Category: Covid-19

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Walworth County has seen another rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases, jumping from 140 reported Monday to 158 in the countys latest update shared Tuesday afternoon.

County health officials on Monday said the increase seen over the weekendfrom 116 on Fridays updateis linked to increased testing following recent outbreaks at facilities in the county.

There are 100 patients isolating themselves at their homes, while four are hospitalized.

The county has seen 46 patients recover, up from 41 in Mondays update.

The death toll remains at eight, all of whom were older than 65. Five of the eight were older than 80.

All had pre-existing medical conditions.

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Another increase in COVID-19 cases reported in Walworth County - Gazettextra

Harrison, with the health department, also was not able to say how many residents of the facility, if any, remained hospitalized.

Though Fahoum declined to answer specific questions, she said that GreenTrees focus remains, as it always has, on providing excellent care and service to our residents and transparent communication with our families.

Like many other senior living communities in Illinois and across the country, GreenTree at Mt. Vernon has been impacted significantly by the virus, she said.

Fahoum said staff is working around-the-clock to provide care to residents. The company, she said, was very pleased to be able to get all residents and team members tested quickly and has been encouraged by the number of residents and staff who remain asymptomatic or who have had only mild symptoms. The health department reported on Tuesday that 13 residents of the facility have been released from isolation. To be released from isolation, individuals who test positive for COVID-19 must have isolated for a minimum of seven days from the onset of symptoms and can be released once they have been fever-free and feeling well for at least 72 hours, the health department said.

While the recoveries are positive news, Fahoum said there have been residents whose symptoms from the virus have become more severe, and our hearts go out to these residents and their families.

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9 residents of GreenTree at Mt. Vernon with COVID-19 have died since Friday - The Southern

A pulse oximeter attaches to a finger and uses light to detect the level of oxygen in your blood.

Ascoronavirus testing efforts continue to ramp up and face masksbecome part of everyday life, a tiny diagnostic tool that clips to your finger is quickly becoming a must-have gadget in thefight against COVID-19. It's called a pulse oximeter, and it checks your blood oxygen level.

The device was already beginning to surge in popularity as the public learned that people with the coronavirus oftenarrive at the hospital with abnormally low oxygen levels. After anop-ed piece in The New York Timeson April 20 recommended that pulse oximeters be used to identify the sickest among COVID-19 patients and detect the frightening condition known as "silent hypoxia," sales of the devicesskyrocketed. Right now, most are sold out in stores and online.

Keep track of the coronavirus pandemic.

But questions and controversy have arisen around the at-home use of pulse oximeters, which painlessly measure heart rate and oxygen levels. It's not entirely clear if pulse oximeters can help detect a coronavirus infection or whether their widespread use can helpcurb the spread of COVID-19.

Whether you already have a pulse oximeter or you're thinking about buying one, here's what you need to know about what they do, how they work, what the results mean and how accurate they might be.

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A pulse oximeter is a small medical device that measures heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. It's usually clipped to your finger, but it can also attach to your ear, nose, toe or forehead. Some are battery powered and provide real-time results on a small LED display on the device itself. Others connect with a wire to a separate vital sign monitor that records even more precise information about your heart rhythm, body temperature and blood pressure using other sensors connected to your body.

A pulse oximeter measures your blood oxygen saturation and heart rate by shining a light through your skin and detecting both the color and movement of your blood cells. Oxygenated blood cells are bright red, deoxygenated cells are dark red.

The pulse oximeter compares the number of bright red cells to dark red cells to calculate your oxygen saturation as a percentage. So, for example, a reading of 99% means only 1% of the blood cells in your bloodstream have been depleted of oxygen.

Every time your heart beats, it pushes your blood through your body in a quick pulse (which is why "pulse" is another word for "heart rate"). A pulse oximeter, using light, detects this movement and calculates your heart rate in beats per minute, or BPM.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a normal pulse oximeter oxygen level reading is between95% and 100%, and anything less than 90% is considered dangerously low, or hypoxic. Some doctors have reported COVID-19 patients entering the hospital withoxygen levels at 50% or below.

A normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 BPM. Typically, lower is better, as a slower heart rate is usually an indication of a strong cardiovascular system.

