At Elder of Ziyon, there's a link dump from yesterday on the subject of Jew-hatred. Of course we Jews read these articles, but it's too bad the perpetrators of these antisemitic acts, and their enablers, don't read them and maybe learn something about themselves from them. (But I doubt it.)
Better late than never. This wasn't a "mistake", as he says; it was a deliberate attempt to bypass COVID safeguards. Think of the damage he may have caused by his selfishness.
As seen at ESPN, by Associated Press 4-15-26:
--------------------------------------------
Swiss hockey coach fired over false COVID vaccine paperwork
"ZURICH -- A Swiss hockey coach who admitted he used a certificate
falsely claiming he'd been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get around
China's travel restrictions for the 2022 Winter Olympics has been fired.
"In
a statement late Monday, head coach Patrick Fischer said he made a
"serious mistake in this matter" by traveling to Beijing with the
Switzerland men's team using false paperwork.
"The Swiss Ice Hockey
Federation initially supported him, saying the case was closed because
he had admitted to his mistake. But that changed Wednesday with news of
his dismissal.
"The case is legally closed but has
triggered a public debate about values and trust, which the federation
takes very seriously," federation president Urs Kessler said in a
statement.
"From
today's perspective, our initial assessment -- that the matter was
concluded -- was too short-sighted. This is about values and respect,
that are fundamental to Swiss Ice Hockey and which Patrick Fischer did
not uphold in 2022."
"Fischer had said before he was fired that "I'm very sorry if I've disappointed people with this situation."
"I
was in an extraordinary personal crisis because I didn't want to be
vaccinated," he added. "At the same time I certainly didn't want to let
my team down at the Olympic Games."
"Swiss public broadcaster SRF
said it confronted Fischer with documents showing he was fined nearly
39,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) by local authorities in 2023 for document
forgery after buying the certificate on social media. SRF said he went
public with his admission shortly after.
"Switzerland hosts the world championship next month. Fischer was already due to step down after that.
"Jan
Cadieux, Switzerland's former under-20 coach who had already been
announced as Fischer's replacement beginning next year, will take over
in the new job immediately, the federation said.
"Fischer was one
of Switzerland's most successful hockey coaches. He'd been in the post
since 2015 and took the team to three Olympics as well as winning three
world championship silver medals.
"His team reached the
quarterfinals at the 2022 Olympics, where COVID-19 testing was a
requirement and the NHL stayed away because of the pandemic.
"Ahead
of the 2022 Olympics, China had some of the strictest COVID-19 rules in
the world. It insisted any athletes heading to the Games had to either
be vaccinated against COVID-19 or sit out a three-week quarantine in a
hotel, as Swiss snowboarder Patrizia Kummer did."
If Guy Rivera isn’t guilty of murder, then what do we call the killing of Jonathan Diller?
Because that’s what it was.
Jonathan Diller was 31 years old — a husband, a father, a New York
City police officer, later posthumously promoted to detective. By every
account, he was deeply in love with his wife, Stephanie, and devoted to
their young son.
In a matter of seconds, all of that was taken.
He was shot during a traffic stop in Queens — a routine interaction.
The shooting was captured on video, along with the screams of a police
officer dying in the street.
Officer Diller didn’t make it home that night — and he never would.
His wife didn’t just lose her husband. She lost the love of her life.
Their son lost his father. He will grow up knowing him through stories,
photographs, and medals — never through memories of his own.
That is what this “manslaughter” case is really about.
Rivera — a man with 21 prior arrests — was convicted of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and other charges, but not murder.
Not murder.
So again, what do we call it when someone guns down a police officer?
Because when a repeat offender — someone the system has cycled
through again and again — pulls a gun and shoots an officer during a
lawful stop, ordinary people don’t hear legal technicalities.
When the verdict was read,
Rivera smiled. Not relief — satisfaction. The same face Detective
Diller saw before he was shot. If that doesn’t chill you, it should.
Because that is exactly what getting away with murder looks like.
No matter what the verdict says, people see it for what it is.
And they are asking how we got here.
How did we reach a point where a man with that kind of record was
still on the street? Still able to come face-to-face with Diller?
How many chances does someone get before the system admits what they are?
And how many lives must be destroyed before we stop pretending these are isolated failures instead of a pattern?
Because this isn’t just about one case.
It never is.
I saw this long before New York.
On April 4, 2009, three Pittsburgh police officers were shot and killed in an ambush. I was working in the courts at the time.
A coworker’s husband — a Pittsburgh police officer — had worked with
the fallen officers. I went with them to the memorial service and one of
the burials.
I will never forget what I saw.
Three buses waited outside Zone 5, filled with officers in dress
blues. Polished badges. Faces quiet and set. The rest of us wore black —
suits, ties, mourning bands across badges.
No one spoke.
You could feel it before we even moved.
When the buses pulled out, motorcycle officers moved with precision —
blocking intersections, stopping traffic, then rotating back into
position.
And we never slowed.
Not once.
Mile after mile through the city.
Washington Boulevard. Shadyside. Into Oakland.
Busy streets filled with lights and traffic — and everything stopped for them.
Inside the bus, voices were barely above a whisper.
I remember one officer saying, “It couldn’t have happened to nicer guys.”
It didn’t feel real.
