Members phkrause Posted October 6, 2022 Members Share Posted October 6, 2022 October 5, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. A nurse adminstered the flu vaccine to a patient in Miami last year.Joe Raedle/Getty Images Influenza, a guide By Jonathan Wolfe Flu season in the Northern Hemisphere is nearly here, and experts are warning it could be a particularly bad one. It’s also arriving at an inopportune moment. We’re starting to see early signs that another Covid-19 wave may already be starting: In Western Europe, infections, cases of severe disease and hospitalizations are on the rise. Before flu season begins in earnest, I turned to my colleagues Carl Zimmer, a science reporter, and Melinda Wenner Moyer, who writes the Well Newsletter, for insight and advice. How does flu season unfold? Melinda: The exact timing of flu seasons varies, but it can start ramping up in October and usually dies down by mid-March. Peak flu activity spans from December through February. But during the pandemic, the spread of flu has been much more variable. In fact, last year we saw a lot of flu activity really late, like into April, May and June. We don’t really know why, but it could be because Covid restrictions started easing more around that time and people were traveling more. What do we know about this flu season? Melinda: We can look at what’s happened in the Southern Hemisphere — their flu season is usually finishing up when ours is getting started. And it has been a pretty bad flu season down there, which does not bode well for us. Experts are also worried that because we’ve had such a mild flu season the last few years, there’s not a lot of immunity in the population, especially in very young kids, who may not ever have encountered the flu. So the worry is that without much immunity, it’s going to spread like wildfire, and it might even be a little more severe for people who haven’t encountered it recently. Carl: People are also starting to relax Covid measures, and it looks like those measures worked very well against influenza. For a couple of years, influenza rates were very low in the United States, Australia and a lot of other countries. So low, in fact, that it’s possible that one type of the flu went extinct. While a lot of work goes into understanding the flu, it’s still a lot of educated guesswork. Part of that guesswork is the question of how well vaccines will work each year, because they have to pick a strain months in advance. What do you mean? Carl: The World Health Organization has a special group of scientists who keep track of flu cases around the world. They’re getting information about how different types of the flu are becoming more common or less common. And when it’s time for new vaccines to be made, they look at all the research that’s been done and make a recommendation for companies that produce them. How good are the guesses? Carl: Some years they’re pretty good and some years they’re not. Last year, we actually had a badly matched flu vaccine. Even in a year where it’s a bad match, it’s still a good idea to get the vaccine. In a year that it’s a good match, the vaccine is going to do a good job of keeping you from getting infected, and if you do get infected it’s going to reduce your odds of going into the hospital. In years where it’s not a good match, you may not get that much protection against infection, but you’re still much less likely to end up in the hospital. How else could we do it? Carl: There are scientists who are working on universal flu vaccines, but they’ve been working on them for a long, long time. These vaccines would teach the immune system to recognize parts of the flu virus that don’t change year to year. A universal vaccine would give you protection for years, perhaps decades. I’m still hopeful that they will be working in our lifetime, but we’ll just have to wait and see. What’s stopping us from making a universal flu vaccine? Carl: The biology is very complicated, but there is one in clinical trials. Now the hope is that they work the way we want them to. Unfortunately, there’s no Operation Warp Speed for the flu. If there were, we might have a universal flu vaccine by now. But it’s been a pretty low priority. Advice for flu season What’s the best way to protect ourselves against the flu? Melinda: Getting a flu vaccine. The vaccine also protects other people around you by possibly preventing you from getting it and spreading it — so you might even end up saving someone’s life. The things that work with Covid help with the flu as well, including wearing masks and social distancing. Hand washing is also potentially more important for the flu than it is for Covid. The virus is known to transmit through touching surfaces, so during flu season we should make sure to wash our hands regularly and use hand sanitizer more frequently. When should I get my shot? Melinda: So that is a little tricky. The experts I talked to said you want to have the vaccine before you encounter the flu, but you don’t necessarily want it months before. They suggest keeping track of the flu in your area. The C.D.C. has a website where you can see where flu activity is high. For example, Texas, Georgia and Washington, D.C., look pretty bad right now. So if you see that the flu is starting to spread where you live, then getting a flu shot as soon as possible is smart. Some researchers I spoke to said that unless there’s high flu activity where they live, they will wait until mid-October or sometimes even early November to get their flu shots. Some were timing it to get a little more protection over the holidays. They also said that since they were delaying their shots, they were wearing masks more and social distancing more now to reduce their risk of infection. What should I do if I get the flu? Melinda: If you think you might have the flu, it’s important to stay home and rest so that you can get better and minimize the chance of infecting others. Also, if you think you might have it, call your doctor and consider getting a flu test, because if you get diagnosed with the flu early enough, you might be eligible to get antivirals that can reduce the length and severity of the illness. How should we think about the flu in terms of Covid? Carl: Right now in the U.S., there are around 400 people dying a day from Covid, and death rates are much lower than during previous moments of the pandemic. That would still add up to more than double the deaths from the flu in a year. Covid also has a lot of impacts on the body that the flu doesn’t. It can lead to all sorts of issues in other organs in a way that we do not see so much with the flu. That being said, we know that the flu can surge into a pandemic. We’ve seen it happen several times in the past 150 years. The worst was the 1918 flu pandemic, where over 50 million people died. These are both viruses that you don’t want to play around with. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. What else we’re following The C.D.C. will no longer maintain a list of Covid travel advisories for foreign countries. A new study found that most Covid variants were imported into Africa more frequently than they were exported from the continent, Nature reports. Republicans are demanding a halt to grants for EcoHealth Alliance, which was criticized for failing to provide documentation into an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, The Financial Times reports. The Atlantic argues that if we treat this winter as normal, “it will be anything but.” David Quammen’s book “Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus,” which charts the scientific response to Covid-19, is a National Book Award finalist. Monkeypox Nature explores what scientists know about how the virus is mutating. ProPublica explored the case of William Jeffries, a Black man and senior C.D.C. scientist, who struggled to receive treatment for monkeypox. Ebola Uganda is poised to start clinical trials for two experimental Ebola vaccines, as an outbreak of the virus spreads in the country, Bloomberg reports. Other health threats Two new vaccines may finally turn back malaria. But in unexpected ways, their arrival also complicates the path to ending the disease. Wired explored the effort to eradicate H.I.V. using gene-editing technology. From your Covid diary We recently asked readers to send in their diary entries from the pandemic. We’ll occasionally be publishing the responses here. I want to give special thanks to everyone who shared these intimate moments with us — they’re visceral and heartbreaking and lovely. If you’d like to send us a journal entry, you can fill out this form. March 24, 2020. El Paso. Yesterday, Mayor Dee Margo and our county judge declared an order for our city that was sent out via text from the state’s Amber Alert network: “The Stay Home, Work Safe Order will go into effect at 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, March 24 and be in effect until further notice. …” The order sent the city into a quasi panic. Rachel and I had to make a run to the store. First, we went to Pet’s Barn to get Shae some treats and a Kong toy. (The toy was later filled with peanut butter and she had no clue what to do with it.) It was the most packed I’d ever seen the grocery store. Finding a parking space was work by itself. My last living grandparent was given last rights over the phone yesterday, because no visitors are being allowed into hospitals. Italy topped 700 deaths in a single day yesterday. Scientists and doctors are predicting this will last anywhere between six to 18 months. I’m playing more video games than usual. I already miss going to the movies. — Hugo Oct. 6, 2020. Salina, Kan. The pandemic hit our household with a quiet that will never go away. My son Tony was home with what we thought was a fall allergy attack. He had been congested and not sleeping well, so for only the second time in his almost 21-year work history, he took two sick days. No way did we know it would be the end of all work days. He stood up from his computer, said he was very dizzy and moved to his recliner. He took his last breath there and while paramedics tried to revive him, a blood clot hit his lungs and he was no longer in this world. Life will never be the same again. — Romeyn Lauber Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 9, 2022 Members Share Posted October 9, 2022 October 7, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. By Jonathan Wolfe Good afternoon. In today’s newsletter, we’re taking a look at the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. This flare up is particularly worrisome because it’s a strain of the virus that is resistant to current vaccines. There are no cases in the U.S., but yesterday the Biden administration said that travelers who had been to Uganda would be redirected to airports where they can be screened, and federal health officials also urged doctors to be vigilant for patients with symptoms. My colleague Lynsey Chutel has been tracking the outbreak from Johannesburg, and sent this update. Ebola spreads in Uganda Uganda is racing to contain an Ebola outbreak driven by a strain of the virus that is resistant to existing immunization shots. A celebrated vaccine that was effective in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2018-22 outbreak has proved unsuccessful against the Sudanese strain of the virus, which is currently driving cases up. Yesterday, Dr. Patrick Otim, the World Health Organization’s health emergency officer for the Africa region, said that two vaccine candidates could offer protection against the Sudanese strain, but that they had yet to go into clinical trials. Once the trials are approved, however, there are roughly 100 doses of one of the candidates that are ready to be administered, Dr. Otim said. But even if a successful vaccine is identified, the manufacturing process may bring another delay. Uganda has recorded 44 Ebola cases, the W.H.O. said. Ten people have