Smart Talk About COVID

Last week I hosted a webinar featuring Avik Roy of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and Karin Housley, a Minnesota state Senator who chairs the Senate’s Committee on Family Care and Aging. The event turned out better than I could have expected. Roy, with whom I hadn’t worked before, is a brilliant guy who, more than anyone else, has analyzed the demographics of COVID and has documented the failures of some states to protect seniors in nursing homes. Housley added a perspective that was hard-hitting, well-informed, and mostly local.

The webinar lasted for an hour. The main subject was the nursing home carnage that we have seen in states like New York and Minnesota, and why some states have done so much better than others. But there is lots more information. For example, does the “death toll” from COVID-19 constantly trumpeted by the press actually equate to people whose cause of death was COVID-19? (Spoiler: it doesn’t.) And how does the U.S. stack up against other countries?

This is one of the more fun and informative programs I have been involved in. I heartily commend it to your attention:

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