Category: Coronavirus

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Coronavirus health Robert Kennedy Jr.

There’s a new summer Covid variant which makes your throat feel like ‘razor blades’

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In recent months, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has radically changed pandemic policies, coronavirus policies and vaccine policies. It’s very likely that Covid vaccine boosters will be limited to seniors and medically vulnerable people from now on. It’s very likely that the CDC’s annual flu shot program has been quietly shut down. Kennedy also recently fired the 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. All in all, a lot of people are going to die of treatable viruses and diseases. Not only that, if there’s another pandemic – or even just a really contagious Covid surge – the current system will not be able to handle it whatsoever. Speaking of, there’s a new Covid variant going around, and I’d be willing to bet that there will be zero Covid booster shots targeted for it.

A new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has already caused a surge in cases in Asia — and its signature symptom is a severe sore throat that feels like “razor blades.”

Covid variant NB.1.8.1 — which has informally been dubbed “Nimbus” — is being monitored by the World Health Organization as this latest mutation of the wildly contagious virus already makes up more than 10% of cases in Asia, Salon reports, adding that it’s now been detected in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

The variant has a high “immune evasion, supporting its potential for future dominance,” according to a pre-print study that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

This strain, Salon reports, causes “razor blade throat,” or a severe sore throat; Other symptoms include traditional flu-like symptoms like congestion, fatigue, a mild cough, fever, and muscle aches, and more infrequently diarrhea and nausea, The Independent reports.

Per that outlet, WHO says global risk is “currently low, and existing Covid-19 vaccines are considered effective in preventing severe disease.” But as Dr. Rajendram Rajnarayanan, of the New York Institute of Technology, told Salon, “NB.1.8.1 is a strong candidate for the summer surge.”

“I know that everybody wants to forget about this disease, but it’s not going to allow us to,” Dr. Janko Nikolich, Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine said, according to ABC Action News.

[From People]

CB told me that she’s already been masking up when she’s in any kind of indoor group. It feels like we should all be stocking up on masks and being more careful and aware when we’re around other people. There have been “summer variants” in previous years, and they turn into much bigger deals in the fall and winter. Anyway, as I said, it will probably be difficult for under-65 people to get Covid boosters this fall, not that anyone is working on boosters to deal with the new variants anyway. This variant sounds horrible too.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images and Kennedy’s IG.

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Coronavirus health Science

Five years after covid hit ‘we have ignored the lessons at our own peril’

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It’s been five years and a day since everything shut down for about a year during covid pandemic. It feels like yesterday and forever ago. I’ve caught covid a couple of times, although I still mask when I can, and in each case I did not get my cardiovascular fitness back for at least a month. I wore a mask at a very crowded indoor venue last week and I was the only person there with one. If it were not for the news that people at the SNL50 concert caught covid, I might have decided to go without. My personal experience has been somewhat muted. I don’t have long covid, my job has always been remote, I didn’t lose anyone close to me and yet I have a deep distrust of people and of situations that will likely never go away. The lack of common sense and common decency that the pandemic exposed was eye opening to say the least. On the bright side, I started hobbies over lockdown and made positive life changes. I love baking and hiking now, after previously having little interest in either.

The Guardian has a new article featuring brief interviews with six people about how their lives have changed since March 13, 2020. It’s a concise, evocative read in which you get a sense of each person’s experience. There’s a sweet story from a retired woodworker in Vermont who started cleaning up felled trees and replacing steps at public trails near his house. There’s a young man whose long covid is so bad he has trouble getting around the house, and there’s an older man who grew closer to his family. I’m going to excerpt the part from a public health expert who gave the quote in the title. This was the interview that resonated the most with me:

I have worked in public health for 10 years now, most of that time spent in applied infectious disease control. While I was finishing my graduate degree I read an email about some “undiagnosed pneumonia” in a Chinese city. I still remember the goosebumps flittering up and down my arms. We had always been taught about “Disease X” and that another pandemic would eventually happen, but here it was.

Studying pandemics in textbooks and through academic journals pales in comparison to living and working through one. I remember receiving calls from friends and family asking about what to do, how to respond, questions about anything from masking to vaccines. I learned to take responsibility for each word I gave in answer.

