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| Downtown San Diego & Coronado Bridge As Seen From the Bayshore Bikeway (Taken 1.18.2023) |
It's been a minute since I've posted and there have been so many things I've meant to post about but life gets in the way sometimes. Like for one thing, all this storm coverage has been crazy. I know that there has been real destruction and loss, but when San Diego is featured on the YouTube channel "World Is Dangerous" and they show flooding in Mission Valley, I kinda have to laugh. My dad worked at the VA in the valley for over 30 years and there was a time he considered moving our family closer to his work, but he saw them building right in the flood plain and nixed that idea real quick. But it's also the media and the City and County's failure that warnings aren't more urgent: we build this whole section in a flood plain and sometimes it will rain. The Fashion Valley parking lots were built to flood in these circumstances. So, too, Mission Center Road and several of the other north/south crossings over the river. Avoid the area. If you live in the area, know that this is a known mitigation, seek higher ground, and FFS, don't try to drive through moving water. There needs to also be better outreach among the unhoused that this is not a safe place to be in such conditions.
Another thing tripping me out is the egg 'crisis'. When the San Diego Zoo first took the flamingos off habitat, the news should've been warning about the issue much more fervently than they have, and now they're just talking about it like it's a gouging problem. It is not. As of today, 57,868,714 birds have been culled because of the avain flu, H5N1, or HPAI - highly pathogenic avian influenza. The penguins at the Zoo are in a covered area by the bears. My favorite parrots have been moved into a covered aviary. It is all connected. We can ignore it or realize we're creating these super-bugs and climate change is fucking with birds migratory patterns, spreading new diseases to new places.
Last, of course, COVID is all but ignored these days. The County data is getting less and less specific, as is the State and the CDC. Numbers haven't been reliable for a while but every week they are less so. Still, you can get a general sense of the virus by the numbers still available so as long as they are, I'll keep posting what I can. We were happy that Nova was tested weekly at school, and now even that is being canceled.
Finally, for a long time I was posting political stuff and White House briefings, but it's all such a shit show with this new Congress that I just can't even. It isn't worth my stress or space.
I hope everyone is doing well. On the one hand I would like to be posting more than once a week, but on the other hand, I'm kinda living my best life these days and I just don't see a reason to stop. For fun, I posted this ridiculous article by a New Yorker who gives her experience of San Diego. It's so poorly written and absurd that I just laugh every time I think about it.
- COVID-19:
- New Yorker Takes Aim at People Who Still Think Covid Is a Problem - FAIR (1.10.23)
- What You Need to Know About the Kraken Covid Variant. XBB.1.5, aka the Kraken, is sweeping the Northeast US and dodging immunity. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to panic. - Wired (1.12.23)
- Q&A: What to expect from latest 'Kraken' variant - KPBS (1.11.23)
- WHO updates COVID-19 guidelines on masks, treatments and patient care - WHO (1.13.23)
- Masks continue to be a key tool against COVID-19
- WHO continues to recommend the use of masks by the public in specific situations, and this update recommends their use irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the COVID-19 globally. Masks are recommended following a recent exposure to COVID-19, when someone has or suspects they have COVID-19, when someone is at high-risk of severe COVID-19, and for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space
- Reduced isolation period for COVID-19 patients
- WHO advises that a COVID-19 patient can be discharged from isolation early if they test negative on an antigen-based rapid test.
- Without testing, for patients with symptoms, the new guidelines suggest 10 days of isolation from the date of symptom onset.
- For those who test positive for COVID-19 but do not have any signs or symptoms, WHO now suggests 5 days of isolation in the absence of testing, compared to 10 days previously.
- Review of COVID-19 treatments
- WHO has extended its strong recommendation for the use of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (also known by its brand name ‘Paxlovid’).
- WHO urges travellers to wear masks as new COVID variant spreads- Reuters (1.10.23)
- State Closing Some Testing Sites, Still Plenty Testing and Treatment Available - County News Center (1.12.23)
- What China’s Covid Crisis Means for the Rest of the World. The country’s surge in cases is a human tragedy but isn’t showing signs of changing the Covid picture in the West—where the virus is already running free. - Wired (1.9.23) (spoiler alert: nothing. We already let it run free so China, while possibly having 2M+ deaths this winter, isn't going to affect the rest of us very much, most likely, unless it does.)
