Having gotten through a couple of very full and busy days, I can now get back to reorganizing my sewing room/studio (I do many more things than sewing in there but feel as if "studio" implies I'm an artist of some nature which I don't think I am) which this morning has meant going through a Ziploc bag and a box of cards and photos. I'm in search of photos of my quilts and thank you notes I received for those quilts. I need to get my pre-digital quilt notebooks up-to-date. Needless to say, strolling down Memory Lane has its ups and downs, smiles and, well, no tears yet.
The first covid thing I stumbled across this morning is a bit concerning. It's still in pre-print form which suggests peer review has yet to be completed, but if much of what it says is true, we could be back to being fucked. This is the abstract from an article in ThbioRxiv, the Preprint Server for Biology. Highlights are mine.
Soon after the emergence and global spread of a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron lineage, BA.1, another Omicron lineage, BA.2, has initiated outcompeting BA.1. Statistical analysis shows that the effective reproduction number of BA.2 is 1.4-fold higher than that of BA.1. Neutralisation experiments show that the vaccine-induced humoral immunity fails to function against BA.2 like BA.1, and notably, the antigenicity of BA.2 is different from BA.1. Cell culture experiments show that BA.2 is more replicative in human nasal epithelial cells and more fusogenic than BA.1. Furthermore, infection experiments using hamsters show that BA.2 is more pathogenic than BA.1. Our multiscale investigations suggest that the risk of BA.2 for global health is potentially higher than that of BA.1.
If it really is more transmissible than its cousin Omicron, able to bypass vaccine-induced immunity, replicate more easily, and be more pathogenic than Omicron, BA.2 is most definitely a variant of concern.
The rate of booster shots given in the US pales in comparison to that of some of our allies. The UK has given booster injections to 55.4 percent of the total population followed by 55 percent in Germany, 51 percent in France, and 44 percent in Canada. Here? According the the latest estimates from the CDC, 27.6 percent of Americans have gotten a booster shot. Couple that with our 64 percent fully vaccinated rate, and we have a very long way to go. In case it helps someone who is vaccine-hesitant to change their mind, it appears that covid vaccination helps reduces the risk of long covid or lessen its symptoms if given to an otherwise-invaccinated sufferer of log covid.
New cases in the US are at the lowest level since September. More businesses, festivals, cities, and states are dropping or loosening mask mandates. Rumor has it that the CDC may relax its guidance for indoor masking as soon as next week. Deaths, a lagging indicator, remain high with an average of about 2,300 daily. The Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals are taking getting rid of masks as just part of the relaxation. Entry to those two festivals will not require masks, vaccinations, or negative test results.
A problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine is brewing in the poorest nations. The vaccine has a shelf life of only two-and-one-half months. This is particularly problematic in Africa, especially for doses donated by richer countries. Many vaccine doses arrive so aged that there is not time to distribute them for administration. Many doses have to be destroyed due to expiration. For the week ending February 6, the total number of expired doses declared by 19 African countries was made up by 1.3 million AstraZeneca doses, 180,000 Johnson & Johnson doses, 15,000 Moderna doses, and 13,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine. Clearly, vaccines need to get to those needing them faster than they are now.
To end on a somewhat quirky note, Paycheck Protection Program funds have been used for extravagances such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, jewelry, vacations, and a hit man. Yes, someone used the money she got to put out a hit on her husband, a hit I gather was nipped in the bud.
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