CyFi

As of May 16, SARS-CoV-2 levels in WW increased significantly in: TN, ID, VT, TX, and increased by smaller amounts in: AL, CA Flu Like Illness increased, or remains at 90+ percentile in: VA, WV, LA, DC, WY, MS, SC, WI, GA, AL, KS, IA, MI, MA, CA COVID ED visits increased in: LA, WA, WY, OK, IN, OR, NH, UT, FL

The following states & counties are experiencing a rise in SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. West: Juneau County, AK Mohave County, AZ Lake County, CA Riverside County, CA Sacramento County, CA San Benito County, CA San Joaquin County, CA Santa Barbara County, CA Santa Cruz County, CA Solano County, CA Garfield County, CO La Plata County, CO Guam County, GU Hawaii County, HI Latah County, ID Island County, WA King County, WA Albany County, WY Sweetwater County, WY South: Leon County, FL Swain County, NC Orangeburg County, SC Galveston County, TX Cumberland County, VA Nicholas County, WV Ohio County, WV Northeast: Ontario County, NY Bristol County, RI

I'm seeing a lot of people share that study that puts the cost of Long COVID at $8 billion. I'm not surprised, because that's how the media and the study authors chose to frame it. But if you actually read the study, you'll see that that's yet another example of COVID minimizing propaganda. The study authors actually arrived at a range of $2 -31B. So, everyone knows they had a higher number, they just ignored it. The calculation was based on the following assumptions: (1) 6% of COVID infections cause LC, (2) LC lasts for up 3 years, (3) everyone who has LC knows that they have it. All of these assumptions are obviously flawed, and contradict the scientific literature. Studies show that 20% or more of infections can result in some form of LC (in fact, the study authors acknowledge this), others show that it can last for years, and many people never recover. What's worse, their method for calculating the cost per case is flawed. Here's what they did: they put LC symptoms into 19 different buckets (e.g. cognitive dysfunction, PEM, dsyautonomia...) and they calculated a cost per bucket per person. Then, they calculated a cost per person using a maximum of one symptom bucket. This is laughable - most people with Long COVID have dozens of different symptoms; at my worst I had 50+. Further, they assume Long COVID is not fatal. This is absolutely not true. I know people who have died from LC. I've warned people many times that if you get Long COVID, you will not be able to get a life insurance policy. I've validated this personally. Try it if you don't believe me. The insurance companies know what's up. They calculate COVID case counts based on CDC reports from 2020-2024. They included a sensitivity for underreporting, but it's conservative. Reported cases collapsed as soon as widespread testing stopped in 2022. A better methodology would have been to use waste water. Finally, almost all (90%+) of their calculated cost is lost wages. They barely factor in suffering, caregiving, healthcare expenses, etc. Other studies have put the cost of Long COVID in the trillions (David Cutler put it at $3.7T over 5 years). So no, the cost of Long COVID is not $8B . That is laugable. The cost is in the trillons. This kind of propaganda is actually the most dangerous IMO because on the surface it looks like it's raising the alarm, but $8B is almost nothing. Basically a rounding error for the federal budget - literally 0.03% of GDP. Who cares? If the cost of Long COVID was only $8B in lost wages, I wouldn't even care anymore, and no one else should, either.

Some meteorologists are calling this an “anomalously amplified ridge” or an “omega block.” I don’t like to mince words, so I’m just going to call it a "globally-warmed" ridge. 😳🇨🇦 The NAEFS is forecasting 500mb heights reaching the 99.5th percentile to locally “MAX” territory over Canada heading into early June... signifying an exceptionally unusual pattern for this time of year. Could have important implications for the start of wildfire season with persistent drying and widespread record or near-record heat to close May and begin June. 🔥

"According to two diplomatic sources in the Gulf and a Western intelligence official who spoke with Israel Hayom, Qatar has provided financial assistance to Iran in recent weeks."

SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection Induces Dopaminergic Neuronal Loss in Midbrain. nucleocapsid protein preferentially colocalized with tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH+) dopaminergic neurons, inducing neurite fragmentation and cellular stress. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jn…

DRC - Media: Kongo Central: around 150 cows were killed by a disease transmitted by ticks in Mbanza-Ngungu #post1035768" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">flutrackers.com/forum/forum/af… h/t Pathfinder

“At a meeting of health leaders from across the continent, Africa CDC Director General Dr. Jean Kaseya warned, “This is too much. We cannot afford to have more Africans dying." WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus, who says he will personally travel to Congo on Tuesday, says the Ebola death toll has risen to 220 and warns “at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us.” Highly complex outbreak with factors spanning more than just infectious diseases/epidemiology including violent unrest & political instability making typical public health response measures difficult if not impossible to implement quickly.

