It's a sad graph for UCSF contrarians and medpage today editors, but a good day for everyone else. Unequivocally, there is significant benefit *EVEN WHEN CONSIDERING THE MILD MYOCARDITIS* to using vaccines in adolescents.
Thank you to all of my followers and followers adjacent. Throughout August and September, I have been asking you to donate to Indigenous organizations and I would match up to $2000. Well, we broke through. We raised $2,295.31, which I will happily match, for $4,590.62!!
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These charities, organizations, and people directly benefited from your kind gestures. My match is distributed as well to:
On BC's first "official" (please make it statutory) Truth and Reconciliation day, I acknowledge that I was born lands stolen from peoples decimated by colonization, and the impact of this reverberates today with systemic barriers and discrimination against Indigenous peoples.
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Absolutely incredible: 1 in 500 Americans have died of COVID in the 1.5 years of its prevalence.
0.2% of ALL Americans.
0.05% on August 9/2020 (159d)
0.1% on Dec 22/20 (133d)
0.15% on Feb 17/20 (59d)
0.20% on Sept 14/2020 (209d)
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Since March 3, 2020 (first ten deaths recorded), the COVID death rate: 1,183 per day. Currently, the US is adding about 1,800 deaths per day, **ABOVE** the average for the entire pandemic.
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We *know* non-pharmaceutical interventions (masks, ventilation, stay home if sick, test and trace, keep yo' distance) work. Yet we still have jurisdictions resisting these things.
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Relieving news out of Japan - the spike of suicides seen in women in the fall of 2020 has dissipated and since April of 2021 suicides are similar to 2018 levels.
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When taking both male and female suicides, levels in the past few months have been at record lows.
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Japan's suicide reporting has led to many western reports of the impact of the pandemic, however it should be pointed out that the pandemic in Japan has never been worse, and Japan is in its fifth lockdown.
Most organizations will talk about the frequency of white suicide, but, male or female, youth Indigenous suicides are as/more common and poorly discussed.
2/ In the US, Indigenous suicide in BOYS & YOUNG MEN is as common as the well-discussed "middle age white men" group, and late in life we see the escalation of white suicide.
In women, INDENGENOUS GIRLS and YOUNG WOMEN have as high a suicide rate as the middle age white peak.
3/ In Canada, Indigenous suicide is THREEFOLD more common than non-Indigenous suicide. And for Inuit, NINEFOLD. For Inuit men in Inuit Nunangat, the risk is THIRTYFOLD higher in the young adult age group.
Because the media is obsessed with Japanese suicide data ("suicidal" Japan is a lazy, one-sided trope in Western news), I'd like to add nuance.
First, here are the graphs for who suicides in Japan for the past 5 years, to February 2021! /1
If we zoom into the men, we can see that there was a decrease in early 2020, an increase at the end, and things are back to normal-ish for 2021. In fact, 2021 is a record low for January and 2nd lowest for February. /2
If we zoom into the women, we can see that there is again an early mild decrease followed by a SUBSTANTIAL increase at the end of 2020. Though things are still elevated in Jan-Feb 2021, much less so and hopefully on the way to normalizing. /3
With very few (and legitimate) exceptions, your child is ok with masks, and has no problem wearing them. Most kids adjust to masks perfectly and love playing with others, talking to people, and cruising around with them.
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I have worked with, played with, and chatted with hundreds of kids in masks during the pandemic, & have specifically asked how they feel about the mask situation. Almost uniformly, no matter age, there is a shrug and a "it helps others"/"it's safer" and then we work/play/talk.
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I hear lots of "i'm glad i get to play with my friends again" & "i don't mind"s. Without the filter/hovering of parents, there is a lot of "it bothers my mom & dad more than it bothers me."
I have had some kids tell me they don't like them, but they know they should & its ok
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