Grim Milestone

GRIM MILESTONE.

According to a number of different reliable sources, the US has now surpassed 1 million Covid related deaths. What can you say about that other than it’s pretty sad.

Of all the facts, figures, statistics, predictions… there is one thing that is abundantly clear. Vaccines save lives, minimize disease and are our best bet at having some kind of “normal” life.

Given the history of this pandemic and the massive outbreaks of the BL2 Omicron variant around the world, I am shocked at how many physicians I encounter who make comments about how we may be past this pandemic. I don’t think so. Every previous outbreak in Europe was followed up within a few weeks by an outbreak in N. America. I hope I’m wrong with this one, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

In N. Korea, initially held up as a model of how to deal with this pandemic, they have a huge outbreak. The same goes for Hong Kong, also held up as a model of pandemic control. With this present outbreak however, N.Korea  continues to have a very low severe disease and death rate while in Hong Kong, theirs is 10x higher. The difference is vaccination. N. Korea has an overall 75% vaccination rate with over 90% of their elderly being vaccinated while the overall vaccination rate inHong Kong is only 30%. The same goes for Europe where despite significant Omicron outbreaks, death rates are low, proportionate with vaccination rates.

In the US, we hit the wall with ~65% vaccination but less than 30% boosted.  We are essentially in the same state as Hong Kong is right now, just without the outbreak. That is likely coming, especially with all the loosening of restrictions. Despite our low case rate, deaths are still occurring, but we have become numb to it. Certainly the invasion of Ukraine, appropriately dominating the headlines and news, has become a distraction. At least it has for me.

With over 11 billion doses given, the vaccines we use have been well vetted and are safe. Safer than most drugs people don’t even blink an eye about taking every day like statins, aspirin, acid reducers or even the chemical laden foods they eat.

If you have not done so yet, please get yourselves and your children vaccinated and if you are more than 6 months out from your “full” vaccination dose, get boosted. I just checked my antibody levels and 6 months after my booster, they are still very high. The third dose really matters.

In addition, please continue to mask appropriately and distance in questionable situations and keep working on getting healthy.

Also remember that grim milestones are occurring daily in Ukraine, with every bomb, missile and gunshot resulting in someone’s death and destruction of a beatyful country.

Appreciate all that you have, pray for Ukraine and donate in whatever way you can.

🇺🇦 Слава Україні 🌻🇺🇦 

Stay safe and be well.

AC

Although we don’t need to sanitize ourselves, our food or mail into oblivion again, the prevailing sentiment of nonchalance is going to get us into trouble.

Again we may be done with Covid, but Covid is not done with us.

All over Europe and the far East, Omicron, particularly the BA-2 subvariant, is wreaking havoc as numbers of new cases climb to levels not seen before in the last 2 years of this pandemic. Fortunately, the severity of disease caused by this variant is less than the previous versions of this virus. This, along with the significantly greater vaccination rate in these places, has resulted in proportionately fewer hospitalizations and deaths. In fact, in South Korea, held up as the model country when it came to managing Covid in the early months of the pandemic, their present rates are amongst the highest in the world, yet their death rate is 2.5x less than what we are seeing in the US, even now with our relatively low rates of disease. Add to that the fact that they have 10x fewer ICU beds per capita along with our pretty sophisticated acute care capabilities, and the comparison of death rates is pretty striking.

Why are they still doing so well? VACCINATION! Overall, more than 75% of their population and 90% of their eldely population is fully vaccinated. In the US, as of last week, we remain stagnant at 66% “fully” vaccinated and only 29% boosted. I would argue that what that really means, is that only about 1/3rd of our population is actually properly, fully vaccinated since adding the third dose, AKA “booster”, has been shown to make a significant difference in protection as antibody levels wane.

Our numbers will certainly go up. They have with every previous wave. That, along with poor vaccination rates and loosened masking and vaccine requirements, makes for a very concerning spring. Even though the BA-2 variant may be more mild, it’s all about the numbers. A small percentage of a big number, is still a big number. People will get sick and many more will die. We are on the cusp of 1 million deaths in the US. despite only representing 4% of the world’s population, we still have 17% of all the deaths as well as the positive cases.

Getting back to Windexing our bananas, studies show that the BA-s variant lives for 2-3x longer on surfaces than previous variants. As long as 4 days on clothing and 10 on solid surfaces. Now, getting sick from this mode of contact is significantly less than through exposure to contaminated air, it is still noteworthy. The virus is heartier and harder to kill.

Please do your best to continue to be safe for your sakes, as well that of your family, friends and neighbors.

VACCINATE! It is effective. It is safe. And it is your best defense.

MASK UP. Wear a good one and wear it properly. I am against mask mandates if they are not specific or enforced. Wearing a “face covering” like a gator or chintzy mask, or wearing it under your nose, is useless. Although it does tell me that you are someone who likely engages in risky behavior so I will be more careful around you. So maybe they are not so useless.

DISTANCE appropriately.

PRACTICE PROPER HYGIENE.

GET HEALTHY.

PRAY FOR UKRAINE.

🇺🇦 Слава Україні 🌻🇺🇦

🇺🇦 Героїм Слава 👊🇺🇦

Stay safe and be well.

AC