Tag: disease spread

On the Origin of COVID: Research now shows it wasn’t a lab leak

Posted on by Lone Candle

Early on, there was a real disagreement between specialists on the origin on Covid, with some supporting natural origins and some supporting a lab leak. But that debate is now essentially over. With more data carefully examined, the evidence best supports natural origins.

The virus was initially repeatedly found in a specific animal market, and even a specific stall that appeared to be the source. For a lab leak to be the source, the person or people who leaked the virus would have to have repeatedly visited that market every time they leaked it and nowhere else so that it looked like that market was the source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fjXhOXl7VU

Getting a Covid shot this fall could be a lot more complicated

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Pharmacists’ authority to vaccinate individuals varies across state lines. In some places, it’s dependent upon a federal advisory process that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has upended.

At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration has signaled that it will only approve updated Covid vaccines for individuals 65 and older and for younger people considered to be at high risk for severe disease. People, regardless of where they live, may need to prove that they need the shot.

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If the FDA narrows eligibility, people between 6 months and 65 years old who want a Covid vaccine this fall likely will have to navigate some roadblocks.

They, or their parents, may need to convince pharmacies and doctors that they have at least one of the underlying conditions that the FDA has suggested makes them eligible for a dose. The list includes asthma, diabetes, cancer, mood disorders and obesity. It’s unclear at this point what would serve as adequate proof.

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Further complicating vaccination efforts for children this year: the FDA may pull Covid vaccine-maker Pfizer’s emergency use authorization for its shots for children under 5.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/22/covid-shot-hhs-recommendations-fall-00519315

Turmoil at C.D.C., a School Shooting in Minneapolis, Israel’s Exhausted Soldiers

Posted on by Lone Candle

Trump damaging the CDC, which is losing key employees due to the administration not understanding scientific evidence.

Some Israeli military units are exhausted and not showing up for the new invasion of Gaza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtLQNCgagQ

Trump’s New Tariff Twist, a $250 Million A.I. Job Offer, Your Friday News Quiz | The Headlines

Posted on by Lone Candle

Child vaccination rates have declined again, likely causing an increase in formerly rare diseases.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0s8dAMhLgI

Who’s to Blame After Texas Flooding Tragedy — And What Needs to Change | Pivot

Posted on by Lone Candle

Successful businessman lists the ways in which government aid propelled him to the success he has, and Trump/Republicans are attacking these benefits.

Measles cases reached a 33 year record high likely due to people not getting vaccinated. Those attacking vaccines are getting people killed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a5EibCmkrQ

How Many Americans Have Died of COVID-19?

Posted on by Lone Candle

“In addition to tracking deaths attributed to COVID-19, researchers aim to account for those missed by formal diagnoses by calculating excess deaths. Excess deaths are typically defined as the number of deaths during a particular period above the usual, expected number of deaths under normal conditions.”

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“A February 2024 article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calculated excess deaths between March 2020 and August 2022, concluding that around 1.2 million Americans had died of COVID-19. A January 2025 analysis in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Statistics in Society Series A calculated excess pandemic mortality in the United States for 2020 and 2021 at 920,731. Interestingly, Stanford biostatistician John Ioannidis, a skeptic of worst-case COVID-19 pandemic claims, and his colleagues calculated in a December 2023 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences article that the U.S. suffered 1,220,295 excess deaths between 2020 and 2023. Notably, they also calculated that the U.S. actually experienced 3,456 fewer than expected deaths of Americans aged 14 and under during that period. Considering that all of these calculations use data from 2023 or earlier, they suggest that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current count of 1,225,281 American deaths from COVID-19 and related causes is somewhat conservative.”

https://reason.com/2025/03/12/how-many-americans-have-died-of-covid-19/

Do Face Masks Work?

Posted on by Lone Candle

“A June 2024 meta-analysis in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews synthesized evidence from more than 100 studies and reviews. It found that masks, “if correctly and consistently worn,” are “effective in reducing transmission of respiratory diseases and show a dose-response effect.” It also found that, N95 and KN95 masks were more effective than surgical or cloth masks. Using data from jurisdictions with mask mandates, the researchers concluded that “mask mandates are, overall, effective in reducing community transmission of respiratory pathogens.” The efficacy of masks alone does not settle the question of mask mandates, which is far more complex.

In their comprehensive 2024 report, Effectiveness of masks and respirators against respiratory infections, researchers associated with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health reviewed 153 research articles on the effectiveness of mask use against infective agents or airborne droplets and particles. They reported that 128 of the articles they analyzed found masks to be effective. They noted that “systematic reviews of on randomized controlled trial studies in clinical or community settings demonstrated effectiveness in 10 out of 16 studies, and 20 out of 23 studies found mask mandates to be effective.”

https://reason.com/2025/03/10/do-face-masks-work/