Willful Optimism for COVID Year 5
Willful Optimism for COVID Year 5
#70 This is our fifth year of COVID. TracingCOVID is now TracingVRL.
Introduction: This is a difficult time in our culture to communicate nuance, but anecdotal evidence I gathered this year – of older people vaccinated, boosted, who’d survived previous infections months earlier told me they recovered from a COVID+ test in one day, without an antiviral – led me to see the sun shine for a bit.
Sure, a variant after JN.1, variant BA.2.87.1 with 30 spike protein mutations has already been identified, but it doesn’t appear to be spreading1.
And it’s heartbreaking how few booster shots reach the arms of people outside the U.S. Mexico experienced a COVID surge this winter that filled hospitals to capacity2. China’s population dropped after they lifted their early pandemic restrictions. Deaths jumped from “690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double last year’s increase” the Associated Press reported3. And Australia’s Department of Health and Aged Care reported a drop in booster vaccinations and a quadrupling in deaths from COVID in residential care homes, from 27 deaths at the same time last year to 108 this year4.
But it’s possibly, possibly, the beginning of the end of the panic cycle with COVID. Broad attention in my area has been shifting to baseball and women’s soccer.
My strategy remains to roll my own infectionless hybrid immunity by getting a booster shot each time the annual vaccine is designed to target a new variant. And though that Hybrid Immunity paper from 2021 always bothered me, because it didn’t count the original people who died from COVID before a vaccine was even available, maybe there is something to these “diverse memory B cells” generated after multiple and varied immunizations, which ”appear to be preemptive guesses by the immune system as to what viral variants may emerge in the future“ as the paper’s authors claimed exist5.
As treatments develop, and studies show cumulative vaccines cut the risk6, it seems prudent to remind people here and overseas that many recover from long COVID7. This knowledge might equip people with the metacognition to postpone drastic actions should they be struck with post-COVID effects9.
Since wellness climate deniers were reported10, and more journalists were laid off at the beginning of this year, and antivaxx O.G. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on the ballot in the swing states — positioning him to spoil the election either for former President Donald Trump or current President Joe Biden — I’m arranging things to continue publishing this newsletter through the end of 2024.
Contents:
Press Vital Signs
Tribal Antivirals
‘Conspiracy Influencers’
‘The Economy Was Better in … 2020’?
Florida
Children
How to Lower Hospital Bills
Press Vital Signs
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen had and has a vested interest in news outlets dropping their print editions, forcing news consumers online to consume news. His firm invests in internet companies which rely on digital ad impressions for revenue.
Mar 14 How print got cool again (Columbia Journalism Review) - High school journalists see paper editions as a reprieve from TikTok and information overload, as well as a route to protect privacy of sources who prefer their names be scrubbed from online articles. Schools are opting for higher-quality paper and color editions. “A lot of the schools that went to digital newspapers are realizing that nobody’s reading them,” School Publications Company CEO Kevin Kirms said.
Dec 12 2012 Andreessen denies Internet bubble, advises Times to stop printing (Reuters) - “‘It's not that you can't make money in print newspapers,’ he said. ‘It's not that there aren't people who love them.’ But successfully dealing with transformative technology requires going ‘on 100 percent offense,’ he said.”
Feb 21 2009 Andreessen in realtime (TechCrunch) - “Stop the presses tomorrow. I’ll tell you what. The stocks would go up.”
Feb 22 2023 Print ad revenue halves in six years as three tech giants make $400bn annually (Press Gazette UK) - “Global advertising revenue for publishers is forecast to decline by 7.7% this year to $47.2bn, according to a new report from intelligence provider Warc which estimated a total worldwide advertising market of $993bn. ... At the same time, the global publishing print ad market has halved since 2016, from $75.9bn.”
Offer expires April 18 to support this project in exchange for one year’s access to TracingVRL archives and future paywalled content for just $15:
Nov 16 2023 The State of Local News | The 2023 Report (Northwestern Medill School) - “While surviving newspapers and ethnic media outlets tend to have loyal audiences, they are caught between two worlds (print and digital), tethered to print for both advertising and subscriber revenue, especially in areas where high speed internet and broadband access is very limited.“
Apr 10 2017 Press Gazette launches Duopoly campaign to stop Google and Facebook destroying journalism (Press Gazette UK) - “Automated online advertising is largely controlled by Google, which owns the dominant Double Click technology used by most ad-buyers. As little as 30 per cent of the money spent by brands on programmatic advertising finds its way to publishers. Even at the wholesale rate, Press Gazette would argue that trusted news brands are under-valued by the advertising networks.”
