Week of Jan 17, 2022
A 4-day virtual conference, lots of home time (due to reasonable Omicron cancellations), and short, cold, and snowy days made last week feel like a month. This pandemic wave cannot end soon enough.
---- Latest Data
Case rates are plateauing nationally and falling in some states. Hospitalizations and death rates continue to rise across the US - but we all know these are lagging indicators. Hopeful, to be sure, but I fear many people will still be getting sick in the coming weeks.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
and
https://theuscovidatlas.org/map
(You need to play with the variables on this one)
Country Comparison from FT.com
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=eur&areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=rus&areas=rou&areas=lva&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usla&areasRegional=usnv&areasRegional=usar&areasRegional=usks&areasRegional=usmo&cumulative=0&logScale=1&per100K=1&startDate=2021-06-01&values=cases
The CDC weekly review discusses strategies to keep children safe.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
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A loyal reader asked about the safety of COVID vaccines in pregnant women (and women attempting to become pregnant). I cannot emphasize this enough - the vaccine is safe and effective in these groups. Here are some of the many data on this topic:
From Nature medicine: a comparison of 18,000 vaccinated and unvaccinated pregnant Scottish women during 2020-2021. Conclusion: getting COVID puts mother and baby at risk. The vaccine prevents all sorts of bad outcomes from COVID.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01666-2
From MMWR 1/7/22:
"In a retrospective cohort of >40,000 pregnant women, COVID-19 vaccination was NOT associated with preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age at birth overall, stratified by trimester of immunization, or the number of vaccine doses received during pregnancy compared with unvaccinated pregnant women."
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7101e1.htm
My take: Vaccines are safe, effective, and medically beneficial compared to getting COVID while pregnant.
The AMA offers two articles of note this week:
"What Doctors wish patients knew about boosters."
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-covid-19-vaccine-boosters
and
"Which masks work best?"
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/clear-your-patients-confusion-about-which-masks-work-best
For a less medical take practical COVID advice for the concerned non-medical person, take a look at this thread:
https://twitter.com/robinzharley/status/1482603139521941504
One hopeful note from last week - many communities that monitor wastewater (sewage) levels of coronavirus RNA report lower 7-day averages, implying we may be past the peak of new infections. There is no combined wastewater dashboard, but several links in this thread point to the communities and data:
https://twitter.com/calonghurst/status/1482115435956817920
Though there are anti-viral pills for coronavirus, they are not a practical alternative to vaccination. In my community, supplies are minimal and prioritized to immunosuppressed patients. The AP covers this issue:
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-business-health-pandemics-b2d1051842df779dfa6122f824bd0377
Two NY Times articles of note from this weekend:
"CDC concedes cloth masks are not as effective as other choices."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/health/cloth-masks-covid-cdc.html
and
"How mRNA vaccines were made."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/health/mrna-vaccine.html
A loyal reader shared this excellent, consumer-friendly review of the immune system and Omicron from Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/immune-system-vs-virus-why-omicron-had-experts-worried-form-the-start/
Infographics!
I found this history of women's hairstyles illustrated by a UK hair transplant clinic. With enough investment and scalp pain, a pompadour with a psyche knot could be in my future.
https://www.stylemotivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/history_of_hair_crown_clinic.jpg
Things I learned this week:
A mariachi band can play classic rock and metal. And, if you like annoying your teenagers, The Immigrant Song (on trumpet and Spanish guitar) is exceptionally provocative.
https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2011/01/27/133288817/metalachi-heavy-metal-mariachi
Metalachi is on Spotify, FYI, and is a fine accompaniment to any meal (IMHO).
I noticed rolled oats (containing only oats) from different manufacturers varied in calorie count from 150 to 200 per 1/2 cup. Breakfast Googling rewarded me with a rabbit hole of information on food labeling laws, the imprecision of imputed food energy content, and a biography of Wilbur Olin Atwater (the father of Olympic nutrition and the Atwater calorie estimation system). Wonder no more, friends. Oats are oats; it is the calculated calorie content that varies.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Olin_Atwater
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
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