At the same time, I remember the sense of pride I felt that I was able to go into work each day and help people. I remember the joy at hearing about the results of the vaccine trials and the excitement I felt standing in line at the hospital to receive my first dose.

Being adjacent to such suffering has taken a toll on me that I have yet to fully process. If I have changed as a person, it is perhaps that I feel more cynical. How could so many people die, and yet so many more be so unmoved by such tragedy? It feels as though we have ignored the lessons of yesterday at our own peril.

My anger at the injustice around me has driven me to consider political work and to continue my path towards practicing medicine. There is always work to be done, there is always responsibility to be taken, and I want to be involved. Nicholas, 29, works in public health, New York

[From The Guardian]

Earlier this week I read an article on Yahoo! Life about the differences between mask wearing in the US and in Asian countries. It’s often assumed that people wearing masks in the US are immune compromised, while people do it in other countries to protect others. About ten days after I caught covid last fall I wore a mask at a gynecologist appointment. My voice was still quite raspy. The doctor told me that it had been ten days since I tested positive so I could remove my mask. I said it was a nasty illness and I didn’t want to spread it.

We are of course woefully unprepared for another pandemic, especially under this evil administration. Many people I know are getting vaccinated in reaction to a vaccine denier being appointed head of HHS and due to multiple disease outbreaks around the US. Last Friday I got an MMR booster at CVS. The pharmacist told me that more people are getting immunized now and that we might not be able to get vaccinated in the future. I agreed and mentioned my mom getting one of the first batches of the polio vaccine as a child. One of her classmates was on an iron lung. Since 2020, the US has lost over a million people to covid, millions more are facing long term disability and it’s like we’ve collectively decided to ignore it. I can make a mean baguette now though and I really love hiking.

Photos credit: Getty and Adam Schultz/Avalon

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Coronavirus health Lockdown Scandals

Ex-NYC Covid czar fired for attending parties during the pandemic

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Power must truly corrupt and make people think they can get away with anything (although I’d still like to be given the chance to test my mettle against its siren call). Today’s case study: Dr. Jay Varma served as then-NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Covid czar” from April 2020 to May 2021, and was a part of the core team who planned NYC’s vaccine rollout. So his tenure covered the bleakest days of Covid when we were on strict lockdown until the vaccines were available to offer a bridge back to normality. As a public health official amid a once in a century pandemic, you would expect Dr. Varma to model the safety precautions/behaviors (like masking and social distancing) that he was asking of the Big Apple’s citizenry, no? Yeah, well guess who was just outed as having attended two parties during that time? Dr. Varma no longer works for the city, but on Monday he was sacked from his current pharmaceutical job

The board of directors at SIGA Technologies terminated Dr. Jay Varma effective immediately “other than for cause,” according to a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Varma was the company’s executive vice president and chief medical officer, the filing says. He was also on its board of directors.

A company spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. A spokesman for Varma would not comment.

The policies adopted in New York City while Varma was former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s senior public health adviser and an architect of the city’s vaccine strategy attracted national attention after Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving was banned from playing basketball in New York City when he refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Varma acknowledged the prohibited gatherings after a conservative podcaster posted video last week of what appeared to be hidden camera recordings that showed Varma describing them.

In a previous statement released by his spokesman, Varma did not dispute the authenticity of the videos but said they were secretly recorded, “spliced, diced and taken out of context.” The spokesman would not say how they were taken out of context.

In the recordings, Varma can be heard describing a “sex party” that he attended at a hotel with his wife and eight to 10 other people in August 2020, as well as an indoor dance bash in July 2021 attended by more than 200 people.

Varma can be heard describing the first event in the recordings as “just being naked with friends.”

At the time of the second event, New York state had raised the limit on outdoor gatherings from 200 to 500 people. Varma’s spokesman previously said that he was a part-time City Hall consultant at the time and that all participants were vaccinated.

“I served in City Hall between April 2020 – May 2021,” Varma said in the statement. “During that time, I participated in two private gatherings. I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time.”

[From NBC News]

For the love of Lady Liberty, where do we start?! I love (and by “love” I mean am eye rolling) that the most responsibility Dr. Varma could muster in his statement of taking responsibility is “for not using the best judgment.” Dude can’t even directly say he used bad judgment. Moving on to the dance party in July 2021, I realize I’m a homebody, but what indoor dance bashes are going on under my nose in this city? With 200 people no less! I’d like to know the venue, the playlist, and all dance genres the revelers partook in. You know, as part of public record and apology to NYC. But of course the biggie is the August 2020 sex party. I have several questions. How do you go about putting feelers out there to gauge who else is down for an orgy in the middle of lockdown? Whilst also keeping it on the down-low because you’re telling the rest of New York to exhibit the exact opposite behavior? Who came up with this brilliant idea? No really, how severe do personal circumstances need to be that putting together an orgy during a deadly health crisis is the only way forward? WHAT HOTEL? And not for nothing, but is it not an extra layer of dumb that Dr. Varma was outed not by video recordings of either party, but by sound recordings of him bragging about them?

Friendly reminder: now is a great time to get your Covid and Flu shots! I just got mine yesterday!

Screenshots from YouTube/Fox 5 Good Day New York and CBS New York

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Coronavirus health Science

Covid is on the rise again, ‘the summer wave is starting to begin’

covid-is-on-the-rise-again,-‘the-summer-wave-is-starting-to-begin’




NBC News put out this reporting last week that Covid cases are on the rise again this summer, only I couldn’t cover it until now because **checks notes** oh yeah, I’ve been holed up in bed with Covid! And it’s not only me (however much it feels like it). Cases are up in 39 states in the US, with California in particular showing a bump in positive Covid tests from 3% to 7.5% in the last month (and those stats are just for documented cases). One bit of good news? Though there’s a new crop of variants that disease experts are tracking, the data suggests that overall the cases are milder than we’ve seen from Covids past. Here are the important bits on the trends and variants popping up this summer, and the best ways to prepare:

Summer wave: The CDC no longer tracks Covid cases, but it estimates transmission based on emergency department visits. Both Covid deaths and ED visits have risen in the last week. Hospitalizations also climbed 25% from May 26 to June 1, the latest data available. … “It looks like the summer wave is starting to begin,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Covid infections have historically spiked over the summer, in part because of an increase in travel and people congregating indoors, where it’s cooler. This year appears to be no exception, though disease experts expect this season’s wave to be milder in terms of severe disease.

Flirting with disaster: Several variants are likely to be contributing to the nationwide trend, said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “We’re seeing the start of an uptick of infections that is coincident with new variants that are developing: KP.2 and KP.3 and LB.1. It does appear that those variants do have an advantage over the prior ones,” he said. … KP.2 became the dominant variant in the U.S. last month, and then KP.3 took over in early June. Along with a third variant that shares the same key mutations, KP.1.1, the group accounts for around 63% of Covid infections in the U.S. Some scientists collectively refer to the variants as “FLiRT” — a reference to their amino acid changes.

New kid on the block: LB.1 accounts for another 17.5% of Covid infections. Experts said its rapid growth indicates that it’s likely to become dominant soon, though scientists still want to study it more closely. “It’s sort of the newest kid on the block,” Barouch said. “There’s not much known about it.” A preprint paper released this month, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed, suggests that LB.1 is more infectious than the “FLiRT: variants and could be better at evading protection from vaccines or previous infections. “Assuming that preliminary data is true, that it’s more immune-evasive and that it’s more infectious than KP.2 and KP.3, that’s a winning formula to infect more people,” Russo said.

What you can do: Russo recommended that people who are the most vulnerable to infection — those who are older or immunocompromised or engage in riskier activities, such as attending large parties or gatherings — consider getting the latest Covid vaccine now if they haven’t already. He added that a monoclonal antibody drug called Pemgarda has been available since April for immunocompromised people. The antiviral medication Paxlovid should also help reduce the likelihood of hospitalization or death. But most young, healthy people can hold out for the updated Covid vaccines expected to arrive this fall, experts said. The Food and Drug Administration advised vaccine manufacturers this month to target the KP.2 variant.

