Monday, June 7, 2021
Fourteen months and 234 emails ago, I started a daily round-up of what I was reading. I am curious to see how a weekly version works out. Based on our team COVID Q&A last week, there are still many questions.
The U.S. has now delivered 300+ million vaccine doses. Countries throughout the world have administered more than 2 billion doses. I cannot think of a more widely distributed medication. Synthroid (for hypothyroidism) is the #1 highest volume drug in the U.S. (21 million monthly prescriptions).
My kids received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine this past weekend. Aside from a brief fever and malaise, no issues. Much like the Mars rover landings, this vaccine rollout will be one of the most amazing things I see in my lifetime. (And, as I type that, I wonder what else will end up on that list‽)
https://www.webmd.com/drug-medication/news/20150508/most-prescribed-top-selling-drugs
-----
Data of note
U.S. Hotspot Map via N.Y. Times
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
-----
Themes of the week
-U.S. case rates are still improving, but we still need to vaccinate as many people as possible. Other countries need any vaccine.
-Variants and vaccines are still a concern.
-New interest in the origins of COVID
Children and the unvaccinated are now the predominant demographics for COVID-19.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/06/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The U.S. is now shipping vaccines to other countries.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/06/06/us-taiwan-usa-vaccines
And, as a small discussion of loyal readers reminds me, the same people who over-estimate vaccine risk are probably overestimating their chances of winning one of the numerous COVID vaccine lotteries and giveaways. For these incentives to work, the unvaccinated must estimate the value of their potential win as significantly greater than the risk of complications from the vaccine.
https://people.com/health/covid-19-vaccine-freebies-incentives-rewards/
Related information: Read about loss-aversion and part of the complex psychology of risk/reward estimation.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-loss-aversion/
The coronavirus variants have a new naming scheme for sanity and simplicity.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1399404958210871301/photo/1
While boning up on your Greek alphabet, pay attention to Delta (the B.167.2 variant first found in India).
While Eric Feigl-Ding is (I think) alarmist, his walkthrough of the Delta variant findings is partly the basis for my concern about future variants.
https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1401124341371265024?s=10
Here is Eric Topol reviewing the SAME lancet article with less anxiety but equal consideration:
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1400584977012584451
And here is an excellent rundown of how variable immunocompromised patients respond to the vaccines by Dr. Ricotta.
https://twitter.com/Iplaywithgerms/status/1401013474696650752
Longer Washington Post Article on the same topic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/18/immunocompromised-coronavirus-vaccines-response/
All of this gets to the question of boosters. The NY Times has us covered this week:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/06/science/covid-vaccine-boosters.html
The newly resurfaced discussions of the origins of SARS-CoV2 coronavirus illustrate several good opportunities to think through known knowns, unknowable data, and the big questions of "what do we do with this information?"
https://khn.org/news/article/analysis-mounting-pressure-on-china-about-covid-lab-leak-could-backfire/
Infographics!
Compound Interest's summer round-up page: sunscreen, mangos, barbecue, sunglasses, swimming pools, and ice cream.
https://www.compoundchem.com/tag/summer/
I did not know mangos could also be spelled mangoes. Apparently, I have stumbled on a highly controversial issue, but the National Mango Board seems to be as good an authority as any.
https://www.mango.org/blog-mangos-or-mangoes/
Perhaps someone wants to nominate me to be the customer representative to the National Mango Board? I note they do not to have middle-aged, undignified mango eaters represented in the current board makeup.
https://www.mango.org/nominations/
----Bonus Round: Random Finds of the week
Dr. Paolo Tarantino, from the University of Milan, schools twitter on how to make coffee with a Moka. The cultural deficiencies of Americans are discussed. Unfortunately, Folgers and Maxwell House seem not to have snarky social media accounts.
https://twitter.com/PTarantinoMD/status/1401237425649819655
Dr. Fauci's rejection from the NEJM was discovered in the thousands of emails released from the FOIA-driven email release from last week. What‽
https://twitter.com/alvie_barr/status/1401554895677935619
I learned about Main Character Syndrome. And, related/not related, the saddest day ever recorded on the Internet.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/digital-world-real-world/202106/what-is-main-character-syndrome
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/style/self-care/social-media-.html
Sharp minds, team
Adam
Fourteen months and 234 emails ago, I started a daily round-up of what I was reading. I am curious to see how a weekly version works out. Based on our team COVID Q&A last week, there are still many questions.
