Coronavirus & Monkeypox Tidbits #205 8/14/22
Announcements:
First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I'm getting.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don't be shy about that.
New posts:
CDC Says More Is Needed to Protect Infants From Hepatitis B
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/979110?
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Don’t Let Infections Dampen Your Summer Water Fun. Here’s How To Avoid Splash Pad Infections
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How Can We Vaccinate People More Quickly Against Monkeypox? Dose-Sparing
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Climate Change Can Worsen More Than Half of Infectious Diseases
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/978813
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Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Emerging in Community Settings
News
Covid:
CDC capitulates in their new Covid guidance...forgets about prevention and protecting vulnerable
Simplified measures for contacts, infected people
One of the biggest changes is quarantine guidance for people exposed to the virus. Instead of quarantining, the CDC recommends wearing a high-quality mask, watching for symptoms for 10 days, and getting tested on the fifth day.
People who are mildly sick with COVID-19 should still isolate for at least 5 days while wearing a high-quality mask. After isolating, people who are recovering should avoid contact with vulnerable people for 11 days.
The CDC recommends longer isolation periods for people with moderate and severe illness.
Another major change is that the CDC no longer recommends screening asymptomatic people who don't have known exposures.
The agency urged people to consider their risks in particular settings, keeping in mind community transmission levels and ventilation, when gauging needed distancing measures.
New guidance also targets schools
In updated guidance for schools and childcare settings, the CDC removed the recommendation to cohort students and to conduct screening tests, except when community levels are high or in response to outbreaks. It also removed the quarantine recommendation, except for in high-risk congregate settings.
Also, the CDC removed information about test-to-stay, which was originally designed to allow school-linked close contacts who aren't fully vaccinated to attend school during quarantine.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/08/cdc-unveils-streamlined-covid-19-guidance
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The @CDCgov doubles down on its flawed, not evidence based Covid recommendations with a new guidance document
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 11, 2022
1. Leaves fully vaccinated = 2 shots, stay "up to date"
2. Leaves isolation at 5 days w/o rapid tests
3. Pushes "community levels" when real info is "transmission levels" pic.twitter.com/Sflm8U0xbS
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COVID-19 neuro complications, long-term symptoms in kids
Two new US studies describe pediatric COVID-19, one finding that 7.0% of hospitalized children developed neurologic complications such as seizures, and the other showing that even mild infections can lead to long COVID.
7% have seizures, brain damage
In a large, multicenter study published today in Pediatrics, a team led by Vanderbilt University researchers followed 15,137 COVID-19 patients aged 2 months to 17 years released from 52 US children's hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System database from March 2020 to March 2022.
Seven percent of patients developed a neurologic complication, the most common of which were fever-triggered seizures (3.9%), non–fever-related seizures (2.3%), and encephalopathy (brain damage or disease) (2.2%).
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What if “learning to live with COVID” meant learning to live with basic precautions like masks and enhanced air handling rather than living with repeated infections until your long-term health is threatened?
— Chris DeGroot 🚲 (@ct_degroot) August 10, 2022
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“We’re just following CDC guidelines” is weaponized against us. It is used by states to justify inaction in the face of mass death+disability...to punish ppl for doing the right thing. It is furthering health inequities + resulting in unimaginable unnecessary death and disability https://t.co/7iSY2DDbPP
— DynamicallyDisabled - Em, PH (@dynamicallydis) August 13, 2022
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Monkeypox:
Dose-sharing of Jynneos vaccine:
I wrote about this plan to use smaller, intradermal vaccination to => 5x extra doses: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2022/08/08/how-can-we-vaccinate-people-more-quickly-against-monkeypox-dose-sparing/?sh=62f2146d1b75
FDA's Peter Marks acknowledged the critics who point out that fractional dosing is based on one trial published in 2015, but he said the trial was well-constructed and offered very reassuring results.
Bavarian Nordic, the manufacturer, expresses serious reservations [perhaps unsurprisingly]
But there is an urgent need for more vaccines, as the US now has 10,392 confirmed monkeypox cases in all states but Wyoming. With a global total of 33,333, the US represents one-third of the world's cases.
Less than half the doses we need in US would be available by Dec. OTOH, Africa still does not have any doses of monkeypox vaccine, despite being the historical home of the virus.
ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine, was also considered but ultimately decided against because it carries with it a significant risk of myocarditis (1 case out of 175 recipients), and causes a scab that sheds live virus, which is unsuitable for immunocompromised individuals.
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[Note: Dose sharing is untested for monkeypox and could be a disaster--ineffective. It has been used for other diseases, as I wrote. And Jynneos is only 85% effective to begin with. It, like the mRNA Covid vaccines, seems better at preventing sever disease rather than any disease.]
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Hurdles to antiviral treatment for monkeypox leave people suffering
Infectious disease doctors say there are maddening barriers to monkeypox treatment with one medication, Tpoxx, that can ease patients’ pain, fever, and fatigue. The antiviral isn’t approved for monkeypox, so it’s available only under a compassionate use policy that requires a “Kafkaesque amount of paperwork,” 90-minute appointments, and two follow-up visits, even after CDC streamlined the process. That leads to further delays in care, especially in short-staffed or emergency settings, New York City health department member Mary Foote said on a call with reporters yesterday. “We really cannot be complacent about this needless suffering.”
With support on monkeypox hard to come by, queer communities turn to one another
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You can add dogs to the list of species catching #MPX/#monkeypox: Case study in @TheLancet on 2 men in France who were infected. Men reported co-sleeping with their Italian greyhound who also got infected, had lesions; suggests human-to-dog transmission.https://t.co/eju4aKeDYa
— Lauren Pelley (@LaurenPelley) August 12, 2022
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Polio:
In addition to the case of paralysis in Rockland county, there is now polio in NYC wastewater, suggesting it is much more widespread.
Acute flaccid paralysis is seen in about 1 in 200 cases of polio. The fact that a patient has been treated for that in NY this summer and the finding of the virus in NY wastewater indicates that the polio virus is circulating in the community. https://t.co/0rYMZxzDDs
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) August 13, 2022
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https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1557349114458914818?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
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Other:
New ‘Langya’ virus identified in China: what scientists know so far
The henipavirus can cause respiratory symptoms and is related to Nipah and Hendra viruses, but cannot spread easily in people.
Nature Smriti Mallapaty 11 August 2022
A new animal virus that can infect people has been identified in eastern China. But scientists say they are not overly concerned because the virus doesn’t seem to spread easily between people, nor is it fatal.
The virus, named Langya henipavirus (LayV), can cause respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough and fatigue, and is closely related to two other henipaviruses known to infect people — Hendra virus and Nipah virus. These also cause respiratory infections, and can be fatal. Researchers think LayV is carried by shrews, which might have infected people directly or through an intermediate animal. The virus was described in the New England Journal of Medicine1 on 4 August.
Researchers say LayV has infected only 35 people since 2018, and none of the cases seems to be linked. “There is no particular need to worry about this, but ongoing surveillance is critical,” says Edward Holmes, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Sydney in Australia. Regularly testing people and animals for emerging viruses is important to understand the risk of zoonotic diseases — those that can be transmitted from other animals to humans, he says.
Large outbreaks of infectious diseases typically take off after a lot of false starts, says Emily Gurley, an infectious-diseases epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. “If we are actively looking for those sparks, then we are in a much better position to stop or to find something early.”
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent last of testing.
Drugs and Vaccines:
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are safe in pregnancy, large study
by Lancet AUGUST 11, 2022
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are safe to use in pregnancy and pregnant women experienced lower rates of health events post vaccination than similarly aged, non-pregnant vaccinated people, suggests a large Canadian study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected pregnant women, who are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease than similarly aged non-pregnant individuals.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-covid-mrna-vaccines-safe-pregnancy.html
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Poll on vaccines for kids
A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation that assessed parents' views on vaccinating their children against COVID-19 found that many were reluctant owing to worries about safety and not enough testing. Others expressed concerns about access barriers. Nearly half of Black parents said they were concerned about taking time off work to get their young children vaccinated, and nearly half of Hispanic parents had concerns about getting their child vaccinated at locations they trust.
Also, a majority of parents of children under 5 said messaging about the vaccine from federal officials is confusing, especially where to get to the vaccine.
