Health experts urge masking to slow a next wave

…public health experts, watching cases rise in Europe, are expecting New York City to experience another winter surge in infections. While they expect it to be less severe than last year’s jump in infections, they say they are worried by the city’s near total lack of rules meant to prevent virus transmission.

“The concern is that relaxing the precautions right now is going to make the city a lot more vulnerable to a surge in the coming weeks and months,” said Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor at CUNY’s School of Public Health.

While hospitalizations and deaths are low, cases have risen slightly in the city in recent weeks, from a seven-day average of 1,980 new cases on Sept. 4, to 2,132 on Sept. 23, the latest day for which data is available, according to city records. The city’s coronavirus dashboard labels this growth in cases as “stable.”

The hands-off approach means that health experts aren’t sure how severe the coming wave could be.

The city has seen wide vaccination coverage for initial doses, but less so for boosters, which are key for keeping immunity to the coronavirus intact.

“I think the city needs to be doing much more in terms of putting multiple layers of protection in case,” said Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler, a professor of public health at Hunter College…

Source: Health experts urge masking to slow a next wave

COVID-19 booster adds 70% extra protection against omicron, Providence study finds

COVID-19 boosters add about 70 percent extra protection against omicron, which lasts four to five months, a study published Sept. 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found.

Renton, Wash.-based Providence researchers conducted the study at sites across six Western states on more than 3,000 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between Oct. 1, 2021, and July 26. All patients had either two or three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Eighty-one percent of participants were hospitalized when omicron was the dominant variant.

Booster vaccination was associated with decreased odds of hospitalization.

“This research shows us that even if you’re fully vaccinated, there’s a real value to getting a booster,” said Ari Robicsek, MD, chief medical analytics officer at Providence and senior author of the study. “Compared to people who only had their initial vaccinations, people with boosters were a lot less likely to have severe Covid for 4-5 months after the booster shot.”

Source: COVID-19 booster adds 70% extra protection against omicron, Providence study finds

Record Turkey Prices Expected as Thanksgiving Approaches

Families can expect to pay record high prices at the grocery store for turkey this upcoming holiday season thanks to the impacts of the bird flu and inflation. American Farm Bureau Federation economists analyzed turkey and egg costs in their latest Market Intel.

The retail price for fresh boneless, skinless turkey breast reached a record high of $6.70 per pound in September, 112% higher than the same time in 2021 when prices were $3.16 per pound. The previous record high price was $5.88 per pound in November 2015, during the 2015 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak.

Inflation is adding to the price hikes. All retail food prices were 11.4% higher in August compared to the same time last year. Despite the higher prices, there should be enough turkeys available for the Thanksgiving demand.

“All of us are feeling the pain of higher prices at the grocery store,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “HPAI outbreaks in the spring and an uptick in cases in the fall are taking a toll, but farmers remain dedicated to ensuring America’s food supply remains strong.”

It is important to understand that farmers aren’t profiting from record high retail prices. High supply costs from feed, fuel, fertilizer and labor make raising turkeys even more expensive. USDA’s most recent Farm Sector Income Forecast predicts record high total production costs, increasing by 17.8% from 2021 to $437.4 billion in 2022.

While egg prices have come down from record highs in July, the average price for a dozen grade A eggs is $2.34, 27% higher than the same time in 2021, and 44% above the five-year average of $1.29.

Source: Record Turkey Prices Expected as Thanksgiving Approaches

Can Aluminum in Vaccines Cause Asthma? – VAXOPEDIA

“When the authors restricted their analysis to only children who had been fully immunized, the effect of aluminum exposure on the eczema sub-sample is no longer significant and is barely so among the non-eczema cohort.”

Would you have expected rates of asthma to be going down so much in younger children if vaccines were associated with asthma?

Rates have asthma have been steadily dropping in children over the years, even as kids get more vaccines.
Maybe vaccines have a protective effect?

Source: Can Aluminum in Vaccines Cause Asthma? – VAXOPEDIA

खामोशियों के गीत / Songs of Silence

Kaushal Kishore

ना सही शब्द मिल पाते हैं
ना सही धुन ढूंढ पाता हूं,
इसलिए खामोशियों के गीत
मैं चैन से गुनगुनाता हूं…

🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

I can neither find the right words
nor the right tune,
hence the songs of silence
I hum in peace…

–Kaushal Kishore

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Writing Process Wednesdays, and Writer’s Block

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

So, I have finally experienced the dreaded block: staring at my WiP, words stumbling over themselves refusing to be put in order, and refusing to be put down on paper, much less typed into the word processor.

After a few minutes of agonized worry that this would take up valuable time, I reached for a sheet of scrap paper meaning to write a throw away paragraph, but instead, out came the sketch of the scene that you see featured above.

Did it help?  Sort of.

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or tweet that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli AnnemLupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

Thoughtful…

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♫ The Long And Winding Road♫ (Redux)

Filosofa's Word

This is a redux from one I played back in 2020 … eons ago! 

Tonight’s selection is strange, in that it is a Beatles recording, yet while it reached the #1 spot in the U.S., it did not chart in the Beatles home country, the UK!  For me, at least, this is one of those that can get stuck in my head for days at a time, for I mostly love the tune, never knew the full lyrics until tonight!

From their 1970 album Let It Be, this was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney.  The road McCartney is talking about is the B842 which runs down the east coast of Kintyre and on into Campbeltown near his Scottish farmhouse.  Says McCartney …

“I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song, imagining it was going to be done by someone like Ray…

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National Day For Truth and Reconciliation — More Enigma Than Dogma

Image from Canada.ca The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is on September 30 and was first observed as a national public holiday in 2021. As a public holiday, some shops and businesses will be closed, as will public services such as banks, government offices, and Canada Post. It is a day to remember the […]

National Day For Truth and Reconciliation — More Enigma Than Dogma

#music, For Some Today, Wednesday, is the “Middle of the Week” (not for us in Spain): “Honey Don’t” — JaZzArt en València

(Photo: Actitud Fem) Ok, it’s a Beatles song and sung by Ringo. Written by Carl Perkins and released on the 1st of January 1956 as side B of the single “Blue Suede Shoes”. Then it was covered by The Beatles. The Beatles recorded it in 1964 and included it in their Beatles for Sale album […]

#music, For Some Today, Wednesday, is the “Middle of the Week” (not for us in Spain): “Honey Don’t” — JaZzArt en València