Latest news with #StephenMacedo
The Hill
14-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Covid failures under the microscope, Stephen Macedo says pandemic shuttered both dissent & business
Stephen Macedo, professor at Princeton University, talks about his new book, "In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us."
Al Arabiya
03-04-2025
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Was ‘following the science' a huge mistake during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Was 'following the science' a huge mistake during the COVID-19 pandemic? Five years ago, the world changed overnight. Streets emptied, doors shut, and uncertainty loomed for half the population of the planet living under lockdown. What began as a temporary measure to control a global pandemic turned into a defining period of our lives. We're still living with the social and economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and learning more about its physical and mental legacy. And questions remain: Did lockdowns really save lives? Why did health experts ignore existing advice on how to tackle a pandemic? Were denials that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab actually false? Did world leaders make the right decisions on whom to save? And how did the response increase political polarisation and populism, while devastating trust in experts. Two Princeton University political scientists tackled some of these provocative questions in a new book: 'In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us.' The answers the professors discovered will make uncomfortable reading for some of those in power during the pandemic. Professor Frances Lee found it extraordinary that a World Health Organization report in 2019 strongly advised against lockdown measures. 'Among those were testing and contact tracing, quarantine, and border closure,' he said. 'And yet, six months later, all of these measures would be deployed globally against COVID, with policymakers saying that they were 'following the science.'' Co-author Professor Stephen Macedo believes claims that the virus originated from a live animal market in China were misleading. 'It does seem to me that the likelihood is that it emerged from a lab, from the lab in Wuhan, perhaps by a spill or perhaps manipulated. There are definite signs of a manipulated virus. There's very little question about that.' Professor Macedo found that political polarisation during Donald Trump's first presidency may have impacted the rollout of vaccines. 'And there's even some evidence now that those who are developing the vaccines might have slowed down their development a little bit so that he would not be able to claim credit for them going into the 2020 election.' Professor Lee discussed the long-term impacts of the pandemic measures, such as the effects on mental health, education, the economy and plummeting levels of trust. 'It exacerbated further the polarization that already existed in US politics. It drove down trust in government officials and in science agencies. It has driven down trust in universities and among experts generally. It helps to drive a populist backlash that has characterized US politics.' Speaking on Al Arabiya News' Riz Khan Show, the professors emphasized the need for a comprehensive review and reckoning of the pandemic response, as well as the importance of involving a wider range of experts and the public in decision-making during future crises. Failure to do so could have cataclysmic consequences.
New York Times
20-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Were the Covid Lockdowns Worth It?
Five years ago, at the urging of federal officials, much of the United States locked down to stop the spread of Covid. Over time, the action polarized the country and changed the relationship between many Americans and their government. Michael Barbaro speaks to Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee, two prominent political scientists who dispute the effectiveness of the lockdowns, to find out what they think will be required when the next pandemic strikes. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee, authors of In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us Image Domino Park in New York in 2020. According to several experts, a big lesson learned from Covid is that recommendations during any pandemic are necessarily based on emerging and incomplete information. Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here's how. We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode's publication. You can find them at the top of the page. Fact-checking by Susan Lee. Special thanks to David Leonhardt, Paula Szuchman, Paige Cowett, Nick Pitman, Celia Dugger, Michael Mason, Jim Yardley. The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Michael Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez, Brendan Klinkenberg and Chris Haxel. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.
Arab News
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: In Covid's Wake
Authors: Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee The Covid pandemic quickly led to the greatest mobilization of emergency powers in human history. By early April 2020, half the world's population were living under quarantine. People were told not to leave their homes; businesses were shuttered, employees laid off, and schools closed. The most devastating pandemic in a century and the policies adopted in response to it upended life as we knew it. In this book, Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee examine our pandemic response and pose some provocative questions.
Boston Globe
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The chill on speech during COVID-19 hurt the country
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up If you weren't all in with masks and isolation, you were a spreader of a killer virus. I wore masks, but I also bought a propane heater and served Thanksgiving dinner in my backyard. After attending a Christmas Eve gathering, I found out the next day that someone there had tested positive afterward. That news upset some family members who came to my house on Christmas. They trusted the science of complete isolation — a science that is disputed in the new book 'In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us,' by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. Advertisement With COVID-19, the big chill on speech came from the left. But putting a chill on speech is a bipartisan exercise and not limited to talk about a pandemic. Three decades ago, the late journalist and social commentator Nat Hentoff tracked it in a book titled 'Free Speech for Me — But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other.' Today, the censorship continues. For example, from the left: If you say 'All Lives Matter' instead of 'Black Lives Matter,' you are racist. If you have doubts about the participation of transgender women in sports, you are transphobic. If you question the amount of money sent to Ukraine to aid it in its battle against Russia, you are a Putin puppet. If you think Kamala Harris would have benefitted from a running mate who did not trim the truth like Tim Walz did, you are making a false equivalence with a president who rarely speaks the truth. Advertisement From the right: If you don't think every undocumented immigrant should be immediately deported, you are welcoming rapists and murderers into the county. If you think college students should be able to peacefully protest in favor of a Palestinian state, or, if you express doubt about the extent of Israel's military response after the Oct. 6, 2023 attack on their country — you are antisemitic. If you think it's wrong to blame a plane crash on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts before an investigation into it is complete, you are a left-wing nut. When there is no middle ground, there is no civil conversation. And without civil conversation, there is what we have now, an angry country filled with snarling citizens. On one side, there are Democrats who refuse It takes leadership to stake out rational middle ground and make the case for it to the public. I have no proof, only hope, that voters are hungry for it. While President Trump achieved victory by claiming the extreme right, there is some evidence the pendulum is ready to swing toward the reasonable center. That is illustrated by the shift in public opinion on the issue of transgender women in sports. I would like to think that at some point, public opinion will also shift against those who took down the images of women and non-white service members from Department of Defense websites. Advertisement Meanwhile, as we mark this fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, imagine if Trump had handled the pandemic differently. Imagine if he had not gone to war with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former infectious disease chief, but worked quietly behind the scenes to encourage free and open discussion about the best way to address the pandemic. What if he had not predicted the virus would 'miraculously' disappear or suggested that household disinfectant was the antidote? On COVID-19, Trump failed the leadership test. But as Scharfenberg wrote, 'The trouble was that too many liberals lumped these absurdities together with legitimate skepticism.' As president, Joe Biden also failed to challenge the prevailing thinking. Elected officials like Baker did what they could to get it right. If it turned out to be wrong, it was because of an unhealthy campaign to squelch healthy debate. There's a lesson in that — if only we could learn from it. Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
