The COVID pandemic is not over and it is unlikely that the United States will ever eliminate it, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said, explaining why classical herd immunity is improbable pic.twitter.com/mMvzS4bjQs
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2022
… The FDA said it plans to convene its outside panel of vaccine experts on June 8, 21 and 22 to review applications from Moderna and Pfizer for child vaccines. The dates are not final and the FDA said it will provide additional details as each company completes their application.
Currently, only children ages 5 or older can be vaccinated in the U.S. with Pfizer’s vaccine, leaving 18 million younger tots unprotected.
On Thursday, Moderna submitted data to the FDA that it hopes will prove its two low-dose shots can protect children younger than 6. Moderna has filed FDA applications for older kids, but the FDA hasn’t ruled on them. It’s not clear if that data for older children will be considered at the June meetings.
Pfizer is soon expected to announce if three of its even smaller-dose shots work for the littlest kids, months after the disappointing discovery that two doses weren’t quite strong enough.
While questions have swirled about what’s taking so long, FDA regulators have emphasized that they can’t evaluate a product until a manufacturer completes its application. Moderna still has to submit additional data to complete the process, the FDA noted Thursday.
On Monday, a top House Democrat requested a briefing from FDA on the status of vaccines for children after media reports that the FDA was considering delaying its work on Moderna’s application to jointly review it with Pfizer’s at a later date.
U.S. COVID update: Daily cases continue to rise, highest since March 1
– New cases: 84,365
– Average: 58,033 (+1,514)
– States reporting: 36/50
– In hospital: 15,866 (+87)
– In ICU: 1,855 (-15)
– New deaths: 489
– Average: 340 (-45)More data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7 pic.twitter.com/4MRHuDeczB
— BNO|Medriva Newsroom (@medriva) April 30, 2022
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Shanghai marks key COVID milestone, Beijing sits on edge https://t.co/88NZ5Lsl3W pic.twitter.com/QT8DL0jYXF
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 30, 2022
Beijing conducted a third round of mass testing on Friday and closed all city schools in a further tightening of COVID-19 restrictions, as China’s capital seeks to prevent a wider outbreak. pic.twitter.com/YVhTUZ5zhl
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 29, 2022
Resentment at the month-long lockdown in Shanghai grew as China's capital Beijing closed more businesses and residential compounds with authorities ramping up contact tracing to contain a COVID outbreak https://t.co/PtGAoU49PQ pic.twitter.com/cSTfS6tT8V
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2022
Coronavirus LIVE: India Reports 3,377 New COVID-19 Cases In 24 Hours https://t.co/SPB5Lc27Bp pic.twitter.com/BCGF7NetJO
— NDTV News feed (@ndtvfeed) April 30, 2022
Reminder — Russia’s population is half that of the U.S…
Russia’s total number of COVID-related deaths has exceeded 803,000 since the start of the pandemic in April 2020, Reuters calculations based on new data from the Rosstat state statistics service showed on Friday.
Rosstat said that 35,584 people had died of COVID-19 or related causes in March, down from 43,543 in February.
Reuters calculations also showed Russia had recorded almost 994,000 excess deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020 up to the end of March, when compared to average mortality in 2015-2019…
South Africa's health minister says the country has likely entered a new wave of COVID-19 as new infections and hospitalizations have risen rapidly over the past two weeks, driven by the BA.4 sub-variant of omicron. https://t.co/snL6HOz8Ix
— AP Africa (@AP_Africa) April 29, 2022
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We may not need new variants to trigger new waves, @Tuliodna suggestions. A thread that's worth your time. https://t.co/vNvIdlfJGP
— Helen Branswell ?? (@HelenBranswell) April 30, 2022
Pfizer Inc on Friday said a large trial found that its COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid was not effective at preventing coronavirus infection in people living with someone infected with the virus. https://t.co/qRDEX4LlJ1
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) April 30, 2022
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#Covid death rates have been higher in the South—the Old Confederacy—due to behavioral differences, a new study has found. Shunning masks & vaccines resulted in >316k deaths could have been avoided nationwide. 62% of the avoidable deaths were in the South https://t.co/LLow2AnMbK pic.twitter.com/2v6tOo874O
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 30, 2022
War for Ukraine Update 65: Mariupol Is Still Being Defended
OzarkHillbilly
Got boosted yesterday.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,579 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,445,897 cases. It also reported six deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,542 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.81% of resolved cases.