Jan 16 How Fighting Monopoly Can Save Journalism | The collapse of the news industry is not an inevitable consequence of technology or market forces. Its the result of policy mistakes over the past 40 years that the Biden administration is already taking measures to fix. (Washington Monthly) - “The decline of journalism … is a direct result of specific, boneheaded policy choices that politicians in both parties made over the past 40 years. By repealing or failing to enforce basic market rules that had long contained concentrated corporate power, policy makers enabled the emergence of a new kind of monopoly that engages in a broad range of deeply anticompetitive business practices. These include, most significantly, the cornering of advertising markets, which historically provided the primary means of financing journalism.”
Sep 12 2019 Newspapers Still The Best Bet for Local News (Sanford School of Duke Public Policy) - “Local newspapers accounted for roughly 25 percent of the local media outlets in our sample, yet they accounted for 47 percent of the original news stories and 60 percent of the local news stories in our database. They produced more of the local reporting in the communities we studied than television, radio, and online-only outlets combined.”
Jan 24 As layoffs batter L.A. Times, California lawmaker renews push to force Google, Facebook to pay for news (San Francisco Chronicle) - “The Los Angeles Times reported that Google spent $1.2 million on an ad blitz to kill the bill. The company funneled the money through another group, complicating the task of tracking the money. Queenie Wong, the reporter who wrote the story, announced Tuesday she was among the journalists who lost their jobs.”
Tribal Antivirals
Jan 23 NY bill would force insurers to cover copays for Paxlovid (Syracuse) - “The legislation, which would take effect at the start of 2025, comes in response to co-payments that can run as high as $140, the senator’s office said. Coverage by the U.S. government expired this winter…People with Medicare and Medicaid coverage can still access the drug for free through the end of the year.”
Jan 04 2023 Paxlovid Article Comment (New York Times) - “My wife and I had to fight Walmart pharmacists and a doctor to get Paxlovid when we needed it in Michigan last year. My wife tested positive for Covid, so she used Walmarts telehealth system to speak to an MD who prescribed Paxlovid. But when we went to pick it up at the Walmart pharmacy, they refused to fill the prescription, on principle….In both cases there was an undercurrent of vaccine politics in their arguments against using Paxlovid.”
Jan 04 Paxlovid Cuts Covid Death Risk. But Those Who Need It Are Not Taking It. (New York Times Comments) - “...Our doctors in San Diego told us we should get the Paxlovid. We visited an urgent care center in Clearwater, Florida. They confirmed that we indeed had COVID but told us that ‘we don't prescribe that around here.’ No kidding. We insisted. Finally, they …”
Feb 07 Biden health officials press pharmacies on Paxlovid affordability (The Hill) - “The list price is nearly $1,400 for a five-day supply. The federal government no longer distributes Paxlovid for free, so patients are subject to the commercial marketplace just like other prescription drugs. According to HHS, the administration has been closely monitoring the commercialization process, including anecdotal reports that patients are being charged high co-pays or even the full price. Becerra ‘made it clear that no patient should be charged hundreds of dollars for Paxlovid at the pharmacy counter,’ HHS said in a readout of the meeting.
Dec 27 2023 [Story About Misinformation: ] A group of Minnesotans are suing local hospitals after losing loved ones to COVID-19 (CBS News) - “A group of Minnesotans, who lost loved ones to COVID, are suing local hosptials that cared for their family members…The group believes doctors received bonuses and incentives for giving medications, like [antiviral] remdesivir, to sick family members….Medical Justice Minnesota says the main thing they hope to uncover is whether doctors were paid to administer certain drugs to patients.”
‘Conspiracy Influencers’
Dr. Martin Kulldorff was and is one of the three most prominent signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration.
Mar 07 The reckoning | Didier Raoult and his institute found fame during the pandemic. Then, a group of dogged critics exposed major ethical failings (Science) - “With six studies published in the 2010s, French microbiologist Didier Raoult added to his already vast publication record....But in January, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) journals that published the papers announced they were retracting all six, along with a seventh by Raoult’s colleagues.” The retracted papers claimed COVID could effectively be treated by anti malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), among other things.
Mar 12 Anti-lockdown and vaccine mandate skeptic Martin Kulldorff announces he was 'fired' by Harvard (FOX News) -
Jan 18 Washington regulators restrict medical license of Idaho doctor who spread COVID-19 disinformation (Idaho Press) - “Dr. Ryan Cole’s medical license is restricted in the state of Washington after state regulators concluded that Cole knowingly shared disinformation about COVID-19 and broke medical standards by virtually prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients against medical evidence. Cole is an Idaho pathologist who has spread COVID-19 disinformation while serving as an appointed Idaho health official.”
Feb 06 January 6 rioter Simone Gold reprimanded by medical board (Skeptical Raptor blog) - “On 4 January 2024, Gold received a public reprimand in connection with the federal crimes discussed above. A public reprimand is defined as a form of discipline that can include a requirement for specified training or education. The reprimand referenced Gold’s federal conviction of a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a licensed physician due to her participation in the riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
‘The Economy Was Better in … 2020’?
