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Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Covid is making more people disabled and exposing America's tattered safety net
America’s safety net is already strained, but Washington has shown little interest in strengthening it.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opi … y-n1291080

Last week, Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, announced that almost two years after he contracted Covid-19, he has lingering effects from the illness. The senator, who described having a “24/7” tingling sensation, told The Washington Post on Wednesday, “I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee.”
That day, Kaine announced legislation that would improve research on the effects of the condition while also trying to improve access to services for people who need them.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

We're Not Prepared For The Next Pandemic Phase: Dealing With Long COVID
It's been two years, and COVD-19 long haulers are no closer to getting the help they need.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pandemic … 61583a74b3

Hogan’s long COVID symptoms run the gamut, from severe nerve pain to exhaustion. Her brain fog is so severe, she jots down why she is making phone calls before she dials so she doesn’t forget. She no longer drives.

“I’ve done all the tests, I’ve gone to all the doctors. Nothing gets better,” Hogan said.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Report: Largest Study Yet Shows Ivermectin Failed to Reduce Covid Hospitalizations
I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 … lizations/

Antiparasitic drug Ivermectin became a partisan battleground during the Covid-19 pandemic, as anti-vaccine influencers and Republican politicians hawked it as a miracle cure, to the widespread skepticism of infectious disease experts.
A peer-reviewed study recently presented by Dr. Edward Mills, a professor of health sciences at McMaster University in Canada, offered significant new evidence that ivermectin was coronavirus snake oil all along.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Florida Advised Against Covid Vaccines for Kids. This Pediatrician Is Appalled.
“The diseases are waiting. They’re waiting for stupidity.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 … -appalled/

This change in guidance bucks recommendations from practically every public health agency, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a statement, Lisa Gwynn, the president of the state’s American Academy of Pediatrics chapter described Florida’s decision as being “irresponsible,” and noted that “there is widespread consensus among medical and public health experts about the life-saving benefits of this vaccine.” She added, “The Surgeon General’s comments today misrepresent the benefits of the vaccine, which has been proven to prevent serious illness, hospitalizations, and long-term symptoms from Covid-19 in children and adolescents, including those who are otherwise healthy.”

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Joe Biden Continues Pushing COVID Vigilance, Even As Nation Loses Interest
The president got his second booster shot and lobbied for Congress to provide more funding. But the pandemic is dropping in importance among the public.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-co … 16d42b52d5

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday got his second COVID booster shot, announced a new coronavirus vaccine and treatment website, and urged Congress to continue providing funding to help with the pandemic — all as polling shows the country is losing interest in the two-year-old public health crisis.

snip

Biden nevertheless encouraged Americans to remain vigilant and get vaccinated, and he urged Congress to renew funding for COVID prevention and treatment programs.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Ivermectin Did Nothing To Help COVID-19 Patients, Large Study Finds
“If there are active treatments, it is better to use those agents than agents that we wish worked," the New England Journal of Medicine's deputy editor said.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ivermect … 266aa77126

The clinical trial, which began in 2020, analyzed more than 1,300 patients in Brazil who were infected with the coronavirus. Half were given ivermectin and half a placebo in the randomized, double-blind study, meaning neither doctors nor trial participants knew what a patient received.
The results confirmed what U.S. health officials have long stressed: Ivermectin did nothing to aid those sickened with the virus or reduce the risk of ending up in the hospital.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

New COVID-19 variant XE identified: What to know and why experts say not to be alarmed

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19- … d=83862042

Public health experts say that recombinant variants are very common and often crop up and disappear on their own.
"Right now, there's really no public health concern," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor. "Recombinant variants happen over and over. In fact, the reason that this is the XE variant recombinant is that we've had XA, XB, XC, XD already, and none of those have turned out to be any real concern."

snip

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

“Endemic” Covid Doesn’t Mean Mild
How the scientific phrase masks political choices.

