Hacker News with Generative AI: Pandemic

Palantir suggests 'common operating system' for UK govt data (theregister.com)
In a witness statement to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry [PDF], an ongoing independent public inquiry into the nation's response to the pandemic (in which around 208,000 people died), Louis Mosley, executive veep of Palantir Technologies UK, said the government should invest in a "common operating system" for its data, encompassing departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities.

Government, Data Management, UK, Technology, Pandemic

49 points by rntn 9 days ago | 76 comments

Tech Goes Hardcore: Companies Push Employees to Embrace Intensity (businessinsider.com)
A trifecta of economics, pandemic-era realities, and political pressure is changing tech culture.

Tech Culture, Business, Employment, Economics, Pandemic

3 points by adam__smith 13 days ago | 4 comments

Bird flu continues to spread as pandemic experts are MIA (arstechnica.com)
As bird flu continues to rampage in dairy farms and poultry facilities around the country, the office tasked with coordinating the federal government's response to pandemic threats, including bird flu, has been sidelined by President Trump and sits nearly empty, according to CNN.

Bird Flu, Pandemic, Public Health, Government Response

15 points by rbanffy 13 days ago | 4 comments

5 years later, long Covid still a medical mystery: What scientists have learned (nbcnews.com)
Since the World Health Organization characterized Covid as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, scientists don’t fully understand why some people develop disabling chronic conditions after the initial viral infection.

Health, Science, Long COVID, Pandemic

6 points by amichail 22 days ago | 0 comments

US's WHO Exit Throws Smallpox Defenses into Upheaval (nytimes.com)
President Trump’s order that the United States exit the World Health Organization could undo programs meant to ensure the safety, security and study of a deadly virus that once took half a billion lives, experts warn.

Politics, Health, Global Health, Viruses, Pandemic

17 points by rbanffy 47 days ago | 5 comments

Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising (nature.com)
Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died.

Public Health, Avian Flu, Pandemic

7 points by rbanffy 64 days ago | 0 comments

JP Morgan Chase requires all workers to return to office five days a week (theguardian.com)
JPMorgan Chase is summoning all staff back to the office, becoming the latest corporate giant to call time on era of remote and hybrid working sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

JPMorgan Chase, Remote Work, Corporate Policy, Work Culture, Pandemic

8 points by philk10 82 days ago | 0 comments

How the U.S. Lost Control of Bird Flu, Setting the Stage for Another Pandemic (scientificamerican.com)
As the bird flu virus moved into cows and people, sluggish federal action, deference to industry and neglect for worker safety put the country at risk

Public Health, Pandemic, Animal Health, Government Regulation

6 points by Traces 88 days ago | 0 comments

America Lost Control of the Bird Flu, Setting the Stage for Another Pandemic (kffhealthnews.org)
Nearly a year into the first outbreak of the bird flu among cattle, the virus shows no sign of slowing. The U.S. government failed to eliminate the virus on dairy farms when it was confined to a handful of states, by quickly identifying infected cows and taking measures to keep their infections from spreading. Now at least 875 herds across 16 states have tested positive.

Agriculture, Public Health, Pandemic, Avian Influenza

17 points by leotravis10 100 days ago | 1 comments

US House Select Subcommittee 2-Year Review of Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned (house.gov)
The single most thorough review of the pandemic conducted to date

Covid-19, Government, Health, Public Policy, Pandemic

5 points by walterbell 120 days ago | 0 comments

Covid House Subcommittee Final Report (house.gov)
WASHINGTON – Today, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concluded its two-year investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic and released a final report titled “After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward.”

COVID-19, Government, Public Health, Pandemic

11 points by RyanShook 121 days ago | 1 comments

I Ran Operation Warp Speed. I'm Concerned About Bird Flu (nytimes.com)
As Donald Trump gets ready to return to the White House on Jan. 20, he must be prepared to tackle one issue immediately: the possibility that the spreading avian flu might mutate to enable human-to-human transmission.

