Pandemic Report
No update of the 4 major COVID statistics page since early December. The regional trends are low but growing in most of states east of the Pacific coast. The CDC (new to me) has a consolidated respiratory disease page. focusing on a high level of flu outbreaks across the country. I don't see an update of The Sick Times over the past holiday week
Other COVID-related news items:
- "COVID-19 still causes severe disease, but up-to-date vaccines are effective, new research shows"
- "The studies highlight that, while COVID-19 is not leading to the widespread disease we saw during the pandemic, it has still been causing a considerable number of hospitalizations and deaths,”
- "These Are the Most Common COVID-19 Symptoms Doctors Are Seeing Right Now... "Cough, fever and sore throats are typically the most common symptoms we see, but COVID-19 symptoms can also include congestion, fatigue, loss of taste or smell, muscle aches, headache and gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea or vomiting." "The biggest shift over time is that many people now experience more upper-respiratory, cold-like symptoms rather than the severe lung disease we saw early in the pandemic," he explains. "That’s partly because of immunity from vaccination and prior infection. However, COVID has not become harmless: Children under 23 months of age, adults over 65, pregnant people and those with underlying health conditions remain at higher risk for serious outcomes. Long COVID is also something that can occur regardless of age, and may be prevented by vaccine and other precautions that help avoid the infection.""
- "COVID-19 vaccination does not increase risk of idiopathic inflammatory myositis in US veterans study"
- Legal/political items:
- "Idaho Top Court Finds ‘Unknowns’ about COVID Exposure Nix Widow’s Claim"
- "Minnesota faces $400 million fraud probe over COVID-era pandemic loans"
- COVID relief fraud and other crimes continue to be prosecuted:
- "Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick, accused in $5M COVID-19 funds theft, has arraignment rescheduled"
- "Utah Woman Sentenced for Fraudulently Securing COVID-19 Loan Funds"
- "Ayer company to pay $1.3M to resolve allegations of COVID loan fraud"
Other Notes
The blog continues to attract a disproportionately high number of page views. I've generally been satisfied with post publication after rehab, although I probably published fewer essays. Still, my X posts, many of which seem to be shadow-banned beyond my own impressions, rarely exceed double-digit impressions despite my compelling, articulate arguments. My followers are currently over 200, but that could easily flip in a day.
I just went through a learning curve setting up a new smart TV, a premium one when I swapped ISPs recently. When I moved to Yuma in 2016, I had to buy a flat-screen TV over my cable ISP didn't allow coax-cable connection to my box-like functional color TV. So I went to Walmart and bought then the cheapest flat-screen at about $130 plus tax. It lasted until maybe a week ago. It was likely a hardware defect, but it was a weird situation where I could hear cable audio but np picture. I would get a product logo in restarting the TV, but then the screen flipped to black. It really wasn't a cable TV issue, but prevailed across HDMI devices like my Firestick. I flirted with buying a cheap replacement from Amazon, because the premium TV was too big for a 2-person setup in a small apartment, but Amazon promised a delivery after the holidays. (I could still watch TV on my cellphone and tablet.) I did manage to set it up. The documentation wasn't that great, but I managed to muddle through the interfaces. Technology has changed over 9 years. It was cool discovering I could integrate remote functionality through an Alexa device, and the new TV remote is solar-operated with a backup USB-C port.
Not to mention I finally have more sports coverage, including ESPN, which allowed me to see some college football playoff games. I was pleased to see both my graduate school alma maters (UT and UH) won their respective bowl games.
