Cont: The One Covid-19 Science and Medicine Thread Part 5

[dann]

I am aware of the difference.
(If only we could deter viruses, that would be something. )

 

[marting]

There is obviously no reason to get one's hopes up, but I don't think this is true: "ultrasound doesn't propagate through air."

I don't think it's a coincidence that it causes almost the exact same symptoms as found in 'Havana syndrome' ... and MPI.

Those sources are much lower freqs than diagnostic ultrasound. At 5 Mhz sound attenuation in air is about 40 dB/cm so attenuation in air is extremely rapid. See the table on page 80 in NASA's "Atmospheric absorption of high frequency noise and application to fractional-octave bands" by Shields and Bass. Extrapolated from 100KHz ie: 1.7db/m * (5000/100)^2

 

[Planigale]

Tha

Those sources are much lower freqs than diagnostic ultrasound. At 5 Mhz sound attenuation in air is about 40 dB/cm so attenuation in air is extremely rapid. See the table on page 80 in NASA's "Atmospheric absorption of high frequency noise and application to fractional-octave bands" by Shields and Bass. Extrapolated from 100KHz ie: 1.7db/m * (5000/100)^2

Thanks for the reference. My knowledge is practical from doing ultrasounds. it is nice to have the actual figures.

 

[dann]

Myocarditis rates surged during COVID and stayed high, study suggests (CIDRAP, May 21, 2026)
Before the pandemic, myocarditis hospitalizations were relatively stable, with annual case counts ranging from 67 to 71 between 2017 and 2019. During the pandemic, hospitalizations climbed sharply, reaching 103 cases in 2020, 128 in 2021, and 139 in 2022, for an increase of roughly 80% above baseline. Population-level analyses have shown that COVID infection was tied to a roughly 16-fold increased risk of myocarditis, note the authors.
(...)
While myocarditis associated with mRNA vaccination has been documented, cases are rare, the authors note, and most occurred among young males. Post-pandemic myocarditis patients identified in this study were generally older and had multiple chronic conditions.

Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines 70% to 76% effective against severe illness in kids in 2022, data suggest (CIDRAP, May 19, 2026)
The adjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) against moderate to severe COVID-19 infection in Taiwanese children aged 6 to 11 years was 69.9% for the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine and 75.5% for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine during Omicron BA.2/BA.5 predominance in 2022, researchers from Chang Gung University estimated late last week in Biomedical Journal.
The adjusted VE against infection of any severity was 58.8% for BNT162b2 and 73.9% for mRNA-1273. Both vaccines maintained high protection in children with underlying medical conditions and reduced visits to the emergency department (ED).

(Did Elmo do away with emojis of minority kids on X?)

Minority children have higher odds of severe post-COVID complications, study suggests (CIDRAP, May 22, 2026)
Compared with White children, Black children had nearly double the odds of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (odds ratio [OR], 1.89) and were more than twice as likely to develop MIS-C (OR, 2.37). Black children also had markedly higher odds of developing PIMS-TS, a rare and potentially life-threatening hyperinflammatory condition (OR, 16.28).
While Hispanic children appeared somewhat less likely to develop severe MIS-C, their overall MIS-C incidence remained higher than that of White children (OR, 2.70). The findings also showed elevated risks of MIS-C death among Asian/Pacific Islander (OR, 6.79) and American Indian/Alaska Native children (OR, 4.07), although these figures had wide confidence intervals, indicating imprecision.

 

[dann]

Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines 70% to 76% effective against severe illness in kids in 2022, data suggest (CIDRAP, May 19, 2026)

Jonathan Howard on bsky, May 25, 2026
And let’s not forget the other side of this equation, the vaccine worked to keep kids safe and out of the hospital. Many more kids suffered because they didn’t get than because they did. Our ex FDA leaders devoted their entire pandemic effort to making sure unvaccinated kids got COVID.

Elizabeth Jacobs on bsky, May 23, 2026
In normal times, the fact that government officials at HHS blatantly lied to the public and got caught would be a scandal of unusual size.
Everyone involved in this disinformation scheme against the people of the United States should be held accountable.
No child deaths definitively linked to Covid shots, FDA says (NBC News, May 22, 2026)
The agency’s analysis contradicts claims made by former vaccine chief Dr. Vinay Prasad.

 

[dann]

CIDRAP Op-Ed:

Manufacturing a scandal: What the FDA’s COVID vaccine pediatric death review actually says (CIDRAP, May 27, 2026)
On the Friday after Thanksgiving 2025, Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, who was then the director of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA’s) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) sent a memo to staff. "For the first time," Prasad wrote, "the US FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children."
(...)
The underlying analysis has now been revealed. It is a 73-page consensus review conducted by the career scientists in CBER's Office of Biostatistics and Pharmacovigilance (OBPV), the office responsible for post-market vaccine safety surveillance. It is dated December 5, 2025. It was released last week, attached as an exhibit to a letter Sen Ron Johnson (R-Wisc) sent to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The report does not support what the Prasad memo said.
(...)

