TallGuyJohninBKK

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Mar. 10 - Mar. 16, 2024: --501 new COVID hospitalizations, up 55 from the prior week --4 new COVID deaths, up 1 from the prior week --217 current COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, down 10 from the prior week (dark purple) --68 current COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation/ventilation to breathe, down 10 from the prior week (light purple) (cumulative figures are COVID new hospitalizations (5,608) & deaths (55) since the start of the current year) https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Mar. 3 - Mar. 9, 2024: --446 new COVID hospitalizations, down 16 from the prior week --3 new COVID deaths, up 1 from the prior week --227 current COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, down 36 from the prior week (dark purple) --78 current COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation/ventilation to breathe, down 13 from the prior week (light purple) (cumulative figures are COVID new hospitalizations (5,107) & deaths (51) since the start of the current year) https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Anyone remember this one??? The clock is ticking: Thai court orders emergency plan to improve air quality Updated Jan 19, 2024 BANGKOK - A Thai court on Jan 19 ordered the government to come up with an urgent plan to curb air pollution within 90 days, as the kingdom braces for its annual peak of noxious haze. ... Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai ranked among the world’s most polluted cities on some days in 2023, prompting a group of people to bring a legal case to get the government to act. The Chiang Mai administrative court on Jan 19 ordered the National Environmental Commission to present “preventive methods to solve pollution both short and long term” within 90 days. (more) https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thai-court-orders-emergency-plan-to-improve-air-quality The current government may well come up with a "plan" at some point. But in all likelihood, whatever plan they come up with will be just as useless and ignored as all the prior empty promises that have come before.

Millions and millions of people, especially in the U.S., never got COVID vaccines in the first place. And of those who did, many many thereafter didn't follow-up and stay up-to-date with recommended subsequent boosters. So it's no great surprise if those people still end up contracting COVID at some point. For those who took the two original COVID vaccine doses and then later stayed up-to-date with subsequent vaccine updates, the odds are much reduced that they'll contract COVID at all... And if they do, very very much reduced chance that they'll become seriously ill from it. Pretty much no vaccine protects 100%, and that's especially true for viruses like COVID or the flu that are spread primarily via the respiratory route. Regarding children as cited in the OP here, the vax rate for children is significantly lower than that for adults, meaning an even larger share of the children's population is unprotected by vaccines even now. Vaccines only actually work to the extent they do if people actually take and use them as recommended. PS - Having a prior COVID infection may also provide some immunity protection for a period after the original infection (along with the attendant health risks from the infection). But like protection from vaccines, infection-derived immunity also wanes over time, especially as new and different COVID variants emerge. etc etc etc.

Ya, so the reason I mentioned it was, a helpful tool while the granting party is alive. But apparently not a useful tool when it comes to estate planning provisions.

Under U.S. law, don't power of attorney designation cease/end with the death of the granting party?

Bad things happen when the measles vaccination rates falls below optimal levels: Vaccination Rates Dipped for Years. Now, There’s a Measles Outbreak in Britain. After a national incident was declared in January, officials have been scrambling to address problematically low levels of immunization. ... "Cases of measles, a highly contagious but easily preventable disease, have begun to crop up in clusters as the number of children getting the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has declined globally. The trend worsened after the coronavirus pandemic because of a lack of access and hesitancy among some groups. The measles virus can cause serious illness and, in the most extreme cases, death. ... In Britain, 650 cases of measles were confirmed between Oct. 1 and the end of February, according to the U.K. Health Security Agency, which declared a national incident in January. ... England no longer has the levels of vaccine coverage recommended by the World Health Organization, which advises that more than 95 percent of people must have had two doses of a measles vaccine that contains weakened amounts of the virus to prevent outbreaks." https://archive.is/c4t8r#selection-833.0-833.259

Seems like your ignore the problem prescription would end up making the U.S. and U.K. more like the third and fourth world countries when it comes to measles. "In high-income regions of the world, such as Western Europe, measles still causes death in about 1 in 5000 cases. But in the poorest regions, as many as 1 in 100 will die. Before widespread vaccination was introduced, the disease caused an estimated 2.6 million global deaths each year. And worldwide, measles is still a major cause of death. In 2016 about 90,000 people died of measles, although this was the first year on record when global measles deaths fell below 100,000 a year. However, following these years of decline, when vaccination dramatically reduced the number of deaths, in 2022 measles cases rose by 18%, and deaths by 43%, compared with 2021. During this time, worldwide vaccination coverage also declined to its lowest level since 2008." https://vaccineknowledge.ox.ac.uk/measles#Key-disease-facts

More evidence vaccination reduces risk of long COVID January 13, 2024 A large staggered cohort study from primary care patients in the UK, Spain, and Estonia finds that COVID-19 vaccination consistently reduced the risk of long-COVID symptoms. The study is published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. ... "We defined long COVID as having at least one record of any of the pre-defined symptoms between 90 and 365 days after the date of a PCR-positive test or clinical diagnosis of COVID-19, with no record of that symptom 180 days before SARS-CoV-2 infection." ... Across all four staggered cohorts in all three countries, vaccination was associated with a lowered risk of developing long COVID. And a slightly stronger preventative effect was seen for the first dose of BNT162b2 than for ChAdOx1, the authors said. Vaccine efficacy (VE) against long COVID ranged from 29% to 52%. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-evidence-vaccination-reduces-risk-long-covid

Among an Australian community where 90+% of the population had been double vaccinated for COVID, yes. Unfortunately, the U.S. primary vaccination rate (two shots) for COVID among adults is far less, under 70%, and even lower among children, only about 44%. Source: and https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/pediatric-covid-vax-disparities.html

One mother discusses the "heartbreaking" search for answers Up to 5.8 million young people have long COVID, according to a recent study — and parents like Amanda Goodhart are looking for answers. She says her 6-year old son Logan caught COVID multiple times. But even months later, his symptoms didn't get better. "To see him struggle to stay awake, or crying and saying he doesn't feel good, it's heartbreaking, it's demoralizing, because there's not a lot of treatment options," she told CBS News. ... Doctors say most children with long COVID recover over several months, but about a third experience symptoms even one year later. (more) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-kids-long-covid-study-symptoms-mother-searching-for-answers/ The cited study: Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 in Children February 07 2024 "Data regarding the postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection (PASC) in children, or long COVID, are only just emerging in the literature. These symptoms and conditions may reflect persistent symptoms from acute infection (eg, cough, headaches, fatigue, and loss of taste and smell), new symptoms like dizziness, or exacerbation of underlying conditions. Children may develop conditions de novo, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune conditions and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.... Given that ∼20% of COVID cases in the United States are in children,6 and that current pediatric postacute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 (PASC) prevalence estimates are 10% to 20%, PASC is estimated to affect up to 5.8 million children, representing a significant community impact. The scientific community has acknowledged an urgent need to understand more about PASC in children.7 https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023062570/196606/Postacute-Sequelae-of-SARS-CoV-2-in-Children

Actually, depending on the question being asked, when it comes to trust in scientists, Pew found that it's mostly Republican and Republican leaning voters where there's been a significant decline, and that in turn helped drag down the public numbers at large. In contrast, fairly small decline among Democrat and Democrat leaning folks. So on this question at least, it really is more of a right-wing thing. "unlike Republicans, a large majority of Democrats (86%) continue to express at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests. The overall differences in partisan views remain much more pronounced today than they were prior to the coronavirus outbreak." https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/11/14/americans-trust-in-scientists-positive-views-of-science-continue-to-decline/

It looks like there was consideration given at least to fluvoxamine as a solo treatment for COVID early in the pandemic (not in combination with other drugs as was addressed in the Thai study), but it was not approved in the U.S. at least. And then seemingly not much more after that. FDA declines to authorize common antidepressant as COVID treatment May 17, 2022 May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has decided not to authorize the antidepressant fluvoxamine to treat COVID-19, saying that the data has not shown the drug to be an effective therapeutic for fighting the virus. "Based on the review of available scientific evidence, the FDA has determined that the data are insufficient to conclude that fluvoxamine may be effective in the treatment of nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 to prevent progression to severe disease and/or hospitalization," the agency said in a document, opens new tab published on Monday. University of Minnesota professor Dr. David Boulware submitted the emergency use authorization request to the FDA that would have allowed doctors to prescribe fluvoxamine maleate to treat COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients... https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-declines-authorize-common-antidepressant-covid-treatment-2022-05-16/ Likewise, from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and its recommended COVID treatment guidelines: Section last reviewed and updated 11/8/2021 Last literature search conducted 10/31/2021 Conclusions and research needs for this recommendation The guideline panel recommends fluvoxamine only in the context of a clinical trial to better delineate the effects of fluvoxamine on disease progression, such as need for hospital admission, ICU care, and ultimately, mortality. https://www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/covid-19-guideline-treatment-and-management/#null And again, just regarding fluvoxamine as a solo COVID treatment, the WHO came to the same conclusion back in 2022. WHO Rules Out 2 Drugs as COVID Treatments It also no longer recommends the use of fluvoxamine for COVID-19, except in clinical trials. There's insufficient evidence that the drugs are of any benefit when it comes to reducing the risk of severe infection or hospitalization from COVID. Paxlovid is a better option. https://www.verywellhealth.com/who-recommends-against-two-drugs-for-covid-19-6374305 Again, all of the above pertained to fluvoxamine as a solo COVID treatment, not as part of a combination drugs treatment as done in the OP's cited Thai study.

March 16 / CBS News "There have been more measles cases reported so far in 2024 than all of 2023, with more than 60 confirmed or suspected cases currently recorded. Chicago has 12 confirmed cases, including 10 linked to a migrant shelter, causing the city to enact new policies amid the outbreak." The video talks about 60 confirmed or suspected cases in 17 different U.S. states. The last number I'm seeing for Florida was a count of 10 cases there. From the above video: And yet, some context for the current situation: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html I suspect, what helped draw the very heavy news media attention to Florida's recent measles outbreak was the anti-vax state surgeon general there flouting established public health guidance for responding to measles outbreaks and avoiding calling on the unvaccinated to get vaccinated. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-surgeon-general-measles-vaccinations-outbreak/3239826/ "Ladapo sent a letter to parents that pediatricians, immunologists and infectious disease experts have criticized. The letter acknowledged what has been common practice to contain measles outbreaks — that unvaccinated children or those without immunity should remain home during the incubation period of the virus, or up to 21 days. Ladapo, then, however, wrote that, “due to the high immunity rate in the community,” the Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance.” https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article285834346.html

How about NBC TV in South Florida: Florida surgeon general doesn't urge vaccinations amid measles outbreak Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo wrote in a letter emphasizing how contagious measles is and how effective the MMR vaccine is in preventing the disease, but he did not urge parents to immunize their children. ... The Florida Department of Health released a letter Tuesday from Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo emphasizing how contagious measles is and how effective the MMR vaccine is in preventing the disease, but Ladapo did not urge parents to immunize their children. “He does not, which is an interesting letter from a surgeon general," Zeman said. "I believe evidence is overwhelming that people ought to get vaccinated." “The letter doesn’t explicitly say we need to get more people vaccinated, and that is a key point that families need to know,” Dr. Marty said. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-surgeon-general-measles-vaccinations-outbreak/3239826/

Fortunately, and obviously, neither of you are medical doctors: Top 4 Things Parents Need to Know about Measles 1. Measles can be serious. Some people think of measles as just a little rash and fever that clears up in a few days, but measles can cause serious health complications, especially in children younger than 5 years of age. There is no way to tell in advance the severity of the symptoms your child will experience. About 1 in 5 people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized 1 out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage 1 to 3 out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/parents-top4.html And from the WHO: Measles is a highly contagious, serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death. Measles vaccination averted 56 million deaths being between 2000 and 2021. Even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available, in 2021, there were an estimated 128 000 measles deaths globally, mostly among unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under the age of 5 years. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles All of the above is a concern because there has been a rise lately in the numbers of parents NOT having their children vaccinated against measles, even though the MMR vaccine is 97% effective in preventing measles with two doses, and 93% effective with only one of the two recommended doses. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/measles/index.html

James Crumbley, father of Ethan Crumbley, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in son's school shooting Crumbley was charged in connection with son Ethan's 2021 school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan. His wife, Jennifer, was convicted on the same charge. PONTIAC, Mich. — A jury on Thursday convicted James Crumbley of involuntary manslaughter in connection with his teenage son’s deadly school shooting in 2021, in step with his wife, who was found guilty last month on the same charge. The jury's decision after about 10 hours of deliberations caps a landmark case that for the first time in the U.S. held the parents of a mass school shooter criminally responsible. James and Jennifer Crumbley’s son, Ethan, who was 15 when he opened fire at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit, pleaded guilty as an adult and was sentenced in December to life in prison without the possibility of parole. "These were egregious facts in this case. These parents could have prevented this tragedy. It was foreseeable," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said after the verdict. (more) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/verdict-james-crumbley-involuntary-manslaughter-trial-rcna143174

We live in a very strange world of U.S. politics when 20,000 to 25,000 Americans per week were dying from COVID in the fall of 2020 during the U.S. peak of COVID fatalities, and according to Pew's survey above, still one-third of the American public back then didn't think that COVID was a major threat to public health... That's pretty surreal! Source:

Because the "very few fatalities" you claim I'm guessing are the end "gray" most recent weekly columns shown on the chart that represent incomplete data, because of the time lag that occurs with the processing of death registrations. As the CDC clearly explains in the info accompanying the chart under the "Footnotes" section: "Data during recent periods are incomplete because of the lag in time between when a death occurs and when a death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS, and processed for reporting. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction. The most recent 3 weeks of mortality counts are shaded grey and mortality rates shown as dotted lines because NVSS reporting is <95% during this period." That's why the graphic I posted above highlighted the latest "blue" / complete column in the time series, and not the incomplete "gray" weekly columns at the very end. Source: Unless you mean you consider 1,200+ Americans per week dying from COVID -- the latest complete tally -- to be "very few"?

