I just found out that my mom, sister and niece (all of whom live together in the States) all have COVID-19. My mom is in her 80s and my sister is immunocompromised, so this has me more than a tad concerned, though they seem to be faring okay so far.
22 Likes
If I could get run over by a car whenever a bad driver coughed on me, maybe bad drivers should wear a mask or something
10 Likes
I think this should be noted here as well
19 Likes
Of course, we could also reduce the numbers of deaths from malaria and tuberculosis if we could get vaccines and medications into the hands of more people in some of the poorest countries on earth. I am afraid that COVID-19 will probably be the same…
6 Likes
19 Likes
“ One of the four factors researchers identified is the level of coronavirus RNA in the blood early in the infection, an indicator of viral load. Another is the presence of certain autoantibodies — antibodies that mistakenly attack tissues in the body as they do in conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. A third factor is the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, a virus that infects most people, often when they are young, and then usually becomes dormant.
The final factor is having Type 2 diabetes, although the researchers and other experts said that in studies involving larger numbers of patients, it might turn out that diabetes is only one of several medical conditions that increase the risk of long Covid.
“I think this research stresses the importance of doing measurements early in the disease course to figure out how to treat patients, even if we don’t really know how we’re going to use all that information yet,” said Jim Heath, the principal investigator of the study and president of the Institute for Systems Biology, a nonprofit biomedical research organization in Seattle.”
19 Likes
Experts on Germany’s constitution have warned that the victimhood narrative expressed by many of the protesters is in danger of being exploited by extremist elements.
The Guardian needs experts to tell them?
15 Likes
15 Likes
12 Likes
The 
media has been too quiet about the death rate from the current wave. There are lots of solid points from Ontario experts in the story below, highlighting the profound importance of system impact vs. personal impact.
“What’s mild about any of this?” asked Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health and the University Health Network. … “I think right now we’re seeing the devastating consequences of just not being as proactive as we needed to be,” … The early narrative of Omicron’s relative mildness may have led both policy-makers and individual people to not be as vigilant as they could have been, Sinha said.
It’s frustrating that even well-educated individuals I know latched onto “milder” and decided that the pandemic is over for them. A Danish study, reported on Monday, shows Omicron leading to about 1/3 fewer hospital admissions (vs. Delta), adjusted across categories of vaccination status. … really not that much. 
11 Likes
@LutherBlisset The Guardian needs experts to tell them?
Not really, but it spares them accusations of cultural insensitivity.
… and I’d say it’s fair to think that 
instincts when it comes to cultural sensitivity are … uneven …
8 Likes
Most outlets are owned by corporations whose major concern is profit. So, they are Team “Nothing to See Here, Everyone Get Back to Work!” It’s a shame we don’t have a way to hold them accountable for the misinformation they spread. I read this thread to get updates from a variety of sources, because it’s one way to find some facts and hope for real progress instead of the daily dump of bs we’re constantly given. 
14 Likes
Might well be selection bias, but I am not seeing nearly the coverage of overcrowded ICU’s, overworked medical personnel or crumbling medical infrastructure as I did last year this time. And no, it’s not because it isn’t happening. My suspicion is that it doesn’t fit with the “less severe” storyline that is being pushed.
19 Likes
I try to have the perspective not to attribute a this to malice, but rather to journalists and their audience getting bored by it.
“The new normal”, they might call it.
11 Likes
Fears about potentially reactivating my chronic underlying autoimmune disorder have had me worried about even asymptomatic COVID long after being boosted. It’s unpleasant to read but I also feel a little vindicated as a lot of people seem to have this idea that having an op immune system reaction would be a good thing.
17 Likes
Exactly. What really pisses me off is that it affects the public in another negative way. Organizations that try to take emergency measures are seen as being extreme or overreacting, because folks believe/want to believe the situation isn’t that bad. It won’t be long before they shift from protesting masks and lockdowns to funding for equipment and efforts to assist HCWs.
16 Likes
Sadly, that is probably true…
13 Likes
19 Likes
Interesting if preliminary numbers, and another reason to friggin’ not get covid!
18 Likes
Ugh… oncology and virology together is lightyears beyond my scientific ken… up the citation chain, down, up, down, find a survey article… thank goodness for Google Scholar…
FWIW I did find two more recent survey articles or that look at the intersection of COVID-19 and various cancers 
(lung, skin, breast, prostate, ovarian). It seems it might go both ways too…
(Papers are in journals, at least, but I can’t speak to quality; unfortunate text paste in the abstract of the second one.)
Thanks @anon29537550 
… I guess it goes on the WDKS list, but it’s good enough for another paragraph of my Bibliography of Terror-Inducing COVID Science.
12 Likes
