air conditioning because of high temperatures are also the places where there have been greater increases in the spread of COVID-19, suggesting more time indoors as temperatures rise,” Nardell said. “The same [thing] happens in wintertime, with more time indoors.”

Am I sounding like a gloomy Gustavo on the occasion of America's 244th birthday? Perhaps I am, as I consider that if and when an effective treatment does pop up, it could cost thousands of dollars for Americans who are out of work, or those who that have had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs causing them to be no longer be able to afford health insurance. That's our system. And as John Mellencamp famously asked, "Ain't that America?"

On the bright side, researchers are learning more and more about the virus every day. See some of the latest research below.


COVID CHRONICLE 07/03/20

• A study has found that the U.S. death toll from Covid-19 may be as much as 35 per cent higher than estimated. The study looked at weekly death data in the U.S. from January to April and the previous 6 years. Between March 1 and April of this year, there were 505,059 deaths, of which 56,246 were attributed to Covid-19. Researchers found large increases in death from heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases in the same period, which may represent “non-respiratory manifestations” of Covid-19 or health problems exacerbated by the disturbance of lifestyle routines, such as the ability to access healthcare or loss of occupation.
• A new study has helped to explain the phenomenon of Covid-19 patients who experience life-threateningly low oxygen levels, but who otherwise do not have difficulty breathing. Observation of 16 patients with Covid-19 with blood-oxygen levels as low as 50 per cent, but without shortness of breath, found evidence that the brains of these patients may not be registering the low oxygen levels that would trigger the shortness of breath feeling. Investigators said that this research indicates that more than just oxygen levels should be taken into account when physicians are making the decision to intubate.
• Individuals who socially distanced before when their respective states mandated it likely helped slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Authors of the study said that it strongly supports the notion that social distancing is an effective form of defence against the virus. “Critically, if individual-level actions were not taken and social distancing behaviour was delayed until the state-level directives were implemented, COVID-19 would have been able to circulate unmitigated for additional weeks in some locations, inevitably resulting in more infections and deaths,” said Prof. Lauren Gardner who led the study.

STORIES CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY
How effective is telemedicine? A new study from researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia answers that question by looking at the effectiveness of virtual appointments in treating kids with neurological conditions. We'll discuss the implications of their findings with authors of the study and other experts in the field.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING TONIGHT...
Unnatural Selection on Netflix. The show looks at how CRISPR gene-editing technology is being used by professional researchers and amateur biohackers to shape environments and bodies.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
What are you doing to pass the time? How is social distancing doing for you? What are your thoughts on the pandemic? Use the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues. Enjoy your weekend, folks. My friend Dhiren Mahiban will pick up the coverage on Monday.