78 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 28 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 6,055 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,360,061 patients recovered – 98.0% of the cumulative reported total.
2,573 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Six new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 38,581 doses of vaccine on 29th April: 10,692 first doses, 24,862 second doses, and 3,027 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,274,130 doses administered: 27,763,147 first doses, 26,691,478 second doses, and 16,032,860 booster doses. 85.0% of the population have received their first dose, 81.7% their second dose, and 49.1% their booster dose.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Got mine a few weeks ago. MMMP.
New Deal democrat
Many States did not report yesterday, so I will keep this brief. Cases nationwide increased to 57,200, a 30% increase from one week ago. Hospital admissions rose to 14,287, an increase from 11,788 one week prior. Deaths declined to a new 9 month low of 334 (vs. their all time pandemic low last July of 188).
Bellwethers NY and NJ did both report; the former is up 8% in the last week, and the latter 15%. The anomalous re-acceleration in cases in the Northeast generally for the past 4 days or so persists.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
402 new cases yesterday, just about half what it was yesterday. Maybe this is just PCR tests and doesn’t include home tests.
New Deal democrat
The WaPo article on deaths among the elderly is helpful with a quandary over the past several months: why did cases decline 96%, and hospitalizations 94%, but deaths decline *much* more slowly, and only 87%?
It had occurred to me that the answer might be that the already institutionalized elderly might be disproportionately (and by that I mean disproportionately even for COVID) susceptible to the worst outcomes. I did try to check the CDC demographic data, but I found it impossible to navigate.
The WaPo article seems to solve the riddle.
Ohio Mom
June?!! What’s wrong with May for the panel reviewing the under 5 vaccine result? Why are they dragging their feet?
On another note, there is nothing Faucci says that at some level I didn’t already know but it is good to have it all laid out.
This is as good as it’s going to get (except it will get a little better for the under 5 set).
Our comfort is going to have to be that there are now treatments, and no doubt, better treatments will be developed. Sad and sorry for the immunocompromised, though.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom: I suspect May is all booked up with other drug reviews etc. they are responsible for.
Suzanne
@Ohio Mom: It is making me crazy. CRAZY. We’re supposed to take Spawn the Youngest to a long-delayed family reunion in June and I was desperately hoping to have her vaccinated before we left.
Honestly, this failure to get a vaccine for the kids is the thing that has me the most disappointed in governance since TFG.
Percysowner
@Suzanne: I totally relate. I have a 4 year old granddaughter and another kiddo on the way. All I want is a frickin vaccine for her and the new one, so I don’t have to keep worrying. OTOH, I criticized the anti-vaxers for not following the science, so I have to apply that to myself as well. They are trying to find a balance between a safe dose and one that is sufficiently effective. It sounds like they are having a hard time with that. If they get it right by June, at least my GD will get vaccinated by school next year and the baby will get it at 6 months. Fingers crossed.
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/29 Mainland China reported 1,410 new domestic confirmed (1,013 previously asymptomatic), 9,293 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 47 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 28 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic, all at Guangzhou) & 16 new domestic asymptomatic (14 at Guangzhou & 1 each at Foshan & Jiangmen) cases. 18 of the new positive cases at Guangzhou are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, 11 via screening of residents under movement control, 10 via screening of persons in high risk occupations, & 1 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. The cases at Foshan & Jiangmen had flew in through Guangzhou Airport. 13 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 160 active domestic confirmed & 83 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Fangchenggang) cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Beihai) & 177 active domestic asymptomatic cases (155 at Fangchenggang, 21 at Baise, & 1 at Nanning) in the province.
Hunan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, all at Shaoyang) cases, both new positive cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 5 sites at Shaoyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Manzhouli in Hulun Buir. There currently are 47 active domestic confirmed (43 at Hulun Buir, 3 at Baotou, & 1 at Chifeng) cases in the province. 4 sub-districts in Manzhouli are currently at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shandong Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed (4 previous asymptomatic) & 31 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 29 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 62 active domestic confirmed cases & 647 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the administrative divisions in the province provide data on recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Shanxi Province 4 domestic confirmed & 22 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 38 active domestic confirmed (33 at Taiyuan & 5 at Shuozhou) & 153 active domestic asymptomatic (147 at Taiyuan & 6 at Shuozhou) cases remaining. All areas of the province are now at Low Risk.
