Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind's Blog, page 5

Truly Universal COVID Testing is Still Desperately Needed and So Easy to DO!

I have been listening carefully in recent months to Dr Michael Mina, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard. What I can’t understand is why few people in power for the COVID response seem to be doing so. For months he has been talking about the gap in COVID testing, and the fundamental errors of looking at COVID only in a medical dimension, rather than a public health one.  In my honest and humble opinion, I fully agree with him.

Once again in a recent podcast on PIVOT with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway he talks about how easy it would be to produce millions and millions of simple litmus paper type tests for COVID. These could be sent out to every household immediately and cheaply, and would allow EVERYBODY to test for COVID in five minutes or so from their homes a few times a week.  Now these are simple tests that are not as accurate as the sophisticated PCR tests that also require a week or more for results.  But that does not matter! They are highly sensitive when people are at their most infectious, which from a public health point of view is what you need so that people KNOW THEIR STATUS.  If everybody tested themselves with a simple paper strip type test as Dr. Mina describes, they could immediately know if they were infectious or not.  Even if they had no symptoms, as many often do.  But with that knowledge in hand, you would know to isolate yourself from contact with others for 7-10 days.

This ALONE would be enough to sharply cut the cycle of transmission of the COVID 19 virus.  Even without vaccines or pending their eventual arrival.  Think of that.  What could we accomplish with that, by cheaply and easily being able to know our status and to be empowered to act.  This could literally help save hundreds of thousands of lives.  The key thing here is that once again, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.  If you know for sure you are very likely to be infected AND contagious, you can avoid harm to others.

Another huge advantage to this is that it reduces the burden on vaccines and allows for much sooner economic reopenings.  If we can have confidence that 80 or 90% of the people are testing regularly and keeping themselves distant and isolated if they come back with a temporarily positive result, it helps stop transmission very quickly.

Also you may have heard in the past couple days that there are actually production shortages of key reagents for manufacturing the newest messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. They need some of the same chemicals that go into the PCR testing that is underway.  If you have massive testing available to people to do 3 times a week with the simple litmus paper tests for contagion, there would be far less need for those reagents for the PCR testing, and thus less stress on the manufacturing supply chain for the vaccines.

Consider the simple things at play in following a public health education approach to containing COVID rather than relying solely on a heavy medicalized approach!  Mina has been talking about this to NIH and the COVID task force for months. He’s been interviewed on CNN multiple times and has also joined podcasts to explain his proposal. And yet it has fallen on deaf ears while we waste thousands of lives and billions of dollars on fruitless and unhelpful interventions.  There is nothing partisan about this. This type of universal testing, at home by people with the litmus paper tests, would even diminish the negative impact we have had with so many refusing to wear masks effectively and universally.  Isn’t it worth a try?

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South African President speaks on COVID

My wife and I just finished listening to Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa, speak about the dangers of a resurgence of COVID in South Africa, and the appearance of hotspots.  We were listening to a recording from the SA news networks because my wife and I follow events in South Africa closely. The speech was eloquent, with humanity, clear and compassionate. It was a remarkable speech, in that it was frankly far far better not only than the brayings of the jackass in the Executive Mansion here, but better than any other American politician.  Ramaphosa touched all the bases about why people need to practice good mask and behavioral hygiene, and avoid public gatherings, and reduce or eliminate unnecessary travel.  Do all politicians speak this way outside the USA? I think it would be tough to find anyone to match his simple unaffected eloquence.

You should listen to it – its only a half hour. Even ten minutes will convince you how sadly lacking we have been in terms of any sort of coherent, consistent and clear public communication. Let me know what you think.

VIDEO: President Ramaphosa addresses the nation on latest COVID-19 interventions

 

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Thanksgiving Day in a Somber America

Happy Thanksgiving for all those who celebrate it. There has been probably no more difficult day for many Americans. Even during bloody and hopeless days of war and fury, we never faced before the sort of challenge to the health and wellbeing of Americans that we do now. The daily death rate has risen to over 2000; some experts are now saying we will soon reach double that. It seems reprehensible and inexplicable.



