Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Not all heroes wear capes.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Their freedom requires your slavery.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 21, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 21, 2024

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This post is in: ,

Unpaywalled gift link:



Should be ‘free to access’:

‘Awareness immunity’ is following its natural progression. After four years, the human community may still be vulnerable — especially particular individuals or community pockets — but, barring (Murphy forbid) another massive surge, there’s considerably less news being produced for aggregation:

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 21, 2024 3

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 21, 2024 1

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: February 21, 2024 2

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    New Deal democrat

    As of last Friday, the CDC’s variant data showed that JN.1 has thoroughly swept the field, being responsible for over 96% of all cases. XBB is effectively gone.

    The wastewater analyses by Biobot and the CDC have continued to diverge. The former shows that after declining 40% from peak, virus particles have regained 10%. The latter shows the decline has continued to a level slightly less than 50% of its Holiday peak. Regionally Biobot shows increases in the Midwest and South, with steady levels in the Northeast and West, while the CDC shows slight increases in the Midwest and West, countered by a sharp declines in the South and Northeast.

    Hospitalizations increased slightly from 21,200 to 21,400, vs. the recent peak of 35,100, and last summer’s low of 6,300. Deaths finally started to decrease, from their post-Holiday peak of just below 2,500 during the week of January 13, to 2,150 during the week of January 20. They are probably down to roughly 1,500 now, but we won’t have the official data for a few more weeks.

    The pace of declines from Holiday peaks this year is similar to the pace last year. Should that continue, we could be down to 5,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths per week by summer.

  2. 2.

    TBone

    It’s the inflammation.  Thank you for staying on this topic! Now I have something I can take to the dermatologist with me so she might “get it.” I was, in fact, not allergic to the new brand of fiber supplement that dermatologist pointed to as the cause of the early December “allergic reaction” when my lips & tongue swelled up and the skin kept burning off over and over.  I stopped that fiber immediately back in early January and I’m still having problems with my lips and tongue (despite the course of prednisolone I took, which was horrific).  I still have hydrocortisone ointment that I can apply for 7 days at a stretch.  It tastes foul but it’s the only thing keeping my lips and tongue swelling almost under control.  Tongue bleeds every day when brushing.  It’s the inflammation!

  3. 3.

    rekoob

    Anne Laurie — Thanks for this! As we approach the fourth anniversary of the WHO’s announcement of the pandemic, it’s instructive to reflect on where we are and how we got here. I remain hopeful, but vigilant.

    Hard to know what to think about my little corner of the world. Lower, Slower Delaware (LSD) can be kinda Trumpy, and the statewide data are not great, but I’m finding most of my neighbors are being sensible.

  4. 4.

    lowtechcyclist

    Since there are a bunch of fundraising links for BNO News in this post, I checked out their front page at bnonews.com. It almost entirely consists of wire service stories that are weeks and months old. Searching their site for ‘Covid’ also turned up nothing but ancient stories; the most recent was about Jill Biden contracting Covid. That was six months ago.

    I’m really not sure what they are other than a Twitter feed.

  5. 5.

    TBone

    Med Express article:

    “”We think it’s possible that if the inflammation becomes chronic, that could be what causes the neurological symptoms often observed in long COVID in some people,” Conrad says. To follow up on this suspicion, the team of researchers is now planning to study the molecular signatures in the cerebral fluid of long COVID patients in greater detail.”

    Thank goodness.

    I have all-over inflammation, not limited to my big mouth!

  8. 8.

    Albatrossity

    So my senator (Roger Marshall, R – Trump’s Colon) is now concerned about long COVID because a member of his family has it.

    For those with short memories (or who have blessedly never heard of my senator before), it helps to recall that Marshal was on the Hydroxychloroquine bandwagon because Trump was. For him to demand that science DO SOMETHING to alleviate his family member’s symptoms is the height of hubris.

    But then, he learned from the master.

  10. 10.

    Anne Laurie

    @lowtechcyclist: I’m really not sure what they are other than a Twitter feed.

    And I’m just an aggregator, mostly of twitter feeds!

    Every one of us only has so many hours in a week.  I’ve hopscotched between a lot of different covid-related feeds over the last almost-four years, and right now BNO is the only one I’ve found providing a weekly summary of US cases that I can easily share (embed) here.