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Study confirms #Novavax immunogenicity but with slightly weaker immune response compared to mRNA vaccines https://t.co/LF53e7UAdR via @medical_xpress
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 13, 2022
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Survival benefit seen with triple therapy for severe #COVID19 with dexamethasone, remdesivir, and baricitinib https://t.co/mFryyNAT72 via @medical_xpress
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 13, 2022
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Monkeypox:
A Patient’s Guide to TPOXX Access
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1IWfKdXYvT8iWwQEAc-OsgcTxW_5OlmtkpUwcgOI8L6Q/mobilebasic
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How effective is the monkeypox vaccine? Scientists scramble for clues as trials ramp up
Exactly how well MVA protects against monkeypox and for how long is not known. Nor is it clear how much protection is lost by giving just a single dose rather than the recommended two doses, as some countries are doing to stretch supply, or how much protection a vaccine given after exposure can offer.
But the ethical and logistical complexities of the monkeypox crisis, which is overwhelmingly affecting men who have sex with men (MSM), are making these questions hard to answer. Placebo-controlled clinical trials are fraught because MVA is already licensed and people are clamoring to get it. And vaccine clinics are often set up at short notice as doses become available, making it harder to organize a trial and enroll subjects. Researchers are responding with a plethora of inventive trial designs....[see full article for interesting details]
MVA was licensed for monkeypox based on data from animal experiments and the immune response it triggers in humans. But its efficacy has barely been tested in people, and not at all for preventing sexual transmission, which results in “very significant mucosal exposure, which is not the same thing as just brushing up against somebody,” says Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
So far, there’s scant data on how well the vaccine is working in the current outbreak.
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Low-dose monkeypox vaccination presents several challenges - Data shows #Jynneos as effective in reducing the severity of monkeypox, but the data do not show that it prevents mild disease or transmission of the #monkeypox virus. https://t.co/EHi03nxRuT
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 13, 2022
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Will monkeypox could find a home among wildlife in the Americas or Europe, turning it into an endemic disease as it has been in Africa? The past science is thin and the ecosystems are complex. But virologists admit they're worried. Me at @WIRED: https://t.co/ohKhTTnxOF
— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) August 5, 2022
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States are still scrambling to prepare to administer vaccines under the intradermal approach, which isn’t common and requires training and procuring needles.
— Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) August 12, 2022
Devices:
One school has been 100% Covid-free with 0 learning loss: Good masks indoors, zero 'mask breaks,' everyone eats outdoors even in bad weather, every room has a HEPA or CR-box and CO2 monitor, at 650 windows open, and at 800 students vacate the room. https://t.co/17av4I7UP2 1/8
— Marie Snyder (@MarieSnyder27) August 8, 2022
Epidemiology/Infection control:
COVID rebound is surprisingly common — even without Paxlovid
Viral levels resurge in more than 10% of untreated people with COVID-19, but early data hint that the rebound is even more pronounced after antiviral treatment.
https://www.nature.com/
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More than two years into the pandemic, hospital care still may not save you from dying of COVID-19 https://t.co/9SNsAONw7i via @medical_xpress
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 13, 2022
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Please don't be numb to the persistent and serious risk of Covid. We're currently losing 500 Americans lives a day, more than double our nadir a year ago. pic.twitter.com/xwbYIfCVrg
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 8, 2022
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I still can't get over the fact that instead of recommending mask requirements when COVID spread is high, the CDC has backslid so much they are recommending that schools should *consider not punishing people* who wear masks to protect their communities.https://t.co/zDI7QxXJ67 pic.twitter.com/YQn25SF7NQ
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) August 12, 2022
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There is#SomeGoodNewsInPublicHealth
— Julia Raifman (@JuliaRaifman) August 12, 2022
In Germany, which plans a policy approach of layered mitigation this fall https://t.co/vSeJJwtfyg
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Here is the summary of our findings. There are many implications for diagnosis and therapy for #longCOVID. (26/) pic.twitter.com/kBI7e79Uao
— Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) August 10, 2022
Monkeypox
Racial disparities in monkeypox infections are stark in some locales
The current monkeypox outbreak has many unknowns, but in one respect it’s familiar: In some states and localities, racial disparities are alarming. In Georgia, 82% of people with the disease are Black. In North Carolina, it’s 70%. But in other places that released detailed demographic data, there are fewer and sometimes no apparent racial or ethnic disparities in cases.
