Pandemic Report
The latest CDC weekly stats:
Some hints we may be peaking the summer surge, although you might see a blip over this holiday weekend. For those who follow me on Twitter/X, you may already know this week I got my Moderna KP.2 2024/2025 COVID-19 update. I normally get my generic meds from a well-known drugstore chain (it has to do with a price incentive from my prescription drug coverage). (For years, I used to go to Walmart for my generics where my out-of0oicket costs might be something like $10 for 3 months of a prescription. Plus, it was like a 2 for one trip--I could pick up some groceries or do some other shopping.) So I got an email or text this week, suggesting I schedule my shots (which I hadn't done there before), including a hint the new unspecified COVID shots were in stock. For context, after my initial 2 shots in another county auditorium type setting, I went (until last fall) to Walmart which was a scheduling hassle, not to mention it seemed to take forever for them to get the new shots in stock. It wasn't just that but I was using the same Walmart, now about 9 miles away. So I think last year I went out to a vaccine portal while I was waiting on Walmart, and I found another drugstore about a mile from home last year and used that. Ironically, I thought I went to the same government portal this past week and I couldn't find the locator functionality. So I easily scheduled a visit (within a day) for 2 shots (i.e., my annual flu shot). And then I got a text showing full list price (like over $400) for the schedule shots. What the hell? I thought it was covered by my health insurance. For some reason, they didn't have my health insurance on file, just my prescription plan. Based on my earlier experience, I still wasn't convinced they had the newly approved shots in stock, but if not it had been nearly 11 months since my last shot and I was worried about waning antibodies. But yes, not only did they have the new doses, but Moderna, which I read somewhere would be available next month and I've reported that in past posts. I think the lady who administered the shot heard from a colleague at a different chain that they had just gotten their Pfizer shipment. Some nuances--they no longer issue vaccine cards, although I got full vaccine confirmations by email, and they no longer require you to wait 15 minutes before leaving. She said they mostly based that on paperwork where I reported no shot allergies, etc, No side effects to the shots other than a bit of a sore shoulder.
Note the new vaccines are fully approved for 12 or older and emergency use authorization for younger minors. "We’ve continued to see patients get admitted to the hospital with COVID, the majority of whom are unvaccinated...most people who were hospitalized had not received last year’s updated shot, according to CDC data... research has shown that cardiac complications, including myocarditis, were significantly higher after a COVID infection than vaccination for both males and females in all age groups.” By the way, I may have confounded terminology in past posts: "booster" refers to "more of an earlier vaccine of the same formulation" whereas update refers to a tweaked, different formulation.
"At least one estimate suggests that as much as 2.5 percent of the population is infected with Covid."
The latest celebrity COVID infection is DC mayor Bowser. "Many who attended DNC in Chicago have since tested positive for COVID". Other relevant news items of interest include:
- A new COVID variant, XEC, is appearing on the West coast. It isn't enumerated in the most recent chart above yet.
- Novavax, a protein-based vs mRNA vaccine, has been granted emergency use authorization for ages 12 and above
- Obesity raises the risk of COVID infection by a third. (Since I am obese, this personally concerns me.)
- Long COVID patients are at risk for Alzheimer's like brain changes
- "Myocarditis is a heart condition where the muscle of the heart is inflamed, which can cause chest pain and shortness of breath. In severe cases, myocarditis can weaken the heart, leading to blood clots that can cause strokes or heart attacks. This condition is a rare, but serious side effect of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, particularly for young men. It’s also associated with COVID-19 infections. Myocarditis From COVID-19 Is Much More Severe Than From Vaccination "
- A recent study shows that fibrin. a blood protein affiliated with clotting, "binds to both the virus and immune cells, creating unusual clots that lead to inflammation, fibrosis, and loss of neurons."
- COVID relief fraud continued to nr prosecuted:
- A Wisconsin man got sentenced for a year over $150K EIDL fraud
- An Ohio mother/daughter, state agency employees, released almost $2M of COVID unemployment funds to relatives or acquaintances were charged.
- A NY businessman pleaded guilty to EIDL/PPP fraud
- A California restaurant owner pleaded guilty to more than $4M in SBA, EIDL and PPP fraud
- A Florida SWAT member was sentenced for $20K PPP loan fraud
- Richmond VA school bus drivers have been hit with a wave of COVID leading to delays in school transportation
- OAS refers to a kind of bias in immunity response; we are no longer COVID "virgins" once infected or vaccinated against a variant. This has an impact on vaccine development. Researchers have designed a relevant mosaic 8 vaccine, more of a multipurpose vaccine against "multiple different types of sarbecoviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants."
- Meta/Facebook's Zuckerberg confirmed that the White House during the pandemic pressured his company to censor COVID misinformation.
- Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, its popular weight loss drug, in a study, reduced risks of cardiovascular events and the risk of dying from COVID by a third
Other Notes
The excess blog hits seemed to trend lower through the week. The newer essays, although over a dozen or two pageviews, haven't done as well. I will have published the most posts in a month this year in August (although well below my high in other years). Twitter/X is going much the same; I haven't had a "viral tweet" in a while and the count of my followers is slightly negative over the recent past,
I am getting increasingly annoyed at voicemail systems. Increasingly, it's next to impossible to get to a live customer agent. One example I hinted at above in discussing my pharmacy's text response to my scheduling 2 shots. I was texted full list prices as if I was uninsured. I was confused because they had my doctors on file, all aware of my insurance coverage. I thought at minimum they might have asked about health coverage if not on file. So the problem was I had the local pharmacy number but there didn't seem to be an option to talk to someone live. I really needed to know whether I needed to reschedule or cancel the appointment and check vaccination coverage with my insurer. Somehow I finally got a live person on the line, and she told me to show up with my insurance card.
Then just this morning there was another glitch with my cable service and/or Internet service; this happens maybe every 3 weeks or so. I suspect most of the time they're doing unspecified maintenance work. Usually they go through a series of (user-caused) issues, like tighten any connections, reseed power connections, etc. So quite often on the cable side, it might be a single network is garbled. This morning it seemed every channel was affected. Now usually this is more of a nuisance; my cable service has a Fire app where I can watch my channels via WIFI on my tablet. Obviously I prefer to watch on my bigger TV screen. But usually I do all the usual things before I ever call the cable service. This morning they wouldb't let me go to an agent: they basically said to go to the portal and hung up. I think the picture finally stabilized while I was trying to figure out what to do in the portal. (Maybe they coincidentally finished their maintenance.) But it's really arrogant. In both of these examples, I've never seen a voice system or portal replicate a live agent.
While writing this post, I watched WWE's follow-up to SummerSlam, Bash in Berlin. Only one title change: the women tag champions where the former champs (Belair & Cargill) regained their title. I didn't think they would book a change in the men's belts, especially in front of Gunther's home crowd. But then they booked McIntyre to lose in front of his UK home crowd. I think I was somewhat disappointed they didn't turn Kevin Owens heel against Rhodes despite telegraphing that. And I also expected Belair to turn against Cargill .
