Endemic Report
The Sick Times:
The virus continues to spread in most states, but trend data in the South suggests the wave may have peaked there. After a local CVS staffing issue last Friday, I got my latest COVID shot (2026/7: XFG) on Monday. A lot of news items focused on vaccine rollouts in other pharmacies/providers, and a number of states have authorized shots beyond seniors and other high-risk groups. (I had wondered if I was going to have to make a visit to my doctor just to get a prescription or permission slip for the vaccine. I probably know more about vaccines than most health professionals. It turned out I didn't have to because I was exempt, since I'm in a risk group. As a libertarian, it infuriated me that I had to potentially fight the Trump Administration to protect my health.)
- "Repeat COVID infections tied to higher odds of new health conditions"
- "COVID-19 Infection Linked to Lower Risk of T1D in Those Younger Than 30"
- "Major evidence review confirms influenza, COVID-19 and RSV vaccines are safe and effective"
- "XOCOVA offers new post-exposure COVID-19 prevention option for adolescents"
- "Widespread COVID death underreporting around the world raises broader questions about the reliability of official information"
- "Recent COVID-19 Tripled Some Bacteremia Mortality Rates"
- "Flu outbreak among Air Force recruits at Joint Base San Antonio after Hegseth ends mandatory flu vaccine"
- "mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination Associated With Lower Risk of Myocarditis and Death, reassures study"
- "Overnight Cough Data Could Predict Flu and COVID"
- COVID relief fraud/other crimes:
- "Lafayette man expected to plead guilty after orchestrating $325,000+ COVID-19 relief fraud scheme"
- "New Jersey man pleads guilty to COVID-19 fraud involving Boise banks"
- "Homes, bank accounts seized from company accused of fraud involving Covid-19 tests"
- "River Pig Saloon owner fraudulently obtained COVID-era business relief funds, federal lawsuit alleges"
- "Longview man faces 19 federal tax fraud charges, prosecutors say"
- Legal/political issues:
- "FDA withdraws publication of COVID, shingles vaccine research findings"
- "Trump administration pulls Covid-19 vaccine safety studies amid political row"
- "Running costs of vaccine damage scheme more than double amount paid to victims"
- "Not So Fast- Why Your COVID Telework Policy Doesn’t Bind You Forever"
- "Ex-Switzerland coach banned over fake Covid vaccination certificate"
- "Inside the Trump FBI push to investigate Fauci and find evidence Covid came from a Chinese lab"
Other Notes
Blog pageviews unexpectedly, dubiously, more than doubled over the past week. I published my first essay of the month. X/Twitter remains mixed, with followers fluctuating around 200.
I often have to fashion workarounds for what I assume are product bugs. I recently purchased a deeply discounted smartwatch from Walmart. It took a while to find a user manual online to walk me through the setup, which also required coordinating with a cellphone app. Some things, like the date/time, are pulled from the Internet, but unlike my cellphone weather apps, it wasn't showing the current temperature. I found a way to configure it manually in the app, but the watch often seems to "lose" the temperature setting. It didn't lose the setting. So I used an old IT trick — in this case, toggling the weather setting off and on. That seems to restore the setting, but I've found myself doing it maybe once a day. I have to use a similar trick with Joplin, a utility that enables me to capture webpages, like purchase details or key news items for the blog; it sometimes (in Chrome) doesn't generate a snap button for capturing content, so I find I have to toggle my Joplin extension off/on to restore functionality.
But what's perplexed me for months is using MailStore, free for home users, as a repository for my Thunderbird emails. I often archive changes to my local folders on MailStore, but a large percentage of messages in my Thunderbird local folders don't show up in MailStore. A key example was my postal receipt for a voided IRS refund check I sent back to the IRS. I spent hours googling for hints on what was going on. I tend to purge local folders monthly, but more recently I backed up local folder mbox files in case I need to restore old folders. I think I may have figured out at least part of the problem. I think some of the emails are logically there but not physically moved to the target folders, and you have to do something like compact folders to complete the physical moves.
