February 12, 2025

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Medical technologies have been central to US pandemic response – but social behaviors matter just as much

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Medical technologies have been central to US pandemic response – but social behaviors matter just as much

Image caption: This graph shows the tuberculosis death rate in Massachusetts from 1861-1970 and in the U.S. overall from 1900-2014… Ljstalpers/Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 4.0. Article by Eyal Oren. The Conversation – December 22, 2021.

Before COVID-19, there was tuberculosis. Twentieth century British physician Thomas McKeown controversially proposed that the sharp declines in infectious disease death rates in the late 1900s were due to improved economic and social conditions – not medical and public health measures like antibiotics and improved sanitation.

His theory was later partly discredited. But the central question behind it – whether medical interventions or social factors make the biggest impact on infectious diseases – remains relevant in the current pandemic. […]

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