Category: Epidemiology
We are not “losing the war on cancer” (belated 2021 edition)
The narrative we hear time and time again is that we are "losing the war on cancer". The latest cancer statistics show that this narrative is not true.
COVID-19 is Deadlier Than the Flu for Children
While COVID-19 killed 500 children over the past year, the flu killed just one.
COVID-19 and balancing the risks: The vaccine or the virus
Given recent reports of myocarditis after vaccination with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines in young people, we think it's a good time to reexamine the risk/benefit ratio of these vaccines in this population.
“What Exactly Did the Virus do to All These People?” Reflections on Ted Nugent, Mel Q, Kelly Brogan, and John Ioannidis
The notion that many people are dying with SARS-CoV-2 not from SARS-CoV-2 has hindered our ability to contain to the virus. Whether the source is QAnon influencers or a highly credentialed scientists, we must push back on narratives that are used to minimize the danger of COVID-19.
Are COVID-19 Hospitalizations for Children Inflated?
Some recent articles portray children as relatively safe from the harms of COVID-19. Taking a critical look at the numbers and arguments, I see things a different way.
Deaths and Excess Deaths in Brazil
By misinterpreting excess mortality statistics, Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt minimizes the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil (and also America).
What the heck happened to John Ioannidis?
John Ioannidis is one of the most published and influential scientists in the world, someone whose skewering of bad medical research we at SBM have frequently lauded over the years. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Since then, Prof. Ioannidis has been publishing dubious studies that minimize the dangers of the coronavirus, shown up in the media to decry "lockdowns," and, most recently,...
Germ theory denial in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic
As hard as it is to believe, in the middle of a global pandemic that's claimed so many lives and so thoroughly disrupted society, there are people who still deny germ theory. How can this be?
2020 and the pandemic: A year of (some) physicians behaving badly
Looking back on 2020, if there's one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it's that crises reveal character. Unfortunately, the character of too many physicians has been found wanting, as they spent 2020 denying the pandemic, peddling quack cures, or spreading misinformation in the service of defying public health interventions. What can be done?
COVID-19 and Tooth Loss
Reports that teeth are spontaneously falling out after COVID-19 recovery are surfacing. Is tooth loss yet another complication of this disease?