Back from the alternate universe of the previous post. I commented on a Fecebook post from the Bangor, ME Police Department and mentioned I would wear my handcuff earrings today in honor of LEOs everywhere. That of course inspired a person to ask for a picture. I could not figure out how to post a photo in a comment or reply to a comment, so I put one up here. Of course, when I copied the link into Facebook, it carried the photo with it.
Are we out of the pandemic yet? Dr. Fauci has announced his retirement, but I don't think that's a sign the pandemic is over. He turns 82 on Christmas Eve. We're lucky he didn't retire years ago, as in before the administration in the White House, 2017-2021. I don't want to think what things would be like now had we not had him looking out for us.
Remember the big push to get covid vaccines for all ages? It seems that as of early August, only five percent of eligible children under the age of five had gotten even a first vaccination, and the number being immunized now is decreasing. Only 30 percent of children between the ages of five and 11 are fully vaccinated. Is this because Americans have lost trust in our national public health system? Quite possibly, between the misinformation, disinformation, and inconsistent information from various sources including the CDC. While elderly people are still the most at risk, that does not mean children can go without vaccination. Of course, children die from influenza each year, and flu vaccines have been around for years.
As public schools open here in the US, they are reopening in the Philippines after being closed for two years. While online instruction was offered during those two years, not all children had access to the Internet, nor were all parents able to monitor their children's online learning. Even before the pandemic, Philippine education was in trouble. Over 90 percent of students were unable to read and understand simple texts by the age of 10. By November, all 47,000 schools should be open in person five days a week. Given that many households in the Philippines house three (or more) generations, outbreaks that happen in schools could have major ramifications.
A recent study that tracked symptoms before covid infection and compared participants to controls indicates that one in eight people experience prolonged covid symptoms over many months. If only six percent of adults have prolonged symptoms and two-thirds of adults have had covid, that means that over 10 million Americans have prolonged symptoms. Those most likely to get long covid are younger (between the ages of 30 and 50) and previously healthy. There are 25 trials in progress looking at various treatments, but all are relatively small. I wonder if we'll ever know for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment