Coronavirus & Monkeypox Tidbits #214 10/9/22

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 post:

Hurricanes And Flooding Leave Infections in Their Aftermath

https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2022/10/04/hurricanes-and-flooding-leave-infections-in-their-aftermath/

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Special announcement:

Most of you likely know of my interest in Holocaust education and my having written our family's story, Resilience, three years ago. I was inspired in part, and helped greatly by my aunt Kati.

Kati--aka Kitty Williams, z"l, died Sunday. Since 2008, when she "came out" as being Jewish, she devoted her life to educating about the Holocaust in the Omaha area. A brief pictorial: This is Kitty at age 18, shortly before she was taken to Auschwitz.

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There, in Auschwitz, Kitty discovered my mother, who had just lost her newborn. Kati saved my mother's life, nursing her back to health. Their father was murdered on arrival to Auschwitz. I learned the date of his death (and much more) from Steve Vitto at USHMM 2/

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That Haftling card was like an index card inventory of each prisoner, with a number of personal details.

 

 

 

 

 

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Young Kitty married an American serviceman and moved to Iowa. They helped another sister and her family emigrate. At her husband's insistence, she hid that she was Jewish for most of her adult life. 3/

 

 

 

She "came out" as being Jewish in 2008 and after that Kitty became an avid Holocaust educator through IHENE, the Institute for Holocaust Education, speaking at schools throughout the region and as far away as Mesa, Colorado. 4/

 

 

 

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One of her biggest talks was through the Omaha Public Library, with more than 400 people in attendance. 5/

 

 

 

I took this photo of her in the Survivor's Gallery at IHENE in Omaha. It's quite a moving exhibit, if you are in the area. Exhibition Photos by David Radler. 6/

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In later years, Kitty helped inspire me to write Resilience: One Family's Story, and shared hours of interviews, recollections, and photos of life in rural Hungary, the war, and rebuilding lives after the Holocaust 7/

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I hurried to finish Resilience for Kitty's 95th birthday. She died Oct. 2, age 98. She, like my mother, had one more thing to do and wanted to beat the Nazis. You can learn more about the remarkable family at drjudystone.com I will try to continue their work and education. All proceeds from the book go to Holocaust education.

I hope to continue to share their story and fight against othering and the growing fascism globally.

News 

Covid:

WHO and its partners are tracking more than 300 Omicron subvariants.

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France warns over incoming eighth Covid wave

French officials have raised the alarm over the eighth wave of the Covid-19 virus, as winter approaches, Reuters reported on Tuesday. "We are in this eighth wave," said Brigitte Autran, a member of the government's vaccination strategic board, pointing out that all indicators are up. The last figures showed an increase in the number of new daily confirmed cases, recording a seven-day average of 41,661 new positive cases.

https://euobserver.com/tickers/156209?utm_source=euobs&utm_medium=email

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Will there be a COVID winter wave? 

Emerging variants and waning immunity are likely to push infections higher in the northern hemisphere as influenza also makes a comeback.

Evidence is building that the northern hemisphere is on course for a surge of COVID-19 cases this autumn and winter. New immune-evading strains of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, behaviour changes, and waning immunity mean that many countries could soon see large numbers of COVID infections — and potentially hospitalizations — say scientists.

Nature explores the factors that might drive a COVID-19 wave — and what countries can do to blunt the effects with the new generation of vaccines that target Omicron.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03157-x

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"An analysis of over 150,000 COVID-19 survivors ..found that people with coronavirus are at increased risk of developing neurologic sequelae–including strokes, cognition and memory problems, seizures, movement disorders, and many other issues–in the first year after infection.3/

"The risks of developing these long-term complications were apparent even in people who did not require hospitalization during their initial infection. “The results show the profound long-term consequences of COVID-19,” 4/

"According to the researcher’s estimate, COVID is responsible for more than 40 million new neurologic cases. A key caveat: The study period mostly predated vaccines. 5/

"However, Al-Aly says, “We know that vaccines minimally reduce and do not eliminate long COVID risk.” Indeed, a large study found that vaccines were only about 15% effective at preventing long COVID. 6/...

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Ohio and Florida data show more Republican excess COVID-19 deaths

New statistics from Ohio and Florida published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) show that Republicans have suffered more COVID-related excess deaths than Democrats, adding to the literature that demonstrates the link between political party affiliation, vaccination uptake, and COVID-19 mortality.

To conduct the study, researchers linked voter registration data in Ohio and Florida to mortality data to assess the individual-level association between political party affiliation and excess mortality.