No deaths definitively tied to COVID vaccines​

(...)
Of 96 deaths, they classified zero as certain. Two as probable. Five as possible. Sixty-two as unlikely. Twenty-seven as unassessable.

Jonathan Howard on bsky, May 27, 2026
Already seeing benefits to the departures of Makary/Prasad/Hoeg.
FDA assembles vaccine experts to update COVID-19 formulation (BioSpace, May 27, 2026)

 

[dann]

Eric Topol on bsky, May 27, 2026
The incidence and prevalence of #LongCovid worse than anticipated in the US, with 1 of 6 persons affected, and of these 89% had at least 1 chronic condition requiring management. From 58 hospitals, 4 regions, 457,950 patients. Prevalence increased thru mid 2024.
Long COVID Persistence and Surveillance Gaps Across 58 US Hospitals (JAMA Network, May 27, 2026)

From the article:

Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study, approximately 1 in 6 patients with COVID-19 developed PASC, and 89.31% of these patients had at least 1 chronic condition. Current diagnostic coding captured fewer than one-half of the cases, obscuring a substantial chronic disease burden. The persistently increasing prevalence through 2024 indicated an accumulating health care burden requiring investment in surveillance infrastructure and integrated care pathways.

 

[dann]

In spite of the turmoil at the FDA, there will be new C19 vaccines this year, apparently:

Denis – The COVID Info Guy on bsky, May 29, 2026
USA: "FDA Panel Backs New COVID Vaccines Aimed at Dominant Strain."
"The FDA's vaccine advisors voted 8 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of a monovalent XFG vaccine for COVID-19 shots for the 2026-2027 season."
Source: archive.md/wTWaw

FDA vaccine advisers recommend updating COVID shots (Axios, May 28, 2026)
Food and Drug Administration advisers on Thursday recommended updating next season's COVID vaccines to target the dominant XFG variant, despite concerns about a shortage of surveillance data on evolving strains.The big picture: The daylong meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee stood out for its measured tone after more than a year of dramatic changes to federal vaccine policy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I think we all know why there's "a shortage of surveillance data on evolving strains," but the FDA is working hard to find a way to blame it on somebody else.

 

[dann]

COVID cut life expectancy by 4 to 5 years​

Another nail in the coffin of the toe-tag narrative:

Plague Poems on bsky, May 28, 2026
When you hear
a recent study has found
“Many older adults
who died of COVID
weren’t close to death
before infection,”
it is important to understand
that while these people
“died of COVID”
it would also be true
to say that these people
were sacrificed by their societies.

 

[dann]

Diabetes

Good Morning Britain on X, May 28, 2026
The number of women under 40 developing Type 2 diabetes has risen by almost 50% over the past 6 years, with experts saying the surge could be down to a lack of follow-up care for those who develop the condition during pregnancy.
Gestational Diabetes happens when women are unable to produce enough insulin while pregnant.

With a video, 2:08 min.

Lara - Covid is Airborne on X, May 89, 2026
Might want to look at this before you start blaming food, screens or whatever else you can find.

Vipin M. Vahishtha on X, May 28, 2026
A new study found that some people develop insulin resistance after COVID-19 even without prior diabetes or metabolic disease.
Researchers showed that this post-COVID metabolic dysfunction can alter neutrophil behavior and increase NETosis — the release of inflammatory

The Vertlartnic on bsky, May 28, 2026
Did Something Happen In The Last Six Years That Could Have Caused A Decline And Loss Of Energy Everywhere? Anything? Anything At All? No. We Couldn’t Think Of Anything Either. Lockdowns, I guess.
https://bsky.app/#

ALT

 

[dann]

Long COVID may affect 1 in 6 infected patients (CIDRAP, June 1, 2026)
Long COVID may be affecting far more Americans than current estimates suggest, with a study published last week in JAMA Network Open estimating that roughly one in six people infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop the condition, and nearly 90% go on to experience chronic health problems.
(...)

15 million Americans may have long COVID​

The team identified 74,560 long-COVID patients, representing 16.3% of COVID patients in the study. The estimate, which translates to roughly 15 million Americans, is far higher than the rate captured by current code-based surveillance systems. Prevalence ranged from 13.6% in Western Pennsylvania to 22.7% in Southern California.

 

[dann]

Dr Elisa Perego on bsky, June 2, 2026
"Many patients with long COVID are already receiving care but are not being recognized as having the condition. These patients are not absent from clinical care; they are absent from the diagnostic code that would identify them as long COVID patients"

Long COVID may affect 1 in 6 infected patients

www.cidrap.umn.edu

Dr Elisa Perego on bsky, June 2, 2026
"The cardiologist seeing new dysautonomia, the endocrinologist seeing new metabolic disease, the neurologist seeing unexplained cognitive complaints—some of these presentations are long COVID arriving without the label that would connect them to a COVID-19 infection."

The Vertlartnic on X, June 1, 2026
Long Covid Estimate Revised Up After Researchers Include People With Long Covid

 

[zooterkin]

Covid levels at lowest since 2020.

