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Hank CampbellRSS Feed of this column.

I founded Science 2.0® in 2006 and since then it has become the world's largest independent science communications site, with over 300,000,000 direct readers and reach approaching one billion. Read More »

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There are a number of drugs that may be beneficial in treating coronavirus but how do we convey that a treatment is not a cure? And that what prevents one disease may not prevent another when used off-label? How can outlets stress the importance of preventing spread of SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 coronavirus that set off the flu in Wuhan, China, late 2019, later called COVID-19, without conflating cases of the virus with cases of the disease?
It's not often that a guy who can't order lunch in under a thousand words can be stumped for what to say, but when it comes to "Automatic Reload" by Ferrett Steinmetz, I am at a loss. Mostly because all of the good one-liners were taken by others before I got my galley.

The best cyborg meet-cute you'll read this year? I can't use that, Corey White did. A cyberpunk rom-com? Yes it is, but I'd be cheating if I say it. 

I should start at the beginning. No, that's boring, I will start at the end.
Diagnostics company Cepheid has received emergency authorization from FDA for the first point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 test. Unlike existing tests, it can provide results in about 45 minutes, which means we have a better chance of reducing the spread of the virus which leads to COVID-19, which has killed nearly 14,000 across the world.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has gone just this side of declaring martial law due to a .000008 risk of death from COVID-19. His promotion of panic has led to depletion of essential goods nationwide. With 40,000,000 people and the fifth largest economy in the the world (if it were its own country), California can vacuum up the nation's short-term stores easily. And has. Forget survey results about equality, social justice, and kindness, in reality America's most progressive state is just as greedy and selfish as anyone when it comes to personal behavior.
Because of concerns about spreading coronavirus, tens of millions of people are working from home that didn't before. 
How many people on a survey would respond positively that they'd hoard goods at the expense of others?

Very few. On surveys, 78 percent of Americans disagree with even 'no victim' greed like being paid more than someone else to do the same job and yet if there is one thing that California's reaction to 335 cases of COVID-19 in a state of 40,000,000 has shown, it is that at the first sign of trouble it's all about greed. And it makes no difference if you are a CEO or an employee, a Democrat or, in California, even more of a Democrat. Nearly everyone is doing it.