Hebei Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 59 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed & 881 active asymptomatic case in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (previously asymptomatic) & 85 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 10 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 34 active domestic confirmed & 449 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Heilongjiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 59 domestic confirmed & 20 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 319 active domestic confirmed & 238 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 20 new domestic confirmed (13 previously asymptomatic, 16 mild & 4 moderate) & 35 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 151 domestic confirmed & 375 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. As the province does not consistently break down recoveries by confirmed & asymptomatic cases or by jurisdictions, I can no longer track the count of active case counts in the different jurisdictions.
Beijing Municipality reported 48 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic, 46 mild & 2 moderate) & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 6 sites are currently at High Risk. 19 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 1,249 new domestic confirmed (985 previously asymptomatic) & 8,932 new domestic asymptomatic cases. All of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine. There were 47 deaths (avg. 82.4 y.o., youngest at 55 y.o. & oldest at 101 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, 3 partially or fully vaccinated). 2,807 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 13,605 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 22,974 active domestic confirmed (356 serious & 57 critical) & 154,4943 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Shaanxi Province 1 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 3 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. All areas in the province are now at Low Risk.
Hubei Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Huanggang) case, a trace close contact under centralized quarantine. 30 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed (all mild, 4 at Wuhan & 1 at Huanggang) & 108 active domestic asymptomatic (55 at Wuhan, 26 at Ezhou, 3 at Enshi Prefecture, 4 at Yichang, 11 at Huanggang, 6 at Xiangyang, & 1 each at Suizhou, Xiaogan & Xianning) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 9 domestic confirmed & 97 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 56 active domestic confirmed & 1,031 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in each administrative division, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Anhui Province reported 19 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 79 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active confirmed & 353 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 22 new domestic asymptomatic case. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported versus domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
At Gansu Province all remaining domestic asymptomatic cases recovered.
Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 9 domestic confirmed case recovered & 15 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 35 active domestic confirmed & 113 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 2 sites at Ningde remain at Medium Risk.
Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 40 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 60 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Tongren) case in the province.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both mild) & 68 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 10 domestic confirmed & 28 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 260 active domestic confirmed & 562 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Henan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both at Anyang) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic (2 at Anyang & 1 at Zhengzhou) cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 34 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 40 active domestic confirmed & 161 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 2 sites at Xinyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province reported 26 new domestic confirmed & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Chengdu, all construction workers returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the region.
Chongqing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
At Qinghai Province 1 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 34 active domestic confirmed & 19 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic case (3 at Mengla County in Sipsongpanna Prefecture & 1 at Jinping County in Honghe Prefecture). 1 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed & 165 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Imported Cases
On 4/29, Mainland China reported 14 new imported confirmed cases (0 previously asymptomatic), 76 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 3,127 confirmed cases recovered (32 imported), 14,533 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (88 imported) & 1,013 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all domestic), & 48,224 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 26,567 active confirmed cases in the country (164 imported), 458 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 191,036 active asymptomatic cases (589 imported), 0 suspect cases. 455,894 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/29, 3,343.008M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.297M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 4/30, Hong Kong reported 363 new positive cases, 25 imported & 338 domestic (165 via RT-PCR & 173 from rapid antigen tests), 10 deaths (2 fully vaccinated, including 1 boosted).
On 4/30, Taiwan reported 15,149 new positive cases, 116 imported & 15,033 domestic (8,108 asymptomatic). Symptom onset for the domestic cases range from 4/18 – 4/29. There were 3 new deaths (actual dates of death between 4/23 & 4/25, all having a range of underlying conditions). Of the 12 deaths from the Omicron wave to date, 5 are fully vaccinated (including 3 boosted).
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah????
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
I know that you are disappointed, but they gotta get it right. ???? that Moderna did get it right.
Ohio Mom
@Suzanne: My thing is a party in honor of Ohio Son’s community college graduation.
