Week of September 13, 2021
The cardinals who nest in our bushes are bulking up. I worried that the peanut-filled feed I bought inadvertently fueled a bird obesity problem. It turns out my automatic thought is unfounded. Many non-migrating birds put on weight and store food in the fall. An excellent example of how engrained Jewish guilt permeates my thinking. Your guilt may vary(YGMV‽).
https://morebirds.com/blogs/news/how-bird-diets-change-in-fall
---- Latest Data
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
Country Comparison from FT.com
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=eur&areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usla&areasRegional=usnv&areasRegional=usar&areasRegional=usks&areasRegional=usmo&cumulative=0&logScale=1&per100K=1&startDate=2021-06-01&values=cases
CDC Weekly Review of Data and Variant Tracking
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
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A friend asked about pediatric data during our sons' back-to-school event (everyone was masked and outdoors). Here is what I found:
A summary from the American Academy of Pediatrics (as of 9/2/21):
https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/
The CDC has a separate page for data on 0 to 17-year-olds, as reported (inconsistently) by the states:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#pediatric-data
While children remain at low risk for death, they are unvaccinated, and children with underlying conditions and special needs are at higher risk for severe illness. And, of course, COVID has many long-term consequences associated with permanent organ dysfunction (like hearts and lungs). Taking appropriate protective measures in schools seems more than reasonable.
Monica Gandhi offered a quick summary of the increasingly robust data about the risk of Delta versus the various vaccines. There are four potential outcomes often focused on: risk of infection, hospitalization, critical illness, and death. Per the referenced articles, Delta has increased the likelihood of infection, but protection from hospitalization and death is still good. Moderna is more protective than Pfizer, which is more protective than J&J. Being unvaccinated carries an 11-fold increase in death. ELEVEN FOLD.
https://twitter.com/monicagandhi9/status/1436485072501153795?s=10
But keep the concept of "mild" breakthrough cases in perspective - it still sounds very unpleasant.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/12/1036356773/i-got-a-mild-breakthrough-case-heres-what-i-wish-id-known
I found this very moving write-up describing one rural hospital in the Midwest, written by a CNA who went back to work as an adult after her college degree and kids.
https://twitter.com/daedree/status/1436343371300151299?s=10
Der Spiegel published an interview with the BioNTech founders last month. They are getting closer to releasing data on 5 to 11-year-olds.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/biontech-founders-on-vaccine-for-children-things-are-looking-good-and-going-according-to-plan-a-9186ef64-b98f-48fc-b5a2-652406a0eca6
Infographics!
Patterns of hurricanes have been on my mind the last few weeks.
Typical distribution during late summer and fall
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-typical-atlantic-hurricane-season/
But the real question is - are there more frequent, more powerful, or more destructive hurricanes over time (and presumably correlated with global warming)? It turns out the answer is yes, but not as simple to answer as you might imagine.
https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/pix/user_images/tk/global_warm_hurr/Hurr_major_USland_count_w_Stats.png
"[It] is likely climate warming will cause Atlantic hurricanes in the coming century have higher rainfall rates than present-day hurricanes, and [may] be more intense (higher peak winds and lower central pressures) on average."
Paraphrased from:
https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/
Things I learned this week:
There is a new podcast by and about living kidney donors. Living transplant is a critical topic that is hard to discuss, even amongst my patients with families open to the idea.
Meet the podcast host:
https://sparebodyparts.com/about/
Podcast home page, including episode 1, "How Do You Ask Someone for a Kidney?"
https://www.donordiaries.com/episodes
Soren Brostrom is the Director-General of the Danish Health Authority. Throughout the pandemic, he offered practical and pragmatic suggestions - "radical transparency." Denmark now has very high vaccination rates, and Dr. Brostrom is a trusted public figure across many segments of Danish society. This brief article highlights his tactics.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-08/doctor-who-espoused-sex-helped-denmark-weather-covid-storm
I am fascinated by connotative dissonance - that is, hiding true meaning behind implied or understood definitions. For instance, the term "incentive program" often describes payment models in healthcare with just as much chance of a penalty as a bonus. However, the phrase has an upbeat tone thanks to the generally positive connotation of "incentive." The word "performative" is now entering the vernacular as a negatively connotated word. This somewhat wonky article highlights the evolving usage, which is an enlightening look at how the meanings of words change over time.
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/distinctions-that-define-and-divide/articles/performative
While sorting my wife's grandmother's recipes, we found a delightfully anachronistic Kellogg's pseudo-medical pamphlet touting the importance of high fiber (in the form of Kellogg's All-Bran). This 1933 pamphlet argued that public enemy #1 was constipation, a notion that (in the retrospectiscope of time) seems naive and self-serving. (It was 1933 - how does GI irregularity compare to the rise of global fascism?) You can read it for yourself -
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89098828098&view=1up&seq=1
A 2006 Guardian article highlights how this was part of a larger public health campaign that sprung from the 19th century positivist and temperance movements, linking food, politics, health, and morality. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/dec/28/food.usnews
Also, Look into the story of Reverend Sylvester Graham. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Graham)
While all of this feels like silly Victorian ideals, many of the social welfare programs we live with today started in the minds of these movements.
I wonder if my cardinals should be eating All Bran?
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
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