New York Times Covers Important Points About Omicron

 The New York Times one of the most well respected newspapers covers Omicron and the Coronovirus in such a disciplined and honest manner. While other news organizations may engage in intense fear mongering to increase their viewership or readership the NY Times strikes me  as an organization that does so unbiasedly.

From their morning newsletter they said the following:

Some evidence even suggests Omicron is less severe. A new study from Hong Kong, for example, found that Omicron replicated itself less efficiently than Delta inside the lungs, which could make it less likely to cause acute symptoms. But many scientists say it is too soon to be confident.

Either way, the crucial question for most people is not whether Omicron is less severe than earlier versions of the virus; the question is whether Omicron is more severe. So far, the answer is no.

If that continues to be true, it will mean that Omicron — like earlier variants — presents only a very small risk of serious illness to most vaccinated people. It is the kind of risk that people accept every day without reordering their lives, not so different from the chances of hospitalization or death from the flu or a car crash.

Unfortunately, there are some vaccinated people for whom any Covid case remains a threat. Those whose health is already vulnerable — like the elderly, people undergoing cancer treatments, people who have received organ transplants and some other groups — can become extremely ill from a Covid case that is mild in a technical sense. Their bodies are weak enough that any infection can cause major problems. It’s the same reason that the seasonal flu kills tens of thousands of Americans annually.

These are the people, in addition to the unvaccinated, who need the most attention now that Omicron has arrived.   So the next month will be telling as to what the future may hold.

We will find a permanent solution to coronviruses

 An enthralling article about coronaviruses and how certain viruses share a large percentage of the same code and thus decoding future ones as we put funding towards fighting bioweapons like we did after 9/11 is going to be something that we need to renew. Whether it was George Bush's Administration or Obamas or Trumps or Bidens that cut the funding is irrelevant now. Whats important is that we move forward with finding permanent solutions.

Richart Ruddie quoting from the article below:

"We know there are numerous viruses in animal reservoirs throughout the entire globe, and we know some of these viruses can potentially spread into humans and cause vast outbreaks. So there is a renewed interest to develop medical countermeasures against these pandemic viruses, and other infectious diseases with pandemic potential,” Richner says. “There was a big push for this after September 11, to create countermeasures against bioterrorism and against any emerging viruses. But a lot of that funding wasn't renewed.”

The question will be whether politicians and a public exhausted by the current pandemic will be willing to take the risk of confronting—or even make the effort of imagining—the next emergent threat."

Courtesy of Wired.com: https://www.wired.com/story/the-race-is-on-to-develop-a-vaccine-against-every-coronavirus/

Will Coronavirus Actually Save Lives because of less road activity?

Last year in the world there were approximately1.25 million traffic deaths globally according to the World Health Organizations latest stats (2013

In the world the number one cause of death among youngsters 15-29 years of age is car crashes. With the Coronavirus in full force locking down the world and emptying the roads I am eager to look at the data in 2021 or 2022 when it's available and measure the total road deaths vs. previous years and then calculate if more lives were saved because of inactivity during COVID-19 vs. people going out and living.

While COVID-19 is currently the 3rd leading cause of death in the country Heart Disease and Cancer are still far outpacing this and we should shift focus (not right now) to resolving these causes of death of which many are preventable (90% I believe the number is).

Overall the question we can look back at and ask is Was less activity creating less deaths even with the increase in COVID-19 deaths? Approximately 101 people die in the USA a day on the road. What is that number going to be for April 2020 the month the USA took a pause.

Empty Parking Lot due to Corona Virus

The parking lot out at my Utah office is looking barren due to the Corona Virus scare. IMO it's the uncertainty and fear that has caused much greater problems and issues than the actual virus itself which is no more dangerous than driving on the interstate.