A topic not yet covered at length in this newsletter is the numerous reports of COVID aid fraud being successfully prosecuted. It’s an election year here in the U.S. Is it possible the voters who reportedly miss the economy of the previous president, whose penultimate year in office coincided with COVID landing on our shores, actually miss the COVID aid and COVID stimulus checks and COVID business loans? So far, this has not been explored publicly.
Mar 21 Biden and Trump ask voters if they’re ‘better off’ than they were 4 years ago. It’s complicated (Associated Press) -
Mar 18 FTC Actions Against Companies Making Deceptive Pandemic Loan Promises Lead to Record $59 Million in Damages (Federal Trade Commission) - “The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against two companies Biz2Credit and Womply that made false promises to small businesses seeking to take part in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), delaying and sometimes preventing them from obtaining funds they needed to keep their businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The companies have agreed to settle the FTCs charges against them: Biz2Credit will pay $33 million and Womply will pay $26 million to the FTC for small businesses harmed by their deceptive conduct.”
Feb 07 3 people convicted for $3.5M COVID-19 relief fraud scheme (KTVB NBC 7 Boise ID) -
Jan 27 A COVID-era program is awash in fraud. Congress aims to wind it down and expand the child tax credit (KRQE FOX 13 Albequerque NM) - “When IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel met privately with senators recently, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee asked for his assessment of a startling report: A whistleblower estimated that 95% of claims now being made by businesses for a COVID-era tax break were fraudulent.”
Jan 26 EDITORIAL: Cheats and scammers still raking in pandemic funds (Las Vegas Review-Journal) - “The problem is that the law allows businesses to file for relief as many as four years after the fact, all the way through tax year 2025.”
Jan 30 Colorado man gets 3 years for pandemic unemployment fraud (Denver Post) -
Dec 21 2023 IRS unveils voluntary disclosure program for businesses duped by pandemic-era tax credit (CNBC) - “The IRS has unveiled a ‘voluntary disclosure program’ for businesses that claimed a pandemic-era tax credit in error and want to pay the money back. Worth thousands per employee, the employee retention tax credit, or ERC, was designed to support small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lucrative tax break sparked a cottage industry of firms pushing employers to wrongly claim the credit. The IRS unveiled a ‘special withdrawal process’ for companies with pending claims in September.”
Florida
In the early days of COVID, Gov. DeSantis proudly advocated that people get vaccinated. Soon, he shifted, and evaded questions on whether he got a booster shot. But until late last year, Gov. DeSantis appeared to delegate to state employees like Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo the spreading of disinformation, like myths about vaccines being dangerous or causing cancer. However, Gov. DeSantis has broken his seal, and in 2024 is claiming COVID booster shots increase the chance of contracting a COVID infection, which is not true.
Mar 21 Just ask Gov. DeSantis. Going it alone isn’t a COVID strategy. (Tampa Bay Times) - “The Florida Department of Health … ordered medical examiners to block the release of information on COVID-related deaths. News organizations had to file several lawsuits before the state released information on COVID cases and deaths in long-term care facilities and state prisons.” Gov DeSantis also directed the state to spend $1 million on hydroxychloroquine, the discredited treatment advocated by Trump, the Tampa Bay Times said.
Feb 17 Gov. DeSantis rewriting Florida’s COVID history again (Tampa Bay Times) - “Gov. Ron DeSantis has worked overtime to rewrite history about Florida’s experience with COVID-19, and particularly his role in managing it. The latest head-fake came this month when DeSantis publicized a report from a grand jury the Florida Supreme Court empaneled at the governor’s request that blasted mask and lockdown mandates adopting during the pandemic.”
Jan 22 Ron DeSantis wrong that boosters make COVID-19 infection more likely (Austin American-Statesman) -
Jan 12 PolitiFact FL: DNA fragments in mRNA COVID vaccines won’t harm you, as Ladapo suggests (WUSF 89.7-FM Florida Public Radio) -
Children
Jan 17 [Translated: ] Children under 3 years of age, those hospitalized for covid-19 in CDMX, says Sedesa (El Universal | Mexico) - [Translated: ] …López Arellano pointed out that the majority of people who are currently hospitalized for Covid-19 had not been vaccinated, among those cases, there are seven children under three years of age, who due to their age have not received the vaccine.
Feb 05 Do Infants and Young Children Need a COVID Vaccine? (Dr. Paul Offit’s Newsletter) - “As of October 2023, the age group most likely to be hospitalized were adults over 65. Second, were adults over 50. Third, were children under 4. …The reason that young children were hospitalized wasn’t because they hadn’t been boosted; it was because they hadn’t been vaccinated.” "As of January 2023, COVID was the leading cause of death in children due to an infectious disease and the eighth most common cause of death overall."