Some experts told STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling, Katherine Gilyard, and Akila Muthukumar the disparities come as no surprise. That’s because they track with the early days of the HIV epidemic — and the more recent emergence of Covid-19. “We saw it with HIV among marginalized communities in the 1980s just as we saw the tepid response to Covid-19 that disproportionately impacted people of color and those living in poverty,” said Joia Mukherjee, the chief medical officer for Partners in Health. “It’s inexcusable.” Read more about access to vaccine, health care, and data.
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More on How Monkeypox is spread
Prolonged contact, especially with a person’s skin lesions, is emerging as the top transmission route.
Early predictions that the virus transmits primarily through repeated skin-to-skin contact between people have largely borne out, according to a tranche of new studies.
Several studies2,3, including Mitjà’s, show that few people contract the disease from an infected household member with whom they didn’t have sexual contact. This finding, paired with the data about viral load, suggests that respiratory droplets and airborne particles probably aren’t the primary transmission route, Titanji says. If corroborated by further research, it could call into question whether people should isolate for the entire duration of infection, which might be difficult because the illness seems to take up to a month to resolve, she adds.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02178-w
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Researchers add monkeypox to wastewater surveillance
Monitoring and testing for the monkeypox virus is a relatively simple add-on to the current wastewater surveillance program for SARS-CoV-2, said Rob Knight, Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at University of California San Diego.
But with a twist.
"It's the same process as SARS-CoV-2 qPCR monitoring, except that we have been testing for a different virus. Monkeypox is a DNA virus, so it is a bit of a surprise that our process optimized for SARS-CoV-2, which is an RNA virus, works so well," he said.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-monkeypox-wastewater-surveillance.html
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Full paper on Monkeypox is here: thelancet.com/action/showPdf
More than a third of patients required medical treatment:
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) August 8, 2022
"Complications that required medical treatment were described in 70 (39%) participants, most frequently pain relief for proctitis, tonsillitis, and in participants with anal lesions."
Worryingly, 32 patients had had smallpox vaccination in their childhood. As the authors note, this “warrants further investigation to better understand the protection provided by vaccination in the context of the current outbreak”
Polio:
UK to offer polio vaccine for London children amid more wastewater detections
offering a booster dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). The step is part of the response to the detection of type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus in sewage.
The HSA said it is working with health officials in New York and Israel to investigate links between the viruses detected in London and those in the other two countries.
Tips, general reading for public:
Ventilate.
Mask.
Vax.
Politics:
Covid:
Schools should "consider" not punishing students for wearing masks is one of the darker parts of the new CDC guidelines pic.twitter.com/wdCGAjYyH4
— Aaron Miller (@amillerphd) August 12, 2022
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Requiring co-workers to mask around high-risk colleagues is a reasonable accommodation. Why isn’t this happening already? It’s already very difficult to get accommodations at work, and it can be scary to ask for anything when you’re economically vulnerable https://t.co/36XMyaoKCo
— Kat Macfarlane (@KatAMacfarlane) August 12, 2022
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Good luck getting this adopted:
LAST SENTENCE of the SECTION: “K-12 schools or ECE programs may choose to implement universal indoor mask use to meet the needs of the families they serve, which could include people at risk for getting very sick with COVID-19.”
— Patrick Hickey, MD (@pwhickey) August 12, 2022
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In some countries, learning to live with COVID involves keeping their people alive. pic.twitter.com/JqXDfSmLOL
— Michelle Ko (@michelleko2d) August 13, 2022
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Monkeypox
In North Carolina, 70% of monkeypox patients are Black. However, Black men have received just 22% of vaccine doses.
— Tara Bannow (@TaraBannow) August 12, 2022
New data show racial disparities in monkeypox diagnoses and vaccine access. "It's inexcusable."https://t.co/EH9SlENtuU via @ushamcfarling @K__Gilyard @akila29m
Trump Espionage:
https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1556794749377454080?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
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The FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago on August 8th, the anniversary of Richard Nixon announcing he’s resigning, has a certain poetry to it.
