US surpasses 700,000 deaths due to Covid

Merck's Molnupiravir oral antiviral drug

As the world approaches 5 million confirmed dead due to Covid-19, the US passes 700,000 with no signs of slowing down. More than 235 million are confirmed to have contracted the disease, though the number is probably much higher in reality. Just thinking that both India's and China's populations are around 1.4 billion, then 235 million is a drop in the bucket. This thing is going to be with us for a long time. 

When you think that the Spanish flu in 1918-1919 killed somewhere around 50,000,000 globally but only about 675,000 in the US, we're doing a helluva a lot better globally, probably because of the vaccine and known precautions. 

The worry is that flu will rear its head this year, so I've already had my vaccination. Europe approved Fluad Tetra which I had not heard of. It is a surface antigen subunit vaccine with adjuvant. Europe indicated it for over 65s as it has better efficacy. But I was taken aback when they described it as being for the elderly. Then it dawned on me that, at 67, I am considered elderly. But there are so many people older than me now that I just don't feel that old. Maybe I never will. Observational studies among Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older found that trivalent Fluad provided greater protection against flu-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits than standard-dose, egg-based quadrivalent flu vaccine. Data comparing the effectiveness of Fluad Quadrivalent with standard-dose unadjuvanted inactivated vaccines are not yet available.

I am scheduled for the pneumococcal vaccine on Tuesday. We will probably be advised to get a Covid booster soon, for which I will be among the first in line. 

The great news is that Merck has developed an antiviral drug called Molnupiravir which cuts the rate of hospitalisation and death by 50%. I think it's the first new antiviral in years and it's oral. They will be going for emergency use authorisation and have priced the drug at $700 a course, which is less than monoclonal antibody therapy but still not like penicillin. Of course, you have to catch the infection early, as with other antivirals. But they are calling it a game-changer. It takes 4 capsules 2x/day for 5 days - 40 capsules in total. It stops the virus from replicating by inserting errors into its genetic code. I'll have to read more about that MOA. 

US Surpasses 1 in 500 Deaths due to Covid-19

"At a certain point, it was no longer a matter of if the United States would reach the gruesome milestone of 1 in 500 people dying of covid-19, but a matter of when. A year? Maybe 15 months? The answer: 19 months."

From the Washington Post today, what a gruesome fact about the country of my birth, the land of liberty. And this weekend, organisers of a rally in DC are protesting the punishment of the insurrectionists who led the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6. What has happened to America?  

So much sorrow

Early this week, our friends came over to see the garden and the new mowing machinery as they are thinking of getting something similar. That evening they received a message saying goodbye from their son. They learned later that he had jumped off a cliff. His body was recovered the next day by the subaqua police. They are gutted. His cremation service was yesterday. We did not go. 

Yesterday, I learned that a friend from my last job who I had stayed in touch with over the years had died of cancer aged 60. We are now at the age when we lose friends and family regularly. 

4.36 M have died of confirmed coronavirus infection but the real figure must be many times that. So many sad people have lost so much more. 

Bad news

Easter 2004 Mahwah NJ: Oksy, Walt, Mom and me
The last time we were all together.

On the 1st of August, my brother, Walt aka Dy, sent me an email:

'Letting you know that I am now entering final home hospice care for my cancer. This week turned to final stages.

Will transition from home to hospital hospice care as necessary

DO NOT plan on coming here

There will be cremation but no funeral services

Call Mira and Dorian' 

We've known it was coming as he's been undergoing chemo and radiation treatments for 3 years. He was diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer. Now that the chemo is no longer working, he will be gone in a few days. I got to speak with him but cannot see him. I haven't actually seen him in several years. He's an extreme introvert as is his wife, Mira, and son, Dorian, who lived with us for 6 months as a school work project. 

It's hardest on Dorian, who has been taking care of both of them for years now. Mira had back surgery and chronic TMJ pain. Dy has been in and out of the cancer ward for years. Dorian is so tired and distraught and I can't be there to hug or help. It sucks. He can't stand watching his father suffer even more than he has for so long. 

