⚠️Don’t look up… because #COVID19 cases have completely flattened, reversed, and/or surging again in the mega states of Florida, New York, California, Texas. (This is even log-scale—⬆️ more than it looks). So, #CovidIsNotOver—no matter what TV pundits claim.
2) The new reversal and surge is COMPLETELY expected and predicted by the #BA2 increase. And the worst is yet to come because BA2 is not even 50%. But it will within 1-2 weeks. Then cases will be growing even faster.
3) like England’s surge, this is likely soon America’s fate as well. A lot of mitigations have been dropped recents and more will be dropping end of March. Not good combining no/little mitigation + #BA2 same time. Double whammy.
4) Ontario 🇨🇦 just hit around ~50% #BA2 this week. So how are things looking in Ontario? Their wastewater is now showing #SARSCoV2 resurgence province-wide, right on cue. Wastewater increase almost always precedes case rise in 1-2 weeks. Data doesn’t lie.
5) #BA2 is now driving increased deaths again in the UK. But do we honestly need to wait to see deaths before we act damnit?!?!
6) Also fascinating is that in the 🏴 #Omicron wave—hospitalization rate trailed cases and was about 2% of cases at the peak, but now it’s significantly outpacing 2% in the new surge. This may not mean it’s more severe—more likely cases are under-diagnosed. Still odd/unusual.
7) Bad sign, deaths are now accelerating. Increase of 22% in just one week, outpacing case rise. And hospitalizations still rising too. Hope this wave isn’t too bad.
8) if the US follows UK trajectory- it will likely be much worse for the US given it is much less boosted than UK is. I hope other experts who predict this are wrong but I suspect they are likely right.
📍HARRIS IS STILL AHEAD IN PA—in terms of votes yet to be counted. She’s still +2 of what is needed to win PA, given the outstanding votes still remaining in PA cities, according to @CBSNews @NorahODonnell
Plastic cookware should not be used. Period. Especially BLACK PLASTIC cookware, that often mixes in toxic recycled electronic waste materials. DISPOSE OF ALL PLASTIC COOKWARE, especially if black colored plastic ones. Pass it on to your family.
2) Because optical sensors in recycling facilities can’t detect them, black-colored plastics are largely rejected from domestic-waste streams, resulting in a shortage of black base material for recycled plastic. So the demand for black plastic appears to be met “in no insignificant part” via recycled e-waste, according to Turner’s research. TV and computer casings, like the majority of the world’s plastic waste, tend to be recycled in informal waste economies with few regulations and end up remolded into consumer products, including ones, such as spatulas and slotted spoons, that come into contact with food.
3) You simply do not want flame retardants anywhere near your stir-fry. Flame retardants are typically not bound to the polymers to which they are added, making them a particular flight risk: They dislodge easily and make their way into the surrounding environment. And, indeed, another paper from 2018 found that flame retardants in black kitchen utensils readily migrate into hot cooking oil. The health concerns associated with those chemicals are well established: Some flame retardants are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s hormonal system, and scientific literature suggests that they may be associated with a range of ailments, including thyroid disease, diabetes, and cancer. People with the highest blood levels of PBDEs, a class of flame retardants found in black plastic, had about a 300 percent increase in their risk of dying from cancer compared with people who had the lowest levels, according to a study released this year. In a separate study, published in a peer-reviewed journal this month, researchers from the advocacy group Toxic-Free Future and from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that, out of all of the consumer products they tested, kitchen utensils had some of the highest levels of flame retardants.
⚠️MASK MANDATE RETURNING TO ALL NIH PATIENT CLINICS—Effective November 4, 2024, masking will be required in all patient care & waiting rooms. Furthermore, testing for COVID, flu A, flu B, and RSV will be required for all inpatients & rooming-in visitors. cc.nih.gov/patient-servic…
2) This means wearing a mask will be REQUIRED in all patient care areas, including waiting rooms. ➡️This change is due to an anticipated increase in COVID-19 and other respiratory virus activity in the community. 😷
3) I think people should stock up on COVID tests again. The Cheapest COVID test on the U.S. market is now as low as $1.50 with special promo code “COV20”… expiring Jan or March 2025.
⚠️CDC warning of “fast moving” situation—McDonald’s E. coli outbreak—1 dead, 49 sickened from an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers across multiple states. @McDonalds has now stopped selling Quarter Pounders from locations in several states. Still yet unknown exact ingredient contaminated. Results still pending. Some suspect it’s the onions, which is why it’s been pulled in some places already. But tracing the exact ingredient source requires tricky case-control studies that needs contact tracing. Nutritional epidemiology of these foods one of the most difficult since people scattered nationwide and lots of ingredients to investigate. Need to be vigilant. Updates coming. cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreak…
The same strain of bacteria has sickened dozens of people in 10 states, although the C.D.C. said most people were from Colorado and Nebraska. One Colorado resident has died. Ten people were hospitalized, including a child who the health agency said has a complicating illness.
3) All of those interviewed said they had eaten at McDonald’s recently, and most said they had consumed Quarter Pounders. The fast-food chain told investigators it mainly uses fresh onion slivers on that item.
Food and health investigators are also trying to determine whether any contaminated beef has been sold to other retailers or grocery stores.
When it comes to the economy, Donald Trump plans to give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations—and further drive up the deficit. All at the expense of the working class.
New study, involving nearly 250,000 adults, found that those with any type of COVID-19 infection in 2020 had📍2x the risk of suffering a major cardiac event in the 3 years after a diagnosis. If COVID hospitalized—then📍4x future cardiac risk. @cbarbermd fortune.com/2024/10/11/cov…
2) In the nearly three years following the acute infection in 2020, the study’s authors found double the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death compared with the uninfected group. Somewhat surprisingly, the elevated risks did not abate over the three years of study, suggesting a problematic staying effect.
3) “The two-fold increased risk observed in year one following infection was also seen in year two, and even year three,” says study author Stanley Hazen, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at the Cleveland Clinic. “This was seen in all subjects independent of age, sex, or risk factors for cardiac disease.” (The ages of those in the study ranged from 50 to 86, with an average age of 67.)