ICSS 20200816
Sun, Aug 16, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Coronavirus: Scientific Realities vs. Economic Fallacies
We are pleased that Georgi Marinov, Stanford postdoc in Genetics, , has accepted our invitation to speak about his recent article in LEFTEAST on this subject. Georgi Marinov, a post-doc researcher in Genetics at Stanford, has written one of the most prescient, widely-read, and important articles written from a Left perspective on COVID-19 pandemic and what we need to do to address it. Dr. Marinov describes the virus and the difficulties of knowing whether people will develop lasting immunity to it, and of developing a vaccine. He also delves into concerns about the virus mutating and becoming more lethal, and explains why the actual Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is higher than what is being reported in the media. Due to all of the above, Dr. Marinov says that we can expect successive waves of infection for the foreseeable future. On reopening the economy to “save it,” as some are advocating, he explains why that can only result in mass death and economic failure. Dr. Marinov concludes that we must take steps now to eradicate COVID-19 or it will be with us for a long time. Our best hope is that we stop the transmission and the virus ‘dies off’. This will require a long term quarantine and social support for people during that period in the forms of a basic income, cancellation of bills and providing basic necessities. It also means sequestering essential workers so they can continue to do necessary work. And, because this is not the last pandemic we will face, it means an economy that can be “paused” it when necessary to stop pandemics. Here’s the link to Marinov’s article https://popularresistance.org/coronavirus-scientific-realities-vs-economic-fallacies/