Even though the ceremony is next week, we scheduled the party for Labor Day in large part so that the two year old cousin in Detroit (four hours north of us) and the three year old cousin in Lexington (hour and a half south) could both attend safely, and finally meet one another.
Now it’s looking like maybe they’ll have one shot by then? That will be enough for the Kentucky cousins but the Detroit one is extremely risk adverse (to put it mildly).
Suzanne
@Percysowner: Yeah, I of course want them to “follow the science”, but this is a lot of bed-shitting. They didn’t even start clinical trials for the kids at the same time as the ones for adults. And the Pfizer 2-dose vaccine showed no increase risk of complications…. And you can’t get to a three-shot regiment without having the first two shots! FFS. This country has absolutely thrown children and young people to the wolves. Between this issue, lack of action on climate change, the ludicrous cost of housing and education, lack of masking in schools…. I used to think that I had the power to be part of moving the country forward in a positive direction and I wanted my kids to be a part of that. I don’t know if I think that anymore.
Suzanne
@Ohio Mom: So my FIL planned a family reunion before the pandemic, which of course we all put off. There are new babies (including Spawn the Youngest) and there have been some deaths of the older generation, so he was trying to strengthen bonds and all of that. Fast forward two years, and my FIL was diagnosed with cancer during the pandemic and doesn’t have a great prognosis, and he really wants to have this event before he can’t travel (he already can’t drive anymore). So it’s important to have the event, it took a lot of coordination to get it planned. I’d hate to miss it and disappoint him. He hasn’t gotten to see his grandkids in person in over two years.
We have already put off so much and I’m just fucking livid.
sdhays
@Suzanne: This is what I just can’t understand – it doesn’t matter if Pfizer’s 3 dose regimen is better. If Moderna’s 2 dose is good (and it seems to be) and we need to get a third dose of Moderna/Pfizer in the fall when more trials have been completed (which anyone paying attention would be expecting anyway), how is this “confusing” or bad? If Pfizer’s 3 doses are much better than their 2 dose, it stands to reason that Moderna’s will be too – at least that’s been the pattern. They’re overthinking it.
However, it seems Moderna hasn’t submitted all of the data it needs to anyway, so maybe the FDA is just making people upset with them when the result would be the same if they had just not made any decision like this at all.
Steeplejack
@Ohio Mom, @Suzanne:
It’s not all on the FDA. As the story points out:
I think there have been similar delays with other manufacturers (although “delay” is not quite the right word).
ETA: Agree that there have been a lot of problems with the process. But it’s not just the FDA, or at least the current FDA. Maybe under Trump. Okay, probably.
gwangung
From what I’m piecing together, the data isn’t actually there for the under 5s…..Can’t approve if you don’t know what the right dosage is…
Scout211
The FDA is seeking data on cases of post-Paxlovid rebound.
Currently, the relapse is rare, but more study is needed .
Scout211
@gwangung:
Moderna has submitted their data. Source.
Apparently they are wanting to review both companies at the same time
Ohio Mom
I get that the manufacturers and FDA are gun shy about vaccines for the littlest ones. All they need is one well-publicized bad reaction in one baby or toddler and it’s over.
IIRC, Pfizer, in an attempt to prevent any side effects, no matter how fleeting or insignificant, started with such low doses that they didn’t work.
There will be parents who won’t vaccinate their kids against Covid no matter what, and others like Suzanne who can’t bear waiting. How big the mushy middle is, how mushy are they, that’s what is the hold up.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: As usual, the article does the infuriating thing of headlining the increasing fraction of deaths that are of the vaccinated, which is of course statistically inevitable as more of the population becomes vaccinated–especially if you define “fully vaccinated” as “got two shots over a year ago”.
They’ve got the disclaimers that vaccines are still effective at preventing death, but because of our old friend the base-rate fallacy, that’s not how it sounds.
And, yes, part of what’s going on is that the government and our whole society kind of screwed the pooch with the messaging about boosters–not nearly enough people have gotten them, even among the elderly who are the most vulnerable, and they should.
As for why deaths are declining more slowly than cases, I rather suspect it’s partly because deaths are less susceptible to undercounting as the level of testing declines.
