Monkeypox note du jour: The pox even made the Coronavirus Briefing column of today's New York Times. Experts say that the new campaign to vaccinate anyone who may have been exposed is too small and too slow. The longer it takes to contain monkeypox, the greater the chance that it becomes entrenched in the US.
Macau, China's gambling mecca, is locking down sections of the city for mandatory covid testing after the worst spike so far in covid cases. There have been 223 new cases since Sunday. With zero covid in effect, on Thursday, they shut down parks, pools, salons, and theaters. One hotel and casino resort was also closed. All the other casinos were left open ... for now. Many people in Macau, especially people over 60, have not gotten a third dose (first booster) of the vaccine. Hong Kong's cases are also surging even as they relax some of their restrictions.
Dr. Fauci says that without Paxlovid he probably would have been hospitalized when he first tested positive. His daughter got married in New Orleans while he was isolating; he participated in the wedding remotely. He would like to see a study done to compare a five-day course of Paxlovid to a 10-day course. He's on his second five-day course now.
It appears unlikely that day care providers or early childhood centers will require that children be vaccinated. Only seven states nationwide require flu shots for children that young, though all states require vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella.
The British Medical Journal ran an article on the potential for long distance (I did not see how they defined "long") airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor community settings. They reported "evidence suggesting that long distance airborne transmission ... might occur in indoor settings such as restaurants, workplaces, and venues for choirs, and identified factors such as insufficient air replacement that probably contributed to transmission." Cheery news, eh?
Tomorrow is my birthday and assessment of my January 1 resolutions six months in. I have not decided whether I will do two distinct posts or just replace the covid one with the birthday one. This will be my third pandemic birthday. Will there be a fourth? Your guess is as good as mine.
1 comment:
Happy birthday tomorrow! My wish for you is that next year's is not a pandemic birthday.
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