Author Archives: jbakerjrblog

It is humbling to see nature in a rampage. Today, our country had 120,000 new cases of COVID-19. The numbers reflect a diffuse increase in infections throughout the country, with almost every state seeing increases. Most of the areas impacted are new, so one could explain this surge with areas naive to the virus. ThisContinue reading “120,000 cases in a day.”

Tonight we undertake the second part of our analysis of the government’s coronavirus leadership and how it should change going forward. While last night’s individuals were officials who clearly should leave their position in government, tonight’s leaders are more difficult to evaluate. These individuals have accomplished some useful activities, but have issues that seem toContinue reading “Assessing the performance of additional government leaders of the COVID-19 response.”

Since this is an avowed apolitical blog, I am taking tonight off. However tomorrow, I think it will be time to suggest changes in the pandemic response task force based on performance. This is not a political issue; in fact both parties would likely support changing the faces but for different reasons. So stay tunedContinue reading “Election Night”

A new article today brings news about the presence of immunity after COVID-19 infection. The article in the prestigious journal Science shows that protective antibody persists even in patients with non-severe COVID-19. This is an important paper that contradicts many other reports and does so in a convincing manner. The authors are from Mt. SinaiContinue reading “Definitive data is published showing strong and lasting immunity after COVID-19 infection!”

One of the issues I have been examining recently is the fact that this third spike in COVID-19  infections has been accompanied by a much lower rate of patient deaths. I’ve suggested that we need to focus on hospitalizations as another marker of severity of new infections. The data on hospitalizations are now fully defined onContinue reading “COVID-19 hospitalizations are occurring at a much lower rate than in April.”

I have previously commented extensively about “herd immunity” in COVID-19. PatP asked me to update my comments and discuss the implications of allowing the virus to circulate through the population. She has very cogent comments, but I am not going to respond at the present time for one reason. Herd Immunity will be an entirelyContinue reading “Our discussion of “Herd Immunity” must wait until after we get our first vaccine results!”

This post is in response to a comment from Ronald Gries. He responded to my question, “where are the increasing COVID deaths?” He wrote; “You ask where the deaths are. Per the (Detroit) Free Press today, according to Michigan state data, more than 500 Michiganders have died from COVID -19 in October compared to lessContinue reading “Michigan deaths from COVID-19”

On Halloween the tradition of combing the neighborhood for treats is important in many ways. It is not just for children, who look forward to the holiday, but to locals that use it to reinforce a sense of community. Often, it is one of the few times that older community members meet children. This yearContinue reading “Should your child trick or treat? Not in the traditional sense, but acknowledge your neighbors!”

I wrote earlier this week about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Europe. One abnormality in the infection peak now being experienced is that COVID-19 deaths are not increasing proportionally. This is similar to what’s now being seen in the United States where we are clearly in the third peak of infectious activity, butContinue reading “Where are all the COVID-19 deaths?”