We are in California.
Unfortunately, money is not plentiful for us right now.
It’s a tough situation all around. My wife had surgery on March 11th. She was supposed to go back April 1st. We delayed until nearly the end of May but at some point we realized it was never going to end and we were eating through savings only having one income and she went back even though that meant constant Covid exposure. I guess I tell you that to say I sympathize with the decision.
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Siiiiigggggghhhhhhh
Had something happen today that is hopefully just a coincidence
COVID and influenza positive at the same time. Could be nothing, could be a harbinger of doom. I know there’s basically no flu in my area…
Could be… the people who are running around exposing themselves to one respiratory disease are likely to get hit with other respiratory diseases? idk, doesn’t seem like a totally crazy coincidence.
Socially distanced music festival here where you stay in your own little pod of people. There are no COVID cases outside quarantine in Adelaide right now but this is still how we’re rolling.
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This is pretty cool actually. They have an app and an rfid thing. You order booze on the app and tap the thing and the booze arrives. Quickly. They have buggies rolling around. Good atmosphere, everyone is sick of no festivals etc. Good times.
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Looks like a TV recreation of the suburban 1950s. Where are the black and brown people?
In Adelaide, for old school house music, there are none.
Adelaide is less diverse than other Australian cities but also this is an event appealing to my age demographic (I’m newly 41)
I’ve speculated here several times that vitamin D might be useful for people in less sunny locations. There’s nothing to lose by taking it as a supplement, and potentially everything to gain.
In March, as coronavirus deaths in the UK began to mount, two hospitals in northeast England began taking vitamin D readings from patients and prescribing them with extremely high doses of the nutrient. Studies had suggested that having sufficient levels of vitamin D, which is created in the skin’s lower layers through the absorption of sunlight, plays a central role in immune and metabolic function and reduces the risk of certain community-acquired respiratory illnesses. But the conclusions were disputed, and no official guidance existed. When the endocrinology and respiratory units at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS foundation trust made an informal recommendation to its clinicians to prescribe vitamin D, the decision was considered unusual. “Our view was that this treatment is so safe and the crisis is so enormous that we don’t have time to debate,” said Dr Richard Quinton, a consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
Soon clinicians and endocrinologists around the world began arguing about whether sufficient levels of vitamin D might positively impact coronavirus-related mortality rates. Some considered the nutrient an effective treatment hiding in plain sight; others thought of it as a waste of time. In March, the government’s scientific advisers examined existing evidence and decided there wasn’t enough to act upon. But in April, dozens of doctors wrote to the British Medical Journal describing the correction of vitamin D deficiencies as “a safe, simple step” that “convincingly holds out a potential, significant, feasible Covid-19 mitigation remedy”.
In the Newcastle hospitals, patients found to be vitamin D-deficient were given extremely high oral doses of the nutrient, often up to 750 times the daily measure recommended by Public Health England. In July, clinicians wrote to the journal Clinical Endocrinology to share their initial outcomes. Of the first 134 coronavirus patients given vitamin D, 94 had been discharged, 24 were still receiving inpatient care, and 16 had died. The clinicians hadn’t clearly associated vitamin D levels with overall death rates, but only three patients with high levels of the nutrient died, and all of them were frail and in their 90s.
Increasingly, others followed the lead of the Newcastle doctors and began taking the vitamin themselves. During the first months of the pandemic, up to 1,000 NHS staff received free wellness packs – including vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc – from a voluntary initiative called the Frontline Immune Support Team, after informal demand from clinicians. And as sales of vitamin D supplements significantly increased, some doctors informally recommended it to patients. In a letter, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin advised its members to take the nutrient, though it was not made official policy. “We believe that vitamin D3 deficiency is a major risk factor for severe coronavirus infection, for which there is accumulating evidence,” the letter said. “People born with darker skin receive less UV light in the deeper layers where D3 is made, and so are prone to more severe D-deficiency at the end of winter in northern latitudes than their fairer-skinned counterparts.”
By April, Public Health England had revised its vitamin D guidelines, wary of people’s reduced exposure to the sun during lockdown. Whereas once it had suggested only taking small doses in the winter, now it advised everyone to take a daily dose all year round, which was the pre-existing advice only for people of colour, those in care homes and children aged one to four. But it didn’t run an information campaign to inform the public of the change, nor tell those at greater risk to increase their intake, and the majority of people remained unaware of the nutrient’s potential effect.
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Let me know when you start going over 50% brah
Czech Republic finally decided to start testing more than 5,000/day on weekends. Good for them!
Good grief…
In a pandemic where global leaders have peddled quack treatments and miracle cures, Germany has often stood out as a shining beacon for science.
It is the country that developed the first diagnostic test to detect the coronavirus, and the first vaccine approved in the west to shield people against the disease. It is a country whose physicist chancellor told parliament she passionately believes “there are scientific findings that are real and should be followed.”
But Germany is also a country where some people who fall severely ill with Covid-19 can find themselves taken to hospitals where they are treated, under sedation and without a formalised opt-in procedure, with ginger-soaked chest compresses and homeopathic pellets containing highly diluted particles of iron supposedly harvested from shooting stars that have landed on earth.
Flu numbers are low enough that this is nuts
Its endlessly sad. I’ve often said if the literal Christian devil was real and made deals like the stories, the only thing I would ever trade my soul for is Chris’ voice.
I wish he could have gotten help.
My father (85 years old, no complicating health issues, Durham NC) has been scheduled for vaccination on 1/30. Will be a great relief to have him protected.
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Here is a fine exhibit of what actually happens in schools in anytown USA.
But no, it only happens during after school activities.
Yeah, there’s lots to lol about when it comes to Nate Silver, but his advocacy for simple, easily verified vaccine eligibility is correct. Every single vaccinated person helps protect everyone else, so a precise rank ordering of priority is far less important than gittin’ 'r dun. Something like sort by decades old starting 80+, every month subtract 10. First 10 days of the month, only people with the ones digit of their birth date the same as that of the date in question are eligible so as to prevent massive lines. After that, anyone of age. People bringing proof of employment by certified employers (first hospitals and nursing homes, expanding to e.g. meat packers, then grocery stores, truckers, delivery, and other can’t-WFH jobs) can jump in at the 80+, then 70+, etc. tiers. Like, I feel bad for you if you, like almost all of us, recently learned the term “co-morbidity” and learned that it applied to you, but anyone getting vaccinated helps you, too. That’s harder to prove and document and such. Age and employer are huge and obvious risk factors. If you’re young, don’t work in a can’t-WFH profession, and have several co-morbidities, stay the fuck at home until it’s your turn.
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China has started vaccinating the 16-60 age group first, rather than the most vulnerable.
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i’m grunching badly here, but why is this not moving faster? Israel already vaccinated 20%. Today anyone 55+ can get a shot, but my sisters already got it (both in their 40s) as did my parents of course.
The process is you type in your birthday and you get an appointment.
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