onfocus

"Even mild cases of Covid led to loss of volume in certain areas of the brain, specifically those involved in processing smell and taste. But they also found statistically significant brain volume loss in the gray matter — the thin layer on the surface of the brain that contains most of the neurons — in other areas involved with memory formation."

Covid impacts more than just killing people and I hope that starts to factor into people's decision to get a vaccine. We're fortunate to have the ability in the US to keep this from happening to people.

"Everyone always focuses on the virus evolving — this is showing that the B cells are doing the same thing," said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. "And it’s going to be protective against ongoing evolution of the virus, which is really encouraging."

A++ would vaccinate again.

"People have all sorts of reasons for wanting to work remotely. It might make them better workers. It might allow them to maintain their physical and emotional well-being in a way that’s incompatible with full time office work."

We have a unique opportunity to rethink how we do office work. I hope we do.

“I would never have gotten to see what was underneath if there hadn’t been this forced interruption,” she said. “You know when botanists bisect a tree, and can tell by the thickness of rings what the conditions were like that year? This feels like we had that year, and this is what happened.”

Beautiful photographs by Elinor Carucci.

"After leading the world in new cases and deaths over much of the last year, the rapid vaccination program in the U.S. now positions it among the leaders of the global recovery. Nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine dose and the average numbers of new positive cases and deaths in the U.S. are lower now than at any point since the earliest days of the pandemic."

Thanks Biden.

"If the global pool of flu viruses has truly shrunk to this degree, it would be a welcome outcome, flu experts say, making the twice-a-year selection of viruses to be included in flu vaccines for the Northern and Southern hemispheres much easier work."

Our work to keep COVID-19 from spreading may have killed some strains of the flu. [via mefi]

"That’s why we have to disentangle severe disease from symptomatic disease from asymptomatic acquisition and PCR positivity. And those are very, very different pieces. Unfortunately, again, we’ve had no nuance in our overall discussion at the national level, and it has really conflated all of those. We’re using the same word for all of those different things, and and that’s a really bad idea because it leads to fear and concern and confusion."

This interview with an epidemiologist explains the confusing Yankees post-vaccine positive tests.

"Now that we have safe, effective vaccines, we can give people immunity without causing dangerous disease. That puts us into a global race against the virus. The more people who see the vaccine before they see SARS-CoV-2, the fewer severe cases, long-term health problems, and deaths. Faster worldwide rollout will save lives. It really is that simple."

A great explanation of why it's the novelty of the coronavirus that makes it deadly and explains some of its seemingly unique properties.

"In the meantime, those who are already vaccinated can help speed up the process by encouraging their friends, family, and peers to get the shot. Surveys consistently show that around 1 in 3 unvaccinated people are waiting for others around them to get vaccinated first before they do so. Sharing vaccination stories, then, could give people the push they need."

I just want to share that I got the vaccine (twice!) and it was worth the minor inconvenience to help get everyone out of this pandemic. The inconvenience is nothing compared to over a year of lockdown life. We’re very lucky to have easy access to vaccines here in the US—we can do this!

In addition to Covid-19 transmission that takes place directly in schools, researchers also attributed the increase to “spillover” factors like parents being able to do more outside of the house if their kids are in school, and school reopenings sending an “incorrect signal” that “normal activities are safe again” to the broader community.

Seems obvious, but good to see a study that confirms this because there's so much denial about schools playing a role in spreading covid.

As a 28-year-old, he didn't feel in any particular danger, but he finally decided he should start looking for a Covid-19 vaccination clinic this week. Then he heard the magic words.

‘Free beer’, he said.

Heart these incentive stories. More free beer everywhere, please!

"The mRNA platform used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be readily tweaked, enabling the companies to produce newer versions within weeks. Moderna began modifying its vaccine to combat the variant identified in South Africa, after reports emerged that the existing vaccines are slightly less effective against that variant."

I am happy to sign up for these Moderna service packs.