Building on the success of mRNA vaccines for covid, scientists hope to create mRNA-based vaccines against influenza, Zika, rabies, HIV, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which hospitalizes 3 million children under age 5 each year worldwide. Researchers see promise in mRNA to treat cancer, cystic fibrosis, and rare, inherited metabolic disorders, although potential therapies are still many years away.
Coronavirus / Covid-19
DeSantis and Florida Republicans Discover Their Inner Soviet
It’s been a grim few weeks. Democracy, human rights and free speech are under assault as they’ve not been in generations. Misinformation and fabrications are carpet-bombing reality. Thought policing is muzzling expression and rewriting history as a worship-jerk. Individual freedom is in retreat. Authoritarianism–bullying, vengeful, exultant–is triumphant.
On 2nd Anniversary of Pandemic, Flagler Health Department ‘Winds Down’ Covid Operations in Dearth of Cases
Flagler County recorded just 36 confirmed cases of covid in the week ending today, the lowest weekly total since June 18. Just three patients were at AdventHealth Palm Coast on a primary diagnosis of covid. But the county’s total number of deaths attributed to covid rose by 20 in the last two weeks, to 331.
‘Trust Me, I’m a Politician’: Dr. Ladapo’s Irresponsible Recommendation Against Vaccinating Young Floridians
Dr. Stephen Playe, a retired ER physician living in the Hammock, questions the motives behind Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s announcement that he would recommend against administering the Covid vaccine to young, healthy children .
DeSantis Heckles Students to Take Off Face Masks and Derides ‘Covid Theater’
While Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted a law called the Parents’ Bill of Rights, he didn’t take into consideration Wednesday that he could be imposing on parent rights when he aggressively told masked students they they didn’t have to wear them.
Signal Shift: Flagler Health Department Ends Covid Testing As Cases Fade; Deaths Increase by 15 in 2 Weeks
The end of operations at the airport–or at the department itself–signal the Health Department’s shift back to what it is calling “normal,” pre-pandemic operations, exactly two years after mobilizing for the first covid surge.
Senate Confirms Vaccine-Snubbing Ladapo as Surgeon General in Partisan Divide
A 24-15 party-line vote displayed the fissure between the parties on DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic, which in the past year has mostly concentrated on treating people who have tested positive for Covid-19 rather than boosting vaccinations. Ladapo has often echoed DeSantis’ positions since the September appointment.
Life After the Covid Pandemic
There will not be a single moment when social life suddenly goes back to normal. Instead, gradually, over time, most people will view Covid-19 as a background risk and abandon the trappings of pandemic caution. There are major caveats to when the pandemic will wane, and trust in public health agencies has declined significantly.
‘Normal Life’ Likely a Month Away in Flagler as Omicron Surge and Covid Risks Recede
Flagler Health Department Medical Director Dr. Stephen Bickel expects a measure of normalcy to return to Flagler County in about a month as the covid pandemic’s latest surge tapers off. Hospitalizations have persisted even as new cases have fallen off, but hospitalizations always lag new cases by a few weeks.
Except in Schools, Omicron Wave Crests in Flagler and Florida as Officials See End to Emergency
An end to the pandemic has been predicted before, especially after vaccines began rolling out, only for delta to obliterated those premature hopes. But several factors are converging in an indication that this time the crisis stage may well be on the wane, to be replaced by more routine infectious-disease management strategies.