Coronavirus Tidbits #292, April 28, 2024
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.
Please share: Great explanation of BlueVoterGuide.org - How to build the blue wave in 2024! youtu.be/1l8R_jEuZyA?si
New post:
Bird Flu H5N1—What We Know So Far About Its Spread To Cows
News
Mike Hoerger: In the current "lull" of U.S. COVID-19 transmission, we are seeing an estimated 391,000 new infections per day, with 1 in 122 people actively infectious. In a group of 30, that's about a 1 in 5 chance someone is infectious.
Peter Hotez: we’re now at about our lowest levels of new COVID hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic…
~ ~ ~
Long Covid Taste Loss:
- Taste dysfunction was gone 1 year after acute COVID-19, but smell loss remained for some people.
- Olfactory dysfunction was present in 30% of people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and 21% of uninfected people.
- Long-term taste loss after COVID may reflect damage to olfactory epithelium, not taste buds.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/longcovid/109802?
~ ~ ~
Avian influenza:
see my new post: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2024/04/27/bird-flu-h5n1-what-we-know-so-far-about-its-spread-to-cows/?sh=550693a36fbe
~ ~ ~
Other:
Consumption of contaminated venison suspected in cases of deer hunters with prion disease
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-consumption-contaminated-venison-cases-deer.html?
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent last of testing.
Drugs:
Devices:
Epidemiology/Infection control:
Substantial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through casual contact in retail stores:
Evidence from matched administrative microdata on card payments and testing
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.
~ ~ ~
Report: Less than half of nursing home residents up to date on COVID vaccines
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
Tips, general reading for public:
Ventilate.
Vaccinate.
Mask.
Politics:
Covid:
COVID-19 pandemic alters view that doctors are obligated to provide care: Study
The unique circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic altered a long-held convention that doctors provide care regardless of personal risk.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-covid-pandemic-view-doctors-obligated.html?
~ ~ ~
Avian flu:
They are not testing beef cows, but the CDC added beef cooking instructions during the darkest hours of April 10, 2024 to the HPAI page. (with screen shots)
~ ~ ~
Today feels like an ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS day for Colorado’s bill legalizing raw milk to pass out of committee. We find out there’s #H5N1 virus in the milk on grocery store shelves, but @coloradodems want RAW MILK to be legal? archive.ph/2024.04.23-220
~ ~ ~
Future pandemic:
Deforestation pushes animals in Uganda forest to eat virus-laden bat poo. A SARS-CoV2 virus, among others, was present in the stool.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68875094?
~ ~ ~
Biden:
@MaryLTrump
Two huge wins by Biden today that the corporate media will bury, while reporting every one of Donald's in-court gestures and out-of-court lies: 1. Biden just secured BILLIONS of dollars for workers. He's guaranteeing they get time-and-a-half for overtime worked – anyone who makes less than $58,656 a year. That's up from the current threshold of $35,568. 2. In a stunning development, the FTC just voted to ban non-compete agreements in contracts. That takes the handcuffs off of 18% of the work force – 30 MILLION people – including workers banned from leaving one fast food chain to work for another.
~ ~ ~
Greed:
Maine: LGBTQ
Maine Signs Trans And Abortion Sanctuary Bill Into Law, Despite Violent Threats
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/maine-signs-trans-and-abortion-sanctuary
~ ~ ~
New Hampshire:
New Hampshire’s GOP Is Taking a Stand—Against the Polio Vaccine
The Granite State could be the first to ditch polio and measles requirements for child care.
~ ~ ~
South Dakota:
Noem shoots and kills her young dog b/c it was "untrainable", "dangerous", and "less than worthless as a hunting dog". She also "hated" the dog. On the same day, she shoots once, misses, and then eventually kills her goat.
Her daughter then asks where the dog is. theguardian.com/books/2024/apr
~ ~ ~
https://twitter.com/SundaeDivine/status/1784281809422868510
~ ~ ~
Pro-Palestine protests
Feel good du jour:
Perspective/Poem
Epigraph to Orwell's Roses, because it's such a brilliant reminder that warnings are not prophesies of doom: their premise is that we are deciding the future with what we do or fail to do in the present. That we have choices. pic.twitter.com/7Yb3n90Mia
— Rebecca Solnit (@RebeccaSolnit) April 21, 2024
Bits of beauty:
