{"id":12915,"date":"2025-03-14T18:02:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T18:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/science-amid-chaos-what-worked-during-the-pandemic-what-failed\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T18:02:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T18:02:49","slug":"science-amid-chaos-what-worked-during-the-pandemic-what-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/science-amid-chaos-what-worked-during-the-pandemic-what-failed\/","title":{"rendered":"Science Amid Chaos: What Worked During the Pandemic? What Failed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Until 2020, few Americans needed to think about how viruses spread or how the human immune system works. The pandemic offered a painful crash course. Sometimes, it seemed that the science was evolving as quickly the virus itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So The New York Times asked experts to revisit the nightmare. Of the most significant public health measures introduced during Covid, which have held up scientifically, and which turned out to be wrongheaded?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The question is particularly important now, because pandemics that could upend American lives are inevitable. One candidate has already surfaced: bird flu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Perhaps the biggest lesson learned, several experts said, is that recommendations during any pandemic are necessarily based on emerging and incomplete information. But during Covid, federal agencies often projected more confidence in their assessments than was warranted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Next time, the scientists said, officials should be more forthright about the uncertainties and prepare the public for guidance that may shift as the threat comes into clearer focus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rather than promote preventive measures as infallible solutions, they should also acknowledge that no single intervention is perfect \u2014 though many imperfect measures can build a bulwark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If you venture out in a \u201chuge, heavy rainstorm, your umbrella alone is not going to keep you from getting wet,\u201d said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne viruses at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou need your umbrella; you need your boots; you need your waterproof pants and jacket; and you would probably try to avoid the puddles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-462f4b6c\">Vaccines<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">A victory, but officials oversold the benefits at first.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mRNA vaccines were, in a sense, victims of their own unexpected success in clinical trials in 2020. Those results were spectacular: The shots warded off symptomatic illness caused by the original version of the coronavirus at miraculous rates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But government officials had to walk back their enthusiasm as breakthrough infections with the Delta variant surged in the summer of 2021. Americans were told to get boosters. Then again, and again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Federal health officials should have acknowledged at the start that the long-term effectiveness was unknown, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mistrust over the safety and effectiveness of the Covid vaccines is now taking a toll on other immunizations, including those targeting childhood diseases like measles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMaking claims early on that this was going to prevent all infections was, I think, a little bit of an overpromise\u201d that eventually undermined public trust, said Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention expert at the University of Maryland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the vaccines saved an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/laninf\/article\/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6\/fulltext\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">estimated 14 million lives<\/a> just in the first year after their introduction.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-7eead1e6\">Airborne Spread<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Surfaces were not the problem. Indoor air was.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Disagreements among scientists about how the coronavirus traveled had profound ramifications for how Americans were told to protect themselves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Early on, health officials insisted that the virus was spread through large droplets that were coughed or sneezed out by an infected person onto other people or objects. The \u201cfomite\u201d theory led to protocols that made little sense in retrospect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Remember the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/07\/us\/politics\/the-plexiglass-barriers-at-tonights-debate-will-be-pretty-useless-virus-experts-say.html\" title=\"\">plexiglass barriers<\/a> during the Presidential debates? The face shields? Schools closed for cleaning days midway through the week. People were scrubbing down groceries and mail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe whole hygiene theater was terribly unfortunate,\u201d said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota. It wasted millions of dollars and gave people a false sense of security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Health agencies took <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/04\/health\/239-experts-with-one-big-claim-the-coronavirus-is-airborne.html\" title=\"\">months to admit<\/a> that the virus was carried aloft by tiny droplets, called aerosols, that could be exhaled, traveling long distances indoors. Sadly, that insight initially led to another overreaction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some states closed down beaches and parks, and forbade interactions outdoors, even though \u201cthere\u2019s good scientific evidence that outdoor events are lower risk,\u201d Dr. Dean said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Eventually, understanding that the virus was primarily floating indoors prompted the Biden administration to earmark funds for improved <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/27\/health\/schools-indoor-air-covid.html\" title=\"\">ventilation in schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-53f32137\">Masking<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">It worked if you used the right masks, correctly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the pandemic spread in the United States, masking morphed from a public health intervention into a cultural flashpoint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Assuming that the coronavirus traveled like the flu and worried that hospitals might not have enough resources, federal heath officials at first told the public that masks were not needed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That advice was suddenly reversed once scientists learned that the coronavirus was airborne. Even so, officials initially recommended cloth masks \u2014 which are not very effective at keeping out airborne viruses \u2014 and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/14\/health\/cloth-masks-covid-cdc.html\" title=\"\">did not endorse<\/a> more protective N95 respirators until January 2022, well after much of the public had stopped using cloth masks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dozens of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/10.1128\/cmr.00124-23\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">studies<\/a> have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.abi9069?cookieSet=1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">shown<\/a> that when used correctly and consistently, N95 masks or their equivalents can prevent infected people from spreading the virus and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2811136\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">protect wearers<\/a> from contracting it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Unfortunately, several flawed studies and the politics of personal freedom created a culture war surrounding the use of masks, especially by children, said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the event of another respiratory outbreak, \u201cI feel quite anxious that a whole constituency has already discarded masks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Children in Asia routinely wear masks, especially during respiratory virus and allergy seasons, some experts noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI wish we could infuse more infection prevention into especially elementary schools during respiratory virus season,\u201d Dr. Popescu said. \u201cIt seemed like a really great way to get children back in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-53b177a3\">Herd Immunity<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">A chimera. We never got there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For nearly two years after the pandemic began, experts talked of reaching herd immunity once enough of the population had acquired protection either by being ill or getting vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That was a mistake, experts said. Herd immunity is only possible if immunity is sterilizing \u2014 meaning it prevents reinfections \u2014 and lifelong. Immunity to most viruses is neither.