As we approached the University of Pittsburgh, people stopped what
they were doing. Conversations died mid-sentence. Some stood frozen.
Others placed their hands over their hearts.
And then they began to salute.
Not because anyone told them to.
Because they understood.
At the cemetery, the reality hit in a way words never could.
As one officer was laid to rest, the echo of gunfire carried from
another burial nearby — another fallen officer receiving a 21-gun salute
at the same time.
I remember the riderless horse.
I remember the sound of taps.
And I remember something I will never forget — grown men collapsing
over the coffin of their friend. Strong men, broken by grief so raw it
stripped everything else away.
That was a country that understood loss.
That understood sacrifice.
That understood exactly what had been taken from those families.
And now?
Now we debate what to call it.
Now we downgrade, reinterpret, and explain away.
As the funerals keep coming, what message does that send — not just to the public, but to every officer putting on a uniform?
Because there is already a target on their backs.
And every time the system fails to hold violent repeat offenders accountable, that target grows.
Every time we blur the line between what is and what we wish it to be, that target grows.
I fear for them.
I fear for their families.
For the wives who will get the knock on the door.
For the children who will grow up with folded flags instead of fathers.
For the parents who will bury their sons and daughters.
How many more funerals does it take?
At what point do we say enough?
At what point do we stop pretending this is complicated?
Because some things are not complicated.
A man with a long criminal history shoots a police officer during a lawful stop.
A wife loses her husband.
A child loses his father.
If that isn’t murder, then the word has lost its meaning.
-----------------
Kelly Rae Robertson is a former criminal court investigator
with over 14 years of experience inside the Allegheny County justice
system. She writes about crime, public safety, and the real-world
consequences of failed pretrial policies.
I came across this excellent column from The Calais Advertiser and would hope that Maine voters are smarter than to elect the likes of Graham Platner. Unfortunately, being an unapologetic Jew-hater no longer disqualifies people from office and seems to actually make them more popular, God help us!
Freedom Studies - Platner, Pogroms, and Progressives
By Jon Reisman,4-15-26
"Graham Platner is a nazi-tattooed antisemitic socialist. Maine’s
progressive left has embraced his antisemitic socialism and seeks to
impose it on the rural racist recidivists his Reddit rants ridiculed and
railed against.
"They may well succeed, but if they think this
Jew will quietly submit to the progressive Totenkopf Death’s Head
tattooed concentration camp guard/secret police admirers, they better
buy a gag and hire more Maine People’s Alliance thugs.
"Platner’s
campaign and popularity mean Pogroms are on the immediate horizon --
that’s what Iran has been pushing for 47 years. What do you think “Death
to America” and “Death to Israel” mean?
"The Oct. 7, 2023, Gazan/Iranian pogrom featured all the murder and rape a good progressive antisemite
could wish for. The claim that antizionist and anti-Israeli sentiments
are not antisemitism is complete progressive BS -- at least Hitler and
the national socialists (that’s where “NAZI” comes from) were relatively
honest about their plans to kill Jews. Having smug progressives tell me
that I’m overreacting and misunderstanding them is pretty rich.
"I
understand them perfectly -- they hate Jews, capitalism and freedom,
and love oppressed Islamic terrorists. Most of them have deluded
themselves into believing that socialism will work and be better.
Historical evidence to the contrary (Russia, China, Cuba, Cambodia,
Venezuela) is ignored. The same folks who gave New York City Mandami are
pushing Platner for Portland and Maine. Freedom and prosperity are not
likely consequences -- and I believe that is exactly what the left
wants, along with a Juden free Maine and Middle East.
"Some 120
years ago, my paternal grandfather fled Russian/Ukrainian pogroms and
emigrated to the United States. His name was changed to Reisman at Ellis
Island. Grandpa Harry was a peasant/serf. His sons became a lawyer (my
father) and a doctor (my uncle). His grandson became an economist and
college professor.
"Most assimilated secular Jewish-Americans have
been on the left, and I certainly was. I left the Democratic Party over
their insistence on supporting racial and gender discrimination against
white males, also known as affirmative action. Supporting such
discrimination is the policy path that has led to the antisemitic policy
present. Progressive claims to the contrary are pure hypocrisy.
"Telling
Jews that they are imagining/misunderstanding progressive advocacy as
antisemitism seems like telling an African American that they
misunderstand white-robed KKK rallies.
"Graham Platner is a clear
and present danger to Maine’s and my freedom and prosperity. I am
considering filing a red flag request to relieve the wannabe Jew killer
of his firearms."
-----------------
Jon Reisman is an economist and policy
analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38
years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and
Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes
comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at
jreisman@maine.edu.
Vaccine skepticism has never been the norm for THIS American, nor for my parents when we were kids. I didn't vote for Kamala Harris, but I was smart enough to get vaccinated.
"A new poll today in Politico
suggests that vaccine skepticism is now just as prevalent as vaccine
confidence for Americans, with one-third of respondents reporting they
see reducing vaccines as a core principle of the Make America Healthy
Again movement.
"Overall, 46% of poll respondents said facts on
vaccines are still up for debate and it is damaging to enforce their
uptake. Thirty-nine percent said science on vaccines is clear and it is
damaging to question it. Results were further split daily neatly down
political lines, with Trump supporters the most likely to question
vaccine safety and argue against vaccine mandates.
