Anti-maskers are widely viewed as a rogue element in American society. Objecting to being required to wear a mask is somewhat understandable; people don’t like being told what to do, even for their own good. (The problem is that going unmasked not only puts them at risk, but also endangers oth[...]
Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
NIH director decides to retire
Dr. Francis Collins, who has led the National Institutes of Health since 2009, announced his retirement on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 (read story here). Collins, 71, is a respected expert in the field of genetics, and a renowned “gene hunter” (bio here). He was appointed to head the NIH [...]
Video: Violent anti-vaxxers
Anti-vaxxers chanting “Let us be!” tear down a testing site (story here). Why didn’t they let it be? Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
Teachers are fleeing mask bans
Breathing through a mask isn’t comfortable. For me, a few minutes is enough, but I comply when shopping. I get that parents don’t want to subject their kids to the discomfort, all day, every day, for an entire school year. But they have to. Republican politicians portray masks as an assa[...]
Research behind Covid-19 vaccines doesn’t win Nobel Prize
It read like a script for a made-for-TV movie: Fighting peer rejection, job losses, and self-doubt, Katalin Karikó “spent decades researching the therapeutic possibilities of mRNA” because she was convinced it “could be used for something truly groundbreaking.” And it was: The Pfizer and Mo[...]
October 2nd, 2021 - 8:25 pm § in Health
They don’t deserve hospital care
No one should say, “Let them die.” And no one, in a civilized society, wants to turn away desperately ill patients — although some states are having to ration hospital beds. But this shouldn’t be happening, either: “Front-line workers at a Missouri hospital are being pr[...]
September 23rd, 2021 - 3:43 pm § in Health
Covid-19 topics and links for September 2021
* * * Putting People At Risk WORKING FOR AN AIRLINE IS RISKY AND EXHAUSTING Read story here VIRUS HAS KILLED 1 OF EVERY 500 AMERICANS Read story here UNVACCINATED PEOPLE PUT OTHERS AT RISK Read story here * * * No Room in the Hospital HOSPITAL BED SHORTAGES ARE COSTING LIVES THAT C[...]
September 23rd, 2021 - 2:44 pm § in Health
“Mama, I don’t want to die”
She’s dead. Two weeks ago, she was a healthy 20-year-old daycare teacher. Now, she’s another Covid-19 statistic in Idaho. “Idaho continues to set record highs with 686 hospitalized COVID-19 patients as of September 18, 180 of them in intensive care unit beds and 112 on ventilators,[...]
The stupid stuff Trumpers believe
Better skip the salad dressing at your next outing in a no-masks-allowed restaurant. The government is sneaking vaccine into it. At least, that’s what rightwing conspiracy-mongers like Mike Flynn are saying now. Allow me to let you in on a closely-guarded liberal secret. If we’re going t[...]
September 23rd, 2021 - 1:46 am § in Health
Do masks work?
From the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve been told that masks were the best protection against Covid-19, and the best way to stop it from spreading, until vaccines became available. Yet there are plenty of people who claim masks are useless. Who’s right? The medical community has been s[...]