The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 419 (919)

Biden says that "the pandemic is over," while WHO's director-general says that "We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic." So what does "end the pandemic" really mean? Is it containing the virus? How about seeing it get to some standard of endemicity? Those standards aren't really set. The formal end to the pandemic will be decided bu an 18-member WHO committee. A Harvard infectious disease specialist explains, "There's not going to be a scientific threshold. There's going to be an opinion-based consensus." Isn't this what we spent the first year(s) of the pandemic debating? Do we follow the science or the opinions of some talking heads? Or is it opinions about the science that matter?

A study of over six million people aged 65 or older found that those who had covid had a substantially higher risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's within a year of contracting covid. I found that not so very encouraging. People who suffer from some common psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression or loneliness may have an up to 50 percent higher risk of developing long covid according to an article in JAMA Psychiatry. I really loved reading that one, too, given that I suffer from the middle one. 

When does one become "old" or a "senior citizen"? Is it AARP's 50? Social Security's 66 years plus four months? Between April and June of this year, people over 50 accounted for 86 percent of covid hospitalizations and 96 percent of in-hospital deaths according to a CDC study. Should we all break into a chorus of "I don't want to grow up..."?

I read an article concerning Paxlovid rebound in which several experts held that it was likely due to Paxlovid's working as it should have just not for long enough. Studies with immuno-compromised people are underway evaluating seven- or 10-day courses rather than the currently used five. Right now, a second course of Paxlovid is not recommended for a rebound case, though Dr. Fauci's doctors prescribed one for him. 

Coronavirus, monkeypox, polio, and, now, Ebola. Uganda has declared an outbreak. Unfortunately, it is not the strain for which a vaccine has been developed and approved. I wonder what's coming next. And for those counting, I tested positive for the 17th day this morning but have been cleared to be with other people. I supposedly would not need to mask, but I will anyway.