Category: Health

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News Round-Up: February 25, 2021

Some news items you might have missed: • Throwback Thursday: Thinking about days of dachshunds filling the house (above) . Not sad, just glad it happened.  • Instinct Magazine: Heavily armed police attempted to arrest a gay couple for kissing on a public beach in Tulum, Mexico, until a crowd gathered shouting down the officers’ actions. • Buzzfeed: Seventeen straight guys shared their same-sex hook-up encounters which ran the gamut from meh to hilarious. • Paramount Plus: The Real World Homecoming: New York, a multi-episode docu-series starring all seven of the original housemates from the classic MTV show, will debut on March 4. Running for 25 years on MTV before moving to Facebook Watch in 2019, the series helped launch the reality show genre. Word is the new series is being shot in that same NYC loft apartment.

• Axios: 41% of Republicans say they don’t plan to get a coronavirus vaccination if it’s available to them while 70% of Democrats and a plurality of independents (47%) say they do plan to get vaccinated. • The Hill: As the second impeachment trial failed to convict Donald Trump, two House Democrats plan to introduce legislation that would reform the Former Presidents Act of 1958 by stripping past presidents convicted of a felony of their $219,200 annual pension, office space and a budget to pay for staff. • The Advocate: Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL) put up a transgender Pride flag in a show of support for her daughter. Her congressional ‘neighbor,’ the hideous Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-GA) then trolled her with a sign reading “There are only two genders: male and female. Trust the science.” Oddly, Facebook removed Newman’s post calling her pro-trans remarks ‘hate speech.’

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Study Shows Pfizer Shot Prevents COVID Spread

Vials of vaccine

Vials of vaccine
(image via Depositphotos)
Some good news 🙂 Crunching the data in Israel (which has vaccinated more people per capita than any other country), it looks like the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doesn’t just prevent you from getting sick but also prevents you from passing the virus on to others. Via Bloomberg:

The vaccine, which was rolled out in a national immunization program that began Dec. 20, was 89.4% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed infections, according to a copy of a draft publication that was posted on Twitter and confirmed by a person familiar with the work.

The companies and Israel’s Health Ministry worked together on the preliminary observational analysis, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. Nearly half of the population has had at least one dose of vaccine. Separately, Israeli authorities on Saturday said the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was 99% effective at preventing deaths from the virus.

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Demi Lovato’s New Docu-Series ‘Dancing With The Devil’

Actress and pop star Demi Lovato
Actress and pop star Demi Lovato
Actress and pop star Demi Lovato (screen capture)

Actress and recording artist Demi Lovato premiered the trailer for her upcoming YouTube Originals documentary series, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, on Wednesday.

The four-part series takes a deep dive into not only the circumstances that led up to her nearly fatal drug overdose in 2018, but the effects it had on Lovato’s life after being hospitalized.

In a voiceover, Lovato explains she’s had “so much to say over the past two years wanting to set the record straight about what it was that happened.”

Friends and family taking part in the docu-series express their surprise that Lovato really wants to go there.

One friend exclaims, “I can’t believe y’all are doing this.”

Another: “Are we talking about heroin? Are we doing that?”

Elton John
Elton John in ‘Dancing with the Devil’

International pop-star Elton John, who knows a few things about fame and addiction, appears in the preview telling the audience, “When you’re young and you’re famous – my god it’s tough.”

In a candid disclosure, the 28-year-old reveals she had three strokes and a heart attack in the hospital.

“I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today,” she told reporters during a Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday. “I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots on my vision.”

“And I also for a long time had a really hard time reading,” she adds. “It was a big deal when I was able to read out of a book, which was like two months later because my vision was so blurry.”

Lovato, who came out as sexually fluid in 2018, shares that hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year “was the catalyst for my need and desire to express myself and my story to the fullest extent.” “I knew that one appearance on a television show wasn’t going to cut it, I was not going to be able to share my whole story in one interview whether it was with a magazine or whatever it is,” continued Lovato. “That’s why I wanted to turn it into a documentary.”

Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato in ‘Dancing with the Devil’ (screen capture)

Speaking to PEOPLE Magazine, the singer acknowledged that despite the difficult aftermath of the overdose being a painful journey, looking back today she “wouldn’t change a thing.”

