🕯️ Texas Covid Memorial 📣 Tell reps: People need isolation & recovery 🟠 Trump still promoting covid pseudoscience quack products.
PR op-ed gets debunk by patient advocate doctor.
Contents:
- Events, Actions, & Campaigns
- Pandemic field notes & “Living with the virus”
- In the News (virus & adjacent media, science, news, and op-eds)
- This is NOT Fine section (gaslighting & other outrages)
- He(a)rd Scuttlebutt (the pandemic grapevine)
COVID-19 Heroes and Memorial Day
Beginning in 2024, every March 4 in Texas will be observed as “COVID-19 Heroes and Memorial Day” under a new state law developed by Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen, which establishes a uniform statewide date to honor and recognize the contributions and sacrifices of Texans who played crucial roles during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wait for a national covid memorial day continues.
USA Petition: Tell the White House, people need to be able to stay home and isolate when sick.
by Chloe Humbert: We ask that the President of the United States do right by we the people, ensuring the ability of patients and workers to self-isolate and recover when stricken with the respiratory virus that continues to cause so many deaths. We also ask that there be scrutiny of any "burrowed in" Trump appointees that might be steering the CDC toward endangering public safety. We need to at least keep the safety guidelines we have until we figure out what’s going on at the CDC. Ideally, the government ought to be strengthening public health protections.
USA Letter Campaign - Take Action for COVID Isolation Guidelines
By People’s CDC: “Clear evidence demonstrates that in the course of an active COVID infection, the highest viral load occurs approximately by day 4 of an infection. Some people may have their symptoms end earlier than others, however, early symptom resolution does not necessarily mean the end of infectiousness, as asymptomatic COVID transmission can occur.”
A U.S. federal court backs Iowa governor banning masks as a disability accommodation in public schools.
The ruling marks the conclusion of the yearslong court battle, originating in the fall of 2021 with a lawsuit alleging that Reynolds violated federal disability law by preventing schools from adopting mask mandates as an accommodation for students with disabilities. Reynolds celebrated the result, saying in a statement that Iowa focused on keeping kids in the classroom, “trusting parents to decide what was best for their children.”
This is completely upside down. The lawsuit begging for safety for their disabled children was brought by parents who wanted the best for their children. And now they have been told their children’s lives are worth nothing by Governor Kim Reynolds and a federal court. The article goes on to say, “While COVID-19 remains an “ever-present concern in society,” the court said, the general risks “are not enough to show ‘imminent and substantial’ harm for standing” since they are speculative.” Except there’s nothing speculative about all the children who have died of covid or all the children denied vaccination because of the disinformation campaign. The court itself has obviously succumbed to disinformation.
I wrote to the White House about the public safety threat that is this anti-mask hysteria and this injustice based on medical disinformation.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
🗞️ In the news
CDC recommends seniors get another Covid-19 shot Jen Christensen By Jen Christensen, CNN Updated 5:17 PM EST, Wed February 28, 2024 People age 65 and older should get an additional dose of the current Covid-19 vaccine, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. The agency’s independent vaccine advisers voted Wednesday to recommend the additional shot, and CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen endorsed the recommendation. The vote of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was 11 yes and one no, with one person abstaining. Under the new recommendation, people 65 and older can receive an additional dose of any updated Covid-19 vaccine at least four months after the previous shot. The current Covid-19 vaccine, which was updated last fall, is considered highly effective. Early estimates from CDC studies show that although there has been no substantial waning yet, protection will wane over time. However, the protection offered by any vaccine disappears even quicker in older people because their immune systems don’t respond as well.
STAT - Sick patients collapsed waiting for care at Mass. hospital with known safety violations By Liz Kowalczyk and Felice J. Freyer — Boston Globe Feb. 15, 2024 Her chest hurt, she told the triage nurse on duty that evening at Brockton’s Good Samaritan Medical Center. The nurse, backed up with more than a dozen waiting patients, thought it was anxiety and told her to get back in line. That is where the patient collapsed. Medical personnel rushed in and tried to jump-start her heart using a defibrillator and life-saving medications, according to a state inspection document and an internal staffing report. But it was too late.
The Guardian - Record long-term sickness bodes ill for UK economic growth Years of austerity, followed by Covid, have left Britain with unhealthy workers and businesses struggling to recruit, but the road to recovery, of all kinds, will be long - Larry Elliott Sat 17 Feb 2024 12.00 EST The clear message from last week’s raft of economic data is that the UK is being held back by the growing number of people not able to work because of long-term illness. There are many theories about why the trend is worsening. Possible factors include long Covid, delays in NHS treatment as waiting lists grow longer, poor workplace practices, stress and the impact of austerity. But one thing is certain. The economic impact of ill health is a headache for Jeremy Hunt. It will be a headache for Rachel Reeves if she becomes the first female chancellor. It is a headache for every business that is struggling to fill vacancies.
AP - Florida refuses to bar unvaccinated students from school suffering a measles outbreak BY TERRY SPENCER Updated 5:48 PM EST, February 23, 2024 Dr. Rana Alissa, the academy’s Florida vice president, said Friday that the state should follow the CDC guidelines “for the safety of our kids.” Allowing unvaccinated children to attend during the outbreak not only endangers them, but others who might have compromised immune systems and could later catch it from them, she said. “When you have an outbreak, to contain it you have to follow the public health and safety recommendations, not give people a choice,” she said. “Frankly, giving people a choice is what got us here.” Jodie Guest, an epidemiologist at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, said the CDC’s guidelines “are based on decades of iterative science” but false information about the measles vaccine’s dangers is spreading.
This is NOT fine
Trump still promoting covid pseudoscience quack products.
He(a)rd Scuttlebutt… pandemic grapevine 🍇🌱
Remembering who exactly is pushing for people to not isolate when sick and why.
And have you seen all the stories about airline travel lately? It’s really just one scandal & horror story after another. Maybe these things are related.
Rebuttal and critique of the op-ed in MedPage Today by PR consultant, Amesh Adalja.
A recent commentary by Dr. Amesh Adalja in MedPage Today challenges the perception of COVID-19 as solely a respiratory virus, highlighting its broader impact on the body. This analysis questions the notion that COVID-19 should be managed like common respiratory infections, urging a closer look at vaccine effectiveness, the rise of long COVID, and the need for enhanced measures to curb the virus's spread. Let's explore the complexities of COVID-19 management and the pressing realities faced by the US and the world.
I previously pointed out Amesh Adalja’s ties to industry, and how he was mostly roasted on Linkedin for his… views (“optimism” is putting it politely), He did receive praise but it was from from someone on Linkedin who specifically referred to Project Veritas favourably.
Kevin Kavanagh, MD is with Health Watch USA, doing patient advocacy, provides many references, and rightly points out:
SARS-CoV-2 is not the same as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or influenza. It uses a different receptor, ACE2, to enter cells, a receptor found throughout the body. SARS-CoV-2 is more lethal and more likely to cause chronic disability,4 but most importantly, it has a propensity to spread to others from those who are not symptomatic.
“We don't need to see our doctors' smiles, we need doctors who are protected from airborne pathogens and who can protect us from them too.”
— Joseph Pincus, public comment to CDC HICPAC November 2023