How do we fight the pandemic without losing everything we're fighting for? Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik discuss how to focus the fight on what works best, how to avoid an absolutist stand with impossibly high standards, and whether we can abandon the measures that are more like the performance of safety.

Episode reading list:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/briefing/trump-covid-chick-corea-olympics-president.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/americas-bipartisan-covid-19-illiteracy/617368/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/upshot/epidemiologists-virus-survey-.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/pandemic-restrictions-no-logic/617204/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/hygiene-theater-still-waste/617939/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/wear-your-mask-and-stop-talking/615796/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/world/asia/covid-cleaning.html

https://nypost.com/2021/01/19/3-out-of-4-riders-say-mta-cleaning-for-covid-makes-them-feel-safer/

The U.S. and Europe have grown accustomed to hearing about vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. How about vaccines developed in Russia, China, and India that have been administered for weeks or months and are being given to millions of people in dozens of countries? Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik consider the varied approaches to vaccination and ask whether there's a better way.

Episode reading list:

https://zeynep.substack.com/p/why-you-should-take-any-vaccine

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/08/the-sputnik-v-vaccine-and-russias-race-to-immunity

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-coronavirus-vaccinations/2021/01/15/342a7282-55c9-11eb-acc5-92d2819a1ccb_story.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/argentina-is-a-testing-ground-for-moscows-global-vaccine-drive-11610965529

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-06/putin-s-once-scorned-vaccine-is-now-a-favorite-in-pandemic-fight

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-coronavirus-vaccine-sputnik/2020/11/25/8ebb62fe-186d-11eb-8bda-814ca56e138b_story.html?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_23

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/9/russia-china-seek-to-expand-mena-influence-through-vaccines

Before the novel coronavirus emerged, we had rankings of countries' readiness. Now we have rankings of countries' responses, using all kinds of measures. Co-hosts Jeff Sackmann and Carl Bialik consider the rankings. Do we know enough to say how well people and their governments have responded? How much does luck play a role? Is it too early for a true assessment?

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Episode reading list:

https://news.yahoo.com/brazils-covid-19-response-worst-023523992.html

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/which-country-has-had-the-best-response-to-the-coronavirus.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02596-8

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-03/singapore-s-covid-success-isn-t-easily-replicated

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/03/swedish-model-failed-covid-19

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/22/sweden-coronavirus-covid-response/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-22/how-winter-california-covid-19-surge-got-so-bad

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/01/15/ireland-has-one-of-the-worlds-highest-covid-19-infection-rates

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/business/coronavirus-vaccines-global-economy.html