Suppression is the Goal: A Final Covid Plea for 2024

We've survived 2024, but excess mortality compared to pre-pandemic rates is quite high for young adults (18-44), and in school-aged kids, it continues to increase year over year, with 2024 the deadliest year since the pandemic began. 1 in 15 people in the US is immunocompromised (possibly two kids per class), and getting a simple virus could be much more dangerous for them. It's safe to say that we'd still be wise to take some precautions to prevent harm to one another.

Gregory Travis's graph above clarifies the benefits of wearing masks for anyone that cares about reducing childhood mortality rates. Lockdowns were lifted in most places in the US in August 2020, but the mortality rate decreased substantially below baseline in 2021 because of masks until the just before school started. In January 2021, Biden called for compliance with the CDC in respect to wearing masks, at the lowest mortality point on the graph, but in April 2021, he started suggesting that people who are vaccinated didn't need to wear one, and in May 2021, the CDC dropped mask recommendations. Remember when Biden said those fully vaxxed earned the right to greet others with a smile?? In July 2021 the WHO started using the term "breakthrough infection" when people got Covid after being vaccinated -- until it became too common to maintain that farce, and the excess mortality of children started rising. If it's just a spurious correlation, what else could have caused that dramatic fall in deaths for the exact period that kids wore masks in class? 

A Deflating Experience with Three Christmas Visitors

I was travelling on Christmas Day with two of my kids, literally driving to a stable, when my daughter's car got a flat tire. We tried to figure out the jack and how to get the tire off to put the donut tire on, but it was more complicated that I could have imagined. 

Anything to do with fixing cars kind of scares me a bit. It's the same with computers. I'm even more embarrassed to say, it's the same experience with my flippin' bicycle too, which I bring in yearly for a simple tune up because I still don't quite know how to oil my chain. I have all the tools to change a flat, but that doesn't stop me from just walking miles to a shop instead of ever even trying to fix it myself. There's something about mechanical things that shuts my brain down. It's a strong aversion as if I don't want to know how things work. I think part of me thinks that if I try anything, I'll somehow make it worse - I have actually broken a computer by trying to plug in a cable before by bending the little sticky-out thingies. I can build a website no problem, but I'm still a bit weird about using apps on my phone. I've watched as people helped me change a tire on my car twice before in my life, and my son has helped with my computer and phone a ton, and I realized that once someone is there to take over and save the day, I just stare blankly at the process without actually learning anything. The previous tire-fixing steps didn't register at all. I was completely useless. At some point in my life I seem to have learned that this type of information is just not for me.  

It's yet another reason why I didn't buy my first car until I was flippin' 53! 

Basic Christian Morals

I was scrolling mindlessly yesterday morning, on Christmas Day, and came across some outrage around unhoused people being put up in a hotel at taxpayer's expense. The naysayers clearly have never seen Dicken's A Christmas Carol or even Bill Murray's Scrooged. Remember when that line, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses??" came back to bite him in the ass?

Matthew 25:35-40

First of all, what the heck are taxes for but to ensure the basic needs of all?? If we decide that each person has to manage on their own without help from anyone, then we're back to law of the jungle, and we don't need much in the way of government or leadership at all or any social organization. If we're back to might makes right, with "might" referring to the power of wealth, then we're no longer in a civilization. For thousands of years we've known that a healthy, well-functioning society requires a way to care for the less fortunate. From the most base analysis, if we don't help others, they'll be more inclined to steal from us. This stance might claim to want social organization for education and hospitals, but it seems like they just want to ensure they have it for their own families, not for everyone in general. The things that they can afford to pay for somehow don't count as basic needs to provide for all. 

Curious.

Spike Proteins Sticking Around

 Yet another study indicates the brain is negatively affected by Covid, yet we're still okay with children getting it repeatedly. 

Ali Max Erturk explained his recent study published in Cell Host and Microbe on Twitter. I love when researchers explain their work in plain English like this!

Our new study shows that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein accumulates and persists in the body for years after infection, especially in the skull-meninges-brain axis, potentially driving long COVID. mRNA vaccines help but cannot stop it. Summary: We found SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the skull-meninges-brain axis in mouse models and human post-mortem tissues long after their COVID, which was associated with vascular, inflammatory changes in the brain along with neuronal damage. Approach: To discover all tissues that are targeted by SARS-CoV-2, we used unbiased DISCO clearing technology and mapped tissues hit by coronavirus spike vs. Influenza HA proteins (flu).

WHO: "We Cannot Talk about Covid in the Past Tense"

Dr. Tedros said this in the WHO Director-General's opening remarks at Tuesday's media briefing where he also suggested that over 20 million people have died from SARS-CoV-2 so far, and we're still averaging 1,000 deaths each week just from countries that still report.

The full transcript is here. He starts by discussing some diseases eliminated from some countries and other good news, then turns to the conflicts costing so many lives and the threat of pandemics from mpox, Marburg, H5N1, and a mysterious new outbreak in the Congo, and an increase in deaths from cholera, measles, and diabetes. And then he got to Covid. Here's that part (video clip here):

"The end of this month, the 31st of December, will mark the fifth anniversary of the first reports to WHO of pneumonia caused by a then-unknown pathogen. In the past five years, more than 7 million deaths from Covid-19 have been reported to WHO, but we estimate the true death toll to be at least three times higher. We cannot talk about Covid in the past tense. It’s still with us, it still causes acute disease and “long Covid”, and it still kills. On average this year, about 1,000 deaths from Covid-19 have been reported to WHO each week – and that’s just from the few countries that are still reporting. 

The world might want to forget about Covid-19, but we cannot afford to. WHO continues to support countries to prevent and manage Covid-19 alongside other health threats. Today, WHO is releasing a package of policy briefs [outlined below] to help countries update their policies to monitor and reduce circulation of Covid-19, and to reduce illness, death, and long-term consequences of the disease. 

Developing the Capacity for Rational Choices

"As the world falls around us, how must we brave its cruelties?" -- Furiosa 

Imprisoned climate activist, Roger Hallam, recently wrote about the necessity of expanding emotional well-being as we face bleak events happening around the world. While climate scientists try to "help people through the horrific information that they are being given," they also need a way to manage their emotional reactions. We can no longer afford to merely distract ourselves from the inner turmoil. Beyond climate, we could very well be entering into a period of much greater conflict at a time of even more viruses, some destructive to our food system. When the watering hole gets smaller, the animals look at one another differently.

To move forward with compassion, at a time when divide and conquer strategies have created polarization and infighting, seems to require an effort from each one of us.

Hallam writes,

"We might want to think about why saint-like people are enormously influential, even powerful. . . . They see the world as dependent upon the mind. . . . They are not enslaved by the world; their minds are intent, driven even, to change it. They do not see this as an end in itself."

Wading Through the Fetid Swamp

Charlie Angus is on a role. The NDP MP has a book excerpt in The Walrus explaining the rise of neoliberalism starting from Reaganomics.     

The rules of the neoliberal game advise to take advantage of or create a crisis in order to shrink governmental oversight, bust any strikes, lower marginal tax rates so the wealthiest pay very little, reduce or obliterate corporate regulation or allow dubious self-regulation, and privatize the shit out of public services. Naomi Klein did a great job explaining it all in The Shock Doctrine, which he mentions. 

Mr. Angus says, 

"The crisis of the 2020s is something different than a lingering cultural stasis. The reality is that the political, environmental, and economic forces unleashed in the 1980s have finally caught up to us. . . . Operation Break the Working Class has created a generation of billionaire oligarchs form the stolen wages of the American working class. . . . To find our way out of this mess, it is necessary to confront the false history of the 1980s. Historical amnesia is not accidental--it is a political construct. If you scratch the sheen of '80s nostalgia, the underlying socio-economic fractures are readily apparent. These contradictions in the popularized narrative constitute a dangerous memory."

Trump's Tariffs

Yesterday Trump threatened, 

"'On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,' he wrote on social media, complaining that 'thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,' even though violent crime is down from pandemic highs. He said the new tariffs would remain in place 'until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!'"

Lots of people are starting to understand how these tariffs will play out for them. Six years ago, Ben Stein revised his Ferris Bueller bit to teach more of the lesson. Tariffs imposed in the 1930s made the depression worse for the US.

