Deaths due to measles increased 50% from 2016 to 2019, according to recent data from the World Health Organization and CDC that were highlighted in MMWR. In 2019, over 200,000 people died from the disease.
Measles is entirely preventable. And please don’t quote me the U.S. fatality statistics for measles. I am aware the U.S. numbers are very low. Don’t use this as a reason not to vaccinate your children.
Tribalism has been an inherent part of human history, and is closely linked with fear. There has always been competition between groups of humans in different ways and with different faces, from brutal wartime nationalism to a strong loyalty to a football team. Evidence from cultural neuroscience shows that our brains even respond differently at an unconscious level simply to the view of faces from other races or cultures.
At a tribal level, people are more emotional and consequently less logical: Fans of both teams pray for their team to win, hoping God will take sides in a game. On the other hand, we regress to tribalism when afraid. This is an evolutionary advantage that would lead to the group cohesion and help us fight the other tribes to survive.
Tribalism is the biological loophole that many politicians have banked on for a long time: tapping into our fears and tribal instincts. Abuse of fear has killed in many faces: extreme nationalism, Nazism, the Ku Klux Klan and religious tribalism have all led to heartless killing of millions.
Our politics and culture are mired in fear and tribalism.
The algorithms tracking you on social media are triggered by your negative emotions and amplify the negativity.
Your digital tribe keeps consuming and feeding each other with the same ideology.
We regress further into tribalism and mistrust of those not in your tribe.
Higher social media use is linked with increased anxiety, stress and depression.
Short attention spans deactivate critical thinking skills (skills which are no longer being taught by the intellectual elites in our colleges and universities).
Those of us old enough to know what life was like before social media may remember how exciting Facebook was at its inception. Imagine, the ability to connect with old friends we had not seen for decades! Then, Facebook was a virtual dynamic conversation. This brilliant idea, to connect to others with shared experiences and interests, was strengthened with the advent of Twitter, Instagram and apps.
Things did not remain that simple. These platforms have morphed into Frankenstein’s monsters, filled with so-called friends we’ve never met, slanted news stories, celebrity gossip, self-aggrandizement and ads.
Be safe this year in whatever form of holiday celebrating you choose to do.
The holidays are upon us, which means a spike in gatherings of people who do not otherwise see one another. Such get-togethers, especially if they are multi-generational, can spark more outbreaks. I take no joy in saying this, but all of this means that any gathering outside one’s existing quarantine pod should be avoided for now—especially if it is indoors. Think of it as a postponement and plan to hold it later. Better a late Christmas than an early medical catastrophe. Pods should not expand unless absolutely necessary. Order takeout instead of dining indoors. Make game night virtual. Shop in bulk, so you can do fewer trips to the store. It’s not the right time for wedding receptions or birthday parties.
Young people present one of the biggest challenges. Many colleges are ending school and sending students home, for what could be a country-wide super-spreader event. That age group—young adults—is especially dangerous; while they can get infected, they are less likely to get very sick, so they don’t stay put the way sick people would. That means they pose a great risk to their more vulnerable parents and other older relatives as they go about their lives. Ideally, colleges should offer the students already on campus the option to stay in the dorms over winter break, and those who live in off-campus housing should consider staying put. If they do go home, the students should quarantine for the recommended two weeks to the greatest degree possible.
Oklahoma Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report 11/6-11/12 2020
In Oklahoma we don’t have a statewide mask mandate. Mask mandate decisions are at the city level. The last time I looked at these numbers I focused on the percent change from 8/1 to the present study date. Today my eyes focused on the Nov. 1 seven day average case numbers mask vs no mask. My small brain is trying to understand what I’m seeing. Under the assumption mask wearing is effective in helping stop the virus from spreading why is the gap narrowing?
Numbers notwithstanding, I’m still going to wear a mask.
Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you? People call say ‘beware doll, you’re bound to fall’ You thought they were all kidding you You used to laugh about Everybody that was hanging out Now you don’t talk so loud Now you don’t seem so proud About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel? To be without a home Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
“He doesn’t have the authority to tell us what to do in our own lives, in our homes and what we wear,” said Ken Whetstone, who was protesting outside the governor’s mansion on Monday, according to the Deseret News.
Amazon has announced a massive recall of a version of its Ring doorbell, according to a notice posted on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) website. The recall involves the Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Generation) with the model number 5UM5E5. The reason for the recall is because the “video doorbell’s battery can overheat when the incorrect screws are used for installation, posing fire and burn hazards,” according to the CPSC.
Vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis
Analysis evaluated 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in trial participants
Study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42% having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed; Safety and additional efficacy data continue to be collected
Submission for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) planned for soon after the required safety milestone is achieved, which is currently expected to occur in the third week of November
Clinical trial to continue through to final analysis at 164 confirmed cases in order to collect further data and characterize the vaccine candidate’s performance against other study endpoints
“There was always a discussion: Is the spike protein the right target? Well, now we know it’s the right target,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told STAT on Monday. “So, it’s not only immediate good news, it really is optimistic about what’s going to roll out in the next several months with the other vaccines.”
State Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said the following in a statement released Sunday: “Today’s individual case number, 4,507, is a corrected version of yesterday’s number with all duplicate cases removed. Today we will not be releasing a new daily case number, allowing our data reporting system to catch up and ensure duplications are removed from the daily number prior to release moving forward. Starting tomorrow, the daily number released will not include any duplicates. We are committed to giving the public and media accurate and transparent data, and this will ensure the daily number reflects the actual case count. We will continue to point to the 7-day average, percent positivity and hospitalizations in addition to the daily number to give a more complete picture of trends. We have no reason to believe our revised number is an anomaly, but instead shows community spread is occurring. We continue to urge all Oklahomans to take this highly-contagious virus seriously and act immediately to avoid large gatherings, wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance to others. Together we can bring these numbers down and protect our friends, family and neighbors.”
My original post follows below. I’m glad we got this number fixed. Am I supposed to feel better now?
The headline came across my Twitter feed and my eyes just froze. Oklahoma reported 4,741 new coronavirus cases which obliterated the previous single-day record. I am still in a state of shock and tried to confirm the number at https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/. Unfortunately the state’s webpage has numbers are only updated to 11.06.20.
Source: Twitter
If today’s reported numbers turn out to be accurate it’s going to be a long, cold, nasty winter.
Update
The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 4,741 new infections on Saturday, shattering the previous daily record of 2,101 that was set on Thursday, and moving Oklahoma’s 7-day average to near 2,000 new cases. There have been 136,492 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Oklahoma since the pandemic began.
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