The good news is, COVID key indicators in the U.S. have been pretty consistently going down in recent weeks: Source: The bad news is, more than 13,000 Americans still were newly hospitalized for COVID in the most recent week: Source: And more than 1,000 Americans per week are still dying with COVID as the primary or contributing cause (based on the latest week from mid-February with data considered complete): Source:

Continued decline in share of U.S. adults with up-to-date vaccination A new Pew Research Center survey finds that just 20% of Americans view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population today and only 10% are very concerned they will get it and require hospitalization. This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed COVID-19 as a major threat to public health. Just 28% of U.S. adults say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended last fall to protect against serious illness. This stands in stark contrast to the spring and summer of 2021, when long lines and limited availability characterized the initial rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines. A majority of U.S. adults (69%) had been fully vaccinated by August 2021. Underscoring the limited demand for the updated COVID-19 vaccines, a larger share of U.S. adults say they’ve gotten a flu shot in the last six months than the updated coronavirus vaccine (44% vs. 28%). And despite a public health push encouraging adults to get both vaccines at the same time, almost half of those who received a flu shot from a health care provider chose not to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine. (more) https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2024/03/07/how-americans-view-the-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccines-amid-declining-levels-of-concern/

And a timely reminder on this topic: International Long COVID Awareness Day March 15 is International Long COVID Awareness Day. This year's theme is "Confront Long COVID." It is important to recognize and raise awareness of Long COVID as a real and serious infection-associated chronic condition that has affected millions of people across the United States. CDC and other federal partners and stakeholders are actively working to address gaps in the understanding of Long COVID and the needs of people with Long COVID. Source:

What the OP report here should have said is... ‘long Covid’ symptoms are no worse than those after flu...in a setting where 90% of the population had already been double vaccinated against COVID. The same Queensland public health folks behind the OP report have done prior research on the same topic, including an August 2023 journal article that begins with the following: "In a highly vaccinated Australian population, we aimed to compare ongoing symptoms and functional impairment 12 weeks after PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection with PCR-confirmed influenza infection." And then goes on to add: "We do not dismiss the validity of long COVID but recommend an appropriate comparator group when researching this condition." and "In Australia, the first wave of the Omicron variant commenced in late 2021 when over 90% of the population was double vaccinated against COVID-19." https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000060 In other words, as other prior research has already shown: More evidence vaccination reduces risk of long COVID January 13, 2024 A large staggered cohort study from primary care patients in the UK, Spain, and Estonia finds that COVID-19 vaccination consistently reduced the risk of long-COVID symptoms. The study is published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. ... "We defined long COVID as having at least one record of any of the pre-defined symptoms between 90 and 365 days after the date of a PCR-positive test or clinical diagnosis of COVID-19, with no record of that symptom 180 days before SARS-CoV-2 infection." ... Across all four staggered cohorts in all three countries, vaccination was associated with a lowered risk of developing long COVID. And a slightly stronger preventative effect was seen for the first dose of BNT162b2 than for ChAdOx1, the authors said. Vaccine efficacy (VE) against long COVID ranged from 29% to 52%. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-evidence-vaccination-reduces-risk-long-covid Talking about comparing comparable groups, there's no mention in the OP study what portion of those surveyed about lingering flu symptoms had or had not received flu vaccinations prior. And likewise, there's no detail in the OP study comparing the self-reported rates of disabling COVID symptoms among the UNvaccinated with the same for unvaccinated flu cases.

Also worth noting, as the Guardian article did, that the Queensland survey on long COVID symptoms occurred in the following context: "They also said because 90% of people in Queensland were vaccinated when Omicron emerged, the lower severity of long Covid could be due to vaccination and the variant." https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/15/long-covid-symptoms-flu-cold along with: "A new study based on 4,605 participants in the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study shows that the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 30 and 90 days post-infection was 43% to 58% lower among adults who were fully vaccinated before infection."

The Australia survey says about 3% of those with long COVID reported significant impairments a year later. The U.S. CDC survey says about 20% of those with Long COVID (defined as systems lasting at least 3 months post infection) reported "significant activity limitations" when surveyed. That's quite a big difference between those two data points. Also worth noting the closing comment in the OP report from the Guardian re the Queensland survey: "Prof Jeremy Nicholson, the director of the Australian National Phenome Centre at Murdoch University, said the question of whether long Covid is unique “cannot be simply answered in this work”. “The study is observational, based on reported symptoms with no physiological or detailed functional follow-up data. Without laboratory pathophysiological assessment of individual patients, it is impossible to say that this is indistinguishable from flu-related or any other post-viral syndrome,” Nicholson said." https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/15/long-covid-symptoms-flu-cold Let's see what happens when this guy presents the findings of his survey and what kind of responses ensue from other professionals in the field.