COVID-19 Update: September 10th, 2021

That Israeli study everyone is talking about, the numbers, making sense of Fauci and the infamous "gain of function" study, and new mandates.

What a week. Let's take a quick look at some of the hot topics that are swirling around. I got a little fiesty in #3 so apologies in advance and feel free to just skip right over that one. It will not hurt my feelings one bit.

1. There is a study out of Israel that is getting lots of attention and being grossly misrepresented in social media and by some in the general media. Here is a link to the pre-print study: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1 You have probably seen all the posts and claims that being vaccinated increases your risk of infection by 13% and increases your risk for hospitalization. But that is NOT what the study said. The study was designed to compare 3 groups. a) those who have never had covid but got the Pfizer shots, b)those who had COVID previously then got no vaccination and c)those who had COVID and got one shot of Pfizer. The point was to see if natural immunity was stronger/longer lasting than vaccine acquired immunity. (which is normally the case, naturally achieved immunity is typically more powerful than vaccine acquired immunity - although we have not definitively answered that question for COVID). There were NO people in the study who never had COVID and also were not vaccinated. What they found was that people who had COVID and had been vaccinated had the strongest immune protection against the Delta variant. The numbers being presented in those posts are taken way out of context and are being used to suggest that getting vaccinated increases your risk of COVID and/or severe outcomes from COVID but that is not at all what the study says.

2. The internet is abuzz with news that Fauci may have lied regarding the "gain of function" work the NIH may or may not have funded. I came across a really great article where you can read more about this(below). In essence, here is what we know. In 2014 EcoHealth Alliance was awarded a grant to do research related to coronavirus and bats. (remember that coronavirus is the umbrella name given to all viruses that fall into that family and is not the same as Sars-Cov2, the virus that caused COVID-19). It is like saying they were given the grant to study sports balls. Generic. Of the 3.7 million dollars the NIH awarded for the grant, $600k went to someone at Wuhan Institute of question that was a collaborator on the project. It is that $600k that is the question. The rub comes in defining "gain of function." There are, as you can imagine quite a few different definitions for what exactly constitutes "gain of function" research. The study was reviewed by the NIH, at the time, and deemed that it was not a gain-of-function study. So technically, Fauci would be telling the truth, the research was not listed/categorized as "gain of function". But people are trying to say that it does meet the requirement despite the prior ruling that it was not. Keep in mind the prior ruling was WAY before any of this happened. Is this all nomenclature? It is cloak and dagger deception? Was he in cahoots with Bill Gates to create a monster virus so they could micro-chip us all? I have no idea. I do know these things, a) the viruses they were working on were not SarsCov-2 - so that piece is completely irrelevant to our current situation. b) many studies have looked at the source of the outbreak and all come to the same conclusion, this was a zoonotic disease and not man-made. c) that idea (b) cannot be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt but there is strong evidence of it. You can read more about all of that here: https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699 and here: https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/ The second one also has lots of links to more details, papers, etc. if you are interested.

3. You, I am sure, have heard that President Biden has implemented some sweeping mandates regarding vaccines. Just to be clear, when a company has 100 employees or more, those employees must either CHOOSE to be vaccinated, OR get tested weekly. That is not the same as forced vaccination because there is a choice. I will not weigh in on the policy itself, everyone has their own opinion on that, and I respect everyone's right to those opinions. But I did want to clarify that one point and remind you of another important thing. We cannot just ignore the problem of COVID and hope it goes away. It will not. People are currently protesting every single intervention. They are protesting masks, social distancing, limits on "number in attendance" and vaccines. That leaves us with? Nothing. And nothing is not an option if we hope to survive this. I do not mean that as a scare tactic, it is just the reality of the situation. The longer we let it roam among us, the more resistant it becomes to the vaccine. Right now we are losing against COVID.

4. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. I have updated the charts for the week so those are attached along with the "Days to add 1 Million Cases" chart. That is precisely what it sounds like, the number of days it took us to add a million more cases in the US.

FINAL THOUGHTS: It's funny how your computer breaking in half can put a damper on your day. Or how a series of unfortunate events can shape your entire week leaving you longing for the weekend. But I am reminded of all the small moments of beauty and wonder that we encounter every day. It is so easy to let the bad things, the irritants, those little annoyances rule the day. But that would be a mistake. Instead, we should focus on the things sprinkled throughout our days that are true, the things that are noble, and right and pure and lovely. Instead of letting those pesky things have all of our attention, try to focus on the small things worthy of celebrating, admiring, and appreciating. As we enter the 20th Anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th, may we never forget the horrors. But may we also keep our eyes fixed on the kindnesses, and heroics that emerged from the dust.