The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 253 (753)endemic in the US by

I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of a recent poll showing that 59 percent of the respondents thought "people should continue to wear masks in some public places." Most Americans say that the way they conduct their lives is still affected somewhat by the pandemic. Forty-two percent say that they are now doing some but not all of the activities that they did before the pandemic. On the flip side, 17 percent say they are doing very few. The other 40 percent say that they have basically returned to normal (27 percent) or never changed their activities (14 percent). I won't go in to how these relate to political party affiliation or governmental philosophy.

Thinking about the concept of returning to normal, it's really not clear what endemic covid might look like. The basic definition of "endemic" is that the disease has a constant, predictable, or expected presence; it is a disease that persists. Some endemic diseases infect millions and kill hundreds of thousands. Some can be treated and vaccinated against. An endemic disease is by no means harmless. Endemic diseases must be watched carefully; they could become epidemic again. Malaria is considered endemic. The common cold and influenza are endemic with seasonal epidemics. The mitigation measures we took against covid also protected us from colds and flu. HIV is endemic in the US but epidemic in some subpopulations. "Endemic" has nothing to do with an "end." Living with and managing a disease that has not been or cannot be stamped out is all about control. There is general agreement that covid cannot be eradicated; an endemic state could be a yearly Omicron-like wave of cases or even deaths. That's the "predictable" or "expected" part of the definition above. We know it's coming and we know when.

Covid cases are rising in half the states even as the nationwide total is falling. New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia show increases above five percent, led by New York's seven percent. Idaho, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Texas are down over five percent, led by Arkansas's 18 percent, 

There are a couple of interesting--at least to me--new research findings being reported. A publication in the British Medical Journal shows a five-fold increase in the risk of deep vein thrombosis and a 33-fold increase in the risk of potentially fatal blood clots in a lung in the 30 days after becoming infected. This puts the small risk of clots associated with vaccines in a new light.

Preliminary work to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology reports a "inflammatory signature: in people having brain fog 10 months after they had covid. These people show high levels of two inflammatory markers--c-reactive protein and serum amyloid--and an overstimulated immune system. It may be triggered by ongoing vascular injury and repair. There was brief mention that these neurological or immune responses seem to happen more often in people who had mild cases of covid. I can't help but wonder if those cases were mild because the immune system shifted into overdrive but then couldn't slow down after the checkered flag.

The next three days are going to be busy ones. I may just be reporting on one or two things I read first thing in the morning. The quilt guild to which I belong is having its biennial show this weekend; tomorrow is setup day, with the show the next two days. On Saturday evening, I'll bake the German chocolate cake for Sunday's joint birthday celebration for The Professor and Son #2. I expect fun will be had and there will be laughter.