Week of April 11, 2022
I finished multiple months of repairing and upgrading outdoor lights this weekend. "Why?" has been my family's persistent question (to me) on this project - very few people see our house at night, and we are asleep. My answers have varied as I extended the project time and complexity - it looks nice, the underground wiring was there, it gets me outdoors on weekends, or simply because I can. Yesterday I wondered if I might have subconscious Christmas light envy. It is a good reminder of how fickle and inconstant we humans are.
---- Latest Data
Case rates, hospitalizations, and death rates are still low. Wastwater data still demonstrates rising RNA quantities. Anecdotally, I am aware of more cases than in previous weeks. Given our diminished testing and reporting, I (like others) am wondering if we will not see any indication of the magnitude of a 5th wave (BA.2) until hospitalizations start to rise.
CDC Wastewater Surveillance tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance
N.Y. Times Tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
Cases in the U.K., Australia, and elsewhere are plateauing. Hong Kong is falling, and China is still rising.
Country Comparison from FT.com
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=hkg&areas=chn&areas=jpn&areas=aus&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usla&areasRegional=usnv&areasRegional=usar&areasRegional=usks&areasRegional=usmo&cumulative=0&logScale=1&per100K=0&startDate=2021-06-01&values=cases
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Here are a few Twitter threads on the likelihood we are already seeing an under-counted BA.2 wave starting in the U.S.
ER Physician, Dr. Craig Spencer https://twitter.com/Craig_A_Spencer/status/1512946216266612747
and
Myoung Cha (health IT guy)
https://twitter.com/cha_myoung/status/1513314638921932809?s=10&t=9Ts5Afhb6VkE16MWnQT9EA
and
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1512841045062520833
Dr. Jeremy Faust reflects this uncertainty in his editorial on gauging the safety of larger indoor events (and why our politicians are now reporting new infections).
https://insidemedicine.bulletin.com/are-large-indoor-events-safe-it-s-impossible-to-know-making-personal-choice-a-false-one/
The Atlantic offered a summary article looking at the (often wrong) economic catastrophe predictions of the pandemic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/pandemic-failed-economic-forecasting/629498/
Random Medical Realities and Technologies
Over the last few months, xenotransplantation has moved to science fact (from science fiction). Here are a few articles about recent trials of humans receiving genetically-altered pig kidneys and pig hearts. I threw in an article about organ printing to compare and contrast.
Trials of porcine kidneys in humans
https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/20/after-flurry-of-firsts-xenotransplantation-is-suddenly-back-in-spotlight/
Trial of porcine heart in a human
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/health/heart-transplant-pig-bennett.html
Compare the above to 3D-printed organs
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2022/03/16/kidneys-on-demand-how-3d-printers-could-make-organs-00017316
Infographics!
The Value of Vultures in Tanzania
https://blog.wcs.org/photo/2021/06/10/the-value-of-vultures-tanzania-africa/
Who amongst us doesn't already spend time contemplating the role of vultures in the cycle of life? Despite being self-evident, since someone put the infographic together, I should share it.
Things I learned this week
If you go to Lithuania, you can pay for a 3-hour Soviet-era experience - propaganda, KGB interrogations (by former KGB employees), lousy food, and angry guards with angry dogs. "Everything in the authentic bunker is supposed to plunge the visitor back into the Soviet universe. From ideological hammering to daily privations, collective activities of all kinds to arbitrary one-on-one with a KGB agent."
https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualites/2008/02/18/01001-20080218ARTFIG00459-la-lituanie-revisite-son-passe-sovietique.php
and
http://sovietbunker.com/en/media/
I have a small collection of old patent medicine bottles. The "kidney and liver treatments" (which usually contain some combo of morphine, cocaine, and alcohol) are horrifying. The practice of selling useless elixirs, ointments, and unguents was broadly known as "selling snake oil."
A Minnesota historical society did a great job documenting the history of one such concoction - Brown's Syrup Tolu, Tar, and Wild Cherry.
https://morrisoncountyhistory.org/?page_id=6358
I did not realize that there was actual Snake Oil Liniment sold under Clark Stanely's brand. Stanley was a real person from Texas (and called himself the Rattlesnake King). Imagine if Joe Exotic sold patent medicine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Stanley
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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