The World Health Association has just adopted an agreement among states to make access to treatment for pandemics patients more equitable. Doctors St.John and Arya discuss its prospects for success.
Thanks, Robin. I wish I'd read that before the show. Could have contributed some ideas from it. I do watch Frum a lot now and like him. He used to be so conservative, but now he's an excellent commentator or Trumpism. Also, I should apologize for my error in referring to the "World Health Association" here. I knew it was the "WHA," which is the organization behind the WHO, but I invented the world "association" when it should have been "assembly." Anyway, it's the meeting. -Metta
David Frum of all people in Atlantic magazine wrote an excellent evaluation of what we did right and wrong during the COVID pandemic. Both overreach and science denial. Because so many don't understand how science works (it is always a work in process) when the messaging changed, many thought it was politics that was deciding what should be done, not the science. What is really telling is that the death rates were significantly higher in Republican states than Democratic states. But similarly there were consequences of keeping kids out of school; "Trump states" got twice as much in-school learning. Crimes by minors rose by 10% nationally (USA). There were errors by both COVID "minimizers and "maximizers." But, with imperfect information we do the best we can. And overall "COVID is a story of strength and resilience" and an incredible scientific adventure, and with smart fiscal (Keynesian spending), after a dramatic dip, the economies generally roared back to near normal-plus.
Thanks, Robin. I wish I'd read that before the show. Could have contributed some ideas from it. I do watch Frum a lot now and like him. He used to be so conservative, but now he's an excellent commentator or Trumpism. Also, I should apologize for my error in referring to the "World Health Association" here. I knew it was the "WHA," which is the organization behind the WHO, but I invented the world "association" when it should have been "assembly." Anyway, it's the meeting. -Metta
David Frum of all people in Atlantic magazine wrote an excellent evaluation of what we did right and wrong during the COVID pandemic. Both overreach and science denial. Because so many don't understand how science works (it is always a work in process) when the messaging changed, many thought it was politics that was deciding what should be done, not the science. What is really telling is that the death rates were significantly higher in Republican states than Democratic states. But similarly there were consequences of keeping kids out of school; "Trump states" got twice as much in-school learning. Crimes by minors rose by 10% nationally (USA). There were errors by both COVID "minimizers and "maximizers." But, with imperfect information we do the best we can. And overall "COVID is a story of strength and resilience" and an incredible scientific adventure, and with smart fiscal (Keynesian spending), after a dramatic dip, the economies generally roared back to near normal-plus.
W H Y T H E
C O V I D
D E N I E R S
W O N
Lessons from
the pandemic and
its aftermath
B Y D AV I D F R U M