I hope and wish the very best for you and your loved ones, and that you are following reason, science and logic to protect your loved ones. Be sane, be safe and be patient.



If you are looking for something to console, to inspire and to aspire to better I recommend ANDEAN ADVENTURES here at https://enableennoble.net and Amazon.

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Audio book on Audible?

I am going to start the project of recording an audio version of ANDEAN ADVENTURES soon. I had hoped to start before Thanksgiving but I suspect it will be more likely right after. I’ve been studying how to do, have download some software and picked up some equipment to allow for an improvised recording studio in my home. I’d like to put out an audio version of the book before the end of the year, but not sure how long the process will take. Wish me luck! I’ve always been told I have a great voice for podcasts and radio. Well, I’m not sure my voice is up to par like it used to be, but I will make a game effort.


I’d love to do an audio version of the Spanish edition as well but that is probably farther off in the future. And I am sure I am not the person for that. My gringo accent, even if intelligible, would be extremely distracting I am sure.

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A Puzzle for Me, Not Discussed on Cable News

One thing I’d like to hear more about in terms of the elections news is why it is that with such a strong victory by Biden over Trump – 306 electoral votes and over 5 million votes more in the popular vote – why is it that the Democrats got clobbered in virtually every other race.  They lost a bunch of opportunities to flip the Senate, with some dubious victories by a number of Republican incumbents. And they lost far too many seats in the House, putting at serious risk the majority in 2022.  They failed to flip any state legislatures.  I just don’t understand it. Do you? Is this because they were singularly ineffective in countering the Defund the Police outcry by some? If so, explain to me the arithmetic on new voters, who were young and went in massively for Biden.  Did all those voters fail to vote at all in the down ballot races? Were the new voters hypnotized to such a degree by the enormous danger of Trump that they voted just for the presidential race and failed to pay attention otherwise? No one, at least the pundits I’ve listened to, seem to have made even the slightest attempt to explain this.  Nor why the pollsters got it so wrong…. again!

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Poor Peru as a Reminder of Corruption Worldwide

Considering the themes in my book ANDEAN ADVENTURES, available in both English and Spanish, it was notably awful to watch what Peru has been going through this week. An allegedly corrupt Peruvian Congress has used the tar of so-called past corruption against an independent President Martin Vizcarra who had been fighting against corruption on the national level since taking over. They impeached and removed him abruptly, ostensibly on a constitutional basis. Yet many Peruvians were out on the streets in Lima and across the country protesting his intemperate and poorly justified removal, just nine months before the end of his term.  Keep your eyes on Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador when you have a chance.

I’m extremely frustrated by the continuing decay of democratic government and norms across much of the world. This actually predates Mr. Trump but he threw gasoline on this fire as well. The decline of democratic governance has been underway worldwide since 2005; the fact that the global review by Freedom House continues to stain the U.S. and U.K. among countries becoming less free is appalling. This is now the first year since the end of the Cold War that the percentage of people living under free societies has dropped below that of less free ones. As some have commented, “corruption has been weaponized to pursue authoritarianism.” It might be easy to perhaps fall back on pessimism and self-question ‘Who are we to go to other countries to talk about democracy?’ But I applaud President-elect Biden’s plans to convoke a global gathering or summit to discuss reinvigorating democracy. Biden knows that democracy is more than just exercising elections, even though that can sometimes seem awfully hard too these days. But we need to confront corruption, and the corruptive force of money in politics and how it furthers the agenda of oligarchs and undermines democratic values.

As a former colleague noted a couple days ago, there has been a decline in democracy around the world, and yet in recent years there has also been an increase in the demand for democracy and freedom. We must pull our weight again in the direction of freedom very soon. I’ve been trying to follow the names and potential proposals developed for the Biden-Harris Transition Team, and weigh in with suggestions when possible.