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2022/ … mean-mild/

People bought plane tickets for holiday travel. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, University of California, San Francisco, infectious disease specialist Monica Gandhi declared, “Covid-19 will soon become endemic—and the sooner the better.” Once this coveted state of endemicity happens, Gandhi wrote, we can all look forward to “a full return to normal.”

snip

After two years of masks, tests, and fights with friends and family over differing levels of Covid caution, many people seem to casually hear what they want in the term: Endemic means the end of the pandemic.

snip

Crucially, Katzourakis said, nowhere in this definition is it implied that the disease is mild. He noted that malaria, endemic in many parts of the world, killed 600,000 in 2020. Tuberculosis, another endemic disease, killed 1.5 million. “As an evolutionary virologist, it frustrates me when policymakers invoke the word endemic as an excuse to do little or nothing,” Katzourakis wrote.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

1 Million People in the United States Have Died of Covid
At the beginning of the pandemic, Fauci said it was “very unlikely.” Now, it has occurred.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 … -of-covid/

More than two years after the start of the pandemic, the United States has reached a staggering milestone: 1 million Americans dead from Covid-19.

Since March 2020, the coronavirus has radically reshaped life. We live in a limbo of individualized choices. Each state, workplace, and person has adopted different norms of masking, distancing, and communing. The pandemic has been different for each of us.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

U.S. Reaches Devastating 1 Million Deaths From COVID-19
Millions of Americans remain unvaccinated even as hundreds of people continue to die each day from the coronavirus.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/one-mill … f866eacd08

An average of over 300 people are still dying each day from COVID-19 — most of whom are unvaccinated — even as safe and effective vaccines have been available to prevent severe illness or death from the virus.

snip

Although hospitalization and death rates from COVID-19 have fallen from their winter peak, new cases have begun to rise again, doubling since April, as highly contagious omicron subvariants spread across the country and hospitalizations are ticking back up.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

People In Counties That Backed Trump Were Twice As Likely To Die From COVID: Study
Lower vaccination rates were critical to the death-rate difference, say researchers.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-co … 5d4d782ad2

Americans in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump in 2020 were 2.26 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than in counties that voted for Joe Biden, according to a new analysis of data.
The extra toll in Republican counties is significant, especially given that one million people have now died of COVID-19 in the U.S.
National Public Radio examined deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the country from May 2021, a time when most Americans could obtain vaccines. Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of counties that voted in comparable percentages for Biden, NPR reported.
Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Severity of COVID-19 infection linked to air pollution: Canadian study

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavir … -1.5915665

Nitrogen dioxide is emitted in engine exhaust, which then breaks down in the atmosphere into ozone. All three pollutants together create smog.
The scientists then combined the health and pollution data, using statistical methods to weed out the effects of more than 10 different "confounding factors," such as pre-existing conditions and economic status.
The researchers were able to show that more severe reactions to the virus were associated with higher levels of long-term exposure to air contaminants.
For every 25 per cent increase in fine particles a patient had been exposed to, the chance of being admitted to hospital after being infected with COVID-19 increased by six per cent and the odds of being admitted into an ICU increased nine per cent.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Ontario researchers say they've found what causes long-COVID symptoms

https://london.ctvnews.ca/ontario-resea … -1.5966717

Researchers at Western University in London, Ont., say they have identified for the first time the cause of long COVID symptoms.
According to a press release issued Tuesday by Western, the LIVECOVIDFREE study, which is based at five centres throughout Ontario and spearheaded by Western professor Grace Parraga, is the largest MRI study of patients afflicted with long COVID.
The use of MRI technology — combined with inhaled xenon gas — allowed researchers to see that long-COVID symptoms are related to the microscopic abnormalities that affect how oxygen is exchanged from the lungs to the red blood cells.

The results of the study were published in the journal Radiology and reveal a potential cause for long-COVID symptoms.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Florida Pediatrician Axed From State Board For Pro-Vaccine Comments
Dr. Lisa Gwynn's assertion that parents of children under 5 should have easy access to COVID-19 vaccines landed her in hot water.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida- … d842766ab#

A Florida pediatrician has been booted off a state-appointed public health board of directors for statements about COVID-19 vaccines that displeased at least one Republican elected official.

