Wastewater disconnect from hospitalization? On Feb 14, wastewater analysis showed very high levels of infection in Minnesota, but there was limited impact on hospitalization for COVID-19. The hospitalization had been falling since December 28. Feb 15 showed 2.1 hospitalizations per 100K per week.

Mike Hoerger, PhD, MSCR, MBA@michael-hoerger.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Breaking: The CDC reports SARS-CoV-2 levels *quadrupled* in Minnesota in the past week. Using harmonized wastewater estimates, we project 1 in 12 people in Minnesota are actively infectious. This is equivalent to a 59% chance of exposure in a room of 10 people....

Mountain climber with LC "I want to share everything I can with others about my story. If there were a fairy that said "30/100 of the M&Ms in that bag are shit pebbles" I wouldn't have even stuck my hand in the bag. I'm the fairy. Avoid COVID. "

loscharlos @loscharlos.bsky.social · 5mo ago

“I would have masked forever if I'd known it was to take away my favorite favorite all time love in life. It is down played so much and the numbers are suggesting ~30% of people get #LongCovid and that's just the ones who made the connection.” www.reddit.com/r/climbergir...

When it comes to vaccines, the words "safe", "immunity" and "prevent" have caused incredible confusion and sparked endless debates. @kmpanthagani.bsky.social 's recent article does a great job explaining how misunderstandings arise. Recommended! www.youcanknowthings.com/when-work-do...

When “work” doesn’t work

I recently gave a talk on vaccine communication, and the most common feedback I got was appreciation for the section on words that confuse people. I’ve written before how a lot of “misinformation” ca...

youcanknowthings.com

RFK uses many of the same rhetorical tricks over and over again. It’s tempting to play whack-a-mole with every rumor, but research shows a better (and less exhausting) method: “prebunking” — or teaching people to recognize the patterns used to sell falsehoods. Today's post does just that 👇🏽

Australia: "Most flu deaths this century were recorded in 2025, ABS finds" Last Year (2025): 🔹COVID-19: ~2,161 deaths 🔹Influenza: ~1,701 deaths 🔹RSV: ~582 deaths

Most flu deaths this century were recorded in 2025, ABS finds

There were more deaths associated with influenza last year than any other year this century, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics.

abc.net.au

Surprisingly comprehensive article on recent research in Nordic countries showing health impacts of COVID-19 on cognitive problems, health care utilization, and rates of depression. www.sciencenorway.no/covid19-long...

Researchers: Not testing for Covid-19 is creating problems

People have become sicker after the pandemic, but without Covid-19 testing it's difficult to understand why.

sciencenorway.no

www.cidara.com Cidara Therapeutics is currently in a Phase 3 trial of a long-acting anti-viral against all strains of influenza. In earlier human testing (n=5,000), the preventive medication was 76% effective with a single 450 mg sub-cutaneous dose.

Eric Topol@erictopol.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Prospects for a universal flu vaccine are picking up, from a San Diego start-up. Would have helped reduce the toll of the current very bad flu season, >7.5 million Americans hit www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/12/31/h...

GOOD NEWS! Researchers have shown Alzheimer’s disease can be REVERSED- not just prevented. Using a potent neuroprotective compound called P7C3-A20, they found RESTORING balance to a central cellular energy molecule (NAD+) not only PREVENTED disease features but REVERSED them, EVEN at late stages.

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi... What do you do if someone offers you $1 million dollars to debate vaccine safety?

Debating Science: No Thanks

Anti-vaccine activists RFK Jr., Aaron Siri, and Steve Kirsch have asked that I debate them on vaccine safety. One of them offered me $1 million to do it. Here’s why I declined.

open.substack.com

There is a new HHS web page about Lyme. www.hhs.gov/lyme/index.h...

betsy ladyzhets 😷@betsyladyzhets.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This afternoon, RFK Jr. is hosting a roundtable event about Lyme disease, featuring patients and health providers. HHS says the event will include an announcement of "new diagnostic efforts." @thesicktimes.org is watching, and will likely have a short write-up of the highlights later today.

Is COVID "mild"? In a study of 9,000 people who had COVID in 2024, COVID was so "mild" that 24-26% of people had at least one symptom lasting 84 days (fatigue, shortness of breath/respiratory distress, cough, or smell/taste disorder) that they don't have prior. www.shionogi.com/global/en/ne...

Shionogi press release: An observational study found a reduction in incidence of post-COVID condition (PCC) in those who took anti-virals (26% versus 24%). PCC defined as persistence of any of 5 specified symptoms on both days 28 & 84. www.shionogi.com/global/en/ne...

A nice summary article on remission/cures of autoimmune disease in these initial small trials. It seems like various ways of depleting B cells are all working. The article mentions teclistamab, which I was not familiar with. www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology...

