The U.S. government on Monday will start taking orders for another round of free COVID-19 tests for delivery across the country, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said. https://t.co/6ceSqSfSzK https://t.co/6ceSqSfSzK
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) November 20, 2023
If you haven’t already sent for yours, it took me less than two minutes to fill out the form . The predictable winter-holiday rise is cases has already started, so it’s a good time to share this info with your friends & loved ones, too… each household can ask for *eight* tests, if they didn’t order any in September.
#COVID19 New Hospital Admissions and Percentage of Emergency Department (ED) Visits Diagnosed as COVID19 are trending up again..https://t.co/f7DM5dCd70 pic.twitter.com/W4lxtmwCsE
— Raj Rajnarayanan (@RajlabN) November 19, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 15, 2023
We are using the power of our diplomacy to better protect the U.S. and the world from health threats.
The @StateDept's new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is leading the charge so the world is prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases. pic.twitter.com/YprRLv0wYd
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 13, 2023
Weekly U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 162,568 est.
– Average: 171,297 (-2,213)
– States reporting: 50/50
– In hospital: 12,820 (-133)
– In ICU: 1,526 (-16)
– New deaths: 1,214
– Average: 1,407 (-93)1/5
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 14, 2023
US COVID markers show declines or stable trends
Levels of the HV.1 subvariant, part of the Omicron EG.5 family, were most common and continue to rise.https://t.co/C5hNHw9cxb
Photo: NIAID/Flickr cc pic.twitter.com/5pjLRPASqK
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) November 13, 2023
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: (Another) Good Day to Be A Democrat
Maybe it is as simple as people realize elections are binary choices between the imperfect and the insane. https://t.co/LMhP3rUX2t
— HawaiiDelilah™ ?? #MauiStrong ???????????? (@HawaiiDelilah) November 8, 2023
Today, Democrats won in Virginia and protected reproductive freedom.
But make no mistake: Abortion and so many other fundamental freedoms are going to be on the ballot in 2024. That’s why we need you to join our campaign. pic.twitter.com/XNKJMei39M
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 8, 2023
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: (Another) Good Day to Be A DemocratPost + Comments (250)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 8, 2023
How SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines work. https://t.co/5YIhaM1Yud
— Prof. Peter Doherty (@ProfPCDoherty) November 7, 2023
Last night's update: Nearly 160,000 new cases, increasing in 23 states https://t.co/v9vycf38fc
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 6, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 8, 2023Post + Comments (37)
Sunday Evening Open Thread: RFK Jr Goes Mask-Off
Robert F. Kennedy Jr's anti-vaccine org banned me from its conference.
In a keynote speech, he committed to the movement, vowed "a break" from infectious disease research, and threatened scientific journals.
"I feel like I’ve come home" he said. https://t.co/CA91VPWr4d
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) November 4, 2023
Steve Bannon has been having, by his debased standards, a very good run of late… and the conspiracy-fueled right-wing embrace of RFK Jr. is another ‘win’ for right-wing chaos agents.
NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny reports as “RFK Jr. comes ‘home’ to his anti-vaccine group, commits to ‘a break’ for U.S. infectious disease research”:
At an anti-vaccine conference in Georgia on Friday, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed his commitment to the cause and spoke to his base about how he, as president, would serve the movement he built.
“I feel like I’ve come home today,” he said to a standing ovation, crediting the assembled audience with his candidacy.
He then laid out his vision for a Kennedy presidency, which would include telling the National Institutes of Health to take “a break” from studying infectious diseases, like Covid-19 and measles, and pivoting the agency to the study of chronic diseases, like diabetes and obesity. Kennedy has suggested without evidence that researchers and pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit to neglect such chronic conditions and invest in ineffective and even harmful treatments; he includes vaccines among them.
“I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all,” Kennedy said. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
Kennedy’s remarks came at the end of the first day of a conference for the country’s largest anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy signed on with Children’s Health Defense in 2015 and served as its chairman and chief litigation counsel until April, when he announced he would go on leave to run for president…
Kennedy has mostly shied away from anti-vaccine advocacy on the campaign trail and has said, despite years of public statements to the contrary, that he is not opposed to vaccines. This spring, he told NBC News vaccines were “not an issue that I’m leading with.”…
In addition to his proposed moves at NIH, Kennedy said that as president, he’d appoint a like-minded attorney general, “maybe Aaron Siri,” he said. Siri is a lawyer who has done millions of dollars of work for leading anti-vaccination groups, including a recent case that opened up religious exemptions for childhood vaccines in Mississippi. The crowd erupted in applause.
He said he would use the power of that attorney general to threaten editors of medical journals and force them to publish studies that had been retracted (he often cites the retracted studies saying ivermectin, a parasite drug, is an effective treatment for Covid). “We’re gonna say we’re fixing to file some racketeering lawsuits if you don’t start telling the truth in your journals.”…
RatF*cker Jr, friend to all the best modern plagues, including ‘religious’ grifters and lawyers.
Sunday Evening Open Thread: RFK Jr Goes Mask-OffPost + Comments (85)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 1, 2023
US shifting COVID antivirals to commercial market on Nov. 1 https://t.co/HdMt7jhOKh
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) October 28, 2023
Weekly U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 163,121 est.
– Average: 195,137 (-22,131)
– States reporting: 50/50
– In hospital: 13,036 (-497)
– In ICU: 1,543 (+27)
– New deaths: 1,478
– Average: 1,533 (-7)1/5
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) October 30, 2023
(Potentially) Encouraging Medical News: Flu shots may protect against the risk of Alzheimer’s
There are many reasons to get a flu shot this fall, but here’s one that might surprise you: It could protect your brain.
Some studies have shown that vaccinated individuals appear less likely than the unvaccinated to develop dementia. https://t.co/Uw9301VwNf
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 25, 2023
The “vaxx skeptics”, of course, will insist that the Big Pharma medical-industrial complex has every reason to push ‘unverified’ benefits… but since I’m getting those shots anyway, I don’t mind hoping for some positive side effects. From the Washington Post, “Flu shots may protect against the risk of Alzheimer’s, related dementias”: [unpaywalled gift link]
… Recent research suggests that regular vaccinations against influenza and other infectious diseases such as shingles, pneumococcal pneumonia, and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
“Vaccines are the great public health success story of our generation,” said Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, who led several of the studies. “They keep you safe from any number of infections, many of which can be life-threatening. And now it appears there is another tremendous benefit, this one against a disease that is among the most feared.”
A number of studies have found that people receiving vaccinations for flu and several other infectious diseases appear less likely than the unvaccinated to develop dementia, although scientists aren’t sure why. Some believe that infectious agents play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and that vaccinations help by preventing or reducing the likelihood of getting these infections.
Alternatively, Schulz speculates that vaccines may curb an immune system reaction to amyloid plaque, a naturally occurring protein found in abnormally high levels in Alzheimer’s. The immune system sees plaque as a foreign invader and attacks it, causing chronic brain inflammation and the death of nearby neurons, which contribute to dementia, he said.