Post #6311 J

 Pandemic Report

The latest stats from CDC:

I'm not sure but the CDC figures may lag up to a couple of weeks for hospitalizations to a week for deaths.

I haven't found any good sources on aggregate cases since the end of the emergency in mid-May. One piece from a few weeks back speculates we've plateaued at about 100K/daily, in large part because an estimated 95% of Americans have natural or acquired (vaccinated, over75%) antibody/other immunity protection. Many infections are minor and in part may reflect waning antibody protection in high risk groups. We also have some meds (e.g., Pfizer and Merck) to treat COVID-19 patients.

Ww continue to see rollbacks of COVID era testing and/or vaccine mandates, e.g., on Broadway.

It is disappointing that Biden's closest challenger to renomination is crackpot anti-vaxxer RFK, Jr. There has been a recent high-profile kerfuffle of podcaster Rogan daring vaccine researcher Hotez to debate RFK on his show, Dr. Marc Siegel, an NYU professor and Fox News contributor, wrote an interesting op-ed, supporting Hotez' decision not to debate. Siegel had himself participated in an earlier public debate on the false alleged link between vaccines and auism. (What's notable about that is Hotez has an autistic daughter, and RFK continues to argue a connection.) Siegel resents that resources that had to be spent defending vaccines would have been better served trying to find a cure. 

It's worthwhile to quote Siegel's response to alleged COVID-19 vaccine side effects for a small percentage of cases:

Together, we make a risk vs. benefit analysis. Which is riskier? The virus or the vaccine we have to fight it? And how does that apply to your particular case given your risk factors for the virus versus your tolerance or intolerance of other vaccines you’ve taken in the past? 

Are there side effects to the COVID-19 vaccines? Of course. But are the side effects along the same line as side effects of the virus itself but occurring much less frequently or severely? That is what the science shows so far.

With billions of people around the world having received COVID-19 shots, associated side effects such as myocarditis have been well demonstrated, but myocarditis also is much more common and severe when contracted from the virus itself. In addition, brain fog, fatigue, lung and heart problems and other manifestations of “long COVID-19” appear to be much less common or severe among those who have been vaccinate

Other Notes

I'm sure my experience with healthcare providers is nothing compared to others. I've been struggling with a painful ailment likely to require an outpatient procedure. I'm in the midst of some expensive tests. For some reason. I had to go to another provider for one of these. They don't even put vendor contacts for me, even though I specifically asked. I go to Google, and it has contradictory location data. So, long story short, these places don't share info and I'm doing time-consuming paperwork. So, I've got this thing scheduled for early next week, and Friday they text me they need the results of aa certain blood test. I go ot my diagnostic testing portal and saw it was done 2 months ago with normal results. I texted back, but got no response. I call and they have this weird voice system where I have to navigate like it's my first call to schedule. So, I finally got through but was told the provider considers 2-month results "too old". My diagnostic vendor is closing in 2 hours. I need a script from a doctor to do a blood test. My doctor's office is closed. I called the hospital (wanting me to do this test), but the doctor isn't available. I can't guarantee test results will be ready in time if I get the test on Monday. So, now I have to reschedule the test. They want to know when, but I still don't have a script. After 4 PM (diagnostic lab closed for the weekend). The hospital called to say they've sent the lab a script. So, maybe I can do the blood test first thing Monday.

And don't get me started on the bill. I'm probably dealing with a half dozen providers, and doctors bill separate. My health insurer seems fixated on exhausting my deductible. My earlier hospital test cost over $1000, and my insurer got no real discount. So, the hospital finally billed me, but their credit card transaction failed for an unspecified reason. I ended up having to have their billing department run the transaction, which worked.

I've been binge watching The Twilight Zone on Free Vee. Some of the episodes are pretty transparent. In this one first season episode 3 astronauts seem to have crash-landed on an asteroid. There was one nagging detail from the start: how was it they were able to breathe in an earth-like atmosphere?

The first week of the blog showed lower numbers. My latest viral tweet was on Springsteen's misunderstood "Born in the USA".