Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus
28 Sep 2023, 7:05 pm
I don't wear one outside anymore (I never go anywhere even remotely crowded), and I've become more comfortable with taking it off at the parents' house, but otherwise I will wear one always.
The last time we went to supermarket together, our unmasked son ended up catching Covid, and then gave it to us...so that certainly didn't help my PTSD any...
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30 Sep 2023, 1:02 pm
It looks like some of the COVID data is still out there.
So where are we at in the COVID wars? In a way it is a little hard to tell because we (the U.S.) and the rest of the world (for example China) have decided to stop counting. The best I can determine is the following variants in the U.S. are dominant:
According to the report published September 28, 2023:
EG.5 ------- 24.5 %
FL.1.5.1 ---- 13.7 %
XBB.1.16 ---- 10.2 %
XBB.1.16.6 ---- 9.9 %
HV.1 ---------- 8.4 %
XBB.2.3 ----- 7.2 %
XBB.1.16.1 ---- 4.1 %
XBB.1.5.70 ---- 3.8 %
XBB.1.16.11 --- 3.0 %
XBB ---------- 2.5 %
XBB.1.5 ----- 2.2 %
XBB.1.9.1 ----- 1.9 %
GE.1 -------- 1.7 %
EG.6.1 --------- 1.5 %
XBB.1.5.72 ---- 1.2 %
XBB.1.42.2 ----- 0.9 %
XBB.1.9.2 ----- 0.7 %
XBB.1.5.68 --- 0.6 %
XBB.1.5.10 --- 0.6 %
XBB.2.3.8 ----- 0.4 %
CH.1.1 -------- 0.3 %
FD.1.1 -------- 0.3 %
XBB.1.5.59 --- 0.2 %
FE.1.1 -------- 0.2 %
Source: What COVID-19 variants are going around in September 2023?
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
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30 Sep 2023, 7:48 pm
"5 Things COVID Experts Personally Won't Do Right Now In This Latest Surge"
That’s why HuffPost reached out to infectious disease experts about what they are personally doing to mitigate risk. Here’s what they shared about the precautions they’re taking — and what has and hasn’t changed about their behavior right now
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When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
02 Oct 2023, 6:59 am
I came across an interesting article. It discussed the use of certain type of drug (Paxlovid) to aid in preventing damage from COVID. The article went on to say:
It is no accident that Paxlovid works; it is designed to do so. This is how drug design works: define an essential viral target and build a molecule to slow it down. This combination of chemistry and enzymology is both simple and complex at the same time and a fine example of how a drug can be rationally designed.
Source: Paxlovid Works in the 'Real World.'
In my case, I have not used this approach. What is the experience of those on the site in using this drug?
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
02 Oct 2023, 7:30 pm
What is POTS? This strange disorder has doubled since the pandemic
Millions of people now live with the debilitating disorder, which can be triggered by viral illnesses like COVID-19. And many say the recommended treatment—exercise—has backfired.
"According to a recent estimate by the CDC, six percent of American adults are currently living with long COVID symptoms."
^ Funny, I just read a post the other day about how this number keeps getting smaller, and that even the CDC article cited listed it as higher than 7%.
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03 Oct 2023, 9:14 am
According to the Internet:
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is one of a group of disorders that have orthostatic intolerance (OI) as their primary symptom. OI is a condition in which an excessively reduced volume of blood returns to the heart after an individual stands up from a lying down position.
I do not know for sure and I do not claim to be an expert. But my thinking is that when COVID struck, many people stayed at home taking shelter in place. They worked at home. They gave up their normal routine of going to work and performing a job. They gained weight. They gave up their normal routine of exercise. POTS was a fallout from living like we were sealed up in our homes.
People are returning to work and as a result, this condition is decreasing in scope.
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
03 Oct 2023, 7:45 pm
No, it is caused by Covid.
Please stop gaslighting.
I had to give up working BECAUSE of the damage Covid caused.
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I'm looking for Someone to change my life. I'm looking for a Miracle in my life.
03 Oct 2023, 8:09 pm
I lost weight on lockdown. Most people I know, did.
