Pandemic
The plunge in daily new coronavirus cases has ceased and may be climbing again, but the news is brighter when looking at the summer. Most of the public health experts interviewed by The New York Times believe a surge is likely but not inevitable.
The New York Times
With coronavirus Infections decreasing and vaccinations increasing throughout the nation, health and science reporters are writing about what the end of the pandemic may look like—from a disease perspective.
National Geographic
The European outlier of Sweden was embraced by American conservatives as an example of a government relying not on heavy-handed business and social restrictions but voluntary compliance by individuals to reduce viral spread. No longer.
The Washington Post
With most of the nation in the coronavirus "red zone," the endgame to the pandemic in the U.S. is likely through achieving herd immunity, preferably through vaccinations, but the nation's top infectious disease expert has been changing the threshold.
The New York Times
Ron Klain, President Obama's former Ebola response coordinator, will serve as chief of staff to President-elect Joe Biden. This post also looks at all the appointments and nominations for Biden's health team that will devise a Covid response.
The Atlantic
As COVID infections and hospitalizations mount in California, ICU availability dropped to zero in Southern and Central California. Demand for hospital care is also outstripping supply in New Mexico.
The Washington Post
Even with the world shut down, many California planning issues continued to be debated online, fought over in court, enacted in city halls, and realized on the ground. And yet, racial equity and the pandemic are the defining stories of 2020.
California Planning & Development Report
A new report by RentCafé reveals the extent of the pandemic's influence on the rental market—so far.
RentCafé
The nation's smallest and second densest state has led the country in daily new cases per capita of coronavirus infections for the last week, supplanting the Midwest and Mountain States where the virus has reigned for months.
GoLocalProv
Blog post
Planetizen shares the latest in a series of compendia tackling the effects of the pandemic, now and in the future, for cities and communities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued the nation's first stay-at-home order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, issued a new order to prevent hospitals in the nation's most populous state from being overwhelmed with COVID patients.
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
Townscraper, a new "casual town building" game earned good reviews among early adopters this summer.
Bloomberg CityLab
In a late-night 5-4 ruling on the eve of Thanksgiving, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a governor's executive order to stem the spread of a contagious virus can not impede the right of people to gather in a church.
SCOTUS Blog
Driving in the United States accounted for five percent of global carbon emissions before the pandemic, but U.S. cars and trucks account for 20 percent of the global emission reductions during the pandemic.
Carbon Tax Center
The coronavirus has upended urban life, but it also provides an opportunity to look to new and innovative redesign of cities in the future.
The Guardian
It's been eight months since the first confirmed infection from the novel coronavirus in Washington state. As deadly as COVID-19 is, Americans should reflect when 200,000 died in a single month from a far deadlier virus 102 years ago.
The New York Times
College towns that have been observing public health guidelines and seen relatively few COVID-19 cases are now seeing infections spike as young people return to take classes. The New York Times has been tracking cases in colleges and college towns.
The New York Times
Blog post
Amid pandemic and protest, the need for urban mending has become abundantly clear, with responses that invoke the more ethereal elements of a physical place I like to call it "place-healing," a term that seems right for the times.
Trades groups demanded provisions in housing bills that ultimately will stymie the construction of much-needed affordable housing in the state.
San Francisco Chronicle
An undercount is likely this year, particularly in communities that are traditionally underrepresented. As a result, cities will not have access to crucial federal funds over the next decade.
Politico
