Week of November 8, 2021
I am now teaching my older son to drive. I did not expect that being my 16-year old's passenger would provoke so many contradictory and simultaneous emotions (rapid cycling of boredom, terror, and excitement). After accompanying him on several hour-long drives around (and around) school parking lots, I have a newfound appreciation for the sublime hues of parking lot yellow, the gentles curves of drop-off lanes, and the technical vocabulary of driving instructors. And we have not gone over 13 miles per hour yet.
---- Latest Data
Case rates are plateaued in the U.S. as death rates fall, but there is regional variation. EU and Eastern European countries are experiencing rising case and death rates. See below.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
and
https://theuscovidatlas.org/map?src=county_usfacts&var=Confirmed_Count_per_100K_Population&mthd=lisa&v=2
Country Comparison from FT.com
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=eur&areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=rus&areas=rou&areas=lva&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usla&areasRegional=usnv&areasRegional=usar&areasRegional=usks&areasRegional=usmo&cumulative=0&logScale=1&per100K=1&startDate=2021-06-01&values=cases
CDC Weekly Review of Data and Variant Tracking
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
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This week, the CDC advised that children ages 5-11 begin receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1102-PediatricCOVID-19Vaccine.html
More from STAT News
https://www.statnews.com/2021/11/02/cdc-advisers-endorse-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-for-kids-5-11/
Here is more on the resurgence of Coronavirus in Europe. John Brun-Murdoch from the Financial Times shared data about European COVID resurgence. I suspect both low vaccination rates in the young and the 5-6 month window for older adults are contributing - "The current wave is rippling through all age-groups, hinting at waning immunity."
https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1456586893370535941?s=10
At least two oral antiviral coronavirus medications are about to be available. Eric Topol offered an excellent side-by-side comparison.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1456622941647478796
A few points - not sure if this is pandemic-ending, but it does offer a lot of added optionality with treatment. Plus, five days of therapy twice a day is very doable for most adults. I strongly recommend this fantastic editorial on this topic from Science:
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pfizer-s-good-news-world-s-good-news
And more oral medications are on the way.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/molnupiravir-not-fast-tollovir-heres-100008260.html
A few weeks back, I shared an article about how the notion of droplets vs. aerosols is artificial and unnuanced. I found a similar discussion of when to end masking. The Twitter thread demonstrates why medical things get confusing when compressed into the soundbite or headline.
https://twitter.com/juliaraifman/status/1456227114869575680?s=10
Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist from Hong Kong, offered an interesting update on influenza - which was not around last year due to COVID masking and distancing. Influenza B is spreading again in mainland China, which means it will be in other places soon.
https://twitter.com/bencowling88/status/1457238307897692161?s=20
Infographic!
Author and Chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt modeled how to slice onions to yield the optimal uniformity of onion bits.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CV6L30MBFy8/
About the chef-modeler
http://www.kenjilopezalt.com/bio
Things I learned this week:
Some people have unusual inner voices speaking to them. Part of me is jealous; sometimes, it would be good to hear some appropriate, helpful, and more colorful voices in my head.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/25/the-last-great-mystery-of-the-mind-meet-the-people-who-have-unusual-or-non-existent-inner-voices
Correctly making compound nouns pleural (attorneys general vs. attorney generals) is confusing AND can vary across the Atlantic.
https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/plural_problems.php
In 1987 Isaac Asimov wrote a critical review of ALF - the 1980s sitcom about a surprisingly sophisticated extraterrestrial (Gordon Shumway) living with a middle-class Californian suburban family. Twelve-year-old Adam was far less critical of this show, as I recall.
https://www.metv.com/lists/legendary-sci-fi-writer-isaac-asimov-picked-apart-alf-in-1987
About ALF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALF_(TV_series)
and
http://www.alftv.com/
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
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