At Forbes, I’m not writing as much about Covid these days. But, if you are interested you can see a list of my articles, including today’s piece on the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/
Joshua, the fact that you’re not writing much about Covid-19 these days, does that mean things aren’t getting any worse and that there may be good news coming about Omicron in the foreseeable future? Just from the news media, and Fauci all numbers are trending down significantly.
Two things:
1. My not writing as much about Covid doesn’t imply anything, other than the fact that I’m busy with other things (my day job, if you will). If I was an epidemiologist I’d still be writing about Covid. But, I’m not. I’m a health economist.
2. Covid numbers are headed in the right direction, which is good, but they are still very elevated. I can’t predict the future. I hope that this continues and that by April we’re in a much better place.
I can’t open. Please tell me no health professional is even hinting at getting rid of masks.
Oh, they are. And, they’re well-respected public health scientists, too. Dr. Leana Wen wrote the opinion piece. She even referenced “hot vax spring.” Again, I have no clue what that means. Nor did I ever understand the phrase “hot vax summer.”
Here’s what I don’t understand. We don’t have restrictions in place, except masks. And, some towns and cities do require proofs of vaccination in certain venues, and some employers, too. But that’s it. So, when people speak of the need to “off-ramp” with respect to restrictions, I’m curious to know what they mean. In Europe and Canada, I get it. They still have numerous restrictions in place and are gradually “off-ramping,” if you will.
I recently heard on the news that many colleges are planning to go back to “normal” soon. Whatever that means.
This is the first I have heard about “hot vax”. What does this mean? Is this related to vaccines during a particular season??
Just beyond belief. Are these people living in an alternate reality.
Mention removing masks and the anti maxxers will crawl out of the woodwork and that will be that
We are not keeping track of numbers any more. The reason is painfully obvious…..they don’t want us to know how HORRIFICALLY we have failed.
I can’t open either.
As public health folks in America ponder the near future, I do wish they’d keep in mind how darn poorly we have done. And how our public health practices are so incredibly bad compared to our peers that we really need to rethink our entire system, going forward.
The U.S. recorded nearly 60,000 Covid-19 deaths in January 2022, making it the 5th deadliest month in the entire pandemic.
In February, we will likely record another 35,000 deaths, some of which will be cases detected today, tomorrow, and this week. In March, my guess is we’ll record another 16,000 deaths, with almost all the cases having begun in February and March. So, why do we then “have to off-ramp” now?
I’m sorry to say this, because I do respect Leana Wen, but she is normalizing deaths. It’s what many public health folks did with HIV and with opioids (still do). The tolerance levels of large numbers of deaths in the U.S. is extraordinary. I don’t get it.
I heard other respected folks on Twitter caution that we cannot normalize death. I had to sit and stare at the comment for a bit. My God how low can our experts go.
Btw Joshua, are you feeling back to normal now? I may have missed it with all the storm talk on the other side. If so, that’s good news. 🙂
Yes, more or less. I even ran today. No excess fatigue. Just a lingering cough at night. But, I have tested negative twice in the past few days.
Good Joshua. Keep an eye on that cough.
I’ll also keep an eye on my cognitive skills, or lack thereof.
We know SARS-CoV-2 attacks the brain to some degree. The loss of smell and taste signaled that. But, now they’re finding that in some people it could be more serious than that. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1488637332689342468
Oh no! NOW what? I do wonder if it effects those more likely that are predisposed to Alzheimer’s perhaps?
I’d seen some reference to that also. Scary. Especially in the developing brain
Thanks TK.
At Forbes, I’m not writing as much about Covid these days. But, if you are interested you can see a list of my articles, including today’s piece on the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/
Joshua, the fact that you’re not writing much about Covid-19 these days, does that mean things aren’t getting any worse and that there may be good news coming about Omicron in the foreseeable future? Just from the news media, and Fauci all numbers are trending down significantly.
Two things:
1. My not writing as much about Covid doesn’t imply anything, other than the fact that I’m busy with other things (my day job, if you will). If I was an epidemiologist I’d still be writing about Covid. But, I’m not. I’m a health economist.
