I have seen several social media posts reflecting on how life, which was so hectic before the pandemic, may have become more manageable in a world that accepts work-from-home and fewer social gatherings. While we are not done with COVID quite yet, it will be interesting to see which trends persist. I also wonder when I will feel comfortable not wearing a mask in a grocery store.
---- Latest Data
Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decline. We are still seeing about 1500 deaths a day, but the trends are still declining in the U.S. for now.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
and
https://theuscovidatlas.org/map
Cases in the U.K. and the European Union are rising again:
Country Comparison from FT.com
The CDC weekly review discusses the CDC's categorization of community risk levels based on hospitalization rates.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
The Biden administration has published a forward-looking plan on managing future waves of the coronavirus. The ideas are sound and thoughtful.
https://insidemedicine.bulletin.com/breaking-leading-experts-release-comprehensive-covid-19-roadmap
The NY Times offers a FAQ about navigating an increasingly maskless world.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/mask-mandates-guidelines.html
Epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves offered more comments that are similar and detailed.
https://twitter.com/gregggonsalves/status/1500579198141935624
The Guardian published an interesting article on people who may be genetically resistant to COVID.
Montreal healthcare journalist Aaron Derfel offered two Twitter threads of note:
A look at Cuba's success in vaccinating its population
https://twitter.com/aaron_derfel/status/1499646784880185346?s=10
and
a round-up of data and media asking the question, "Are we at the end of the pandemic?":
https://twitter.com/Aaron_Derfel/status/1500352049086611457
Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean at Brown School of Public Health, has another set of thoughts on framing the data and the likelihood of further waves of COVID.
https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/status/1499232065853833222?s=10
Infographics
Learn about the life cycle of malaria, the world's most common parasite.
https://twitter.com/JanaSharara/status/1500472590191804422/photo/1
from https://twitter.com/JanaSharara/status/1500469605835419650
which is part of the annual nephrology educational event
NephMadness
https://www.tourneytopia.com/AJKD/NephMadness/default.aspx
Things I learned this week
This summer, large parachuting Joro spiders will be moving up the East Coast from Georgia. On the upside(?), "[The] Joro spider bite feels far less than a wasp sting, like a little pinch. They do have a little venom but like a bee or wasp sting, most will not need any medical attention."
Most commonly associated with cats and cat owners, the parasite toxoplasmosis cooperatively helps cats. Toxoplasma gondii, when it infects mice, removes rodents' innate fear of cats.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2013.13777
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam