Articles / Impressions – Pandemic Pondering

The lab leak finally gets attention

In a post I made first on April 30, 2020, then again on May 27th 2021, I suggested we should focus on the possibility of a laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a source of he COVID-19 pandemic. There finally appears to be bipartisan interest in this, supported by intelligence assessments thatContinue reading “The lab leak finally gets attention”

BA.2 and Pfizer’s fourth booster shot

Two things have been buzzing this week, and both are confusing. Multiple people have been trumpeting the fact that there has been an uptick in COVID infections in certain European countries over the past three weeks. They attribute this to the presence of a variant of Omicron called BA.2. This variant has been reported toContinue reading “BA.2 and Pfizer’s fourth booster shot”

Unfounded concerns about Omicron hospitalizations in children?

Last night NBC’s network news reported “record numbers” of children in hospitals with COVID-19 since Omicron came to the United States. Physicians from Children’s Hospital of New Orleans, Texas Children’s Hospital, and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland all alluded to sharp increases in children with serious COVID-19 infections. In contrast, Dr.Continue reading “Unfounded concerns about Omicron hospitalizations in children?”

The lab leak finally gets attention

Science Magazine’s take on the “London” virus.

Another good review of the “new” coronavirus in Science Magazine. People should remember that if there were a concern about a change in vaccine efficacy due to a new virus variant, the RNA vaccines could have a second RNA included to cover that variant in short order. You can simply synthesize another RNA corresponding toContinue reading “Science Magazine’s take on the “London” virus.”

The next wave won’t happen, but clusters of infection will. The K factor tells the story!

The K factor is an estimate of the dissemination of a particular infection. In day to day use, it gives an idea of how closely a disease clusters vs. disperses throughout the population. This could be a result of how easily it infects people or how much an infectious agent, like a virus, is scatteredContinue reading “The next wave won’t happen, but clusters of infection will. The K factor tells the story!”

Hospitals do make mistakes, and you still can’t trust your COVID antibody test!

Two brief follow-ups before the weekend starts. First, an interesting op ed was published today in the New York Times (you might remember them from yesterday when I found fault with their declaration of “ 36,000 lost souls” based on an unreviewed computer projection). Today they did publish a very nice opinion piece by Dr. DanielleContinue reading “Hospitals do make mistakes, and you still can’t trust your COVID antibody test!”

Did Lockdown Delays Cost at Least 36,000 Lives? The NYT claims data show it!

The front-page headline in the New York Times today stated that “Lockdown delays cost at least 36,000 lives, data show.” The central thesis of this article was that a delay of “two weeks” in implementing stay at home orders and social distancing cost 36,000 lives nationwide. I had to question whether this article was accurateContinue reading “Did Lockdown Delays Cost at Least 36,000 Lives? The NYT claims data show it!”