For the prior year with a ~30 day lag US COVID hospitalization levels decreased by 63.7% CDC NWSS SARS2 levels decreased by 69.2% WWscan SARS2 levels decreased by ~80%

@KarenStrine3 @CovidDataReport Statewide

'Trump House' owner dies after brutal attack outside Escondido home trib.al/8I49ySS

The excess deaths look horrific in this graph & it's worse than at 1st glance. Rather than a linear extrapolation (dashed line), expected deaths in later years should get lower b/c of so many early-pandemic deaths ("harvesting"). 👇This is an underestimate. 😬 #StillDying

COVID is King in Delaware

Look at that COVID ICU spike in Delaware!

Throughout winter respiratory virus season and non-seasonal waves, I breakdown US wastewater trends across pathogens for each US region on Sunday nights. Until the next SARS-CoV-2 wave begins in earnest, I will instead publish abbreviated updates on Sunday nights. Here's the TL;DR: We are solidly in the lull between waves of SARS-CoV-2. Select counties and states are starting to rise, especially in the West and South. Norovirus is still higher than it was last year at the time. Rotavirus is high as well. If you aren’t wearing a respirator in shared air spaces, now is good time to start again. The best things you can do for your health are: Wear a fitted respirator in shared air spaces. Clean indoor air with HEPA and far-UVC. Rest at home when you are infectious and recovering. Keep all your boosters up-to-date, including SARS-CoV-2 and MMR. All visualizations are found at iowacovid19tracker.org. Data are subject to change as new data populate in state & federal repositories.

Association of long-COVID with major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality: a real-world data cohort study 🚨Still not shocked: L0NGC0VID patients are 4.5× more likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes & deadly clots, and 53% more likely to die? WAKE-UP! ➡️Large retrospective cohort study used TriNetX real-world electronic health records (~118 million US patients) to assess long COVID’s impact on cardiovascular outcomes, ➡️ Adults (≥18 years) diagnosed with COVID-19 (2020–2023) were included. The long-COVID group (diagnosed 3–6 months post-infection) was compared with matched non-long-COVID controls after 1:1 propensity-score matching (86,122 per group, balanced on demographics, comorbidities, vaccines, etc), ➡️ Primary outcomes: major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: coronary artery disease, stroke, myocarditis, heart failure, pulmonary embolism) and all-cause mortality, with follow-up starting 90 days post-index date (mean ~3 years), ➡️Long-COVID patients showed markedly higher MACE risk (HR 4.48, 95% CI 3.95–5.07), driven by coronary artery disease (HR 6.48), stroke (HR 3.46), and pulmonary embolism (HR 4.35), ➡️All-cause mortality was also elevated (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.38–1.69), ➡️Risks remained consistent across 1- and 3-year follow-ups, age, sex, race, BMI, hospitalization status, antiviral use, and SARS-CoV-2 variant periods (Alpha/Delta/Omicron), ➡️Mechanisms discussed include ACE2-mediated myocardial injury, endothelial damage, chronic inflammation, and autonomic dysfunction, ➡️Pre-existing cardiovascular conditions were excluded to isolate long-COVID effects, ‼️So, patients with long COVID face a substantially elevated risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality compared to those without long COVID, underscoring the need for vigilant long-term cardiovascular monitoring in this population, “This multicenter real-world cohort study demonstrates that patients with long COVID have a significantly higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and all-cause mortality compared with those without long COVID” #AvoidSars2 #AvoidReinfections #YouOnlyHaveOneHeart link.springer.com/content/pdf/10…

Clarifying my post from yesterday. My frustration over the lack of action by our Governor on the South Bay air and water quality crisis boiled over. The contrast is stunning. People have been breathing extremely high levels of toxic gases for decades with no action by our Governor. I'm glad he acted to protect people from a potential disaster in Garden Grove. It should not be either/or. My frustration is he has been ignoring entire communities that are knowingly being exposed to a gas that is 10x more toxic for years well above regulatory levels and he refuses to help. One was a potential disaster (which was averted which is good)...the other continues to go on without him acting. It is really unbelievable. These communities feel completely abandoned. It makes me incredibly sad. He should protect ALL of his residents...rich or poor and regardless of the demographics. Good to see that things are looking better in Garden Grove today. Nice to see fast action...now we know what is possible. Can you please help San Diego residents now?

Reactivated my account to say that our whole family has COVID right now 😔