    If you know of a different site… please share?

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @TBone: I still have hydrocortisone ointment that I can apply for 7 days at a stretch. It tastes foul but it’s the only thing keeping my lips and tongue swelling almost under control.

    I have eczema and still use cortisone from time to time to control outbreaks. Can’t say it tastes any better, but try the cream. It can’t taste any worse and at the very least it is absorbed by the skin much quicker.

  17. 17.

    TBone

    @Betty: when I was first infected in Jan. 2020, by March my entire body swelled up and I looked like an olive stuck on a toothpick (I was petite). It got into my intestines and bypassed my lungs, praise be!  Of course, there being no testing or vaccines back then, I was gaslighted and told to take a diuretic.  Then I was diagnosed with diverticulosis which has subsequently mysteriously disappeared.  Aaaarrgghh!

  19. 19.

    Suzanne

    @Albatrossity:

    So my senator (Roger Marshall, R – Trump’s Colon) is now concerned about long COVID because a member of his family has it.

    For those with short memories (or who have blessedly never heard of my senator before), it helps to recall that Marshal was on the Hydroxychloroquine bandwagon because Trump was. For him to demand that science DO SOMETHING to alleviate his family member’s symptoms is the height of hubris.
     

    And I know it’s a shitty impulse, but the thought does go through my mind that I don’t love spending tax dollars on helping anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers recover from Long Covid. I get over it and remind myself that that is not how society works…. but those are definitely the impulses that, writ large, tear at society.

    And then I suck it the fuck up, because I am
    1) Ultimately a good person, even if it takes me a while to get there, and
    2) Ultimately very pragmatic, and solutions need to be found to problems.

  20. 20.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Betty:

    It’s interesting how the study of inflammation impacts have grown and taken on more validity over the last decade.  I remember first reading about some studies on inflammation and heart disease.  Now it’s branched out into it’s effects on other health aspects.

    I tried a dietary supplement aimed at inflammation reduction, reluctantly, based on a recommendation from somebody in here and have been on it since.

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    This is exactly the opposite of what we’d see if the “only liberal women in the Northeast get long Covid, because it’s all in their heads” cliche were correct. Instead, places where more people had caught Covid by the end of 2021 had much higher rates of long Covid in 2022.

    LOL, this is such a trope, and I don’t really understand where it came from. I swear, any time I’m in a red area and I get to talking to people for more than ten minutes, health problems come up, and almost entirely avoidable ones. I remember one person in, like, a Kohl’s telling me that “the doctors were gonna cut her feet off” because of her uncontrolled diabetes, and I was thinking to myself, “Lady, I just met you”.

    I don’t know when it became okay to broadly classify people who are into health behaviors as “annoying”. I’m sure it has something to do with resentment of rich people, but I also think it’s misogyny at core. There is much evidence that women are more into “health behaviors”, especially seeking medical care when needed.

  22. 22.

    Argiope

    @Albatrossity: I keep hoping for a lot of serious pregnancy conditions befalling Republican politicians and their families because they just don’t believe in anything until it affects them personally.  The Rob Portman syndrome.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: ​ I got cornered in the dairy aisle by an older woman telling me of her many medical woes and how somebody had broken into her house and beat her up (she had a # of bruises) etc etc etc. I was trying to think of a way I could escape when I realized “She’s lonely.”

    I’m not gonna say that I didn’t wonder, “Will she ever shut up?” more than once but I didn’t have to be anywhere and had decided to wait until she got it out of her system, which she eventually did, ending with “Well, I have to finish my shopping.”

    To which I replied with the double lie that “It was nice talking to you.” First, I hadn’t done hardly any talking and 2nd, it was not enjoyable.

  24. 24.

    TBone

    @OzarkHillbilly: you’re a good egg, she might’ve tried to engage with the cashier in your stead and pissed off everyone in line.  I had an elderly gentleman invite me to his home after a similar encounter.  I felt bad, but not bad enough to go to his house.  Maybe I should have …

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @TBone: ​ Maybe I should have …

    I would never say that, only do what you’re comfortable with. Myself, I am never lonely, I enjoy solitude. But when I am in a store, I regularly nod as I pass people and say anodyne things like “How ya doing?” Just being friendly to strangers because what does it cost?

