Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

CDC and Covid

As taken from the Comments Section., Commenter RJS . . . the CDC reports that the trend in hospital admissions for Covid was up 12.1% to 8,035 over the most recent week, while the trend in the percentage of Covid deaths was again unchanged…if we go back three weeks on the CDC’s Covid deaths graph to the death totals which presumably […]

SARS-CoV-2 was probably not released from a research lab

I’m a molecular biologist who also has an undergrad degree in microbiology. Those facts and the additional facts that (a) I was in the Moderna phase III trial and (b) my medical school is one of ten NIH designated vaccine testing and evaluation units made me an avid student of the unfolding COVID-19 story. Given […]

Red/Blue COVID Death Rate Divide did not disappear after all

So much for the Covid Gap disappearing. The difference in the death rate for Covid still exists politically. It looks like the Red/Blue COVID Death Rate Divide didn’t disappear after all, ACA Signups, Charles Gaba Last month Charles Gaba noted the partisan COVID death rate gap again. And again it had been higher in the […]

Coronavirus dashboard for December 7: the first winter wave of endemicity begins

Coronavirus dashboard for December 7: the first winter wave of endemicity begins  – by New Deal democrat COVID is well on its way to becoming endemic, with a significant background level similar to what we have experienced in the last 8 months, and a surge during the winter months when people spend more time socializing […]

Do Republican Counties have Higher Covid Death Rates than Democratic Counties?

Some seem to think so. A recent paper by Jacob Wallace, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, and Jason L. Schwartz appears to backup this claim up with some numbers exclusively of their own. “Excess Covid Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” NBER, © 2022 by Jacob Wallace, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, and Jason L. Schwartz “Political […]

Coronavirus dashboard for July 22: the BA.4&5 wavette Peaked?

Coronavirus dashboard for July 22: the BA.4&5 wavette has (probably) peaked  – by New Deal democrat No economic news today, so let’s update the COVID situation. As of yesterday, nationwide (dotted line below) cases declined slightly to 123,000. Cases have been slightly elevated from their previous 100-110,000 range for several weeks, but appear to have […]

Higher Covid Death Rates in Trump States

I was reading the usual MedPage Today articles. One commenter discusses the State of Florida under Governor DeSantis having a high Covid Death Rate. Fourteen of 15 states favored Trump in the election and have the highest Covid Death Rates. The article: “Florida’s Surgeon General Sends a Dangerous Message” | MedPage Today, Thresia B. Gambon, […]

And the Anti-Anything Whiners . . .

“30,000 people were trapped inside Shanghai Disneyland on Halloween after one person tested positive for COVID-19,” Business Insider, Sinéad Baker And United States Anti-Vaxers, maskers, and social distancers whine. Excerpt from the article: Disneyland Shanghai shut down after one positive COVID-19 case was found there. The nearly 34,000 visitors and staff had to get tested […]

COVID vaccines and antibodies

Joel Eissenberg, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology I got the Moderna vaccine as part of the phase III clinical trial back in August and September 2020. Although it was technically a blinded trial, I knew from my symptoms after the second shot I was in the vaccine arm and not the placebo arm […]