I also have been following Sweden. In terms of population size they are comparable to LA county but obviously different demographics and density. Also different testing protocols and no lockdowns.
Number of deaths are similar, although we have 2.5x more cases (but we test more).
I would not be surprised if it has mutated into a more contagious but less lethal strain.
If true, that would actually be “good” news, on balance. It’s one thing to get sick; quite another to die from a contagious disease.
Yes. Since it was a military hospital, and he’s the Commander in Chief of the military, he could order any or all of the staff there to follow his direction. He could also order them to keep silent indefinitely, treating whatever information he chooses as classified (which would probably be at the TS/SCI level).
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Lower case fatality rates reflect more effective treatments and greater understanding of the disease as well as more people wearing masks, practicing social distancing, and so on, so that those who are infected have lower viral loads and thus milder cases.
The numbers aren’t down enough to suggest that mutations have made it significantly less lethal.
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There is very little genetic evidence that any mutation of virus has caused significant changes in lethality.
There was a less lethal strain around early on, but it was less infectious as well. More recent mutations so far don’t seem to have had much practical effect though they are useful for researchers trying to trace exactly how it spread around the world.
The main relevant mutation so far was D614G which seems to be more transmissible but has no significant effect on lethality.
Ponder some issues related to pre-existing immunity to SARS-COV2
It is pretty clear that one can have immunity to SARS-COV2 virus and at the same time, at least transiently, have measurable PCR detected viral material.
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this just a speculation on my - there is no proof of this actually happening.
I didn’t mean to imply that you had suggested there was proof. My reply/comment was wishful – or maybe I should say wistful.
This is an extremely interesting article. Thanks for posting it.
Ha! I saw a political ad (a video, sent by a friend) today where they transfigured the final Evita (movie) balcony scene and its dramatic music and lyrics into a “Covita” parody. I don’t know if you, separately and independently, or they were first to come up with the “Covita” name-twist, but either way it’s a hoot! Whatever peoples’ political views, the ad is worth watching for its creative stylistic content.
[Point of info: Eva (“Evita”) Peron’s last public appearance before dying of cancer was from the high, plaza-facing balcony of the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, for those unfamiliar. Fortunately for all present that night, cancer isn’t contagious.]
OK, I guess it’s on youtube.
The Lincoln Project and Midah have a number of good Trump “ads” including the Covita
It seems like last week’s news cycle has pretty much burned out. Very little (in the news) about DT’s miraculous covid recovery. This week’s cycle is all Supreme Court.
And very little news about what became of all of the others around DT who also got the covid.
Trump has been declared ‘non-infectious’ to others as the top news on fox and near to top on cnn
Curiously there is also a report of re-infection by 2 different strains from SARS-COV2 in Arizona.
Yes, and predictably, he claims to be “probably immune”.
It’s not a new bombshell every two hours like last week, but there’s still plenty. Trump’s doctor said he’s not infectious based on the wrong kind of tests. Reporters for major news organizations won’t travel with him. He falsely claimed that he’s immune, Twitter flagged that as false. Some Republican senators who were exposed are attending the Barrett hearings virtually while Mike Lee, who tested positive and is still in the quarantine period, showed up in person and took his mask off.
Thanks for the numerous links. All relevant and of interest. I guess I’m almost numb right now; that’s how bad things have become. I’ve been having trouble reading beyond headlines. I missed all of these, except the one about Dr. Fauci.
I was particularly incensed yesterday and today by the red-hat ad in which two parts of a sentence spoken by Dr. Fauci were hacked in a way that totally inverted and mispresented what he actually meant. I’ve never heard him sound so upset or respond so forcefully, saying today that “in effect (DT) is harassing me”. Good for him.
The non-existent “swamp” that DT talked about so much four years ago was never “drained”: It was an insidiously repeated political image that got brain-washed into his cult followers into thinking it was real at the time. On the contrary, a massive cesspool of truly incomprehensible extent and stench has been created and nurtured. And the SOS goes on and on, four years later, so much so now at “fever pitch”, so to speak. The cesspool is growing by the day, faster and deeper than ever before.
It’ll become hard to enjoy food as before in any setting, whether home- or restaurant-cooked, if there exists a vast, deep cesspool nearby, come next year, should the cesspool still be here. The stench would simply overwhelm.
Best solution? For god’s sake VOTE!!!
I took my ballot up to Kearny Mesa and the drive through ballot drop off at the Registrar of Voter’s building.
Ludicrous as it is, the CA GOP admitted - they ADMITTED it!!! - that they were placing fake ballot drop boxes in L.A., Orange and Fresno Counties. The State has sent them a cease and desist order which they have said they will ignore. This is called vote harvesting, it’s illegal and it means those ballots won’t be counted.
J&J “paused” their vaccine trial yesterday after some “unexplained” illnesses.
The grossly over reaching and hypocritical GOP Senate is trying to ram through another Supreme Court justice. But did you know…those same GOP Senators only represent 44% of the American population . I suppose by inference that means they are imposing their will and their beliefs and values on the other 56% of us that do not support their agenda. 60% of Americans, from both parties, believe the incoming president should be the one to fill RBGs seat.
From Axios this morning…only 46% of white Americans over 16 are employeed in a full-time job in which they earn more than $20,000. That falls to 41% for black Americans over 16. Here is their source.
So, yeah Doc, we’re tired. All of us are tired of the constant chaos, incompetence and lack of appropriate governance. I think the period between November 4th and the end of the year will be pretty stressful and possibly violent depending upon which way the election ultimately ends up going and how many shenanigans DT tries to pull to retain power. But I do think we’re on the end of this phase because, frankly, it isn’t sustainable. I think the next 2-3 years are still going to be tough but I don’t think they will be as divisive or ugly as what we’ve lived through in 2020.
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Last time, Trump got less than a third of the votes in California, and he’s unlikely to do better this year, so on that score it hardly matters whether those of us who live here vote or not.
There are lots of other things on the ballot, though.