Thursday, August 13, 2020
Our house is surrounded by archetypal Chesapeake Bay marshland and woods that are the home to many, many animals (as I have mentioned). We share the area with an enormous variety of flying insects, some of whom spend their last earthly moments inside my house. Very few of them bite or sting. None of them are venomous. Most of them appear to want to do their insect thing. (Though admittedly, some of the bugs do appear angry.) Despite these realities, there are frequent moments of irrational terror in my house at the unexpected visit by one of these insects. Fear over rationality. Automatic thoughts over logic and reason. For some, masks, vice presidential candidates, or varying degrees of cutaneous melanin content seem to elicit these kinds of responses. Having such poorly controlled reactions to a diverse world looks like a burden.
Learn more about my marsh! https://md.audubon.org/conservation/marylands-unique-saltmarshes
------
Latest Data
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
stable new cases per million in the US
steady death rate @ 3.2 per million in the US on August 11
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally:
There is still a stable or declining rate of new cases in more states than not. Deaths in the southeast US are still rising.
The NYT has the best state-level data visualization:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----------
The COVID tracking project, once again, offers concern and advice regarding data irregularities in the hospital and state-level reporting.
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293684375423340544
and
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293694479723950080
and
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293693703060516864?s=20
The JAMA editorial looking at evidence for aerosolized vs. droplet spread of coronavirus is excellent. After the OCMO discussion on this yesterday, I decided to share it. The commentary is a concise and logical review of the best available data we have. It appears that droplet spread is still the predominant means of transmission. BUT, there is a clear discussion of the variables and many unknowns. Remember, "Infection depends on the route of exposure, the size of the inoculum, the duration of exposure, and host defenses."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768396
Some of our weekly COVID Q&A discussion has focused on the lack of evidence surrounding mask efficacy. Thanks to a loyal reader, I can share this article from Duke. It demonstrates how quarantine does not need to hinder research. Moreover, it speaks to the relative effectiveness of different materials in preventing (or not) droplet transmission. I strongly suggest downloading the supplemental materials. Despite the limitations of the work, it is interesting.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083
Supplemental materials: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083.DC1
The NY Times has a very informative article on vaccine development. Though it is about two weeks old, it is worthy of review, especially in light of this week's news discussions on vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/health/covid-19-vaccine-monkeys.html
Infographic of the day: Allergies. Sort of.
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ProbablyAllergies.jpg
from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/you-probably-have-allergies-flowchart_n_7129762
Bonus Round --- Offshoot readings from books
We recently listened to Ta-Nehisi Coates's book Between the World and Me. The book is a letter to the author's son, named (in part) after Samori Ture, a Sunni Muslim cleric who led a professional army in resistance to French colonial rule in West Africa in the late 1800s. Exploring this time and space in history exposed numerous gaps in my knowledge. Outside of Heart of Darkness, I have not studied this aspect of European or African history. It was yet another part of the world caught in the interplay of European politics via proxy wars and territorial conquest. The story is marked by groups of Africans resisting colonial expansion. The parallels with the other indigenous people facing economically and technologically superior powers seeking natural resources are striking. Ture seems like a focused and strategic thinker. Interestingly, though, there is a paucity of specific writings or quotes from Toure. It took a fair bit of digging to find anything approximating a primary source of information:
https://www.ankataa.com/blog/2019/2/7/samori-kurubari-delafosse
Here is a 1901 transcription of oral history (use google to translate to English):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170322230317/https://www.bamanan.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:histoire-de-samory-traduction-francaise&catid=7:histoire&Itemid=9
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Be safe. I'll be back via email on Monday.
Our house is surrounded by archetypal Chesapeake Bay marshland and woods that are the home to many, many animals (as I have mentioned). We share the area with an enormous variety of flying insects, some of whom spend their last earthly moments inside my house. Very few of them bite or sting. None of them are venomous. Most of them appear to want to do their insect thing. (Though admittedly, some of the bugs do appear angry.) Despite these realities, there are frequent moments of irrational terror in my house at the unexpected visit by one of these insects. Fear over rationality. Automatic thoughts over logic and reason. For some, masks, vice presidential candidates, or varying degrees of cutaneous melanin content seem to elicit these kinds of responses. Having such poorly controlled reactions to a diverse world looks like a burden.
Learn more about my marsh! https://md.audubon.org/conservation/marylands-unique-saltmarshes
------
Latest Data
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
stable new cases per million in the US
steady death rate @ 3.2 per million in the US on August 11
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally:
There is still a stable or declining rate of new cases in more states than not. Deaths in the southeast US are still rising.
The NYT has the best state-level data visualization:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----------
The COVID tracking project, once again, offers concern and advice regarding data irregularities in the hospital and state-level reporting.
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293684375423340544
and
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293694479723950080
and
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1293693703060516864?s=20
The JAMA editorial looking at evidence for aerosolized vs. droplet spread of coronavirus is excellent. After the OCMO discussion on this yesterday, I decided to share it. The commentary is a concise and logical review of the best available data we have. It appears that droplet spread is still the predominant means of transmission. BUT, there is a clear discussion of the variables and many unknowns. Remember, "Infection depends on the route of exposure, the size of the inoculum, the duration of exposure, and host defenses."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768396
Some of our weekly COVID Q&A discussion has focused on the lack of evidence surrounding mask efficacy. Thanks to a loyal reader, I can share this article from Duke. It demonstrates how quarantine does not need to hinder research. Moreover, it speaks to the relative effectiveness of different materials in preventing (or not) droplet transmission. I strongly suggest downloading the supplemental materials. Despite the limitations of the work, it is interesting.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083
Supplemental materials: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083.DC1
The NY Times has a very informative article on vaccine development. Though it is about two weeks old, it is worthy of review, especially in light of this week's news discussions on vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/health/covid-19-vaccine-monkeys.html
Infographic of the day: Allergies. Sort of.
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ProbablyAllergies.jpg
from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/you-probably-have-allergies-flowchart_n_7129762
Bonus Round --- Offshoot readings from books
We recently listened to Ta-Nehisi Coates's book Between the World and Me. The book is a letter to the author's son, named (in part) after Samori Ture, a Sunni Muslim cleric who led a professional army in resistance to French colonial rule in West Africa in the late 1800s. Exploring this time and space in history exposed numerous gaps in my knowledge. Outside of Heart of Darkness, I have not studied this aspect of European or African history. It was yet another part of the world caught in the interplay of European politics via proxy wars and territorial conquest. The story is marked by groups of Africans resisting colonial expansion. The parallels with the other indigenous people facing economically and technologically superior powers seeking natural resources are striking. Ture seems like a focused and strategic thinker. Interestingly, though, there is a paucity of specific writings or quotes from Toure. It took a fair bit of digging to find anything approximating a primary source of information:
https://www.ankataa.com/blog/2019/2/7/samori-kurubari-delafosse
Here is a 1901 transcription of oral history (use google to translate to English):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170322230317/https://www.bamanan.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:histoire-de-samory-traduction-francaise&catid=7:histoire&Itemid=9
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Be safe. I'll be back via email on Monday.
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