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) August 8, 2022
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Breaking on WSJ: FBI removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as Top Secret, as well as information about the President of France, binders of photos, a handwritten note and an executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 12, 2022
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https://t.co/PGlhMRFBth pic.twitter.com/6G2mnhzRfx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 9, 2022
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https://twitter.com/OlgaNYC1211/status/1557944480577331201?s=20&t=Ec7Vd_VmLFB8YEY8dSp31Q
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Force me to have a baby? https://t.co/4G4q6mNiQD
— LISA CURRY / IG @olympianlisacurry (@lisa_curry) August 9, 2022
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Trump asking our top brass why they can't be more like Hitler's generals is not today's top news story. https://t.co/qHG0U7Yuth
— Dean Barker (@deanbarker) August 8, 2022
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your reminder that Reality Winner took one document and spent four years in prison. one document. four years. no negotiations
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) August 12, 2022
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Top comments on Trump forums right now are just trying to ID the specific FBI agents who were part of and signed off on the raid so they can be “helicopter passengers,” a reference to Chilean dictator Augusta Pinochet murdering dissidents by throwing them out of helicopters.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) August 12, 2022
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Reminder: The Saudi crown prince boasted that Jared Kushner was "in his pocket." pic.twitter.com/Nrx38n0Cl7
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 12, 2022
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Wow. Trump was groomed by the KGB for 40+ years. He wanted to pull out of NATO & he blamed America for Putin’s war on Ukraine. And now — Trump was storing classified Nuclear Documents at Mar-a-Lago. I’m hearing about the Saudis; but this may be tied to Russia as well. See below:
— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) August 12, 2022
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Oh my God. Complicit! Treason!https://t.co/AcrfCOVBy9
— Elaine (@elaineversic) August 13, 2022
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BURIED LEDE: A person close to trump reached out to a DoJ official Thursday to pass along a message from trump to Garland. Trump wanted Garland to know he had been checking in with people around the country and found them to be enraged by the search. https://t.co/9Cjccs6Gv0
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) August 13, 2022
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I recognize it’s the important right of any American to take the Fifth, but it’s worth noting how Hillary Clinton say through 11 hours of public Benghazi testimony and sat with the FBI for 3.5 hours amid her emails—and when Trump faces questions, he takes the Fifth.
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) August 10, 2022
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especially since she had been cremated at the church before burial of that huge coffin.
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) August 11, 2022
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Trump's specious claim that FBI planted evidence during the search has an inconvenient fact: his lawyer was on site for the search. Clearly Trump knows the incriminating nature of what the FBI has recovered and is preparing his defense.
— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) August 10, 2022
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The WaPo reports that among the items that the FBI was looking for in its search of Trump’s home were NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS.
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) August 12, 2022
Can somebody please remind me precisely why the Saudis held their golf tournament at Trump's resort, and why they gave Kushner $2B?
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CNN analyst says the intel Trump stole are so sensitive that FBI agents will begin FINGER PRINTING each document to find out who actually touched them.
— Brian McBride (@BrianDMcBride) August 12, 2022
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.@reazlepuff did this to protect us from the Russians
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) August 12, 2022
Trump did this to enrich himself at the hands of our foreign enemies https://t.co/8ct323ykS9
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Abortion/Reproductive care:
Very troubling: US jury finds in favor of pharmacist who denied woman morning-after pill #emergencyContraceptive ##womenshealth https://t.co/tJx4k53czY
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 7, 2022
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The Supreme Court called safe haven baby surrender a "modern development" that obviates the need for abortion.
— Dana Goldstein (@DanaGoldstein) August 6, 2022
In fact, infant drop boxes have medieval origins. They raise profound legal, ethical and health concerns. My story about an expanding movement: https://t.co/3eyjj2uc6Y
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This case will rightfully get a lot of attention for its cruelty, and the way sexist laws are being enforced via online surveillance. But I’m struck by another detail. They allegedly used pills to end a pregnancy at 22 weeks—10 weeks past WHO guidelines. https://t.co/IvT6kN02IN
— Moira Donegan (@MoiraDonegan) August 9, 2022
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Anyone remember these comments made over and over to the applauding crowds immediately followed with chants of Lock Her Up. pic.twitter.com/jz9Tt8WaUG
— Gerry Flood (@gerryflood8) August 8, 2022
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Trump is raising hell, accusing Dems of "weaponizing" DOJ for political purposes. This goes without saying, but here's a reminder: Trump was the king of politicizing DOJ during his presidency. Here's a list of 25 political opponents that he publicly said should be investigated. pic.twitter.com/jQncEzSiVc
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) August 9, 2022
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Wow
— Kate Smith (@byKateSmith) August 6, 2022
After the passage of Indiana’s total abortion ban, Eli Lilly, one of the state’s biggest employers, says they’ll be planning their growth outside the state.
