The Olympic Games in Beijing loom on next week's horizon. So far, 106 out of 3,695 people connected to the Games have tested positive for covid. Two of those are either athletes or team officials. The two million residents of the Beijing district where half of Beijing's cases have been found is undergoing a third round of testing since last weekend. Testing is done by combining samples from a group of 10 people. If the collective sample is negative, all 10 are good to go. If it is positive, the 10 people are individually tested. One source reported the current Beijing outbreak as being of the Delta variant. If so, the gods help them when Omicron hits.
I read an essay based on what the writer called the "anti-calendar" in which she had recorded everything that her family did not do because of the pandemic. Graduations and other celebrations missed, possibly funerals as well. I am kicking myself for not thinking of doing that. I don't really do a lot of things out in the world, but it would still have been an interesting undertaking.
Many European countries are ending some or all of their covid restrictions. The Dutch government defended its decision in a statement: "Despite the risks and uncertainties, the government believes it is responsible to take this big step. Because prolonging the measures that so restrict our daily lives is also harmful to people's health and to society as a whole." Compared to the US, many of the countries relaxing restrictions are much more vaccinated: Denmark (81 percent), France (76 percent), Netherlands (72 percent), UK (71 percent), US (63 percent). As for boosters, the rate in the US is slowing and currently stands at only 40 percent.
A study published in the journal Cell reported four factors that can be identified early in someone's coronavirus infection that appear to correlate with an increased risk of long covid. Those factors would be (1) the level of coronavirus RNA in blood early in the infection; (2) the presence of certain antibodies that mistakenly attack tissues in the body; (3) reactivation of an Epstein-Barr virus; and (4) Type 2 diabetes. The first two seem to be more labor-intensive to check than the last two, and given the current strain on the hospital system, I can justify their not being checked.
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has refused to do a heart transplant on a patient who won't be vaccinated against covid. They note that organs should go first to people with a better chance post-surgery of surviving and not being vaccinated against covid greatly cuts that chance of long-term survival. I can't say that I blame them. Transplantation is accompanied by serious suppression of the immune system to ensure the body does not attack the donated tissue. Without vaccination that seems to me to be inviting the virus to visit. I know a potential donor can't specify the sort of person they would like to give an organ to, but I wouldn't want one of mine going to someone who won't take care of it.
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