CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS –2/16/2022

My son called last night to tell me that there was a rumor in town that I was dead. Wow. No. It wasn’t me. It was Mark Twain. 

But like Lewis Grizzard said” Elvis is dead and I’m not feeling so good myself.”

OMICRON COVID CASES UP IN S. KOREA

Record high of 90,443 new Covid cases in South Korea Wednesday

The country has administered Covid vaccines to 44,757,215 people, or 87.2 per cent of the total population, and the number of fully vaccinated people stands at 44,249,882, or 86.2 per cent.

Coronavirus: from South Korea to Singapore, Omicron-fuelled wave pushes cases to record highs

”…South Korea has largely been a Covid-19 mitigation success story, thanks mainly to widespread wearing of masks, social distancing and aggressive testing and tracing….The country reported 57,049 new infections on Tuesday, with 134 people dying from the disease. Fatalities are lower than during the peak of the Delta wave, when more than 2,000 people died in a day, leading the government to ease some restrictions in cities while still warning people against gathering.

In Malaysia, 22,133 new cases were recorded on Tuesday, the fifth consecutive day with more than 20,000 daily infections.

Health director general Noor Hisham Abdullah said more than 99 per cent of the new cases were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.

(J. Harris: These cases are said to be “Omicron.” I have not yet see sub variant studies.)

FROM BECKERS:

4 possible scenarios for the pandemic’s next act

(J. Harris: SHORT, READABLE, TO THE POINT, LIKELY)

FROM ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE

The Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection in Persons With Naturally Acquired Immunity With and Without Subsequent Receipt of a Single Dose of BNT162b2 [PFIZER] Vaccine

”A statistically significant decreased risk … for reinfection was found among persons who were previously infected and then vaccinated versus those who were previously infected but remained unvaccinated. In addition, there was a decreased risk for symptomatic disease … among previously infected and vaccinated persons compared with those who were not vaccinated after infection. No COVID-19–related mortality cases were found……….This analysis showed that persons who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 gain additional protection from a subsequent single-dose vaccine regimen. Nonetheless, even without a subsequent vaccination, it seems that reinfection is relatively rare, at least in the first year after infection (13, 44), although the study was done before the emergence of the Omicron variant. The long-term effects of reinfection are still unknown. Therefore, policies regarding vaccination of convalescent persons of different age and risk groups will also depend on prioritization of resources in terms of global vaccination deployment.”

FROM JOHNS HOPKINS SELECTIONS:

1. Heart-disease Risk Soars After COVID — Even With a Mild Case (Nature) Even a mild case of COVID-19 can increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular problems for at least a year after diagnosis, a new study shows. Researchers found that rates of many conditions, such as heart failure and stroke, were substantially higher in people who had recovered from COVID-19 than in similar people who hadn’t had the disease. What’s more, the risk was elevated even for those who were under 65 years of age and lacked risk factors, such as obesity or diabetes. Al-Aly and his colleagues based their research on an extensive health-record database curated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The researchers compared more than 150,000 veterans who survived for at least 30 days after contracting COVID-19 with two groups of uninfected people: a group of more than five million people who used the VA medical system during the pandemic, and a similarly sized group that used the system in 2017, before SARS-CoV-2 was circulating.

2.  HHS Awards Nearly $55 Million to Increase Virtual Health Care Access and Quality Through Community Health Centers (HHS) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded nearly $55 million to 29 HRSA-funded health centers to increase health care access and quality for underserved populations through virtual care such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring, digital patient tools, and health information technology platforms. This funding builds on over $7.3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding invested in community health centers over the past year to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

(J. Harris: Surely Harrison County should be eligible for some of these type fund? We are definitely a medically underserved area.)

AND FINALLY:

More from Lewis Grizzard: I know lots of people who are educated far beyond their intelligence.

We all get heavier as we get older, because there’s a lot more information in our heads. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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P.O. Box 721

Scottsville Texas

75688

HELLO,

FROM THE MNM WITH WEEKLY CASE NUMBERS:

J. Harris: Since Harrison County has only vaccinated 40% of the population and since new Covid Variants can be transmitted by virtually anyone: vaccinated, recovered, unvaccinated, recovered + vaccinated — I plan to continue using my mask when indicated by the Three C’s (Closed, Crowded, and/or Close)

NEW FROM JAMA

Association of COVID-19 Vaccination With Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Time Since Vaccination and Delta Variant Predominance

Among adults, the OR for the association between symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination (as an estimate of vaccine effectiveness) was higher during Delta variant predominance, suggesting lower protection. For mRNA vaccination, the steady increase in OR by month since vaccination was consistent with attenuation of estimated effectiveness over time; attenuation related to time was greater than that related to variant.

”…The findings are consistent with a steady decline in estimated mRNA vaccine effectiveness over time, separate from variant-specific differences in protection.”

In this analysis, the pattern of attenuation related to the time since vaccination for mRNA vaccines was consistent before and after the emergence of Delta as the predominant variant…More recent data from this same testing platform suggest that 2 doses of mRNA vaccine offer less protection against infection with the Omicron variant than against infection with the Delta variant, but the pattern of attenuation over time since vaccination was similar for both variants… Together these data suggest that while the starting point for protection among recent recipients of 2 doses of mRNA vaccine can differ across variants, declines in effectiveness over time may be more predictable. It will be important to evaluate whether protection from booster doses wanes in a similar fashion as that of 2 doses.

(J. Harris: Most of the vaccinated older folks that I know are now waiting for a 4th Booster and hope it will be at least as good as was the 3rd. Others are interested in a “Mix and Match.” of mRNA vaccines.)

