Preliminary estimates suggest that suicide deaths declined amid the unprecedented mental-health and economic challenges last year. But experts are urging against complacency — and raising concerns about certain populations during the pandemic’s second year. The U.S. had 2,677 fewer suicide deaths in 2020 than in 2019, translating to a 5.6% …
Read More »Dispatches from a Pandemic: Italy’s leading epidemiologist on why the virus has spread in a ‘surprisingly enduring’ way, and how Germany managed lower deaths
People wearing face masks stroll and relax along the seafront near the Castel dell’Ovo fortress in downtown Naples on Nov. 12, 2020, amid a surge of COVID-19 cases overwhelming hospitals. AFP via Getty Images Many are facing the harsh reality that Italy has a terrible second wave as the cold …
Read More »Coronavirus update: CDC says nearly 300,000 excess American deaths have occurred during pandemic
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus illness COVID-19 rose above 221,000 on Wednesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, as the nation’s leading public health agency said almost 300,000 Americans have died during the pandemic, including fatalities that would not have happened without the virus. In a …
Read More »CityWatch: Poor, dense neighborhoods in New York’s outer boroughs have highest rate of COVID-19 deaths, ZIP Code data shows
Neighborhoods in southeast Queens as well as Brooklyn have the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the city, according to data New York City’s health department made public for the first time on Monday afternoon. The deaths by ZIP Code offer a new window into how the coronavirus has ripped …
Read More »Coronavirus update: 1.62 million cases worldwide, 97,200 deaths, and U.S. fatalities are second only to Italy
The number of U.S. cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rose Friday to exceed the combined tolls of Spain, Italy and France, the next three countries with high case counts, while the number of deaths climbed to second place behind Italy. There are now 1.62 million confirmed cases of …
Read More »CityWatch: Number of coronavirus deaths in New York flattens and hospitalizations fall, suggesting social distancing is working
With the number of COVID-19 deaths flat two straight days and new hospitalizations falling, New York is possibly entering the pandemic’s apex, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday. However, he stressed that New Yorkers need to practice better social distancing and extended the state’s lockdown until at least April 29. …
Read More »Coronavirus update: 1.04 million cases, 55,132 deaths and U.S. health care workers clamor for masks and gloves
The U.S. labor market showed further signs of damage from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 on Friday as the global case tally continued to extend beyond a million and the death toll passed 54,000. Nearly four billion people around the world are now under some order restricting their movements, according …
Read More »Coronavirus update: Global case count 526,044 with 23,709 deaths, and jobless benefit seekers soar to historic levels
The number of global cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above half a million on Thursday, and U.S. jobless claims soared to a historic level after workers were laid off or furloughed as non-essential services were ordered to close. The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits …
Read More »How do you choose between economic ‘deaths of despair’ and coronavirus victims? Economists, lawmakers grapple with a moral conundrum
How do you strike a balance between the country’s economic life and actual human life? Is putting America back to work sooner rather than later a Sisyphean task, the equivalent of rolling a rock perpetually uphill while up to 2 million people die of COVID-19? Or does the Sisyphean task …
Read More »