Tag: Harvard

Harvard seeks to move past firestorm brought on by school President Claudine Gay’s resignation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Harvard University on Wednesday sought to move beyond the firestorm brought on by the plagiarism allegations, congressional testimony and resignation of Claudine Gay, the school’s first Black president, as it seeks a new leader and tries to heal divisions at the elite Ivy League school.

But Gay, in a column published online by the New York Times, cautioned on Wednesday that the campaign against her was about more than one university and one leader.

“This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society,” Gay wrote. “Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults,” she added.

Gay also wrote that there was a racial element to the attacks, saying that she’s “been called the N-word more times than I care to count.”

“It is not lost on me that I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution,” she wrote.

The search for a new president will begin “in due course” and will include “broad engagement and consultation with the Harvard community,” the Harvard Corporation, the school’s 11-member governing board, said in statement Tuesday, adding that will be driven by “core values of excellence, inclusiveness, and free inquiry and expression.”

“At a time when strife and division are so prevalent in our nation and our world, embracing and advancing that mission — in a spirit of common purpose — has never been more important,” leadership said.

As it looks for a new president, the corporation also needs to examine its role in Gay’s appearance before Congress, according to Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who teaches history, race and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and directs the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project.

Muhammad said Harvard capitulated to “a McCarthy-style political attack” in accepting Gay’s resignation and not calling out “the misinformation and outright lies” leveled at her by Republican critics, which he described as a “political witch-hunt.”

“The first mistake was accepting the terms of the congressional inquiry as legitimate,” said Muhammad, who added that he’s equally concerned about another person of color stepping in as president and “having to carry the weight of unfair accusations and character assassination connected to their racial identity.”

The school has tapped Alan M. Garber, provost and chief academic officer, to serve as interim president until a permanent replacement can be named.

Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony: Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned Dec. 9.

Following the congressional hearing, Gay’s academic career came under intense scrutiny by conservative activists who unearthed several instances of alleged plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral dissertation.

The Harvard Corporation initially rallied behind Gay, saying a review of her scholarly work turned up “a few instances of inadequate citation” but no evidence of research misconduct. Days later, the corporation said it found two additional examples of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution.”

Gay’s resignation drew a range of reactions from campus groups.

The Harvard Republican Club said the school has a chance to strengthen its commitment to truth.

“We hope that our next President will continue Harvard’s long-standing commitment to fostering an intellectual community where open discourse is not only protected, but expected,” the group said in a written statement.

The Harvard Black Students Association said that while Black students often hold opinions that don’t align with Gay’s, they are “deeply dismayed by the message the University continues to send about who is worth defending and who is not.”

“We understand the representation that Claudine Gay provided to Black students, Caribbean students, and Black women in particular,” the group said in a statement. “We sympathize with and condemn the hatred and unwarranted scrutiny that Gay has had to face.”

Gay’s resignation was celebrated by the conservatives who put her alleged plagiarism in the national spotlight.

“Two Down. One to Go,” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said Wednesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Your silence is deafening @MIT. Not even an apology issued by your school to date. And zero commitment from your school to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish students.”

Gay, Magill and MIT’s president, Sally Kornbluth, came under fire last month for their lawyerly answers to a line of questioning by Stefanik, a graduate of Harvard, who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the colleges’ codes of conduct. Kornbluth has retained her job.

The three presidents had been called before the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce to answer accusations that universities were failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza,

In her column, Gay acknowledged mistakes, saying that in her initial response to the atrocities of Oct. 7, she should have stated more forcefully that Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks to eradicate the Jewish state.

“And at a congressional hearing last month, I fell into a well-laid trap. I neglected to clearly articulate that calls for the genocide of Jewish people are abhorrent and unacceptable,” she wrote.

While she acknowledged attribution errors in some of her academic writing, she wrote that she’s “never misrepresented my research findings, nor have I ever claimed credit for the research of others.”

John Pelissero, an ethics scholar at Santa Clara University, said the rancor that led to Gay’s departure as president is emblematic of how national politics have crept into institutions of higher learning.