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seasonal coronaviruses change rapidly enough that people undergo repeated infections throughout their lives, said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who insisted early on that the new coronavirus might also cause reinfections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once vaccines arrived, officials at first presented the shots as a way to stay safe from the virus forever, rather than as a means to lessen the severity of infections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere was a lot of confusion and misconceptions about herd immunity \u2014 that the toothpaste was going back in the tube somehow,\u201d Dr. Dean said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-5a1e2d61\">School Closures<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Necessary at first. Questionable as time went on.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Few aspects of the pandemic provoke as much rancor as school closures. In many parts of the country, test scores never recovered and absenteeism has become an intractable problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But experts said it was the right decision to close schools in the spring of 2020, when a poorly understood pathogen was sweeping across the country. Ideally, schools would have reopened that fall, but with measures \u2014 improved ventilation, testing, masks \u2014 to mitigate the risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAnd of course, we didn\u2019t really have any of those things,\u201d Dr. Hanage said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By early fall in 2020, it was clear that schoolchildren were <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/22\/health\/coronavirus-schools-children.html\" title=\"\">not driving community transmission<\/a> significantly. Still, many schools stayed closed for months longer than they needed to, forcing children to muddle through remote learning and causing some to fall irrevocably behind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a really difficult one to Monday-morning quarterback,\u201d Dr. Shaman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe don\u2019t have the counterfactual, that alternative scenario to see how it really would have played out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If bird flu turns into a pandemic, it would be foolish to base school policies on how the coronavirus behaved, he and others warned. Other respiratory viruses, like the flu, tend to be deadlier among young children and older adults.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have every reason to think that a future flu pandemic would be far more dangerous to young people than Covid was,\u201d Dr. Hanage said. \u201cI think we should talk about what we could do to mitigate transmission in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3bf7595a\">Lockdowns<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">They slowed the virus, but the price was high.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The pandemic destroyed local businesses, sent unemployment rates soaring and increased household debt. Many people now feel that lockdowns were to blame for much of the damage \u2014 and that their harms outweighed any benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many scientists see it differently. \u201cThe economy got shut down by just the pure force of the pandemic,\u201d said Dr. Osterholm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No American state\u2019s policies neared the strictness of those in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/02\/06\/world\/asia\/coronavirus-china-wuhan-quarantine.html\" title=\"\">China<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/25\/world\/asia\/india-lockdown-coronavirus.html\" title=\"\">India<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/09\/world\/europe\/italy-lockdown-coronavirus.html\" title=\"\">Italy<\/a> or <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/coronavirus-live-updates\/2020\/03\/25\/821349297\/jordan-keeps-coronavirus-in-check-with-one-of-world-s-strictest-lockdowns\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan<\/a> \u2014 where people were not allowed to leave home at all \u2014 and much of the work force and societal activities continued because they were deemed essential, he noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By the end of May 2020, indoor dining and religious services had resumed in much of the country, if they had been paused at all, although many cities continued to institute temporary bans as virus levels rose and fell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The shutdowns may have been unpopular in part because they were introduced with no clear explanation or end in sight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, Dr. Osterholm said, health officials could have instituted a \u201csnow day\u201d concept. People stayed home when hospitals were overwhelmed, as they do when roads are snowed under, but their behavior returned to normal when the situation eased.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The shutdowns eased the burden on hospitals and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajicjournal.org\/article\/S0196-6553(20)30314-X\/fulltext\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">slowed the transmission<\/a> of the virus, buying time to develop a vaccine. Studies from <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/33234698\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">multiple<\/a> other countries have also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-2405-7\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">shown<\/a> that stay-at-home orders and restrictions on mass gatherings were the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC10446910\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">most effective<\/a> measures for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-2404-8\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">curbing transmission<\/a> of the virus within communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhatever people did in 2020, before folks were vaccinated, saved millions of lives,\u201d Dr. Hanage said. \u201cIf we had done nothing, truly done nothing at all, things would have been much, much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/14\/health\/covid-pandemic-public-health.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Until 2020, few Americans needed to think about how viruses spread or how the human immune system works. The pandemic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1759,1760,622,623,4169,1355,1763,551,4168,2763,1464,168,111,624,4170,630,188],"class_list":["post-12915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-coronavirus-reopenings","tag-coronavirus-risks-and-safety-concerns","tag-disease-rates","tag-epidemics","tag-heating","tag-hospitals","tag-masks","tag-medicine-and-health","tag-protective-clothing-and-gear","tag-quarantines","tag-shutdowns-institutional","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-vaccination-and-immunization","tag-ventilation-and-cooling-hvac","tag-viruses","tag-your-feed-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Science Amid Chaos: What Worked During the Pandemic? 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