Post #6916 J

 Pandemic Report

The  latest CDC statistics this week:

Well, we are definitely past peak summer surge, but roughly half the states remain at elevated levels (quite often this is inferred by wastewater concentrations). The latest COVID infection celebrity is NYC Mayor Eric Adams, not his first infection. A couple of related political notes: Former NY Gov. Cuomo testified on Capitol Hill about the nursing home policies in the early pandemic with overwhelmingly tragic results. He tried to shift blame to Trump, but the GOP-controlled committee found him responsible. Another item finding repeated reference is the Florida surgeon general Joseph A. Ladapo, who is advising against taking mRNA vaccines. On another related issue is Moderna is reporting disappointing sales on the vaccine update (which I have gotten) and their stock dropped something like 20%.

Other items of interest include:

• An Austrian woman was sentenced for grossly negligent homicide 3 years ago of a neighbor who was immunocompromised 
• 43% of Americans plan to get the COVID update shot, while 56% plan to get the flu shot. Note the risks of COVID are higher than for the flu
• "Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine have used a cutting-edge model system to uncover the mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, induces new cases of diabetes, and worsens complications in people who already have it.."
• "The results indicated that the widespread administration of COVID-19 vaccines in the selected countries within the Caribbean and Latin American regions averted between 610,000 and 2.61 million deaths between early 2021 and May 2022."
• "New study uncovers a higher prevalence of heart scarring in young males after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination, raising concerns about long-term outcomes despite mild initial symptoms of vaccine-associated myocarditis."
• "Molnupiravir reduces long-term COVID-19 symptoms but shows limited impact on hospitalizations."
• "COVID-19 reduces male fertility by affecting semen quality and hormone levels."
• "New-onset ANCA-positive small-vessel vasculitis is a rare but possible complication of COVID-19 vaccination."
• "This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. We also examine emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines. "
• "A health survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds a rise in the number of Americans believing COVID-19 vaccination misinformation, and a lower willingness to vaccinate."
• The COVID lockdown probably aged adolescent girl brains by 4 years and guys about 1.5 years.
• Hospitals during the earlier pandemic ran into capacity and resource issues probably resulting in nearly 20% of fatalities.
• "[A]ntibodies can have opposite effects on viral infections in human cells. Published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, this study is the first to identify an antibody that can both assist and block the virus.."
• Doctors are discussing "human case of bird flu in Missouri, mpox outbreak news and delays with the new COVID vaccine rollout."
• Surgeons have been reluctant to perform surgery too soon after COVID infection, but there's some guidance a 2-week wait is sufficient.
• Commercial real estate has been struggling during the pandemic when remote office work became a trend.
• HHS: "COVID-19 Vaccination Public Education Campaign Saved Thousands of Lives, Billions of Dollars"
• "The blood-retinal barrier is designed to protect our vision from infections by preventing microbial pathogens from reaching the retina where they could trigger an inflammatory response with potential vision loss. But researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered the virus that causes COVID-19 can breach this protective retinal barrier with potential long-term consequences in the eye."
• "The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis, but do not appear to cause infertility, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or heart attack, according to a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report examining whether COVID-19 vaccines can cause certain harms. The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine may cause TTS and Guillain-Barré syndrome, the study committee found, although there are a limited number of published studies on this vaccine, reflecting its limited use in the U.S. According to the report, administering any vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines, also may cause certain shoulder injuries: acute subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis, acute rotator cuff tendinopathy, bone injury, and axial or radial nerve injury."
• Prosecution of COCID relief continues:
• A Florida man was sentenced to 45 months for PPP fraud.
• A Florida woman pled guilty to PPP fraud and a credit scheme

Other Notes

It looks like the readership pageviews are finally tapering down to long-term trend. I've started work on the horrible Trump/Harris  debate. These things are very time-consuming and demoralizing because both of them I personally can't stand.. Twitter/X continues on a roughly 100-300 impression rate daily. I don't really write tweets for impressions, but I've noticed if I write a Taylor Swift tweet it gets more attention than my political tweets. .It's still frustrating that some of my best tweets barely make a handful of impressions.

;Egg prices are still crazy. Some weird quirks, though. For example, it seems that a dozen eggs here private/bargain brand at Walmart or Lidl is roughly $3.77/dozen. Now I have a separate nutrition blog where I haven't posted lately, but there are some nutritionally superior specialties, in some cases based on more nutritional feed; in particular, cage-free or free range eggs:

Numerous studies have found free-range eggs or cage-free eggs to have a healthier overall nutritional profile. Benefits found include less saturated fat and cholesterol, and higher levels of protein. Free-range or cage-free eggs have also been found to have significantly more Vitamin A and Vitamin E; more omega 3s; higher levels of alpha tocopherol and alpha-linolenic acid; higher carotenoid levels; more lutein; a healthier ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids; higher bone mineral density; and more beta carotene.

They are usually significantly more expensive. So, here is a weird quirk: sometimes you can find the premium eggs at a very competitive price; maybe they' have supply issues and can't reorder or want them sell them within the fresh interval. So for instance at Lidl I found them selling 18 premium brown eggs for $4.49--which is significantly less than their 18 pack private label regular eggs. Still much more than the $1.13/dozen I was paying a month ago.

I've now had a second missing Amazon shipment for night delivery (actually, same day delivery, which is great when they deliver during daylight). I suspect the night drivers can't easily see my street number; I know sometime back I got a call for directions from an Amazon drover. In tonight's case he took a picture  and it shows a different street number/ How did he not notice it? Probably they delivered it to a neighbor's address. But when I tried to call up, their voice messages, loosely translated: our agents can't adjust anything for 3 days. Look around your neighborhood and if you can't find it after 3 days call us back. (Let me say here the service agent was more flexible, but really, dude: if you don't deliver it, your job isn't done.) I remember I just moved into the neighborhood, someone knocked on my door asking for my permission to collect their package that had been left on my porch by mistake. Amazon needs to crackdown on delivery issues. If I can, in the future I'm going to opt out of same day delivery.