View this email in your browser

 

SEPTEMBER

**17, 2020**

Meyerson on TAP

Does Wearing Glasses Prevent COVID?

A story

that went up on the

**New York Times**website this morning reports on a study from
researchers of hospital admissions in one Chinese city that concludes
that wearing eyeglasses, in addition to masks, may significantly lower
exposure to the coronavirus. They found that the rate of patients who
regularly wore specs who were admitted to hospitals with the virus was
far lower than those who met the world with open eyes and no intervening
glasses.

Then again, the survey covered only 300 patients, which is too small to
be determinative. Nonetheless, experts are advancing possible
explanations for the phenomenon, should it prove to be real. As the

**Times**summarizes them:

It may be that eyeglasses act as a partial barrier, protecting eyes from
the splatter of a cough or sneeze. Another explanation for the finding
could be that people who wear glasses are less likely to rub their eyes
with contaminated hands.

I'd like to proffer a third explanation. In my experience-living, as
I do, in the relatively hot, humid climate of Washington, D.C.-wearing
my glasses and face mask, which I do when I'm out in public, so steams
up my specs that I can barely see where I'm going. It has led to
regrettable mishaps, like bumping into a parked truck or the occasional
building. In consequence, I probably don't venture out as frequently
as I otherwise would, which doubtless reduces my chance of exposure.

I advance this hypothesis in the spirit of scientific inquiry.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

[link removed]

The Terror of the Unforeseen

As history unfolds, we have no idea whether things will come out right.
BY ROBERT KUTTNER

Biden's Big Test: Selecting a White House Chief of Staff

Steve Ricchetti, Vice President Biden's chief of staff from 2013 to
2017, has an inside track on this critical gatekeeper position. He's a
former pharma lobbyist. BY MAX MORAN

My Year Without Health Insurance

Christian health shares market themselves as a cheaper alternative, but
have no obligation to actually pay health care bills. Life under them is
marked with fear and worry. BY COLLEEN SHADDOX

The Missing Peace in the Abraham Accords

Heaps of hype at the Israel-Emirati-Bahraini festivities on the White
House lawn-but no hope for peace, Palestinians, or the Middle East BY
DANIEL LEVY

Unsanitized: Corporations Can Do a Lot With 'Just Loans'

Surprisingly, companies with market power can use money to make money.
This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for September 17, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (C) 2020 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States