"Forty-four
percent of polled adults said they believe vaccines should be mandatory
for children to attend school. In a telling question, 47% of the more
than 3,800 adults polled said the return of measles was not worth the
risk of having personal freedom to make decisions about vaccines,
compared to 39% who said it was worth the risk and preferred personal
freedom over vaccine mandates.
"Of note, 49% of Republican voters said the return of vaccine-preventable diseases wasa price worth paying for the ability to refuse vaccines.
"Age
was a major factor in how respondents thought about the personal duty
of vaccination as a tool to prevent others from illness.
"Two-thirds
of adults 65 and older, who are old enough to remember a time before
vaccines controlled serious childhood illnesses, said it was their duty
to get vaccinated to protect others,Politico said. So did
two-thirds of adults who said they voted for former Vice President
Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election."
A
bad tick season, CDC rabies testing paused, plus a new measles
epicenter, stomach flu, and a late RSV season that's prompting great
questions from parents.
Happy Tuesday! We're back after a week off. Did we miss anything? (Don't answer that.)
Lots
to dig into: Ticks are top of mind and showing up at a
higher-than-normal rate this year, while the stomach flu is at its
seasonal peak, and measles could be quietly becoming endemic in Utah.
Plus: a CDC rabies testing pause that’s less scary than the headlines
suggest but points to a major problem underneath the surface, and, as
always, some genuinely good news.
Here’s what’s circulating and, most importantly, what you can do about it.
Ticks are having a year
Tick
season is off to an unusually bad start. Emergency department visits
for tick bites are running at roughly 71 per 100,000 people per week,
more than double the typical rate at this time of year (around 30 per
100,000).
Will the trend continue? It’s hard to say because three factors are colliding:
Weather.
A bad tick season usually follows a mild winter, since ticks can only
be killed by sustained temperatures below 10°F for several days.
Northeasterners who just endured the region’s harshest winter in a
decade may be skeptical, but much of the West and South saw record
warmth, which could keep the national average high.
Reach. Ticks are expanding into new geographies.
Detection. Health systems are getting better at identifying tick-borne diseases.
All of which makes this trend worth watching as the season unfolds.
Data from CDC; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist
Tracking
tick-borne diseases is hard because no single system captures the full
picture. CDC tracks confirmed diagnoses reported by doctors and
hospitals, and separately tracks ED visits, but both have limitations.
Field
surveillance fills in another piece: one method is the “tick drag"—
literally dragging a sheet through tick areas to test them. Shout-out to
the Illinois Department of Public Health's vector surveillance team,
who brought the public along for a day in the life of tick surveillance.
What this means for you: Keepenjoying the outdoors! But if you’re in a tick-prone area, take
that extra minute to do a tick check. The most important thing is
removing the tick properly (use fine-tipped tweezers, grab close to the
skin, pull upward, no twisting, no Vaseline, no matches). Then watch for
symptoms: fever, rash, fatigue, joint aches. If you find an attached
tick and are in a high-risk area for Lyme disease, it’s worth calling
your doctor if it was attached for more than 36 hours.
I recently stumbled upon the PA Tick Research Lab,
where you can submit your tick for testing to identify the species and
screen for tick-borne pathogens. Testing is free for Pennsylvania
residents; $50 for everyone else.
Norovirus is (hopefully) peaking
Norovirus
(think diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea) is currently at its seasonal
peak. There are early signs of a decline, but it will likely take
another month or two to come down meaningfully.
Source: CDC; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist.
What this means for you: This
is never a fun one for a household to get, because it’s extremely
contagious. Wash your hands. Hand sanitizer doesn’t help.
RSV is late—parents of infants should pay attention
RSV
typically peaks in winter and is gone by March. This year, it's still
elevated across much of the country in April. This matters because RSV
is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants.
Data: PopHIVE; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist.
This late wave is not only unusual but
also has real practical implications. The window for infants to receive
monoclonal antibodies for proactive RSV protection typically closes in
March, at the end of RSV season. Now that we’re in April, many parents
and clinicians are left uncertain about whether to act:
Should my infant get RSV protection now, or wait until fall? If your baby is around 1 month old, the guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics
is clear: don’t wait. Younger age and first-season administration
should always be prioritized. For older infants who missed protection
earlier this season, the calculus is harder, but given that RSV is still
circulating at elevated levels, the case for acting now rather than
waiting until fall is strong.
Will insurance cover it this late in the season?It
should. Coverage for RSV monoclonal antibodies should remain in place
through at least April 30. Private insurers and state Medicaid programs
have signaled that they recognize the disease trend has shifted later
this year, so barriers to coverage should not be an issue. And for the
clinician readers out there, the Vaccines for Children program should
also continue to pay for these immunizations, but we, of course, want to
hear from you if you’re experiencing otherwise on the ground (comment
below).
Measles: one outbreak ends, another grows
The United States tally is currently at 1,748 confirmed measles cases. Two important developments this past week:
South Carolina’s outbreak is winding down, coming at a staggering cost.
South
Carolina has not reported any new measles cases since March 17,
bringing the total to 997 since the outbreak began in October 2025.If no new cases are reported, the state could officially declare the outbreak over by April 26.
The cost was staggering: an estimated $35.5 million in response spending as of early March, plus significant school disruption, missed workdays, and caregiver burden.
Utah is now the epicenter of measles in the United States.
Utah’s
measles outbreak began in June 2025, with now 597 confirmed cases, and
more than half of those have been diagnosed just this year.
What’s most concerning are two things:
This outbreak has been spreading for more than 10 months.
Many
of the people who are getting sick had no known contact with anyone
else who was infected. That means the virus isn’t just jumping from
person to person in traceable clusters anymore. It’s circulating quietly
through the community.
Both of these point to a disease becoming endemic, meaning it’s no longer an outbreak but a permanent presence.
Utah’s
MMR vaccination coverage among kindergartners sits at roughly 88% (well
below the 95% threshold for herd immunity), and around 10% of in-person
kindergartners have a non-medical exemption or missing documentation.
Utah has the second-highest exemption rates in the country.
The CDC paused rabies testing. How worried should the U.S. be?
The headlines have been scarier than the immediate risk, but there is a serious underlying problem.
The testing pause:
CDC posted a list of more than two dozen types of testing that have
become unavailable, including rabies and mpox. This is a temporary pause
for a quality review. This is not the first time the CDC has paused
some of its lab testing, but it is pausing more kinds of tests than ever
before. Testing should be back up and running in a few weeks.
Human rabies specifically:
This pause is not raising major red flags for me. Human rabies is
extraordinarily rare (<5 cases per year), and the CDC typically tests
only a few dozen people annually. The testing that was paused is
confirmatory testing for people who are already sick, and by that point
in a rabies infection, there is usually very little that can be done.
Critically, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), the treatment you get after
a potential rabies exposure, is based on epidemiological factors, not
on waiting for lab confirmation. So the management of exposures
continues as normal.
Where I do have concern:
About 1.5 million people seek medical care for animal bites each year,
and rabies risk should be considered for most of them. Nearly all of
those risk assessments are handled by clinicians or state and local
health departments. The cases that reach the CDC are the most
complicated ones—a bat found in a room with a sleeping child, a mass
exposure at a summer camp—situations that are time-sensitive and require
deep expertise.
But due to DOGE and budget cuts, CDC’s
rabies and pox virus staff will soon be down to just one person to
advise on these complex consultations. That could mean unnecessary
treatment for some and missed treatment for others.
The erosion
of specialized public health capacity at the federal level makes it
harder to respond to rare but serious events when they do occur.
Good news
The Artemis II crew splashed down safely, a
beautiful reminder of what humanity can accomplish when thousands of
people work in precise coordination toward a single extraordinary goal,
through decades of scientific investment, expertise, and discipline. At a
moment when the world can feel small and fractured, sending humans
around the moon is a quiet insistence that we are still capable of
choosing something bigger.
Menthol restrictions are working. Massachusetts data
show that restricting menthol cigarette sales has reduced smoking
prevalence by 1.4% since 2020. Although seemingly small, this reduction
is estimated to have saved $200 million in health care costs over ten
years.
Global maternal mortality has fallen by more than 40% since 2000,
and deaths among children under five have dropped by over 50%. Maternal
conditions that were once life-threatening (elevated blood pressure,
cancer, HIV) are increasingly manageable, extending and improving lives
worldwide.
NIH funding fight resolved: The
Trump administration dropped its court fight to cap NIH payments for
research overhead costs, effectively ending the 14-month standoff that
had threatened universities, hospitals, and academic medical centers. (Read the YLE deep dive on indirect costs here.)
Bottom line
Stay
safe out there, do your tick checks, and remember that the public
health system, even a strained one, is full of people working hard to
keep you well.
Robert
F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping changes to federal vaccine guidance are
paused for now. But even if they’re reversed, lasting damage has already
been done.
"Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
has pursued an aggressive overhaul of federal vaccine guidance and
infrastructure since he took office a little over a year ago. Now, his
agenda is on hold after a federal judge blocked many of those changes
and as reports surface that the White House is reining in his
anti-vaccine rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections.
"What’s next for US vaccine
policy will depend on the outcome of a federal court case, and whether
Kennedy is allowed to resume his crusade against vaccines after
November. Even if the Trump administration pivots to a more
science-backed approach to vaccines, public health experts worry about
the long-term effects of Kennedy’s tenure to date.
“It's unknown what these ramifications are going to look like,” says
Syra Madad, chief biopreparedness officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, the
largest municipal health care system in the US. “Already, we’re seeing
more vaccine hesitancy. We're seeing the rise of vaccine-preventable
illnesses such as measles.”
"A longtime vaccine conspiracy theorist, Kennedy
dropped Covid-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and
pregnant women last May.
Shortly after, he ousted all 17 previous members of the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which makes vaccine
recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After
he appointed new members with a history of criticizing vaccines, the
reconstituted panel voted in December to end the recommendation for a
universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, guidance that had been in place since 1991.
"In January, Kennedy announced sweeping changes
to the childhood immunization schedule, bypassing his own vaccine
advisory panel and reducing the number of routine vaccines from 17 to 11
without providing any scientific rationale for doing so.
"A
lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical
groups challenged these changes. A federal judge ruled in March that the
new ACIP members were unlawfully appointed, voiding their previous
actions. The decision also paused implementation of Kennedy’s changes to
the childhood vaccination schedule, since he did not consult ACIP
first.