“I think that what has changed in universities in the last few years is there is much more scrutiny being given politically to what goes on on university campuses and what kind of a learning culture is there versus a political or ideological culture,” he said.

The episode marred Gay’s tenure at Harvard — she became president in July — and sowed discord at the Ivy League campus.

Gay, who is returning to the school’s faculty, said in her resignation letter that it has been “distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained | The controversy around Harvard University President Claudine Gay

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Hundreds of Harvard faculty members and alumni have extended support to university president Claudine Gay following her controversial last week House testimony about antisemitism on college campuses.

According to the BBC, the support comes amid calls for Gay’s resignation. On Monday, a meeting undertaken by the 13 members of Harvard Corporation, discussed the situation and the future course of action. Over the weekend, over 500 faculty members of the university signed a petition stating Harvard to “resist the political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including the calls for removing the president Claudine Gay,” reported BBC.

Meanwhile, over 70 members of Congress have been calling for her resignation. Most Republican lawmakers referred to the college president’s answers as ‘abhorrent’.

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According to Reuters, several Jewish students, families, and alumni of the university have alleged the university has not taken concrete action to address antisemitism.

The controversy around Dr Gay erupted after Republican representative Elise Stefanik asked if calling for the ‘genocide of Jews’ was free speech.

In response to the question, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn said they “personally did not agree with the rhetoric used by that student” and were also “committed to preserving free speech on campus”, reported The Times of India.

Who is Dr Claudine Gay?

The 53-year-old is the first Black president and the second woman to helm Harvard University in its 368-year history. Dr Gay joined the university as a faculty in 2006. She then served as a professor of government and African and African-American studies. Later in 2018, Dr Gay became the dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

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According to the New York Times report, Dr Gay is a supporter of diversity in hiring and is also an expert on minority representation and political participation in the government. She was selected for the post of university’s president from a pool of more than 600 nominations.

Senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, Penny Pritzker, who led the presidential selection committee, praised Dr Gay at the time for her appointment and said that her “a rare blend of incisiveness and inclusiveness,” bringing both a “bedrock commitment to free inquiry and expression, as well as a deep appreciation for the diverse voices and views that are the lifeblood of a university community” reported NY Times.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

7 charged with stealing, selling body parts from Harvard Medical School Morgue: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At least seven people have been arrested and charged with stealing and selling human parts from the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston. The group, including the morgue manager, Cedric Lodge, sold the human remains to a network of buyers across the country, an NBC report said.

The ring also comprised Cedric Lodge’s wife Denise Lodge from Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania. They stole, sold and shipped parts of bodies donated to the university for medical research.

The group of seven is accused of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.

Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager, has been accused of breaching his duty of care, being negligent and failing to ensure that the cadavers were properly handled and maintained for their intended purpose of scientific study.

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Cedric Lodge often let Maclean and Taylor into the morgue and examine cadavers to choose what they wanted to purchase, read a statement by federal prosecutors.

While Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania, there were also times Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others outside state, the statement added.

“Lodge stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge or permission of HMS,” according to the indictment.

The court papers also mentioned that Lodge and his wife would reach out to buyers through websites for the body parts.

As per the court documents, Taylor sent 39 electronic payments, for a total of $37,355.56, to a PayPal account run by Denise Lodge from September 3, 2018, to July 12, 2021. These payments were allegedly made for human remains, the indictment says.

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A payment memo from 2019 read, “head number 7,” and another one on November 20, 2020, said the transaction was for “braiiiiiins.”

“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” Harvard Medical School said in a statement.

The reported incidents are a betrayal of Harvard Medical School and the individuals who chose to will their bodies to the institute through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research, the statement added.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Who is Ritu Kalra — Harvard’s new VP for Finance and CFO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ritu Kalra, investment banking and financial management expert of Indian-American origin, has been appointed as the vice president for finance and chief financial officer at Harvard University.

Kalra is currently serving as the assistant vice president of finance and treasury, as well as a special projects adviser within the university.

