Click on the link for the NEJM Journal Watch weekly update. There are no paywalls on any of the links in this article. The links in this week’s edition are pretty good. https://www.jwatch.org/fw117158/2020/10/24/latest-covid-19-news-week-ending-oct-24
Meanwhile in El Paso…
EL PASO, Texas — The massive Covid-19 surge in El Paso County went from extremely bad to critically worse on Saturday as all-time highs were shattered for a half-dozen critical markers: New cases, active infections, positivity rate, and hospitalizations – along with ICU and ventilator usage.
The health department reported a record 1,216 new cases on Saturday, as well as 75 unreported cases from earlier, increasing the total number of additional cases reported to 1,291. The number of active infections jumped to just shy of 11,000 at a record-level of 10,911.
There were a record 715 patients in El Paso hospitals due to Covid-related illness as of Saturday morning, representing nearly 2% of hospitalizations nationwide. El Paso hospitals have seen a staggering 203% increase in Covid patients over the past two weeks. In addition, record numbers of virus patients Saturday required intensive care (199) and the use of ventilators (85).
El Paso shatters records for new & active virus cases, positivity rate, hospitalizations, ICUs, ventilators — https://kvia.com/coronavirus/2020/10/24/el-paso-shatters-all-time-highs-for-new-active-virus-cases-positivity-rate-hospitalizations-icus-ventilators/
The city just told everyone to stay home.
One of my closest friends used to be the public health officer for that part of Texas. The ineptitude of the administration is hitting her hard.
Watch Pensacola Florida over the next couple of weeks. We had to super spreader events one on Friday, a trump rally, and the other a Countyfair that started the 22nd and goes for two weeks. Pictures in the News show people packed into the fair, very few wearing masks. And of course at the Trump super spreader event, no one was wearing masks. But they were able to buy trump socks.
If worn properly, socks may be as effective as masks. I will keep an eye on the Florida Panhandle along with the VP Pence super spreading cluster.
If you saw these socks, I don’t think you would want to be wearing them on your face. The hair on the socks is even worse than the real thing. Yes, definitely watch these clusters. Especially the panhandle, since the fair goes on for two weeks.