The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 359 (859)

My cup of coronavirus news runneth over today. I may not end up using all the notes in this post, but it's nice to have enough that selecting might be reasonable.

Monkeypox moment: WHO has declared monkeypox a global health emergency, their highest alert level. Currently, there are two other global health emergencies, covid-19 and polio. While the publicity has centered on men who have sex with other men, two children and eight women have been diagnosed in the US. Officials think the children caught it via household transmission. 

POTUS is said to be improving. It's been said he will isolate until he tests negative. Interestingly, this goes beyond the current recommendation of the CDC which is to isolate for five days and then wear a mask for five more. Someone who still tests positive but goes out on the sixth day is still able to infect others. 

Europe has loosened most of its covid restrictions. A bookstore patron described still-posted warning signs as "things from the past, like bricks of the Berlin wall." Governments are not cracking down because they are not seeing a serious rise in severe cases, ICU admissions, or deaths. Experts, though, still worry about vulnerable people, the possibility of more long covid cases, and increased potential for mutations leading to more dangerous variants. A former consultant to Italian leaders predicted that over time, as vulnerable older people died, deaths caused by the virus would fall and it would become endemic. An Italian woman still wearing a mask and keeping socially distant describes it as, "Reality goes faster than laws."

Last week, POTUS extended the federal emergency declaration until at least mid-October. By Monday, fewer than 12 states will still have their emergency declarations in place. Most states have let their declarations expire. New York, on the other hand, has extended their declaration until 2023. 

Australia has some of its highest case numbers since the pandemic began but has implemented no new restrictions, just recommendations. These include wearing masks indoors and working from home if possible. The Prime Minister says that people are flouting the few restrictions that still exist. In regard to the restriction that masks be worn on public transit, he says, "Only about half the people are actually doing it. Now, do you get on the trains and buses and arrest people or fine people for not doing it?"

POTUS is taking Paxlovid. Dr. Fauci took two courses of it. Experts say that many doctors aren't sure whether to use Paxlovid; they don't see it as a good option. It is a combination of two antivirals that "interfere with multiplication of the virus." It prevents the virus from causing more damage and reduces the need for hospitalization for covid patients by 88 percent compared to a placebo. It has to be taken within five days of the onset of symptoms. Maybe the publicity about POTUS receiving it will help educate doctors that are wary of it. 

I have not gone to a meeting of my quilt guild chapters since before the pandemic started, and I am glad I haven't gone back yet. I just saw an announcement from another local guild that someone at their meeting this past week tested positive three days later. She thinks she was exposed at a regional meeting offering assorted classes. I know that several people in the guild and chapters to which I belong were there as well, which means people meeting with them are not in the clear. One less thing to worry about, and not having to worry is a good thing.