“I get sad when I think of the pain that I had to endure to overcome what I have, but I don’t regret anything.”

“I’m so proud of the person I am today,” she added. “And I’m so proud that people get to see it in this documentary and I couldn’t be more grateful that I had someone by my side.”

The pop star has released two previous documentary films. Demi Lovato: Stay Strong in 2012 after her first stint in rehab, and Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated in 2017 which chronicled her struggles with bi-polar disorder and continuing addiction. Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil premieres March 23 on YouTube.

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COVID: Seven-Day Average Of New Cases Drops Below 90K

New York state is about to drop its face mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to drop in the Empire State.

A man wearing a face mask during the pandemic The seven-day average of new coronavirus cases has (finally) dropped below 90,000 for the first time since early November. From the Washington Post:

Newly reported coronavirus infections in the United States continued their steep drop, with about 56,000 new cases reported Monday, though the figure may be artificially low due to the holiday. However, the seven-day average, considered a more reliable measure, has dipped below 90,000 a day for the first time since early November.

Scientists have been split about the reasons for the drop, citing increased vaccinations, decreased testing, improved social distancing habits and the seasonal patterns of these kinds of viruses.

Meanwhile, cases of the more contagious variant first identified in Britain are rising: Only 293 cases were reported in late January.By Feb. 4, there were 611, and the number now is 1,168.

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Polls: 40 Point Gap Between Those Who Will Or Won’t Get Vaccinated

The FDA has approved updated versions of COVID-19 vaccines

At this point, the most powerful weapons in science’s arsenal to contain the COVID-19 pandemic are the vaccines approved to combat the virus. But will Americans take it when it becomes available to them? From CNN:

In an average of Axios/Ipsos polls taken in January and February, 74% of Democrats said they’d either been vaccinated, or were extremely or very likely to get vaccinated as soon it’s available to them. Just 51% of Republicans said the same thing. Independents were in the middle of these two groups at 61%.

When Gallup asked respondents whether they would agree to get vaccinated if the vaccine were available to them right now, the partisan gap stood at 40 points (91% for Democrats and 51% for Republicans) in their most recent poll.

CNN goes on to report that those partisan differences could be dangerous for Republicans since friendships have become filtered by political leanings more than ever. A 2020 Pew Research Center poll showed 59 percent of Trump supporters said a lot of their close friends voted for Trump, 30 percent said some of their close friends did, and only 10 percent of Trump backers said few or none did. If Democrats get vaccinated but Republicans choose not to, it could lead to breakouts in those communities that lean conservative. Read the full report here. At this writing, there have been 27,428,733 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and 475,786 COVID-19 related deaths. There are currently 67,023 people hospitalized due to the virus. In related news, Politico reports that doctors, nurses, and public health groups are trying to build confidence in Covid-19 vaccines on social media using coordinated campaigns to combat anti-vaccination disinformation.

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Nevada Eases COVID Restrictions (Slightly) As New Cases Decline

Step by step, inch by inch… Nevada’s Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced slightly loosened restrictions in the Silver State (my state) regarding coronavirus guidelines as confirmed cases have slowly trended downward. In November, the governor ordered a “statewide pause” as COVID-19 statistics were climbing dramatically. At their peak, the test positivity rate in the state was 21.6 percent and the state reported 3,402 new confirmed cases in a single day. On Thursday, health officials reported the test positivity rate had declined to a 14.3 percent and 529 new confirmed cases for the day. Beginning Monday, February 15: • Capacity caps on bars and restaurants increase from 25% to 35% for indoor dining and lifting all capacity limits for outdoor dining. • Churches, mosques, casino floors and gyms will be able to accept up to 35% of fire code capacity, with the exception of locker rooms, which will be allowed to accommodate 50% of fire code capacity. • Libraries, museums and art galleries may accept up to 50% capacity. • The current 10-person cap on private gatherings for outdoor gatherings specifically, may increase to 25 people or less. • The cap for public events (concerts, shows, entertainment) currently at 50 people or 25% of venue capacity may increase to 100 people or 35% of venue capacity, whichever is less. Strip clubs, karaoke bars and brothels will remain closed at least until May 1, when the state gives some control to local authorities. On March 15, the businesses under 35% capacity will be allowed to return to 50% capacity; limits on public events will be loosened to 50% of venue capacity or 250 people; and recreational sports will be allowed to resume.

