Month: July 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday heeded calls from more than 200 scientists, who urged the global health authority to acknowledge that COVID-19 may spread by air. Previously, the WHO said contact with large respiratory droplets, like those expelled in a sick person’s cough or sneeze, appeared to be the primary way COVID-19 spreads. … Read more

On April 12, a meat-processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., owned by Smithfield Foods shut down after hundreds of employees contracted coronavirus. The closure was hardly unique. Food-processing plants are tinderboxes for infection because employees work in close proximity and often need to shout, spraying droplets that can be laced with the virus. Cargill, Tyson … Read more

Disruption to food production and supplies due to COVID-19 could cause more deaths from starvation than the disease itself, according to an Oxfam report published Thursday. The report found that 121 million more people could be “pushed to the brink of starvation this year” as a result of disruption to food production and supplies, diminishing … Read more

COVID-19 has brought much of the world came to a screeching halt. International borders have been shuttered, families have kept close to home, and governments have ordered businesses to close their doors. To see the scale of the impact, look no further than to global carbon emissions, which are projected to be 7% less in … Read more

On-site schooling is coming back despite unknowns about children spreading coronavirus. View original article Contributor: Joel Achenbach

Email from HHS adviser accusing CDC of ‘undermining President’ offers window into pressure on nation’s public health agency. View original article Contributor: Lena H. Sun

In a preliminary study, Italian researchers found the virus that causes covid-19 in umbilical cord blood, breast milk and elsewhere among a small sample of women who had the infection. View original article Contributor: Lenny Bernstein

A new report from Senate Democrats outlines testing failures. View original article Contributor: Rachel Weiner

Email records reveal how economic interests won out in Georgia, a dynamic also seen in other states. View original article Contributor: Isaac Stanley-Becker