December 28, 2020, Monday
On the 24th, my older son started the didactic portion of driver's ed via Zoom. Parents had to attend the first session, which was surreal. Flashbacks, disbelief that my kid will be driving, and the banal humor of a well-seasoned certified driving educator were a bit much for 10 am on a Thursday. Sunday was class 3 of 12 for him. My son reported that he is now prepared to offer an essay on yellow lines - a conceptual barrier with real-world ramifications.
-----Latest Data---
Case and death data - the NYT and COVID tracking project have both shifted to a 14-day change in 7-day rolling average. The Financial Times is still using only a 7-day rolling average. Either way, in the U.S., all data shows a decline, but unclear how the holiday impacts reporting at the state level.
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
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 U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
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.
-----
Just before Christmas, my hospital system received the first large quantity of vaccine. I don't know how that varies by state, but I take it as a sign of progress. Full steam ahead.
Bloomberg offers a good vaccine tracker. This website may make it to the data section. It feels like a dash of "good" data in a sea of exponentially concerning numbers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
A loyal reader sent me this provocative blog/opinion piece on maximizing the current vaccine supply by giving more people a single 1st dose. I am not sure I agree with the line of thought (and have doubts any state will try this), but as a modeling exercise, this offers some ways to think about medical ethics, immunity, and blunting the post-Christmas surge. https://cddep.org/blog/posts/vaccinating-more-people-now-by-delaying-the-second-shot-of-the-covid-19-vaccine-would-save-more-lives/
AstraZeneca is in the news over the weekend -
Their vaccine is likely getting approval for use in the U.K. this week
https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1343044742200889344?s=20
And AZ is starting Phase III trials of a two-monoclonal antibody cocktail that may offer a longer-term protection.
https://twitter.com/IMJClub/status/1342737042640424961
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/25/uk-scientists-trial-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus-infection-leading-to-disease
A loyal reader pointed to this topic too - a universal flu vaccine using live-attenuated Flu against a less variable portion of the flu virus protein coat.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/innovative-universal-flu-vaccine-shows-promises-it-first-clinical-test
I would not be surprised to see mRNA vaccines for Flu in the coming years as well.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-mrna-vaccines-so-exciting-2020121021599
It is worth reviewing the NYT COVID Treatment tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-drugs-treatments.html
Infographic of the day: What Hand Sanitizer Kills
https://twitter.com/PopSci/status/1235916198270906368/photo/1
useful to remind ourselves that we can still get sick from GI and other viruses (though norovirus is the most likely hand-sanitizer resistant bug you may encounter in "normal" life, I suspect). From https://www.popsci.com/story/health/hand-sanitizer-soap-coronavirus/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
---Bonus Round --- The Politics of Horses
I was reading about the evolution of political factions throughout history this weekend. I came upon the importance of chariot and horse racing as a means (outlet? concentrator?) of political expression in Roman and Byzantine times. The story of how the chariot team fans morphed into opposing political factions in Constantinople of the 530s is just one point on a longer timeline.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/blue-versus-green-rocking-the-byzantine-empire-113325928/
You can see a more updated version of this story of horse racing (they seemed to have dropped the chariots) and Italian politics since before the 1500s.
https://medium.com/@globalizefm/a-horse-race-in-tuscany-has-the-oldest-rivalries-in-sports-so-which-is-best-5871ae53f5f9
and
https://nowheremag.com/2018/06/horse-race-politics/
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
On the 24th, my older son started the didactic portion of driver's ed via Zoom. Parents had to attend the first session, which was surreal. Flashbacks, disbelief that my kid will be driving, and the banal humor of a well-seasoned certified driving educator were a bit much for 10 am on a Thursday. Sunday was class 3 of 12 for him. My son reported that he is now prepared to offer an essay on yellow lines - a conceptual barrier with real-world ramifications.
-----Latest Data---
Case and death data - the NYT and COVID tracking project have both shifted to a 14-day change in 7-day rolling average. The Financial Times is still using only a 7-day rolling average. Either way, in the U.S., all data shows a decline, but unclear how the holiday impacts reporting at the state level.
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
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 U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
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.
-----
Just before Christmas, my hospital system received the first large quantity of vaccine. I don't know how that varies by state, but I take it as a sign of progress. Full steam ahead.
Bloomberg offers a good vaccine tracker. This website may make it to the data section. It feels like a dash of "good" data in a sea of exponentially concerning numbers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
A loyal reader sent me this provocative blog/opinion piece on maximizing the current vaccine supply by giving more people a single 1st dose. I am not sure I agree with the line of thought (and have doubts any state will try this), but as a modeling exercise, this offers some ways to think about medical ethics, immunity, and blunting the post-Christmas surge. https://cddep.org/blog/posts/vaccinating-more-people-now-by-delaying-the-second-shot-of-the-covid-19-vaccine-would-save-more-lives/
AstraZeneca is in the news over the weekend -
Their vaccine is likely getting approval for use in the U.K. this week
https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1343044742200889344?s=20
And AZ is starting Phase III trials of a two-monoclonal antibody cocktail that may offer a longer-term protection.
https://twitter.com/IMJClub/status/1342737042640424961
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/25/uk-scientists-trial-drug-to-prevent-coronavirus-infection-leading-to-disease
A loyal reader pointed to this topic too - a universal flu vaccine using live-attenuated Flu against a less variable portion of the flu virus protein coat.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/innovative-universal-flu-vaccine-shows-promises-it-first-clinical-test
I would not be surprised to see mRNA vaccines for Flu in the coming years as well.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-mrna-vaccines-so-exciting-2020121021599
It is worth reviewing the NYT COVID Treatment tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-drugs-treatments.html
Infographic of the day: What Hand Sanitizer Kills
https://twitter.com/PopSci/status/1235916198270906368/photo/1
useful to remind ourselves that we can still get sick from GI and other viruses (though norovirus is the most likely hand-sanitizer resistant bug you may encounter in "normal" life, I suspect). From https://www.popsci.com/story/health/hand-sanitizer-soap-coronavirus/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
---Bonus Round --- The Politics of Horses
I was reading about the evolution of political factions throughout history this weekend. I came upon the importance of chariot and horse racing as a means (outlet? concentrator?) of political expression in Roman and Byzantine times. The story of how the chariot team fans morphed into opposing political factions in Constantinople of the 530s is just one point on a longer timeline.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/blue-versus-green-rocking-the-byzantine-empire-113325928/
You can see a more updated version of this story of horse racing (they seemed to have dropped the chariots) and Italian politics since before the 1500s.
https://medium.com/@globalizefm/a-horse-race-in-tuscany-has-the-oldest-rivalries-in-sports-so-which-is-best-5871ae53f5f9
and
https://nowheremag.com/2018/06/horse-race-politics/
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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