The pediatrician, Dr. Lisa Gwynn, had been advocating for equal access to the vaccine for children under 5 years old at a time when the state of Florida was running counter to health advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Florida is the only state that has not ordered vaccines for young children, despite the CDC’s recommendation that children under 5 be given the shots to protect against severe illness and death by the coronavirus.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

I Was A COVID Doctor. Here's The One Thing I Refuse To Do As We 'Get Back To Normal.'
"For the past two years, I have wanted a megaphone to drown out the voices of those who didn’t seem to mind if their policies landed me in a body bag."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-do … 8abd5a0a65

I clocked out from my final COVID shift last week. For the past two years, I have done it all when it comes to the patients in our COVID inbox: screening for who gets tests when tests were rationed, triaging who should stay home when care was rationed, prioritizing who gets vaccines when vaccines were rationed, and deciding who gets treatments when treatments were rationed. Decisions made by those in power have affected every aspect of the health care we could offer, and the resultant toll on health care workers has been immeasurable. Health care workers are not OK.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Mask Mandates Return To Some School Districts Amid COVID Uptick
A majority of U.S. counties are experiencing medium or high community spread, the CDC says.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-m … 14dc40430b

As the BA.5 omicron subvariant fuels a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in many areas around the country, some school districts are bringing back mask mandates.
Indoor masking rules have been largely abandoned since the earlier days of the pandemic, when vaccines were not yet available. But with high community spread in many counties and the fall semester looming, some administrators are reconsidering their position.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

California’s Farms and Meatpackers Had More Covid Violations Than all Other Industries Combined
And getting dinged for breaking safety rules didn’t appear to make these workplaces any safer.

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2022/0 … rnia-osha/

A new study shines a bright light on just how bad things were for food workers in California, the state with the most food-production jobs and highest agricultural output. From April 2020 through December 2002, the report found, food-production facilities (think farms, meat-processing plants, produce packing houses) got cited for violations of Covid protocol more than all other industries combined—and at four times the rate of any single industry, including other high-risk ones like hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

COVID Superspreader Events Still Exist. Here's What They Look Like Now.
Just because we don't hear about clusters of infections like we did in 2020 and 2021 doesn't mean they don't happen.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-su … 77bc1e2622

The United States defunded and scaled back its testing and contact tracing programs in early 2022, and in doing so, we lost track of just how widespread COVID is. But if you’ve been out and about, or heard stories from other people who’ve been out and about, it seems as though superspreading events after large gatherings like concerts, weddings and conferences are still very much a thing.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Fauci Criticizes ‘Tireless’ Vaccine Misinfo Spreaders, Plans To Testify Before GOP House
The retiring head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says he regrets not more forcefully countering rampant vaccine disinformation.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fauci-ho … 739625b31b

“I have no trouble testifying… I have nothing to hide,” said Fauci in likely his final appearance in the White House briefing room prior to his leaving government after 54 years at the National Institute of Health, the final 38 running the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Fauci Says U.S. Is Still In COVID Pandemic Phase, Has Tools To Fight Winter Surge
“I think you just need to look at the numbers," Fauci said. "We’re still having between 300 and 400 deaths per day.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony- … c42d408a28

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s outgoing chief medical adviser, on Sunday said the country is still in the pandemic phase of COVID-19.
“We certainly are still in it,” Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think you just need to look at the numbers. We’re still having between 300 and 400 deaths per day.”
As of Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recorded a weekly total of 305,082 cases and 2,644 deaths. The case numbers are likely an undercount given the prevalence of at-home COVID-19 tests.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Fauci Says U.S. Is Still In COVID Pandemic Phase, Has Tools To Fight Winter Surge
“I think you just need to look at the numbers," Fauci said. "We’re still having between 300 and 400 deaths per day.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony- … c42d408a28

“We certainly are still in it,” Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think you just need to look at the numbers. We’re still having between 300 and 400 deaths per day.”

