AK Renwick @Akrenwick@qoto.org

More on this today
Once rapid home tests got big, wastewater much better for detection of Covid on the rise
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807632

Awestruck by this map of submarine telecom cables.

I found it when my kids asked me whether the internet works entirely through radio waves and satellites because of how we connect to it via Wifi (typically). A fair question, I thought.

I mean, did you know that there are around *1.4 million kms* of cables criss-crossing the seas and oceans of the world?!

“Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.” — Octavia Butler

#writinglife #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #creativity #inspiration #writing #storytelling #screenwriting #writingtips #art #OctaviaButler

An inhaled Covid vaccine booster was more than 5-fold effective for inducing neutralizing antibodies at 28-days, and more durable at 1-year, than shots, vs Omicron BA.5 in a randomized trial
https://thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00350-X/fulltext

"The carbon dioxide (#CO2) level measured in May in Hawaii averaged 424 parts per million, #NOAA said. That’s 3 parts per million more than last year’s May average and 51% higher than pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm. It also represents the fourth-largest annual increase on record."

The last time it was that high was 4 to 4.5 million years ago, when the #atmosphere was about 7 degrees warmer and #SeaLevels were 16 to 82 feet higher.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/05/climate-change-carbon-dioxide-soars-to-record-high-in-earths-atmosphere/70289362007/

Imagine going to the hospital for a simple surgical procedure, getting cleared for discharge by the surgeon, only to be told you caught covid during your stay! Oxygen level now deteriorating fast with possible intubation. Yet, people are still saying covid is mild. Mild for who?

To every person who’s posting some kind of 2022 year-in-review with any version of: oh I’m so happy 2022 was the year the pandemic ended / we got to travel again / things went back to normal…

Ok, listen. First, the pandemic is not over. It’s as bad as ever. People are NOT safe unmasked, indoors, in public — they are simply brainwashed into thinking it’s safe to get COVID over & over. (The science is clear it’s not. If you “disagree”, please go look at some recent statistical data.)

Second…

My spreadsheet of #COVID19 studies showing longer-term damage to the body has grown to 100 studies. Here's a link and a thread of some of the most interesting. The conclusion is that COVID can attack many parts of the body, remain present in the body, increase risks of serious cardiovascular, brain, lung and immune system disorders, and increase risk of death and disability. Stop taking it so lightly!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12VbMkvqUF9eSggJsdsFEjKs5x0ABxQJi5tvfzJIDd3U/edit?usp=sharing

Strengthens the case to convert the primary series for SARS-CoV-2 to be multivalent ASAP IMO:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-022-00580-z#Sec8

Cocktail of BA-1 and WT spike given with adjuvants (MPL-A and alum) prevented *weight loss* in k18-hACE2 mice on lethal challenge with delta.

The White House keeps saying that it's up to "local leaders to decide" COVID mitigation policies. But the White House keeps undermining local leaders in public.

It's no coincidence that the COVID-19 Response Coordinator put out this anti-mask statement not long after Philly rightfully implemented a mask mandate in schools for the winter surge.

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/mandatory-masking-for-philadelphia-schools-after-winter-break/

#COVID #COVID19 #COVIDisAirborne #BringBackMasks #PublicHealth

Here’s a real current example of what widespread lack of vaccination looks like from Sept 24, 2022 /4

In 1933, Nazis led torchlit mob into the square and looted the library of the adjoining -Universitat. 40,000 people cheered as they burned over 20,000 books by mainly Jewish, communist, liberal and social-critical authors. Many years later, a panel of glass was set into the ground to mark the spot. It’s a window. Leaning over you can look into a room below. The room is white, lined from floor to ceiling with plain shelves—an empty library. The sort of world we’d live in if the fanatics had won.

"The dire shortage of pediatric hospital beds plaguing the nation this fall is a byproduct of financial decisions made by hospitals over the past decade, as they shuttered children’s wards, which often operate in the red, and expanded the number of beds available for more profitable endeavors like joint replacements and cancer care."

https://khn.org/news/article/hospital-financial-decisions-pediatric-bed-shortage-rsv/

#RSV #Flu #COVID #Tripledemic #Health #HealthCare #HealthEquity #Children #Family @pediatrics @publichealth

This quote by Carl Sagan hangs in my office. #science

New research looks at the effects of repeated Covid infections and finds pretty much what you would expect: you not only do not get any kind of superimmunity, you increase your risk of long-term consequences, hospitalization and death. The worse news is that this holds true regardless of vaccination status.

This is not over. Please take care. Mask up.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02051-3

#Covid #CovidIsNotOver #RepeatInfection #WearAMask #MaskUp

1 in 8 of #England’s entire population is on a hospital #WaitingList

More than 7 million people:

800,000 orthopaedic
640,000 eye
500,000 gynaecology
500,000 ENT
300,000 heart
300,000 children
25,000 cancer

#NHS's 18-week target now appears a “distant dream”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63905269