As the vice president for finance and CFO, Kalra will oversee various important areas including research administration, strategic procurement, capital planning, and risk management. Leading a dedicated team of over 200 professionals, she will be responsible for managing multiple financial departments.

In expressing her enthusiasm for the new position, Kalra stated, “Harvard’s ability to forge collaborations within and beyond the University, across a breathtaking breadth of disciplines, doesn’t happen by accident. It requires a rare and sustained marriage of strategic leadership and executional excellence. Tom Hollister has been instrumental in kindling this marriage across the organization, and I look forward to working with the broader University community to build on this essential partnership to advance the academic mission,”

Meredith Weenick, the executive vice president, expressed her excitement about Kalra taking on the role, saying,  “I am thrilled to have Ritu stepping into the VP and CFO role,” said executive vice president Meredith Weenick. “Since joining Harvard in 2020, she has provided exceptional leadership and been a trusted adviser on an array of financial matters and University priorities. Her Harvard experience, coupled with her track record as an innovator in private sector banking and finance, positions her well as a leader who will continue to build on what has been strong stewardship of the University’s finances in recent years.”

Before joining Harvard, Kalra enjoyed a successful 18-year tenure at Goldman Sachs, where she held several progressively challenging positions.

Notably, she achieved the rank of managing director and served as the head of public sector and infrastructure finance for the western region, as well as the head of higher education finance on a national level.

During her time there, Kalra offered strategic advisory services to both public and private sector entities throughout the United States, specializing in designing innovative financing strategies to address climate-related risks.

Kalra’s new role as vice president for finance and CFO will commence in July, with reporting lines to executive vice president Weenick and a dotted line to president Claudine Gay.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Happy Birthday Mark Zuckerberg: A look at his journey from a Harvard dropout to a billionaire

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of tech giant Meta, has grown from a Harvard dropout into a billionaire philanthropist with several tech ventures over the years. The Facebook founder celebrates his 39th birthday on May 14. Zuckerberg is one of the leaders of the tech revolution and continues to inspire people across the globe.

On his birthday, here’s a look at Mark Zuckerberg’s memorable journey.

– Born on May 14, 1984, to a dentist father and a psychiatrist mother, Zuckerberg grew up in Dobbs Ferry located just outside New York.

– He started coding at the young age of 11, with a deep interest in AOL and Microsoft.

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– Zuckerberg went to high school at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, where he captained his fencing team, before getting an opportunity to study at Harvard University.

– At Harvard, Zuckerberg launched Thefacebook.com, from his dorm room on February 4, 2004 with some of his mates.

– He dropped out of Harvard in May 2004 as he headed to Silicon Valley, where he received his first major funding of $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, followed by nearly $13 million the next year from Accel Partners.

– Facebook had 1 million users by the end of 2004 and it grew to 5.5 million users by 2005.

– After rejecting a $ 1 billion buyout from Yahoo, in 2007, Facebook officially launched its revolutionary Facebook Ads platform.

However, ever since its conception, the social media platform was plagued with controversy.

After an elaborate controversy involving the law in 2008, a $65 million settlement was reached with three Harvard classmates, twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra over allegations that Zuckerberg had stolen the idea of the social media platform from them.

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Facebook, despite facing backlash and recurring privacy complaints, became one the largest social media networks in the world with a current active user base of 2.98 billion as per Statista.

In 2021, Zuckerberg announced an entire overhaul of his companies which were rebranded under the umbrella of ‘Meta’.

Meta was launched with the aim to bring together the different apps and technologies of the company under one new brand.

Further, the ‘Metaverse’ was launched with a focus to help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses in a virtual world. The Metaverse is essentially a digital space that melds virtual reality, augmented reality with the physical realm.

In 2023, Facebook in 2023 hit the gigantic milestone of garnering over 2 billion daily active users on the platform.

Over the 20 years, Zuckerberg has been at the helm of acquiring companies like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR and several more.