As of Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recorded a weekly total of 305,082 cases and 2,644 deaths. The case numbers are likely an undercount given the prevalence of at-home COVID-19 tests.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

COVID Superspreader Events Still Exist. Here's What They Look Like Now.
Just because we don't hear about clusters of infections like we did in 2020 and 2021 doesn't mean they don't happen.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-su … 77bc1e2622

The United States defunded and scaled back its testing and contact tracing programs in early 2022, and in doing so, we lost track of just how widespread COVID is. But if you’ve been out and about, or heard stories from other people who’ve been out and about, it seems as though superspreading events after large gatherings like concerts, weddings and conferences are still very much a thing.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

WHO 'Very Concerned' About Reports Of Severe COVID In China
The unchecked spread of COVID-19 in China has sparked concerns that new virus variants could emerge and unravel progress made to contain the pandemic.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/who-conc … c9b20539fa

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero COVID” policy, warning that its lagging vaccination rate could result in large numbers of vulnerable people getting infected.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Report highlights cost of misinformation to healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic

http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2023/january/ … ation.html

A new report has highlighted the consequences of misinformation, including loss of trust in public institutions, delayed action on pressing issues such as climate change, and the financial toll on healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Vaccine hesitancy, COVID conspiracies led to thousands of deaths, high cost for health care system, report finds

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ … formation/

Vaccine hesitancy, fuelled by misinformation and conspiracy theories, led to thousands of unnecessary deaths and hospital stays and cost the health care system at least $300-million during two COVID-19 waves in 2021, according to a report that highlights the urgent risk to society of such false claims.

The report, based on the work of an expert panel and published Thursday by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), a non-profit organization based in Ottawa, shows how misinformation is eroding trust in public institutions and exacerbating health crises.

“It’s pretty clear that tens of thousands of preventable hospitalizations did occur because of misinformation,” said Alex Himelfarb, chair of the expert panel and former clerk of the Privy Council. “We are confident those are conservative estimates.”

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

New COVID Origins Data Suggests Pandemic Originated From Animals
International scientists have examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market in China.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-as-vi … 3e6073850f

International scientists who examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market close to where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in China said they found suggestions the pandemic originated from animals, not a lab.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

New COVID Origins Data Suggests Pandemic Originated From Animals
International scientists have examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market in China.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-as-vi … 3e6073850f

International scientists who examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market close to where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in China said they found suggestions the pandemic originated from animals, not a lab.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

New COVID Origins Data Suggests Pandemic Originated From Animals
International scientists have examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market in China.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-as-vi … 3e6073850f

International scientists who examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market close to where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in China said they found suggestions the pandemic originated from animals, not a lab.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

New COVID Origins Data Suggests Pandemic Originated From Animals
International scientists have examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market in China.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-as-vi … e6073850f#

International scientists who examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market close to where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in China said they found suggestions the pandemic originated from animals, not a lab.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

Ignoring Experts, China's Sudden Zero-COVID Exit Cost Lives
Many older people weren’t vaccinated and hospitals didn’t have adequate supplies, reportedly leading to as many as hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/china-ze … 3e6076ee4b

BEIJING (AP) — When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases, with hospitals turning away ambulances and crematoriums burning bodies around the clock

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

The XBB.1.16 COVID Symptoms Doctors Are Seeing The Most Right Now
The new strain, also known as XBB.1.16, is presenting a few new issues that we haven't really seen with infections before.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/xbb116-c … 403884ba04

XBB.1.16, also referred to as “arcturus,” is a new COVID-19 variant that’s infecting people across the globe. Like BA.5 and BQ.1 from 2022, it’s also an omicron subvariant.

It’s labeled by the World Health Organization as a “variant under monitoring,” according to Jodie Guest, professor of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.

Tallex

Administrator

Re: Covid19 file

The XBB.1.16 COVID Symptoms Doctors Are Seeing The Most Right Now
The new strain, also known as XBB.1.16, is presenting a few new issues that we haven't really seen with infections before.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/xbb116-c … 403884ba04

XBB.1.16, also referred to as “arcturus,” is a new COVID-19 variant that’s infecting people across the globe. Like BA.5 and BQ.1 from 2022, it’s also an omicron subvariant.