Saturday, November 19, 2022

End Of An Era: My Last Post Here And On To New Digs


Difficult to believe that I started posting on this blog 17 years ago. 3,614 blog posts later and I think it's time to get some new digs.

This platform, the Blogger platform, has been great, but it's not being updated, it's clunky, and I think it's time to move to the new pasture over at Substack where I may also try adding in some podcasting and getting back to writing. The thing about writing right now - truthfully I find it challenging to consider in the context of the pandemic. It feels unimportant in comparison which is why I've been using this platform to provide you with what I feel is some of the best and most useful articles on COVID. I'll likely keep doing that, but realize that we're likely never going back to 2019 and so I need to find a way to do more than just curate links.

Those of you who are email subscribers here, there's no need to do anything, assuming I clicked all the buttons the right way, you should be receiving the Weighty Matters Substack at 7am EST this morning.

Thank you for spending your time with me here. 

[Also, it’s that time of year again, this Movember I’m trying to channel my best Steven Ogg from the Walking Dead as that seems somehow apropos to the times.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to do Movember this year, and then I watched a video where they discussed their funding of a first responder led program for first responders with PTSD and that got me back in line quickly. I’ve raised just over a third of my goal and would certainly welcome and appreciate your donations which you can give by clicking here.]



Saturday, November 12, 2022

Saturday Stories: Must Read Open Letter


Too many medical organizations to list pen an open letter to President Biden illustrating what care is like in hospitals that are beyond capacity. Same issues here in Canada, and if you're not in healthcare, you should absolutely take the time to read to understand what your care might be like if you need it.


Finally, I may start a slow transition over to Substack. Blogger (this plaftorm) is very clunky and I'd be surprised if there was much if any work being done to maintain or improve upon it. You can find me on substack at Going great! Let's do nothing!  For the next little bit, I'll mirror on both, and if I find it's easier to maintain over there, I'll let you know. 



Saturday, November 05, 2022

Saturday Stories: Milder COVID?, and COVID consensus


Mun-Keat Looi,  Elisabeth Mahase, in the BMJ, ask is COVID is getting milder (spoiler, no) 

A collection of scientists from around the world, in Nature, publish a multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat (spoiler, we know what we need to do, we're just not doing it)

Also, it's that time of year again. If you find my posts (here or on social media) in any way helpful, please consider donating to my Movember efforts (this year I'm trying to channel my inner Simon from The Walking Dead as that seems apropos)



Saturday, October 29, 2022

Saturday Stories: The Subvariants and Racial Inequity


Steven Novella, in Science Based Medicine, on the coming subvariants

Marina Del Rios, Nathan T. Chomilo and Neil A. Lewis, Jr., in STAT, on the racial inequities of our COVID response.




Saturday, October 22, 2022

Saturday Stories: Death Eaters And Unfollowed Advice


Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, with his call to rescue public health from the death eaters of neutrality. 

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, David Michaels, Rick Bright and Michael T. Osterholm, in the New York Times, on the unheeded advice they provided President Biden as members of his COVID advisory board regarding the pandemic. 


Saturday, October 15, 2022

Saturday Stories: I Want My Far-UV, Japan, And Long COVID Doc Testimony


Chris Baraniuk, in the Atlantic, on the promise that are far-UV lamps for this and all future pandemics and airborne pathogens. They can't come fast enough. 




Saturday, October 08, 2022

Saturday, October 01, 2022

Saturday Stories: Clean Air, History Repeating, and Joe Lunn


Nina Notman, in Chemistry World, on whether we can clean our indoor air.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with a must read piece on how our failure on COVID means this is all certain to happen again. Ed reported on Twitter that he'll be taking a 6 month hiatus. His voice will be dearly missed.



Saturday, September 24, 2022

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Saturday Stories: Brain Fog, Dingbats, and Failures


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with a tremendous piece on COVID brain fog.

Jonathan Jarry, in McGill's Office for Science and Society, explores Eric Feigl-Ding's monetized alarmism.



Saturday, September 10, 2022

Saturday, September 03, 2022

Friday, August 26, 2022

Saturday Story: The Doctors Who Have Declared The Pandemic Over, Over And Over Again, And Meeting People Where They Are

March 11th, 2021

Jonathan Howard, in Science Based Medicine, on doctors who have declared the pandemic over, over and over again (and there are many more of these of course including here in my home town)



Saturday, August 13, 2022

Saturday Stories: Long COVID Numbers, MonkeyPox, And How One School Managed To Avoid COVID Entirely


Gideon M-K, in Medium, explores the numbers surrounding Long COVID.

Kai Kupferschmidt, in The New York Times, on fighting Monkeypox without homophobia.

Abrome, a small school in Texas whose viral Twitter thread was reprinted in the Tasmanian Times, on how their school has avoided COVID from the get-go.


Saturday, August 06, 2022

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Saturday Stories: Variant Proof Vaccines, Whose Breath Are You Breathing, and BA.5


Hilda Bastien, in Absolutely Maybe, gives us a hopeful update on the state of variant proof Coronavirus vaccines

Farah Hancock, in RNZ, with a terrific read on how to determine how much of whose breath are you breathing?

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with essential reading on BA.5 and what it means.

By Image by Rama - Own work, CeCILL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43759


Saturday, July 02, 2022

Saturday Stories: What Now?


Ed Yong, in the Atlantic, ponders what we should be doing now?




