Just a few quickies this morning. The afternoon is getting full, and the evening is movie time (on Netflix) with The Professor.
Baricitinib (don't you just love all those i letters?), an anti-inflammatory drug taken for rheumatoid arthritis, can reduce death from severe covid by about one fifth, according to the Randomised Evaluation of Covid-19 Therapy (Recovery). When other drugs are added, the risk of death could go down by over 50 percent. As with much pandemic news, this has not yet been peer-reviewed.
There has been a significant drop in the amount of covid misinformation on social media in the last week. Attention has shifted to Ukraine. It seems that some anti-vaccine proponents are moving to support Russia. I find this interesting. A lot of anti-vaccine proponents say that vaccination is too controlled by the federal government. They should go see how controlled things are in Russia.
New York City prepares to stop requiring masks in schools. It can be argued that masks seem less important in light of the Ukraine situation; however, there is concern on how dropping masks may affect people who are immunocompromised.
Two of Hong Kong's largest consumer retail chains are rationing some food and drug items to curb panic buying. If you need an ambulance in Hong Kong, you might have a long wait. Delays of one day are common; the record wait so far is one day, 15 hours. A third of ambulance workers either have tested positive or have been in close contact with a covid sufferer.
Los Angeles County (the city of Los Angeles is a separate entity) is lifting almost all indoor mask and vaccine verification requirements. Large indoor events will still require proof of vaccination or a negative test. Individual businesses can opt to keep requirements in place.
So far, there's been no real discussion of the possibility that the mass exodus from Ukraine could carry with it multiple super-spreader events. The countries absorbing the evacuees have enough on their plates without adding covid spread. Still, it's something to keep in mind.
1 comment:
"Baricitinib"--it makes a much sense reading forward as it does backward. Just as impossible to get my mouth around, too.
Hubby and I have been taking turns nightly picking a movie from Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube. We started this in mid-December, after I was home for good. The initial premise was 'pick a movie you wouldn't necessarily watch by yourself, but would watch with someone else'. We've seen some surprising stinkers (Legend of Zorro), and some surprising gems (Midnight in Paris).
I noticed "Contagion" on Netflix's list. For some reason, can't imagine what that reason might be, I have absolutely NO desire to see a movie from 2011 about a team of doctors trying to control the spread of a new virus before it becomes pandemic. BTDT.
Bird 'Pie
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