Pandemic Report
The latest CDC weekly stats:
The summer COVID wave continues to recede; regular readers probably know which number jumped out at me: I've repeatedly noted I've been waiting to see the percentage of positive tests to break into single digits. So we decidedly see that this month. On an anecdotal note, I tweeted earlier this week I got my 4 free (including shipping) COVID tests from HHS via USPS. The kits come with instructions; I found the above 2-year-old video on use (I'm not going to open a kit to verify.) "So far this season, around 20 million of the 32 million tests ordered through COVIDTests.gov have been shipped. All are supposed to have a shelf life of at least two months, according to the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response or ASPR."
In my case, I was sent an OSANG OHC COVID-19 Antigen Self Test. On the left side of the front of the box, I found a lot number and an expiration date of 1/31/24. There was a slip of paper that for expiration dares and possible updates, go to www.fda.gov/covidtestdates In my case, there was a hyperlink for extended expiration date for the manufacturer (Osang OHC). That launches a table of lot/expiration dates, and I found a new expiration date of 1/31/25. So these tests should be good for at least 3.5 months. [My guess is it won't turn into a pumpkin at midnight then.]
Relevant news items of interest include:
- Then President Trump secretly shipped Russian leader Putin COVID-19 tests during e early pandemic
- "Infection from COVID-19 appeared to significantly increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death for up to three years among unvaccinated people early in the pandemic when the original SARS-CoV-2 virus strain emerged, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported study. "
- "The [FDA] this week authorized the Healgen Scientific's Rapid Check COVID-19/Flu A&B Antigen Test for home use without a prescription."
- "A former Tufts Medical Center doctor is suing the hospital for $6 million, claiming it wrongfully fired her for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine because of her religious beliefs."
- Prosecutors continue to pursue pandemic era crimes:
- A Utah man was sentenced for selling over 120K fake vaccination cards
- An Idaho man accepted a payment judgment involving PPP/EIDL fraud
- "Severe COVID-19 infection increases heart attack and stroke risk as much as having a history of heart disease:"
- Former BARDA director Rick A. Bright refutes Trump's claim that his USG performance during COVID was phenomenal..
- "New research from The Wistar Institute's Salvino lab -; led by professor Joseph Salvino, Ph.D. -; has identified a novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors that may lead to potential new COVID-19 treatments that, according to preclinical testing, effectively inhibits COVID-19 and synergizes with existing anti-COVID therapies."
- "Long COVID linked to leftover proteins in the blood"
- "The findings provide evidence of mid- to long-term microstructural abnormalities in the brain after COVID-19 hospitalization. Results demonstrate magnetic resonance susceptibility abnormalities in several regions in the midbrain, pons, and medulla at a median of 6.5 months following hospitalization. These differences were consistent with neuroinflammatory responses."
- "Our study provides strong, direct evidence that vaccinated individuals who develop breakthrough infection are less likely to experience more severe disease outcomes compared with unvaccinated individuals who develop reinfection."
- "A physician accused of falsely claiming that a stroke patient died at the former Fountain Valley Regional Hospital from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination faces disciplinary action from the Medical Board of California."
- "Remdesivir plus dexamethasone reduces death in COVID-19 hospitalizations"
Other Notes
Well, blog readership is back to a more normal pace in the context of more normal paces over the last couple of years. Twitter/X has been averaging 2K or so impressions weekly.; I do seem to have picked up a few followers over the past week.
I swear the holidays seem to be edging earlier every year. I've now been seeing cable ads for artificial Christmas trees for a while. Lidl\s latest {grocery) weekly flyer shows some holiday treats on sale, and Hallmark starts up its annual Countdown to Christmas this coming Friday--even though Halloween in more than 2 weeks off!
A couple of items have captured my attention the last few journal posts: egg prices and my ISP., It looks like Walmart\s value brand eggs have dropped to about $2.66/dozen, about a dollar less than Lidl's which is highly unusual. in my shopping experience.. Lidl usually is highly competitive on basic grocery items. It could be Walmart's strategy to reach out to budget consumers.
At least my Internet connection issues seem to have been resolved recently--no thanks to my ISP. Separately, I had been running into DNS issues with my VPN service and have made a simple tweak to my VPN configuration. Google and at least one of my password managers do not like my VPN connections, so sometimes I have to snooze around relevant tweaks.
I've been watching a lot of sports recently. Texas currently tops the NCAA football rankings but had an abysmal first quarter on offense against traditional (ranked) Oklahoma, but basically had a breakout 3 TD second quarter and coasted to an easy victory. My other graduate alma mater (U of H).is struggling this season with only 2 wins so far. In baseball, the Minnesota Twins seemed earlier in the season to have a lock on the playoffs but had a second half collapse, barely finishing above .500. My other team, the Houston Astros, kept its post-season streak alive but got an early first-round exit. On the other hand, the Minnesota Vikings have started their season with a winning streak. (No, I have no ties to MN; I played Little League for the hapless 1-win Twins. (There\s a soap opera about that; I got kicked off the team in late season. (A 8-year-old teammate started heckling me about having a fictitious girlfriend.. When I told him to knock it off, the coach literally threw me out of the dugout and told me to go home. We were playing the Yankees, my little brother's team. I decided to stay and root for my brother. My coach caught me and kicked me off the team. That meant I couldn't go to the season-ending banquet, featuring former Yankee Bobby Richardson, Anyway, I discovered there was a MLB team called the Twins, and they also had a pro football team.)))