Some people, like Anonymous, think,

"Mexico and Canada are the biggest trading partners for the US. Starting a trade war with the people who provide nearly half the food or water you consume is suicidal."

Then, six hours later, they added, 

"Trump and Musk have already stated that their plan is to crash the economy. Picking a trade war with China, Mexico, and Canada will do that. They have no plan to restore the economy. This is how they plan to cull part of the population and pummel the rest into subservience."

I can't help but wonder if it's a provocation to get just enough of a reaction that would enable him to justify (weakly and likely illegally) taking measures against Mexico and Canada in some throwback to Manifest Destiny. He's already looking at a "soft invasion" of Mexico. The fact that he is also demonizing Canada points to the start of a movement towards, I believe, coming for our water and other resources. Is that what Musk meant when he said a Trump win would bring temporary hardship?? Trudeau is hoping the premiers stick with him in a united front, but several of them might be more interested in the IDU than Canadian interests, in a shift to "authoritarian populism," a weird kind of oxymoron.

I have no concrete ideas about any of this, but I do believe greedy people don't like when anyone has something they don't have. They have to have all the things. The rest of us are collateral damage.

CAN-PCC Survey

CAN-PCC has put out a survey on its draft of recommendations for Long Covid (PCC = Post Covid Condition) that anyone can comment on. They're asking us for evidence of any claims we have, and it closes Wednesday night (Nov. 27).

Their recommendations are a whole lot of diet, exercise, and CBT and virtually nothing promoting any type of tests to help determine if someone has Long Covid, not even a d-dimer test, or any kind of medications to try. It explicitly says NOT Taurine based on a study that tests hand strength with and without use, completely ignoring studies that show a significant improvement in tinnitus, with some implications for neurological improvements after Long Covid. It's a curious inclusion in the survey. Nothing about Metformin or Paxlovid. And definitely nothing about prevention with N95s or cleaner air.  

I commented that offering CBT to someone with a physical illness is patronizing. Would they suggest it to heal a broken leg, too?? Long Covid is a PHYSICAL illness. The body is invaded by a virus wreaking havoc in so many different places that it will take a concerted effort to create a simple and effective test for it. So, apparently, they're just going to skip that initiative.

Brian Hughes posted his comments - and some of the questions - in The Science Bit. Check it out, then craft your own responses. They're asking for feedback, so we should chime in. BUT isn't it curious that an official body financed by the Public Health Agency of Canada is seeking out random public comments through Cochrane Reviews instead of, you know, getting the best scientific advice possible from teams of scientists?? Public policy on health initiatives for a serious illness shouldn't be determined by a majority rule by the public, but, if it is, then we have a duty to comment.

Only When It is Darkest Out Can You See the Stars

These are my summary notes from this excellent podcast from Andrea Pitzer on Next Comes What, "How We Survive This Mess." 

Pitzer previous wrote a history of concentration camps, One Long Night, and she relates much of this new US admin regime to historical cases. Some similarities: first, Hitler rose to power through legitimate means, but laws were stretched to allow him to run. Pinochet's coup used similar rhetoric, and we need to be aware of the similar tactics already on display: terror, shock, making a show of force, and trying to seize more power than they have. And Putin, who was brought in as a useful stooge, then stepped out only to return to be more powerful by removing moderates. 

The benefits to the current situation include that we have a date. It's not coming unexpectedly, but in a couple months, which provides a window to play in. The US military is officially non-partisan, so won't necessarily follow Trump's orders. Governors in key states are standing up, and it's important to build that out of the gate. There's still a partially functional court system and civil bureaucracy that can slow down any legislation. And the odds of Congress being up for grabs in 2026 are still good as there will likely be a massive backlash. She also claims that "these people are not that bright" which can help anyone trying to subvert their agenda. They got in only because it's really easy to generate hate; "it's not a sign of genius but of money and the willingness to do tremendous harm," which provides an opening for resistance and a likelihood of infighting that could decimate their control. They ran on ideas, not on governance.