- WHO-led collaboration shows the level of immunity against COVID-19 after one year - WHO (1.18.23)
- Based on data from 26 studies, the analysis shows that protection against severe disease and hospitalization remains high 12 months after developing hybrid immunity or having an infection, when compared to unvaccinated and uninfected individuals. One year after developing hybrid immunity, a person had at least a 95% lower chance of getting severe COVID-19 or needing hospitalization, while those who were infected a year ago but not vaccinated had a 75% lower chance of the same.
- Protection against reinfection was lower than that against severe disease, though still substantial. Those with hybrid immunity had a 42% lower chance of being reinfected one year later. Those who had been infected before, had a 25% lower chance of the same.
- Protective effectiveness of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against the omicron variant and severe disease: a systematic review and meta-regression - The Lancet (1.18.23)
- How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity. The immune system responds more strongly to the strain of a virus that it first met, weakening response to other strains. Can this ‘imprinting’ be overcome? - nature (1.18.23)
- Politics:
- Sen. Sanders asks Moderna not to hike COVID vaccine price - Office of Bernie Sanders (1.10.23)
- Vargas elected SANDAG chair, board members walk out to protest 'weighted vote' - kpbs (1.13.23)
- News:
- Are we finally taking Avian Flu seriously?
- H5N1 Bird Flu Detections across the United States (Backyard and Commercial) - Birds Affected: 57,832,114 - CDC (Updated 1.17.23)
- Largest global bird flu outbreak ‘in history’ shows no sign of slowing - France 24 (1.13.23)
- Avian Influenza - World Organization for Animal Health
- Rising egg prices are having an impact in places you might not expect - kpbs (1.13.23)
- Why Are Eggs So Expensive, and WTF Do I Cook Instead? It’s a perfect storm for pricey eggs. But home cooks have options. - bon appetit (1.17.23)
- Other Reading:
- US Cities Are Falling Out of Love With the Parking Lot. California and many local governments are scrapping requirements that once made cars the center of the urban landscape. - Wired (1.7.23)
- Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections - Science (1.13.23)
- Here Come the Gas Stove Culture Wars. The debate over gas stoves is going the way of guns, cars, and masks. - Vice/Motherboard (1.12.23)
- San Diego Already Has Plans to Get Rid of Gas Stoves. The mention of a hypothetical nationwide ban on gas-powered stoves sparked swift backlash from Republicans and a wave of media coverage. Locally, San Diego has already committed to retiring gas-powered everything – stoves included. - Voice of San Diego (1.17.23)
- Gas Bags vs Gas Stoves: Gaslighting The Morons - Won't Be Silent (1.16.23)
- Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 1.18.23 pm):
- 667,937,012 Known Cases/12,763,219 28-Day New Cases
- 6,729,843 Known Deaths/55,999 28-Day New Deaths
- US COVID-19 Stats
- JHU
- 101,858,368 Cases/1,604,986 28 Day New Cases
- 1,102,286 Deaths/12,640 28-Day New Deaths
- CDC Data Tracker:
- 414,721 New Cases/101,518,229 Known Cases
- 3,907 New Deaths/1,095,149 Known Deaths
- 5,004 New Admissions/32,348 Current Hospitalizations
- California COVID-19 Stats:
- R-effective: 0.74
- 5,745 Average Daily Cases/10,972,516 Total Cases (14.3 new cases/100k)
- 35 Average Daily Deaths/98,393 Total Deaths (0.1 new deaths/100k)
- 8.7% 7-day test positivity rate
- 4,025 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (-56 patients, -1.4% from prior day)
- 483 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (+1 patients, +0.2% from prior day)
- 1,764 ICU beds available (+40 from prior day)
- San Diego County
- State Data:
- R-effective: 0.85
- 600 Average Daily Cases/970,800 Total Cases
- 9.5% Daily Positivity
- 2 Average Daily Deaths/5,681 Total Deaths
- 415 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (+14 patients, +3.5% from prior day)
- 41 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (+3 patients, +7.9% from prior day)
- 237 ICU beds available (+1 from prior day)
- County COVID Data (As of 1.12.23):
- 3,344 New Cases Since Last Report/970,479 Total Cases
- Case rate: 19.7 per 100,000 residents overall
- 21 New Deaths Since Last Report/5,662 Total Deaths
- 15.3% 7-day average after 7-day lag415 COVID-19 Hospitalizations. +13% over 30 days
- 41 ICU Patients. -9% over 30 days
- 47 Staffed ICU Beds Available
- County Influenza Data:
- 338 New Cases Since Last Report/20,379 Known Cases
- 3 New Deaths Since Last Report/33 Known Deaths
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