What Adam is Reading - 02-10-2021

 The ratio of political news to COVID news shifted massively yesterday (for obvious reasons).  At the very least, the political proceedings were a fantastic reminder to do your homework, think critically, and maintain self-awareness.  I'm sure there is a how-to book or three hiding in yesterday's events.

-----Latest Data---

Global-View:

https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938

Nationally:

https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf

Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data

The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

About the data:

https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.

Vaccine Tracker

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

-----

Here is the kind of world we will migrate to post-vaccination - "Fourteen residents at a German nursing home have tested positive despite receiving two vaccine doses."  AND - "None of them showed any serious symptoms associated with COVID-19."

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-german-nursing-home-sees-outbreak-after-vaccines/a-56491823

USA Today (I know, I know) had a surprisingly well-researched and in-depth article on the current state of vaccine manufacturing.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/health/2021/02/07/how-covid-vaccine-made-step-step-journey-pfizer-dose/4371693001/

I have mixed feelings about ProPublica, but this article on the new variants' potential impact reflects my concerns.

https://www.propublica.org/article/why-opening-restaurants-is-exactly-what-the-coronavirus-wants-us-to-do

A loyal reader was salivating to remind me that I had not reviewed COVID testing techniques recently.  GoodRx has a well-done consumer-level review - including links to at-home tests.

https://www.goodrx.com/blog/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-updates-methods-cost-availability/

Pfizer breaks down the PCR, Antigen, and Antibody methods nicely -

https://www.breakthroughs.com/foundations-science/understanding-covid-19-testing-methods

Lastly, Nature offers a comprehensive review and provides a sense of how chaotic the testing world is at the moment.  It is worth looking at this one for the infographics alone.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00332-4

Still a confusing mix of news.  But, nothing has changed my thoughts on what we should be doing:

• We must vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible to prevent hospitalization and death.  I suspect we will need vaccine boosters at some point to avoid mild to moderate illness.
• We still need to mask, distance, and isolate to protect those not yet vaccinated. We probably need more effective masks (like surgical and N95s) since the new variants are more transmissible.
• Depending on how well we do the first two, the case or death rates may still worsen due to the new strains.

Infographic of the day: Bird Species by Size, Metal Garages, and Other Random Things

Here is a beautiful and informative infographic prepared by the team at Alan's Factory Outlet, which sells carports and metal garages.   I cannot reconcile the two halves of the previous sentence.

https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/55-bird-species-ranked-by-size

Alan's marketing team has some serious talent:

https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/search-results#stq=infographic&stp=1

Oddly, their infographic on surviving animal attacks (in your area of North America!) does not include running into one of their metal sheds.  This oversight is a huge marketing tie-in miss if you ask me.

https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/how-to-survive-an-animal-attack-by-north-americas-primary-predators

------Bonus Round - Movement to avoid "the accumulation of gross, vicious humours, heaped up in the body."

I frequently encounter sweeping generalizations about historical health beliefs.  One of my favorite misconceptions is that movement and exercise were considered unhealthy.  It does not take much to demonstrate 1) this is not true and 2) the reality of recommended physical activity over the last 300 years is more entertaining than you could imagine.

Here is a good starting point - a review of exercise books from 1600 onward, including the word dumbbell's origin.

https://dralun.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/gymnasticks-and-dumbbells-exercise-in-early-modern-britain/

By the 1800s, our Victorian ancestors had gym equipment (but no gym clothes, it appears). 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-28858090

Learn about the Chamber Horse!

https://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2014/03/riding-chamber-horse-18th-c-exercise.html

A combination of politics and the burgeoning cultural identity trends in Europe brought a new focus to gymnastics (today's yoga and pilates, minus the baby goats.)

Check out the Swedish Movements

https://www.movementhealth.com.au/news/swedish-gymnastics-brief-history/

and

https://www.gih.se/In-English/About-GIH/History/

Excellent pictures come out of this period.  However, I strongly suggest viewing in the book's context to avoid misinterpretation

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pkznznh3/items?langCode=false&canvas=1

There is a ton of interesting material on this topic that weaves together politics, science, faux-science, and technology.  I suspect there is a great college course on the links between health, the positivist movement,  moralism, and the world's changing politics.

But for now, my conclusion (for the second time this week) is gratitude for spandex (see Monday's notes on suspenders).

Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam

Adam