Dean's COVID-19 Commentary

Mar 27, 2023

Two weeks ago, I questioned whether we would ever nail down the origins of SARS-CoV-2, motivated by the “low confidence” conclusion of the Department of Energy favoring the lab leak hypothesis. Only a week later, a new analysis of data from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan suggested that the mode of emergence may have been from animals in the market.

Mar 13, 2023

An anniversary edition, three years after COVID-19 abruptly transformed the way that we live. On Friday, March 13, 2020, we sent out a communication that announced that education would transition to remote and non-critical employees would also work remotely. I wrote the first of over 140 commentaries on the pandemic that week.

Mar 1, 2023

The saga of East Palestine continues as yet another public health problem is politicized and “lawyerized.” My distant read of the minds of people in East Palestine is that they are worried about health risks that they face now and in the future.

Feb 23, 2023

For more than two weeks, the train derailment and toxic spill in East Palestine, Ohio, have been in the news. Per the New York Times, more than 1,000 trains derail each year, many carrying toxic and flammable substances.

Feb 14, 2023

The COVID-19 pause continues in Colorado. Vaccination data indicate a gap for those under age 11 and only 27% of Coloradans have had a bivalent booster.

Feb 2, 2023

Another good week for Colorado. All indicators for the COVID-19 pandemic continue to move downward as are those for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Jan 23, 2023

For now, the Colorado COVID-19 report remains encouraging. Let’s enjoy the lull while staying wary and vaccinated.

Jan 9, 2023

COVID calm continues in Colorado. This good news comes a week after the end of the holidays, suggesting that we may not experience a holiday-driven surge.

Jan 4, 2023

Happy New Year. I hope for a quiescent pandemic making its way to calm endemicity. There is much else to hope for to benefit public health.

Dec 19, 2022

In Colorado, the “tripledemic” continues. Hospital capacity is strained. COVID-19 hospitalizations seem to be slowly ebbing downwards with the count dropping from 440 to 399 to 395 over the last three weeks. Test positivity has turned the corner as well.

Dec 12, 2022

We are nearing the three-year mark for the pandemic and facing an uncertain future that will depend on the mutational whims of SARS-CoV-2. With a lengthy pandemic ordeal perhaps coming to an endemic end, now is the right time for a full assessment of lessons learned.

Nov 28, 2022

I wrote this commentary over the Thanksgiving break, always a time to catch up on reading and pondering. This year, climate change captured my attention as the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ended.

Nov 21, 2022

Sadly, we once again find ourselves mourning the victims of another horrific shooting; this one carried out in Colorado Springs over the weekend and targeting the LGBTQ+ community. And a just-published paper in the NEJM provides real-world evidence on the effectiveness of school mask mandates.

Nov 7, 2022

I was asked by Alfredo Morabia, a friend and editor of the American Journal of Public Health, to participate in a panel discussion at APHA's national meeting on “Modernizing CDC.” To prepare, I read Silent Invasion by Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator during the Trump Administration.

Oct 24, 2022

Academia has returned to its 2019 guise with in-person meetings and a reactivated lecture circuit. Many meetings had been postponed by the pandemic. Now, the fall schedule is filled with make-up events. On October 14, I spoke at Johns Hopkins on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Oct 18, 2022

Causation was on my mind this week, as it has been many times in the past. The finding that an association is causal may have profound implications and lead to action.

Oct 12, 2022

Former residents of Camp Lejeune have become a new target of a tsunami of advertisements from lawyers, recruiting people who may be eligible for compensatory damages due to the long history of contaminated drinking water on the base.

Oct 4, 2022

Over the last month, I have read Fiona Hill’s "There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century" — a book for our times. You may remember her name from the first impeachment of President Trump during which she testified on matters related to Russia and Ukraine. I was particularly absorbed by her account of classism in the United Kingdom.

Sep 26, 2022

Colorado first. The hospitalization count for September 20 was 145, down from 159 on September 13. However, test positivity is trending up, reaching 5.63%. Not to contradict President Biden, but the COVID-19 pandemic is not over.

Sep 19, 2022

Colorado’s air quality problems were in the news last week, as the Environmental Protection Agency shifted the status of the Denver Metro/Northern Front Range ozone non-attainment region to severe, raising questions about what should be done to grapple with rising ozone pollution.