Not exactly. Although many doctors report that patients with COVID-19 are presenting with dangerously low blood oxygen levels, COVID-19 isn't the only disease that can cause such a problem. Chronic lung diseases, like COPD, asthma and other non-COVID-19 lung infections can also result in a low oxygen count.

A low oxygen reading by itself is not enough to diagnose COVID-19, but your doctor would want to know about it, especially if you notice the level decreasing over time. And if you've been diagnosed with COVID-19, your doctor may want you to monitor your oxygen level to determine whether your condition is worsening or improving.

Although medical professionals continue to rely on temperature checks as an indication of a coronavirus infection, many patients with COVID-19 do not have fevers.

Like with any electronic equipment, not all pulse oximeters are created equal. A 2016 study of low-cost pulse oximeters concluded several inexpensive consumer-grade devicesprovided highly inaccurate readings.

Some pulse oximeters have been cleared by the FDA, which means they should meet FDA standards for accuracy. Note that there is a distinction between "FDA-approved" and "FDA-cleared," with "cleared" being the less rigorous of the two. That said, Class II medical devices like pulse oximeters are usually "cleared" rather than "approved."

You can look for pulse oximeters on the FDA-cleared list by visiting the FDA'sPremarket Notification website and searching for "pulse oximeter" in the Device Name field, with or without a manufacturer's name.

Although retailers like Amazon and Walmart still have pulse oximeters available, they're often unbranded and of questionable accuracy.

In the2016 study that found most low-cost pulse oximeters to be relatively inaccurate, "low-cost" was defined as costing less than $50. Pulse oximeters that have been cleared by the FDA tend to range in price from around $50 to $60 to well into the hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

You can still find pulse oximeters on sale online atWalmart,Amazon andeBay, but most of the name-brand devices you'll find on various best lists, like those atDigitalTrends,The Wirecutter andConsumer Reports, are either sold out completely or on backorder, with shipping estimates weeks or sometimes months away.

This week, the CDC added five more official COVID-19 symptoms for a total of seven, which are detailed here. However, symptoms, vital signs and statistics aren't the only way to track the pandemic: Memes and social media chatter are relevant data points, too. Depression and anxiety may not be symptoms of the disease itself, but as the pandemic continues, you're not the only one feeling down about it.

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Pulse oximeters: How they work, may help fight COVID-19 and more - CNET

Coronavirus antibody test kits are key to plans for proposed "immunity passports," but the World Health Organization is warning that such cards may simply encourage further transmission. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Coronavirus antibody test kits are key to plans for proposed "immunity passports," but the World Health Organization is warning that such cards may simply encourage further transmission.

The World Health Organization has pushed back against the theory that individuals can only catch the coronavirus once, as well as proposals for reopening society that are based on this supposed immunity.

In a scientific brief dated Friday, the United Nations agency said the idea that one-time infection can lead to immunity remains unproven and is thus unreliable as a foundation for the next phase of the world's response to the pandemic.

"Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection," the WHO wrote. "There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection."

The statement comes days after Chile announced it would begin issuing immunity cards that effectively act as passports, allowing travelers to clear security at airports with a document that purportedly shows they have recovered from the virus. Authorities and researchers in other countries such as France and the United Kingdom have expressed interest in similar ideas, while some officials in the U.S., such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, have mentioned it as one possible facet of a reopening strategy.

The concept for such a card is largely based on the premise that an individual can only contract the coronavirus once before developing the necessary antibodies to fight it off. That premise undergirds another common theory: the concept, known as herd immunity, that if enough people have been infected with the coronavirus and are therefore immune its transmission will slow and the risks of infection will diminish even for those who haven't caught it yet.

But these ideas depend to a large degree on the supposition that one cannot catch the coronavirus a second time an idea that world health authorities said leaders should not count on right now. As of Friday, the WHO said, "No study has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans."

What's more, data reported from the world's early COVID-19 hot spots, such as South Korea and China, have shown that a growing number of recovered patients appear to have suffered a relapse of the disease.

By mid-April, Korean health authorities said that just over 2% of the country's recovered patients were in isolation again after testing positive a second time. And in Wuhan, China, data from several quarantine facilities in the city, which house patients for observation after their discharge from hospitals, show that about 5% to 10% of patients pronounced "recovered" have tested positive again.