"The
Trump administration has said it will appeal, throwing vaccine policy
into limbo. “HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned
just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from
governing,” spokesman Andrew Nixon told WIRED in an email.
"In recent weeks, Kennedy has toned down his messaging around vaccines, focusing instead on nutrition and microplastics and announcing a new podcast. Robert Malone, one of Kennedy’s hand-picked members for ACIP, who stepped down in March, said on a conservative podcast
that Kennedy was ordered by a White House adviser to “shut down” any
discussions about vaccines ahead of the mid-term elections in November,
suggesting that Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views are unpopular with voters.
"How
the US makes decisions about vaccines for the rest of President Trump’s
term is an open question. ACIP recommendations become federal policy
when they are adopted by the CDC director, but Kennedy fired previous CDC director
Susan Monarez, allegedly because she would not rubber-stamp his vaccine
changes. The position has been open since August, with National
Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya currently running the
agency. Despite his boss’s anti-vaccine views, Bhattacharya recently
told CDC staffers that it is “absolutely vital” to get the measles
vaccine.
“Vaccination recommendations are frozen
in amber to the time before Kennedy took office,” says Elizabeth Jacobs,
an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona and a founding member of
Defend Public Health, a grassroots organization that formed in late
2024 after Kennedy’s nomination.
"Without a functional ACIP, new vaccines face a
bottleneck in getting to patients, Jacobs says. While the Food and Drug
Administration is the agency that approves new vaccines, ACIP issues
recommendations on who should get them and when. In many states, those
recommendations dictate prescribing and insurance coverage of vaccines.
If the FDA were to approve a new vaccine without an ACIP in place, it
could mean delayed access for individuals.
"On Thursday, HHS published a new charter for ACIP,
as it is legally required to do every two years. It names groups that
have promoted vaccine skepticism among those that will send liaisons to
meetings and elevates the monitoring of vaccine adverse events to a
primary function of the panel. Kennedy has repeatedly questioned the
safety of vaccines and vowed to make changes to the country’s vaccine
injury compensation system. The timing is coincidence, since the
previous ACIP charter expired on April 1. For now, though, the March
court ruling prohibits ACIP from meeting.
“We
don't know how vaccine policy is going to work going forward. There's a
lot of uncertainty here, and that’s the damage that's being done,” says
Ben Lopman, an epidemiologist at Emory University who specializes in
disease modeling.
"He worries that some babies born
during this period will miss out on the birth dose of the hepatitis B
vaccine because of ACIP’s recent decision to drop the recommendation.
The virus can cause chronic liver infection and sometimes cancer. In
many countries, the hepatitis B vaccine is given in the hospital shortly
after birth since the virus can be transmitted from mother to child
during delivery. In the US, an estimated 25,000 infants every year are
born to women who are positive for hepatitis B. Without vaccination, up
to 90 percent of them would develop chronic infections.
"Even
though federal guidance has technically reverted back to recommending
the hepatitis B birth dose, Lopman says that doesn’t mean it’s happening
in practice.
“A court ruling can reverse the
policy,” Lopman says, “but it doesn't change the erosion of public trust
and the confusion that the recent policy statements have made.”
---------------------
Emily Mullin
is a staff writer at WIRED, covering biotechnology. Previously, she was
an MIT Knight Science Journalism project fellow and a staff writer
covering biotechnology at Medium's OneZero. Before that, she served as
an associate editor at MIT Technology Review, where she wrote about
biomedicine.
RSV activity continues to be high into April in many U.S. regions.
COVID is low in the West, moderate in some Midwestern and Southern locations, and is still high in a few spots through the Northeast. JP Weiland estimates that we are down to 118,000 new COVID infections per day in the United States, which is one of the lowest levels in years.
Flu A is low overall, and Flu B varies by region, but is still high in some places like the Northeast.
From: WastewaterSCAN
Acute COVID Infections, General COVID Info
4/7/26 Cell: SARS-CoV-2 directly infects the inner ear and causes hearing dysfunction https://buff.ly/zU3Rl4P
A study from Huazhong University showed that SARS-CoV-2 can invade the cochlea directly in mice, killing the spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs)
responsible for transmitting sound. Rather than causing damage through
inflammation, the spike protein appears to trigger this cell death by
disrupting the normal function of stress granules.
4/2/26 Academic Pediatrics: School Difficulties and Long COVID in Children and Adolescents https://buff.ly/ssLaO9P
A
RECOVER Pediatrics study of 1,976 children and teens found that those
with Long COVID were more than twice as likely to experience falling
grades, and also had greater difficulty with concentration and
socializing with peers. Given how many children are affected, the
authors call for urgent development of school-based support services.
Long COVID
2/2026 Journal of Advanced Research: SARS-CoV-2 damages cardiomyocyte mitochondria and implicates long COVID-associated cardiovascular manifestations https://buff.ly/WjLO5BU
Electron
microscopy shows that SARS-CoV-2 harms myofibrillar bundles in heart
muscle and also severely damages mitochondria, the energy producers for
the heart cells. This can lead to Long COVID/post-COVID cardiovascular
symptoms and heart arrhythmias.
