Monday, May 17, 2021
Weekends at home have afforded me time to observe spring in our new house's backyard. This weekend I met a skink and the cellophane bees, with whom we share the 1/2 acre plot. I can put aside the temptation to handle the 8-inch lizard ("these animals have powerful jaws that can deliver a painful bite"). The bees, on the other hand, pique my interest. They secure their eggs in sheets of secreted natural polyester. I feel compelled to see if my visions of fabulously decorated bee nests lined with 70s style disco pants and Hawaiian shirts are true.
https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/herps/Squamata_Lacertilia.aspx?LizardName=Broad-headed%20Skink
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/urban-jungle/pages/110315.html
-------
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
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=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
The CDC's mask guidance from last Thursday dominated the U.S. pandemic news. On the one hand, I understand wanting to be responsive to the decreasing case rates and the many vaccinated individuals. I also get wanting to offer an incentive to the vaccine-hesitant. I worry about people being honest with their vaccination status to protect children who are not vaccinated and the immunocompromised. It must have been a challenging series of discussions inside the CDC to get to this place. I imagine we will once again be seeing videos on social media that highlight the gap between CDC guidance and various private organizations that still require masks.
CDC Director Walensky on Sunday news shows
https://abcn.ws/3w66mBt
Stores still require masks
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/05/14/walmart-target-stores-mask-requirement-could-change-cdc-guidance/5090377001/
Discussion of the new complexities based on the mask guidance
https://apnews.com/article/us-news-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-health-e19a27a9ad10da204b0f0d64fd4bfcf1
Here is some interesting data from the U.K. on increased immune response in older adults by delaying the second dose of Pfizer's vaccine from 23 days to 12 weeks. Again, this highlights how much we have to learn about the immune system.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2021/05/covid-pfizer-vaccination-interval-antibody-response.aspx
It is critical to remind ourselves that vaccine "success" is about minimizing hospitalizations, death, and transmission.
https://kfor.com/news/coronavirus/cluster-of-oklahoma-covid-19-cases-identified-as-india-variant-found-mostly-in-cleveland-county/
In fact, as of May 1, 2021, the CDC is now only tracking breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization or death. As of May 10, there have been 1,359 breakthrough hospitalizations or fatalities out of 115 million fully vaccinated people in the United States.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html
Convalescent plasma did not impact mortality or duration of hospitalization in a large trial published last week. This thread is an excellent review of the data by one of the researchers. He touches on several topics, including a warning about NOT extrapolating this data to non-hospitalized patients.
https://twitter.com/MartinLandray/status/1393457550776053764
Infographic of the day: Dorothy Hodgkin
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1392570253142634498/photo/1
I missed noting the May 12th birthday of the British Nobel-prize-winning x-ray crystallographer who discovered the structures of penicillin, Vitamin B12, and insulin. Hodgkin held strong political views that kept her from traveling to the U.S. in the 1950s. (The U.S. government banned her as a communist sympathizer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hodgkin
---Bonus Round -- Weekend musings
Since learning about the ring that might have inspired JRR Tolkein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Silvianus), I have been joking with my kids setting up a backyard shrine to Nodens, the Celtic god of dogs, seafaring, health, and hunting. Nodens had an extensive portfolio - and there were other gods to appease as well. The topic raised an interesting question - how did someone in ancient Rome or Greece navigate the complex world of polytheism? Fortunately, a history professor at Chapel Hill has put together a fantastic set of blog posts on this topic, "Practical Polytheism." What is interesting is the separation of ethics and morality from religion and ritual in the ancient world. I will leave you to ponder that. And what started as my trying to make my kids laugh ends with a better understanding of ancient cultures' worldview.
https://acoup.blog/2019/10/25/collections-practical-polytheism-part-i-knowledge/
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Weekends at home have afforded me time to observe spring in our new house's backyard. This weekend I met a skink and the cellophane bees, with whom we share the 1/2 acre plot. I can put aside the temptation to handle the 8-inch lizard ("these animals have powerful jaws that can deliver a painful bite"). The bees, on the other hand, pique my interest. They secure their eggs in sheets of secreted natural polyester. I feel compelled to see if my visions of fabulously decorated bee nests lined with 70s style disco pants and Hawaiian shirts are true.
https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/herps/Squamata_Lacertilia.aspx?LizardName=Broad-headed%20Skink
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/urban-jungle/pages/110315.html
-------
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
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=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
The CDC's mask guidance from last Thursday dominated the U.S. pandemic news. On the one hand, I understand wanting to be responsive to the decreasing case rates and the many vaccinated individuals. I also get wanting to offer an incentive to the vaccine-hesitant. I worry about people being honest with their vaccination status to protect children who are not vaccinated and the immunocompromised. It must have been a challenging series of discussions inside the CDC to get to this place. I imagine we will once again be seeing videos on social media that highlight the gap between CDC guidance and various private organizations that still require masks.
CDC Director Walensky on Sunday news shows
https://abcn.ws/3w66mBt
Stores still require masks
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/05/14/walmart-target-stores-mask-requirement-could-change-cdc-guidance/5090377001/
Discussion of the new complexities based on the mask guidance
https://apnews.com/article/us-news-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-health-e19a27a9ad10da204b0f0d64fd4bfcf1
Here is some interesting data from the U.K. on increased immune response in older adults by delaying the second dose of Pfizer's vaccine from 23 days to 12 weeks. Again, this highlights how much we have to learn about the immune system.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2021/05/covid-pfizer-vaccination-interval-antibody-response.aspx
It is critical to remind ourselves that vaccine "success" is about minimizing hospitalizations, death, and transmission.
https://kfor.com/news/coronavirus/cluster-of-oklahoma-covid-19-cases-identified-as-india-variant-found-mostly-in-cleveland-county/
In fact, as of May 1, 2021, the CDC is now only tracking breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization or death. As of May 10, there have been 1,359 breakthrough hospitalizations or fatalities out of 115 million fully vaccinated people in the United States.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html
Convalescent plasma did not impact mortality or duration of hospitalization in a large trial published last week. This thread is an excellent review of the data by one of the researchers. He touches on several topics, including a warning about NOT extrapolating this data to non-hospitalized patients.
https://twitter.com/MartinLandray/status/1393457550776053764
Infographic of the day: Dorothy Hodgkin
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1392570253142634498/photo/1
I missed noting the May 12th birthday of the British Nobel-prize-winning x-ray crystallographer who discovered the structures of penicillin, Vitamin B12, and insulin. Hodgkin held strong political views that kept her from traveling to the U.S. in the 1950s. (The U.S. government banned her as a communist sympathizer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hodgkin
---Bonus Round -- Weekend musings
Since learning about the ring that might have inspired JRR Tolkein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Silvianus), I have been joking with my kids setting up a backyard shrine to Nodens, the Celtic god of dogs, seafaring, health, and hunting. Nodens had an extensive portfolio - and there were other gods to appease as well. The topic raised an interesting question - how did someone in ancient Rome or Greece navigate the complex world of polytheism? Fortunately, a history professor at Chapel Hill has put together a fantastic set of blog posts on this topic, "Practical Polytheism." What is interesting is the separation of ethics and morality from religion and ritual in the ancient world. I will leave you to ponder that. And what started as my trying to make my kids laugh ends with a better understanding of ancient cultures' worldview.
https://acoup.blog/2019/10/25/collections-practical-polytheism-part-i-knowledge/
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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