by Kevin Schofield
This weekend’s read is a fascinating research paper from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), our hometown heroes based at the University of Washington who have cranked out some of the most important analysis on the spread of COVID-19 since the earliest days of the pandemic.
While we have learned much over the past two years about how COVID-19 is transmitted — and how to block it or at least slow it down — there are many mysteries regarding the virus that have yet to be unraveled. One of those mysteries is why both infection and fatality rates vary so much from country to country, defying geography, wealth, and other simple explanations. The IHME took on this question, attempting to discover what factors have correlated with infections and fatalities.
Continue reading Weekend Reads: Does Pandemic Preparedness Matter?