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US Purchases Additional 200 Million Vaccine Doses

President Biden told reporters on Thursday the federal government has now purchased an additional 200 million doses of vaccine to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Biden said the U.S. is on track to have enough supply of the vaccine for 300 million Americans by the end of July which works out to approximately 600 million doses. “We need more people to get vaccinated to beat this pandemic,” Biden said Thursday. “We’ve now purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans, and now we’re working to get those vaccines into the arms of people.”

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Fauci: Vaccines Should Be Available To All By April

Vials of vaccine

Vials of vaccine
(image via Depositphotos)
Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s highest-ranking infectious-disease expert, told viewers of NBC’s The Today Show that he believes the availability of coronavirus vaccines should reach what he referred to as ‘open season’ by April. “By the time we get to April, that will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season,’ namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated,” said Fauci. This past Sunday, Fauci told NBC’s Meet The Press that he felt “things are going to get better as we get from February into March, into April, because the number of vaccine doses that will be available will increase substantially.”

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Study: HIV+ More Likely To Be Hospitalized Due To COVID

(image via Depositphotos)
While not a big surprise, it appears folks living with HIV fare worse against COVID-19 than those without HIV. The Journal of the American Medical Association published research this week showing a connection between people living with HIV and increased hospitalization and death rates among New York State residents. The study found those already living with HIV experienced poorer COVID-related outcomes relative to persons living without diagnosed HIV. A previous HIV diagnosis was associated with higher rates of severe disease requiring hospitalization, and hospitalization risk increased with progression of HIV disease stage. A total of 2988 persons living with diagnosed HIV received a diagnosis of COVID-19. Of these persons living with diagnosed HIV, 896 were hospitalized and 207 died in the hospital through June 15, 2020. After standardization, persons living with diagnosed HIV and persons living without diagnosed HIV had similar diagnosis rates, but persons living with diagnosed HIV were hospitalized more than persons living without diagnosed HIV.

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Tony Bennett’s Family Shares Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett (image via Depositphotos)
Legendary recording artist Tony Bennett has re-teamed with Lady Gaga for a second album of standards as a follow-up to the massive 2014 hit album, Cheek to Cheek. The album, recorded between 2018 and early 2020, is set for a spring release. In announcing the upcoming release, however, Bennett’s family has also shared a secret: that Bennett, now 94, was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease four years ago. From AARP:

Tony Bennett has Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia. Alzheimer’s is characterized by a progressive memory loss that robs its sufferers of many of the gifts that we all take for granted — speech, understanding, treasured memories, recognition of loved ones — and leaves them utterly dependent on caregivers.

Bennett, first diagnosed in 2016, has so far been spared the disorientation that can prompt patients to wander from home, as well as the episodes of terror, rage or depression that can accompany Alzheimer’s frightening detachment from reality; and, indeed, he might never develop these symptoms. But there was little doubt that the disease had progressed.

Early in the article, writer John Colapinto shares this brief moment from the recording sessions with Bennett and Lady Gaga:

The pain and sadness in Gaga’s face is clear at such moments — but never more so than in an extraordinarily moving sequence in which Tony (a man she calls “an incredible mentor, and friend, and father figure”) sings a solo passage of a love song. Gaga looks on, from behind her mic, her smile breaking into a quiver, her eyes brimming, before she puts her hands over her face and sobs.

AARP adds this ‘disclaimer’ in the article:

Eager for as many ears as possible to hear and enjoy what may very well be the last Tony Bennett record, they have jointly decided to break the silence around his condition, a decision they have, necessarily, had to make without Tony’s input, since he is, Susan said, incapable of understanding the disease, let alone making momentous decisions about whether to publicly disclose it.

Gayatri Devi, M.D., who diagnosed Bennett, said the singer has some “cognitive issues, but multiple other areas of his brain are still resilient and functioning well.” Read the full article at AARP.