The data show that the excess COVID-19 death rate for Republicans was 5.4 percentage points, or 76%, higher than the excess death rate for Democrats, and it increased after vaccines became widely available. After the introduction of vaccines, the excess death rate gap between Republicans and Democrats widened from 1.6 percentage points (22% of the Democrat excess death rate) to 10.4 percentage points (153% of the Democrat excess death rate).

Sep 30 NBER working paper

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/10/covid-19-scan-oct-04-2022

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Saline Nasal Irrigation After Covid-19 Diagnosis Reduces Hospitalization

A new study from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University has found that irrigating your nose twice a day with a saline solution after testing positive for Covid-19 can decrease your chances of hospitalization and death in higher-risk patients.

Participants in the study who performed nasal irrigation were more than eight times less likely to be hospitalized than the national rate. Only 1.3% of study participants who used nasal irrigation were hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19. While 9.47% of Covid patients from a national CDC dataset who did not use nasal irrigation were hospitalized.

Irrigating your sinuses is a simple practice anyone can implement at home using a neti pot, sinus rinse bottle, or syringe bulb available at a pharmacy or retailer like Target or Walmart. You can buy pre-made mixes or simply mix a half-teaspoon of salt and a half-teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of boiled and then cooled or distilled water. The water needs to be boiled or distilled to ensure it is sanitary. Many people often use these devices to clear up allergies, colds, or sinus infections.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/10/03/saline-nasal-irrigation-after-covid-19-diagnosis-reduces-hospitalization/?sh=15a67d9f323c

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One of the genes encoded by SARS-CoV-2 mimics these histones. It can stop the DNA being rewound correctly; and alters the epigenome - which is a bunch of modifications that alter gene expression and a genetic memory of say, things that happen to some cells.

Because this gene mimics histones, this can alter the ability of the cell/body to express other genes effectively, making it doubly harder to deal with the infection. It's a diabolical virus, up there with HIV for sheer host disruptive genius.

Monkeypox:

The monkeypox virus is mutating. Are scientists worried?

In some samples, large chunks of the virus’s genome have disappeared — but understanding whether the mutations affect its behaviour will be difficult.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03171-z

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Ebola:

CDC issues Ebola alert for clinicians, officials announce airport screening

Travelers will need to be routed through one of five airports for enhanced screening. The locations are Newark, Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington, DC.

Influenza:

https://twitter.com/michaelzlin/status/1578659654086770688?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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Other: Cholera

in Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, other...

Diagnostics:

still an incredible, negligent last of testing.

Drugs and Vaccines:

Big warning about Evusheld antibody protection:

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COVID-19 vaccines 87% effective at preventing hospitalization in immunosuppressed patients

Three doses of either the BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccine are 87% effective at preventing hospitalization due to COVID-19 among patients taking immunosuppressive drugs, according to data published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

https://www.healio.com/news/rheumatology/20221006/covid19-vaccines-87-effective-at-preventing-hospitalization-in-immunosuppressed-patients

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Study: mRNA boosters extend protection for 4 to 5 months

A new nationwide US study based on data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) VISION Network shows mRNA boosters extend protection against moderate and severe disease for 4 to 5 months.

The study, published yesterday in BMJ, is based on more than 893,000 adults in 10 states followed for 18 months. The authors used hospital admission as the metric for severe disease, comparing positive COVID-19 hospitalized patients to case controls who tested negative for the virus. Hospital admissions from Jan 17, 2021 to Jul 12, 2022 were included in the study.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/10/covid-19-scan-oct-04-2022

Devices:

Helpful reference re ventilation:

Epidemiology/Infection control:

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Tips, general reading for public:

Ventilate.

Mask.

Vax.

Politics:

Covid:

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Biden:

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TFG:

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GOP:

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Medicare advantage:

Abortion/reproduction:

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LGBTQ:

Oil:

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Climate change:

SCOTUS:

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https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1577370043935227904?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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Florida:

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https://twitter.com/jimmyMSN_CNO/status/1576567949682708481?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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https://twitter.com/antifaoperative/status/1577327857285713922?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

Michigan:

Pennsylvania:

Texas:

https://twitter.com/AshIsHereForIt/status/1576295789407928320?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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Feel good du jour:

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https://twitter.com/JetpackMarne/status/1578006440500989952?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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Comic relief:

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https://twitter.com/thepuppiesclub/status/1578024428624965635?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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Perspective/Poem

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Bits of beauty:

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