died, four of them health workers. But the death toll could be as high as 30, with 20 probable cases of people who succumbed to the virus before it could be identified. For now, the authorities are reliant on proven methods, like contact tracing and isolation. A mobile lab, erected in the outbreak’s epicenter in the last few days, has cut down the turnaround time for testing to six hours from 24, said Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the W.H.O.’s representative in Uganda. Still, the virus has spread to five districts. “If sufficient resources are there, yes, we can cope,” Dr. Woldemariam said. Now, onto the rest of the news … TOP NEWS Visual Investigations How a Chinese Doctor Who Warned of Covid-19 Spent His Final Days A New York Times video investigation reveals new details about the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, a national hero who faced censorship after sounding an early alarm on Covid-19. By Muyi Xiao, Isabelle Qian, Tracy Wen Liu and Chris Buckley Alex Merto The Power of Paxlovid The underuse of Covid treatments is leading to many needless deaths. By David Leonhardt Ting Shen for The New York Times The Job Market Has Been Like Musical Chairs. Will the Music Stop? Many workers grew comfortable thinking they had plenty of options. Now “everybody’s feeling the whiplash,” and anxiety is rising. By Emma Goldberg What else we’re following Coronavirus About two percent of the population of England had Covid last week while infections continued to rise across all parts of the nation, The Guardian reports. As a new wave appears to be forming in Europe, public health experts are concerned that vaccine fatigue will limit booster uptake, Reuters reports. Booster rates are also lagging in the U.S., The Washington Post reports. The San Francisco Chronicle looked at the variants that could fuel a winter surge in the U.S. Monkeypox New Zealand confirmed its first two cases of community transmission, The New Zealand Herald reports. As cases drop, concerns linger about the intradermal injection, which can cause long-term discoloration or scarring, The Washington Post reports. A new study found that the risk of infection to pets was low, NBC reports. Five men spoke to The Washington Post about the toll of the virus. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 11, 2022 Members Share Posted October 11, 2022 October 10, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Getty Images Why You Need a Flu Shot And everything else you’ve been wondering about this annual vaccine. By Knvul Sheikh Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Covid Defies China’s Lockdowns, Creating Chaos Ahead of Top Meeting Tourists are stranded, residents confined at home. Covid flare-ups and the accompanying lockdowns are causing disruptions ahead of a key Chinese Communist Party meeting. By John Liu Russell Regner Cynthia S. Goldsmith/CDC, via Associated Press How Serious Is Monkeypox? This viral illness is not like Covid, but there is cause for concern. Here’s how experts are thinking about it now. By Knvul Sheikh Matija Medved Tish Harrison Warren What if Burnout Is Less About Work and More About Isolation? Feeling burned out? Call your friends. Our real problem may be isolation. By Tish Harrison Warren Andrea Chronopoulos The Little Rituals That Keep Us Going Reading Nancy Drew. Watching the birds every day. Counting yellow doors. Thousands of Times readers shared their wellness “non-negotiables.” By Dani Blum and Andrea Chronopoulos Hayden Maynard So You Want to Work Remotely: A Guide As more employers offer flexibility, countries, travel brands and entrepreneurs are stepping in to make working from anywhere easier, with everything from special visas to work pods. By Nora Walsh What else we’re following Coronavirus China is urging patience with its strict Covid policies as cases soared to their highest number since August, Reuters reports. In Boston, Covid levels are rising in the city’s wastewater, The Associated Press reports. The Washington Post explored the role of the coronavirus in pregnancy complications during the pandemic. The New Yorker asked: How many times will we get Covid? Ebola Researchers are seriously concerned about the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, Nature reported. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation explained why North Americans should care about the outbreak. Other viruses The migration of millions of birds in California is threatening to spread bird flu across the country, The Guardian reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 13, 2022 Members Share Posted October 13, 2022 October 12, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. A Covid-19 testing booth in Beijing last month.Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times China’s Covid politics By Jonathan Wolfe The Communist Party congress in China — where Xi Jinping is expected to be named to a third five-year term as the country’s top leader — is just days away. It comes as China faces an economic slowdown and its largest flare-up of Covid cases in a month. More than 130 cities across nearly every province in China have reported cases, and nearly 200 million people in the country are currently in some form of lockdown as part of the country’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19. And there are signs that the country’s enormous and expensive testing regime, a cornerstone of the zero-tolerance approach, is coming under strain. Ahead of the congress on Sunday, I spoke to my colleague Keith Bradsher, the Beijing bureau chief. How is the party congress shaping up? China is already turning Beijing into a kind of Covid island for the party congress. In the last week, it has become extraordinarily difficult to enter the city. China tracks residents’ P.C.R. tests and other health indicators with an app on residents’ smartphones, and getting into any building or traveling requires showing that your health code is still green. But recently, residents of a very wide range of cities across the country have found that their health codes turn red or they receive a pop-up warning if they try to take a train or plane to Beijing. How will they be framing the Covid question at the Congress? Xi Jinping has framed the Covid question as a story of China putting its people’s health first ahead of anything else, including sometimes even economic growth. The Communist Party is presenting itself as one of the few organizations on Earth that have managed to shield a country’s people from widespread illness and deaths during the pandemic. And that portrayal of China’s Covid-zero policies as a success is likely to endure at the party congress. Also important is that China has very little to worry about so far regarding long Covid. The U.S. has many millions of people who face lasting health problems, and that is an important cause of human suffering, as well as high costs for the health care system and lost productivity for the economy for a long time to come. In China, you scarcely hear of long Covid because few people have been infected yet. Will the congress give us any hints about what comes next for China’s Covid policy? The drumbeat of statements in state media this week, reaffirming China’s response to Covid, makes it unlikely the policy will change quickly. We are much more likely to hear of Covid zero as a success story with only the vaguest of mentions that there may be efforts to further improve the handling in the months to come. Party congresses are not an occasion for specific health policies. They are an occasion for the broadest of ideological statements, as well as for chest-thumping affirmations of national strength. We might eventually see incremental changes, however. When? For a real easing of restrictions, the political calendar and the public health calendar actually might match up rather well next spring and summer. That’s when there tend to be fewer respiratory illnesses. And we are at the beginning of a very important political season in China that starts now, with a new Politburo named by the end of this month, and continues through mid-March, when a new cabinet will be named to oversee government ministries. Trying to change direction significantly on public health in the middle of that would really be a challenge. The other worry is that vaccination has really petered out here. How so? At the peak, a year ago, China was doing 20 million to 30 million vaccines a day, and now it’s a couple of million. A big chunk of the population has not had a vaccine in the past six months. And yet, with fewer than a million confirmed infections in the past three years, almost nobody has developed the antibodies from an illness, either. On top of that, China has refused to allow the import of foreign mRNA vaccines that have been proved in other countries to be far more effective than the older-technology Chinese vaccines. So the result is that you have a mostly unprotected population. If they want to open up, at a minimum they need to do a lot of vaccination. But they face, as in many places in the West, very strong public resistance and skepticism of vaccination. If the Chinese government can shut down cities and force people to be tested, can’t they force people to get vaccines? Public opinion does count for something in China. And there is a lot of hesitancy about vaccines here. One reason is that China had a couple of scandals in the past decade preceding Covid involving routinely administered vaccines that were out of date or even contaminated. And that has produced a lingering suspicion. On top of that, when China first introduced its Covid vaccines in late 2020, it told older adults to be careful about getting these new, initially experimental vaccines, which created considerable vaccine hesitancy among that group. The city of Beijing a while back tried to start requiring that people be vaccinated in order to enter certain public venues. And they had to abandon the policy within a couple of days because of pushback from the general public. Have there been any changes to China’s zero-Covid approach? There has not been that much change, and in the past couple days there has been an apparently coordinated barrage of articles in state media asserting that Covid-zero measures had worked. China continues to lock down entire cities, as they did a few weeks ago in Chengdu, a city with a population of 21 million. One city that had a single case but is now entirely locked down is Fenyang. China’s willingness to lock down an entire city because of a single case shows how seriously they’re taking this. But there have been a few tweaks at the margin. The most conspicuous has been to allow a modest increase in the number of international flights coming into the country and to shorten the government-run quarantine for people coming into the country. Could China keep the policy in place? Yes, but China is under a lot of economic pressure right now. Lightening up some more on Covid restrictions, so that people could at least walk out their front doors, would be a big step toward helping consumer spending on services. And prolonged economic weakness in China could really create problems in a lot of places outside of China as well. For example, it could hurt a lot of blue-collar communities in the West. It is hard for factories in Europe and the U.S. to compete with Chinese factories right now, because when Chinese factories have weak demand in their home market, they sell overseas at whatever low prices they can get, just to keep the factory gates open and keep the workers employed. China’s economic weakness is making worse another big problem, which is the plight of developing countries. China is the main export market for a majority of the world’s developing countries now, as China buys vast quantities of commodities. And as long as the Chinese economy is weak, that’s going to hurt a lot of developing countries. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer, via Associated Press F.D.A. clears updated booster for children Federal regulators today broadened access to updated coronavirus booster shots to include children as young as 5. The revised shots target the Omicron subvariant BA.5, which is the dominant version of the virus in the U.S. The updated shot developed by Pfizer had been cleared for those 12 and older, while Moderna’s updated booster was available only to those 18 and older. The F.D.A.’s action makes the Pfizer shot available to children as young as 5, and the Moderna shot to children as young as 6. The new boosters are authorized to be given at least two months after a child has completed the initial two-shot series or received a booster dose. Regulators authorized the shots for older age groups in late August, but only 13 million to 15 million Americans had received the updated shots through last weekend, according to White House estimates. Nearly 226 million people have received an initial round of vaccination, and more than 110 million have received at least one booster shot. What else we’re following Coronavirus A large study from Scotland on long Covid found that six to 18 months after an infection, one in 20 people had not recovered and more than 40 percent said they felt only somewhat better, The Washington Post reports. The World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Europe was most likely entering another Covid wave, Reuters reports. Nearly half of respondents to a survey in the U.S. said they had lied about their adherence to Covid public health measures. Dr. Anthony Fauci got his updated booster live on “The Late Show.” Monkeypox New monkeypox cases have been falling and are likely to decline even further over the next few weeks, NPR reports. The journal Nature looked at the future of the outbreak, and Roll Call looked at the future of the government’s response. Polio The governor of New York extended the state’s disaster emergency for polio after the virus was detected in wastewater in Brooklyn and Queens, CNBC reports. Ebola Uganda’s capital, Kampala, recorded the first death in its Ebola outbreak, the BBC reports. The director general of the W.H.O. said that a clinical trial of vaccines to fight the strain of Ebola causing Uganda’s outbreak could begin within weeks, Reuters reports. Other viruses Zoos, bird rescue groups and other animal facilities are grappling with a “radically different” outbreak of avian influenza. From your Covid diary We asked readers to share their journal entries from the pandemic. If you’d like to share yours, you can do so here. March 25, 2020. New York City. Covid-19 has stopped New York City (well, it’s paused). No one saw it coming. I haven’t worked at Jazz Standard for about two months. I’m living on unemployment, ironically paying more than what I was making. About $650 per week. I’m holding on to all the money I can. I haven’t paid March’s rent and we plan on being late for April. No eviction till July and that’s just the beginning. Social distance has starved me for friends, for touch, for love. I’m trying to balance my day away from screens, but it’s hard. I lose track of time and spend the whole day unable to cope with the feeling of uncertainty. The last few weeks have been easier to forget. Everything blends together in a flavorless form. In the apartment, I’ve been cooking regularly. In some absurdist way, the quarantine has made me experience a quality of life reserved for middle age. I’ve never had this much money before. How does it end? Today, I listened to a podcast about the reality of Covid-19 lasting four years. If that happens, I’m taking the risk, buying a car, and driving till I can’t see skyscrapers. — Andy Andrade Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 15, 2022 Members Share Posted October 15, 2022 October 14, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images Nearly Half of Covid Patients Haven’t Fully Recovered Months Later, Study Finds The findings strengthened calls from scientists for more expansive care options for long Covid patients. By Benjamin Mueller Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press Inquiry on Trudeau Using Emergency Powers on Trucker Protests Begins Lawyers for the Canadian government and opponents clashed on whether the government had been justified in using the powers during protests that paralyzed Ottawa last February. By Norimitsu Onishi Brittany Greeson for The New York Times ‘Kind of Awkward’: Doctors Find Themselves on a First-Name Basis While many physicians may avoid discussing the subject, a study showed that who gets addressed with the honorific “Dr.” may depend on gender, degree and specialty. By Gina Kolata Cristina Spanò How to Boost Your Immune System During Cold and Flu Season Here are four things immunologists and other health experts say you can do. By Hannah Seo Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times What Happened to Monkeypox? Why cases suddenly began to decline. By German Lopez Nancy Kaye Leonard Kriegel, 89, Dies; Wrote Unflinchingly About His Disability He was known for his scholarly and popular writings about historical phenomena. But he was best known for writing about losing the use of his legs. By Margalit Fox What else we’re following Coronavirus The U.S. extended the Covid public health emergency through Jan. 11, Reuters reports, allowing measures like high payments to hospitals and expanded Medicaid to continue. Case counts continue to rise in much of Britain, with more than 1.7 million people believed to be infected in the last week, The Guardian reports. As cases rise in Germany, the country’s health minister has urged states to consider stepping up measures like wearing masks, The Associated Press reports. A new study that found a 14 percent drop in Europe’s birthrate in January 2021 compared with that of previous years has been linked to coronavirus lockdowns, The BBC reports. Stat spoke to the founders of BioNTech about what they planned to do next. Science explored how the virus battles our immune system. Monkeypox The National Institutes of Health is beginning a trial of Tpoxx, an antiviral drug, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 17, 2022 Members Share Posted October 17, 2022 October 17, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Rosem Morton for The New York Times As White House Presses for Booster Shots, Americans Are Slow to Get Them Only about 15 million doses of the new shots have been administered so far, and many Americans appear to be unaware of or simply uninterested in them. By Noah Weiland Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy. Xi Jinping doubled down on the idea that the measures have saved lives and vowed to continue the stringent set of policies. By Alexandra Stevenson Mark R Cristino/EPA, via Shutterstock China’s Leader Strikes a Defiant Note, Warning of ‘Stormy Seas’ Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term as leader during a pivotal meeting of the Communist Party, extending his authoritarian rule over the country. By Chris Buckley, Keith Bradsher, Vivian Wang and Austin Ramzy Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times ‘We’re All Over This Place’: Building a Fortress for Beijing’s Moment The authorities in China have arrested a million criminal suspects, curbed travel to Beijing to keep Covid out, and deployed an army of neighborhood monitors. By Vivian Wang Getty Images Another Covid Wave Could be Coming. Here’s How to Make Your Holiday Plans. As our third pandemic winter approaches, you can mitigate risk without missing out. By Dani Blum Justin J Wee for The New York Times In New York, Masks Will Not Be Required at the Opera or Ballet Many arts groups, worried about alienating older patrons, have maintained strict rules. Now “the time has come to move on,” one leader said. By Javier C. Hernández What else we’re following Coronavirus Two Omicron subvariants — BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — are on the rise in the U.S., accounting for 11 percent of cases, up from 1 percent a week ago, U.S. News reports. Covid hospitalizations are increasing in Canada, CTV reports. Some doctors in Hong Kong have doubts about long Covid and how it should be treated, The South China Morning Post reports. The Guardian published a new series about long Covid and those who are living with it. Monkeypox Ontario’s top health official is weighing whether to declare the monkeypox outbreak over, CP24 reports. New Zealand decided not to offer financial support to those isolating with a monkeypox infection, 1 News reports. Cases in the U.S. are down, but NPR looks at whether we can eliminate the virus. Salon asks: Are we celebrating the gains against the virus too soon? Polio The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $1.2 billion to eradicate polio around the globe, The Associated Press reports. Ebola Uganda locked down two regions for three weeks as cases in the country rise, CNN reports. Other viruses Pediatric doctors in five states said their hospital bed capacity was strained because of a sudden rise in RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections and can severely sicken infants, NBC News reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 19, 2022 Members Share Posted October 19, 2022 Study: Life expectancy drops again in the US Europe shows signs of recovery amid COVID-19 Adrianna Rodriguez USA TODAY In 2020, most countries around the world experienced a shocking decline in life expectancy as COVID-19 exploded. But as some countries show signs of recovery, a new study found the United States continues to see its life expectancy in free fall. Researchers examined data from 29 countries worldwide and found seven nations in Western Europe saw a significant increase in life expectancy in 2021, according to the study published Monday in Nature Human Behavior. Four of those countries – France, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden – returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the U.S. reported the third-largest decline in life expectancy, closely behind Bulgaria and Slovakia. The study is the latest example of how shortcomings in the U.S. health care system, policies and public behavior, which affected life expectancy before COVID-19, were exacerbated by the pandemic, experts say. Study authors said life expectancy in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden returned to pre-pandemic levels by reducing mortality in people 60 and over. They attributed life expectancy declines in other countries to continued mortality in that age group. But the U.S. was the only country that continued to see life expectancy losses because of increasing mortality in people under 60, accounting for “more See EXPECTANCY, Page 6A Continued from Page 1A than half of the loss in U.S. life expectancy since the start of the pandemic,” the study said. The study suggests vaccine uptake may be partly to blame. Researchers analyzed the proportion of the population that was fully vaccinated as of October 2021 and found reduced life expectancy was associated with lower vaccination uptake. Study authors also note the country's proportion of people with comorbid conditions – which is comparatively larger than European counterparts – may have increased mortality in the working-age population. The study tracks with earlier reporting showing that U.S. life expectancy decreased from 78.86 years in 2019 to 76.99 years in 2020, then to 76.60 years in 2021 – a net loss of 2.26 years, according to a study published in April. Research also shows life expectancy losses for Black and Latino Americans are 3 to 4 times those for white people. Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 20, 2022 Members Share Posted October 20, 2022 October 19, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. Dave Sanders para The New York Times New variants are coming By Jonathan Wolfe Several new Omicron subvariants have been steadily gaining ground in the U.S., setting off alarm bells ahead of fall and winter, when experts say we can expect to see another Covid surge. They include BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which currently account for 11 percent of cases in the U.S., up from about 3 percent two weeks ago. Other Omicron offshoots are also growing steadily, including BA.4.6, BF.7 and XBB, which has been spreading quickly in Singapore. For insight into the new variants, I turned to my colleague Carl Zimmer, who covers science. What do we need to know about these new variants? All these variants are new versions of Omicron. Omicron showed up almost a year ago, it took over, and it’s been evolving ever since. Some of those mutations are making the variants able to get around the immunity that people may have gotten from being infected by the coronavirus before — even by earlier forms of Omicron. How will these variants play out in the coming months? It’s very hard to predict exactly what will happen, and it’s probably going to be different in different places. So one country may see one variant become dominant, and in another country, a different one may emerge. But the key thing is that there are a bunch of different versions of Omicron that are really good at spreading, and they have the potential to make a bad situation worse. How so? Winter is coming to the northern hemisphere, so a lot of people are going to be spending a lot of time inside with other people. A lot of people have also decided for themselves that the pandemic is over, and so there’s a lot less wearing of masks. On top of that, the immunity that people may have is waning. So even if there weren’t a lot of new Omicron variants to worry about, this could potentially be a challenging winter. These new variants make it even more concerning because they all have a lot of mutations that we already know are good for evading immunity and spreading quickly. How worried should we be? Importantly, there’s no evidence that these new variants cause more severe disease. But the Omicron surge last winter showed us that if a so-called mild variant infects a huge number of people, hospitalizations surge. On the other hand, if there were a totally new variant that came out that could raise people’s odds of ending up in the hospital and of dying, that would be a lot worse. It’s important that people get vaccinated. And if they haven’t gotten boosters, they need to get boosters. I have seen some projections showing that better vaccine coverage could save many thousands of lives this winter. What if I’ve already been infected with Omicron? As far as we can tell, that previous infection will give you some protection. But some protection means you could still get sick. How are our tools to fight the virus holding up? That’s a serious problem with these new variants. As the variants develop mutations that evade our immune systems, they are also becoming able to resist some of the monoclonal antibodies that have been so effective until now. Companies have developed newer monoclonal antibodies that can work, but it takes a long time to get them through the approval process. Is there any good news? Fortunately, Paxlovid works against these new variants. The mutations that make them spread so quickly are changes to the surface of the virus where it locks onto cells and where antibodies attach to it. Paxlovid attacks the virus in a different way. It detects the virus after it’s inside the cell and is replicating, and these new subvariants seem to be just as vulnerable to Paxlovid as the earlier variants. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Libby March for The New York Times ‘We Were Three’ In October 2021, Rachel McKibbens, a poet who lives in upstate New York, tweeted: The New York Times Less than two weeks later, her brother died of Covid as well. My colleague Nancy Updike, a senior editor at “This American Life” and one of the show’s founding producers, read McKibbens’s tweets and reached out. The result is a new three-part Times audio series, “We Were Three.” It is a story about lies, family and America — what Covid revealed, as well as what it destroyed. McKibbens hadn’t known her brother was sick with Covid until the moment he told her their father was dead. She was dumbfounded by how much she didn’t know about their last month of life. But then she made a discovery: a cache of texts on her brother’s phone that revealed what happened in their final weeks. I spoke to Nancy about the series. Rachel McKibbens lost her brother and her father to Covid last fall.Libby March for The New York Times What part of Rachel McKibbens’s story resonated with you? One of the things that struck me about Rachel’s story was the feeling of having a family member who just seems unreachable. About Covid, but also separate from Covid, and predating Covid. Some people deal with that by writing people off. Rachel was grappling with all of the bad choices you can face in a situation like that with a family member. You’re trying to engage, but also trying to protect yourself, and also not lose yourself in the process. What does this story tell us about Covid in the U.S.? It’s a story about Covid, but it’s really about a family. It’s not a story about why the bodies of these two men succumbed to Covid. It’s about all the other cracks that Covid seeped into. It oozed its way into existing fissures within families, and gaps in the medical system, and unfixed problems in our schools, and that has been deadly and tragic and devastating. What did you learn about Covid and misinformation while making this series? There are people who have done much deeper reporting on misinformation and Covid, but I have a sense of how it worked in the lives of these two people — Rachel’s father and her brother. In the case of Rachel’s brother, he was afraid of many things before Covid. And some of those fears were rational, based on an awareness of the precariousness of his position as somebody who was not supporting himself financially and who was isolated socially. So that laid the groundwork for his reasonable fears, as well as those that were fueled by lies and misinformation. What does this story offer for those picking up their lives after they’ve lost someone during the pandemic? That is a question I’m sure there are people much more qualified to speak on, but I will say this: Rachel was ready to be in all of her complicated feelings. To the extent that you can do that, it seemed to me to be a better way to mourn than anything I’ve discovered in my life. In general, America doesn’t do grief that well. It’s time-consuming. And it should be. It’s life-shaping. So if you haven’t felt like you’ve been able to grieve someone, or you’re looking for somebody to grieve with — Rachel’s grieving. And she’s not afraid of it. Listen to “We Were Three” here. What else we’re following The F.D.A. authorized the Novavax vaccine as a booster for adults, CNBC reports. White people in the U.S. are now more likely to die from Covid than Black Americans, The Washington Post reports. Researchers at Boston University created a hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a lab, raising questions about government oversight, Stat News reports. The Covid wave building in Europe could throw off holiday plans across the continent, The Washington Post reports. Lives lived: Laura Anglin, a deputy mayor in New York City under Bill de Blasio, died last week. She “was one of the unsung heroes” who helped shape the city’s pandemic response. Monkeypox The U.S. is recording an average of 60 cases per day, down from 443 in August, according to the C.D.C. New York City has nearly eliminated the virus. Gothamist explores what it would take for the city to eradicate it. Stat News explore whether monkeypox infections could have long-term consequences on health. Polio Countries pledged $2.6 billion in funding to the World Health Organization to eradicate polio, DW reports. Ebola The W.H.O. said it was concerned about the outbreak in Uganda after eight recent infections had no known contacts with current patients, Reuters reports. The U.S. sent experimental antibody drugs to Uganda to help prevent infection among health care workers, Reuters reports. Other viruses New research suggests that a warming climate may bring Arctic viruses into contact with hosts, causing “viral spillover,” France 24 reports. From your Covid diary We asked readers to share their journal entries from the pandemic. If you’d like to share yours, you can do so here. March 6, 2020. Sacramento, Calif. We are all set with major arrangements to travel to England to board a ship, in August, doing a trans-Atlantic crossing in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s passage — but the coronavirus hit the world. As of today, there are 21 cases in California. Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who is scheduled to go to Alaska on a cruise in July. She canceled her trip. I hadn’t even considered doing that. I called the travel insurance company last night and the recording said “fear of the coronavirus is not a cause for cancellation” and that unless a person has a policy that includes “cancellation for any reason” there will be no coverage. They even said trips to China would not be covered if canceled, even though that’s the epicenter of the epidemic and the U.S. Administration has banned travel to China. Amazing! I am hopeful, if warranted, our cruise line will cancel on their own accord. — Lori Abbott Moreland Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 22, 2022 Members Share Posted October 22, 2022 October 21, 2022 Have you never had Covid? It has been nearly 1,000 days since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Nearly 630 million cases have been reported across the world, although the actual case count is likely much higher. And yet, some of you have managed to navigate the gauntlet without getting sick — at least that you know of. We’d like to know: How did you do it? Perhaps it was strict adherence to virus restrictions, hunkering down for long stretches, or just luck. Tell us about it. Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS George Wylesol Guest Essay We Advised Biden on the Pandemic. Much Work Remains to Face the Next Crisis. Even with the successes against Covid, there is much room for improvement. By Ezekiel J. Emanuel, David Michaels, Rick Bright and Michael T. Osterholm Molly Matalon for The New York Times Zinc? Honey? Ginger? What Actually Helps When You Have a Cold or the Flu? Here’s what we know about some of the most popular remedies that show at least a little promise. By Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Knvul Sheikh Denis Finnin/American Museum of Natural History After a Covid Contraction, Museums Are Expanding Again Projects all over the country include renovations and new wings as institutions continue to bet on bricks and mortar. By Robin Pogrebin National Gallery of Art Matter How the ‘Black Death’ Left Its Genetic Mark on Future Generations Scientists have discovered several genetic variants that protect Europeans from the bubonic plague — but also increase the risk of immune disorders. By Carl Zimmer Gabby Jones for The New York Times Airlines Cash In as Flexible Work Changes Travel Patterns Untethered from desks, passengers are flying more often and in different ways. Carriers expect the new habits to endure, despite economic uncertainty. By Niraj Chokshi What else we’re following Pfizer plans to as much as quadruple prices for its Covid vaccine, Reuters reports. The C.D.C.’s advisory panel voted to add Covid vaccines to routine immunization schedules for children, Politico reports. Many in China hope for an end to the country’s “zero Covid” policy as leaders meet at the Communist Party congress, but it “appears to be wishful thinking,” The A.P. reports. The next pandemic may come from pathogens inside melting glaciers, The Guardian reports. The F.D.A.’s vaccine chief said there was a chance that another Covid booster would need to be deployed sooner than expected, STAT News reports. Work-from-home policies helped fuel a baby boom, CNN reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 25, 2022 Members Share Posted October 25, 2022 World's Largest iPhone Factory Braces for Fresh COVID-19 Outbreak 300,000 workers have been asked to eat in their dormitories and only commute along specific routes so iPhone production can continue. https://www.pcmag.com/news/worlds-largest-iphone-factory-braces-for-fresh-covid-19-outbreak? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 25, 2022 Members Share Posted October 25, 2022 October 24, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Christopher Occhicone for The New York Times Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters Americans over 65 remain the demographic most likely to have received the original series of vaccinations. But fewer are getting the follow-up shots, surveys indicate. By Paula Span Cydney Scott for Boston University Lab Manipulations of Covid Virus Fall Under Murky Government Rules Mouse experiments at Boston University have spotlighted an ambiguous U.S. policy for research on potentially dangerous pathogens. By Carl Zimmer and Benjamin Mueller Carlos Osorio/Reuters Getting People Back on Trains, After the Pandemic Turned Many to Cars While the federal government is committed to a multibillion-dollar improvement to train service, an already long schedule may face delays. By Ian Austen Kaiti Sullivan for The New York Times Did the Pandemic Change Your Personality? Possibly. For more than two years, Covid disrupted social rituals and rites of passage. Now a recent study suggests we have become less extroverted, creative, agreeable and conscientious. The declines in some traits were sharper among young people. By Christine Chung The New New World A Lonely Protest in Beijing Inspires Young Chinese to Find Their Voice As beginner dissenters, they’re timid and scared. But they are experiencing a quiet political awakening, unhappy about censorship, repression and “zero Covid.” By Li Yuan Jaedoo Lee Guest Essay We May Have Only a Few Months to Prevent the Next Pandemic The window to act is closing fast. By Craig Spencer Ting Shen for The New York Times Did You Start Your Career During the Pandemic? Tell us about what it’s been like to navigate entering the working world amid so much change. By Emma Goldberg What else we’re following Coronavirus President Biden will receive his updated booster tomorrow, CNN reports. Most of the Covid relief funds for schools have not been spent, The Washington Post reports. The Economist looks at research that suggests Covid was genetically engineered. The Atlantic explores the effectiveness of hand washing against respiratory viruses. Scientists are trying to build a better mask, The Atlantic reports. In his newsletter Ground Truths, Eric Topol explores the “variant soup” of new Omicron offshoots. Monkeypox Six people in the U.S. have recently died from monkeypox, CNN reports. Ebola Uganda said the Ebola outbreak should be over by the end of the year, Reuters reports. Officials in Uganda are looking for an Ebola patient who escaped from the hospital, The Independent reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 27, 2022 Members Share Posted October 27, 2022 October 26, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. Bins at a vaccine site in Los Angeles.Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times Signs of a “tripledemic” By Jonathan Wolfe This winter, the U.S. could be in for a “tripledemic,” a nasty collision of three viruses — the flu, the coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus (R.S.V.) — which could cause a surge of patients seeking treatment at hospitals that are already stretched thin. To understand how the next few months might play out, I turned to my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, who covers infectious diseases. Let’s look ahead to the winter. How is Covid shaping up in the U.S.? At the moment the rates are low, but we know that a winter wave is coming. Many European countries already are having waves and we generally tend to follow them. There’s almost no doubt that we will see something, it’s just a matter of how big it will be. At the moment, it looks like the two variants that we probably need to worry about the most are BQ.1.1 and XBB, both of which are variations of Omicron, and both seem able to get around immunity pretty well, at least in terms of infection. Tell me more. BQ.1.1 and its close relative, BQ.1, together now account for about 17 percent of cases. So they’ve gone up really fast — their doubling time seems to be around one week. Those are the variants that have driven up cases in European countries. Percentage share of variants among total recorded infections in the U.S.The Center for Disease Control and Prevention Percentage share of variants among total recorded infections in the U.S.The Center for Disease Control and Prevention XBB just arrived here and it’s circulating at a low rate. But in Singapore, where a huge percentage of the population is vaccinated and has immunity, it caused a fairly big wave. So it seems really adept at getting around immunity. When it starts to get around here, it probably will also drive up cases. But at the moment BQ.1.1 is the leading candidate for a potential winter wave because it had a head start. Do either of these new variants cause more severe disease? That doesn’t seem to be the case. There are only a couple of new variants that cause more severe disease — BA.2.75 and the closely related BA.2.75.2 — but fortunately they are still at a low prevalence in the U.S., at under 3 percent of total cases. At this point in time, what really gives a variant a competitive advantage is to be able to get around immunity, because so many of us have all kinds of protection — from multiple doses of vaccines or multiple infections or both. So there’s a lot of pressure on the virus to evolve its way around that immunity. How well are the updated boosters working against these variants? So far it looks like they should still be fairly protective against severe disease and death. We are not seeing huge numbers of deaths in the U.K. and other European countries. They are seeing a rise in hospitalizations, but that might be unvaccinated people, or immunocompromised people, or people who haven’t had a booster in a while. Switching gears, how is flu season shaping up? We always look at how the flu season has gone in the southern hemisphere before we try to predict what will happen here. And this year, Australia and New Zealand were just walloped. So that’s not a good sign. Already we are seeing something like a 3 percent positivity rate for flu tests in the U.S., which is higher than usual for this time of year. Influenza activity level across the U.S.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention However, the vaccine is actually a decent match for the flu variants that are circulating. It should offer a significant amount of protection. So doctors are really urging people to go get the flu shot. It’s the same as with the Covid vaccines. Even if it doesn’t prevent infection, you won’t get as sick — your symptoms will be milder and they won’t last as long. What is R.S.V., and what do we need to know about it? It’s a respiratory virus that is a significant cause of respiratory problems in young kids. And Covid has made it act in a strange way. Normally you see R.S.V. in the winter, but the U.K. and the U.S. saw R.S.V. waves in the spring and the summer — really off season, strange behavior. Right now, doctors I have been talking to are saying that their wards are already filling up with kids who have R.S.V. in particular. And here’s the thing, really little kids just don’t have as much immunity to these viruses because some were born after the pandemic started and they’ve never been exposed to the viruses. Or they were really young and had not built up a lot of immunity before the pandemic started. So now when their bodies are exposed to these viruses, their symptoms are more severe than they otherwise would have been. Currently there is no vaccine for R.S.V., but there are some in clinical trials. So how should we approach the “tripledemic”? Get vaccinated. There’s a good vaccine for flu, and there is an OK vaccine for Covid in terms of the new variants, and it will give you some protection. Wear a mask if you are able. Wash your hands often and do not go to work or to school if you are sick. I have not yet gone to get a Covid booster, but now that I know that these variants are picking up so quickly, I do plan to get one. I’ll probably try to time it to get the most protection for a trip to go see my parents later this year. At an individual level, especially if you are relatively healthy, none of those viruses is a big threat to you necessarily, but it is a threat to our health care system, which is already so stretched. And it is a threat to children and pregnant women and older people who may end up in the hospital. If they get really sick, they may not be able to get care because the hospitals are already full. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Students who do not read well in elementary school are more likely to drop out of high school.Rosem Morton for The New York Times Failing grades The results of an authoritative U.S. national exam offers proof of the pandemic’s devastating impact on schoolchildren: Students in most states and across almost all demographic groups have experienced major setbacks in math and reading. In math, the results showed the steepest declines ever recorded on the exam, which tests a broad sampling of fourth and eighth graders. A meager 26 percent of eighth graders were proficient in the subject, down from 34 percent in 2019. Reading scores also declined in more than half the states, continuing a downward trend that had begun even before the pandemic. Only about one in three students met proficiency standards. No state showed sizable improvement in reading. The findings raise significant questions about where the country goes from here. Billions of dollars in pandemic funding are slated to expire in 2024, but research suggests that it could take billions more dollars and several years for students to recover academically. What else we’re following Coronavirus A small study found that the updated Covid-19 vaccine boosters were not better than doses of the original vaccines at producing antibodies against Omicron strains, Bloomberg reports. Parts of Wuhan, China, were locked down as cases emerged in the city’s center, Bloomberg reports. President Biden received an updated coronavirus booster shot yesterday and urged Americans to do the same. New York City will open some public subway restrooms for the first time since the pandemic began. Employment has soared among adults with disabilities since the pandemic prompted more companies to be open to remote work arrangements. Taylor Swift’s new album, “Midnights,” feels “like her are-we-ever-going-to-be-able-to-say-‘post-pandemic’ album, a work of exasperation and spiritual exhaustion,” our critic writes. Ebola Many U.S. labs cannot test for the strain of Ebola that is causing an outbreak in Uganda, CBS reports. Other health threats Researchers found two common respiratory viruses, R.S.V. and influenza, fused together for the first time, The Guardian reports. Your Covid diaries We asked readers to share their journal entries from the pandemic. If you’d like to share yours, you can do so here. Feb. 7, 2020. Denver. It is official: We are old! Today Mat (our son) has begun insisting we NOT go to the store, the park — or basically out. Why? Because we are part of that 65-plus demo easily susceptible to Covid and all the miserable things it can bring. He can shop. He can get the car handled. He can do whatever it is we need done. Can he do my seven miles today? No. Can he help me stop being told that at MY age it is dangerous to basically do anything outside my house? NO! But his concern is, frankly, touching. — Sandy Holmes Oct. 27, 2020. Harper, Kan. After losing Dad to cancer less than four months ago, burying Mom next to him feels surreal. Shivering next to her casket, I’m trying not to see Dad’s grave with fresh dirt still on top. Even more than that, I’m trying not to notice the smallness of the ceremony. No one is in attendance (again) due to Covid. These two faithful people invested a lifetime in this community, and no one is here to help us say goodbye. Though neither one of my parents has Covid on their death certificate, the pandemic stole something important from our family, too. — Lori Ann Wood Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 27, 2022 Members Share Posted October 27, 2022 Afraid of needles? China using inhalable COVID-19 vaccine BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in what appears to be a world first. https://apnews.com/article/health-china-shanghai-covid-73054086e649140d3cf6edf77ae4ef73? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 28, 2022 Members Share Posted October 28, 2022 Fact check: No evidence of a link between COVID-19 vaccines, cancer spike in people under 50 As new COVID-19 variants gain momentum in the U.S., health officials are urging the public to get vaccinated. A recent social media post, however, links the vaccine to cancer. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/10/28/fact-check-no-evidence-link-between-covid-19-vaccines-cancer/10533133002/ Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 28, 2022 Members Share Posted October 28, 2022 October 28, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Andrew Seng for The New York Times Covid, Flu, RSV: Hospitalizations Rise as Wave of Viruses Hits New York New Yorkers are falling ill with new variants of Covid and old illnesses like flu and RSV that masking and other precautions once held at bay. By Sharon Otterman Thomas Peter/Reuters G.O.P. Senator’s Report on Covid Origins Suggests Lab Leak, but Offers Little New Evidence The report, signed by Senator Richard Burr, foreshadows a new wave of political wrangling over Covid’s origins if Republicans gain control of the House or Senate. By Benjamin Mueller and Carl Zimmer Getty Images Covid-19 Symptoms Can Rebound Even if You Don’t Take Paxlovid A new study found that more than a third of those who recovered from an infection had symptoms recur days or weeks later. By Knvul Sheikh National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, via Associated Press Most Hospitalized Monkeypox Patients in the U.S. Were H.I.V.-Positive “Monkeypox and H.I.V. have collided,” a C.D.C. researcher said. By Apoorva Mandavilli Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times China’s Latest Covid Lockdown Affects a Major iPhone Factory An outbreak in Zhengzhou has sent an unknown number of workers at the city’s Foxconn plant into quarantine. It’s a bad time of year for output of iPhones to slow down. By Chang Che and Amy Chang Chien Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times Meet Me Downtown We visited 10 cities across the country to see how the pandemic and its aftershocks have reshaped the American downtown. By Mike Baker, Jack Healy, Rick Rojas, Edgar Sandoval, Julie Bosman, Eliza Fawcett, Emily Cochrane and Campbell Robertson What else we’re following Coronavirus China began administering an inhalable vaccine, PBS reports. Wired explored whether Omicron came from infected mice. U.S. News looked at how the virus is shaping the midterm elections. Monkeypox At least 10 people in the U.S. have now died in the current outbreak, The Washington Post reports. As cases continue to fall, scientists are still unsure why, Science reports. Ebola The acting director of the Africa C.D.C. said the Ebola outbreak in Uganda was under control, The Associated Press reports. Other viral threats Flu season in the U.S. has so far been more severe than at any time in the last 13 years, The Washington Post reports. A dog influenza is shutting dog day care centers in North Carolina, WCNC reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 28, 2022 Members Share Posted October 28, 2022 Can COVID-19 Trigger Insomnia? More research points to sleep troubles as a possible long-hauler symptom of COVID-19. Here’s what experts know so far. https://www.everydayhealth.com/coronavirus/can-covid-19-trigger-insomnia/? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 30, 2022 Members Share Posted October 30, 2022 Massive learning setbacks show COVID’s sweeping toll on kids The COVID-19 pandemic devastated poor children’s well-being, not just by closing their schools, but also by taking away their parents’ jobs, sickening their families and teachers, and adding chaos and fear to their daily lives. https://apnews.com/article/health-education-covid-46cb725e08110f8ad3c1b303ec9eefad? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 31, 2022 Members Share Posted October 31, 2022 October 31, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. Getty Images R.S.V. Cases Are Rising. Here’s What You Need to Know Before the Covid pandemic, most people caught respiratory syncytial virus before the age of 2. Now things have changed. By Knvul Sheikh FROM TIMES OPINION Carolina Moscoso Guest Essay A Plea for Making Virus Research Safer A way forward for lab safety. By Jesse Bloom Damon Winter/The New York Times David Wallace-Wells Pandemic Learning Loss Is Not an Emergency In a vacuum, test score declines look like bad news. But none of this happened in a vacuum. By David Wallace-Wells María Jesús Contreras Guest Essay A Dolphin, a Porpoise and Two Men Got Bird Flu. That’s a Warning to the Rest of Us. One-off infections are still meaningful. By David Quammen What else we’re following Shanghai Disney locked its gates and required visitors to show a negative Covid test before leaving, the BBC reports. Workers fled the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China, during an extended Covid lockdown, Reuters reports. A complex and diverse “variant soup” is complicating efforts to track the latest Covid outbreak, Nature reports. A lab experiment showed that R.S.V. and influenza can fuse together to create a new hybrid virus, the Guardian reports. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., experienced a Covid rebound after completing a course of the antiviral drug Paxlovid, Reuters reports. U.S. hospitalizations from the flu have hit a decade-plus high, The Wall Street Journal reports. All poultry and captive birds in England must be kept indoors starting Nov. 7 to stem the country’s largest-ever outbreak of bird flu, the BBC reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 3, 2022 Members Share Posted November 3, 2022 November 2, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. Close to one in every 500 babies 6 months and younger in the U.S. was hospitalized with R.S.V. since the beginning of October. The R.S.V. surge By Jonathan Wolfe A drastic and unusually early spike in infections caused by the respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., is overwhelming pediatric units across the U.S. Patients are experiencing long waits for treatment and hospital systems are rearranging staffing and resources to meet the sudden demand. R.S.V. is also on a collision course with two viral diseases — Covid-19 and the flu — and experts say that we could see simultaneous surges this winter. Of the three threats, R.S.V. is the most mysterious to many. A lot of Americans are still in the dark about the virus and what to do about it. For insight, I spoke to my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, who covers infectious diseases. How serious is R.S.V.? It’s not as serious as Covid, but it’s looking like it might be almost as serious as influenza, and that we just haven’t known about it. Part of the problem is that doctors didn’t know that R.S.V. was a risk for adults, and so they weren’t really testing for it. One of the doctors I talked to said: “Why would we test for it? There was no treatment, there was nothing we could do, so what would be the point?” So we have a dimmer view of how prevalent it is among adults than we do for influenza. What about for children? It’s most serious for infants and children under 5 in general, and it plays a pretty big role in infant mortality worldwide. It’s most risky when they live in countries where there isn’t easy access to oxygen or other things that can help. In most richer countries, when kids go to the hospital with R.S.V., they come out pretty quickly because they get help with breathing or whatever they need. In the U.S., about 200 to 300 children die from R.S.V. a year, compared to 100,000 worldwide. It’s important to know that it can also be fatal for older adults, too. About 14,000 older adults in the U.S. die from it each year. It’s also more serious for pregnant women and immunocompromised people. What does R.S.V. do to the body? It’s very similar to other respiratory viruses. It basically infects your airway cells, and it’s particularly bad for the lower respiratory pathway. In children, R.S.V. really hits the lungs hard, which is why they can have such difficulties breathing. But the virus actually has a pretty short trajectory in the body. As with Covid, it’s not always the virus but the inflammation that your body produces that can be damaging. That’s especially true when R.S.V. infects older people and children. Why are we hearing so much about R.S.V. now? For pediatricians and parents, R.S.V. is not new. But this year, we just have many more infants who have had no exposure to R.S.V. They are either babies who were born during the pandemic, when there was very little R.S.V. around, and didn’t develop immunity, or babies who were born right before the pandemic and didn’t build up immunity like children normally would in the first few years of life. And because they’ve had so little exposure, it also means that when the virus does attack them, it can manifest more severely. Where are we with a vaccine? A vaccine has been really hard to make. There’s a part of the virus — kind of like the spike protein in Covid — that binds to the receptor of human cells. And scientists just could not get the vaccine to block that part of the virus. There was also one R.S.V. vaccine, decades ago, that went really wrong. Children in the trial who got the vaccine did much worse when they got infected with R.S.V. later. That really freaked out people in the field, and everyone kind of stayed away from it because of that. But then in 2013 there was a breakthrough. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health figured out how to target the virus. After that, as people started to realize that R.S.V. was a threat for older adults too, the market size for a vaccine grew and more companies became interested and invested. So where are we now? Things are actually looking great. We have a bunch of vaccine candidates for adults that are doing really well. GSK had late-stage clinical trials finish earlier this year, and their results looked great in terms of severe disease. It looks like the vaccine may be approved within a few months. Pfizer also has a vaccine in clinical trials to protect infants. Their results show that the vaccine is not fantastic against infection, but it looks pretty good against severe disease and hospitalization. It looks like both vaccines, as well as another one that Pfizer is developing for adults, might be available by next fall. What’s the best way to protect ourselves from R.S.V.? It’s mainly older adults and parents who have to really worry about this. I would say that parents need to keep an eye on their children. If they see that their kids develop a fever and look like they may have any trouble breathing, they should immediately bring them to the doctor or even to the emergency room. Also, wash your hands and wear a face mask if you can because there is a lot of R.S.V. around, especially if you’re immunocompromised. Adults who are sick should definitely avoid contact with anybody who might be at risk. Even if you have a cold, and you only have minor symptoms, it may be pretty serious for somebody else. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. What else we’re following Coronavirus Researchers warned the Food and Drug Administration that flawed readings on oxygen devices might have contributed to deaths, especially among Black and dark-skinned patients, during the coronavirus pandemic. Officials in Guangzhou said they were battling a “dire and complicated” outbreak, The South China Morning Post reports. Covid lockdown measures have generated a wave of fear and unrest inside the world’s largest iPhone manufacturing complex, in north-central China. Researchers are exploring treatments that would block the human proteins that the virus uses against us, The Washington Post reports. Nature explored the research into a Covid nasal spray. Monkeypox Many cases and deaths in Africa’s outbreak are going undetected, Reuters reports. Despite falling cases in the U.S., the World Health Organization said the outbreak remains a global health emergency, Reuters reports. Ebola Those who are fighting Ebola in Uganda say they are encountering pockets of resistance to health measures, The Associated Press reports. Other viral threats In biological labs across the U.S., hundreds of accidents — including some that have infected people with harmful viruses — have gone undisclosed to the public, The Intercept reports. From your Covid diaries Feb. 9, 2021. Glendale, Calif. This morning at 9 a.m., I picked up the remote to turn on my radio and put it back down on the breakfast table because I realized that I was enjoying the silence of the cloudy morning. It felt intense. The silence held my attention; a little hum from the air purifier, but otherwise, total silence. Yes! I liked it. For a year now, silence has been my companion. It has become the norm. Today there are no voices in the courtyard, no footsteps in the hallway, no knocks on my door, no bridge game, no lunch date, no hugs or kisses and the loving sounds that go with them. In the silence I pay tribute to my friends who have died. People with whom I made memories and shared love and laughter and most, a decade younger than myself. I have often wondered how monks and hermits go for years without speaking. This morning I am beginning to see the richness of avoiding banality, the balm of self-involvement and nurture. The world makes no sense anyway and there is a virus out there that is looking to kill me. So I say “yes” to silence and wonder of self-discovery. — Sally Currie April 26, 2020. Horsham, Pa. I could only select 10 people to be at my mom’s graveside funeral today. How do you select the 10 most important people to pay homage to a life? I felt like I was standing outside a sports event selling tickets. “Sorry, I only have 10 seats.” The rabbi even participated virtually so she could save a spot. One person who wanted to be there to honor my mom sat in his car with his wife. My mom was buried in a hospital gown without her hair or makeup done and in two body bags so she didn’t contaminate the soil. Traditionally I should have been able to assist in burying her and this I was also denied. How can she have survived stage 4 metastatic breast cancer for 10 years and lost her life to Covid?! My best friend is gone. I’ve never felt so alone. — Bari Himes If you’d like to share an entry from your diary during the pandemic, you can do so here. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 5, 2022 Members Share Posted November 5, 2022 November 4, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Hannah Beier/Reuters Study Shows New Booster Improves Protection for Older People, Pfizer Says Federal officials are hoping that the encouraging results will spur more Americans to get an updated booster before a feared surge in coronavirus cases this winter. By Sharon LaFraniere Pool photo by Kay Nietfeld Germany’s Leader Seeks Accord With China on Covid Vaccines Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a visit to Beijing that China and the European Union were working toward approval of each other’s pandemic vaccines. By Keith Bradsher and Melissa Eddy Yang Zhibin/Visual China Group, via Getty Images 3-Year-Old in China Dies After Covid Restrictions Delayed Care When the boy’s father asked for help getting his son to the hospital, he was told to put on a mask. Local officials promised to “learn from this painful lesson.” By Joy Dong and Vivian Wang Getty Images New Covid Variants Are Circulating. Here’s What to Know. The “nightmare variant” is not as bad as it sounds. By Knvul Sheikh Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times The Pandemic Generation Goes to College. It Has Not Been Easy. Students missed a lot of high school instruction. Now many are behind, especially in math, and getting that degree could be harder. By Eliza Fawcett Louise Delmotte for The New York Times In Bid to Show It Is Open, Hong Kong Bends Covid Rules … for Some Three splashy events this week were meant to prove that the former British colony was still “Asia’s World City.” But Covid exemptions were provided for visitors from overseas, especially the wealthy ones. By Alexandra Stevenson and Tiffany May What else we’re following Coronavirus Covid cases in China are at their highest level in nearly three months, Reuters reports. Pfizer and BioNTech began a study on a combined Covid and flu vaccine, Reuters reports. Vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations may have cost more than one million lives, Nature reports. The Los Angeles Times asks: Are the unvaccinated still a threat to the rest of us? R.S.V. ABC News reports that cases in the U.S. have hit a two-year high, according to C.D.C. data. The European Commission approved Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s R.S.V. vaccine for infants, Reuters reports. Increased demand for amoxicillin amid the R.S.V. surge has led to shortages of the antibiotic, The Washington Post reports. Monkeypox New research suggests that the virus can be transmitted before the first symptoms appear, Reuters reports. A new study found that cases in people under 18 are rare and largely not severe, U.S. News reports. Ebola The death toll from the outbreak in Uganda rose to 48, with 131 confirmed cases, Reuters reports. In Opinion, the national incident manager for Ebola for Uganda’s Ministry of Health argues that the outbreak is testing what we learned during the Covid pandemic. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 7, 2022 Members Share Posted November 7, 2022 How to Recover From COVID-19 at Home Here’s how to treat mild or moderate COVID-19 and alleviate symptoms, with help from over-the-counter medications, nondrug strategies, antiviral pills, remdesivir, or monoclonal antibodies. https://www.everydayhealth.com/coronavirus/how-to-recover-from-covid-19-at-home/? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 8, 2022 Members Share Posted November 8, 2022 November 7, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. How are you approaching the holidays? Last year, many of us woke up the day after Thanksgiving to news of the emergence of Omicron, a highly contagious new coronavirus variant that was driving up cases in Southern Africa. We spent the next few weeks scrambling to learn about the new threat, and what it meant for our lives — and holiday plans. This season, things look different. While we’re living with a mishmash of Omicron subvariants, the virus hasn’t mutated drastically in the last year. We’ve had months to adapt to Omicron and, at this point, many of us have been infected. Many people are also trying to move on from the pandemic as best they can — even as experts warn of a “tripledemic” of Covid, flu and R.S.V. cases this winter. Looking ahead to this holiday season, we’d like to know: How are you approaching it? Are you taking precautions, or finally going back to big maskless gatherings for the holidays? We’d also like to know if some positive changes brought on by the pandemic have become holiday traditions. You can let us know your thoughts here. We may use your response in an upcoming newsletter. Now onto the news … TOP NEWS Jae C. Hong/Associated Press Matter Covid Patients Coming Off Ventilators Can Take Weeks to Regain Consciousness A new paper suggests that the combination of the virus and anesthesia plunges the brain into a prolonged state of quiet — like a freshwater turtle in winter. By Carl Zimmer Joe Raedle/Getty Images Paxlovid May Reduce Risk of Long Covid in Eligible Patients, Study Finds The research looked at patients who qualified for the antiviral through age or health conditions. Those who took it shortly after infection were 26 percent less likely to have symptoms 90 days later. By Pam Belluck Andrew Kelly/Reuters Apple Could Be Short of iPhones Because of Factory Disruptions in China The company said Covid-19 restrictions were slowing production of the company’s new phones ahead of the holiday season. By Tripp Mickle What else we’re following Coronavirus The Wall Street Journal reports that China is weighing ending its “zero Covid” policy, but there is no set timeline. Guangzhou in southern China is facing strict control measures amid a surge, as cases across China reach a six-month high, South China Morning Post reports. U.S. officials halted all travel to a research station in Antarctica after a Covid outbreak tore through the outpost, NBC News reports. USA Today looked at the development of flu and Covid combination vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The Guardian has a visual explainer of the impact of long Covid. R.S.V. A surge in R.S.V. cases is revealing a severe shortage in hospital staffing across the country, Vox reports. Amy Schumer, the comedian, said her son was hospitalized with R.S.V., calling it the “hardest week of my life,” CBS News reports. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 10, 2022 Members Share Posted November 10, 2022 November 9, 2022 Welcome to the Virus Briefing, your comprehensive guide to the latest news and expert analysis on the coronavirus pandemic and other outbreaks. Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker. Kennedy International Airport in Queens last holiday season.Karsten Moran for The New York Times How to approach the holidays By Jonathan Wolfe There was a brief moment this fall, when Covid-19 cases were low and we hadn’t yet heard the word “tripledemic,” that I thought we might have something close to a normal holiday season, for the first time in years. But the last few weeks have changed the picture. A soup of Omicron variants is swirling across the U.S., and we don’t yet know how much these variants will spread this winter. Meanwhile, a surge in flu and R.S.V. cases is already stretching hospitals thin, and we still have months of cold weather ahead. For advice on managing the holidays this year, I turned to my colleague Dani Blum, a reporter on the Well desk. How should we approach the holidays? This is our third pandemic holiday season, so a lot of us are really tired of taking precautions and the mental gymnastics they require. So my main advice this year is to make a plan. I know how uncomfortable it can be to call up your relatives and ask them, “When are you testing?” and “How are you thinking about virus precautions this year?” But thinking through some of these obstacles together and getting on the same page may alleviate a lot of anxiety and tension. The other major thing to keep in mind is to plan around the highest-risk person. The calculations are going to be different for a family with older relatives than for a Friendsgiving of twentysomethings where no one is immunocompromised. Another thing experts I spoke to advised was to do a mini-quarantine before the holidays. How does that work? A mini-quarantine means spending about a week minimizing your interactions with people before you gather. So maybe you have the ability to work from home instead of going into the office. Do that. Maybe that week you only meet friends outdoors, or go grocery shopping at the least crowded time, or order groceries to your house. It’s also not the time to be going to a packed bar or restaurant. Depending on how high-risk the most vulnerable person in your group is, your weeklong mini-quarantine can be on a gradient. Why one week? It’s not going to completely insulate you from risk, of course, but if you’re watching for symptoms and testing responsibly, you’ll have a pretty good idea during that week whether you have Covid. The experts I spoke to said it’s about minimizing your risk, along with testing, to give yourself as much data as possible so you can make the best decisions. What else should we keep in mind? In terms of masking, I think it’s not super realistic to ask people to mask for something like a Thanksgiving dinner. Where masking makes the most sense is during transportation to and from an event. If you are getting on a plane or a train, you want to make sure that you’re wearing a mask for as long as possible, and not just any mask but a high-quality mask. The experts I spoke to had a lot of confidence in one-way masking. Even if you are the only person on a plane wearing a mask, it still provides decent protection. Also, this is a big one: If you feel sick — as sad as it is — you should stay home, even if that means skipping out on family gatherings over the holidays. You might have Covid, you might have the flu, or you might have R.S.V. You might be able to rule out Covid with a test, but it’s harder with the other two. And an important thing to know about R.S.V. is that adults can get it, too. And while it might be mild for you, it can be very serious for older adults, younger children and people with weakened immune systems. What should I do if I get Covid? The C.D.C.’s current guidance is to stay at home at least five days and isolate from others as much as possible. I should also say that new Omicron variants are steadily gaining ground in the U.S., and it’s not totally clear yet what’s going to happen with them. Cases are currently ticking up, and there are other viruses circulating. We know that a lot of the precautions that we take for Covid will also help manage the flu and R.S.V., like washing our hands and masking. So, despite many places no longer requiring masks, and despite a lot of people — myself included — allowing more risk into our lives, there are still plenty of reasons to take Covid precautions around the holidays. How are you personally approaching the holidays? I’m going home, and I have a relatively large family. I’m doing a mini-quarantine one week before, and I’ll be testing with both P.C.R. and rapid tests right up until the moment I see them. My life may look a little restrictive leading up to the holidays, but then during the holidays it will look like any other. I’ll be able to act normally, share meals and hug my siblings. It should be really lovely — it just requires some advance planning. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Your approach to the holidays We asked readers how they are approaching the holiday season this year. Thanks to everyone who shared their plans. “This year, I am approaching the holidays as I did in prepandemic years. Looking forward to baking, gift shopping and hosting and attending parties with family and friends. We will have a large group for Thanksgiving, and I am choosing not to mask or worry about the guests’ vaccination status. I imagine one or two people I know will test positive sometime during the holidays, but it won’t give me the same level of anxiety it did in years past. We suffered broken friendships, job changes, moved from our community and missed out on so much during the last two holiday seasons I am mentally not able to invest in so much stress and worry anymore.” — Alison, Arizona “As an immune-compromised person, I do not have the luxury of ‘returning to normal.’ I plan to approach the holidays cautiously, with many of the recommended Covid protocols. I booked my flight at a less busy time so I can spend Christmas and Kwanzaa with family.” — Akay, Minnesota “I have decided to go all in. I got the extra leaf for the dining room table down from the attic. I bought Thanksgiving napkins. I invited 10 of my closest relatives.” — Jean, Pittsboro, N.C. “I am approaching the holidays almost the same as before the pandemic, with the following exceptions: I will not travel or interact if not feeling well. I will home-test if there are adults over the age of 65 attending any gathering. I will not attend any event in which a mask is required.” — Timothy Taylor, Longmeadow, Mass. “This will be our third year of missing our family for the holidays. Our tradition of flying to Portland to gather with my children and grandchildren has been scuttled. We are in our 70s. The other side of the family does not believe in Covid. ‘It is over,’ they have said for a year, telling their 75-year-old heart patient father they ‘will not test, vaccinate, distance or wear masks’ and that ‘they would love to see him, but if he wants to see them, it’s his choice.’ It has been heartbreaking.” — Ann Sasnett, California Your pandemic traditions We also asked readers if the pandemic brought on any positive changes that became holiday traditions. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. “We began celebrating ‘Chrisgiving’ in 2020. This will be our third year having our family Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration the first weekend in December. Less air travelers, less exposure to the latest version of whatever disease and an entire long weekend of my children and their significant others to myself — I don’t have to share them with their in-laws!” — Michele Pugleasa, Minneapolis “My family has finally started cutting out the unnecessary guests that no one really enjoys inviting each year. It sounds bad, but it really takes a weight off everyone’s shoulders and lets us have a better time with just the people closest to us.” — Morgan, Wisconsin “The pandemic helped me get into baking. Now during holidays I contribute by making baked goods for everyone in my family. It’s become a tradition and something I will continue to do over the years.” — Kaylie Parker, California “Christmas cards became more creative. I continue this tradition with my twist … watercoloring. Pandemic quarantine made my hidden artist bloom.” — Maryellen McWhirter, San Diego “When my family and I were in lockdown, we had a very small gathering for the holidays. We decided that it was better than having everyone together at the same time. We had more quality visits, and it was less stressful. We are resuming small gatherings this year. Rather than all getting together on one day, we have several smaller, more intimate gatherings throughout the holiday season.” — Christine Larkin, Bay Shore, N.Y. “We have certainly become more appreciative of being able to be together, and we don’t take it for granted. We stay home together more and play games and talk. We’re not on our devices all the time. It reminds me of when I was a child and everyone gathered together and shared stories and went around the table and stated two things they were grateful for. When family is around, we do that now.” — Clare Leach, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico “I lost my husband, Mike, who loved a big Christmas tree, to Covid in April 2020. We still try to honor the big tree and lights.” — Mary Mantell, New Jersey What else we’re following Coronavirus Guangzhou, the new epicenter of China’s outbreak, is suffering from widespread lockdowns, The South China Morning Post reports. The virus is still keeping millions of Americans out of the work force, disrupting businesses and raising costs, The Wall Street Journal reports. New research from Northeastern University suggests that women are at higher risk of long Covid. Companies, investors and global policymakers are playing an economic guessing game: When will the Chinese government ditch its zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19? The New York Times Style Magazine imagined what a Covid memorial could look like. R.S.V. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center set up a tent to handle the surge of local R.S.V. patients, CBS reports. In Rhode Island, every single pediatric hospital bed is full amid the surge in respiratory viruses. Ebola Uganda is struggling to contain its Ebola outbreak as cases rise and doctors go without pay, The Wall Street Journal reports. Leaked government projections of Uganda’s outbreak suggest there could be 500 fatalities in the country by April, The Telegraph reports. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back Friday. — Jonathan Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 11, 2022 Members Share Posted November 11, 2022 November 11, 2022 Here’s your update on the coronavirus pandemic and other virus news. TOP NEWS Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images China Eases Some Pandemic Policies, While Sticking to ‘Zero Covid’ Investors cheered the changes, although officials emphasized that measures “must not be relaxed.” By Alexandra Stevenson Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times Masks Cut Covid Spread in Schools, Study Finds In a so-called natural experiment, two school districts in Boston maintained masking after mandates had been lifted in others, enabling a unique comparison. By Roni Caryn Rabin Seth Wenig/Associated Press Markets Rise at End of a Strong Week Signs of China easing its pandemic restrictions added to investors’ bullishness about cooling inflation in the United States. By Joe Rennison Jenn Liv Want to Hold Onto Elite Status With Your Airline? It’s Going to Cost You. There was a moment at the height of the pandemic when rewards programs were lowering the velvet rope for more than the privileged few. But it’s time to prepare for the “great reset” in elite status. By Victoria M. Walker What else we’re following Coronavirus The Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 made up nearly 45 percent of all cases in the U.S. this last week, up from about 33 percent last week, according to C.D.C. data. A new study found that being reinfected with the virus can be riskier than the first infection, The Washington Post reports. New cases fell in the U.K. for the first time in nearly three months, The Guardian reports. Here’s advice for cleaning your house when someone is sick from Tara Parker-Pope at The Washington Post. Virologists told Nature that we have almost no chance of finding Covid’s direct ancestor. A writer at The Washington Post explored masking in gyms today. R.S.V. Hospitalizations from the virus continue to rise, The Wall Street Journal reports. Why is the virus so dangerous for some children but not others? NBC News asks. A new study found that 2 percent of infants are hospitalized with the virus before they turn 1, CNBC reports. The “Today” show explored how the virus is commonly spread. Ebola Schools across Uganda will end their term two weeks early after more cases were found in children, Al Jazeera reports. Nature looked at how mRNA vaccines could be used to fight Ebola. Email your thoughts to virusbriefing@nytimes.com. Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted November 13, 2022 Members Share Posted November 13, 2022 How to Cope With a COVID-19 Cough One of the top symptoms of COVID-19 is a cough that won’t quit. Here’s why you’re hacking away and how to get some relief. https://www.everydayhealth.com/coronavirus/how-to-cope-with-a-covid-19-cough/? Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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