In The News

June 30, 2020
The European Union, seeking to protect its citizens from the Covid-19 pandemic and citing epidemiological factors like testing trends and serious public health responses, is opening its borders to nationals from 14 nations. The EU is also extending a travel ban imposed in mid-March for travelers from the United States, Brazil, Russia and most other countries beyond July 1. The United States, with...
June 29, 2020
Iran is limiting provision of family planning services at state-run facilities to counter a decline in population growth. Iran’s median age is 32, slightly higher than the world’s median age of 30. The World Bank reports Iran’s fertility rate at 2.1 children per women, which is replacement level. The government also reports that marriage rates dropped by 40 percent in a decade. “Vasectomies will...
David Rotman June 23, 2020
The world received early warnings about Covid-19’s high transmission and mortality rates in early January, weeks before the disease took beyond China where it originated. Muddled communications, slow development of tests, fragmented data collection systems and equipment shortages compounded the spread. “In an age of big data in which companies like Google and Amazon use all sorts of personal...
Harold Hongju Koh and Lawrence O. Gostin June 7, 2020
The United States represents about 25 percent of the world’s confirmed Covid-19 cases. US withdrawal from the World Health Organization, as proposed by the president based on false claims, would damage global health security and the rule of law. The US Congress can hold hearings and opponents can go to court, arguing the president lacks constitutional authority. Trump is correct that WHO should...
Harold Hongju Koh June 1, 2020
Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, another treaty arrangement, in the midst of a pandemic. The Trump administration may be trying to deflect attention from a disastrous pandemic response, yet Harold Koh of Yale Law School focuses on legal issues: Trump, lacking legal authority, did not actually withdraw the US from WHO, and...
Gregory Barber May 26, 2020
With Covid-19’s emergence in 2019, researchers quickly noticed that the disease was especially lethal for older people and suggested that while children could carry the virus their symptoms were mild. Then reports emerged in Europe and the United States of children entering hospitals with fever, rashes, low blood pressure and disruptions to the immune system – a few weeks after having contracted...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon May 20, 2020
Any attempt to suppress reports of Covid-19 cases by jurisdictions hoping to protect their tourism industry is a nightmare for the world. Data transparency is key in containing the pandemic, especially as nations strive to reopen their economies. Florida removed control of a public dashboard on Covid19 data from the geographic information system manager who developed the website for the Florida...