It remains unclear why this is occurring whether it is a sign of a second infection, a reactivation of the remaining virus in the body or the result of an inaccurate antibody test.

Dozens of antibody tests for the novel coronavirus are already on the market, with varying degrees of reliability and accuracy. House Democrats have launched an investigation into the antibody tests and whether the Food and Drug Administration should increase its enforcement of them, according to CNN.

"At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate,' " the WHO warned.

"People who assume that they are immune to a second infection because they have received a positive test result may ignore public health advice. The use of such certificates may therefore increase the risks of continued transmission."

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'No Evidence' Yet That Recovered COVID-19 Patients Are Immune, WHO Says - NPR

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic at Parliament on Monday in Wellington, New Zealand. Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic at Parliament on Monday in Wellington, New Zealand.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that the island nation has defeated for the present the coronavirus as her government announced the lifting of most restrictions imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19.

"There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle," Ardern said Monday. "But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way."

Asked if New Zealand had eliminated COVID-19, Ardern replied: "currently."

Coronavirus in New Zealand has been trending down since April 5, when 89 confirmed cases were announced. On Sunday, there were no new cases announced for the first time in weeks, but another five were reported on Monday. A total of 19 people have died in New Zealand from COVID-19.

The country's director-general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said the small number of new cases in recent days "does give us confidence that we have achieved our goal of elimination."

Bloomfield and Ardern said that declaring the virus eliminated did not mean there would be no new cases, but that the numbers would be manageable with the help of aggressive contact tracing, which the prime minister said had been scaled up "significantly" with the capacity to make up to 10,000 calls per day.

Ardern's remarks came as New Zealand, a country of just 5 million people, downgraded its COVID-19 alert to level 3 meaning most, but not all, businesses are being allowed to reopen.

Businesses and professions that require face-to-face contact, such as hairdressers, sales people, masseuses and public gyms will remain closed until the alert level is reduced another notch, Ardern said.

"Your business must be contact-less. Your customers can pay online, over the phone or in a contact-less way," she said. "Delivery or pick-up must also be contact-less."

Exceptions include supermarkets, dairies, gas stations, pharmacies or other permitted health services, according to the New Zealand Herald.

For those who do return to the physical workplace, they should maintain 1 meter (about 3 feet) of social distancing, Ardern said.

"COVID-19 has spread in workplaces, so the quid pro quo of being able to open is doing it in a way that doesn't spread the virus," she said.

The prime minister also advised that if people can work from home, they should continue to do so.

New Zealand has garnered praise for largely putting aside politics in order to tackle the outbreak.

As NPR's Julie McCarthy reports, Ardern, 39, a mother of a 21-month-old, "regularly appears on Facebook Live chats, dressed in a sweatshirt, commiserating with families enduring isolation in their 'bubble,' as she calls their place of shelter, and assuring children the tooth fairy is still on the job. When she imposed stringent stay-home rules in late March, she urged people to 'be strong and be kind.' "

Like New Zealand, Australia has also seen a precipitous decline in new cases since a peak nearly a month ago.

Speaking on Sunday, Australia's home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, suggested that New Zealand and Australia could reopen travel between them even as restrictions on inbound air passengers from other countries remained.

"You could look at an arrangement with New Zealand given they're at a comparable stage as we are in the fight against this virus," Dutton told Sky News, as reported by Radio New Zealand. "You could look at other nations in our region if they've enjoyed the same success, but New Zealand might be the natural partner."

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New Zealand Says It Has Won 'Battle' Against COVID-19 - NPR

Drive-thru COVID-19 testing increases Monday in Lexington. The states partnership with Kroger is opening a site at BCTC.

It looks like right now were about at the top of our curve, said Dr. Ryan Stanton from Baptist Health Lexington.

Dr. Stanton explained that testing had been limited until this point. We were testing high-risk patients, those that end up in emergency departments those with significant symptoms, those are the hospitals.

Increased drive-thru services make testing more available to people with mild symptoms, and some sites (like the states partnership with Kroger) are even available to people without symptoms at all. Of course with increased testing, we expect the number of confirmed cases to rise. Dr. Stanton says people shouldnt be worried about that. In fact, the data could prove that Kentuckys death rate is actually lower than what it seems.

I think that number is actually going to drop significantly with widespread testing, especially now that were doing asymptomatic patients because were going to start to see those folks that really may not have even known that they had it to begin with, he said.

When it comes to reopening businesses, Dr. Stanton believes some can start... but slowly. People still need to be mindful of social distancing so we dont create another wave.

I think thats going to be a long term threat until there is a vaccine available, he warned.

**Appointments for testing at the BCTC site have been filled for the first week. More will be available May 4-8.

Starting Friday, April 24:The former Rite Aid location at 2296 Executive Drive(at the corner of Winchester Road & Executive Drive)Will be operating 9am to 5pm, seven days a weekEligibility: Health care workers, first responders with or without symptoms, or anyone 18 and over with symptomsSign up: walgreens.com/coronavirus

Starting Monday, April 27:BCTC Campus at 500 Newtown PikeWill be a Monday-Friday operation8:30am-5:30pmEligibility: open to everyone This is the state site thats a partnership with KrogerSign up: thelittleclinic.com/drivethru-testing

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Increased testing expected to lower Kentucky's COVID-19 death rate - WKYT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) Cases of coronavirus in Tennessee were up 5% in one day or 478 cases to 9,667 on Sunday as the state moves forward with reopening its economy.

Deaths were up 2% or 3 people to 181, according to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Health. Deaths are mainly happening to people who get COVID-19 and are 61 years old or older. The 61 and older group accounts for 152 of the 181 deaths, or 84%.

Men are nearly 61% of the deaths. Black or African Americans make up about 17% of the states population, but 31.5% of the COVID-19 deaths.

There have been 828 hospitalizations due to coronavirus and 4,527 have recovered from the virus. Tennessee has tested 147,475 people.

An increase in cases has been expected because of increased testing efforts by both the state Department of Health and county health departments.

Davidson and Shelby counties have had more than 2,200 cases each.

Gov. Bill Lee announced Fridaymore details about his plan to reopen the state, starting with the 89 non-metro counties. Most state parks opened for day-use on Friday. His safer-at-home order expires Thursday.

The states metro counties are taking a slower approach to reopening. Knox County and Knoxville are set toannounce plans on Monday

The governors plan has faced some pushback. The governor has adopted a laissez-faire approach to re-opening: no enforcement, no detailed requirements, and limited industry-specific direction, beyond restaurants and retail, state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, said Friday.

We want to see things get back to normal as much as you do, Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pulmonologist and organizer of a group of health care workers that has urged for a stay-at-home order, said in a news release. Many of us doctors are small business owners ourselves; many of us have spouses, family and friends hurting because they have lost their job or seen their work hours cut.

But, we cannot address the economic crisis without first solving the health crisis that created it. To solve this crisis we need Gov. Lee, our members of Congress and Senators Marsha Blackburn and Lamar Alexander to do their jobs so that we can do ours.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday issued an order to extend the judicial state of emergency until May 31.

The order allows local judicial districts to develop a strategy to begin holding more in-person court proceedings in their districts.

Jury trials will remain suspended until July 3, unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

Lee and state Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey will be on a statewide televised town hall on Thursday that will air at 7:30 p.m. on WATE-TV and WATE.com

The COVID-19 case count for Tennessee is now 9,667 as of April 26, 2020, including 181 deaths, 828 hospitalizations and 4,527 recovered. For more information, go to: https://t.co/Pwof6IANuV. Questions or need assistance? Call the Public Information Line at (833) 556-2476. pic.twitter.com/jIO4KDE1Tc

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Coronavirus in Tennessee: State opening economy as cases of COVID-19 grow - WATE 6 On Your Side

Groups of scientists around the world are using wastewater testing as a non-invasive way to measure the prevalence of coronavirus in their communities.

Local governments in the US are also turning to the tests, which detect traces of coronavirus genetic material -- known as RNA -- in fecal matter.

The data can be used to gain a sense of how many people may have had the virus asymptomatically and are passing it through, in addition to those testing positive because they are outwardly sick, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer told CNN.

"We're confident as we do this weekly, now that we're working with Biobot, that this can give a varying indication of the total number of cases in our county, which is somewhat useful," Meyer said. "We want to identify hotspots, run this at 10 treatment facilities across a county of 560,000 people, and find out with these hotspots where they are and where they're not."

