Elon Musk is leaving Washington. In a post on X last night, he confirmed for the first time what has become increasingly clear for weeks — that his work with the Trump administration and DOGE is coming to an end. He thanked Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”
One more matter dealing with politics. The New York Times this morning also showed the following graphic, which is startling:
- SARS-CoV-2 has mutated again, now into a variant called NB.1.8.1. It is part of the Omicron family, which means that current vaccines and immunity from recent infections should provide some protection against serious symptoms.
- Symptoms are similar to other COVID-19 strains. There seems to be potential, however, for the NB.1.8.1 spreading more easily among people.
- This virus has caused a jump in infections in China, and a few cases have recently appeared in the U.S.
- The first known appearance was late in March, seen in travelers from China, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
- NB.1.8.1 is now the dominant strain in China, where cities have seen spikes in emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
- Cases are being reported in California, Hawaii, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.
- Every year since 2020, COVID cases have peaked in the U.S. between June and August. Last summer, the FLiRT variants drove a late summer surge.
- Variant LP8.1 currently accounts for more than 70% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
- In May 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expert vaccine committee indicated that the fall/winter vaccine will continue to be the JN.1 vaccine, and did not specify whether the updated shot should even target LP8.1. Part of the logic is that all three variants are from the Omicron family and are related.
- Variant LP8.1 also leads in the world.
- How best to protect yourself? The JN.1 vaccine should be mostly protective.
- However, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy recently announced that the CDC will no longer recommend this vaccination for healthy children and pregnant women, and previously, the FDA indicated that vaccination of healthy adults will not be recommended until vaccine makers conduct additional studies to prove its safety and effectiveness. This means that insurers may no longer cover the cost of that shot.
- We now have an anti-vaccine-minded administration. Unless attitudes change, you will need to pay for any COVID vaccinations for the next cycle.
Finally, Worldometer still reports on COVID-19 cases for those countries that participate.
- Last week, number of cases: World 45,737, #1 Russia 19,954, #2 USA 15,599 and #3 Australia 4,992.
- Deaths in the past week: World 363, #1 USA 173, #2 Russia 69 and #3 Germany 54.
- Cases in the past week per million population: #1 Australia 191, #2 Russia 137, #3 Hong Kong 92 and #6 USA 47.
- Mortality rate 0.8%.
- Only 33 countries reported.
China did not. However, I found a source that said between March 31 and May 4, the number of positives rose from 7.5% to 16.2%. According to the U.S. CDC, in April, China had 168,507 cases. Remember, during the past week, those 33 reporting countries reported 45,737 cases. Two days ago the New York Post said:
Highly infectious new COVID strain from China that led to massive spike in hospitalizations has spread to the US — including NYC
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