Let's celebrate the lowest Covid levels recorded since the pandemic started

There is hardly any Covid in the community, hardly anyone is being hospitalised with Covid and thankfully it is contributing to very few deaths. This is a good thing.

christinapagel.substack.com

 

[Andy_Ross]

Senator Ron Johnson
@SenRonJohnson
Rasmussen Reports found that 24% of Americans believe they know someone who died from a COVID injection.

The FDA was aware of these deaths and adverse events, yet they covered them up and continued to recommend COVID shots.

Why won't the legacy media cover this major scandal?Video in link

 

[zooterkin]

Senator Ron Johnson
@SenRonJohnson
Rasmussen Reports found that 24% of Americans believe they know someone who died from a COVID injection.

The FDA was aware of these deaths and adverse events, yet they covered them up and continued to recommend COVID shots.

Why won't the legacy media cover this major scandal?Video in link

I wonder how many of them know someone who died of COVID?


(I don't know anyone who died from the vaccinations. My son had a possible bad reaction causing pericarditis, but that could also have been caused by a viral infection. Someone I know did die from COVID (they were immunocompromised, having had a heart and lung transplant in the past), and I know of other people who died from it that I knew secondhand.)

 

[novaphile]

I'm very pleased to report that I don't know anyone who died of either.

My best guess is that this is a combination of two factors...

1. Australia behaved appropriately when the virus arrived, and used quarantine measures to limit the spread.
(Rather than running around like brain-infected plague chickens, screaming: "My FREEDUMBS!!!"

2. Within my social circle, there was no one dumb enough to be an antivaxxer.

(There's a couple in this neighbourhood, but point 1. probably protected them.)

 

[dann]

Covid levels at lowest since 2020.

Let's celebrate the lowest Covid levels recorded since the pandemic started

There is hardly any Covid in the community, hardly anyone is being hospitalised with Covid and thankfully it is contributing to very few deaths. This is a good thing.

christinapagel.substack.com

In , too:

The lowest level of wastewater measures of SARS-CoV-2 since they began:
National spildevandsovervågning af SARS-CoV-2 (SSI.dk, June 10, 2026)
Also the lowest number of C19 hospitalizations and deaths.
As for the latter, in 2026, so far (June 9):
Jan: 63
Feb: 37
Mar: 17
April: 5
May: 2
June: 1

 

[dann]

Senator Ron Johnson
@SenRonJohnson
Rasmussen Reports found that 24% of Americans believe they know someone who died from a COVID injection.
The FDA was aware of these deaths and adverse events, yet they covered them up and continued to recommend COVID shots.

Why won't the legacy media cover this major scandal?Video in link

That X thread is full of anti-vaxxer anecdotes!

 

[dann]

New study shows metformin given during acute COVID-19 infection reduced risk of clinician-diagnosed long COVID by 50% (MedicalXpress, June 11, 2026)
At six months, participants who received metformin experienced a 50% relative reduction in the risk of clinician-diagnosed long COVID compared with those receiving placebo, indicating that metformin cut the risk of a medical diagnosis of long COVID by approximately half.
Among participants followed for 180 days, clinician-diagnosed long COVID occurred in 0.56% of those receiving metformin compared with 1.17% of those receiving placebo.

What makes it even better: This drug is dirt cheap!
In , it's a prescription drug.

 

[dann]

The call came from within the House! The White House!!!

Wendy Orent on bsky, June 13, 2026
@joho.bsky.social GBD was boosted by then White House. That I did not know.

Jonathan Howard on bsky, June 13, 2026
Even before it was officially written Trump had met with the GBD authors was pushing their talking points.
This is how they were silenced and censored.

For those of you who don't follow Jonathan Howard: It's sarcasm when he says that "they were silenced and censored."

Mallory Harris on bsky, June 12, 2026
In new video, Atlas retells how, from within the White House, he orchestrated the meeting that became the Great Barrington Declaration with allies Kulldorff & Bhattacharya (+ a libertarian thinktank) to manufacture support for Trump's unpopular & unscientific preferred approach to the Covid pandemic

With a video, 2:04 min.

Mallory Harris on bsky, June 12, 2026
It was confirmed years ago that the GBD was part of a political propaganda campaign boosted by the White House & right wing think tanks (who keep gold in a cage in the basement??) but some people still want to believe these guys were unfairly silenced renegades

Mallory Harris on bsky, June 12, 2025
Jay Bhattacharya is NIH Director. Martin Kulldorff is on ACIP.
They co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a document orchestrated w help from the White House 1 month before the election to lend legitimacy to the admin's preferred approach to Covid.
www.importantcontext.news/p/everything...

Mallory Harris on bsky, June 12, 2026
During the pandemic, Bhattacharya & Kulldorff provided pseudoscientific arguments for the White House to point to as they ignored input from their actual scientific advisors. I'm sure it has no bearing on their work now as NIH Director/CDC "Director" & Chief Science Officer within HHS respectively!

Jonathan Howard on bsky, June 12, 2026
I was interviewed for this too, but the @wsj.com propaganda filmmakers censored me when they realized what I had to say was inconvenient for their agenda.

More posts in the bsky thread.