We’re no longer talking about whether to lock down to fight the COVID-19 outbreak; that ship has sailed. Now we’re discussing how long we need to sustain the lockdown, and when we might get to see our friends, co-workers and family again. Five newly-released research and study papers provide important insights into the answer.
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Two off-the-beaten-path research papers on the coronavirus, with interesting results
There have been a flood of research papers released in the last few days related to coronavirus as the world’s researchers try to understand where this virus came from and what it does. Much of the work is either clinical to understand how to properly diagnose and treat patients, or epidemiological to understand (and hopefully control) how it spreads. But there are many other research teams exploring other aspects of the coronavirus; here are two such examples, with interesting results. One looks at whether there is reason to believe that at least some COVID patients lose their sense of smell; …
Continue readingNew coronavirus research sheds light on outcomes for patients, effectiveness of efforts to slow spread
Over the weekend, a research group led by a team at Imperial College in the UK published a paper looking at the effectiveness of various efforts taken by governments to stem the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. It has been credited with convincing UK and US government officials to get serious about moving quickly and decisively — but it also points to the rough road ahead of us.
Continue readingA trio of COVID-19 response announcements from the city (UPDATED 3/18)
Today the City of Seattle made three separate announcements of actions it is taking as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. (UPDATE 3/18 — see below on encampment cleanups)
Continue readingNotes from today’s Council meeting
This week the City Council meeting switched from Skype to a good old-fashioned conference call, featuring automated announcements every time someone entered or dropped the call and plenty of background chatter as the Council members called in from home. And yet they still managed to get a few things done.
Continue readingSeattle Municipal Court, City Attorney’s Office closed due to COVID-19 exposure
Both the Seattle Municipal Court and The Seattle City Attorney’s Office announced today that they will be closed to business March 16 through 20 due to employees testing positive for COVID-19.
Continue readingWednesday news roundup
Lots of news on the local impact of the coronavirus.
Continue readingWhat we know now about the coronavirus, and the response
A lot has happened in the six weeks since I first posted on the Wuhan coronavirus, now called COVID-19. In mid-January there were a handful of cases, not a lot of data, and almost no cases outside of one province in China. All three of those situations have changed somewhat, and with several confirmed cases and (as of this writing) six deaths in Washington state, it’s worth pausing for a moment and taking a hard look at what we know now.
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