Daily archives: 23. April 2020

15 posts

Thesis paper of German public health experts on the Covid-19 pandemic

by six German health scientists. Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Schrappe, Hedwig François-Kettner, Dr. med. Matthias Gruhl, Franz Knieps, Prof. Dr. phil. Holger Pfaff, Prof. Dr. rer.nat. Gerd Glaeske: Thesenpapier zur Pandemie durch SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19. Datenbasis verbessern. Prävention gezielt weiterentwickeln. Bürgerrechte wahren, 4 April 2020 (German).

Appeal by African intellectuals

Open letter by Wole Soyinka (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986) and many other writers and scholars: The Time to Act is Now. Letter Addressed to African Leaders Concerning the COVID-19 Crisis, 13 April 2020. The open letter calls for pan-African cooperation on an equal basis and articulates political demands. It is addressed to leaders of all walks of life, to the people of Africa and to all those that are committed to rethinking the continent.

Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group: BCG Perspectives. COVID-19. Facts, scenarios, and actions for leaders. Publication #2 with a focus on: Preparing for the restart, 20 April 2020. Table of content: 1. COVID-19 Context and Development: Disease progression, health care system capacity, and response Government policies and action. 2. Economic response. Scenarios and key drivers. Business impact. 3. Guide for leaders: Determining government action. Considering ecosystem interdependencies. Navigating businesses through the crisis.

Interview with John P. A. Ioannidis

In this interview published on YouTube on March 26, 2020, John P.A. Ioannidis reiterates his criticism of the lack of data on the measures implemented worldwide to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Article by John P. A. Ioannidis

John P. A. Ioannidis: A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data, 17 March 2020. The epidemiologist and medical statistician Ioannidis teaches at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He criticizes the speculative worst case scenarios of his colleagues, points to the completely unclear data situation and calls for representative surveys as an indispensable prerequisite for appropriate control measures.

IMF – The Great Lockdown April 2020

International Monetary Fund (IMF): World Economic Outlook, April 2020, Chapter 1: The Great Lockdown. This is the first serious analysis and forecast of the economic consequences of the current fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. According to it, the global economy will shrink in 2020 much more than in the last crisis in 2008/2009. The most developed regions and countries of the capitalist world system will be particularly affected.

Post Corona: Organized Rule of Capital

Hannes Hofbauer, Andrea Komlosy, Post Corona: Organisierte Kapitalherrschaft, April 3, 2020, in: Telepolis, first published on 3 April 2020 at: https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Post-Corona-4695731.html Die Krise als Chance. Der Stehsatz aus dem Fundus liberaler Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute harrt gerade einer zeitadäquaten Formulierung. Noch kämpfen Modellrechner mit zu vielen Unbekannten. Solange die Prognosen zu den Einbußen des BIP-Wachstums im Gefolge des Lockdowns zwischen 2% und 20% liegen, darf man getrost die quantitative Wirtschaftsforschung beiseite lassen; die Geschichte lehrt uns ohnedies, dass volkswirtschaftlich relevante Erkenntnisse daraus nicht gewonnen werden können, geschweige denn gesellschaftlich nützliche. Also das Ende des Systems? Da packen einen Hoffnung und Angst zugleich, weil […]