Leeds MD

Hey, folks - we need to stop whistling past the COVID graveyard. Now. Especially when that graveyard has killed one in 100 people over age 65...and this pandemic isn't winding down. At all. In fact, it's accelerating.
My state's numbers are particularly shameful. They reflect a mostly conservatism-driven state of denial and delusion that, regrettably, is reproduced all over red-state America. Although this kind of magical thinking is as contagious as the virus itself...and it seems to have infected a majority of Americans across the political spectrum.
I know you're not supposed to say "look, I get it"...but look, I do get it. We're all tired of this. We're for damn sure tired of it crashing our holiday parties and family get-togethers. And the timing of the latest news is a full-on bummer. But we don't set the timetable. The virus sets the timetable. And here's what the virus is up to:

https://epaper.daytondailynews.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=569a41b9-10d7-4304-a0bb-b769b0341239&utm_source=app.pagesuite&utm_medium=app-interaction&utm_campaign=pagesuite-epaper-ipad_share-article

Ohio reports highest daily case total of the entire pandemic: 12,502 - Dayton Daily News

This is the situation as it stands. We are almost back to where we started - and we must act accordingly.

That probably means: the same distancing and masking that was required a year ago. And then some. With such low vaccination rates, the vaccine could not stop the pandemic - although it has reduced disease severity in the vaccinated, and has thus depressed the overall death rate.

For the unvaccinated: this entire year of pain and suffering from COVID restrictions earned you nothing - except for the need to prolong them.

For the vaccinated: you must decide if you're willing to get (and spread) COVID - even in a mild form. The relaxed restrictions we enjoyed in the spring no longer apply.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ -cases-daily

Ohio medical cannabis update:

As we predicted (in our JCR paper last year), the number of new physicians obtaining the CTR for "prescribing privileges" has slowed to a trickle: only 2 new providers last month, for a grand total of 679 in the state.

Here are the key end-of-year stats from the OMMCP:

Dispatch from the Department of “Walk Your Talk”:

On Monday I will receive the first of my two-part Moderna series.

This prompted my wife to ask some very insightful questions about mRNA vaccines...as well as vaccines that operate according to a variety of other mechanisms: DNA plasmids, adenovirus vectors, and traditional recombinant proteins.

So why did the mRNA vaccines pull ahead of the pack, despite their novelty and a frankly flimsy safety record?

The short answer is: they work, and as vaccines go, they are incredibly easy to mass-produce.

In a perfect world, the next question would be: are they safe? But in a pandemic world, we can only ask: are they safer than COVID-19?

And that’s a no-brainer.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87933

Here's What We Know About COVID-19 Vaccines Novel technologies can be rapidly produced, but will they work?

SARS-CoV-2 is Radioactive: A Useful Analogy

In the course of providing care face-to-face, I (much too frequently) walk into a room and encounter patients with their masks down or off. Maybe they're only wearing them when someone is watching...or more charitably, they may simply be lacking understanding of the ways of this virus.

Because of the virus's dispersion or "k factor," the problem is not just being infectious when someone is in front of you. The problem is "stagnant air"....the virus hangs around wherever ventilation is not vigorous.

In this way, SARS-CoV-2 is a lot like radiation exposure. When radiologists and radiology techs learn about protecting themselves from radiation, they are taught the holy triad of TIME-DISTANCE-SHIELDING. The risk goes up the longer you're there, the closer you are, and the less you are shielded. This goes a long way toward understanding one of my key COVID mantras: "there is no such thing as a safe indoor mass gathering" - since these are trifectas of excessive time, dangerous distances and inadequate shielding.

Treat the places where people are (and have recently been) as radioactive. Imagine you're wearing one of those exposure badges from sci-fi disaster movies. As soon as you enter the space, the clock is running. Are you keeping your distance? Is everyone keeping up their shielding?

And most importantly...how long before that imaginary badge turns black?

On libertarianism in the time of pandemics:

“Setting autonomy above all other virtues is the thinking of a child. Equating autonomy with political freedom is the thinking of a monster.”

- Samuel DeMiurge, “Anarchy a Day Keeps the Utopia Away”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/12/samuel-alito-federalist-society-speech/

Justice Alito says pandemic has resulted in ‘unimaginable’ restrictions on individual liberty Alito said he was not criticizing officials for their policy decisions — “I’m a judge, not a policymaker” — and said before launching into the speech that he hoped his remarks would not be “twisted or misunderstood.”