Monday, March 1, 2021
Most of the shops were closed when I arrived at Jacksonville International Airport on March 1, 2020. It was, after all, 10 PM on a Sunday. I was in Florida for less than a day - a "one meeting and back" trip. But, an odd vibe marked the visit - like the feeling before a hurricane. I focused on hands - washing my own and not touching others (I had yet to discover the "elbow bump"). I paid newfound attention to the respiratory sounds of strangers. What did their coughs mean? So much has changed; a year feels like a lifetime. I don't miss much about flying, but I do miss the travel. And, I am not sure I would have chosen Jacksonville as the destination of my last flight (for a while).
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
Vaccine Tracker
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
-----
The COVID tracking project is shutting down as of 3/7/21. Here is their penultimate blog post from last Friday. In their absence, they are advising the use of CDC data. They touch on the transition to national level metrics, vaccine administration disparities, and the variation in last week's case and death rates.
https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/good-news-despite-data-wobbles-weekly-covid-19-data-feb-25
The CDC website:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view
Here is their analysis of the CDC data:
Cases https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/federal-covid-data-101-working-with-case-data
Deaths https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/federal-covid-data-101-working-with-death-numbers
Hospitalizations https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/covid-data-101-working-with-hospitalization-numbers
The NY Times had a fantastic opinion piece that explored the notion of "living creatures" through the coronavirus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-alive-dead.html
Two lessons in being careful with pre-release data:
I saw some chatter last week about a study that purported to find that glasses wearers are less likely to get COVID. Then the intellectual cudgel of critical thinking came down upon this topic's head:
Article:
https://abc7ny.com/covid-vaccine-glasses-wearing-during-and/10365580/
Debunk:
https://gidmk.medium.com/can-glasses-stop-covid-19-e7b7a91fac79
Vitamin D as a treatment for COVID has experienced similar attention. Numerous studies have looked at Vit D levels in the development and outcomes of COVID (prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis, avoidance of hospitalization, and avoidance of critical illness/death). The Lancet recently pre-released an article that received a lot of attention last week - that have since retracted.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3771318
Medscape offers a roundup of the article's faults.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/946314
Check out page 2 of the Medscape article for the latest overview of what is known about Vitamin D (spoiler alert: not much).
TO BE CLEAR - THERE IS NO DATA TO SUGGEST BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF VITAMIN D USE IN COVID. I still recommend talking with your physician and maintaining goal Vitamin D levels, monitored periodically.
Infographic of the day - a twofer
One: The Feb 2020 Compound Interest infographic on what we knew about the coronavirus spike protein - way back then.
https://twitter.com/RoySocChem/status/1365288981299138561/photo/1
Two: You probably didn't celebrate Linus Pauling's birthday yesterday. Little did you know he described the forces holding you together (physically, not emotionally - that is someone else‽). I suggest a small gesture of recognition.
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1366064978063745031/photo/1
------Bonus Round: Medical History Week
I have declared this week my email's Medical History Week. I am amazed that in about 14 months, we (humans) developed and deployed numerous novel vaccines for a virus. It is an excellent time to step back and see some other snapshots from the history of medicine:
The Royal Glasgow Infirmary's celebration of Joseph Lister last week (see last Monday's email) reminded me to begin reading The Butchering Art - a 2017 biography of Lister that had been sitting in my Audible queue for a while. The book is a delight of medical ephemera, including numerous anecdotes of another famous pre-anesthesia/pre-antiseptic era surgeon Robert Liston (not Lister, to be precise). During that horrific period of history, surgical speed was the most valued trait. As such, I offer you the trade-offs of having to be a very, very fast surgeon - including bystander injuries and death (seriously):
https://allthatsinteresting.com/robert-liston
Please note, the linked article refers to Liston as reckless, which I think unfair. He was a highly-skilled anatomist, trying to alleviate suffering, and did the best medical science knew at the time. Nevertheless, understanding the perils of surgery in the 1840s is eye-opening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Liston
clean hands, sharp minds, and take your time (as appropriate),
Adam
Most of the shops were closed when I arrived at Jacksonville International Airport on March 1, 2020. It was, after all, 10 PM on a Sunday. I was in Florida for less than a day - a "one meeting and back" trip. But, an odd vibe marked the visit - like the feeling before a hurricane. I focused on hands - washing my own and not touching others (I had yet to discover the "elbow bump"). I paid newfound attention to the respiratory sounds of strangers. What did their coughs mean? So much has changed; a year feels like a lifetime. I don't miss much about flying, but I do miss the travel. And, I am not sure I would have chosen Jacksonville as the destination of my last flight (for a while).
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
Vaccine Tracker
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
-----
The COVID tracking project is shutting down as of 3/7/21. Here is their penultimate blog post from last Friday. In their absence, they are advising the use of CDC data. They touch on the transition to national level metrics, vaccine administration disparities, and the variation in last week's case and death rates.
https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/good-news-despite-data-wobbles-weekly-covid-19-data-feb-25
The CDC website:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view
Here is their analysis of the CDC data:
Cases https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/federal-covid-data-101-working-with-case-data
Deaths https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/federal-covid-data-101-working-with-death-numbers
Hospitalizations https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/covid-data-101-working-with-hospitalization-numbers
The NY Times had a fantastic opinion piece that explored the notion of "living creatures" through the coronavirus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-alive-dead.html
Two lessons in being careful with pre-release data:
I saw some chatter last week about a study that purported to find that glasses wearers are less likely to get COVID. Then the intellectual cudgel of critical thinking came down upon this topic's head:
Article:
https://abc7ny.com/covid-vaccine-glasses-wearing-during-and/10365580/
Debunk:
https://gidmk.medium.com/can-glasses-stop-covid-19-e7b7a91fac79
Vitamin D as a treatment for COVID has experienced similar attention. Numerous studies have looked at Vit D levels in the development and outcomes of COVID (prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis, avoidance of hospitalization, and avoidance of critical illness/death). The Lancet recently pre-released an article that received a lot of attention last week - that have since retracted.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3771318
Medscape offers a roundup of the article's faults.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/946314
Check out page 2 of the Medscape article for the latest overview of what is known about Vitamin D (spoiler alert: not much).
TO BE CLEAR - THERE IS NO DATA TO SUGGEST BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF VITAMIN D USE IN COVID. I still recommend talking with your physician and maintaining goal Vitamin D levels, monitored periodically.
Infographic of the day - a twofer
One: The Feb 2020 Compound Interest infographic on what we knew about the coronavirus spike protein - way back then.
https://twitter.com/RoySocChem/status/1365288981299138561/photo/1
Two: You probably didn't celebrate Linus Pauling's birthday yesterday. Little did you know he described the forces holding you together (physically, not emotionally - that is someone else‽). I suggest a small gesture of recognition.
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1366064978063745031/photo/1
------Bonus Round: Medical History Week
I have declared this week my email's Medical History Week. I am amazed that in about 14 months, we (humans) developed and deployed numerous novel vaccines for a virus. It is an excellent time to step back and see some other snapshots from the history of medicine:
The Royal Glasgow Infirmary's celebration of Joseph Lister last week (see last Monday's email) reminded me to begin reading The Butchering Art - a 2017 biography of Lister that had been sitting in my Audible queue for a while. The book is a delight of medical ephemera, including numerous anecdotes of another famous pre-anesthesia/pre-antiseptic era surgeon Robert Liston (not Lister, to be precise). During that horrific period of history, surgical speed was the most valued trait. As such, I offer you the trade-offs of having to be a very, very fast surgeon - including bystander injuries and death (seriously):
https://allthatsinteresting.com/robert-liston
Please note, the linked article refers to Liston as reckless, which I think unfair. He was a highly-skilled anatomist, trying to alleviate suffering, and did the best medical science knew at the time. Nevertheless, understanding the perils of surgery in the 1840s is eye-opening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Liston
clean hands, sharp minds, and take your time (as appropriate),
Adam
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