4/8/26 BioRxiV (Yale Iwasaki lab): Intranasal Anti-CD3 Antibody Treatment Attenuates Post-COVID Neuroinflammation and Enhances Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Cognitive Function in Mice https://buff.ly/qEpRMVu
A
Yale University mouse study found that nasal administration of an
anti-CD3 antibody controlled neuroinflammation after COVID, restored
neuron growth in the hippocampus, and helped to improve memory. The
findings suggest a potential noninvasive treatment for Long COVID
cognitive dysfunction.
4/8/26 BMJ: Long covid’s £8bn bill: OECD report warns pandemic continues to cast a “long shadow” https://buff.ly/YZ4s987
A new OECD report projects that Long COVID will cost OECD countries $135 billion per year
because of people leaving the workforce and having lower productivity
from disability. In addition, Long COVID will generate an additional $11 billion per year in healthcare costs across member countries over the next decade.
4/9/26 BioRxiV Preprint: An imaging flow cytometry method to study platelet-monocyte aggregates (PMA) using Long COVID as a model https://buff.ly/xMjVdvo
Researchers
at Stellenbosch University found that people with Long COVID had far
higher levels of platelet-monocyte aggregates (PMA) than healthy
controls, roughly 29% versus 5%. They suggest that PMA could act as a
biomarker for thromboinflammatory burden in Long COVID.
3/28/26 European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology: Self-Reported Smell and Taste Disorders in the General Population: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Austria, Germany and Switzerland https://buff.ly/7FBxsi1
A survey of 2,340 people across Austria, Germany, and Switzerland found that roughly 40%
reported significant loss of smell or taste, a striking prevalence that
researchers have connected to COVID infections in the region.
4/9/26 Journal of Human Hypertension: COVID-19 and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with pre-existing hypertensionhttps://buff.ly/Y7YgCeQ
A
large study of 75,180 patients at Montefiore Health System found that
COVID infection, irrespective of disease severity, raises long-term
heart risks in people with hypertension. Hospitalized patients showed
65% higher rates of major cardiac events and 2.5x mortality, years after
their infection.
4/6/26 JACC Case Reports: Atypical Presentations of Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction in Patients After COVID https://buff.ly/eCWD0Xw
University
of Florida physicians describe 3 patients with persistent chest pain
after COVID whose routine cardiac tests looked completely normal, but
whose coronary flow reserve (CFR) was significantly impaired. They
concluded, “Coronary microvascular dysfunction may be the etiology of post-COVID chest pain. An earlier CFR assessment may shorten diagnostic delays and improve quality of life.”
3/24/26 Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology: Proteomic signatures of COVID-19 Post-Vaccination/Post-Infection Syndrome (PV/PIS) https://buff.ly/uwatuH2
In
a small pilot study of 30 participants from Stellenbosch University,
people with persistent symptoms following either COVID vaccination or
infection showed signs of immune dysregulation and abnormal clotting
patterns, with some differences from classic Long COVID. Larger studies
are needed to confirm these findings.
3/27/26 Current Cardiology Reviews: Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Repurposing of Dipyridamole and L-Arginine for Treatment of Long COVID Endothelitishttps://buff.ly/QzxljAj
In
a retrospective study of 44 Long COVID endothelitis patients,
“treatment with dipyridamole and L-arginine, particularly in
combination, was associated with meaningful improvements in fatigue,
dyspnea, ability to perform ADLs, and mental health symptoms in patients
with Long COVID.” Larger controlled trials are needed before firm
conclusions can be made.
A
new study found that people who developed new eye symptoms such as
blurred vision, dry eyes, or floaters after COVID were more likely to
report worse overall health and greater financial and housing
difficulties, suggesting that ocular symptoms may serve as a marker for
more severe Long COVID.
4/6/26 Unilad: People with long Covid are turning to opera singing for a surprising reason https://buff.ly/SiQkz0O
A
program rooted in opera based breathing techniques has now reached more
than 5,000 Long COVID patients in England. Opera exercises teach people
to breathe more slowly and deliberately can help with symptoms of
shortness of breath, coughing, chest pain, and fast breathing.
Organizers are now planning to extend the program to people living with
asthma and COPD.
Three new studies about the SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein
show that it can 1) disrupt mitochondria, 2) can cause epithelial cells
to dedifferentiate and then die, and 3) can increase iron within cells
to help the virus replicate.
4/1/26 J of Biological Chemistry: SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein mitochondrial localization reveals host metabolic disruption https://buff.ly/rHTTGj0
Purdue University researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein enters mitochondria,
disrupts the cell’s energy and lipid balance, and causes a buildup of
damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS) without killing the cell
outright. This metabolic disruption may help the virus replicate more
efficiently by shifting the cell toward aerobic glycolysis.
Multinational researchers studying 64 COVID patients found that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein can push mucosal epithelial cells
to dedifferentiate, stall tissue repair, and ultimately trigger cell
death. A molecule called calponin 2 (CNN2) was identified as a potential
new treatment target.
3/25/26 BioRxiV: Coronavirus envelope protein drives iron sensing disorder by hijacking the TAp73-FDXR axis https://buff.ly/0hQ5n6K
A
preprint from Yangling, China reports that the coronavirus envelope
protein disrupts iron sensing inside cells, causing iron to accumulate
in ways that may help the virus replicate. The authors developed a new
molecule called DPTP-FC that appears to reduce this iron buildup and
limit tissue damage across several coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.
