This was a really good read, and just out this week—a new book by @DavidQuammen on COVID. One of my 2 favorite science/medical writers—always right on the mark. Author of Spillover, which I used for a few years in an undergrad course on emerging infections.Worth reading!

Great. According to Kaiser Family Fdn, only 50% of US adults have heard of the bivalent booster, and way fewer plan to get it. kff.org/coronavirus-co…

Last month, as I was on Paxlovid, with what I assumed were some lousy side effects, it occurred to me: how do I— ill at the time with COVID—differentiate side effects of tx from sxs of a disease that I had never experienced? And I thought hmm…maybe there’s a perspectives piece.

The irony of preventive treatment—or of prevention. In any individual, you can never know whether they worked or not. You can only look at more aggregate data and infer.

The Seattle Mariners finally made it to the playoffs. And at the end of their comeback yesterday, I saw some shots of the stunned Toronto players, and felt sad for them, or, at least empathetic. One seemed to be in tears. And I’m usually not into sports.

Apparently the FDA modified the EUAs of many rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 such that they are unapproved for asymptomatic pts. But the letter to clinicians was unaccompanied by data. All about priors?

Knowledge and intellect are no more synonymous than training and education. It is common in both cases, though, to conflate the former and latter terms.

This morning our kitty tried to assassinate me through a deft tripping maneuver. The air in Seattle is terrible because of fires. Last week a clinic almost deprived of a needed vaccine while trying to administer an unneeded one. And this am, I caught an rx error. Danger abounds.

It seems like getting anything done *correctly* and promptly in the context of health care requires an inordinate amount of effort and self advocacy—and luck. Why should this require so much effort? What about those who are less knowledgable, or resourceful, or assertive than I?

I’ve grown habituated to This Week in Virology. It is excellent in all respects. microbe.tv/twiv/

I am astounded and dismayed that a tiny % of infectious disease experts at #tropmed22 in Seattle are wearing masks while mixing from all over the world. Yet a notable number of males are wearing useless ties. What is so hard about protecting self and others? Skip ties,wear masks

Long live cell mediated immunity!

Having converted to Professor Emeritus 4 yrs ago, it is so liberating to realize that I am past the bs nonsense part of academia, while still being stimulated intellectually, artistically, and scientifically.

Me: why doesn’t this medical ctr have (a certain) enhanced technology like the univ has? Dr: We’re trying to convince the administration, but they say they can make more $ by taking patients to the OR an extra time. Comment: this is really screwed up, isn’t it? But it’s how it is