RaflW
I have to wonder what effect almost one million excess deaths in Russia since the start of Covid has to do with both the re-invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent parade of failures of the RU strategy & military.
As noted in the OP, Russia’s population is only 44% the size of the US. CDC data suggests we’re at 1.114 million excess deaths.
1.114/329 = 0.34% US
.994/144 = 0.69% RU
That’s a stunning number for Russia (and decidedly not great here). I’d assume that things like death by alcoholism, as well as suicide, are probably up even more over there than here. Also, how many died of other causes because hospitals were full-up with Covid.
Fair Economist
Flu Report for 4/17/22-4/23/22
Flu cases down but hospitalization up. Positivity down from 8.9% to 7.8%. Lab cases down from 6,346 to 3,451 with only 849 added to previous weeks. H3N2 continues its unprecedented dominance, with 98.8% flu being type A BUT for the first time in months there’s actually other type A: 2 H1N1 flu cases (0.7% of subtyped A flus). Hospital admissions up from 3,243 to 3,452.
Mortality due to pneumonia, influenza and COVID down to 6.8%, in the normal non-flu-season range. This reflects deaths due to COVID as there are few flu deaths at present.
Flu may be peaking, but we’ve had false alarms before in this very odd season.
Ruckus ??
@New Deal democrat:
As a senior, who lives in a seniors apt complex I can explain. A bit.
First, getting old effects the entire human system, not just the operating component – the brain. One is more susceptible to illness, takes longer and harder to recover. One’s little physical quirks (yes we all have them…) often make us more susceptible to illness. We get tired more easily, we recover slower – the body is starting to break down it’s ability to process – especially the stuff that causes illness. The heart has been pumping for a long time, millions of beats and arteries become stiffer and can become more restricted. Our bodies don’t make blood or recycle all the things that make our bodies as well. We tire easer because of most of the stuff above. All of this can be compounded by how well we’ve lived over the previous decades. Alcohol, getting tired easier so we don’t exercise as much as we should, being retired because we’ve worked for decades and just don’t want to any longer. It all adds up to aging, the body has to work harder to do all the stuff it is supposed to do to keep us healthy, parts break or stop working, at least as well as they used to. For some the drive to continue falters, the motivation lessens, friends die, family dies, for some stupidity, stubbornness, obnoxiousness sets in or becomes worse and drives away support.
IOW we are closer to the normal end of life that we all get to at some point and as it piles up there are ways to slow it down but even that urge to do that can waste away. Now that doesn’t mean that some can’t live way longer, one of the oldest, possibly oldest member of the complex I live in just had her 96th birthday. But we all get to the point that our bodies just can’t do this living thing any longer. It just isn’t a set age, my cousin made 6 months, my neighbor has made 96 years and is still going, 2 members of my previous generation made about 45 yrs. I’m not trying to make anyone scared about getting old(er) just playing out that life has a beginning, a middle and an end. All life gets tired, loses it’s ability to stay alive and there’s no fixed warranty period. You get some control over it but it’s there, build in from the factory, the process of living. Your enjoyment of the process, your desire to do the work required, your willingness to try, your willingness and ability to succeed at the process all makes a noticeable difference but you can only work with the equipment available.
Ruckus ??
@sdhays:
Medicine mfg have to balance the good against the possible not so good. We’ve all heard or experienced the after effects of vaccines/medications, I sure have over my lifetime, including the Covid ones. I take them because even with my over sensitive system the good out weighs the bad. But – there’s always a but. The companies have to be careful and the government has to be more careful because some of us have responses that fall way outside the norm of responses. Some of those responses can be disastrous. And young kids are still building up those responses, those responses aren’t fully formed in the very young. And there is little way to test to see how far those responses have matured, especially in the very young.
sab
@New Deal democrat: My dad is 97 and in a senior memory unit. He is an introvert and spends his days in his room reading. Everyone else on his floor spend their days sitting in a semi-circle in frobt of the tv in the common room. Vaxxed or not, if a visitor or a nurse’s aide brings in Covid it will probably spread like wildfire among the tv crowd.
Jeffery
@Ruckus ??: Oh, so true. Today I feel like the end is approaching at a very brisk pace.