FROM BECKERS: (Has audio as well)

32% of older adults develop new medical conditions after COVID-19

FROM THE LANCET:

Transitioning to endemicity with COVID-19 research

(J. Harris: From a medical research point of view, most efforts have been directed to Covid for the last 2 years. Ultimately, this might prove costly?)

”…The vast research effort that has gone into COVID-19 over the past 2 years should be celebrated as a great human achievement—it has given us the tools to turn a pandemic disease into a manageable, endemic one. Better vaccines and treatments will be required to maintain this success, and large parts of the world’s population still do not have access to vaccines. However, research organisations, funding bodies, and industry should now lead a compensatory effort that, applying lessons learned from combatting COVID-19, redirects research towards the control of infectious diseases (and, indeed, non-communicable diseases) that take a toll of human life year in and year out…”

FROM JOHNS HOPKINS CITATIONS:

1. Waning 2-Dose and 3-Dose Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19–Associated Emergency Department and Urgent Care Encounters and Hospitalizations Among Adults During Periods of Delta and Omicron Variant Predominance — VISION Network, 10 States, August 2021–January 2022 (CDC MMWR) Vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19–associated emergency department/urgent care (ED/UC) visits and hospitalizations was higher after the third dose than after the second dose but waned with time since vaccination. During the Omicron-predominant period, VE against COVID-19–associated ED/UC visits and hospitalizations was 87% and 91%, respectively, during the 2 months after a third dose and decreased to 66% and 78% by the fourth month after a third dose. Protection against hospitalizations exceeded that against ED/UC visits.

2.Vaccine Scientists Have Been Chasing Variants. Now, They’re Seeking a Universal Coronavirus Vaccine (Washington Post) Volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to receive shots of experimental vaccines tailored to beat the omicron variant — just as the winter coronavirus surge begins to relent. By the time scientists know whether those rebooted vaccines are effective and safe, omicron is expected to be in the rearview mirror. Already, mask mandates are easing. People are beginning to talk about normalcy. The disconnect highlights the exhausting scientific chase of the last year — and the one that lies ahead. And it underscores a more pressing, overarching conundrum: Is chasing the latest variant a viable strategy? Instead of testing and potentially deploying a new shot when a new variant pops up, what if a single vaccine could thwart all iterations of this coronavirus and the next ones, too?

AND LAST BUT NOT LEASED:

 A Birthday Cake my Norweigan Housekeep made recently:

Another cake she made last month:

No joke.

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P.O. Box 721

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75688

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND YOUNG COUPLES TO READ:

FROM BECKER:

COVID-19 can destroy placenta and lead to stillbirth, study finds

(J. Harris: This is another good reason young women SHOULD get vaccinated — even more so if they might get pregnant. Good summary article that is easy to understand.)

Among pregnant women, the coronavirus can severely damage the placenta, leading to fetal asphyxiation and stillbirth, according to research published Feb. 10 in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.….The findings underscore the importance of vaccination among pregnant women, according to health experts.

FROM JAMA: 

    Among pregnant and postpartum individuals, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with an increased risk of a composite outcome of maternal mortality or serious morbidity from obstetric complications.

Challenges in Inferring Intrinsic Severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant

(J. Harris: This is a readable, referenced letter regarding Omicron in S. Africa. It points out that there’s still a lot we don’t know about the Omicron Variants.

”… caution is warranted when it comes to making inferences about omicron’s intrinsic traits, particularly its severity, on the basis of population-level observations…On the contrary, omicron’s immune-evasion capability has enabled it to infect many people who wouldn’t have been infected by previous variants, which has fueled its rapid spread and allowed it to more quickly infect nonimmune people, thereby offsetting what appears to be a moderately lower intrinsic severity and exacerbating overcrowding of hospital systems and demands on caregivers…More time and careful comparisons controlling for age, preexisting immunity, detection bias, lag time, hospital capacity, and other factors will be required to determine omicron’s intrinsic virulence…”

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Some long Covid sufferers try to exercise but end up feeling worse.

”…These exercise-induced problems are not, however, merely the byproduct of becoming out of shape. The effects “are very, very different from normal and simple detraining… They also don’t seem to be the result of lung or heart injury…Yet when the long Covid patients exercised on a stationary bicycle, Dr. Systrom found that some veins and arteries were not working properly, preventing oxygen from being delivered efficiently to their muscles…Nobody knows why these blood vessel problems occur… but another …recent studies suggested that long Covid patients experience damage to a certain kind of nerve fiber involved in how organs and blood vessel function.

A FOOTBALL ARTICLED BY MARSHALL’S FAVORITE NEW YORK TIMES WRITER, KEN BELSON

For N.F.L. Perfection, a Steep Price

AND LAST BUT NOT LEASED, IF A DAY OR TWO LATE:

Subject: Add for  Super Bowl Tickets: In case you’re interested: A buddy of mine has 2 Super Bowl tickets which are, 40 yard line box seats. He paid $7,500 each, but he didn’t realize last year when he bought them, that the game was going to be on the same day as his wedding…. If you’re interested, he’s looking for someone to take his place…It’s at Calvary Church in San Clemente at 3 pm. The bride’s name is Nicole, she’s 5’4″, about 115 lbs — good looking and good cook too. She’ll be in the white dress. Call for more details.   

ESPECIALLY  ON VALENTINES DAY, NEVER FALL FOR A TENNIS PLAYER. LOVE MEANS NOTHING TO THEM. 

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P.O. Box 721

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75688