[From NBC News]

Get vaccinated, y’all! I usually double up and get my flu shot and Covid booster at the same appointment shortly after they roll them out in the fall. And this was my first dance with ‘rona, so I credit that to staying on top of my boosters and consider myself very lucky. Main symptoms have been a deep, persistent cough, and the hugely distracting and unpleasant metallic taste in my mouth from taking Paxlovid. It’s definitely been worse than the colds I typically get, but at no point did I feel things were so severe that I should go to the hospital. So again, thank you to the scientific community for giving us vaccines and medicines to save our lives. (And bless their hearts for being dorks; the explanation for the “FLiRT” nickname cracked me up.)

As for avoiding large parties and gatherings… excuse me, but I’m a pro. I was livin’ the social distancing life long before it was being preached, thankyouverymuch. I will have to go back to the office though, as my boss did not hesitate to remind me that the CDC dropped the five-day isolation requirement. The guidelines stipulate that you just need to be 24 hours free of fever without having taken fever-reducing medication. Of course, fever was never one of my symptoms, but I’m used to being an outlier.

Photos credit: Marcus Aurelius, Mediocre Memories and Wendy Wei on Pexels

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Coronavirus health

NYT: Wait until late September or October to get your Covid booster

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I haven’t had any Covid boosters since early fall 2022, when that bivalent booster was all the rage. I got mine with a separate flu shot. They worked too – I didn’t get Covid or the flu, and I’ve only had a couple of minor stomach bugs in the past year. Considering there’s a rise in Covid cases this summer, I wondered if the CDC would give out new instructions on boosters any time soon. Well, the CDC hasn’t given out official guidance yet, but the NYT had a good piece on why we should wait until October to get our boosters.

An uptick in Covid-19 cases and the fast-approaching new school year have many people wondering when they should get their next booster. The short answer, according to experts: not quite yet — you’ll be a lot better off if you wait another month or two.

In June, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the next Covid vaccine formulation target the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant. Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are now working to update, test and mass-produce their vaccines, which will then need to be officially authorized by the F.D.A. Experts estimate that shots will be available to the public by late September or early October.

There are two main reasons to hold out for the updated vaccine. First, it will be a better match for the variants that are currently circulating. The majority of the coronavirus strains infecting people right now are either descended from, or related to, XBB.1.5, so the decision to target that variant with the vaccine “was about as good as you could imagine for the moment,” said Trevor Bedford, a professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The vaccine will most likely also provide some protection against EG.5, which recently became the dominant variant in the United States, accounting for about 17 percent of current cases. EG.5 is descended from another XBB variant and has a few additional mutations, so antibodies produced by the updated vaccine may not be quite as effective against it. But the new booster is still a better fit for EG.5 than last year’s booster, which targeted both the original Covid strain and the BA.5 Omicron variant — neither of which appear to be circulating anymore.

The second reason to wait a month or two for the new vaccine is that it will increase the odds that your defenses against the virus will be strongest when cases are expected to peak, historically between December and February. Antibodies wane over time, and protection is highest during the first three months following an infection or vaccination.

[From The NYT]

For the past six or seven years, I’ve been quite good about getting my flu shots every fall, so this kind of guidance makes sense to me. Late September/early October is when the new flu shots come out and now we’re in a cycle where we’ll get the new Covid boosters at the same time. I’m actually looking forward to it! I always feel so smug and healthy after all my shots. Anyway, pencil it in – get your new Covid boosters alongside your flu shots in about six weeks.

Photos courtesy CDC via Unsplash.

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Coronavirus Jake Gyllenhaal Jamie Lee Curtis

Jake Gyllenhaal lived with Jamie Lee Curtis during the pandemic

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Jake Gyllenhaal is in Guy Ritchie’s new film, The Covenant. It had its premiere last Monday in Los Angeles and Jamie Lee Curtis showed up for Jake. Jamie is friends with Jake’s parents and has known him since he was a little boy, so she’s looked out for him throughout his life and career. Apparently that bond was so strong that when COVID shut the country down, Jake and his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu sheltered in place with Jamie and husband Christopher Guest. Of course, it was a COVID Bubble, Hollywood edition, which means Jake and Jeanne lived in the house next door that Jamie owns. But Jake and Jeanne still had full Jamie and Christopher access, so it sounds like a groovy way to ride out the pandemic.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Lee Curtis are opening up about living together during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Speaking with PEOPLE at the Los Angeles premiere of Gyllenhaal’s new thriller Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant on Monday, Curtis, 64, revealed that Gyllenhaal — who is her godson — lived next door to her during lockdown with his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu.

“We’ve just gotten to know each other,” the Oscar winner told PEOPLE of her relationship with Gyllenhaal, 42, who she kissed on the cheek while walking the red carpet. “He also lived with me during COVID for almost a year. He and Jeanne lived in the house next door that I have. And so there was also that. For a minute.”

As for how the actor filled his time whilst stuck at home, Curtis revealed that like many others, Gyllenhaal made a hobby out of baking bread.

“He made a lot of sourdough bread, a lot,” she continued, adding that it was “very good.”

“So singing, acting, sourdough,” added Curtis. “And he did that test where you do a handstand against the wall and take your shirt off and put it back on.”

Speaking to PEOPLE, Gyllenhaal revealed that he has continued with his hobby even though the lockdown is now over.

“I am still eating sourdough,” he said. “Yes. I haven’t stopped. Even though we’re out of the pandemic, I am still making sourdough.”

[From People]

There are two things I took from this. The first is I’m not surprise Jake sheltered with a mother-figure for a year of the pandemic. Jamie and Christopher live in California, and we were one of the first states to shut down initially. Not that Jake would have been trapped here, maybe he was responsible enough not to travel once the state locked down and needed a place to stay. But he also seems like someone who needs a parental figure looking out for him, even if it’s just knowing they are nearby. Which is why he would gravitate to someone like Jamie instead of his own situation. While I’m not a huge Jake fan, I’m not banging on him for this. I think he just needs people around him. It was probably nice for Jeanne to have someone watching over Jake in a locked-down situation as well.

The other thing I took from this is: bread. Look, I never want to go back to lockdown. I think we are only just now starting to see the trauma it put on our kids. But my gawd do I miss everyone’s bread obsession – making it, talking about it, researching it, posting it, eating it. Just reading about Jake and his sourdough sent me to a happy place when I would plan what bread to try next. My family reflected on the fresh bagels we made during quarantine just the other morning. If we have to find a silver lining for those lost years, it will be the bread.

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Photo credit: Unique Nicole/WireImage, Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic, Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic/Getty Images

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Coronavirus Queen Camilla royals

Queen Camilla got Covid for a second time, one year exactly after her first bout

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On Monday, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Camilla would skip her planned engagements for today, Tuesday, because she had come down with a cold. I honestly didn’t think much of it – lots of people get colds this time of year, especially people in public-facing jobs. Camilla had several events last week, which saw her interacting with the large swathes of the public. She did so maskless. Well, you guessed it (when I didn’t) – Camilla has Covid. Again! She had it this time last year too, and last year’s bout of Covid came right after she breathed all over people at a food event and the British Asian Trust awards!

Queen Camilla has tested positive for coronavirus nearly a year to the day after her first diagnosis with COVID-19 was announced. Buckingham Palace shared the news in a statement on Monday.

“After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the Covid virus,” the palace said. “With regret, she has therefore cancelled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them.”

Last February, Clarence House announced that Queen Camilla, 75, tested positive for COVID. Camilla tested positive four days after her husband, who was then known as Prince Charles, entered self-isolation following his own positive coronavirus diagnosis.

[From People]

Last year, when Camilla came down with Covid, they made a point of saying she had been triple-vaccinated, meaning she got the first two shots then a booster. I wonder if she got a fourth shot/second booster? Here in America, everyone was encouraged to get another booster last fall, and/or get the bivalent booster, which is what I got (I actually got a flu shot AND the bivalent booster, it’s a long story).

Anyway, I’m not going to slam Camilla – almost everyone is going maskless these days, myself included. We have gotten to that point where vaccinated people get Covid and the overwhelming majority recover within a week, which is what public health officials wanted. CB actually just got Covid too – she found out the same day as Camilla. Prayers up for CB! And Camilla too, I guess.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.