Pandemic Report
The latest CDC weekly stats:
The summer wave continues to deepen (although still lower than last year) with positive test percentages now in the double digits, a rule of thumb I've repeatedly referenced during pandemic coverage. Some schools. e.g. in Kansas City, have suspended school reopenings have been suspended due to breakouts. The politics of vaccines dominated this past week cycle under the vaccine skeptic Trump Administration. RFK is not consulting with CDC experts on vaccine policy. The new CDC director just confirmed last month, Susan Monarez, was fired after disagreeing with RFK. Jr. over vaccine policy.. "FDA pulls clearance of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5". We finally saw the approval of the 2025-6 boosters from Moderna and Pfizer, although they seemed to be restricted to the elderly and high risk*/immunocompromised health groups. The FDA also revoked emergency use authorization for COVID shots, which implies healthier younger people may need a doctor's prescription to get a shot. There are rumors that Trump and HHS Secretary RFK. Jr are plotting to cancel the just-mentioned mRNA vaccines. Then there are nuances in state/federal regulations that mean Walgreens or CVS won't give COVID shots in a number of states: Among the states impacted include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. "US insurers likely to cover updated COVID shots this year, industry sources say." COVID-19 vaccine mandates are no longer legally possible, FDA commissioner says.""Pentagon mulls expediting process to reinstate troops discharged over Covid vaccine"
* According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the conditions that put someone at a higher risk of severe Covid-19 include:AsthmaBlood cancersCerebrovascular diseasesChronic kidney diseaseSome chronic lung diseasesSome chronic liver diseasesCystic fibrosisType 1 and 2 diabetesGestational diabetesDisabilities, including Down syndromeHeart conditionsHIVMood disorders, including depression and schizophreniaDementiaParkinson’s diseaseObesityPhysical inactivityCurrent or recent pregnancyPrimary immunodeficienciesCurrent or former smokingSolid organ or blood stem cell transplant recipientsTuberculosisUse of immunosuppressive drugs
Other COVID news items:
- "The American College of Cardiology (ACC) released vaccination recommendations for adults with cardiovascular disease, urging immunization against COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), pneumonia, and herpes zoster (shingles)."
- "CDC purge and Covid vaccine restrictions threaten public health"
- "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has chosen Retsef Levi, a member of its key vaccine panel, to lead its COVID-19 immunization workgroup, a spokesperson for the health department told Reuters on Monday. Levi had critiqued mRNA vaccines in the past, saying they can cause serious harm and death, especially among children, and called for their immediate withdrawal."
- "Ascension, Employees Agree to End Covid-19 Vaccine Bias Lawsuit"
- COVID relief fraud and other crimes continue to br prosecuted:
- "Broadway Producer Sentenced for Fraudulent Covid-19 Grant Scheme"
- "Former Massachusetts resident arrested for alleged COVID-19 relief rental aid fraud"
Other Notes
Inflated blog stats are back after a couple of weeks of more trend normal counts, although in the short term daily pageviews of posts are down to as low as a mere handful. On the other hand, my Never Trump tweets (presumably) are swelling my followers surging to nearly 190 followers. I'm not sure all are "real" (there are so many parody Musk accounts which seem intrigued with me). The latest stat teaser from X suggests I've had 2.3K impressions over the past week.
I watched probably my last WWE. PLE today (from Paris). WWE's new PLE's will be carried starting Sept. 20 on an ESPN channel with a $30/month nearly triple or more the cost of my current Peacock subscription (which comes with more content). This is nearly triple what WWE was charging for its premium channel before Peacock. I can't speak for other WWE fans but WWE just priced it beyond my budget, what it was worth for me.
My siblings and I are planning to have our late Mom (who had retired in the San Antonio suburbs) buried next to Dad in her family plot in Fall River in around mid-month September. So we were trying to reach out to lesser-known relatives in the area. I used to provide some tech support for Mom, especially email; I knew she kept in touch with relatives and even past high school girlfriends. But a sibling years back wiped her PC and shut down her Internet accounts without backups. Apparently her old school address book disappeared. So one of my sisters namedropped my mom's cousin George hoping for contact information; if I've met him it was only in passing decades ago. I'm much closer to her cousin Connie. So anyway I didn't have any realistic expectation I could find him via a Google search. I got a fuzzy hit but he was maybe 10 years younger than Mom. Mu sister later told me Mom had babysat him--but she didn't want to reach out to someone I found on the Internet, So I left a voicemail, and he called me back earlier today. Yup, it was cousin George who suggested he and his wife would join us for Mom's service.
I recently mentioned I've subscribed to maybe a half dozen sentimental YouTube story channels. Usually one of the principals is a wealthy bachelor and the other is usually a girl around 5 years old. quite often multiple births, i.e., twins, maybe newly orphaned, There's usually something to pull your heartstrings. like a girl futilely trying to sell her beloved teddy bear for a slice of bread or abandoned in a freezing winter storm or looking for a pretend Dad to attend her school performance. There are other familiar elements. Maybe the bachelor is a widower whose wife and/or child died in an auto accident. Lots of Caleb's and Sophie's. Also a lot of PTSD former soldiers and their K9 companions. These stories are often an hour or longer The ones that don't work for me have inconsistencies, like a story that seemed to involve an 8 years old girl but the scenario talked about an 18-year gap or near science fiction with a precocious girl who got planted at the side of the road in a blizzard where they knew he would stop to rescue her.
