| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a party platform of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda Doctors' Biases Are a Public Health Crisis It's well-established by now that Covid-19 has been especially punishing to Black Americans, a result of the structural racism that makes them more vulnerable to the disease. What's less well-known is that the doctors who are supposed to help them may be part of the problem. American medicine has a long, ignominious history of treating Black patients differently from White ones, writes Trevon Logan. It should not shock you to learn Black patients consistently get the worse treatment. White doctors routinely downplay Black patients' health concerns and offer less-aggressive treatments than White patients get. This contributes to the shorter average life spans and lower general health levels of Black Americans, including the pre-existing conditions that make Covid-19 particularly deadly. It's a stealthier public-health crisis that still needs aggressive action, starting with recruiting and training more Black doctors. We're Still Not Testing Enough There's a good movie streaming on Hulu, "Palm Springs," which is sort of an update of "Groundhog Day." In both movies people keep waking up to the same day over and over and over again. It's fitting pandemic fare, for obvious reasons. Because, in August just as in July, June, May, April and March, many of us are still working from home, still not wearing grown-up pants, and still don't have enough testing for Covid-19. On that latter point, though, something has at least changed. Like Bill Murray learning to play the piano, scientists have used their layover in the time loop to come up with tests that are much cheaper and quicker to administer than the old jam-a-swab-into-your-brain tests. We need to greatly ramp up production and use of these tests all over the country, writes Bloomberg's editorial board. It's the only way we're going to beat this virus and escape the time loop. One thing, though: The states will have to handle all the work, because the federal government is still checked out. Some things never change. The RNC's Split Cult of Personality The first day of the Republican National Convention was, as I used to say in my last-minute term papers, a study in contrasts. On the one hand you had such appealing mainstream Republicans as Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, who may well have convinced some wavering party members it was OK to vote for President Donald Trump again. On the other hand you had people like the Bonnie and Clyde of St. Louis saying the Democrats were going to burn down the suburbs and force our children into communist collectives. Also, Kimberly Guilfoyle. And then there was the president himself, who overshadowed them all (aside from maybe Kimberly Guilfoyle) with a rambling address stuffed with grievances and lies, writes Jonathan Bernstein. It will be hard for Trump to change many minds that way. But this election is all about Trump, for better or worse. The Democrats are against him. The Republicans are for little else but him, write Michael R. Strain and Ramesh Ponnuru. They wonder how the party that once won an election with a detailed Contract With America became a cult of personality and what it will become when that personality is gone. Only the Lonely If you've been mostly trapped at home with family members for the past six months and learning all the unique ways they can annoy you, then you may not feel lucky, but you are. Because an alarmingly high percentage of Americans, particularly young ones, are feeling pretty lonely right now, notes Noah Smith. In fact, this was a problem that developed long before the pandemic. If anything, forced isolation has caused some people to reconnect with old friends/family members/stalkers. Once this particular nightmare is over, though, we may fall right back into the old work-life patterns that set so many of us socially adrift. Policy makers can help, Noah writes, by giving people more free time to find friends and future annoying family members. Telltale Charts Battered by low oil prices, the pandemic and more, Saudi Aramco must make tough choices if it wants to keep paying the hefty dividend it has promised, writes Julian Lee.  Best Buy hasn't had quite the blowout pandemic as other big-box stores, but it's still in pretty good shape, writes Sarah Halzack.  Further Reading Citigroup blames human error for its $900 million whoopsie. That doesn't cut it. — Elisa Martinuzzi It's too hard and expensive for people to successfully time the market. They really shouldn't try. — Barry Ritholtz TikTok's legal challenge to Trump has only a thin hope of succeeding. — Noah Feldman Unpaid internships only make sense under certain circumstances. — Erin Lowry ICYMI Employees at a South Korea Starbucks avoided a Covid-19 outbreak by wearing masks. Africa is now free of wild polio. A former Navy SEAL trader helped expose a hedge-fund scandal. Kickers Black paint on wind turbines may protect birds. (h/t Jessica Karl) 2,000-year-old redwoods survived California's latest wildfires. Maybe we should vaccinate wildlife to prevent future pandemics. Irish boy gets new metal detector, immediately finds 400-year-old sword. Why every city feels the same now. Note: Please send old swords and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
Post a Comment