Saturday, June 25, 2022

Saturday Stories: Health-care Burnout and Rabbit Myxoma Virus


Jillian Horton, in The Toronto Star, on the realities of burnout in health-care

Carl Zimmer, in The New York Times, discusses the evolving virulence of the rabbit myxoma virus.


Saturday, June 18, 2022

Saturday Stories: The New Variants And Long COVID's Potential Causes


Betsy Ladyzhets, in TIME, tells you what we currently know about the newest crop of variants that can reinfect even those who've already had Omicron

Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, in Science, on the possible causes of Long COVID.


Saturday, June 11, 2022

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Saturday Stories: Monkeypox Messaging, Nasal Vaccines, and Long COVID Messaging


Helen Branswell, in STAT, on Monkeypox messaging amidst stigma and unknowns.

Akiko Iwasaki, in The New York Times, on the promise of nasal COVID vaccines.

Danielle Wenner and Gabriela Arguedas Ramírez, in STAT, on the danger and folly of omitting long COVID from public health messaging. 

Photo by Matthias - Imported from 500px (archived version) by the Archive Team. (detail page), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74166714


Saturday, May 21, 2022

Saturday Stories: Kid Myths, Monkeypox, and Healthcare


Mark Kline, in The Advocate, on kids’ COVID myths.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on Monkeypox.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on healthcare’s devastation.



Saturday, May 14, 2022

Saturday Stories: Correlations, Trolling, And School Ventilation


Nans Florens, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, Jérôme Barriere, Eric Billy, Fabrice Frank, Véronique Saada, Alexander Samuel, Barbara Seitz-Polski, Kyle Sheldrick, and Lonni Besançon, in OCF Preprints ask should we publish every correlation during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Lisa Palmer and Silvia Waisbord, in Undark, on the toll trolls are taking on science journalism. 



Saturday, May 07, 2022

Saturday Stories: Not Over, Pandemic Coverage, And Childhood Hepatitis


Ed Yong, speaking at Yale, discusses 2 years of covering the pandemic (and winnning pretty much all the science awards there are for same including a Pulitzer).


Illustration by https://www.scientificanimations.com - https://www.scientificanimations.com/wiki-images, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95721064


Saturday, April 23, 2022

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Saturday Story: Just One. Read It.


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on the immeasurable grief. Don't look away. 

Saturday, April 09, 2022

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Saturday, March 19, 2022

Saturday Stories: Giving Up And Not Giving Up


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on the disaster being wrought by governments giving up on COVID control. 

The late and great Paul Farmer, in Noēma, on social medicine for a better future.


Saturday, March 12, 2022

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Saturday Stories: #Urgency of Normal Done With COVID x 3 And What To Do Post-Omicron


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how the #UrgencyofNormal/done with COVID talk condemns the immunocompromised

Ramnath Subbaraman,  Michelle Holmes,  and Lakshmi Ganapathi, in Common Dream, on the privilege required to state that you're done with COVID.

Gregg Gonsalves, in The New York Times, on the immorality of #UrgencyofNormal done with COVID takes. 

Gavin Yamey, Abraar Karan and Ranu Dhillon in TIME, on what we need to do with our post-Omicron time.



Saturday, February 12, 2022

Saturday Stories: Air, Hopium, And Kids' Masks


Edward A. Nardell, in Time, on how to clean our indoor air.

Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, on the dangers of hopium and wishful thinking on COVID.

Melody Schreiber, in The New Republic, on how masks have no impact on child development.


Saturday, February 05, 2022

Saturday Stories: Endemicity's Meaninglessness, 1918's Flu, And Hospitals


Jacob Stern and Katherine J. Wu, in The Atlantic, on the meaninglessness of endemicity.


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on the state of our hospitals right now.


Saturday, January 29, 2022

Saturday Stories: Endemicity and Japan


Aris Katzourakis, in Nature, on what the word endemic actually means

Hitoshi Oshitani, in the New York Times, on what Japan got right in its approach to the pandemic.

Photo By https://www.flickr.com/photos/reggiepen/ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/reggiepen/17025277650/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67128875 


Saturday, January 22, 2022

Saturday Stories: Treating the Unvaccinated, Will Omicron Hasten Immunity, And Airborne COVID


Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on why it's a terrible idea not to treat the unvaccinated.



Infographic By Colin D. Funk, Craig Laferrière, and Ali Ardakani - Funk CD, Laferrière C y Ardakani A (2020) Una instantánea de la carrera mundial de vacunas dirigidas contra el SARS-CoV-2 y la pandemia COVID-19. Parte delantera. Pharmacol. 11:937.Funk CD, Laferrière C and Ardakani A (2020) A Snapshot of the Global Race for Vaccines Targeting SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Front. Pharmacol. 11:937.https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.00937, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99473789


Saturday, January 15, 2022

Saturday, January 08, 2022

Saturday Stories: America's COVID Rules, COVID fatigue, And Omicron Healthcare


Katherine J. Wu, in the Atlantic, on the dumpster fire that is America's COVID rules (and for Canadian readers, much overlap with ours).

Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, on the impact of COVID fatigue on our morality. 


Saturday, January 01, 2022

Saturday Stories: Omicron's Teaching, COVID's Teaching, And Teaching LeBron


Andrew Joseph and Helen Branswell, in STAT, on the lessons we're learning from Omicron.

More Helen Branswell, in STAT, on 10 lessons she's learned covering the pandemic.


Photo By Keith Allison - https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/31915296404/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70713991