Matt, Dara, Jerusalem, and German use Matt’s last Tuesday episode to discuss life expectancy in the US. They explore paternalistic policy decisions, the misnomer of “deaths of despair,” and the longevity of The Weeds. US life expectancy is compared to that of European and Asian nations, and the US numbers are disaggregated and examined up close.

A regulation underpinning a digital certification system for individuals in the European Union to verify their COVID-19 status via a common credential has gone into application today — on schedule. From today, almost all EU Member States are now able to issue and verify digital certificates, …

Much of the continent is experiencing a wave of outbreaks driven by the B.1.1.7 variant, which ravaged Britain this winter.

During a plague outbreak in 1899, officials in Honolulu quarantined and burned the city’s Chinatown. Some Covid-19 talk today echoes their rhetoric.

Four major influenza epidemics were recorded between 1830 and 1848. The 1830-1831 epidemic may have originated in China; then and in 1833 influenza advanced westward out of Russia into Europe. In 1836-1837, influenza diffusion was largely north to south, and in 1847-1848 the disease swept through th …