CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS –1/13/2022

American Red Cross calls for blood donations amid nation’s worst blood shortage in over a decade

EAST TEXAS COVID COUNTS CONTINUE TO INCREASE AND SEVERAL SCHOOLS HAVE CLOSED.

Our vaccination rate of 38 % of the county population is lower even than it is in South Africa!

FROM JAMA:

1. Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2–Positive Youths Tested in Emergency Departments

”In this study, approximately 3% of SARS-CoV-2–positive youths tested in EDs experienced severe outcomes within 2 weeks of their ED visit. Among children discharged home from the ED, the risk was much lower. Risk factors such as age, underlying chronic illness, and symptom duration may be useful to consider when making clinical care decisions.”

(J. Harris: 3% severe outcomes in youths isn’t that high — unless it’s my child or grandchild.)

2. Assessment of Functional Mobility After COVID-19 in Adults Aged 50 Years

”…Although there is a growing body of research showing that hospitalized patients with COVID-19 experience problems with physical functioning up to 6 months after discharge, there is still a dearth of literature on nonhospitalized patients with less severe illness…. Anecdotal reports, patient accounts on social media, and some preliminary research with convenience samples, have suggested that many patients who experience even mild COVID-19 have persistent and troublesome symptoms, including impaired physical function after their initial illness… There is an ongoing effort by both health professionals and patients alike to recognize long COVID as a long-term condition and to increase access to treatments and rehabilitative care…Our findings confirm that individuals with COVID-19 who did not require hospitalization were more likely than those without COVID-19 to experience worsening of overall mobility since the start of the pandemic and a deterioration in physical function …Conclusions and Relevance This cohort study among older adults in Canada found that receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis was significantly associated with worse mobility and functioning outcomes even in the absence of hospitalization. These findings suggest that interventions may be needed for individuals with mild to moderate COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization.

FROM THE NY TIMES:

There are early signs that Omicron has begun to peak.

”…A huge surge in cases that lasts for about one month, followed by a rapid decline, would be consistent with the experience in some places where Omicron arrived earlier than in the U.S. In South Africa, new daily cases have fallen by about 70 percent from the mid-December peak…In Boston, the amount of the Covid virus detected in wastewater, which has been a leading indicator of case trends in the past, has plunged by about 40 percent since its peak just after Jan. 1.

With previous versions of Covid, like the Delta variant, the up-and-down cycles tended to last longer. Once an outbreak began, cases often rose for about two months before falling. The White House says it is considering offering ‘high-quality’ masks to Americans. (J. Harris: This should have been done 2 years ago. At present, the best masks I can find are KN95. They have more space in a little “tent” around your mouth and nose. They are tight and comfortable; they are made in South Korea under close scrutiny. )NOTES TODAY FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:1. ‘…t’s still not clear whether the current vaccines need to be tweaked for omicron. But Pfizer is already working on an omicron-specific vaccine. A Pfizer spokesman told The Washington Post that the company hopes “to have 50-100 million doses of the omicron specific vaccine available by late March/early April…”2. ”…The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are much more effective at preventing deaths than China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, according to new data out of Singapore…”

‘Killer’ immune cells still recognize Omicron variant

(J. Harris Immunization does stimulate “T” Cell immunity activity even if antibodies are not appreciably increased.)

AND LAST BUT NOT LEASED:

“Avoidable:” What a bullfighter tries to do.

“Subdued:” Like a guy, like works on one of those, like, submarines.