Because DUH how are you going to recruit women, aka HALF the population, to a state that outlaws their health care?!? pic.twitter.com/aDBVCDKcZ2
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🤰🏻 Nearly 12 million girls aged 15–19 give birth each year in developing regions.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 12, 2022
Complications from pregnancy & childbirth are among the leading causes of death for girls aged 15-19 years, globally https://t.co/6zmruaYZu8#YouthDay pic.twitter.com/1n4ZNy9F4u
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Book bans/libraries
The librarians are fighting back.
— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) August 13, 2022
A middle school librarian in Louisiana filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday arguing that two men falsely labeled her a pedophile who wants to teach 11-year-olds about anal sex.
From @tylerkingkade: https://t.co/NX3FmUiVll
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fees-for-librarian-amanda-jones?
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Weston spoke with me because he wanted people to know what it’s like when his mom is allowed to decide what kids can read.
— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) August 11, 2022
His story reveals something important about this moment right now in America.
I hope you’ll give it a read. https://t.co/3aPemKx9px @NBCNews
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GOP/Magats
Americans came 3 votes short of having their insulin capped at $35/month. And it failed because Republicans blocked it. Remember that when you vote this fall.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 7, 2022
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https://twitter.com/Out5p0ken/status/1556311625426157568?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
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I can’t believe DC is offering $20,000 bonus & rental assistance of $1,000/mn (6 months) for new police recruits but can’t find room in the budget to compensate teachers while facing a teacher “shortage.”
— Kate Ross (@kate_ross_) August 7, 2022
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Today, @POTUS is visiting the aftermath of a climate disaster in KY that killed 37 people.
— Climate Power (@ClimatePower) August 8, 2022
Yesterday, @LeaderMcConnell voted against the largest climate investment in US history. pic.twitter.com/5SJ8Tx1lo7
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Some 7 million Americans require insulin daily. A Yale University study found that 14% of those insulin users are spending more than 40% of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine.https://t.co/JhvhuXbFH8
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 7, 2022
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BREAKING: Sen. Lindsey Graham did not show up to his scheduled appearance on Wednesday at the Fulton County courthouse.
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) August 11, 2022
Who thinks Lindsey Graham should be thrown in PRISON for ignoring his subpoena? ✋
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So much for republicans protecting religious liberty https://t.co/tppIlfQXO3
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) August 11, 2022
Alex Jones
https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1556695617057038336?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
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Guns
BIG WIN: We just secured a $4 million court judgment against ghost gun manufacturer Polymer80.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) August 11, 2022
Polymer80 is now permanently banned from selling ghost guns to DC residents.
Climate:
Death Valley, the hottest and driest place in the US just saw the 4th 1-in-1,000 year rain event in less than 2 weeks in the US.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 9, 2022
3/4 of Death Valley’s annual rainfall fell in 3 hours. pic.twitter.com/0DK6HNNZTq
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.@UCRiverside researchers find that dust from all over the world is landing in the Sierra Nevada carrying fungi & bacteria.
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) August 11, 2022
Some of the microbes such as Cryptococcus & the plant pathogen Alternaria can cause crop failures & human respiratory disease.https://t.co/5r7ZDqeMQf
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Incredible Sky5 video of a #firetornado at the #samfire in northwestern Los Angeles County. #BREAKING https://t.co/uLGGSWJasU pic.twitter.com/JRsWMzLGzm
— KTLA (@KTLA) August 11, 2022
California
Again, I don't think we can consider this a democracy when heavily armed cops repress dissent to ensure a vote to criminalize poverty becomes law. https://t.co/Ym1n1mloHF
— Read Wobblies and Zapatistas (@JoshuaPotash) August 9, 2022
Florida
Staff in a Florida school district removed pictures of Black heroes from a classroom, citing them as "age inappropriate."
— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) August 10, 2022
Images removed included MLK Jr., Harriett Tubman, George Washington Carver. This is the toxic environment Ron DeSantis has created.https://t.co/rO1QAsBITU
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Here’s the link to the book which comes out in December with @JHUPress. Gadsden is just one of the thousands of colonials turned revolutionaries turned citizens who worked to prevent smallpox through quarantine and inoculation: https://t.co/AiccE0Z3Tc
— Andrew Wehrman (@ProfWehrman) August 11, 2022
Georgia
NEW ad running in Georgia from Republican Accountability PAC.
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) August 8, 2022
This is the real Herschel Walker. pic.twitter.com/vErPuvOqNw
Indiana
Two Indiana officers were suspended after a stunning courtroom revelation that police thought a potential town council candidate was anti-police and arrested him, stopping him from running for office. https://t.co/kftOoYIk2E
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 10, 2022
Oklahoma
A mother in Oklahoma was sentenced to 30 years in prison because her boyfriend beat her and her kid. She was blamed—and got punished harsher than he did.
— Samantha Michaels (@sjmichaels) August 9, 2022
Cases like this are more common than you’d expect. For the past year, I've been investigating 1/x https://t.co/2UQWlGSWV5
Ukraine/Russia
https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1557621932429819907?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
Feel good du jour:
The urban garden transforming lives after prison: ‘I’m finally free’ #prisons #gardening https://t.co/ZDYfm50LkF
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) August 7, 2022
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Did you know you can reverse-image-search black-and-white photographs that > 100 years old - and find where on earth they were taken? And why not - landscapes don't change that often.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) August 9, 2022
Check out this fascinating read from @FoekePostma https://t.co/SepUeDwARI
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Happy 72nd birthday to David Wottle and his hat. 1972. 800m. Gold. Hero.
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) August 7, 2022
pic.twitter.com/OoJtkfWBDz
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Artwork by Ruby Silvious, known for her work on used teabags #womensart pic.twitter.com/7BSLW7OWzR
— #WOMENSART (@womensart1) August 7, 2022
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"Hey, you're doing just great"
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) August 9, 2022
Oklahoma little leaguer gets hit in the head and then comforts the pitcher who is shaken up afterward pic.twitter.com/hYYLiy511K
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If this doesn’t make you cry happy tears, I don’t know what will. An actual miracle. Gifted article/no paywall. https://t.co/5eH5vOW6ou
— Moehoffenstein (@Moehoffenstein) August 11, 2022
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Dolly Parton never imagined her book giveaway program would amount to much more than helping children in her native Sevier County, Tennessee, learn to read.
— Axios (@axios) August 11, 2022
But over the past 27 years, millions of children have enjoyed a free "Dolly book" every month. https://t.co/ar9LtxS44U
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I bought my son a chemistry kit because he says he wants to be a scientist like me. 🥹 When he saw it, he said he needs a lab coat and goggles before he could use it. $30 + an Amazon Prime order later and… welcome Dez, Kindergarten chemist 🥰 #BlackInChemRollCall #BlackInChem pic.twitter.com/HLdzbtiHat
— Alicia (Leeshy) Cheek, PhD (@__leeshy) August 12, 2022
Comic relief:
In 1951, Adelbert Ames created the mind-boggling ‘Ames Window’. It’s so effective that even when you know how it works you can’t break the illusion pic.twitter.com/lm7aoCBxVs
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 8, 2022
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This is Persey. He was accused of stealing a shoe and is currently in air jail awaiting bail. 13/10 we got you Persey pic.twitter.com/caMh7PkzZR
— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) August 8, 2022
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Well....dog gone. pic.twitter.com/V018o8czXP
— Heckin Good Dogs (@HeckinGoodDogs) August 10, 2022
Perspective/Poem
a reminder that Drs. Banting and Best sold their patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for $1 dollar in 1923.
— Andrew Baback Boozary MD (@drandrewb) August 7, 2022
patients should not be having to choose between insulin as a life saving medication or their rent in 2022.
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On this day in 1936 Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the the Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany. “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.” pic.twitter.com/WWfBK1JdIZ
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) August 9, 2022
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https://twitter.com/teachergoals/status/1558055392827015168?s=20&t=R1S1TuExxL4ExQiUWIQDrA
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Three months ago I heard Salman Rushdie speak at the PEN World Voices Festival. He said: “A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb … But we are not helpless … We can sing the truth & name the liars.” We must tell better stories than the tyrants.
— Jean Guerrero (@jeanguerre) August 12, 2022
Bits of beauty:
