COVID vaccine works - we're saved!

My daughter had COVID very early; March 2023 - she's a teacher surrounded by 5 year old virus generators all day. She lost her sense of taste before it was recognised as a symptom.It was only in February this year that she said she was back to normal. Prior to that some tastes returned but in weird ways - onions apparently tasted like petrol. Red wine like chocolate.

Reviewing his posts shows that he actually contributed a tiny smidgen of actual information. It was mostly just the repetitious drone of "math and 2 long term bacterial evolution experiments" and then he misapplies calculations of the mutation rate to a model for all of life.I don't know how many times he posted links to his "papers" but that seems to be his main purpose here, trying to increase visit stats and citations for his largely ignored work.The vitriol toward biologists and everyone opposing him was in the basic structure almost every one of his posts and seemed pathological to me. His argument style of Gish Gallop and Trumpian derogatory insults to everyone warranted suspension long ago in my opinion, but I did enjoy watching you toying with him for the last month or so.

Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says"Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I've accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency," Dr Tedros said.20m dead.

... and counting.

With all the deaths still occurring (covid is expected to be the 3rd leading cause of death in the US this year) it is puzzling that that so many still minimize the threat.A common argument is that because the elderly, especially those with comorbidities, were the group most affected that the pandemic wasn't really a big deal, but there are several problems with this.First, the lives of the elderly are valuable, too.Second, nearly 25% of deaths in the US were of people younger than 65.Third, long covid is affecting a great many people. Around 30% of those who become ill with covid get long covid, but that includes people who take longer than a few weeks to recover fully. I'd have to guess at how many have permanent long covid, but I would put it at around 10%.Fourth, they've discovered that covid has a serious neurological component, causing brain damage that people aren't aware of at the time. It is possible that those who think they fully recovered could suffer neurological symptoms and/or deficiencies down the road. For instance, it wouldn't be surprising to find that as people age dementia is found to be more common in those who once had covid.--Percy

But think about the investors and corporate profits.

The article https://www.nbcnews.com/...nths-arrest-warrant-was-rcna87372 reports that V.N., a Washington state woman who refused treatment for tuberculosis and refused to isolate, was arrested today. She'll be detained in a "negative pressure" room in the Pierce County jail until her treatment is complete and she's no longer a contagion threat.About 600 people die of tuberculosis in the US every year. The number would be much higher but for the fact that we take the threat of tuberculosis very seriously and work hard to prevent its spread. But people die of tuberculosis anyway. I just found out yesterday that a former boss, younger than me and in the midst of beginning a high-tech startup, died of tuberculosis last month.Tuberculosis is an example of government doing what is necessary to maintain public health, and it baffles me that so many people did not want government to do its job in the case of covid, which killed at a rate at least a thousand times higher than tuberculosis in 2020 and 2021.Likely around 10,000 people will die of covid this year, many, many more than tuberculosis. It is beyond me that the threat doesn't convince people of the need for vaccinations and boosters, and to vote in public officials who work to reduce the likelihood that people could be infected by other members of the public.--Percy

I heard yesterday that had the first COVID virus been Omicron instead of Alpha there would have been at least five times more deaths.