Endemic Report
The latest CDC stats:
The Sick Times:
COVID infections, although lower than prior years this decade, continue to increase in almost every state. The biggest news story over the past week is the vaccine-skeptic Trump Administration's new CDC director refusing to accept Pennsylvania's reported measles deaths. This seems to reflect a decade of skepticism over incidental versus causal infection if reported deaths.. This is likely an
apples-to-oranges comparison. (I write as a childhood case of measles caught from other kids in the pre-vaccine days). In fact, measles has been a fatal disease for many in the past and present: Via Google AI:
.
The other big news is that the new XFG variant COVID shots are rolling out nationally. In fact, I was scheduled to get my Moderna shot at CVS yesterday, but the visit was scrubbed. An inventory issue? Nope. They didn't have staff to deliver shots at my local store.. The shots are already available at major pharmacy chains like
CVS and
Walgreens. I'm not sure why (I've had past COVID shots under my insurance), but CVS implied they didn't have my insurance on file and posted a cost of about $300 without insurance. (I do think some
states or counties or nonprofit providers may cover the costs for some.) Another point is that
other medical organizations are stepping up as the Trump Administration has abandoned public health leadership to encourage Americans to get vaccinated
Other COVID news:
The blog has attracted an unlikely 1K+ pageviews a day. I'm working on my next September essay, another Trump-inspired rant. My X/Twitter followers have barely recovered past the 200-follower threshold.
I often post about my favorite supermarket. Lidl. To those unfamiliar, if you know the German-founded competitor Aldi, it's very similar in concept. Aldi has a big, almost fanatical presence on YouTube. I recall clickbait in one video promising "big secrets" of Aldi shopping, but it was really a rehash of well-known facts about distinctive practices, e.g., self-return (returned quarter) carts, no free grocery bags or bagging, and many shelf items in shipping boxes. Predominantly premium private-label goods competitively priced. Middle aisles of rotated merchandise deals. No rewards program (just everyday lower prices). Lidl is a very similar German-based competitor, with an in-store bakery, a rewards program, and regular carts at the front of the store. They do have paper or other bags for sale if you forget (I usually bring plastic trash bags) Their prior rewards program included some grocery specials (for example, this week I could save about a buck a pound on grass-fed beef bricks), and their old program included bonus freebies based on cumulative monthly grocery totals (maybe a jar of spices, a chocolate bar, or a bake mix). The recently revised program gives you a point for each purchase dollar, and you can exchange a varying number of points for an impressive variety of groceries or even a cash discount on your next purchase. As for the "deals aisles," I've occasionally made purchases; e.g., this weekend I got an inexpensive electric veggie chopper. I have a few modest criticisms: unlike Walmart, which barcodes clearance items accordingly, apparently only employees can apply clearance discounts, which is a hassle if you use the self-serve checkouts. And I still need to get help more often than I should. For example, the system seemed to wrongly believe I hadn't scanned a jar of mustard, although the grocery tape showed it rang up.
College football is fully back this season, and for once, both graduate school alma maters' home openers (UT and UH) were featured on ESPN. Both teams won, although I was pssed that ESPN broke coverage near the end of the UH game to cover the UT game. (Oregon State had scored 2 late touchdowns to come within a touchdown with several minutes left on the game clock. UH finally responded with a late TD to pull away, but ESPN did little more than track the score and time remaining.) Texas opened against Texas State, renamed a few years back from Southwest Texas State. (I have a sister who graduated with an elementary education degree from SWTSU; my BIL originally attended A&M but transferred to SWTSU to be with my sister (they married around the end of their studies.) Ironically, 3 of their sons graduated from A&M; a son and daughter from UT, and their other son graduated from Texas State.