With a net worth of $87.5 billion (as per Bloomberg), Zuckerberg along with his wife Priscilla Chan, has committed to give away 99 percent of his wealth.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apsara Iyer becomes first Indian American woman president of Harvard Law Review

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Apsara Iyer, an Indian American student at the Harvard Law School has been elected as the 137th president of the Harvard Law Review. A second-year student at Harvard Law School, Iyer became the first woman from the community to be elected to the coveted position in the prestigious publication’s 136-year history, a report in The Harvard Crimson said on Monday

Iyer, who has been working in art crime investigation and repatriation since 2018, succeeds Priscila Coronado as the president.

The report added that Iyer joined the Harvard Law Review after a competitive process called “write-on,” where Harvard Law School students “rigorously fact-check a document and provide commentary on a recent State or Supreme Court Case.”

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Who is Apsara Iyer?

As per The Crimson report, the 29-year-old graduated from Yale with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics with Math, and a Spanish degree in 2016.

Iyer then pursued MPhil at Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar because of her interest in archaeology and indigenous communities.  In 2018, she joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU).

Iyer has great interest in understanding the “value of cultural heritage” and her enthusiasm led her to work in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, which is responsible for tracking stolen works of art and artifacts.

At the ATU, she investigated art crime and coordinated with international and federal law-enforcement authorities to repatriate more than 1,100 stolen works of art to 15 different countries.

In 2018, Iyer worked in the office before coming to the Law School and took a leave of absence after her first year studying law to return to the role, as per the report.

In 2020, Iyer enrolled at Harvard Law School where she is a student in the International Human Rights Clinic.

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After being elected as the president of Harvard Law Review, Iyer said that she aims to include more editors in the process of reviewing and selecting articles and upholding the publication’s reputation for high-quality work. Iyer’s current focus is to ensure everything keeps moving smoothly.

Her immediate predecessor Priscila Coronado said the publication is “extremely lucky” to have Iyer at the helm.

The distinguished former presidents of the much revered law journal include former president Barack Obama and US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Iyer has previously worked with the National Security Journal and the Law School’s Harvard Human Rights Journal and she is also a member of the South Asian Law Students Association.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Michelle Obama turns 59 today: Interesting facts, and powerful quotes by her

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Former First Lady of the US, Michelle Obama, celebrates her 59^th birthday on January 17. She has not only defined herself as being a motivational orator but a strong voice for women’s rights, youth education and wellness.

Michelle Obama is a Harvard-educated lawyer, writer, orator and the founder of the American not-for-profit organisation called Public Allies Chicago.

On her 59^th birthday, here is a look at some interesting facts and powerful quotes from Michelle Obama.

Interesting facts about Michelle Obama

She studied sociology and African American studies at Princeton University and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988. She then joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met Barack Obama.

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She was Obama’s senior at the law firm and initially, she declined invitations to go out on a date with Obama, saying it would be inappropriate. She eventually gave in and went on a date.

Michelle Obama is one of the only three First Ladies with a graduate degree. The other First Ladies with a degree are Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

Michelle was known by the nickname ‘The Closer’ during election campaigning because she was skilled at persuading undecided voters to sign pledge cards – closing the deal.

She became the first First Lady to announce the winner of an Oscar (Best Picture, which went to Argo), during the 2013 Academy Awards.

Famous Quotes by Michelle Obama

“Walk away from friendships that make you feel small and insecure, and seek out people who inspire you and support you.”

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“Even when it’s not pretty or perfect. Even when it’s more real than you want it to be. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”

“Choose people who lift you up.”

“You don’t have to be somebody different to be important. You’re important in your own right.”

“Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It’s a vulnerability that breeds with self-doubt and then is escalated, often deliberately, by fear.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Harvard-backed startup develops game-changing EV battery that charges in 3 minutes, lasts 20 years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A Harvard-backed startup, Adden Energy, has developed a battery for electric cars that is capable of fully charging in three minutes and lasting more than twice that of current EV batteries or 20 years.

The startup has received $5.15 million in funding to commercialise the game-changing battery. The technology has received an exclusive license from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development, and the funding was led by Primavera Capital Group, with participation by Rhapsody Venture Partners and MassVentures.

