The coronavirus daily diary

12/09/2024

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06/07/2024

On July 2, the CDC said that the COVID-19 infections are growing in 39 states, stable or uncertain in 10 states and declining in zero.

The COVID-19 KP.3 variant continues to dominate in the United States now accounting for 36.9% of positive COVID cases.

06/07/2024

"Covid-19 levels have been rising in the United States for weeks as new variants drive what’s become an annual summer surge.

Covid-19 surveillance has been scaled back significantly since the US public health emergency ended more than a year ago — individual cases are no longer counted, and severe outcomes are based on representative samples of the population — but the data that is available is showing a consistent upward trend."

Covid-19 levels have been rising in the United States for weeks as new variants drive what’s become an annual summer surge.

24/06/2024

Are you better off now than 4 years ago? Here's a reminder of where we were 4 years ago.

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25/05/2024

When you hear about new variants and a possible new surge:

30/04/2024

opinions on post pandemic America.

16/04/2024

A cartoon by Ellis Rosen.
See more from this week’s issue: http://nyer.cm/OWVRgaq

16/04/2024

A cartoon by Carolita Johnson, from 2021.

01/04/2024

Covid 19 USA, 4/1/2024. Spotlight on: Florida
The curves of daily new deaths in Flroida provide a marked contrast tto the results of two different approaches to confronting a pandemic: New York, which took strict measures, and after the initial wave, largely succeeded at minimizing deaths and illness by using sensible public health measures, and Florida, which pursued a 'reopen at any cost' approach, which had a second wave of deaths nearly as bad as its first, a 3rd wave worse than either of the previous two waves, and a 4th that nearly matched its first. Public health measures save lives when they're followed, and failure to folow them costs many more lives, as well as brings long term health caree costs that have yet to be determined. Long Covid is real, and affects millions of Americans (possibly including a leading presidential candidate.) The effects of this pandemic will be with this nation and the world for at least two generations. If we're incredibly lucky, we won't see another one in our lifetimes.

01/04/2024

Covid 19 USA, 4/1/2024. Spotlight on: New York State.
One look at this graph shows that when it comes to minimizing deaths during a pandemic, safety measures, and following them, have a huge impact. New York State quickly became the early epicenter of the US pandemic, as evidenced by the very large daily death toll at the beginning of the pandemic (and graph), when information about the virus was acare, and many facts about the virus, that could have helped prevent deaths, were withheld by the person who occupied the Oval Office in 2020. There were news reports in April 2020 that some of these actions were deliberately taken because people in cities wouldn't be voting for him. This short sighted, foolish, cruel action helped the virus spread more quickly everywhere in the country, large city and small town alike. NY did take sensible measures after the initial wave to minimize deaths by having mask mandates and limiting indoor gathering, with the result that after March 2020, the death toll was relatively low. Now that vaccines are readily available, we need to continue them to minimize future deaths and serious cases of illness.

01/04/2024

In this post pandemic economy, (in the US and many other countries), real estate closing costs are one barrier to home ownership that have long been ignored in reform efforts. Today, I sent the following message to NY Governor Hochul on the subject.

"Dear Gov. Hochul,

I write to you today with a simple request that, if done, would greatly help new and prospective homeowners, now and in the future: lower NY's mandated closing costs on purchasing and refinancing mortgages.
As you can see from this table,
https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/stub-for-148570
New York State has the third highest closing costs of all states in the country, and in dollar terms, they're almost double the closing vosts in our neighbor Conecticut. High closing costs are a not insignificant barrier to homeownership, and for homebuyers who plan to refinance their mortgage once interest rates decline, are a significant additional cost in refnancing. Changing NYS laws on closing costs so NY is more competitive would be a substantial benefit to first time homebuyers who need a mortgage (most firt time homebuyers) and would help those same homebuyers in refinancing ina few years once interest rates (and mortgage rates) drop.
As a personal example, I've been paying down my mortgage for several years, after having refinanced twice since my original purchase, and have declined suggestions that I refinance at least twice in the last 4 years with 4 words: New York closing costs. Mortgage companies understand this is a problem. The legislature and you can help. So, I'm asking, on behlaf of everyone who wants a home in NY, or wants to refinance their mortgage: please help.
Thanks."

Mortgage closing costs for a single-family property averaged $6,905 in 2021, a 13.4% annual increase. In some states, costs are much higher.

07/03/2024

Some key points from this story:

Even by the 217th vaccination, researchers say the shot still had an effect: The man’s antibodies against the coronavirus “increased significantly as a result.”

The researchers made it clear that despite their findings, they “do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.”

CORRECTION: The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service. Follow this story and more by signing up for health, science, and environment email alerts. German researchers have examined a “hypervaccinated” man they say received more than 200 coronavirus shots w...

01/10/2023

While the pandemic is over, the effects of it aren't. Long Covid affects 1 in 13 Americans. That's over 20 million. Being able to detect means getting closer to treating it.

Scientists can now show key differences in the blood of those who recover from Covid — and those who don't.

28/09/2023

With federal pandemic relief funds nearing expiration, Hoosier schools still have about $1 billion up for grabs.

The money still to be claimed is part of the more than $2.8 billion made available to Indiana schools through temporary federal funding, according to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE).

With federal pandemic relief funds nearing expiration, Hoosier schools still have about $1 billion up for grabs. The money still to be claimed is part of the more than $2.8 billion made available to Indiana schools through temporary federal funding, according to the Indiana Department of Education (...

03/09/2023

It's been several months since my last post, but it's been even longer since there was any significant news to report about Covid in the post pandemic era. If you've been following the news, you know that the CDC is in the process of approving updated vaccines, roughly a year after the last updated vaccines were released. This is good news for everyone, but especially for immunocompromised/at risk people under 65. Back in April, the CDC simplified their guidelines for who's eligible for a booster shot every 6 months, to "everyone 65 and older, and the immunocompromised."
However, when you go to a pharmacy to get a Covid shot or flu shot, the immunocompromised status isn't something that's documented clearly, and as a result, heath insurers are routinely covering the 65 and older group, but not the under 65 immunocompromised group. Thie latter group, while unofficially comprised of at least a few million Americans, isn't formally tracked by the CDC, hospitals, or health insurance companies, and as a result, they're heathwise likely to be equally vulnerable to Covid as the elderly, but not receiving vaccines because of dumbed down eligibility. This needs to change. No idea if it will. But, it neds to change.