Can we please get one thing straight?
There is no such thing as #PostCovid!
What you mean is post lockdown. Saying Post COVID dangerously suggests that people are safe from the ongoing pandemic - and yes, it is an ongoing pandemic - no matter how much you want it not to be.
People are still dying and becoming permanently disabled. The pandemic continues to present a very real risk to people - to all people, but especially to our disabled, elderly, and Indigenous communities.
I can't believe I still have to say this, but Mask Up and if you are unwell, stay the hell at home!
Talked with two relatives who recently caught Covid--they're OK so far. (Our views on avoiding the virus differ--great folks, I wish they were more careful.)
Sunshine on wet grass, plants sending up green shoots: view from my studio window
Mr. M--best buddy ever--and Mr. P--a very fine housecat indeed
There's a break in the rain so we can hike today without gearing up quite as much. The plants in the yard are starting to send up their green, and the forest smells wonderful.
In NY/NJ, fast-moving variants (compared the the current already fast variants!!) holding at around .9%. JD.1.1 at over 2%.: https://ibb.co/d4Nv5sw
JN.1 updates
JN.1 looks like it's seriously affecting infection numbers in Canada, Muenich, and especially France, where JN.1 is already estimated to be the top variant. Very bad for the holidays.
🔴BA.2.86 defintiely has potential to take over the whole variant market in the future. (And this is the SLOWEST variant, the parent of even faster variants.) With over 30 mutations to all current variants it has great potential to infect through any current immunity, due to antigenic shift alone.
🔴Four antivirals work against it including Remdesivir. (Molnupiravir is strongly discouraged by the viral genetics community.)
🔴The cell fusion is only slightly greater than BA.2, meaning it has potential to not cause as severe disease as something more fusogenic (i.e., it's not Delta-like).
🔴"Overall, BA.2.86 does not appear to pose an increased risk to human society. However, it is possible that its virological phenotype may change or even worsen in the future by acquiring additional mutations. Continued monitoring and surveillance are important now and then."
Sato is being encouraged to do similar testing for JN.1 and JQ variants which are descendants of BA.2.86 and have been proven faster movers.
Wastewater
Nationally, looks like the Fall honeymoon is over and wastewater levels are starting to go back up.: https://ibb.co/6gjjV5J
Regionally, the Midwest and West are yet again adjusted upwards.: https://ibb.co/tzDfT05
In PA, 5/9 stations (excluding the 2 that don't seem to report lately to Biobot) are going upwards.: https://ibb.co/bgG4XF5
WastewaterSCAN has our area in the Northeast at HIGH levels for SARS2.
WWSCAN has the Dauphin/Harrisburg area on a rise again through Oct. 31.
🔴WWSCAN has Norovirus (the common "stomach virus") as HIGH nationally. Please wash your hands often, make sure utensils and eating places are clean, and also wash any fresh food that might need it (fruits, veggies, etc.)
What's going in the Lackawanna area??? Please get a hold of this before the holidays or we're gonna have a bad time. Also in Bucks/Franklin areas. Clean that air and use those respiratoirs!
CDC
Lots of new hospital admits all along south of I-80. Also in Western half border counties. Philly area is stable.: https://ibb.co/nLKFZTz
Staffed inpatient Beds map has improved. Numbers increasing in Lawrence Co. especially.: https://ibb.co/HzQv43T
Staffed ICU beds somewhat increasing surrounding Dauphin Co and over in the Somerset/BedfordCo areas.: https://ibb.co/dtqH5jN
🍁A little bit of caution now will prevent a lot of life, learning, and financial loss later on.
Be careful and protect yourself this Fall (and get those flu and XBB vaccinations!) 🍁🍁🍁
100 — 160 mm rainfall across Tayside and Angus over the last 24 hours, as much rain as falls in these areas during a wet October…
There’s more to come overnight into tomorrow and the run off from hills taking time to reach habitations flooding will only get worse before it gets better.
Keep your peepers on the Met Office weather warning website. If youre under a Red Warning stay off the roads.
Would you rather do something great for all of humanity but be remembered as one of the worst people who ever lived, or do nothing with any lasting impact in your life and be remembered as a hero to all people?
Some native Americans use Thanksgiving as a day of mourning. Do you think we should do away with Thanksgiving due in part to the current social climate?
Invasion (2020) by Darek Zabrocki (cdnb.artstation.com)
Source: Invasion (2020) (by Darek Zabrocki - ArtStation)...