Lists several reasons why U.S. Cases have not started rising in response to the B.A.2 variant of Omicron. Jessica Rivera, now with Boston General Hospital (previously with Covid Tracking Project) says that testing has been "abysmal." I believe that the whole process of taking of the data to reporting takes too long such that what we read is as long as 10 days out of date. It is my theory that the Easter Holidays will provide the travel and large gatherings to kickstart the next surge. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/briefing/covid-cases-us-omicron-subvariant.html?searchResultPosition=2
Describes the reason why Cases are no longer meaningful and how Hospitalization statistics are more complicated now that we are at Stage Omicron.
Featured in Peter Hotez's 1/7/22 Tweet examining multiple scenarios for the future. This technical article discusses 35 years of data to determine that Vaccination immunity for Coronaviruses does not last more than 12 months. This one and the following one are difficult for the lay-person. So, my read may not be right. In any case, Hotez references this one to say that there is only a very small chance that we will reach "herd immunity".
Featured in Peter Hotez's 1/7/22 Tweet examining multiple scenarios for the future. This is a very technical article that documents Covid-19 Modeling results based on a six month cycle of surge/no surge.
I know a few people who have had Covid-19. Not all, but most of them have suffered from the fatigue described in this article. For me, long Covid-19 is the number one reason this fully-vaccinated person stays away from crowds and long indoor meetings. The site comes with a view PDF option to avoid the Paywall Predicament. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159121006516?fbclid=IwAR08nFySJ3sCn21LtwynqOd3niBzebzahNJXyNZPcosgaeXHlYIg39Ttio0
This link includes a color-coded list of rated cruise ships. According to my fb feed, the cruise industry has embarked on a big marketing campaign and various other news sources are picking up the story (Business Insider and NPR).
There is no better status report of Texas's Covid-19 conditions that this article. It is thorough, timely, and well written. The plots and maps are well documented - even the color schemes are spelled out. Forget Week 93 and READ THIS!
In case you are tired (like me) of telling people to wear/upgrade/layer their mask or turning down invitations for large gatherings, this article does a good job listing the reasons why. And, since it comes from the San Francisco Chronicle, when they say Bay Area, then mean in California - not Galveston County. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Omicron-seems-to-be-milder-Here-s-why-you-16732132.php
A group of Covid Tracking Project "Alumni" have regrouped under the aegis of the Rockefeller Foundation. Their purpose is to provide data-driven, timely response to outbreaks. Their work is based on CDC-county information assembled by state. With 254 counties and a large range in every metric, this approach gives extra weight to Texas's Covid-19 experience.
This article provides an update on Ellume, an over-the-counter Covid-19 Test which recalled because of a high number of false positives.
This TED Talk goes to the heart of my conviction that reporting state averages is not meaningful information. Instead, it is the (regional) outliers that give us information of about the future and how we compare to other countries/parts of the country.
While last Summer's Delta spread was evaluated in terms of the whole population of unvaccinated individuals, the latest analysis focuses on Teenagers. These are the ones who are the most interactive and "on-the-go".
With all the hype about rapid testing, check out this app which is designed to read the results of a nasal swab that you do in the privacy of your own (choose one): home, dorm, airport gate. Developed at my alma mater, UH.
This site does a great job explaining how the pro's model and interpret results to predict the outlook for the next few months. With excellent visuals, concise text, and examples, you can take your understanding of Covid-19 data to the next level:
This is a new "Risk Tracker" based on Delta Data (you could compare results between this one and the other about five posts down. https://www.microcovid.org/?distance=normal&duration=1&interaction=oneTime&riskProfile=closedPod10&scenarioName=custom&setting=indoor&theirMask=basic&topLocation=US_48&voice=normal&yourMask=n95&yourVaccineType=pfizer
The writer is a consultant that follows the Covid-19 literature - in particular, vaccine literature. His latest post has to do with the methodology used to determine vaccine effectiveness as a function of time. He has a good description of what is called the "Single Cause Fallacy" and goes on to relate some surprising placebo results obtained recently by AstraZeneca. https://www.facebook.com/dale.w.harrison/posts/4757206890965250?notif_id=1632141998478387¬if_t=nf_status_story&ref=notif
Latimes article with Texas examples including quotes from Houston Methodist staff. Describes what ICU does and how shortage of openings creates backups in emergency rooms.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors passes a Public Health Crisis resolution that goes up against free speech pr ecedents in order to combat Covid-19 misinformation.
Listen to this TED talk to see how recent Lockdown experiences can inspire urban design changes. Austin, Seattle, and Pittsburgh are used as examples. https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_j_krizek_how_covid_19_reshaped_us_cities?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-5#t-299141
Texas is scrambling to find staffing for its hospitals. The article says that these workers are supposed to show up soon, but the number cited is only 25% of the total needed. I wish that the map had a date on it because the situation changes (gets worse) from one week to the next and there are several articles on this subject going back to July. Anyway, bookmark this link and monitor the ICU status of hospitals near you.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/23/texas-hospital-icu-capacity/
Do's and don'ts for at home Covid-19 Tests. Dale Harrison, author, is a colleague and frequent contributor to the Houston Covid-19 Facebook Group.
Meanwhile, Texas is averaging "38 to 43 new hospitalizations every day of children with COVID-19. When Dallas ran out of pediatric ICU beds last week, Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins made clear how dire the situation was when he said any child who needed an ICU bed “will wait for another child to die.” As of August 16, children’s inpatient hospital beds in the Dallas–Fort Worth area were 93 percent full, and Texas Children’s Hospital had nearly 30 children suffering from both RSV infections and Covid-19.
Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston writes about how the Delta Variant will affect children. Here is a pull-quote: First and foremost, this is because the high transmissibility of the delta variant will translate into a greater number of children being exposed than before, which will lead to a greater number of children infected. Also, be sure to check out the reader comments: a lot a insightful dialogue.
Online Tool to evaluate risk of activities. Helpful reset for Delta based on use of masks, county Covid-19 data,vaccination rates, description of activity. https://www.microcovid.org/
Comprehensive update of Texas Cases, Hospitalization, and Vaccination. Breakdown of data by age and race.
Dr. Vivian Ho with the Baker Institute also writes weekly summaries. Her work was recently profiled by Rice Newsletter: Unconventional Wisdom: The Health Economist
Reviewed in my Chemical Engineering Magazine, MIT adsorbent-based sensor that is worn with a mask.After 90 minutes, you can "read" it to see if you have Covid-19 or not
Written by Covid Tracking Project's Science Communications Leader and her colleagues. Article covers all you want to know about variants plus more. Excellent tables and visuals. Did you know that Delta was identified back in October, 2020?
Recommended article posted in Covid Tracking Project Slack. Very pertinent as cases multiply and breakthrough cases are everywhere in the news:
From the beginning of Vaccination rollout, Israel was the gold standard. This was the first country to inoculate 90% of its vulnerable population. When their cases started going up again, I knew something new was afoot.
Fort Bend County leads the Gulf Coast region (and Greater Houston Metro) in % of Population vaccinated. Recently, their County Commissioners had to hear pushback from vocal members of their public.
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