Last night's update: Nearly 200,000 new cases https://t.co/Bf6oeUf8F6
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 28, 2023
Nationwide, COVID hospital admissions increased by 10%, with nearly 14,000 people currently in hospital, the highest in nearly 2 months.
Deaths remain elevated from the wave in September with more than 1,000 deaths for 11 weeks in a row, or nearly 16,000 during the same period.
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 28, 2023
‘Interesting’ Read: ‘Zoom fatigue’ may take toll on the brain and the heart, researchers say
Since videoconferencing skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic, use of such technology has soared. So have anecdotal accounts of what some call “Zoom fatigue” — a unique state of exhaustion reported by those who feel wrung out after video calls. https://t.co/V9tUN9aqmH
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 26, 2023
Small study, biased observers, all the usual caveats. Still… From the Washington Post, “‘Zoom fatigue’ may take toll on the brain and the heart, researchers say” [unpaywalled gift link]:
Does a session on Zoom, FaceTime or Microsoft Teams leave you drained and listless?…
A recent brain-monitoring study supports the phenomenon, finding a connection between videoconferencing in educational settings and physical symptoms linked to fatigue.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, looked for physiological signs of fatigue in 35 students attending lectures on engineering at an Austrian university. Half of the class attended the 50-minute lecture via videoconference in a nearby lab and a face-to-face lecture the following week, while the other half attended first in person, then online.
Participants were monitored with electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) instruments that recorded electrical activity in the brain and their heart rhythms. They also participated in surveys about their mood and fatigue levels…
There were “notable” differences between the in-person and online groups, the researchers write. Video participants’ fatigue mounted over the course of the session, and their brain states showed they were struggling to pay attention. The groups’ moods varied, too, with in-person participants reporting they felt livelier, happier and more active, and online participants saying they felt tired, drowsy and “fed up.”
Overall, the researchers write, the study offers evidence of the physical toll of videoconferencing and suggests that it “should be considered as a complement to face-to-face interaction, but not as a substitute.”
They say the research should be replicated in business settings and homes to get a more accurate sense of how such sessions affect participants, calling for further studies that include more portions of the brain and a broader participant base…
If nothing else, it’s probably useful to know there’s actual physical effects, if only to be prepared in advance.
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 22, 2023
The U.S. government on Monday will start taking orders for another round of free COVID-19 tests for delivery across the country, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said. https://t.co/6ceSqSfSzK https://t.co/6ceSqSfSzK
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) November 20, 2023
If you haven’t already sent for yours, it took me less than two minutes to fill out the form . The predictable winter-holiday rise is cases has already started, so it’s a good time to share this info with your friends & loved ones, too… each household can ask for *eight* tests, if they didn’t order any in September.
#COVID19 New Hospital Admissions and Percentage of Emergency Department (ED) Visits Diagnosed as COVID19 are trending up again..https://t.co/f7DM5dCd70 pic.twitter.com/W4lxtmwCsE
— Raj Rajnarayanan (@RajlabN) November 19, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 15, 2023
We are using the power of our diplomacy to better protect the U.S. and the world from health threats.
The @StateDept's new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is leading the charge so the world is prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases. pic.twitter.com/YprRLv0wYd
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 13, 2023
Weekly U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 162,568 est.
– Average: 171,297 (-2,213)
– States reporting: 50/50
– In hospital: 12,820 (-133)
– In ICU: 1,526 (-16)
– New deaths: 1,214
– Average: 1,407 (-93)1/5
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 14, 2023
US COVID markers show declines or stable trends
Levels of the HV.1 subvariant, part of the Omicron EG.5 family, were most common and continue to rise.https://t.co/C5hNHw9cxb
Photo: NIAID/Flickr cc pic.twitter.com/5pjLRPASqK
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) November 13, 2023
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: (Another) Good Day to Be A Democrat
Maybe it is as simple as people realize elections are binary choices between the imperfect and the insane. https://t.co/LMhP3rUX2t
— HawaiiDelilah™ ?? #MauiStrong ???????????? (@HawaiiDelilah) November 8, 2023
Today, Democrats won in Virginia and protected reproductive freedom.
But make no mistake: Abortion and so many other fundamental freedoms are going to be on the ballot in 2024. That’s why we need you to join our campaign. pic.twitter.com/XNKJMei39M
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 8, 2023
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: (Another) Good Day to Be A DemocratPost + Comments (250)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 8, 2023
How SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines work. https://t.co/5YIhaM1Yud
— Prof. Peter Doherty (@ProfPCDoherty) November 7, 2023
Last night's update: Nearly 160,000 new cases, increasing in 23 states https://t.co/v9vycf38fc
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 6, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: November 8, 2023Post + Comments (37)
Sunday Evening Open Thread: RFK Jr Goes Mask-Off
Robert F. Kennedy Jr's anti-vaccine org banned me from its conference.
In a keynote speech, he committed to the movement, vowed "a break" from infectious disease research, and threatened scientific journals.
"I feel like I’ve come home" he said. https://t.co/CA91VPWr4d
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) November 4, 2023
Steve Bannon has been having, by his debased standards, a very good run of late… and the conspiracy-fueled right-wing embrace of RFK Jr. is another ‘win’ for right-wing chaos agents.
NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny reports as “RFK Jr. comes ‘home’ to his anti-vaccine group, commits to ‘a break’ for U.S. infectious disease research”:
At an anti-vaccine conference in Georgia on Friday, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed his commitment to the cause and spoke to his base about how he, as president, would serve the movement he built.
“I feel like I’ve come home today,” he said to a standing ovation, crediting the assembled audience with his candidacy.
He then laid out his vision for a Kennedy presidency, which would include telling the National Institutes of Health to take “a break” from studying infectious diseases, like Covid-19 and measles, and pivoting the agency to the study of chronic diseases, like diabetes and obesity. Kennedy has suggested without evidence that researchers and pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit to neglect such chronic conditions and invest in ineffective and even harmful treatments; he includes vaccines among them.
“I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all,” Kennedy said. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
Kennedy’s remarks came at the end of the first day of a conference for the country’s largest anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy signed on with Children’s Health Defense in 2015 and served as its chairman and chief litigation counsel until April, when he announced he would go on leave to run for president…
Kennedy has mostly shied away from anti-vaccine advocacy on the campaign trail and has said, despite years of public statements to the contrary, that he is not opposed to vaccines. This spring, he told NBC News vaccines were “not an issue that I’m leading with.”…
In addition to his proposed moves at NIH, Kennedy said that as president, he’d appoint a like-minded attorney general, “maybe Aaron Siri,” he said. Siri is a lawyer who has done millions of dollars of work for leading anti-vaccination groups, including a recent case that opened up religious exemptions for childhood vaccines in Mississippi. The crowd erupted in applause.
He said he would use the power of that attorney general to threaten editors of medical journals and force them to publish studies that had been retracted (he often cites the retracted studies saying ivermectin, a parasite drug, is an effective treatment for Covid). “We’re gonna say we’re fixing to file some racketeering lawsuits if you don’t start telling the truth in your journals.”…
RatF*cker Jr, friend to all the best modern plagues, including ‘religious’ grifters and lawyers.
Sunday Evening Open Thread: RFK Jr Goes Mask-OffPost + Comments (85)