A Tale of Two Studies

I was confronted yesterday with the ubiquitous claim, "Lockdowns destroyed kid's ability to socialize. Now they're committing suicide because of it!!" Let's have a closer look again:

I posted this mini-thread a couple weeks ago that helps to understand the role media plays in propping up this claim:

"A tale of two studies: One study (October 2024 in School Psychology), picked up by the Toronto Star, gauged classroom incivility from anecdotal reports by teachers pre- and post-covid (handy they had data form Fall 2019) to conclude that lockdowns for three months in 2020 destroyed kids' socialization skills in 2022. The other study (October 2024 in an international medical journal), NOT picked up by the Star, assessed kids pre- and post-INFECTION, and against a control to find, 'more severe symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, opposition, a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems, and poor school function.' Many studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 affects the prefrontal cortex, which affects behaviour. Until mainstream media starts reporting on better studies, our children will suffer. A timeline of some studies on Covid's effects on the brain are here." 

On Trust and Justified Disgust

Pete Buttigieg gave a great interview last week. He believes that "in moments like this, salvation really will come from the local and state levels. . . that aren't captive to some wacky ideological project. They're just focused on getting things done." Then at 1:05, he addresses the issue of trust when asked what more he would add to his 2020 book: 

"One theme that was in the book that I think we need to spend a lot more time thinking about is how we get information. I wrote up a little about these studies on vaccine misinformation and the fact that Russia didn't just push anti-vax messages. Often what they would do is to push an anti-vax message and a pro-vax message at the same people because the point was just to get you at each other's throats. I think a lot of that's happened recently. Yes, they had a preferred presidential candidate, but their biggest objective wasn't to have for one side to win, it was to break down our trust. It turns out all the nuclear weapons in the world are not capable of doing what this information vector into our society did with shocking efficiency. And we're behind. I don't just mean those who are on my side of the political spectrum are behind. I think America's behind. 

New and Improved Propaganda Machines

We carry propaganda machines in our pockets. Propaganda isn't just to misinform, but to distract us and exhaust the capacity for critical thinking. When you're struggling to decide between 25 types of cereal or what colour to paint the kitchen, you can miss the bigger picture. Chomsky's been saying that for years. Propaganda destroys the quest for truth, and it's worse than ever.

Pat Loller has a quick explainer about how we're ignoring the huge shift in how propaganda operates now:

"Go make a new account or reset your algorithm on any app and see how many swipes it takes to get right-wing propaganda. . . . There are all these studies coming out saying Americans are functionally illiterate . . . you don't read, you don't get critical thinking skills, and then the propaganda that you're consuming, you don't think about. You just go, 'Oh, okay, I guess that's true,' especially if you've been consuming it since you were 15 years old. . . . These kids congregate around these figures and they play video games together. Go and look at any popular video game, and Control F search for 'woke' or 'DEI', and you'll see that the gaming sphere has been a cesspool for decades. . . .  There's all these angry young men with no critical thinking skills who are being fed a constant diet of propaganda that is literally dished up to them on their phones the moment they open an account. Is it any wonder that they're going to fall Pied Piper behind this guy who's just like, 'Hey, all of those complex challenges in your life? It's this guy's fault. Stop centering you as the protagonist in every single video game and every single movie and TV show ever made?? Girls say they'd rather meet a bear in the woods than you?? Get mad and vote for the guy who is going to hurt those people.' 

The Pandemicene

 Bird Flu is still not officially a pandemic concern, but there are some convincing arguments that it should be:

Lazarus Long wrote about the teenager who contracted H5N1:

"The Canadian BC teenager is in a hospital that barely uses surgical masks, under Bonnie Henry who screwed up SARS1, then COVID. She thinks aerosols only come in cans. Trigger warning: I am going to lay out the worst case for you. Going to get dark. 

Roundup of Election Views

There are tons of explanations for it. Here's a roundup of a few perspectives that helped me wrap my head around it all. 

Last January, British journalist George Monbiot predicted this possibility as a result of the American culture:

"People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world. People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likey to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration , dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour. 

Everyone Seems Fine ≠ Long Covid is a Myth

Lots of people still really don't believe that some people have had their lives destroyed by Long Covid, and that they might too. And their loved ones. And sooner than they think!