Jan 12 PolitiFact FL: DNA fragments in mRNA COVID vaccines won’t harm you, as Ladapo suggests (WUSF 89.7-FM Florida Public Radio) - “In a Jan. 3 statement, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, implied that recipients of the vaccine could pass on DNA fragments to their biological children.” This message targets pregnant mothers, discouraging them from getting the mRNA vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and/or Moderna corporations.
“Ladapo pointed to a 2007 FDA guidance document he said included considerations about DNA integration that the agency recommended for vaccines that use DNA. But Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, wrote in a footnote to a Dec. 14, 2023, response to Ladapo that the nonbinding 2007 guidance ‘was developed for DNA vaccines themselves, not for DNA as a contaminant in other vaccines, and is not applicable to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.’”
How to Lower Hospital Bills
Jan 04 What to Say to Get Your Bills Lowered (New York Magazine's The Cut) - “As I discovered, health-care bills often contain errors; it’s worth cross-checking with your insurers explanation of benefits if something looks fishy. What’s more, lots of hospitals offer financial aid, payment plans, andcharity care programs that could wipe out some or all of your charges. Many health-care facilities are legally required to screen you for charity care if you’re a low- to moderate-income person, says Nitzsche. But they don’t usually publicize it, so you have to ask.”
1 Feb 02 [Translated: ] Covid, new hypermutated variant isolated in South Africa (Corriere Della Serra | Italy) - [Translated: ] The new Omicron variant is "probably the most divergent lineage identified this year", with 100 mutations, including 30 in the spike. But infections are not increasing and protection from vaccines and previous infections is not expected to be compromised to a greater extent … The new sub-variant was detected in 8 samples from three districts in the provinces of Limpopo and Gauteng between 20 September and 29 November 2023. According to the scholar (who proposes an updated genetic map of Omicron, see figure on page) it may have emerged from BA.2 or from the basal node of Omicron. In addition to the mutations, the variant presents 7 "deletions", to put it simply, 7 missing parts of the virus compared to previous lineages.
2 Jan 14 [Translated: ] Covid-19: Check the list of hospitals with 100% occupancy due to respiratory infections (El Universal | Mexico) - [Translated: ] According to data from the Epidemiological Surveillance System for Viral Respiratory Diseases (SISVER), 130 cases of Covid-19 and four deaths have been confirmed so far in 2024. Given this, EL UNIVERSAL carried out a search exercise to find out which These are the hospitals that have little availability or register 100 percent occupancy. Until Saturday, January 13, the 'SARI Network Information System' of the Ministry of Health reported 13 medical units with more than 70% occupancy of beds in general hospitalization. In the case of occupancy in medical units of beds with ventilators, the IMSS Hes 71 Torreón de Coahuila and the general hospital of the Mezquital valley Ixmilquilpan in Hidalgo, register an occupancy of 100 percent.
3 Jan 17 China’s population dropped for a second straight year as deaths jumped after COVID lockdowns ended (Associated Press) - “China’s population dropped by 2 million people in 2023 in the second straight annual drop as births fell and deaths jumped after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday.The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double last year’s increase.”
4 Feb 07 January aged care deaths from COVID-19 surge 400% as vaccination rates languish (The Weekly Source | Australia) - “There were 108 deaths in residential aged care from COVID-19 in the four weeks to 1 February 2024, compared with 27 deaths in the four weeks to 31 August 2023, showing the devastating impact the virus is still wreaking on aged care residents and providers. Only 30.4% of residents have received a COVID booster shot in the last six months with it considered a "priority" by the Department of Health and Aged Care.”
5 Jun 25 2021 Hybrid immunity (Science) -
6 Jan 29 Study: Vaccinated patients have lower risk of long COVID (CIDRAP University of Minnesota) -
7 Jul 6 2022 Reported Recovery After Six Months Long COVID (Twitter.com/RavenSciMaven) - “Big news-- I'm declaring my full recovery from #LongCOVID as of June! For me, #LongCOVID lasted SIX MONTHS. This thread details my experience in its entirety-- feel free to share so that others can be informed of what the #LongCOVID experience can look like. Buckle tf up! 1/”
8 Nov 22 2023 Tragic death of top Swedish athlete Emilia Brangefält at the age of 21 (EuroWeekly) - No COVID was reported in her case.
9 Sep 9 2022 Insight: Long COVID's link to suicide: scientists warn of hidden crisis (Reuters) -
10 Nov 16 2023 Instagram wellness influencers spreading climate misinformation (HEATED.world) - “Simmons compiled 154 Instagram wellness influencer accounts that regularly post about conspiracy theories and New-Age spirituality—an area academics refer to as “conspirituality”—and found that these accounts, with more than 9.5 million followers total, had created 140 posts mentioning climate change or the environment over the course of a year.”