Capitulating to COVID

This is a very good article by science correspondent Nicola Davis at The Guardian.  

It reminded me of Dr Eric Topol's opinion piece The U.S. is facing the biggest COVID wave since Omicron. Why are we still playing make-believe?  and Gregg Gonsalves' column Covid, Year Four. Liberals are in denial. Conservatives are trying to destroy public health. And the virus is still raging.

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Covid on the rise as experts say England has ‘capitulated’ to the virus

"Covid is on the rise in England, and experts have warned that more must be done to prevent and control infections after a “capitulation to the virus”.

"Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said those working in the field were perplexed by the current attitude to the battle against Covid, as the latest figures showed an increase in hospital admissions.

"The latest data for England from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that hospital admissions increased to 3.71 per 100,000 population for the week between 16 and 22 September 2024, compared with 2.56 per 100,000 the previous week.

"The percentage of people with symptoms who have tested positive for Covid, based on tests at sentinel “spotter” laboratories, has also risen in the last week to 11.8% compared with 9.1% in the previous week.

"Altmann described the prevailing stance on the virus as a “capitulation”. “To those who work in this field, the current attitude of acceptance to losing this war of attrition against Covid is puzzling and a little desperate,” he said.

“The data, both in the UK and US, show that the current Omicron subvariants are hugely successful at punching through any dwindling population immunity, so that we tolerate huge prevalence of around 12%. Our capitulation to the virus is a combination of a population where most are now many months or years from their last vaccine dose, and that vaccine dose was in any case poorly cross-protective for the very distinct current variants.

 “Clearly, there is behavioural polarisation between those who are worried by this and look for mitigation, and those who think we must learn live with it and paid too high a price for our earlier measures,” he said.

"Dr Simon Williams, from Swansea University, added that surveys suggest there is also a large group of people who are not thinking much about Covid at all. “Part of this is psychological – for two to three years it was something people had to think about all the time and is something that for many had many negative memories and feelings attached to it,” he said.

"While Altmann said debate around measures needed to be properly informed and data-driven and to avoid extreme stances, it was important not to trivialise the impact of the virus.

“Those at the weaker end of the immune response spectrum may often experience four or more breakthrough infections per year. These may range from mild to those needing several days of work, with all the associated economic costs, plus any additional NHS burden,” he said.

"Altmann also stressed the impact of long Covid, noting that it is thought to affect around 400 million people globally – with 3% lost workforce and a global cost estimate of $1tn annually – and can arise even in vaccinated people following reinfection.

"The latest Covid data comes as a new variant is expected to become prevalent in the coming months. Known as XEC, it was first identified in Germany over the summer, and cases have already been identified in the UK. It is thought to have emerged from two other Covid variants, themselves descended from the BA.2.86 variant.

"However, experts have said that, at present, XEC is not thought to cause different symptoms from previous variants and does not appear to be fuelling a surge in cases. It is also expected that Covid vaccinations and past infections will continue to offer protection against severe disease.

"While bookings for the NHS autumn Covid booster jabs opened this week, Altmann said they should be offered more widely, together with increased use of lateral flow testing to avoid the spread of Covid.

"Williams added that it was strange that more had not been done to clean indoor air and improve ventilation in public spaces including schools.

"But while he backed offering boosters more widely, he also raised concerns: “I worry that again this autumn we will see a relatively low uptake of the booster among priority groups, including younger adults with a compromised immune system.”

Order Free COVID Tests in Preparation for Winter Wave

I wish there was more TV coverage about COVID. Where are the public service messages from the CDC? All I ever see are commercials for Paxlovid, and that's it.

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From The Washington Post 9/26/24:

Free covid tests by mail program revived by Biden administration

"Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

"People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday.

"The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases.

"The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding.

"David Boucher, a federal health official who manages infectious disease preparedness and response, told reporters in August that officials needed to be strategic with limited resources and that fall is a good time to deploy free tests ahead of holiday travel and gatherings.

"Here are some key aspects to know about rapid coronavirus testing at this stage of the pandemic:

How reliable are at-home coronavirus tests?

"Because people have developed stronger immune responses to coronavirus after repeated vaccination and infection, rapid antigen tests are no longer as reliable at detecting the virus as they were in the early days of infection.

"Federal health officials, experts and test manufacturers urge you to test 48 hours apart when you are sick.

"People develop symptoms as their bodies fight the virus. That battle is beginning earlier when the immune system recognizes the threat better, even with levels of virus too low to be detected by rapid tests.

“In order to be positive for an antigen test, you really have to have a lot of virus present,” said Susan Butler-Wu, an associate professor clinical pathology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. “If you are doing it for screening before you are meeting family members, you could be negative and you could still be infectious.”

"A widely cited study showed that viral loads tended to peak about four days after symptom onset in people infected with omicron variants, later than during previous stages of the pandemic.

When is the best time to take a home test?

"Because rapid tests are not as accurate in the early days of symptoms, it may make sense to isolate and wait several days to test if you can’t afford multiple tests.

"However, if you are over 65 or have underlying health conditions that place you at risk of severe disease, experts say it’s prudent to still test early during an illness because antiviral treatments are best administered shortly after you develop symptoms.

"PCR tests, which are usually analyzed in labs, can detect lower levels of virus and provide greater accuracy in the early days of infection.

What are the protocols when I test positive?

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its covid isolation protocols so that it doesn’t hinge on test results.

"Under the new guidelines, you should start to isolate when you experience respiratory virus symptoms regardless of what illness causes them. You should continue isolating until you have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and your overall symptoms are improving. Then, you should take additional precautions for five days, such as masking, social distancing or staying away from others if you are still testing positive.

Are rapid tests keeping up with new variants?

"Federal officials say the tests being distributed will detect the latest variants.

"The virus evolves primarily due to mutations on the spike protein which binds to cells and causes infection, but rapid coronavirus tests are designed to detect different parts of the virus, such as the N protein, that do not rapidly evolve.

“Nearly all the tests that have been developed to date can still detect the N protein, and they are still working against new viral variants,” said Nate Hafer, director of operations for the University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science, who has been researching coronavirus tests.

"Test manufacturers must verify their products are detecting commonly circulating variants to maintain emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The false negatives that lead people to believe the tests don’t work against new variants may actually be a result of the changes in our immune system that make it easier to develop symptoms when viral loads are too low to be detected by a rapid test.

Is it better to swab my throat than my nose?

"The claim that people should swab their throats for more accurate at-home tests results has circulated online, but experts caution against doing so and say people should follow test instructions to swab their nose.

"While over-the-counter tests involve throat swabbing in other parts of the world, that method has not been validated for tests authorized in the United States.

“It is not easy to do with the swabs that come in these kits: They are short and hard to reach the back of the throat,” said Nira Pollock, co-director of the infectious diseases diagnostic laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital.

'She added that it’s tough for individuals to reliably swab the back of their own throats and that that method is usually more accurate when conducted by a health-care professional.

Where else can you find free tests?

"Free tests may be available through your local health department, workplace, doctor’s office, libraries or community health centers. Social media pages for your city, such as subreddits or Facebook communities, can also be a helpful place to ask for leads. Insurance plans are no longer required to reimburse the costs of at-home coronavirus tests, but some plans may do so voluntarily."

Israel: Determined to Destroy Their Enemies

Wise decision.  But in the headline, the word "allies" should be in quotation marks. True allies would be helping Israel destroy Hamas and Hezbollah, rather than participating in Israel's suicide:

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Israel rejects cease-fire proposal from US, allies

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a temporary cease-fire proposal with Hezbollah, offered by the U.S. and several allies this week, and vowed to continue fighting against the Lebanese militant group.

"A Thursday statement from Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister has “not even responded to” the proposal and that “the purported directive to ease up on the fighting in the north is the opposite of the truth.”

“The Prime Minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan that was presented to him,” the statement reads, referring to the Israeli military. “The fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved.”

"Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also rejected a cease-fire in the north.

“There will be no ceasefire in the north,” he posted on the social platform X. “We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”

"There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah or Lebanon’s government on the potential cease-fire agreement.

"The U.S. and French-led proposal, released Wednesday, called for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah, which are inching near a full-scale war after an intense exchange of strikes and rocket attacks in the past week.

"The proposal was signed by Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar."

Both-Sides Biden

I can't stand this man, and the sooner both Biden and Harris leave the world stage, the better off we'll be.

For him to compare the October 7 attack on Israel and the "Gaza war" is disingenuous, to say the least. The reason there IS a Gaza war is because Israel retaliated after the pogrom!  Someone needs to remind the U.S. that Israel is the victim of unending terrorism -- time and time again, and that there can be no "two-state solution". The only solution is for Israel to continue to eradicate her enemies.

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"At UNGA, Biden describes horrors of Oct. 7 and Gaza war, urging sides to accept deal. "President warns against despair as war rages, calls out settler violence and pushes two-state solution, while Mideast leaders slam Israeli ‘genocide "

Playing Russian Roulette With Your Health

We're lucky we're not in the middle of a polio epidemic.  At this point, because Americans have become so willfully ignorant, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they refused to get vaccinated for polio as well.

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From U.S. News & World Report:  Most Americans Won't Get Vaccinated as Flu, COVID Season Looms: Survey

Meanwhile: "Study sheds new light on severe COVID's long-term brain impacts"

"More than a year after COVID-19 hospitalization, many patients have worse cognitive function than those who weren't hospitalized, a symptom that comes with reduced brain volume and brain injury markers on blood tests, according to a new study, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom"

What would you rather have: a COVID shot, or brain damage?

A Death-Affirming Baby-Killer Demands You Pay for His "Gender Surgery"

Remember the saying, "the inmates are running the asylum"?  Well, the asylum has become the United States.  How can so many people, including this judge, participate in this sick, mass delusion?

Here's a monster -- a man, NOT the woman he cynically claims he is -- who murdered a helpless baby, who instead of getting the electric chair, he is getting taxpayer-funded "life-saving gender surgery" to prevent "bodily and psychological harm".  Look at his face -- he already has bodily harm. Look at his crime -- he harmed a baby to death!

And you know what will eventually happen -- he will be transferred to a women's prison.

There's absolutely nothing to celebrate here, and anyone who thinks this is some sort of victory needs his head examined.

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Inmate who strangled 11-month-old will get taxpayer-funded gender surgery, judge rules

"INDIANAPOLIS (TND) — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita condemned a federal ruling last week which supported a prisoner’s right to transgender procedures while incarcerated.

"The ruling by federal Judge Richard Young sided with inmate Autumn Cordellionè, who sued in 2023 to reverse a state law denying transgender people certain medical procedures while incarcerated. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana claimed in a press release at the time that the taxpayer-funded medical services were “necessary and even lifesaving.”

"Judge Young's ruling declared that Cordellionè "requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm." Taking to X, Rokita explained he planned to appeal the ruling as soon as possible.

“Of course, I disagree,” Rokita wrote. “How could you not?? An Indiana inmate convicted of murder wants our taxpayers to fund their gender-altering surgery! Hoosiers do NOT want this.”

“We're still reviewing the court's opinion, but you can undoubtedly expect our office to appeal this decision,” he added.

“Today marks a significant victory for transgender individuals in Indiana’s prisons,” Legal Director Ken Falk said. “Denying evidence-based medical care to incarcerated people simply because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are pleased that the Court agreed.”

"Cordellionè is currently serving a 55-year sentence at an all-male state prison, Branchville Correctional Facility, for strangling an 11-month-old. In February, the inmate launched a separate lawsuit after a prison chaplain allegedly prohibited her from wearing a hijab outside her bed quarters."

A Spike in Whooping Cough Thanks To Anti-Vax Ignorance

Now we have to worry about catching this contagious disease, too. There's a public health alert for an outbreak in my county, yet I see fewer people than ever wearing masks to protect themselves and others from either COVID or whooping cough. It makes me angry. What's wrong with them?!

And of course the excuse is "vaccine fatigue", not personal responsibility!

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Whooping cough spikes, especially among unvaccinated teens; Pertussis outbreaks are at the highest level in a decade and doctors say many cases are going undetected  allowing people to spread the bacterial infection unknowingly for weeks.

The U.S. is experiencing more than four times as many whooping cough cases compared with last year — a spike that some experts attribute to post-pandemic vaccine fatigue.

“With the increase in vaccine hesitancy that has been going on since the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re seeing outbreaks occurring in kids who are not vaccinated,” said Dr. Tina Tan, president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

"Babies are given the DTaP vaccine, which helps protect against three diseases: pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus. The vaccine works well against diphtheria and tetanus, but is less effective over time for pertussis.

"Advisors to the Food and Drug Administration met Friday to discuss the need for more robust and longer-lasting versions of the whooping cough vaccine.

"Until next generation vaccines are developed, boosters are recommended about every 10 years, starting in the tween years, as kids start middle school.

"It’s the tweens and teens whose immunity against whooping cough has waned that are driving outbreaks in many states, experts say.

"On Thursday, the CDC reported that 14,569 cases of whooping cough had been confirmed so far in 2024. That’s a significant increase over last year’s total of 3,475 cases.

"According to a CDC spokesperson, preliminary cases reported so far this year are the highest since 2014.

"The bacterial illness is officially called pertussis but is often referred to as “whooping cough” because of the sound people — especially babies — make when trying to get enough oxygen despite ongoing coughing fits.

"Doctors said the newly reported numbers are likely a vast underestimate of the true spread of the highly contagious respiratory infection.

“For every case of whooping cough we find, there’s probably 10 of them out there that didn’t come to medical attention,” said Dr. Jim Conway, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin.

"The new numbers are a sign that whooping cough cases are returning to pre-pandemic levels, when about 10,000 cases were reported per year, nationally, according to the CDC. Growing anti-vaccine sentiments are contributing to the outbreaks, experts say.

“We’ve been seeing increasing amounts of disease occurring in adolescents and the adult population because they’re not getting vaccinated like they should,” Tan said.

"This is an age group that may be particularly vulnerable if they haven’t received a whooping cough booster since childhood.

"Some areas of the country are seeing massive spikes. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, for example, said Thursday that pertussis cases are 10 times higher than they were last year, with 625 confirmed cases in 2024 compared with 51 in 2023.

 “While people can get pertussis at any age, Wisconsinites aged 11 to 18 currently make up nearly half of all cases reported so far this year,” the state’s health department said in a news release. 

“This is rising really quickly,” Conway said. “That has us concerned.”

"Cases are rising, too, in Connecticut. “I don’t think we’ve seen this many in over 15 years,” said Dr. Andrew Carlson, a pediatrician and medical director for primary care at Connecticut Children’s in Hartford. The state has logged 111 whooping cough cases this year so far, compared with just 11 in 2023.

"Doctors at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina and Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., told NBC News that they hadn’t seen any recent cases of whooping cough. Georgia saw an uptick in whooping cough cases over the summer, said Dr. Andi Shane, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, but that’s since declined.

"In areas that have been affected, outbreaks have popped up among teens and young adults, including at a Philadelphia-area high school in April. Last weekend, Portland State University canceled a football game following a surge in whooping cough cases among players.

“During the spring, we saw a high proportion of cases in adolescents,” said Dr. Karen Ravin, division chief of infectious diseases at Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware. “The vaccine is effective, but immunity wanes over time, so it’s important for parents to make sure their kids are up to date with their vaccines.”

The 'heartbreaking' side of whooping cough

"People with lingering coughs may go to the doctor but be sent home after testing negative for flu or Covid. The whooping cough can spread that bacteria through their coughs for a long time if not treated.

“You can shed this bacteria for three or four weeks,” Conway said. “Once it gets into a community, it’s pretty hard to stamp it out.”

"Most older kids and otherwise healthy adults who become infected usually don’t experience much more than that annoying cough.

"Doctors worry most about newborn babies who become infected. Their tiny airways can’t handle the coughing fits associated with whooping cough, and they must often be put on ventilators to help them breathe.

“That’s the heartbreaking side of this,” Conway said. “Those babies are coughing so much they can’t eat, they can’t drink, so they end up in the intensive care unit.”

When to get whooping cough vaccines and boosters

"Pregnant women are encouraged to get a whooping cough booster during their third trimester. This gives their babies some level of protection when they’re born — when they’re most vulnerable to pertussis — and before they’re eligible for the shots themselves.

"Babies should begin their first round of pertussis vaccines at 2 months, with follow-up shots at 4 and 6 months, according to the CDC.

"Another shot is given before the child reaches age 2, and again around the start of kindergarten.

“I can’t overemphasize the importance of vaccination,” Shane said. “The way we’re going to make sure that we all have a successful respiratory season is to do everything we can to protect ourselves.”

A Powerful Must-Read on Israeli Resistance

Rachel Lester's powerful Times of Israel column "This is Israeli Resistance" had me cheering. I've been saying this since before October 7, 2023, but not as eloquently.

I am waiting to hear the usual lectures, talk about restraint, and warnings from appeasers like Biden and Blinken, but this time, smartly, Israel is going ahead to save herself, despite what they think and what campus collaborators may do.

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"This is Israeli resistance"

"I’m co-opting liberal language to call the retaliation against Hezbollah’s nearly year-long attacks and preemptive strikes to prevent more imminent attacks the following: Israeli resistance. Because this is what resistance against a terrorist army actually looks like. But the world is, as usual, upside down. 

"Former CIA director Leon Panetta called Israel’s precision pager attack on Hezbollah terrorists “a form of terrorism” — you know, the operation in which only terrorists were targeted, in which only Hezbollah members (and the Iranian ambassador) were in possession of the exploding pagers.

"French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with “Lebanese victims of this week’s events” — does he mean the air strike that took out Ibrahim Aqil, one of the masterminds of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 58 French service members (as well as 241 American service members and six civilians)?

"Much of the blame lies with the international media, which has hardly reported at all on Hezbollah’s attacks over the last 11 months.

"Much of the world simply does not know about the Israeli children and parents and civilians (and yes, soldiers, whose lives are no less valuable) whom Hezbollah murdered with rockets.

"They don’t know about the Israeli homes and schools that Hezbollah destroyed with their targeted anti-tank missiles, and about the Israeli towns Hezbollah has burned down with their suicide drones.

"They have no idea that over 60,000 Israeli civilians are still displaced from their homes because of the 8,500 rockets and suicide drones that Hezbollah has been shooting at us nonstop since the day after Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

"And the ones that do know don’t care, because the 60,000 displaced Israelis aren’t visibly suffering (thanks to the Israeli government setting them up in hotels and safer cities), so it doesn’t make for good TV.

"So without all of that context, Hezbollah suddenly becomes the victim. Hezbollah suddenly becomes another “resistance movement” against “unprovoked Israeli aggression.”

"Ignorance is no excuse, but it gives me hope that this narrative can be reversed in a way that the Gaza one simply cannot. It’s up to us to do what the media won’t, and hold the media accountable when we can: we need to make sure social media gets the context loud and clear. 

"Keyboard warriors want to talk about resistance? This is Israeli resistance.

"Blowing up the pagers exclusively of members of a terrorist army who has been shooting rockets at us for 11 months is Israeli resistance.

"Assassinating a Hezbollah leader who had a $7 million American bounty on his head for orchestrating the 1983 Beirut bombings and was responsible for daily attacks on northern Israel is Israeli resistance.

"Eliminating a room full of Hezbollah special forces who were literally in the middle of discussing plans to invade northern Israel October 7th style (Operation “Conquer the Galilee”) — that is definitely Israeli resistance.

"Everyone in the pro-Israel world knows that these attacks were very much provoked and very much deserved. But now, more than ever, we need to counter the other side’s narrative that says the opposite.

"We need to acknowledge that yes, it’s a tragic consequence of war when Lebanese civilians get hurt or die in the crossfires. Lebanese civilians don’t deserve to die. But neither did the 1,200 Israelis who were murdered on October 7, and there will be more October 7s if Israel does not act against Hezbollah before it’s too late.

"We need to educate people on the fact that, if you think about it for more than a second, Hezbollah can’t be a resistance movement — there’s nothing for them to resist. Israel withdrew fully from southern Lebanon in 2000, a whole 24 years ago.

"We need to make two things very clear: 1. the near-daily attacks Israel has been under for 11 months (yes, in violation of international law!) that have done untold damage to civilian life in northern Israel (that any other country would have responded to long ago); and 2. the extremely active threat to our country that Hezbollah poses in the immediate future if they’re not dealt with as soon as possible.

"Israel is finally resisting Hezbollah. Rightfully so. Let’s do whatever we can to make that the narrative."

About the Author: Rachel Lester served in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit for four years, creating videos for the IDF's millions of social media followers and running the international video department as creative director. She was called into reserves on October 7 and stayed for six months. Rachel is an alumna of the University of Southern California and holds a Masters in Government from Reichman University.

Dr. Ruth's COVID news & more Newsletter 9/21/24

Here's another information-packed newsletter by Dr. Ruth Ann Crystal.   It's so helpful to have so much COVID news in one place and to know what's going on, since our government doesn't tell us. She also includes some fascinating human interest stories as well. Don't forget to check out all the charts and graphs that follow the newsletter.

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COVID news & more, 9/21/24

COVID wastewater levels have peaked and appear to be going down in most states, but wastewater virus levels are still at very high or high levels in most states. There are about 716,000 to 1,000,000 new COVID cases daily in America now and about 1 in every 40 to 47 people is currently infected. Mike Hoerger predicts a “lull” in cases in early November.

Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 levels, as of 9/14/24:

(https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-currentlevels.html)

CDC wastewater SARS-CoV-2 as of 9/19/24: https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-nationaltrend.html

Emergency Department visits for COVID continue to decrease, but weekly COVID deaths in the U.S. have been over 1,000 per week for the last 5 weeks.

KP.3.1.1 remains the most common variant and was 52.7% of cases as of 9/14/24. The updated COVID vaccines match this variant well. 

Variants 

XEC is a recombinant variant of KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 that is being watched closely. There has been a lot of discussion about XEC on Twitter as it has shown a significant growth advantage, outpacing KP.3.1.1 in some countries, yet XEC has very similar spike protein mutations to KP.3.1.1 which has puzzled scientists. Ryan Hisner may have found why XEC has a growth advantage- it could be due to a mutation in the Nucleocapsid (N) protein.

Acute COVID infections, General COVID info

Regarding herd immunity, Dr. Fauci said in a recent interview that it is not possible to have long lasting or herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 because the virus continues to evolve and change. As Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly commented, “This is very important for people to understand. Immunity against SARS-CoV-2 - wanes/declines/disappears with time (months). This applies to immunity from natural infection and vaccine-derived immunity.”

A new article in the Journal of Virology shows that even mild COVID infections can cause leaky gut, allowing bacteria to go from inside of the gut, across the leaky colonocytes, and into the bloodstream. The study showed a "significant increase in plasma soluble CD14 (sCD14) that may be induced by LPS [from the translocated bacteria]... sCD14 significantly positively correlated with zonulin, an indicator of gut barrier integrity, and IL-6. These results demonstrate that GI perturbations such as microbial translocation can occur in even mild SARS-CoV-2 infections and may contribute to the COVID-19 inflammatory state."

Dr. Vipin Vashishtha also wrote an interesting tweet thread last week on COVID, the Gut-Lung Axis, immunity and the intestinal microbiome, and on probiotics for Long COVID. 

Lucky Tran posted a new poll from Ipsos showing that half of Americans believe that they will never get COVID again. Typically, there have been at least 2 large COVID waves each year since 2020.

A new poll posted by the CDC shows that 95% of people said that they would take more precautions if they knew virus levels in wastewater were high. Of those people, 76% would wash their hands more, 61% would avoid large gatherings, 59% would avoid people at high risk of COVID infection, 57% would tell their family or friends about high levels in wastewater, 52% would get vaccinated, 51% said they would wear a mask in indoor spaces.

Pediatrics

Chronic stress or adversity during development can result in accelerated brain maturation. Accelerated brain aging, seen as thinning of the cerebral cortex on MRI, is associated with an increased risk for the development of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders. Teenage girls were found to have the equivalent of 4.2 years in brain aging acceleration while teen boys had about 1.4 years of increased brain aging during pandemic lock downs. However, correlation is not causation and more studies are needed to see if this was due to lockdowns or to something else. It will also be important to study if teens’ brains recover later. 

Clean Air in BC Schools put out a free, printable “zine” on how to keep air clean in schools. The pocket guide discusses ventilation, air filtration, measuring CO2 levels and wearing face masks.

Antiviral medications

The SELECT trial studied semaglutide 2.4 mg in people with cardiovascular disease and obesity but no diabetes. It found that those who took semaglutide had lower rates of all-cause death, cardiovascular (CV) death, and non-CV death compared to those who took a placebo. The reduction in non-CV deaths was mainly due to fewer deaths from infections, including COVID-19. Overall, the study suggests semaglutide reduces mortality risk in patients with obesity and cardiovascular disease, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hyundai Bioscience is partnering with the University of California San Diego (UCSD) to conduct a trial evaluating Xafty, a niclosamide-based oral antiviral, to treat Long COVID. Previous clinical trials have shown Xafty is safe and it improves acute COVID symptoms, especially in high-risk groups. Xafty was also found to have neuroprotective effects in preclinical animal studies on Parkinson’s disease. Led by Dr. Ajay Bharti, the new clinical trial will explore how Xafty may address Long COVID symptoms through virus suppression, inflammation reduction, and neuroprotection. 

Because viral persistence may be a cause of Long COVID, scientists are studying the use of antiviral medications to treat or prevent Long COVID. A new report from Victoria Harris and colleagues from the PANORAMIC trial showed that people who took molnupiravir during acute COVID infection had better outcomes at 3 months and 6 months. However, Molnupiravir is not an ideal treatment because it is mutagenic. It is important to find new antiviral medications that work against SARS-CoV-2 with less secondary effects. "The key for successful treatment trials will probably hinge (among other things) on targeting the disease early; whether earlier initiation of antiviral therapy, longer duration of treatment, or a combination of different antivirals (with different mechanisms of action) yields better effectiveness," wrote Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly.

Metformin is a cheap, safe drug that has been shown to decrease the risk of Long COVID by 41% in non-diabetic patients who were overweight in a 2023 study. A new retrospective cohort study using electronic medical records shows that diabetic patients on Metformin had a 13 to 15% lower risk of death and a 21% lower risk of Long COVID as compared to people on different medications for diabetes. The results suggest that metformin could lead to better outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes who contract COVID.

Long COVID

An article came out this week in The Sick Times discussing how people with severe Long COVID cannot access health care because they are too sick to leave their beds. There needs to be a better system for evaluating and treating people with severe Long COVID and it is important to include them in clinical trials and studies as well.

The Sick Times also introduced a new resource called Long COVID Essentials that covers many topics including “What to do if you or someone else in your household has COVID” and what symptoms can occur after COVID infections.

Dr. Claire Taylor tweeted this week about a new study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) 2024 International Congress in Vienna showing that some people with Long COVID symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue can have normal CT pulmonary angiogram scans, but have abnormal VQ scans showing abnormal lung blood supply. Researchers at Imperial College London studied 41 people who had mild COVID infections, but continued to experience symptoms like breathlessness and fatigue, even though their CT scans were normal. The study found these patients had abnormal lung perfusion and reduced gas diffusion capacity. Dr. Laura Price, a respiratory physician at Royal Brompton Hospital, said that this appears to be due to pulmonary microangiopathy affecting small blood vessels in the lungs that leads to shortness of breath. We know from other studies that SARS-CoV-2 can damage endothelial cells that line blood vessels. Dr. Taylor stresses the importance of using VQ scans to see perfusion issues.

A new paper looks at the complex mechanisms including microvascular alterations and immunometabolic interactions behind post-exertional malaise (PEM), a symptom common in both Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Physical exercise in people with Long COVID and/or ME/CFS can cause reduced oxygen extraction, mitochondrial dysfunction, and immune system activation, which can lead to fatigue, pain, and worsened post-exertional malaise symptoms. The review discusses how these conditions may share a common pathology and the challenges in finding effective treatments for PEM.

From: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s15010-024-02386-8

Regarding post-exertional malaise (PEM), several people with Long COVID highly recommend a recent explanatory video on PEM from Dr. Brayden Yellman of the Bateman Horne Center and ME Action. 

H5N1

Last week, the CDC disclosed that a household contact of the person hospitalized in Missouri with H5N1 bird flu and a health care worker who took care of that individual when they were hospitalized both had been ill. The first health care worker tested negative for influenza. Now, a second health care worker who took care of that person also reported a mild respiratory infection that had resolved. Antibody testing for H5N1 is pending for the second healthcare worker. Per the CDC, “the risk to the public remains low”, but the case is being followed closely to make sure that there was no human-to-human transmission of H5N1.

Other news:

Eric Topol tweeted about two new studies on plastic pollution and human health:

9/19/24 Science: Twenty years of microplastics pollution research—what have we learned? https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746

9/16/24 WSJ: Scientists just figured out how many chemicals enter our bodies from food packaging https://buff.ly/3TG60jg or https://archive.is/hUV8F

Migraines: A new review and meta-analysis of 137 double blind randomized clinical trials found that triptan drugs (eletriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan) are more effective against acute migraine headaches than newly marketed drugs lasmiditan, rimegepant, and ubrogepant.

ADHD meds: High doses of some prescription stimulant drugs for ADHD, like Adderall, have a more than five-fold increased risk for developing psychosis or mania.

Bletchley Park Reunion https://x.com/bletchleypark/status/1833110877672771588

This week, a humpback whale realized that it had mistakenly caught a seal in its mouth, and it quickly spit the little guy out. Whale watchers were able to photograph the event.

Photo credit: Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours

Have a good rest of your weekend,

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

Cartoons That Hit Too Close To Home

 

I see that Rashida Tlaib, an overt anti-Israel fanatic in Congress, is upset over the above editorial cartoon by Henry Payne. Her allies are rushing to her defense and rushing to attack the clever cartoonist. 

As soon as I saw the Payne cartoon, I was immediately reminded of this post-October 7 Michael Ramirez cartoon that got a similar reaction.  He stood by his cartoon and didn't apologize for it. 

Henry Payne should respond the same way.

Maybe if anti-Israel, pro-terrorism collaborators in this country would stop providing aid and comfort to the brutal enemy, our brilliant cartoonists would have less material to work with.

The Pretend President

Matt Margolis at PJ Media asked a good question:

"Why Is Jill Running the First Biden Cabinet Meeting in Nearly a Year?"

"Joe Biden, knowing that this was unusual, tried to say it wasn't. 'And, uhhh, here across previous administrations, First Ladies have attended these meetings for specific reasons,' he said. 'This is the first time Jill has joined us, and it goes to show how important the issue is when she's about to speak to the both of us.'

"I'm sorry, but this isn't normal.

"It’s one thing for a First Lady to use her platform to champion personal causes. Michelle Obama focused on child nutrition, Laura Bush prioritized child literacy, and Hillary Clinton pushed healthcare reform. But leading a cabinet meeting as if she holds actual governmental power is a different story. It doesn’t matter what Jill Biden was there to comment on — what matters is that she was there at all.

"She’s neither an elected nor appointed official. No one voted for her, and she has no political power, which makes her input on policy completely symbolic and essentially an extension of her husband. But when she shows up to a cabinet meeting, it sends the message that she is the one in charge and that her husband is an extension of her."

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I was only sorry that the Cabinet members didn't get up and walk out en masse.

Do we have to put up with a pretend-President for the next few months as well? And if (heaven forbid!) Kamala Harris is elected, will her husband chair her Cabinet meetings?

Vote for Donald Trump!

Masks: It's Just Common Sense!

Why is this still such a hardship?  When I go to the doctor (frequently), I don't want to first get sick in the overcrowded waiting room full of coughing, inconsiderate people!

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From The Toronto Star 9/18/24:

Opinion | Yes, we do need to bring back masks in medical settings 

By Iris Gorfinkel

Iris Gorfinkel is a family physician and clinical researcher in Toronto.

"Imagine you — or a vulnerable loved one — needs urgent medical care. If you’re lucky enough to have a family doctor, you head to their clinic. Like most, yours is housed in a building with low ceilings and little air filtration. You enter the waiting room where several patients sit shoulder-to-shoulder waiting.

"You have no choice but to sit alongside people sneezing, coughing and blowing their noses. Few if any, patients and health care workers are wearing a mask. While grateful for the hand sanitizer on offer, you begin to wonder if that will be enough to prevent your picking up an infection you hadn’t anticipated.

"It’s an all-too-familiar scenario. 

"The most common reason people see a GP is to assess an upper respiratory infection. They most frequently start after inhaling infected droplets or aerosols or from having touched an infected surface.

"An N95 or KN95 mask helps block transmission, whether it’s SARS CoV-2, influenza or a common cold virus like RSV. They’re not perfect, but they reduce viral transmission by 30 per cent. Yet in spite of their benefits, most health-care workers and patients no longer routinely mask, even during assessments requiring close contact with an increased risk of disease spread.

"Many of my most vulnerable patients are keenly aware of the potential health risks this presents. Yet most say nothing and would never dream of asking their clinician to wear a mask. 

"There are sound reasons for this.

"The first has to do with long wait times. A visit to the specialist is a precious commodity that cannot be risked. Several months pass before patients are seen, raising the urgency for care. 

"This is only the first of many factors to come that can silence even the most assertive of patients.

"Many don’t want to appear disrespectful by asking their health-care workers to mask. They fear being labelled “difficult” or “demanding” and become distressed at the prospect of questioning their clinician’s judgment, even if it should put them in harm’s way.

"Patients become more passive when burdened with the anxiety, dread and fatigue that accompanies illness. Deep-seated fears are ignited that further increase the dependency on health-care workers and squelch any remaining likelihood of their requesting that their clinicians mask.

"Masking policies in health-care facilities don’t have to be all-or-none edicts. Patients who are hard of hearing often benefit when they’re able to read lips. Both patients and health care workers sometimes struggle because of anxiety. Young children may not co-operate, and there are people who simply cannot — or will not — tolerate them.

"These are special cases though, not the rule. Smart policies in health care facilities need to have latitude for such exceptions. But tightening the policy on masking also recognizes that SARS CoV-2 is a stealthy virus.

"One-in-three people infected have no symptoms yet can still transmit COVID-19. It can result in serious physical and mental harms that last 3 years and possibly longer following the initial infection. Since the start of the pandemic to the end of 2023, long COVID has affected 6 per cent of adults and 1 per cent of children.

"Vaccines don’t lower viral transmission. Where they shine is at lowering the severity of cases and keeping Ontario’s hospitals from being overwhelmed, but they’re poor at reducing mild cases. It’s short-sighted to gamble on the hope that future vaccines will prove any different.

"What’s more certain is that the lack of masking in health care facilities will needlessly spread disease. As in past autumns, cooler weather will bring a spike in flu and cold viruses while kids in Ontario have settled back into crowded classrooms and COVID-19 threatens to reach a 3-year peak.   

"The duty of care doesn’t land on patients. It’s the clinicians’ job to ensure patients don’t pick up an unintended infection. Patients have a right to safety in health care facilities. In the meantime, I can only advise my concerned patients to wear an N95 or KN-95 when in health care facilities and suggest they not be shy when asking clinicians to do the same."

Hamas Supporters at UNC

I live in NC, so this obscenity particularly sickens me. Nobody is ever held accountable, and there's never an immediate police response to stop it.  These stormtroopers know they can get away with this sick antisemitic destruction because the current administration sets the example for them. These aren't "protesters"or even "students": these are Nazis, and they continue to go unpunished & unconcerned. I don't want to hear another thing about "peaceful protests", because this is neither. And please spare me the politically correct "all hatred is unacceptable" nonsense, because it's Jews that are the targets.

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'Death to the US': Anti-Israel Protesters at UNC Vandalize ROTC Building, Fraternity Brothers Clean Up After Them

"Anti-Israel protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill vandalized the school's ROTC Naval Armory and other campus buildings as part of a Thursday "Walk Out for the West Bank" event, causing "significant damage," the school said in a statement.

"The event, organized by the school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and other anti-Israel groups, began at the steps of the university library. From there, anti-Israel student activists "began moving around the center of campus and disrupted operations of the University," according to the school.

"They entered at least nine academic buildings across campus shouting and attempting to disrupt classes. They also vandalized the interior and exterior of buildings along their way with spray paint and permanent markers," UNC said in a campus update. "They caused significant damage throughout multiple buildings. The group then gathered at the ROTC Naval Armory building, which is included in the National Register of Historic Places and proceeded to damage the exterior with spray paint."

"Photos of the ordeal showed slogans such as "Israel Bombs, USA Pays," "Burn, Riot," "Death to the US," and "Death to UNC" spray painted on the ROTC building and other campus buildings. At one point, student protesters raised a Palestinian flag at the front of the ROTC building. Members of various UNC fraternities assembled to clean up the mess and re-raise the American flag."

Spineless Anti-Israel America

I had to turn the TV news off this morning to avoid hearing the latest insufferable anti-Israel pronouncements by Antony Blinken, who is desperate for a ceasefire before the election.

Why does the U.S. continue to insist on ceasefires that don't work with murderers like Hamas and Hezbollah? Why does the U.S. always lecture Israel and act like they know better than Israel does?

Israel is fighting for her survival. Israel needs true allies, not backstabbers and betrayers.

Can you just imagine what the first anniversary of the October 7 pogrom will be like in Israel and across the U.S.? Thanks to the appeasement of the United States, that's going to be another traumatic day for all Jews.

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This is from the BBC:

US criticises Israeli PM's 'maximalist' ceasefire stance

"A senior US administration official has pushed back at reported comments by Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of making “maximalist statements” that are “not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line”.

"It comes in the midst of an intense round of regional diplomacy by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as Washington tries to drive forward progress on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"On Monday, Mr Blinken had talks lasting three hours with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem.

"He later said Mr Netanyahu had accepted Washington’s so-called “bridging proposal” aimed at trying to solve sticking points and bring Israel and Hamas closer to a deal.

"According to an Israeli media report, Mr Netanyahu later told a meeting of hostage families that he "convinced" Mr Blinken that the deal must see Israeli troops remaining in areas of Gaza he described as “strategic military and political assets”, including along the southern border with Egypt.

"The reported comments appear to have irritated the US administration.

"We saw the prime minister's comments, specifically on some of these items," said the senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We’re certainly not going to negotiate in public but what I can say is that the only thing Secretary Blinken and the United States are convinced of is the need for getting a ceasefire proposal across the finish line."

"We fully expect that… if Hamas were also to also accept this bridging proposal, discussions will continue on some of the more technical... details.

“I would also just add that maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line and they certainly risk the ability of implementing level, working level and technical talks to be able to move forward when both parties agree to a bridging proposal.”

"The senior official’s remarks followed Tuesday’s round of talks between Mr Blinken and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the coastal city of El-Alamein.

"Egyptian officials are said to be strongly opposed to the idea of Israeli troops remaining along Egypt's border in Gaza."

COVID Variant XEC in Half of U.S. States.

This new variant seems to be happening very quickly. I bet this one will be shrugged off by apathetic American, who use "pandemic fatigue" or "vaccine fatigue" as their excuse. I'd rather be prepared and vigilant.

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From CBS News  9/18/24:

New COVID variant XEC now in half of states. Here's what to know.

"COVID-19 variant trackers are now closely watching the rise of a new virus variant called XEC, which has been spotted around the world and in half of states across the United States.

"Health officials are so far not raising concern about this variant, unlike some previous, more highly mutated strains that worried experts. 

"XEC's emergence comes as COVID-19 trends remain "high" but are now largely slowing after a summer wave of infections that peaked last month. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modelers estimate that the virus will likely climb again over the winter, peaking in mid-January.

"Here's the latest we know about the new XEC variant.

Which states have reported XEC cases?

"At least 25 states have already reported at least one case with the strain's characteristic mutations, according to preliminary data obtained from the global virus database GISAID from more than 100 cases in the U.S.

"Labs in New Jersey have reported the most XEC infections – at least 15 – of any state. Only California and Virginia have also reported at least 10 cases so far.

"New Jersey's detections come in large part from samples collected through the CDC's testing program of arriving travelers clearing customs at Newark Liberty International Airport.

"Some of the earliest U.S. cases were reported by scientists at a lab in Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, sampled from patients in July.

"We do not see a particular trend. We should keep an eye on the samples coming and continue genomic screening more broadly," said Carla Finkielstein, head of the institute's molecular diagnostics lab, in an email.

"Finkielstein said that the majority of their samples come from hospitals across the southwestern part of Virginia, though it is unclear why exactly they were tested.

"Unfortunately, we do not have demographic data on these patients, so we don't know whether the patients were hospitalized or, for example, if their samples were collected during an emergency department visit," Finkielstein said.

Why is the XEC variant in the news?

"Variant trackers first proposed labeling the new strain as XEC in early August, after infections were reported around the same time from labs both in Europe and Virginia.

"XEC's growth in recent weeks across Germany, flagged by variant trackers like Australian consultant Mike Honey on X, has driven recent attention online to the variant's ascent.

"But others in the variant tracking community have been skeptical that the strain will outcompete other strains on the rise, especially since a closely related strain called KP.3.1.1 has already reached dominance in many countries.

"KP.3.1.1 now makes up more than half of cases in the U.S., according to CDC estimates published last Friday, and has been dominant for several weeks.

"If XEC grows to dominance, it could mark just the latest in months of variants that have led to relatively smaller shifts in the threat posed by circulating variants.

"This is in contrast to the discovery of the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant that worried health authorities around this time last year, because it had accumulated a concerning number of genetic changes compared to earlier strains. 

"A descendant of that BA.2.86 strain from last year, which was eventually dubbed JN.1, later rose to dominate last winter's wave of infections.

"The "X" in XEC's name comes from the fact that the strain looks to be a "recombinant" of two other closely related parent variants called KS.1.1 and KP.3.3. Both KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 are descendants of the JN.1 strain.

Will XEC lead to different symptoms or vaccine effectiveness?

"CDC is not aware of any specific symptoms associated with XEC or any other co-circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineage," a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

"Americans are still recommended to get this fall and winter's round of updated COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC spokesperson said. Those shots were greenlighted last month with an update to target the KP.2 strain of the virus.

"The Food and Drug Administration has defended its pick of KP.2 for this year's revised vaccines in recent weeks, which overrode a recommendation from the World Health Organization and a panel of the agency's outside advisers to target its parent JN.1 instead. 

"The FDA said in a statement Wednesday that the agency was "highly confident" in the effectiveness of this season's updated shots. 

"How FDA officials think XEC will impact their pick is unclear. An FDA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"At this time, we anticipate that COVID-19 treatments and vaccines will continue to work against all circulating variants. CDC will continue to monitor the effectiveness of treatment and vaccines against circulating variants," the CDC spokesperson said."