Meyer said he has spoken with state officials about implementing wastewater testing across the state -- though he said he's been met with some skepticism.

"I think it's fair there's skepticism, to be honest," Meyer said. "What (Biobot is) doing seems really smart. The science seems sound. There are uncertainties everywhere ... I hope this works and we've got to be skeptical."

'Early warning system'

Meanwhile, in the Syracuse area of New York, four professors across three universities have partnered up to test Onondaga County wastewater using a centrifugal process to isolate the virus -- a process they say could significantly speed up detection of Covid-19 outbreaks.

David Larsen, a public health professor at Syracuse University, told CNN he organized the project after coming across a paper showing that scientists in the Netherlands had successfully performed a wastewater test for Covid-19.

Larsen said he recruited his colleague Teng Zeng in Syracuse's engineering department to collaborate with wastewater facilities in Onondaga County. Samples were then sent to Hyatt Green and Frank Middleton, both of whom are part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

Middleton, a professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University, said the isolation process they have devised adheres RNA samples of Covid-19 in wastewater to polyethylene glycol, a resin that destroys the active virus and concentrates into a pellet.

The pellet is then tested through a process known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR is used to detect Covid-19 specifically, as opposed to other viruses that may have found their way into the testing samples, Middleton said.

He estimated that in the group's academic lab, they could test up to 100 samples a day, though if there were enough samples provided, PCR could perform as many as 1,500 tests daily.

"This is unlike anything that I've done in the past," Middleton, who serves as the director of the SUNY Molecular Analysis Core, said. "We can do that PCR almost instantaneously, after we have the pellet. About 12 minutes later -- by lab standards, it's almost instantaneous -- (we have the results)."

Green, a microbiologist at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said the entire testing process would most likely take close to four to eight hours because of what's entailed in actually collecting and filtering out the wastewater samples.

But he said the difference in hours of testing for Covid-19 presence regularly -- compared to testing only symptomatic patients when there are spikes in cases -- could be a major deterrent in reducing hotspots both now and in a potential second wave.

"In some areas, it's not practical," Green said. "But in a lot of areas, it is. If you have surveillance set up ahead of time and can crank it up at the beginning when you first hear about the possibility of an outbreak, you can use the platform as an early warning system. That would give us days or weeks lead time in coping with the pandemic or epidemic."

Testing overseas

Scientists in other countries have also been using their sewerage systems to mass test for Covid-19, though they express caution on how accurately wastewater samples reflect community levels of the virus.

"A small percentage of patients with Covid-19 have the novel coronavirus in their gastrointestinal tract, and thus excrete it in their faeces," the institute said in a statement, issued on March 24.

The wastewater testing approach had previously been used to detect viruses such as polio and measles, the statement said.

The Italian Institute for Health (ISS) reported last week that wastewater samples had returned positive results for parts of Milan and Rome. It said the RNA that was detected did not necessarily represent live, infectious virus.

"The result reinforces the prospects of using urban center sewage control as a non-invasive tool for early detection of infections in the population," the ISS said in a statement. "In Phase 2, surveillance can be used to indirectly monitor the circulation of the virus and to early detect its possible reappearance, thus allowing to recognize and circumscribe any new epidemic outbreaks more quickly."

Australian researchers have also found traces of the virus in sewage and said they are working towards a national testing program.

In neighboring New Zealand, scientists at the state-owned ESR said they are testing wastewater for Covid-19 to try to gauge the effectiveness of eradication efforts and better understand the patterns of community transmission.

But the ESR researchers noted that Covid-19 was a respiratory illness and "unlikely to be spread by contaminated faeces," suggesting levels of the virus would be low and hard to detect.

CNN's Livia Borghese and Sharon Braithwaite also contributed to this report.

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Some scientists are using sewage to measure the prevalence of coronavirus in their communities - CNN

ROCHESTER, Minn. COVID-19 took the lives of 28 other Canadians, health officials said on Sunday, April 26 the most reported death in a day since the outbreak.

It is the sixth consecutive day that the nationwide death rates from COVID-19 set or tied the mark for most deaths in a single day.

All but five of those deaths were people living in long-term care facilities.