And now I just learned that my brother passed peacefully in his sleep during the night. RIP Walt, my brother. I hope Oksy is on your case. Now I am an only. 

The wry smile I remember so well. Vichnaya pamyat. August 14, 2021

Me, Oksy, Dy circa 1985

It's my birthday

It's my birthday and I'm not crying, but I never thought I'd be alive at 67. None of us who were around in the '70s thought we would be. Better to burn out than it is to rust. 

But I don't feel rusty. Sometimes, I get a little creaky. Inside I'm 35 and always will be. But today, my biggest regret is not being able to use my free rail pass because of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. At least I have both doses of the AZ vaccine in me, and I hope to get a mRNA booster later in the year. Then I will venture forth, not before. Until then, I will do a Dr Seuss...

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

- Dr. Seuss

What a long strange trip it's been. 

Science

Science was very much a part of my life and still is. I trained in Biology and Chemistry with minors in politics (of all things) and anthropology. I completed University in three years instead of the traditional 4 because I was in a hurry to get to work. 

My first job was as a research assistant at Rockefeller University in NYC. It had the highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners of any institution. I hated it. Backstabbing academia. Writing grant requests and grovelling for money. Sacrificing hundreds if not thousands of rats after stressing them to study how the brain works -- at a time when the movie Ben was released -- was stressful, to say the least. Nightmares, insomnia Sunday through Thursday every week.  I couldn't wait to leave, yet I was running the lab and had several assistants myself. 

Went from there to Roche Labs to work in a lab studying drug metabolism. Sacrificed many more rats and injected rabbits with antigen to manufacture antibodies to study as well. Couldn't work with the beagle dogs as they were testing carcinogens that cause breast cancer. I hated bench research. It was not at all as pure as I had envisioned. At Roche, we didn't have to write grant requests but we did have to justify our programs and publish or perish. I only stayed a year in that job before moving into the marketing area. 

So, I was stunned to come across a paper I'd written so long ago online. My name then was Daria Korzeniowski. As the junior member of the team, you got to write the first draft of the paper. Mine was published almost exactly as I had written it. Apparently, it is still thought of as a seminal work in the discovery of how p450 works. Well, I'll be! I suppose if I had stayed in science I might have achieved high ranks but I wouldn't have been President of companies nor an entrepreneur. 

Did it work out well?  You bet. I got to retire early and go sailing. What's wrong with that? 

Coronavirus stats

Funeral of Prince Philip

I have not paid much attention to global coronavirus stats lately, only local ones. For several weeks, we had no cases in Westport, while we now have had 7 cases in the last 14 days. Today I noticed a headline that caused me to pause. The world had surpassed 3 million dead from this infection with more than 141,000,000 confirmed cases. That is astounding. 

Tomorrow, I get to sign up for the vaccine. I will be getting the AstraZeneca version, an adenovirus vector surface protein vaccine. It's not the most effective and the clinical trials have been plagued by missteps, but it protects against severe infection and hospitalization, which counts for a lot. After vaccination, we won't be able to let down our guard, but at least we won't have to hold our breath anymore. Let's hope we don't suffer the rare blood clots associated with the disease, but this rare SE has been mostly associated with younger women. The risks of Covid far outweigh the risks of vaccination. When available, we'll get the Pfizer vaccine as a booster later on. 

Several weeks ago, Alex's mother had a stroke that left her right side impaired. She was released from hospital where no one was permitted to visit her on Thursday. Alex and Kirstin are caring for her until Monday when a trained nurse (though not licensed here yet) from the Philippines will take over. She will be living in for 5 of 7 days. We need to find someone for the remaining two. We also have a physio, an occupational therapist, a podiatrist, her doctor and a nurse visiting. Meike has one dose of vaccine in her thank goodness. None of the others are vaccinated which worries me. 

Today's Prince Philip the Duke of Edinborough was buried at Windsor. It was a remarkably simple but moving funeral. To see the Queen sitting alone in the pew was heartbreaking. Only the family could attend and they all had to sit in their family pods distanced from the others. 

What a cruel time this has been.