Indy Digest: Jan. 4, 2024
Hello! This is the latest in a series of periodic Indy Digest reminders that 1) COVID-19, while nowhere near as deadly as it once was, is still very much A Thing, and 2) Florida is still very much … uh, Florida.
As for SARS-CoV-2, The Washington Post reports:
The United States is in the throes of another COVID-19 uptick, cementing a pattern of the virus surging around the holidays as doctors and public health officials brace for greater transmission after Americans return to school and work this week.
Coronavirus samples detected in wastewater, the best metric for estimating community viral activity, suggests infections could be as rampant as they were last winter. A smattering of health facilities around the country, including every one in Los Angeles County, are requiring masks again. JN.1, the new dominant variant, appears to be especially adept at infecting those who have been vaccinated or previously infected.
While photos of positive coronavirus tests are once again proliferating across social media, fewer people are going to the hospital than a year ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 29,000 covid hospitalizations in the week before Christmas, the most recent data, compared with 39,000 the previous year. The agency has reported an average of 1,400 weekly deaths since Thanksgiving, less than half of the fatalities at the same point last year.
Even so, COVID remains one of the leading causes of death as well as the top driver of respiratory virus hospitalizations—worsening the strain on hospitals also seeing influxes of flu and RSV cases.
This graph covers the last three months of 2023. The numbers, as you can see, are trending up, up, up.
Meanwhile, I’ve heard some people claim that COVID-19 is more or less equivalent to the flu these days. Well, it’s not. The state of California is reporting 81 influenza-related deaths between Oct. 1 and Dec. 16 … compared to 1,079 COVID-19 related deaths.
All of this shows, quite clearly, that 1) COVID-19 is still a problem, and 2) vaccines and prior immunity are making it far less of a problem that it would be otherwise, thank heavens.
This is clear everywhere but, apparently, in Florida, where dangerous conspiracy theorists who think they know better than science, common sense and data are in charge. The New York Times reports:
Florida’s surgeon general on Wednesday called for a halt to the use of COVID vaccines, citing widely debunked concerns that contaminants in the vaccine can permanently integrate into human DNA.
“These vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings,” Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general and highest-ranking health official, said in a statement released by the Florida Department of Health.
Federal health officials and other experts have repeatedly sought to counter Dr. Ladapo’s erroneous comments about the vaccines, noting that careful review of the scientific evidence has found no basis for his declarations.
The Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that it had not identified any “safety concerns related to the sequence of, or amount of, residual DNA.”
Sigh.
Be safe. Consider masking up. And consider avoiding Florida, if you weren’t already.
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Supporting New Works: Revolution Stage Company’s Ten-Minute Play Festival Gives Aspiring Playwrights a Stage
By Matt King
January 4th, 2024
The reason for Revolution Stage Company’s Ten-Minute Play Festival: “We really wanted to do a play festival so that new playwrights, people who were having trouble getting their work onstage, would have an opportunity to do that.”
The Weekly Independent Comics Page for Jan. 4, 2024!
By Staff
January 4th, 2024
Topics this week include police tanks, being out of fish, Harvard, paid family leave—and much more!
Saving the Pink Elephant: Nonprofit Preservation Mirage Works to Restore an Important Part of Rancho Mirage’s History
By Cat Makino
January 3rd, 2024
The Elephant Car Wash sign has been starting to show its age, and is now the subject of a restoration effort, including a fundraiser on Feb. 3.
Healing Via Traditions: Danza Azteca Citlaltonac Works to Promote Wellness and Share Southern Mexico’s Culture
By Haleemon Anderson
January 3rd, 2024
What started more than 10 years ago as two sisters remembering the traditional dances and healing practices of their mother has evolved into a nonprofit cultural group that uses ancestral rituals to promote self-care and holistic well-being.
Sharing Beauty: The ‘Paint the Desert’ Plein Air Festival Takes Artists Outside
By Cat Makino
January 2nd, 2024
Starting on Jan. 11, participating artists in “Paint the Desert” will be invited to a series of workshops, and then to several outdoor locations to paint—with the finished works delivered to the Galen on Jan. 17.
More News
• From the “What in the #@&% is wrong with this country?” file comes this story from Texas, via The Texas Tribune: “Federal regulations do not require emergency rooms to perform life-saving abortions if it would run afoul of state law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent hospitals guidance, reminding them of their obligation to offer stabilizing care, including medically necessary abortions, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). ‘When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person—or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition—that state law is preempted,’ the guidance said. Texas sued, saying this was tantamount to a ‘nationwide mandate that every hospital and emergency-room physician perform abortions.’ Several anti-abortion medical associations joined the lawsuit as well.”