As of Sunday, 272 people have died from illness in Minnesota.

Hennepin County residents account for 22 of the 28 deaths. Health officials also reported a COVID-19 death in Olmsted County over the weekend the sixth death in the area.

A total of 156 confirmed COVID-19 cases were identified in Minnesota, bringing them to 3,602. Of these, 1,774 people have recovered and are no longer required to be exiled.

Currently, 285 people are hospitalized for the virus, with 115 requiring treatment in the intensive care unit. The number of patients in the ICU has dropped since it peaked at 126 on April 20.

As a public service, we have made this article available to everyone regardless of subscription status. If this coverage is important to you, consider supporting local journalism by clicking the subscribe button in the top right corner of the homepage.

Minnesota Department of Health hotline COVID-19: 651-201-3920.

Discrimination hotline COVID-19: 833-454-0148

Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) website.

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COVID-19 claims the lives of another 28 Minnesotans - Smash Newz

Forgetting for a moment that this is coming from the same guy who famously explained in 2011 why software is eating the world, Andreessen, an icon of Silicon Valley, does have a point. As George Packer has written in the Atlantic, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed much of what isbroken and decayed in politics and societyin America. Our inability to make the medicines and stuff that we desperately need, like personal protective gear and critical care supplies, is a deadly example.

Silicon Valley and big tech in general have been lame in responding to the crisis. Sure, they have given us Zoom to keep the fortunate among us working and Netflix to keep us sane; Amazon is a savior these days for those avoiding stores; iPads are in hot demand and Instacart is helping to keep many self-isolating people fed. But the pandemic has also revealed the limitations and impotence of the worlds richest companies (and, we have been told, the most innovative place on earth) in the face of the public health crisis.

Big tech doesnt build anything. Its not likely to give us vaccines or diagnostic tests. We dont even seem to know how to make a cotton swab. Those hoping the US could turn its dominant tech industry into a dynamo of innovation against the pandemic will be disappointed.

Its not a new complaint. A decade ago, in the aftermath of what we once called the great recession, Andrew Grove, a Silicon Valley giant from earlier era, wrote a piece in Bloomberg BusinessWeekdecrying the loss of Americas manufacturing prowess. He described how Silicon Valley was built by engineers intent on scaling up their inventions; the mythical moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes from prototype to mass production. Grove said those who argued that we should let tired old companies that do commodity manufacturing die were wrong: scaling up and mass-producing products means building factories and hiring thousands of workers.

But Grove wasnt just worried about the lost jobs as production of iPhones and microchips went overseas. He wrote: Losing the ability to scale will ultimately damage our capacity to innovate.

The pandemic has made clear this festering problem: the US is no longer very good at coming up with new ideas and technologies relevant to our most basic needs. Were great at devising shiny, mainly software-driven bling that makes our lives more convenient in many ways. But were far less accomplished at reinventing health care, rethinking education, making food production and distribution more efficient, and, in general, turning our technical know-how loose on the largest sectors of the economy.

Economists like to measure technological innovation as productivity growththe impact of new stuff and new ideas on expanding the economy and making us richer. Over the last two decades, those numbers for the US have been dismal. Even as Silicon Valley and the high-tech industries boomed, productivity growth slowed.

The last decade has been particularly disappointing, says John Van Reenen, an MIT economist whohas recently written about the problem(pdf). He argues that innovation is the only way for an advanced country like the US to grow over the long run. Theres plenty of debate over the reasons behind sluggish productivity growthbut, Van Reenen says, theres also ample evidence that a lack of business- and government-funded R&D is a big factor.

His analysis is particularly relevant because as the US begins to recover from the covid-19 pandemic and restart businesses, we will be desperate for ways to create high-wage jobs and fuel economic growth. Even before the pandemic, Van Reenen proposed a massive pool of R&D resources that are invested in areas where market failures are the most substantial, such as climate change. Already,manyare renewing calls for a green stimulus andgreater investments in badly needed infrastructure.

So yes, lets build! But as we do, lets keep in mind one of the most important failures revealed by covid-19: our diminished ability to innovate in areas that truly count, like health care and climate change. The pandemic could be the wake-up call the country needs to begin to address those problems.

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Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation - MIT Technology Review