Further down, we have hoisted a long comment from Lambert eviscerating the new CDC guidance for Covid, treating it as just another respiratory virus, which as he points out, will also wind up being applied to measles, which like Covid can also inflict permanent damage. Lambert insinuates that this policy train wreck is intended to shield hospitals and doctors’ offices from liability and from spending money to upgrade ventilation.
Since we still have Covid minimizers who show up with their tired tropes, we thought we would also hoist the latest report from IM Doc, who has kept meticulous records about his patients from early in his career. He is practicing in an area with high average incomes (and a big fat tail of extremely wealthy) and an unusually healthy population, since it attracts sports and fitness buffs. It is also a very blue community, so vax levels are high.
Please be sure to read Lambert’s thorough CDC shellacking too. One has to wonder how people who has some sort of medical and/or science education can devise such a travesty. Even though “Great Reset”/cull the population theories do have the advantage of being tidy, it’s not as if the public health elite is dispensing this destructive advice to the masses while observing strict precautions themselves. They appear to be happily subjecting themselves to getting Covid and with it, all the long term health costs.
The result of this will be that introverts and the constitutionally contrary will in not that long a time have a longevity and relative IQ advantage. But people like that usually hate meetings. Will they be willing to step up and run things?
First from IM Doc:
I now have my numbers for the month of FEB.
This is now obviously completely unique in the past 4 years. By now, in each year, we would have been slowing down to almost zero as March approaches. That is not happening at all. We seem to have bottomed out at a baseline of 20-30 cases daily. It is not budging down at all.
And again – although not nearly sick enough to be in the hospital – we seem to be in a pattern where people are more and more sick at home.
Another interesting pattern is developing – the patients who never seem to get better – and are having positive COVID tests for weeks. I now have 4 of these people – the longest one has been sick and coughing for 6 weeks now. All 4 are basically healthy – not really all that chronically ill – and all 4 have been vaccinated between 5-9 times.
The breakdown for the month of February –
This week brought the CDC recommending the 9th dose – and like clockwork – I had an acute DVT on FRI Mar 1 – that had been vaxxed with their 9th shot on Wed. We will see what the next week brings.
298 total calls and cases – of these 298 – only 2 were truly unvaccinated [the first since last autumn] – the two I told you about around Valentine’s Day. All others were vaccinated as follows –
J&J – 0 cases
Unvaccinated – 2 cases
2 vaccines – 14 cases
3 vaccines 24 cases
4 vaccines 76 cases
5 vaccines 32 cases
6 vaccines – 101 cases
7 or more vaccines – 49 cases
It must also be noted that of these 298 cases – 227 were on their 3rd course of COVID or more.
The EMR has registered that 125 of these people are “unvaccinated” – and that is apparently what the tracking number is reported as – our last community report was 39% unvaccinated – and as you can see above – that is just not the case. I have looked over many of these – how this mistake is being made in the algorithm in the EMR is not remotely clear for the majority of these patients. And again – if medical studies are not clearly discussing that the charts are being abstracted at this time – they are worthless with regard to vaccination status of these patients. I have now talked to too many people in multiple places to realize the problem here.
FEB brought in 12 patients with Long COVID. Again – I am not including the pulmonary issues from post intubation – but there were 2 of those.
4 were mainly having headaches, severe vertigo, tinnitus, or actual chronic hearing loss.
9 of the patients have some form of new severe depression or brain fog.
1 has profound hives/urticaria that will not go away no matter what is done. This is becoming an interesting pattern.
11 of the 12 report complete and total change from previous functional capacity – decreased exercise capacity etc. I have now put three of these people on the treadmill – they have clear lungs on Xray – and their hearts seem to be stable during stress – but what is immediately apparent is a sudden dive of pulse ox on usually stage 3-4 and above. Their baseline PFTs are normal – I have no idea what is going on — and working with pulm and cardiologists in multiple centers.
All 12 of these people were vaccinated and boosted – at least 6 times – there are no unvaccinated – although the system reports that 4 of them are unvaccinated.
8 of them have had COVID at least 4 times – 2 have had COVID three times and two twice. There continues to be 2 different patterns – either being vaxxed before ever having had COVID that we know of – or having the Wuhan or alpha strain and then being vaxxed.
I am struggling. I am doing my very best to help these people – we are trying all kinds of things. Again – metformin and fluvoxamine seem to help more than anything else. Baseline pristine healthy status also. We have two of them in a cardiac rehab program – and unlike true cardiopulmonary patients they seem to be getting minimal benefits.
As I have stated before – our federal officials and universities barely deign to acknowledge this problem – there are no diagnostic criteria – and there are certainly is no treatment discussion. We are all alone out here trying to help. What a complete and total joke this all has become. This did not even happen in the worst of the AIDS years.
And we go from IM Doc in despair over the lack of any official interest, let alone guidance, for dealing with rising levels of sickness and disability, to Lambert’s dissecting of CDC democide dressed up as its latest “guidance”. Hoisted from comments:
Hygiene and Respiratory Viruses Prevention CDC. This is the new guidance.
First, note the scope:
This guidance provides practical recommendations and information to help people lower risk from a range of common respiratory viral illnesses, including COVID-19, flu, and RSV.
Measles is an airborne virus. So even though all this guidance doesn’t apply to measles, you know that’s how people will interpret it. Entertainingly, measles destroys immune memory from previous infections, so another scientific communication blunder from CDC will make the flu, RSV, and Covid all worse. (The Flu and RSV are also airborne, although other forms of transmission may occur.)
