New Podcast: The COVID Tonic
New from the Cato Institute, COVID Tonic is a podcast series featuring conversations between renowned scholars and the editor of HumanProgress.org, Marian L. Tupy. The interviews focus on the global impact of COVID-19 and the continued importance of rational optimism. Recent featured guests include Michael Shellenberger, Steven Pinker, and Deirdre McCloskey.
The Opioid Crisis and COVID-19
Social‐distancing measures exist to protect health by stopping the spread of COVID-19. But shelter‐in‐place orders, lockdowns of nonessential businesses, and prohibitions on elective medical procedures can threaten the health of patients suffering from chronic illnesses. Moreover, Cato scholar Jeffrey A. Singer notes that opioid prohibition are leading to a spike in more deaths during the pandemic, and that this won’t change until prohibition is repealed.
- “The “Drug Czar” Says Overdose Deaths Were Already Rising Before Pandemic and Now Are Spiking—The Ultimate Blame Belongs to Prohibition,” by Jeffrey A Singer
- “Don’t Forget People Living in Pain: War on Opioids and Chronic Pain Patients during COVID-19,” Live Online Policy Forum videocast
- “Kicking the Habit: The Opioid Crisis and America’s Addiction to Prohibition,” by Josh Bowers and Daniel Abrahamson
Privacy in a Pandemic
As states begin easing pandemic restrictions, Americans are hearing that a robust regime of “testing and tracing” is critical to reopening safely. Can the process be done anonymously? Could an architecture of monitoring designed to mitigate a pandemic be coopted for less salutary purposes? Join technologists and privacy experts to explore how to fight contagion without sacrificing privacy.