1. The origin remains a mystery though it is very unusual what China has done to prevent access to understand the origin. If the UK or France were acting this way it would certainly signal something nefarious. Since China has been nefarious since 1949 this is hard to decipher. They are communist and everything therefore must be political including disease and its impact on the world. File this in the JFK we will never know for sure file, but it certainly could have leaked from a lab. Without qestion their actions in December 2019 and January 2020 prevented any chance humanity had at containment. With what is occurring now in China, with an Omicron looming as they struggle to contain the Delta outbreak, this disease and their response to it might, and I mean might because they are extremely skilled at repressing dissent, might tip things over there. It would be painful for the world if the Chinese throw off the despots in the short run but is something we need to cheer and support regardless.
2. The vaccines have been game changers and are extremely safe. It is so sad how this has become so controversial. This is the most disappointing thing about the pandemic. COVID was never the original SARS killing 10% of anyone infected and mostly young, but it is terrible and looks to kill one million Americans soon. The rejection of one of medicine's best tools by so many is shocking and so sad. I have treated COVID-19 patients in their 40s with massive strokes that leave them disabled for life. I have had several with COVID-19 spinal cord disease resulting in paralysis. I at one time this fall in the Delta wave, was seeing maybe 4-5 of my inpatient consultations daily due to neurologic complications of COVID-19. That is a peripheral issue, what it primarily does is destroy the lungs. It can happen to anyone. It is so sad how the vaccines were disparaged by so many, it is the most disappointing thing I have seen in my career and possibly life. The only vacinated patients I have had to treat with severe COVID were on drugs that suppress the immune system, and thus they were unable to mount an appropriate vaccine response. ( I have had some patients who were vaccinated but not boosted that required oxygen in the last couple of months which technically make them severe, this is a correction of the above statement).
3. Despite vaccines and antivirals that have been developed at a record clip, this is still killing 2000 Americans a day which is more a result of human behavior (not getting vaccinated) than it is Omicron or the lingering Delta. There are some vaccinated/boosted people that read this that might well die of Omicron, but it will happen quickly and be very uncommon in the absence of immune system problems. This wave should pass quickly, likely by the end of the month.
4. I would be a fool to say COVID-19 is over by mid February as a pandemic, but that is what I think.
2. The vaccines have been game changers and are extremely safe. It is so sad how this has become so controversial. This is the most disappointing thing about the pandemic. COVID was never the original SARS killing 10% of anyone infected and mostly young, but it is terrible and looks to kill one million Americans soon. The rejection of one of medicine's best tools by so many is shocking and so sad. I have treated COVID-19 patients in their 40s with massive strokes that leave them disabled for life. I have had several with COVID-19 spinal cord disease resulting in paralysis. I at one time this fall in the Delta wave, was seeing maybe 4-5 of my inpatient consultations daily due to neurologic complications of COVID-19. That is a peripheral issue, what it primarily does is destroy the lungs. It can happen to anyone. It is so sad how the vaccines were disparaged by so many, it is the most disappointing thing I have seen in my career and possibly life. The only vacinated patients I have had to treat with severe COVID were on drugs that suppress the immune system, and thus they were unable to mount an appropriate vaccine response. ( I have had some patients who were vaccinated but not boosted that required oxygen in the last couple of months which technically make them severe, this is a correction of the above statement).
3. Despite vaccines and antivirals that have been developed at a record clip, this is still killing 2000 Americans a day which is more a result of human behavior (not getting vaccinated) than it is Omicron or the lingering Delta. There are some vaccinated/boosted people that read this that might well die of Omicron, but it will happen quickly and be very uncommon in the absence of immune system problems. This wave should pass quickly, likely by the end of the month.
4. I would be a fool to say COVID-19 is over by mid February as a pandemic, but that is what I think.
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