• And now for some good medical news, from CNN: “More Americans with diabetes will get a break on their insulin costs in 2024. Sanofi is joining the nation’s two other major insulin manufacturers in offering either price caps or savings programs that lower the cost of the drugs to $35 for many patients. The three drugmakers are also drastically lowering the list prices for their products. The moves were announced in the spring, but some didn’t take effect until January 1. Drugmakers have come under fire for years for steeply raising the price of insulin, which is relatively inexpensive to produce. The inflation-adjusted cost of the medication has increased 24% between 2017 and 2022, and spending on insulin has tripled in the past decade to $22.3 billion in 2022, according to the American Diabetes Association. … Congress, the White House and new players in the market have increased pressure on insulin manufacturers to lower their prices. Eli Lilly and Sanofi announced that they would institute $35 caps shortly after President Joe Biden called on drugmakers to do so in his State of the Union address last year.”
• Our partners at CalMatters preview what will be going on with the California Legislature this year: “California lawmakers gaveled (yesterday) for the 2024 legislative session with plenty to do, but scant cash to go around—and protesters supporting a ceasefire in Gaza prompting a quick adjournment. Health care, housing, schools and environmental programs will jockey for lawmakers’ attention—and state money—as they face the prospect of plugging a $68 billion hole in the budget for 2024-25. Legislative budget analysts have identified $10 billion in cuts in one-time spending and dipping into $24 billion in reserves. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat who just took over as chairperson of the budget committee, said the deficit is likely to impact everything the Legislature does this year. ‘It’s going to require us to make some tough choices. But that’s what government is about—making tough choices,’ he told CalMatters. ‘Our top priority is going to be to protect vulnerable communities.’”
• The Food and Drug Administration is concerned about some possible newly discovered side effects of popular weight loss drugs. CNN says: “(The FDA) is evaluating reports of side effects such as hair loss and suicidal thoughts in people taking medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. These drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, are approved to treat diabetes or weight loss. They include semaglutide, branded as Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy; liraglutide, branded as Saxenda and Victoza; and tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro and Zepbound. … The FDA is ‘evaluating the need for regulatory action’ after its FDA Adverse Event Reporting System or FAERS received reports of alopecia, or hair loss; aspiration, or accidentally breathing in things like food or liquid; and suicidal ideation in people using these medications. ‘The appearance of a drug on this list does not mean that FDA has concluded that the drug has the listed risk,’ the FAERS website notes. ‘It means that FDA has identified a potential safety issue, but it does not mean that FDA has identified a causal relationship between the drug and the listed risk.’”
• Today’s recall subject: Ford F-150 pickups. CBS News says: ”Ford Motor Company has recalled nearly 113,000 F-150 pickup trucks over concerns a rear axle hub could break off, causing the vehicle to lose power or roll away when in park. The recall applies to some 2021-2023 F-150 vehicles ‘equipped with the Trailer Tow Max Duty package and a 9.75-inch heavy duty axle with a 3/4 float axle design,’ according to a notice Tuesday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The rear axle hub bolt ‘may fatigue and break,’ the recall states, ‘which can result in damage to the axle hub splines.’ Vehicles with damaged axle hub splines can roll away when in park or lose drive power. ‘Both of these conditions can increase the risk of a crash,’ NHTSA said. According to the recall, Ford is still figuring out how to deal with the issue. For now, NHTSA advises owners of the recalled pickups who have problems related to the rear axle bolt, such as a clicking or rattling noise, to take the vehicles to a dealer for a temporary repair.”
• Google has settled a lawsuit claiming the company was collecting info when people used private modes on browsers. The Associated Press reports: “Google has agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit alleging that it spied on people who used the ‘incognito’ mode in its Chrome browser—along with similar ‘private’ modes in other browsers—to track their internet use. The class-action lawsuit filed in 2020 said Google misled users into believing that it wouldn’t track their internet activities while using incognito mode. It argued that Google’s advertising technologies and other techniques continued to catalog details of users’ site visits and activities despite their use of supposedly ‘private’ browsing.” Terms of the settlement have not yet been reached.
• And finally … a lot of people (myself included) expected a recession in 2023, but that didn’t happen. So, what are the prospects for 2024? Two finance professors tell The Conversation: “The U.S. economy is not in a recession and will likely continue growing. Over the past year, gross domestic product has outpaced expectations, inflation is trending downward and employment remains robust. Real wages have increased, as has consumer spending. Additionally, housing demand is strong and financial markets are at all-time highs. While no one should argue that there will never be another recession, 2024 seems to be an unlikely time for one—unless there’s some unexpected spark like, for example, a new global pandemic.”
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