2. Covid numbers are headed in the right direction, which is good, but they are still very elevated. I can’t predict the future. I hope that this continues and that by April we’re in a much better place.
But, hope is not policy. I’m confused by the messages public health scientists are disseminating. See article below. Talk of a “hot vax spring” (whatever the hell that means) and getting rid of all `restrictions’ seems premature. Moreover, masks are the only restriction the U.S. has in place, so I’m not sure that lifting that `restriction’ will be a big thing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/01/yes-more-variants-may-emerge-future-thats-why-we-should-lift-restrictions-now/
I can’t open. Please tell me no health professional is even hinting at getting rid of masks.
Oh, they are. And, they’re well-respected public health scientists, too. Dr. Leana Wen wrote the opinion piece. She even referenced “hot vax spring.” Again, I have no clue what that means. Nor did I ever understand the phrase “hot vax summer.”
Here’s what I don’t understand. We don’t have restrictions in place, except masks. And, some towns and cities do require proofs of vaccination in certain venues, and some employers, too. But that’s it. So, when people speak of the need to “off-ramp” with respect to restrictions, I’m curious to know what they mean. In Europe and Canada, I get it. They still have numerous restrictions in place and are gradually “off-ramping,” if you will.
I recently heard on the news that many colleges are planning to go back to “normal” soon. Whatever that means.
This is the first I have heard about “hot vax”. What does this mean? Is this related to vaccines during a particular season??
Just beyond belief. Are these people living in an alternate reality.
Mention removing masks and the anti maxxers will crawl out of the woodwork and that will be that
We are not keeping track of numbers any more. The reason is painfully obvious…..they don’t want us to know how HORRIFICALLY we have failed.
I can’t open either.
As public health folks in America ponder the near future, I do wish they’d keep in mind how darn poorly we have done. And how our public health practices are so incredibly bad compared to our peers that we really need to rethink our entire system, going forward.
The U.S. recorded nearly 60,000 Covid-19 deaths in January 2022, making it the 5th deadliest month in the entire pandemic.
In February, we will likely record another 35,000 deaths, some of which will be cases detected today, tomorrow, and this week. In March, my guess is we’ll record another 16,000 deaths, with almost all the cases having begun in February and March. So, why do we then “have to off-ramp” now?
I’m sorry to say this, because I do respect Leana Wen, but she is normalizing deaths. It’s what many public health folks did with HIV and with opioids (still do). The tolerance levels of large numbers of deaths in the U.S. is extraordinary. I don’t get it.
I heard other respected folks on Twitter caution that we cannot normalize death. I had to sit and stare at the comment for a bit. My God how low can our experts go.
Btw Joshua, are you feeling back to normal now? I may have missed it with all the storm talk on the other side. If so, that’s good news. 🙂
Yes, more or less. I even ran today. No excess fatigue. Just a lingering cough at night. But, I have tested negative twice in the past few days.
Good Joshua. Keep an eye on that cough.
I’ll also keep an eye on my cognitive skills, or lack thereof.
We know SARS-CoV-2 attacks the brain to some degree. The loss of smell and taste signaled that. But, now they’re finding that in some people it could be more serious than that. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1488637332689342468
Oh no! NOW what? I do wonder if it effects those more likely that are predisposed to Alzheimer’s perhaps?
I’d seen some reference to that also. Scary. Especially in the developing brain
I hope it turns out to be a very rare occurrence.
And here’s the biggest problem facing the U.S., and it’s not just due to the anti-vaxxers. See tweet below. The Biden Administration hasn’t done enough. https://twitter.com/awgaffney/status/1488677298853367817
We fail in many categories for sure. 🙁
Indeed we do
How are you feeling , Philip?
While I believe Biden has not done enough, I think it would be difficult to dispute that our healthcare system failure came from the right.
Speaking of healthcare. I received an email from MGH Brigham tonight stressing the importance of masks
C-19 for 2-2 is ready.