Different Takes: Pros, Cons Of All The Numbers About Infections, Causes Of Deaths; Lock Downs Are Better When Targeted

San Francisco Chronicle: How The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Even Worse Than We Thought 
The evidence is mounting that many more Americans have died of coronavirus complications than we know. It’s the grimmest of many unknowns about the pandemic whose spread could accelerate again as the president and some state and local officials push to resume business as usual. (5/4)

CNN: No, The CDC Isn't Fiddling With The Coronavirus Death Numbers 
Over the weekend, a "fact" about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention downgrading the number of dead to 37,000 went viral. "Did I read this wrong or did the CDC just revised the national COVID-19 deaths to 37,308?!?!" tweeted Tim Young, who identifies himself as an author, host and comedian on his Twitter bio. Soon, the idea was everywhere on the conservative side of the internet. The CDC was openly admitting that the number of dead from coronavirus was FAR less than the 67,000+ deaths commonly being reported by the media. (Chris Cillizza, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Targeted Lockdowns Are Better 
Americans are paying a fearsome price for the government’s strict lockdowns of American life and commerce, and now comes evidence that targeted lockdowns aimed at protecting those who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus would be better for public health and the economy. That conclusion comes in a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by MIT economists Daron Acemoglu, Victor Chernozhukov, Iván Werning and Michael Whinston. The authors compared relative risks of infection, hospitalization and death for the young, the middle-aged and those over age 65. They then compared strict lockdowns that treat all age groups the same with a more targeted strategy that protects the old. (5/4)

The Washington Post: ‘Serology’ Is The New Coronavirus Buzzword. Here’s Why It Matters. 
“Serology” is the new buzzword in covid-19 epidemiology, for good reason. Widespread tests to determine whether people are “seropositive” — carrying antibodies indicating that they have been infected with the virus — are essential to understanding where we are in the pandemic. But in the rush to generate and interpret serologic data, it can be hard for anyone, including experts, to understand what serologic studies can and cannot teach us. Why are they so important, and what decisions will they inform? If carrying the covid-19 antibody confers immunity, then half to two-thirds of the population must be seropositive before we can expect to control the virus without social distancing, contact tracing or other special measures. (Mark Lipsitch, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Medical Research Is Locked Down, Too
I lead clinical trials for medications to treat crippling disorders such as stroke and brain hemorrhages. During the past few months, every one of these studies has come to a grinding halt. The pandemic has thrown clinical trials, the lifeblood of new treatments, into disarray. The consequences will be significant. Some studies won’t be able to restart. Others will be delayed for years. By my rough estimate, as many as 200,000 clinical trials across the world may be affected. At Yale, where I run a research program in brain injury, some 500 research protocols have been placed on hold. (Kevin Sheth, 5/4)

The New York Times: Food Stamps Can Help Fight Hunger During The Coronavirus Pandemic
Americans are lined up dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands deep at food pantries across the nation. One in every six Americans has lost their job in the pandemic, and the number will likely grow much larger before we start adding jobs again. Since March when business shutdowns began to prevent exposure to Covid-19, 1.9 million Texans have filed applications for benefits. That’s more than double all the claims submitted in the state in the entire year of 2019. In Iowa, more people filed for unemployment in March than in all of 2019. (Matt Russell, Robert Leonard and Beto O’Rourke, 5/4)

The Hill: Our Hospitals' Outsourced Janitors Make Us All Sicker 
All indications are that COVID-19 survives for days on hard surfaces and possibly even soft ones. So, once doctors and nurses undertake their heroic work to save a patient’s life, someone has to mop the floor and wipe the room down, not missing a single drawer handle, light switch, or doorknob. This responsibility falls to “environmental service” or EVS workers, the label that health care administrators apply to hospital cleaners. And, roughly one-quarter of EVS workers are employed not by the facilities in which they work, but by a contract cleaning agency. (Adam Seth Litwin, 5/4)

Boston Globe: Coronavirus Can Mean A Death Sentence To Prisoners 
Many judges, federal and state, and many prosecutors and governors, have recognized that this is a humanitarian crisis. To the others, the pain of the imprisoned, their blinding fear of the infected surface or the unmasked sneeze, is irrelevant. The habits of mass incarceration die hard. (Nancy Gertner, 5/4)