Myeloma Drug Performs Well in Autoimmune Diseases

Safety could be problematic, however

medpagetoday.com

Billy Hanlon@bhanlon15.bsky.social · 9mo ago

PBS: 'Scientists explore new frontier in autoimmune disease treatment by resetting ‘rogue’ cells' '“What the heck is wrong with my body?” Mileydy Gonzalez, 35, of New York remembers crying, frustrated that nothing was helping her daily lupus pain.' www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

This seems like a significant breakthrough in understanding lupus pathogenesis. It connects EBV infection to the disease. Stanford has licensed the technology to a startup, EBVio Inc, founded by the scientists. med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...

Stanford Medicine scientists tie lupus to a virus nearly all of us carry

The Epstein-Barr virus can convert B cells it’s infected into diabolical overlords that reprogram myriad other immune cells to attack our tissues, Stanford Medicine scientists have found.

med.stanford.edu

Our randomized, placebo-controlled trial of tirzepatide (Zepbound) for #LongCovid has already enrolled 500 participants of 1000 planned in less than 2 weeks! longcovid.scripps.edu/locitt-t/

October 27, 2027 -- FlowFlex introduced first US-approved RSV+Flu+COVID home test. Product is made in their new San Diego, CA facility. Press release: www.aconlabs.com/acon-laborat... @danielgriffinmdphd.bsky.social

Healio: 'Antivirals reduce long COVID incidence at 90 days in patients with rheumatic diseases' www.healio.com/news/rheumat...

Antivirals reduce long COVID incidence at 90 days in patients with rheumatic diseases

CHICAGO — Patients with autoimmune and rheumatic diseases who received antiviral therapy for COVID-19 demonstrated reduced incidence of long COVID symptoms at 90 days post infection, according t...

healio.com

The rate of motor vehicle fatalities has return to pre-pandemic rates. www.nhtsa.gov/press-releas...

Wow. Incidence rate (IR) of POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) over time. IR was 1.42 per 1 million person-years before COVID and 20.3 cases per 1 million person-years after COVID began.

Jon Douglas@atranscendedman.bsky.social · 10mo ago

UToledo researchers documented a surprising rise in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) cases after COVID, shedding light on a hidden driver of debilitating long COVID symptoms and suggesting new paths for treating patients. news.utoledo.edu/index.php/10...

I think this might be the first head-to-head trial of Paxlovid versus Xocova (Ensitrelvir). Seems randomized but open-label. They find faster viral clearance with Paxlovid. Similar viral rebound rates (7% versus 5%). www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Health-related absences from work are still elevated compared to pre-pandemic. There is an association between SARS-CoV-2 wastewater levels and absences from work. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Enduring Outcomes of COVID-19 Work Absences on the US Labor Market

This cohort study examines the extent to which COVID-19 continues to generate work absences and decrease labor force participation beyond the pandemic period in the US.

jamanetwork.com

President Trump got flu and COVID-19 vaccines today. x.com/kaitlancolli...

Can’t stop staring at the prevalence of hypertension among young people. www.ahajournals.org/doi/epub/10....

Invivyd announces FDA clearance for new Phase 3 clinical trials for intramuscular monoclonals for prevention of COVID. investors.invivyd.com/news-release...

Percent of hospital and ICU beds occupied by RSV, Flu, and COVID patients remains the same as 2 weeks ago, except for COVID, where hospital beds decreased by 0.1%. There is also a new graph of new hospital admissions by virus. www.cdc.gov/nhsn/psc/hos...

CDC seems to think 3x to 4x more Flu illnesses than COVID ? This was the first season CDC attempted to make in-season estimates of disease burden of the "big 3" RSV, Flu, and COVID. RSV and Flu updates went through May, but COVID estimates continued all year. www.cdc.gov/covid/php/su...

Study of vaccine effectiveness against Long COVID finds rates of Long Covid (self-reported symptoms persisting >12 weeks) of ~10-20% after first infection and ~10% of re-infections. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41021660/

Deaths involving COVID-19 in preceding 52 weeks Rolling 52-week cumulative deaths dropped below 100,000 for the first time the week of December 21, 2024. 52 weeks preceding 9/20/2025 had 60,891 COVD deaths. Source: National Center for Health Statistics data.cdc.gov/National-Cen...

Science is how we learn new things. Like a treatment for a disease that has never been treatable in all human history. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

bbc.com

For the first time in 5 years, COVID-19 is not among the Top 15 leading causes of death. Here is 2024 (whole year) versus 2025 (partial year). This is the CDC wonder query link that will run the Top 15 leading causes of death query with up-to-date provisional data. wonder.cdc.gov/controller/s...