Even before the pandemic, Mexico’s health care system was in crisis, with shortages of medical supplies, drugs, and personnel. A president that is downplaying the outbreak, brandishing amulets to “protect” him from the virus, isn’t helping matters. Baker Institute blog: https://bit.ly/2w6KJHV
Baker Institute health policy experts provide links to some of the sources they found helpful in understanding developments in the coronavirus outbreak.
The populist government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has largely discounted the threat of COVID-19, and the true extent of the outbreak Mexico may not yet be known. If conditions significantly change for the worse, the president faces not only a public health crisis but also the possible undoing of the country's populist experiment.
Coronavirus cases in Texas may grow as the state expands COVID-19 screening and the consequences of delayed decisions to limit public interactions set in. "No one should be surprised lim or panic as the figures roll out," write the authors in the Baker Institute Blog.
Hagop M. Kantarjian, Mary Alma WelchMarch 24, 2020
There is a flood of information about the coronavirus pandemic. In this Baker Institute blog, health policy fellow Vivian Ho provides links to some of the best sources followed by career health policy researchers.
In the second of a series of blogs on the coronovirus outbreak, the authors sound a note of cautious optimism: "We hope for a relatively optimistic outlook for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with the quick realization of all modifying interventions: earlier and broader testing, strict preventive hygienic and societal measures, a safe and effective vaccine, and effective therapies to treat the virus." Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.
Hagop M. Kantarjian, Leonard ZwellingMarch 19, 2020
As the number of coronavirus cases rises in Iran, nearby countries are scrambling to prevent the disease from spreading across borders. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.
The COVID-19 outbreak has now reached pandemic proportions, threatening the health of millions worldwide and adversely affecting the international economy. Understanding the status of COVID-19, its potential impact in the U.S., and the needed preventive measures could save many lives.
Hagop M. Kantarjian, Leonard ZwellingMarch 12, 2020
As Zika virus infection spreads across the Latin American and Caribbean region and into the southern United States, we can expect to see thousands of additional children born with microcephaly and more newborns or older infants with signs of more subtle but significant neurologic defects and developmental delays.
In this journal article, Peter J. Hotez, fellow in disease and poverty, examines reasons to believe that Zika virus could spread to vulnerable areas of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.