    Every now and again, it does cost. ;-)

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    One of my senators, Tim Kaine, has lingering symptoms. He talks about them briefly here (it includes an autogenerated transcript). He’s introduced legislation for more funding for long Covid research and treatments.

    Bodies are really complicated. Even viruses are complicated. It’s still a “novel coronavirus”. People (especially lots of MDs) have a part of their brains that make them very quickly jump to conclusions and think they understand stuff (what’s good for avoiding getting eaten by leopards in the shadows isn’t so good for figuring out what viruses are doing to our bodies). New stuff almost always trips up established understanding.

    Hang in there, everyone. Remember the progress we’ve made since the summer of 2020.

    Thanks, AL.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  28. 28.

    Anyway

    @Suzanne:

    I don’t know when it became okay to broadly classify people who are into health behaviors as “annoying”.

    It was the Crossfit and supplement people for me – so annoying!

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have had similar encounters. It just blows my mind that we’ve somehow gotten to a point where ill health is culturally associated with “crazy women” in the parts of the country that are statistically healthier. AND, again, statistically, American women live longer than men on average!

    Which is why I think it stems from misogyny.

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    @Anyway: I find it annoying when people tell me that I shouldn’t run because it’s “bad for your knees”. I also find it annoying when people complain about their aches and pains without doing ten minutes of stretching. I really, really find it annoying when people say things like, “water is for washing, not drinking”.

  32. 32.

    Harrison Wesley

    The Woke media are terrifying the people of Florida with stories of a plague of “COVID.” Fortunately Prince Puddinghands has returned from his crusade to save America, and none too soon. Just wait until he dons the Magical White Boots – “COVID” will disappear from the state faster than Critical Race Theory from the classrooms!

  34. 34.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Anne Laurie:

    CDC has weekly stats. I know they run a few weeks behind, but they’re the gold standard.  BNO’s summary is more current and is embeddable, so I can understand why you use it.  That’s fine.  I just think that’s a weak reason for passing along their funding asks. That’s my only issue here.

  35. 35.

    Burrowing Owl

    Thank you, Anne Laurie, still, for all your work on these updates. Very helpful and appreciated.

  36. 36.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Amazing that the long covid map corresponds in many respects to the red on maps showing results after the November 2016 presidential election.

    Anne, thank you for that last tweet with Sean Insanity. Made my day.

  38. 38.

    KrackenJack

    Came back from an overseas trip and they were collecting nasal swab samples looking for Covid variants. We volunteered because science. Participation rates appeared low, but they said they had 90 of the 100 samples they needed. They weren’t in the secure area, just in the exit corridor to the public terminal. Hadn’t seen that before. They were giving away free test kits to those who participated.

  39. 39.

    Bill Arnold

    @Another Scott:

    People (especially lots of MDs) have a part of their brains that make them very quickly jump to conclusions and think they understand stuff…

    Once had a eminent immunologist (who had written at least one textbook on the subject) at work. (He did a quick lecture on some interesting parts of the immune system.)
    The part that stuck with me was him saying, paraphrased, anyone who says that they understand the human immune system(s) is lying, or delusional.
    Covid-19 is genuinely novel (excepting SARS-1, which wasn’t as widespread). The effects on the human nervous system are still not fully understood by scientists, or by medical practitioners. Not just the CNS; also the autonomic nervous system (enteric, sympathetic, parasympathetic). (e.g.common reports of post-COVID increased heart rate, apparently random fluctuations in blood pressure).

  41. 41.

    dnfree

    Well, I’m way late to commenting on this post, but I read it every week, and thanks for continuing the work, AL. We are just back from a trip to the Yucatan peninsula, with most activities of the tour being outside, although the group had bus rides to get to the sites. We masked in the airport and on planes getting to and from, but here I am with Covid. So far it is a mild case with just cough and slight sore throat, no fever. We got vaccinated for everything last fall, and I’m one of the people still masking in the grocery store and anywhere else indoor around people.

    My symptoms didn’t start appearing until the plane ride home. I don’t know the incubation period, but it seems I must have caught it on the trip, possibly from one of my fellow tour members. One of them was coughing…..

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