Numbers can tell a persuasive story, but will even overpowering figures shock Americans into taking the steps needed to deal with the coronavirus cases surging across the country? By many metrics, it is counter-factual to contend, as President Trump insists, that the nation is “rounding the corner” on the Covid-19 pandemic and “the country is….
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City Council approves package of measures to increase safety of DC streets
Officials in the nation’s capital have approved a broad-based plan to crack down on the dangers that motorized vehicles pose to pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers, and whole neighborhoods. The District of Columbia City Council acted in response to spiking fatalities and injuries — harms that have increased not only locally but nationwide, as the Washington….
Continue ReadingThat $ —.99 sale isn’t a deal. ‘Left-digit bias’ isn’t great for health care, either.
Highly educated and rigorously trained doctors may be just as susceptible to a built-in bias that bargain-seeking consumers yield to when they hit stores seeking 99 cent goods, buy into TV hype for $19.99 wares, or fall for a salesman’s pitch for a used car priced at $17,999. Ivy League researchers call the cognitive flaw….
Continue ReadingSpiking death rate a harsh reminder of alcohol’s risks, especially for women
Tipple much, much less in 2020. That might be a life-saving bit of advice for too many Americans to follow, especially because of new data on a worrisome spike in alcohol-related deaths. As NBC News reported, based on published research by federal researchers: “The yearly total of alcohol-related deaths for people ages 16 and over….
Continue ReadingGood news on cancer shows why the battle against smoking matters. A lot.
There’s good news out on declining deaths caused by one of the nation’s leading killers. But experts warn that the country will need to work hard to sustain a sharp drop in cancer mortality rates — mostly due to smokers quitting their nasty habit. That’s because other factors like rising obesity may undo the recent….
Continue ReadingGo figure: In era of Big Data, numbers and statistics still bedevil medicine
Big data and numbers may seem to drive the world these days, but human factors can play a dizzying role when it comes to statistics and medical treatments. For those fascinated by numeracy in health care, writer Hannah Fry, in a readable New Yorker essay, details how medicine and patients alike have been bedeviled by….
Continue ReadingLet’s put a halt to this killer traffic trend: Blown red lights rise by 31%
Red means stop, right? That’s a driving basic. But Americans’ flouting of a fundamental traffic regulation — the red light — is costing more lives than it has in a decade. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that two people die daily in vehicle wrecks involving the running of a red light, NPR….
Continue ReadingMedical debt is a horror. Charity is a help. But get that health insurance, now.
Although Good Samaritans deserve a great holiday cheer for their part in paying for some of it, medical debt persists as a giant shame of the American health care system. Doctors, hospitals, insurers, Big Pharma, and other providers and suppliers need to step up to shrink the financial burdens of medical care that crush far….
Continue ReadingU.S. life expectancy dives as drug overdoses and suicides soar
As 2018 rumbles to its close, Americans are getting yet more excruciating information about the toll inflicted on us by Big Pharma, doctors, hospitals, and insurers: The nation is posting record numbers of overdose deaths, suicides, and a life expectancy rate that’s falling in a way not seen since the great wars. It takes almost….
Continue ReadingWith road deaths already a concern, a new spotlight shines on bad tires
With the nation’s road toll rising in already alarming fashion, Uncle Sam may need to step up information campaigns and even reconsider regulation of a greater than believed vehicle risk: aged and decaying tires. FairWarning, an independent investigative news site, and road safety advocates deserve credit for dogging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)….
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