8-23: To party or not to party? PLUS: the mystery of Covid "long-haulers"

✅We know too little about Covid-19 'long-haulers.' We need a comprehensive study
Covid patients are reporting persistent, long-term symptoms of chronic fatigue. Let’s get to the bottom of this
—Guardian UK
   …We agree with Dr Fauci: Getting the pandemic under control is obviously the top priority, but we also should not ignore the long-term impact of Covid-19. The threat of severe illness and death may be behind them, and the virus may no longer be detectable in their bodies, but some people with Covid-19 remain seriously incapacitated. We need to figure out why, and try to fix it….

✅Why Some People Get Terribly Sick from COVID-19

Beyond factors such as age and sex, underlying aspects of biology and society influence disease severity

—Scientific American

     …For a given individual, the elements of risk stack up like the layers of a Russian nesting doll. The innermost core includes genes, biological sex and age. Cellular and hormonal factors that accompany these characteristics affect vulnerability to infectious microbes, including SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing the pandemic. The second layer consists of diseases and chronic conditions acquired over time, many of which make it easier for the virus to enter cells or harder for the body to fight it effectively. The outermost layer reflects the accumulated nicks and gouges of external circumstance: housing and work conditions, poor access to health care, nutritional status, and exposure to toxins and pollution. For people of color, these social and economic aspects include the cumulative stresses of systemic racism and discrimination….

 

✅More than 1 million acres have burned in California since July as monster fires rage around Bay Area -- With more than 1 million acres already burned in California since July, emergency officials braced for yet another day of dangerous fire weather on Sunday as a series of deadly blazes around the Bay Area have destroyed hundreds of homes and sent tens of thousands fleeing. Rong-Gong Lin II, Alex Wigglesworth, Susanne Rust in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/23/20

✅Hey, California: With wildfires, blackouts, bloody protests, pandemic, could 2020 get any worse? -- Historic wildfires. Frantic evacuations. Punishing heat waves. The first rolling blackouts in two decades. And that was just this past week. A coronavirus pandemic that has killed 11,000 Californians, tanked the economy, forced millions out of work and set up epic parent-child battles over online schooling. Violent clashes between police and protesters. Even the odd stuff is ominous, like the guy in Lake Tahoe who tested positive last week for the bubonic plague. Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/23/20

 

✅To party or not to party? USC students living off-campus weigh COVID-19 risk -- Ethan Recinto could hear the laughter and faint thrum of music from his second-floor apartment near USC. It was midnight and he was trying to sleep. Laura Newberry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/22/20

✅Prop. 209’s affirmative action ban drove down Black and Latino UC enrollment and wages, study finds -- California’s ban on affirmative action has significantly harmed Black and Latino students by reducing their enrollment across University of California campuses, lowering their graduation rates and driving down subsequent wages, a new UC Berkeley study has found. Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/22/20

 

✅Lopez: The case for four more years of Donald J. Trump, in his own words -- On the eve of the Republican National Convention, it’s worth noting that no one has made a greater case for reelecting Donald Trump — if not adding him to the lineup at Mount Rushmore — than the president himself. But don’t take my word for it. Take his. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/22/20

✅The latest OC Covid-19 numbers