Someone online posted this exchange: 

"I met a woman today. She started talking about Covid and how glad she is it's all behind us. I said, but it's not. Well it's mostly gone. No. She said it's not serious anymore. I said Long Covid is serious. She doesn't know anyone with Long Covid."

Me: "This is almost every single real life conversation I've had about Covid in the last two years."

Random dude popping in to argue: "I know no one with LC not in my crew, not with my wing. I work directly with nearly 1000 people. The way you all go on about 10-40% of society with long covid only makes you look more stupid."

Me: "There's an inability to understand science and stats. People look around to make an assessment of risk anecdotally instead of looking at the overall rate of Long Covid cases relative to the number of acute infections, which is pretty consistently showing that over 30% get Long Covid after three infections."

More Studies on Covid Harming Children -- How many do we need to act??

What do smoking, drinking, rollercoasters, and Covid have in common? They should all be avoided during pregnancy. 

One recent study found that when moms have Covid-19 during their pregnancy, their children have a significantly higher risk of serious growth and developmental delays and gastrointestinal malformations. They looked at children between 11 and 13 months (around their first birthday), and found a significant decrease in height and weight, a dramatic increase in the need for antibiotics in the first year (83% vs 10%), and the presence of malabsorption syndrome (can't absorb nutrients properly) in children whose moms had Covid while pregnant.

An RN commenting on the study online said,

"We have seen three babies born with imperforated anuses in the last year. That was something most nurses would maybe only see once in a 30+ year career."

Break the Chain of Transmission!

BC's deputy provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, actually announced to the public, "If you've had Covid recently, you've had a boost to your immunity. So that's a good thing." Many scientists in the field are responding with, more or less, "No it absofuckalutely isn't!!" A recent study of marines supports the objectors.

Prognostic Chats wrote about the study:

"Are you a US Marine? Or as fit as one? Scared of a silly little thing like Covid? That nothing-burger of a mild virus, no worse than a cld or flu?! A super fit young adult with no co-morbidities, nothing to worry about, right? The Lancet has got some bad news for you (all). 

In this population of healthy young (median age 18) US Marines with mostly either asymptomatic or mild acute Covid, ONE QUARTER of those infected with Covid reported physical, cognitive, or psychiatric long-term sequelae of infection (PASC). The Marines affected with PASC showed evidence of long-term decrease in functional performance suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection may negatively affect health for a significant proportion of young adults. 

Propaganda vs Real Risk Scenarios: Sickness is health.

Arijit Chakravarty is a biologist who uses biotech and math to understand and write about Covid. He wrote a very long thread that I'll abridge here:  

"Over the last five years, we as a society have developed a set of norms about Covid. As someone who's been actively publishing on the subject, I notice it very strongly. People will ask, 'Why are you still masking?', then wince when they hear my reply. . . . My reply is obviously not what they want to hear, so I often get the 'that was too much' look from my wife and kids. This plays out in the public sphere as well. 'Expert' opinion that's soothing or reassuring is platformed, even if it's repeatedly wrong. This is a form of propaganda (calm-mongering) and distracts us from the reality. 

Calm-mongering serves to form an Overton Window about what futures are - and are not - discussable in polite conversation when it comes to The Virus That Must Not Be Named. 'Experts' have debated seasonality, herd immunity, hybrid immunity, and viral attenuation for years. Much of this is closer to fantasy in the context of Covid. The chance this virus will attenuate (evolve to become milder), to pick one example, is very low. . . . But still, the oft-baffled experts wax (and wane) lyrical about these possibilities.

Saving You Time

 ...but destroying the environment and likely killing some cyclists in the process. That's Doug Ford's new Bill 212: Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act. 

Despite all research, knowledge and reality to the contrary, Ford is trying to convince people that RIPPING UP bike lanes will save them time on their way to work. This is, without question, another in a long line of tactics of pitting one group of citizens against another in order to get away with a giant grift, stealing billions from the province! He's giving us all $200 in hope we like him and take our rage and frustrations out on our neighbours!! Hate the cyclists, the maskers, the environmentalists, the science centre nuts, the tree huggers, but love the gov! 

But I digress.