The U.S. has now delivered 300+ million vaccine doses. Countries throughout the world have administered more than 2 billion doses. I cannot think of a more widely distributed medication. Synthroid (for hypothyroidism) is the #1 highest volume drug in the U.S. (21 million monthly prescriptions).
My kids received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine this past weekend. Aside from a brief fever and malaise, no issues. Much like the Mars rover landings, this vaccine rollout will be one of the most amazing things I see in my lifetime. (And, as I type that, I wonder what else will end up on that list‽)
https://www.webmd.com/drug-medication/news/20150508/most-prescribed-top-selling-drugs
-----
Data of note
U.S. Hotspot Map via N.Y. Times
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
-----
Themes of the week
-U.S. case rates are still improving, but we still need to vaccinate as many people as possible. Other countries need any vaccine.
-Variants and vaccines are still a concern.
-New interest in the origins of COVID
Children and the unvaccinated are now the predominant demographics for COVID-19.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/06/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The U.S. is now shipping vaccines to other countries.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/06/06/us-taiwan-usa-vaccines
And, as a small discussion of loyal readers reminds me, the same people who over-estimate vaccine risk are probably overestimating their chances of winning one of the numerous COVID vaccine lotteries and giveaways. For these incentives to work, the unvaccinated must estimate the value of their potential win as significantly greater than the risk of complications from the vaccine.
https://people.com/health/covid-19-vaccine-freebies-incentives-rewards/
Related information: Read about loss-aversion and part of the complex psychology of risk/reward estimation.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-loss-aversion/
The coronavirus variants have a new naming scheme for sanity and simplicity.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1399404958210871301/photo/1
While boning up on your Greek alphabet, pay attention to Delta (the B.167.2 variant first found in India).
While Eric Feigl-Ding is (I think) alarmist, his walkthrough of the Delta variant findings is partly the basis for my concern about future variants.
https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1401124341371265024?s=10
Here is Eric Topol reviewing the SAME lancet article with less anxiety but equal consideration:
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1400584977012584451
And here is an excellent rundown of how variable immunocompromised patients respond to the vaccines by Dr. Ricotta.
https://twitter.com/Iplaywithgerms/status/1401013474696650752
Longer Washington Post Article on the same topic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/18/immunocompromised-coronavirus-vaccines-response/
All of this gets to the question of boosters. The NY Times has us covered this week:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/06/science/covid-vaccine-boosters.html
The newly resurfaced discussions of the origins of SARS-CoV2 coronavirus illustrate several good opportunities to think through known knowns, unknowable data, and the big questions of "what do we do with this information?"
https://khn.org/news/article/analysis-mounting-pressure-on-china-about-covid-lab-leak-could-backfire/
Infographics!
Compound Interest's summer round-up page: sunscreen, mangos, barbecue, sunglasses, swimming pools, and ice cream.
https://www.compoundchem.com/tag/summer/
I did not know mangos could also be spelled mangoes. Apparently, I have stumbled on a highly controversial issue, but the National Mango Board seems to be as good an authority as any.
https://www.mango.org/blog-mangos-or-mangoes/
Perhaps someone wants to nominate me to be the customer representative to the National Mango Board? I note they do not to have middle-aged, undignified mango eaters represented in the current board makeup.
https://www.mango.org/nominations/
----Bonus Round: Random Finds of the week
Dr. Paolo Tarantino, from the University of Milan, schools twitter on how to make coffee with a Moka. The cultural deficiencies of Americans are discussed. Unfortunately, Folgers and Maxwell House seem not to have snarky social media accounts.
https://twitter.com/PTarantinoMD/status/1401237425649819655
Dr. Fauci's rejection from the NEJM was discovered in the thousands of emails released from the FOIA-driven email release from last week. What‽
https://twitter.com/alvie_barr/status/1401554895677935619
I learned about Main Character Syndrome. And, related/not related, the saddest day ever recorded on the Internet.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/digital-world-real-world/202106/what-is-main-character-syndrome
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/style/self-care/social-media-.html
Sharp minds, team
Adam
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