Perspectives: Covid-19 Rapid Tests Key To Resuming Normalcy; Analyzing Sham Covid Treatments
Opinion writers examine these covid and vaccine topics.
The New York Times:
Rapid Tests For Covid-19 Make Pandemic Life Easier
In Germany, you can buy a rapid Covid-19 test at the grocery store for one euro (a little more than a dollar). In Britain, any household can obtain a pack of seven rapid tests every day for free. In Singapore, you can get a free rapid test from a vending machine. Families in Israel receive at-home rapid tests for their children to use before school. Rapid testing is commonplace in many parts of the world because policymakers recognized early on that the tests could blunt the pandemic by stopping chains of transmission. By letting people know they are infectious, rapid tests are useful even in areas with high vaccination rates and can allow for a safer return to in-person activity. (Michael J. Mina and Steven Phillips, 10/1)
Kansas City Star:
MO Science Teacher Tells The Truth About Ivermectin, COVID
It has been said that the best way to tell a lie is to speak part of the truth and then simply stop. This tactic has been used repeatedly to attack the new COVID-19 vaccines, while promoting semi-quack medicines such as hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and oleandrin. Let me explain what I mean by semi-quack medicines. These are real prescription drugs with genuine appropriate uses in modern medicine, but are being misapplied to treat other diseases in a manner bordering on quackery. This has continued despite having adequate supplies of effective vaccines because: (Pat Ryan, 10/1)
Bloomberg:
The People’s Guide To Assessing Covid Risk
We’re often told that humans are lousy at judging risk, and the pandemic seems to have confirmed this in spades. What else can explain vaccine hesitancy or otherwise healthy people wearing two masks as they walk alone, outside? Yet despite all the evidence pointing to our inability to make sense of risk, I’m still optimistic we can do better. To be fair, we’ve received many confusing messages from public health officials and the media. Take this excerpt from Smithsonian Magazine: (Allison Schrager, 9/30)
Modesto Bee:
No, You Don’t Know Better Than Dr. Fauci
As soon as I was eligible, I got my COVID-19 vaccination. After an anxious year of waiting, I felt like a kid on Christmas Day when I got my shots last winter. Having always heard that a great aunt was a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic, I didn’t want to extend that part of my family’s legacy. Vaccinations have been a normal part of life for us baby boomers. Over the years, I’ve gotten vaccinated for polio, measles, mumps, and rubella. More recently, I’ve gotten vaccines for both pneumococcus and shingles. (Marc Medefind, 9/30)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Legislators Should Protect Public Health, Not Limit Vaccine Mandates
The Legislature convened last week for its third special session with instructions to pass legislation regarding whether any state or local government entities in Texas can mandate that an individual receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and if so, what exemptions would apply to such a mandate. The Immunization Partnership is concerned that a broad interpretation of the governor’s proclamation could put at risk Texas lives, businesses and families at a time when unvaccinated individuals account for over 90 percent of COVID hospitalizations and an even greater percentage of those who die. (John T. Dugan III and Lindy McGee, 10/1)
The Washington Post:
Covid-19 Is Sticking Around. Time To Stop Pretending It’s Not Your Problem
The most senseless and self-destructive battle in this country today is not between Democrats and fellow Democrats, despite what the headlines might suggest. It is between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated — a split with dire consequences for the nation and the world. It is mystifying to me, and to many others, that such a divide could possibly exist. Yet an estimated 70 million Americans who are eligible to protect themselves against being hospitalized or dying from covid-19 have not done so. To be as generous as possible, some of those people may still worry about losing days off work to side effects or fear that getting a shot could reveal their undocumented status. But the selfishness and foolishness of people who don’t face those obstacles endanger not only their own health but everyone else’s as well. (Eugene Robinson, 9/30)
