Another day that did not go as planned. My quilt must hate me by now. On the better side, a friend left a comment with the URL of a how-to-make-a-decent-binding website. I shall definitely read it again (I've read through it once so far) before I get back to the binding.
Omicron has been identified in the US, specifically in California. What does that mean? That it's likely present in multiple other states and spreading its range even as I type. Nigeria announced that they had found Omicron in a sample from October then later announced that they'd made a mistake. So there's still no precise date for when Omicron first reared its ugly, spiked head, in the world or here.
And now for some general, non-Omicron-specific coronavirus news. On the political front, four Republican states have started expanding unemployment benefits for employees who are fired or quit over vaccine mandates. In other words, they will pay people for not getting vaccinated. The states are, so far, Iowa, Tennessee, Florida, and Kansas. There are 30 other states with Republican-led legislatures that could do the same. Missouri is considering it. Also on the political front, a judge appointed by the previous president backed a ban on the federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. Personally, if you're not willing to get vaccinated when scientific evidence suggests you should, you should not be in healthcare.
Experts warn that Germany could have 6,000 people in intensive care by Christmas. The previous ICU high was 5,745 on January 3. There are fewer ICU beds available now than then because of a nursing shortage. Also in Germany and not at all related to the pandemic, burglars broke through the wall of a toy store to steal dozens of Lego sets. They took the plastic bags containing the Lego pieces but left the boxes behind. There was no word on if the thieves also took the instructions.
According to an article published in Frontiers in Medicine, patients who survive severe covid are more than twice as likely to die over the following year than those not infected or who had a mild case. The increased risk of dying was greater for patients under the age of 65. Only 20 percent of those who died did so because of typical covid complications such as respiratory failure. A previous study showed that recovered patients had a significantly greater risk of being hospitalized in the six months following their infection.
An FDA committee voted Tuesday to recommend that the government authorize use of the Merck antiviral molnupiravir. There was concern expressed over potential birth defects, especially delayed effects on males. How many senior citizens are having babies these days? I can see the birth defect possibility to be a reasonable concern for younger people at extra risk due to preexisting conditions, but it seems like a no-brainer to offer the drug to senior citizens.
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