COVID-19 cases are surging in the US, even after a costly two-month lockdown. What does this resurgence mean for the economy, which is currently struggling to recover from a deep recession? How will schools operate this fall amid the uncertainty? And how far out are we from discovering, manufacturing, and distributing a vaccine? In this special episode of Political Economy, I explore these questions — and many more — in an online panel discussion conducted last week with Scott Gottlieb, Rick Hess, and Michael Strain.

Scott Gottlieb is a resident fellow at AEI, and he is also the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Rick Hess is a resident scholar and the director of Education Policy Studies at AEI, and he is the author of several books, including Letters to a Young Education Reformer and Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age: Using Learning Science to Reboot Schooling. And Michael Strain is the John G. Searle Scholar and director of economic policy studies at AEI. He is also the author of The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).

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  1. Stephen Richter Member
    Stephen Richter
    @StephenRichter

    no discussion of the covid antigen test being pushed by Dr. Mina of Harvard?
    https://youtu.be/AZWuyvBAWWQ
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/health/rapid-Covid-tests.html

    the antigen test is cheap, offers a quick result, is done with saliva on a strip of paper. It can be done at home, or in the context of students attending school, the test can be performed as the student enters the school building. 

    Here is Dr Mina on the “this week in virology” podcast: https://youtu.be/kDj4Zyq3yOA?t=503

    as he explains, while the antigen test is not as accurate as the currently used PCR test, the accuracy is a function of viral load. The antigen test will detect the virus when a person is infected with an active virus. Which is when they are infectious to others. That is when you want to test people and get immediate results. Which is what the antigen test does.

    Here is medcram giving his seal of approval of the antigen test: https://youtu.be/h7Sv_pS8MgQ  Medcram puts out outstanding youtube videos on covid, twice a week.  Do any of the people in the Trump white house watch medcram?  I am confident Trump would listen to what he has to say.  

     

     

    • #1
  2. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Excellent podcast. Dr Gottleib was informative as usual and I liked the entire group’s discussion of the costs to kids (and society) of the shift to virtual learning for younger children. To date we have heard little of the future costs incurred by the children, but plenty about the teachers unions concerns.

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