Hygiene and Respiratory Viruses Prevention
The key move here is to separate clean air from hygiene (at the very least, an institutional imperative for both CDC and hospitals, who are still fighting #CovidIsAirborne tooth and nail, preserving desks jobs at CDC, avoiding liability for hospitals). The guidance:
Covering your coughs and sneezes limits the spread of germs to protect others[1]. Handwashing with soap removes germs from your hands[2], making them less likely to infect your respiratory system when you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. If soap and water are not available, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol can kill these germs[3]. To remove germs and dirt on surfaces, use household cleaners that contain soap or detergent.
Notes:
[1] Coughing into your elbow does not limit Covid spread. And think of your hand as a very gappy mask. It won’t work either,
[2] Not Covid.
[3] Not Covid. Fomite transmission is not a thing with Covid, so hand sanitizers and surface cleaners are at best theatre.
Taking Steps for Cleaner Air for Respiratory Virus Prevention
The key move here is to separate “clean air” from masking. Obviously, since #CovidIsAirborne, airborne protection is a continuum (“Swiss Cheese Strategy”) that CDC chops up, making a coherent understanding of transmission impossible. The guidance:
Some germs spread in the air between people. This happens more easily in indoor, crowded spaces with poor airflow[1],[2]. To reduce the risk of exposure, it helps to improve air quality by increasing airflow, cleaning the air[3], or opting to gather outdoors[4].
Notes:
[1] Japan’s 3Cs formula — Closed, Crowded, Close Contact — is more memorable (and also known to work; 2020).
[2] CDC carefully omits the fact that one can measure the uncleanness (risk) of the air with a CO2 monitor like the Aranet4 or similar. It’s almost as if they want you to remain ignorant.
[3] Below, CDC mentions HEPA filters, but carefully omits Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, which are both cheaper and more effective.
[4] CDC also carefully omits UV. While Far-UV remains controversial, I believe that upper room UV is proven.
Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick
Here too CDC carefully separates the concept of “preventing spread” from masks, even though masks help prevent spread.
Here is a diagram the “simple” and “streamlined” process that CDC recommends. I have helpfully annotated it:
Notes:
[1] Covid spreads asymptomatically (among superspreaders (Senegal): “Deepest transmission clusters are those with the highest percentage of asymptomatic members”).
[2] First, “nobody tests any more” (as the absolute numbers at Walgreens show). One reason for that is that the public health establishment systematically dismantled testing. Second, in a fine example of the principle Edward Tufte devised after analyzing NASA’s PowerPoints preceding the Challenger disaster, that which is institutionally least important will be buried, even if central-to-mission. Hence, explicit precautions like masks are placed in small type at the bottom of the diagram.
[3] Extending Tufte’s principle, protecting others is at the very bottom, in the last sentence.
Masks and Respiratory Viruses Prevention
The “what to know” section:
Wearing a mask is an additional prevention strategy[1] that you can choose to further protect yourself[2] and others[3].
Notes:
[1] “Additional” to what? Handwashing? The equally effective herbal remedies? Crystals? And heaven forfend we should connect masking to either hygiene to either hygiene or cleaner air; those are separate sections, even though masks — follow me closely, here — clean the air.
[2] Yourself first, naturally.
[3] Others last. There is no sense whatever that shared air is a public good that should be pathogen free.
Here is the simple and streamlined advice on masking:
Generally[1], masks can help act[2] as a filter to reduce the number of germs[3] you breathe in or out. Their effectiveness can vary against different viruses, for example, based on the size of the virus. When worn by a person who has a virus, masks can reduce the chances they spread it to others. Masks can also protect wearers from inhaling germs; this type of protection typically comes from better fitting masks (for example, N95 or KN95 respirators[4], [5]).
There are many different types of masks[6] that have varying abilities to block viruses depending on their design and how well they fit against your face. Cloth masks generally offer lower levels of protection to wearers, surgical/disposable masks usually offer more protection, international filtering facepiece respirators (like KN95 respirators) offer even more, and the most protective respirators are NIOSH Approved® filtering facepiece respirators (like N95® respirators).
When choosing to wear a mask, choose the most protective type you can. Determine how well it fits[7]. Gaps can let air leak in and out. Check for gaps by cupping your hands around the outside edges of the mask. If the mask has a good fit, you will feel warm air come through the front of the mask and may be able to see the mask material move in and out with each breath.
Learn about proper technique for wearing an N95 respirator.[8]
Notes:
[1] The “generally” qualifier is an open invitation to skip the entire section. Who among us, after all, is not “exceptional”?
[2] “Help” act? More faux qualification and precisions. What else is doing the filtration? My nose hairs?
[3] We started with viruses, now we have germs. Yet another scientific communication fail.
[4] Assumes the average reader knows what an N95 or KN95 is (and KN94 should be mentioned as well, but of course is not). Yet another scientific communication fail. The test: Could the average reader go on Amazon and even guess the right type of mask to buy? I say no.
[5] Now we have “respirators” as a subtype of mask, without explanation. Yet another scientific communication fail.
[6] “Many types” is confusing. Why not just say “blue surgical mask” (inferior) and respirator (superior), with an external link for Darth Vader masks? Note CDC carefully omits elastomeric masks with replaceable filters like Flo Mask. Yet another scientific communication fail.
[7] CDC carefully omits any mention (or external link to) “mask hacks” like Badger frames, twisting straps to tighten the seal, tips on re-usability, etc.
[8] This entire section reads like it was written by a hospital administrator who wants to keep buying baggy blues, and is making everything as complex as possible so obvious decisions that would benefit patients will never be made.
It doesn’t get better, but that is all I have time for now. CDC’s guidance is a crime against humanity.
