Always Adjust COVID-19 Deaths for Population
This chart shows the total number of people who died in 2018 in nine different developed countries: Yikes! People are dying like flies in the United States. What’s going on? Obesity? Lung cancer? Deaths of despair? Of course not. We have a lot of deaths because we have a large population. Here’s the death toll…
The Trump Administration Just Extended Its COVID-19 Border Restrictions—Indefinitely
The San Ysidro border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, in late April.Francisco Vega/Getty Images For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.The Trump administration indefinitely extended its coronavirus border restrictions Tuesday, finalizing a rule that has allowed the government to turn away asylum seekers and other immigrants for public health…
Missouri Just Became the First State to Execute an Inmate During the Pandemic
Missouri Department of Corrections/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.On Tuesday evening, Missouri became the first state to carry out an execution in the midst of a pandemic that has infected 1.5 million people and killed approximately 90,000 in the United States alone. Walter Barton, a 64 year…
Shelter-in-Place Orders Saved Nearly 250,000 Lives
Wong Maye-E/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Finally, some good news: Despite months of botched coronavirus testing, limited treatment options and flip-flopping on masks, new research suggests something is working to flatten the curve—stay-at-home orders. According to an analysis by the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University’s Dornsife…
Big Freedia Is Making Party Music for People Who Can’t Party
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.It might seem like a weird moment to be releasing ass-shaking music. A worldwide pandemic has shut down the places where rump-wiggling typically thrives—bars, clubs, the darkened living-room floors of friends and friends of friends. If we can’t be together, we can…
How Fast Are People Returning to Pre-COVID Lifestyles?
I mentioned the other day that all projections of coronavirus spread going forward are based on estimates of how well various social distancing restrictions work. For things like school closures, this is easy to measure: schools are either open or closed, and we know the dates of both. Other things are not so easy. You…