Pandemic Report
We still don't have updates from the CDC since late September, allegedly an artifact of the ongoing federal shutdown. I do have the sense infections are still up, if not stronger, with the cooling autumn weather in some states like Nevada, prominently including the newly infected imprisoned film mogul Harvey Weinstein and former 90210 actress Tori Spelling. "The number of coronavirus deaths reported in the United States on Wednesday reached its highest in two months." Among relevant stories: the vaccine-skeptical Trump Administration's CDC ACIP restrictive approvals have already reduced updated vaccine sales, which had dropped to something like 23% participation last year, leading to mRNA producer stock price corrections. We are starting to see COVID memorials in states like Maryland and New Mexico.
Other COVID news items:
- "Patients With Long COVID Find Relief With Alternative Therapies"
- "New method detects novel variants of COVID-19"
- "Dynavax and Vaxart Partner to Advance Oral COVID-19 Vaccine"
- "COVID-19 Vaccination Linked to Reduced Infections in Children with Eczema"
- "COVID in pregnancy raises child’s risk for developmental disorders"
- "COVID-19 vaccination linked to lower long COVID risk in adolescents"
- "COVID-19 infection poses higher, longer heart risks to children than vaccination"
- "Catching COVID-19 or the Flu Could Triple Your Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack"
- Prosecutors still pursuing COVID relief fraud and other crimes
- " Sentencing of Pastor for COVID-19 Fraud Delayed Again"
- Legal/political items:
- "YouTube gives deadline for users to recover accounts banned for COVID-19, election speech"
- "A new classified U.S. Department of Energy report concluded with “low confidence” that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China."
- "Female College Students Fall Behind in Academic Recovery from COVID, UNCG Researchers Find"
- "Iowa to pay $600,000 to former public health spokesperson fired during pandemic"
- "Kroger ends COVID sick pay benefits for unvaccinated employees"
- "DOD establishes task force to review Covid-19 vaccine mandate"
- "Mayor Adams Offers Former Employees Who Were Terminated for Refusing COVID Vaccine Second Opportunity to Return to City Employment"
- "Cuomo immune from Covid-19 suit"
Other Notes
We continue to see likely bloated pageviews on the blog. I do preview each post, so I was surprised to see a Stossel interview disappear from public view, meaning it couldn't be published, so I had to replace it with an alternate clip. I think I hit the 250 X follower level for the first time tonight, although this may change by morning, up or down
I've mentioned that a few Amazon and other delivery drivers (a minority, usually at night) have problems finding my home. I think a basic issue is that my door/street number is perpendicular to the street. So, to her credit, a Walmart delivery driver this morning called me. Luckily, I know how to give directions that don't require seeing the street number. I see things that most people don't notice, although to me they seem obvious. I remember when I lived in Irving, TX; I went to a job interview and had a heck of a time finding the building because it was at least a quarter mile off the street. When I finally found the building, it was behind a fountain and a statue of a horse rider. (This was years before Google Maps and cellphones). Why wasn't I told about the statue?
I recently had to deposit a check larger than my bank's mobile app's daily deposit limit. There was functionality for temporarily applying for a deposit increase, but it didn't seem to acknowledge a reset. I then called the bank, and the agent told me he reset it. He never bothered to tell me I had to restart the app for the temporary limit increase to take effect, so I had to call the bank back