That's because we were cooking our own healthy food from scratch instead of doing takeaway or going to restaurants.
Most people I know who worked from home got more exercise than working at their sedentary office jobs because they were also chasing their kids around and doing housework at the same time. You can't do that at real work.
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03 Oct 2023, 8:13 pm
It seems like slightly more people gained weight during lockdown in the US than lost weight - 39% versus 35%. I gained weight.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/did ... 5%20pounds.
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04 Oct 2023, 11:56 am
I don't wear one outside anymore (I never go anywhere even remotely crowded), and I've become more comfortable with taking it off at the parents' house, but otherwise I will wear one always.
The last time we went to supermarket together, our unmasked son ended up catching Covid, and then gave it to us...so that certainly didn't help my PTSD any...
At the funeral for my aunt for the first time in a long time there were a few other people wearing masks. I took mine off for the graveside ceremony. I figured wide open field, breezy day. That might have been a mistake as I forgot to take into consideration people come up and hug you during these type of gatherings. Also we did stop at a diner afterwards. That was Sunday, this is Wednesday no symptoms so far crossing my fingers.
Masking is particularly a burden to me because I have an existing speech impediment due to my tongue replacement operation. People often do not understand me when I am masked. My sensory sensitivities being from the neck up is not helpful either.
Usually I get my winter vaccines during the second half of November but since my nephew is getting bar mitzvahed(many hours in indoor crowded spaces) in mid November for maximum protection I need to get the vaccinations done by the beginning of November. This year also I am eligible for the RSV vaccine. I will take that first since you are not supposed to take that in combination with the COVID or flu vaccine. You can take the COVID and flu shots together.
Possibly good news is that the number of cases has noticeably gone down the last few days in my area. Good reason to think that 2 days worth of unreliable data is a fluke. But this being real is plausible because the number of cases has been rising for so long it is due to come down.
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04 Oct 2023, 4:20 pm
Say goodbye to the COVID-19 vaccination card. The CDC has stopped printing them
Now that COVID-19 vaccines are not being distributed by the federal government, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped printing new cards.
The federal government shipped more than 980 million cards between late 2020, when the first vaccines came out, through May 10, according to the latest available data from the CDC.
Federal and local health officials don’t expect the discontinuation of the cards to be a particularly big change, since the days of keeping them tucked in purses and wallets to ensure entry into festivals, bars and restaurants are largely over. If you’ve held on to your card, it’s still valid as proof of vaccination. Otherwise, people who need their COVID-19 immunization records will need to request them just like any other vaccine.
In many cases, the clinic, pharmacy or health department that provided the shot can provide those records. Every state and some cities have an immunization registry, though rules vary on when records are included and options for obtaining copies of your records. Records from the mass vaccination sites held early in the pandemic also should be available in those registries, depending on state laws. There is no national registry for immunization records.
Many states offer digital vaccination records for individuals either online or through an app. Users can save a certificate or a QR code that proves they are vaccinated. And some websites will even track and alert patients when they’re due for another one.
Other states don’t have the same options, so it might take longer to get your records. There could also be gaps in state databases; for example, if you were vaccinated by a federal health provider, those records may be tracked in a separate system.
As for your old card — if you still have it — maybe don’t mail it off to the Smithsonian quite yet. You should save it like any other health record, Wyoming Department of Health nurse consultant Heidi Gurov said.
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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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06 Oct 2023, 7:55 pm
COVID-19 metrics trend down across US
Test positivity from September 24 to September 30 was 10.9%, down 1.2% from the previous week, and emergency department visits dropped to 1.6%, down 14.5% from the previous week. Deaths, however, while still at low levels, were up 3.8%.
In total 18,139 people were admitted to the hospital in the last week of September for COVID-19, down 6% from the previous week. Hospitalization hot spots include communities in Montana, Idaho, Missouri, and Kansas.
Those are the only states with a high rate of hospitalizations in some counties.
Overall, the summer spike in activity seen in August and early September has seemed to wane. As seen last week, data from wastewater analytics Biobot show a decline in SARS-CoV-2 levels.
Next week the CDC will release its variant projections. Last week, variants EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 made up about 40% of sequenced samples.
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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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11 Oct 2023, 8:58 am
Southern and East Coast states, from New Mexico to Pennsylvania, had the lowest prevalence of antigen tests returning positive results in the week to September 30, ranging between 5-9.9 percent, while the rest of the country had marginally higher positivity rates of 10-14.9 percent, figures released on Tuesday show.
The CDC reported that nationwide, the prevalence was around 10.9 percent of tests undertaken—a fall from previous consecutive weeks. The data shows an overall small decline in positivity of 1.2 percent from the week prior across the U.S., suggesting the number of infections has largely stabilized—though the agency has warned cases could pick up over the winter.
As of September 15, the CDC said that the latter variant "does not appear to be rapidly increasing or driving increases in infections or hospitalizations" in the U.S., and that existing antibodies were giving individuals immunity against the new strain. Many of the institutions have since relaxed their mask mandates, though some hospitals in New Jersey reintroduced them in response to infection rates.
A CDC spokesperson previously told Newsweek that its genomic surveillance indicated that the majority of infections were being caused "by strains closely related to the Omicron strains" that have been circulating since early 2022.
The smallest proportions of test positivity came in East Coast states, including the Virginias, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia—where prevalence was 6.9 percent. The week prior, test positivity in the states had been around 8 percent.
The CDC cautioned that the data did not include tests taken at home, and said the results may be subject to change due to delays in testing centers reporting back.
It also noted that "the data represent laboratory tests performed, not individual people," as one person may be administered multiple tests in a week, but said that the percentage of positive tests "is one of the metrics used to monitor COVID-19 transmission over time and by area."
Following a patchwork of hospitalization rates in previous weeks, hospital admissions with the virus appear to have largely stabilized as well, with all states seeing either declines or numerically small rises of a few hundred patients.
Nationally, in the week to September 30, there were 18,139 total hospitalizations with COVID, a decline of six percent on the week prior, continuing a four-week consecutive downward trend from a peak earlier in the month.
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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
14 Oct 2023, 12:27 pm
That's because we were cooking our own healthy food from scratch instead of doing takeaway or going to restaurants.
Most people I know who worked from home got more exercise than working at their sedentary office jobs because they were also chasing their kids around and doing housework at the same time. You can't do that at real work.
You may have a point of insight here. Many people used COVID as an opportunity to do things. They were more confined to home environments but that did not stop them from following their dreams. We visited a Garden Nursery store a few days ago and I commented how COVID must have slowed down their business. They said, NO, on the contrary, their business was really good during the pandemic. Many people found it as an opportunity to plant trees, shrubs and all types of vegetation around their homes. COVID provided them with an opportunity to do things, to grow their dreams.
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
15 Oct 2023, 3:11 pm
People did plant more stuff, the online stores were selling out of plants early in the season.I couldn’t get some items I wanted.Even potting soil was hard to get at times.You couldn’t find seed potatoes or onions sets at the local stores.
Hopefully people will continue to enjoy the gardens they started.
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16 Oct 2023, 8:58 am
Many patterns repeat in nature. One of the patterns relates to hornets and the nest they plant.
In the region where I live, Indiana, the height of the hornet's nest describes how severe the winter will be. Most hornet's nest appear near to the ground and the level of snow each winter is not very thick.
But my wife was outside a few days ago and saw a hornet's nest. It was very high up near the top of a tree. It was around 50 feet up from the ground. That would be an unusually severe winter.
If that forecast holds true then two things to keep in mind for those in my geological neighborhood.
1. The weight of snow can crush houses. So it is important after a severe snowfall to remove the snow from the top of houses.
2. Snow is an insulator. Since many water pipes are buried underground, in a severe winter, sometimes it makes sense for the snow to remain in place over buried water lines because it will prevent them from freezing and breaking.
This winter could be very unusual in my region.
Almost 50 years ago, the area where I live suffered an extreme winter. The snow fell 10 feet deep but the wind created wind drifts that were 50 feet high. It brought everything to a standstill for almost a week. Everyone had to just exist in place.
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
