Covif-19 Pandemic
 Here’s the latest news: Pence’s press secretary tests positive for Covid-19South Korea faces new flare-up in virus cases tied to nightclubsGermany’s new coronavirus cases fall for first time in four days Fast science is still slow, and that’s not bad Scientists have published almost 2,500 studies on Covid-19 this year. That doesn’t even count a cascade of preprints and drafts posted online before the arduous process of review by a scientific journal. To say this is a lot is an understatement. Even at the height of the panic a decade and a half ago over the related virus SARS, scientists didn’t publish anywhere close to 1,000 coronavirus studies in a whole year. Science is moving fast, and it is showing us more about this virus every day. But all this research doesn’t mean instant answers to the questions and concerns surrounding the pandemic. Scientists still don’t know exactly how infectious children are and how re-opening schools and daycares will affect spread in communities. A vaccine is probably at least 18 months away. And while the virus is clearly mutating, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory raised eyebrows worldwide with a recent paper—published online prior to peer review—that suggested one variant might be more contagious. Science’s questioning dance of hypothesis, experiment, analysis, conclusions and more hypothesis usually plays out further from the political stage. But now, with politicians—and their worried and sometimes angry constituents—demanding quick solutions, the gap is growing between how fast science really works and how fast we wish it would work. One case in point is the intensifying debate over the source of the pandemic. U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory. The Chinese government demurs. The World Health Organization says it came from animals, most likely starting in a bat—but because science is slow, it can’t say yet exactly which other species might have been involved, and how. We need more research. The WHO is planning another mission to China to look into the animal origin more closely—work that was impossible earlier this year at the height of the wave of infections there. Where I sit in Germany, with shops and schools reopening amid cautious optimism about having weathered the epidemic’s first wave, Chancellor Angela Merkel—herself a physicist—has warned that solutions will take time. “We are not living after the pandemic but in the middle of a pandemic,” Helge Braun, chief of Merkel’s Chancellory and a medical doctor, told public radio this week. Other governments have been calling to ask the secret to Germany’s relatively successful response, Braun said. Part of it was certainly listening to scientists from the beginning and patience with a lack of easy answers.—Naomi Kresge Track the virus Where the Small-Business Money Is Flowing One of the surprising features of the U.S. government’s early small-business rescue was that it showered money on states least hurt by the pandemic and overlooked some hit the hardest. Now, that gap is closing.  What you should read Indonesia Warns of Health Threat From Haze The dry season in the Asian nation could make coronavirus patients sicker. The Most Promising Vaccine Candidates Drug companies and universities are testing scores of possible inoculations. Virus Challenges Rival Drugstore Giants CVS and Walgreens are on different paths, but face a common foe. Pandemic Leads to Drop in Mass Shootings U.S. mass shooting plunge 24% in April, helped by lockdowns. Ibiza of the Alps Under Scrutiny Austrian authorities were warned ski resort was virus hotspot. Know someone else who would like this newsletter? Have them sign up here. Have any questions, concerns, or news tips on Covid-19 news? Get in touch or help us cover the story. Like this newsletter? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Follow Us Get the newsletter You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Daily newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022 |
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