Pandemic Report
Celebrities continue to report infections, whether it's the mayor of LA or an African head of state. Reportedly rock icon David Crosby died from COVID-19 complications. Newer omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 (Arcturus) is responsible for 18% of new COVID-19 cases. Apparently, effectiveness of Pfizer's vaccine for kids 5-11wanes considerably over the first month. On the other hand, multiple doses of mRNA vaccines are safe for kids as young as 6 months.
Average length of noncomplicated COVID-19 is up to about 2 weeks:
Long COVID is known by many different names: long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, or even chronic COVID. It’s a general term used to describe the range of ongoing health problems people can have after their infection.
The most recent data from the CDC has found that one in 13 adults in the United States – 7.5% – have symptoms that last at least 3 months after they first came down with the virus. Another earlier report found that one in five COVID-19 survivors between the ages of 18 and 64, and one in four survivors aged at least 65, have a health condition that may be related to their previous bout with the virus.
A recent study of long COVID-19 has filtered through hundreds of symptoms to a common dozen:
Long Covid symptoms include:
- Ongoing fatigue.
- Brain fog.
- Dizziness.
- Thirst.
- Cough.
- Chest pain.
- Heart palpitations.
- Abnormal movements.
- Upset stomach.
- Lack of sexual desire.
- Loss of smell or taste.
- Feeling sick or overly exhausted after physical activity, also known as post-exertional malaise.
Other Notes
I should have known better; I bought some water enhancement gizmo; feeling I was protected by my credit card issuer. The problem was that almost immediately I suspected something was wrong. I never got an invoice/confirmation/receipt from the vendor. Was the item in stock or backlogged? I only have so much time to dispute a charge. Several days later, still nothing from the vendor. Now I go to the main website. No order status page, no customer service link. I scoured the website and found a note that said we should get a tracking number when the item ships and we need to keep on top of it (inference: foreign vendor). I later see reference to a MAILING ADDRESS in China for product/related issues..
At this point, I'm worried I've been scammed and go to the card issuers site. Only to be blocked by a message to the effect "We really, really, really want you to work this out with the vendor before asking for a refund. Here is their email address..." Long story short, no acknowledgment from the vendor. Back to the card issuer. Vendor gives the card issuer a notice that this is his tracking number (I'm not even cc'ed separately,) The card issuer says something to the effect give the item a couple of weeks to arrive before checking back with us. SIGH. I think in the future I'll buy from Amazon.
I just discovered my clinic is going to bill my charge card $300. I go to my insurance portal, and it doesn't look like they adjudicated the claim. No customer service available over the weekend, of course. I have such a high deductible, I did expect I was going to get hit with a high "my responsibility". You do hope to get a discount off list charges, at least. I'm used to seeing an adjudicated claim before getting billed by a provider, so I'm not sure what happened here.
I got a note from my cable provider that they will no longer be offering "free" Peacock starting in the near future. They do offer the first year at a bargain rate. It's annoying because I do pay a lot of money for limited cable and Internet,