Measles
As of April 9, 2026, 1,714
confirmed measles cases have been reported in the United States in
2026. Actual hospitalization numbers are unclear because some states,
including South Carolina, do not report all hospitalized cases.
By the end of March, the US reported 1,671 measles cases in the first 3 months of 2026. “That’s 73% of the total [measles cases] from 2025, the worst year for the virus in more than three decades.”
4/7/26 South Carolina Department of Public Health: No new measles cases have been reported in South Carolina since March 17, keeping the outbreak total at 997, which is larger than the 2025 Texas outbreak.
4/9/26 AP News: Too young for the MMR shot, babies become ‘sitting ducks’ in measles outbreaks https://buff.ly/2Ri8PSO
Babies under 6 months
of age cannot receive the MMR vaccine and are especially vulnerable
during outbreaks. “Babies depend entirely on herd immunity — at least
95% of a community must be vaccinated to prevent measles outbreaks.”
National MMR vaccination rates among kindergartners have fallen to 92.5%
in 2024-25, with some communities far below that. As Dr. Martha
Edwards, president of South Carolina’s American Academy of Pediatrics
chapter commented, “The choice not to vaccinate impacts other parents’
rights to keep their children safe.”
Government News
4/9/26 NBC: White House calls new ballroom a national security necessity that’s ‘vital’ to the Trump family’s safety https://buff.ly/xQpgcqw
The
Trump administration described the proposed 90,000-square-foot White
House ballroom as a “national security necessity” vital to the first
family’s safety, and indicated it will seek Supreme Court review if a
federal appeals court does not rule in its favor.
4/8/26 Nature: Genetic predictors of GLP1 receptor agonist weight loss and side effects https://buff.ly/V0nKWDg
A
genome-wide study of 27,885 people from 23andMe found specific variants
in the GLP1R and GIPR genes that can predict both how much weight a
person will lose on GLP-1 medications and whether they are likely to
experience nausea or vomiting. The GIPR association for nausea was
specific to people taking tirzepatide, and the findings may eventually
help match patients to the right medication for them.
3/27/26 Gut Microbes: Circulatory dietary and gut-derived metabolites predict early cognitive declinehttps://buff.ly/yIb6nmB
University
of East Anglia researchers analyzed blood and stool samples from 150
adults aged 50 and older and found that six metabolites produced by gut
bacteria could classify people into healthy, mildly impaired, and cognitively declining groups with about 79% accuracy.
The findings raise the possibility that a simple blood test based on
gut-derived metabolites could one day help detect dementia risk before
symptoms become obvious.
2/17/26 Fred Hutch Cancer Center: Scientists develop first-of-its-kind antibody to block Epstein-Barr virus https://buff.ly/11tV8e1
4/7/26
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy: Triggering multiple
sclerosis: infection with Epstein-Barr virus activates multiple
pre-existing autoreactive B and T cells https://buff.ly/t9381TQ
Munich
researchers found that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may trigger
multiple sclerosis by waking up pre-existing immune cells that attack
myelin, leading to brain inflammation and myelin loss years after the
initial infection.
4/9/26 Nature: One woman, three autoimmune diseases: CAR-T therapy vanquishes ultra-rare disease trio https://buff.ly/506I4gq
A
single course of CAR-T cell therapy made three simultaneous rare
autoimmune diseases into remission in one patient. More than a year
later, she remains free of symptoms without any ongoing medication.
4/3/26 Science: Copper supports regulatory T cell energetic state to sustain peripheral immune tolerance https://buff.ly/J9pEecr
A
Chinese study of 122 people along with a separate mouse study found
that adequate levels of copper are necessary for regulatory T cells to
maintain the metabolic energy they need to keep the immune system calm.
Disrupting copper transport caused T reg cells to lose their ability to
prevent excessive inflammation, suggesting that copper metabolism could be a meaningful target in autoimmune disease.
4/11/26 AP News: Artemis II’s record-breaking journey around the moon ends with dramatic splashdown https://buff.ly/9BysiBi
The
four Artemis II astronauts completed humanity’s first crewed lunar
voyage in more than 50 years with a Pacific splashdown on Friday,
breaking Apollo 13’s distance record at 252,756 miles from Earth. Data
will be used to prepare for a new landing on the moon by another crew in
approximately two years.
“Echoing
the iconic Earthrise photo captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968,
during the lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew captured a shot of Earthset
as they passed behind the Moon’s far side.”
Published in NY Post, April 11, 2026, 10:35 p.m. ET
"It’s not as if the ranks of antisemites were thinning and reinforcements are needed.
"Nevertheless, haters of Israel and President Trump, in the media and elsewhere, have a new rationale for their condemnation of America’s involvement in the Iran war.
"According to the latest blame-the-Jews- bile, Trump was persuaded to
attack the Islamist regime only by a deceptive “hard sell” from Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Otherwise, we are supposed to believe that peace would be breaking out in the Middle East instead of yet another war.
"A chief peddler of this fable is, predictably, The New York Times.
"A font of misinformation and biased reporting about everything Trump,
starting with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax in his first term.
"The paper was also a leading proponent of the false claim that Israel
committed “genocide” in Gaza and was intentionally starving children.
"It saw no evil either in Hamas or a murderous Ayatollah seeking
nuclear weapons and is now combining its obsessions to push distorted
allegations against Trump and Israel over Iran.