The startup will now advance the technology after successfully demonstrating a coin-cell prototype with 5,000-10,000 cycles in a lifetime — as against 2,000 to 3,000 charging cycles for the best in class batteries currently. According to the startup, the rapid development of clean energy storage technology is critical.

Adden Energy CEO William Fitzhugh hopes to appeal to the 37 percent of Americans without garages at home and, therefore, no access to at-home overnight charging for EVs. “Complete electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the most meaningful steps we can take to fight climate change,” said Fitzhugh.

“However, broad adoption of electric vehicles requires batteries that can meet a diverse set of consumer needs. EVs need to recharge at comparable times to internal combustion vehicles, essentially in the time you’d currently spend at the gas pump,” he said.

Various studies have suggested that electrification of all global vehicles could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent.

“Electric vehicles cannot remain a luxury fashion, literally the ‘one percent’ of vehicles on the road, if we are to make progress toward a clean energy future, and the US won’t have a used-car market if EV batteries last only three to five years,” said Xin Li, an associate professor at Harvard and a scientific advisor to Adden Energy.

“Technology needs to be accessible to everyone. We don’t see any fundamental limit to scaling up our battery technology. That could be a game changer.”

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Researchers developing face mask that lights up when it detects coronavirus, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A small team of scientists from MIT and Harvard may soon come up with a mask that lights up if it detects coronavirus, reported Business Insider.

The technology initiated for Ebola and tailored in 2016 to address Zika, is now being adjusted again to identify coronavirus cases, the report said.

The team is developing a mask that produces a fluorescent signal when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes, as per the report.

“As we open up our transit system, you could envision it being used in airports as we go through security, as we wait to get on a plane…You or I could use it on the way to and from work. Hospitals could use it for patients as they come in or wait in the waiting room as a pre-screen of who’s infected,” Jim Collins, who led the research on the tool, was quoted as saying in the report.

While the development is only in the initial stages, the new technology could be a big leap forward in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The new masks could be particularly helpful for medical staff to identify and treat patients on the spot rather than waiting for the test results.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Harvard study says we could need bouts of social distancing until 2022

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The world may need repeated bouts of social distancing till as far as 2022 to contain the novel coronavirus, particularly to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, said a Harvard study on April 14.

The results of a computer simulation, published in the journal Science, hopes that COVID-19 will become seasonal with higher transmission rates in colder months.

The Harvard study’s results have come out at a time when most governments, including the Indian and US administrations, are working on a graded exit strategy to balance the containment of the coronavirus pandemic and a revival of the economy.

“We found that one-time social distancing measures are likely to be insufficient to maintain the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the limits of critical care capacity in the United States,” news agency AFP quoted lead author Stephen Kissler as saying.

“What seems to be necessary in the absence of other sorts of treatments are intermittent social distancing periods,” the agency added.

Widespread viral testing would be required in order to determine when the thresholds to re-trigger distancing have been crossed, it said quoting the authors.

The duration and intensity of lockdowns can be relaxed as treatments and vaccines become available while also allowing hospitals time to increase critical care capacity to cater for the surge in cases that would occur when the measures are eased.

“By permitting periods of transmission that reach higher prevalence than otherwise would be possible, they allow an accelerated acquisition of herd immunity,” AFP quoted co-author Marc Lipsitch as saying.

The paper also questions “too much social distancing” and says “Under one modelled scenario — the social distancing was so effective that virtually no population immunity is built”.

The authors, however, do acknowledge that the lack of information about an infected person’s immunity history and its durability is a drawback in their model.

The authors said they are certain that the virus is here to stay and it was highly unlikely that immunity will be strong enough and last long enough that COVID-19 will die out after an initial wave, as was the case with the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003.

Antibody tests that have just entered the market and look for whether a person has been previously infected will be crucial in answering these vital questions about immunity, they argued.

A vaccine, which experts have warned remains more than a year away, will be the ultimate weapon against the coronavirus, the report added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow