COVID-19

[JohnRoberts]

Out of the 183,677 Covid deaths in those 85 years and older, 105,262 were females.. 78,415 were males.

https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Death-Counts-by-Age-in-Years-/3apk-4u4f

The male to female ratio for 85YO and older is 0.57 x so demographic ratios would predict even more females inflicted all else equal, but perhaps females are in better general health than old males.

JR
link to demographic data

 

[JohnRoberts]

My BS meter is going wild.

They claim this $1,600 unit has 20W 222nM LED light source. Luxglo-222nm-FAR-UVC-Lamp-Revolutionary/dp/B08WHN5BL7/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=LUXGLO&qid=1631282261&sr=8-5

AFAIK far UVc LED technology does not exist yet, if it did there would be widespread commercialization of the powerful microbe killing breakthrough technology. They even include a supposed report of the UV light output but in addition to a spike around 200nM which could be far UVc, there is a similar amplitude spike around 800nM ( IR?) perhaps a heat lamp?

I really doubt this is real... curiously amazon suggests add on products like UV safety glasses.

JR

PS: I am still optimistic about far UVc LED technology just not ready yet.

 

[JohnRoberts]

While not exactly covid I am hearing a warning that this flu season is predicted to be worse than the last one for several reasons. Another dot to connect when hospitals are pushed to near capacity excess deaths from all causes increase.

The flu vaccine is usually prepared from flu strains collected from around the world... the unusual last year suggests flu vaccine may be less effective this coming season.

Maybe wear a mask and wash your hands.

JR

 

[cyrano]

That's not so hard to predict, as there were no flu cases previous season, due to masks...

 

[iturnknobs]

My BS meter is going wild.

They claim this $1,600 unit has 20W 222nM LED light source. Luxglo-222nm-FAR-UVC-Lamp-Revolutionary/dp/B08WHN5BL7/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=LUXGLO&qid=1631282261&sr=8-5

AFAIK far UVc LED technology does not exist yet, if it did there would be widespread commercialization of the powerful microbe killing breakthrough technology. They even include a supposed report of the UV light output but in addition to a spike around 200nM which could be far UVc, there is a similar amplitude spike around 800nM ( IR?) perhaps a heat lamp?

I really doubt this is real... curiously amazon suggests add on products like UV safety glasses.

JR

PS: I am still optimistic about far UVc LED technology just not ready yet.

I have seen few of these units in practice. Completely impractical IMO. Can't really work in a shared, saliva/condensation SM58, headbasket/pop filter situation, right? Especially when 30-60 min is required(and it's light waves). Mic rotation needed? Disassemble, disinfect with hospital/industrial disinfectant, allow ample dry time. Rotate externals, reuse transducers...sounds better than mic "condoms" that people have asked me to "experiment" with. Condom+water+cardioid=Omni.

 

[JohnRoberts]

There are numerous closed box disinfection units based on standard UVc light (250nM wavelength). I suspect the unit I linked to is using a far UVc excimer laser (222nM) which is consistent with that price, but not LEDs that as far as I know are not commercially available at that wavelength.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Pfizer, BioNTech submitted data to FDA to win approval for covid vaccination for 5-11YO age group.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Merck is seeking authorization for their new antiviral Covid pill (molnupiravir).

It was so effective that they stopped the study early to seek approval. It reportedly reduced death and hospitalizations from 14% to 7% in high risk patients, without injections or infusions.

JR

 

[crazydoc]

However, it has been suggested that exposure to molnupiravir can be mutagenic to host DNA during host DNA replication. Therefore, the potential off-target effects will require further investigation.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-021-00657-8
Oh boy, I'll bet some folks are really going to jump on this. But if we start growing tails, we can just tuck them into our pants.

 

[scott2000]

No, not another horse pill...

 

[JohnRoberts]

kind of like chemo for cancer,,, you want to kill the bad cells without harming the good cells too much.

JR

 

[scott2000]

Pretty fascinating how changes in molecules can make all the difference..

 

[scott2000]

Just noticed the look of the excess deaths on CDC has changed...Guess the scaling used to include 70000 now it jumps from 60000 to 80000...
Here's what it looks like now and back in May....
Guess you could say things are looking better...

 

[fazer]

So now the omicron variant. South Africa’s development. This thing is never gonna stop. The gift that keeps on giving.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Will this end when were run out of greek alphabet?

JR

 

[scott2000]

What's confusing a bit is , from reading an old article

https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-patients-cant-know-which-variant-infected-them-delta-2021-8
regarding actually validating sequencing for variants, it's mentioned that the process is pretty involved and can take weeks or months. Maybe that's just in regular scenarios? Just for validation? Seems that testing every single person for infection and identifying a new strain at the same time would be quite challenging or a little time consuming if reading the article correctly ? Or maybe sequencing is pretty quick, and regular people aren't allowed to know without an arduous process.

For instance, from today's article

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireS...s-omicron-cases-travel-curbs-tighten-81429601
"The two passengers were among a group of 14 others who arrived in Australia from southern Africa on Saturday, They were asymptomatic and were both vaccinated for COVID-19. The remaining 12 have been placed in quarantine."

I guess they were tested and sequenced very quickly...

 

[JohnRoberts]

Not sure I want to poke this sleeping bear but... a doctor from one of the affected Southern African countries declared that the omnicron variant is "extreme"ly mild.

Hard to imagine that news media and politicians would make this appear more dangerous than it is, while it is still early.

JR

PS; Don't be waiting for a XI variant, that name has been retired along with NU.

 

[hodad]

Cooler scientific heads have noted that it's too soon to tell. Mass media thrives on scandal & panic, so the reaction is not surprising. Shutting down air travel from southern Africa will likely only delay the inevitable spread of omicron, but that may be what a lot of countries need in order to figure out the appropriate response.
Of course, Delta is very much still with us, so if undue panic inspires folks to get vaxxed and/or pick their masks back up, I won't be too upset about it.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, was one of the first doctors in South Africa to detect the new variant.

She told Reuters symptoms of the omicron variant were "very mild" and could be treated at home. These infections were first reported in university students who were younger and tended to have milder disease.

===

As of Monday, no deaths were reported associated with the new variant (surely somebody died, somewhere ?).

===
“In evolution, when you see a virus pick up a trait, it loses something else. You may see higher transmission but lower odds of hospitalization,” Soundararajan said. “That might be the silver lining.”

USA today

Be very afraid....

[edit- if this new more contagious Covid variant, that only causes mild symptoms, is crowding out the other more serious Covid variants, how could that not be a very good thing? /edit]

JR

 

[hodad]

[edit- if this new more contagious Covid variant, that only causes mild symptoms, is crowding out the other more serious Covid variants, how could that not be a very good thing? /edit]

JR

Could be a very good thing. But you're making ASSumptions based on very limited data. Might be prudent to hold off just a few days before scheduling Metropolitan Hickory's first Omicron party.