"The “evidence” comes from two Times’ reporters who claim they got an
exclusive view of a crucial February meeting of American and Israeli
leaders in the top secret White House Situation Room.
"Because the room is supposedly secure, anyone who gave the paper
details and even direct quotationes, assuming they are accurate, had to
have been there– — and probably likely committed a federal crime.
"The story included descriptions of who sat where and who said what,
including the reactions of Trump and members of his national security
team to a presentation by Netanyahu.
Distorting the truth
"The story also revealed details of a supposed second meeting held the following day that involved only Americans.
"They were identified as the president, vice-presidentVice President
J.D Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe,
DefenseWar Secretary Pete Hegseth and Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of
staff.
"It contained what were supposedly direct quotationes from nearly everyone in the room.
"The most pointed ones were from Ratcliffe, Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
"The article said CIA head Ratcliffe described Netanyahu’s claim in
the first meeting that an attack would lead to quick regime change in
Tehran as “farcical.”
"Then, according to the Times, Rubio added, “In other words, it’s bullshi–t.”
"The paper cited a long quote attributed to Gen. Caine while he was
speaking to the commander-in-chief: “Sir, this is, in my experience,
standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their
plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s
why they’re hard-selling.”
"Trump was quoted as responding that regime change would be “their
problem,” but “it was unclear whether he was referring to the Israelis
or the Iranian people.”
"Then came the conclusion that Trump was very interested in
accomplishing two parts of Netanyahu’s presentation, described as
“killing the Ayatollah and Iran’s top leaders and dismantling the
Iranian military.”
"But the real problem with the story isn’t just what it says, it’s also what it doesn’t say that distorts the truth.
"Absent is the fact that Trump has waged a decade-long campaign to defang Iran and make sure it never acquires nuclear weapons.
"His decision to eliminate the mullahs’ terror mastermind, Qasem
Soleimani, in his first term was a radical break from the appeasement
policies of Barack Obama.
Love for Obama deal
"Trump fully repudiated his predecessor by withdrawing from the weak-tea nuclear agreement with Iran that Obama crafted.
"It involved a lifting of American sanctions and a shipment of pallets
of cash to the mullahs, much of which was used to fund Hamas, Hezbollah
and other terror proxies in the region.
"Of course, the Times loved Obama’s deal, and denounced Trump for withdrawing from it.
"So its coverage of Trump’s policies now must be seen through that lens.
"Similarly, its hatred of Netanyahu goes back years, and the paper
supported the unsuccessful meddling by Obama and Joe Biden in Israeli
elections that aimed to defeat Netanyahu.
"Its Iran coverage also conveniently overlooks how Trump’s 2024
opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, whom the Gray Lady
supported, even described herself as a hawk on Iran.
"Asked in an interview which country she believed was the US’s
“greatest adversary,” she answered, “I think there is an obvious one in
mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands.”
"The Times also ignores Trump’s bid to negotiate with the mullahs this
term, and how they boasted of their enriched uranium and said nothing
could stop them.
"Unfortunately, the papers’ fact-challenged coverage is not without consequences.
"As the leading voice of the Democratic Party, its anti-Trump, anti-Israel campaigns carry great weight among many voters.
"That impact is magnified because leftist news organizations,
including many newspapers, magazines, the major broadcast networks and
most cable outlets, fall in lockstep with its positions.
"The impact of the widespread media tilt is enormous, with a recent
Pew poll showing that 60% of U.S. adults hold an unfavorable opinion of
Israel.
"Only 37% hold a favorable view, a 20-point decline since 2022, Pew reports.
"The survey found that 70% of people under 50 hold unfavorable opinions of Israel, including 80% of Dems and 41% of Republicans.
"The splintering of GOP support is happening rapidly, and is at least
partially because formerly conservative media figures are turning
against the Jewish state.
"Tucker Carlson is especially vicious, and Megyn Kelly increasingly is, too.
"On a recent podcast, she called Israel “the fly in the ointment”
while accusing it of jeopardizing the cease-fire negotiations that
started Saturday.
"She denounced Netanyahu as “bloodthirsty” for continuing to bomb
Hezbollah in Lebanon despite Iran’s claims that the halt included
Lebanon.
Low IQ pundits
"A transcript shows she also accused the White House of “pretending”
Israel is right that the terms did not cover Lebanon and said Trump
shifted positions “following a phone call” with Netanyahu, whom she said
“won’t stop” bombing Hezbollah.
"Without mentioning Hamas, Hezbollah’s attacks or Iranian pledges to
eliminate Israel, she claimed Netanyahu doesn’t want a cease-fire “just
like the president’s most ardent, bloodthirsty supporters who got us
into this war.”
"On Israel, she added, “we need to reevaluate our relationship with this country.”
“We can’t keep getting dragged into these never ending conflicts
thanks to them,” she said, adding that “Israel is a liability for us.”
"Trump, to his credit, denounced Kelly and Carlson, as well as Candace
Owens and Alex Jones, saying on Truth Social that “I know they think it
is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a
Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs.”
"Intelligence scores aside, Trump is right that the defectors don’t
grasp the stakes of the Iranian regime’s bid to get– — and promise to
use– — nukes against Israel and the U.S.
"He might have added that their views make his former supporters a
perfect fit for jobs at the Times and CNN– — or even Al Jazeera."
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