Politics, Public Health, Pandemic, Avian Flu

31 points by mikhael 127 days ago | 9 comments

When the Check Came for Outdoor Dining (slate.com)
Four years ago, as pundits and politicians predicted the end of the city, an unlikely symbol of resilience emerged: a hastily built wooden platform, in the curb lane outside a restaurant, where people could eat and drink without fear of infection.

Restaurants, Pandemic, Urban Planning

9 points by rntn 150 days ago | 1 comments

The Distracted Mind During a Crisis (2020) (distributed.blog)
Matt Mullenweg speaks with neuroscientist Dr. Adam Gazzaley, co-author of the 2016 book The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, about how our brains work, particularly during times like the current pandemic. How does the brain handle internal and external stimuli, and what do we know about the effect of practices like meditation, exercise, nutrition, and sleep?

Neuroscience, Psychology, Meditation, Health, Pandemic

12 points by luu 157 days ago | 1 comments

Extinction of the Influenza B Yamagata line during the Covid pandemic (2022) (nlm.nih.gov)
Vaccination remains the most effective way to mitigate the enormous burden of influenza on the health care system.

Influenza, Pandemic, Public Health, Vaccination

62 points by JumpCrisscross 163 days ago | 23 comments

Four Years Ago Today (tracydurnell.com)
I’ve taken to ignoring all the autogenerated “memories” that my phone would like to show me from four years ago — because while the system simply matches the date, *I* know that four years ago was the depths of despair of the pandemic.

Personal Reflections, Pandemic, Technology

15 points by surprisetalk 189 days ago | 2 comments

Genetic ghosts suggest Covid's market origins (bbc.com)
A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak.

Genetics, Covid-19, Science, China, Pandemic

5 points by YeGoblynQueenne 192 days ago | 0 comments

Genetic ghosts suggest Covid's market origins (bbc.co.uk)
A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak.

Genetics, Covid-19, Science, Pandemic

12 points by rwmj 195 days ago | 5 comments

The scary truth about how far behind American kids have fallen (vox.com)
Students of all ages still haven’t made up the ground they lost during the pandemic.

Education, Pandemic, Social Issues, United States

17 points by rntn 195 days ago | 13 comments

Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains? (time.com)
Not long ago, Mark Chiverton, a 33-year-old in the U.K., noticed he was making a lot of silly mistakes.

Psychology, Pandemic, Mental Health

9 points by ivewonyoung 198 days ago | 0 comments

Bird flu is quietly getting scarier (theatlantic.com)
Up until last Friday afternoon, a total of 13 people in the United States had officially come down this year with avian influenza H5, also known as bird flu. A subtype of that virus, a potential pandemic pathogen called H5N1, has for months been circulating in our dairy herds, and has already killed tens of millions of birds here.

Public Health, Avian Flu, Animal Health, Pandemic

5 points by sieste 199 days ago | 0 comments

Teen Girls' Brains Aged Rapidly During Pandemic, Study Finds (nytimes.com)
A study of adolescent brain development that tested children before and after coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in the United States found that girls’ brains aged far faster than expected, something the researchers attributed to social isolation.

Teenagers, Brain Development, Pandemic, Social Isolation, Science

17 points by bookofjoe 199 days ago | 4 comments

Montreal Kicked Cars to the Curb and Thrived (thewalrus.ca)
In 2020, during the first pandemic summer, Montreal’s Projet Montréal administration, led by mayor Valérie Plante, closed a two-kilometre stretch of Mont-Royal Avenue to motorists for a few months.

Urban Planning, Transportation, Montreal, Public Health, Pandemic

9 points by pseudolus 209 days ago | 1 comments

The enemies within: How the pandemic radicalised Britain (manchestermill.co.uk)

Social Issues, Pandemic, Politics, United Kingdom

11 points by colinprince 217 days ago | 5 comments

Bird flu is less scary than we feared. But we're not working to control it. (nytimes.com)

Bird Flu, Public Health, Science, Pandemic

9 points by mitchbob 238 days ago | 1 comments

Covid surging in California, nears two-year summer high (latimes.com)

Covid-19, California, Health, Pandemic

6 points by amichail 247 days ago | 0 comments

Health secretaries failed to prepare UK for pandemic, Covid inquiry finds (theguardian.com)