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Smoking in Movies and TV ?

Have you been curious like me and especially my wife about this phenomenon?  Have you noticed it too? It seems to us that there is more and more smoking again on TV and in the movies. We can’t really understand it. Is it intended to somehow make it seem more real to viewers, more current? Are they somehow trying to appeal more to a more youthful cohort of people with so many smokers? It’s very puzzling. I don’t see an upside, and can imagine plenty of downsides.  I was surprised to see on Saturday Night Live the main monologue skit which seemed to be built around Dave Chappelle smoking.  Chappelle is a brilliant comedian and a famous iconoclast, but this seemed even more off-putting.

After all, for years it seemed like smoking was mostly eliminated from TV and the movies as part of an effort to discourage identification with smokers and smoking. Which I thought was a good thing. And yet, in recent years smoking in the digital media is on the rise.  I have not heard that smoking is really increasing per se in the general population, although young women are a problematic group in terms of smoking influencers. Given how bad smoking really is, is this an end run around public health rules by Big Tobacco? Is Big Tobacco at it again with smoking placement incentives in the cinema, just like product placement. Seems like something worthy of questioning and looking into.

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Joyous Relief

That relief is strengthened by seeing MSNBC, BBC and importantly Fox News declaring unequivocally Joe Biden the next president of the United States, and Kamala Harris the next vice president. The monster may tweet a storm and try to resist the inevitable but it won’t change the facts and it won’t change the direction of this election. So glad this part is over. The two Senate seats in runoffs in Georgia are also essential. And may we find a way to rebuild this country after a long national nightmare that makes Watergate pale by comparison.

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Put the Razor Blades Away

There is a particular style to the way James Carville drawls that always gets me.  It’s that southern bayou reassurance I guess.  It was really needed last night and then again later today when I felt a pit in my stomach and an impending sense of doom after the results started coming in.  Carville told Brian Williams that he was telling Democrats to put away the razor blades and put them back in the medicine cabinet.  That it would all work out, because the vote will be counted, one way or another.  And indeed, Biden’s path to 270 seems to have cleared up today with the recent calling of States.  I’ve been switching between CNN, MSNBC and Fox. To my surprise, Fox has actually called a couple of states ahead of the others for Biden and they have Biden with a higher total of electoral votes so far.  I think I will sleep better tonight, although I still fret about the Senate.  Even Carville’s reassurance that the fat lady has yet to sing about North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia did little to ease the sting after I saw how the fantastic Steve Bullock dropped like a stone in Montana, and Sara Gideon got mugged in Maine.  So many sobering lessons about where this country is after this dreadful campaign.  Can we ever recover from this, and the past four years?

James Carville unleashed

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Did You Hear about PAHO?

Over the years I have had a lot of past professional contact with friends and colleagues working in the World Health Organization and the regional branch for the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). I have had enormous respect for the work of colleagues at country missions around the world.  I was not always in agreement with WHO or PAHO colleagues but we were partners and collaborators, looking to help build the public health capacity of developing countries.

I of course have watched the attacks from the White House against WHO with frustration and annoyance. The reality show behavior trying to blame WHO for the horrible management of COVID 19 by the U.S. government and the threat to pull out from the organization has been one matter. However it turns out there is more.

It was with an immense amount of disgust and frustration that I read an article yesterday about the damage done to PAHO during this last year under COVID.  The press has failed to cover this adequately. It turns out that the Trump administration, together with their populist partners in Brazil, the Bolsonaro administration, basically demanded from the beginning of the year that impoverished and badly hit countries in Latin America, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru, expel the hundreds of Cuban doctors that have been a reality for many of them for decades.  What ever your feelings about the Castro and post Castro regime in Cuba, the fact is that they have provided high quality medical care for decades to Cubans and to other developing countries around the world. Not for free, but on a subsidized basis.  Bolsonaro and Trump threatened these countries at the height of the epidemic to get rid of the Cubans or face zero assistance from the US and Brazil, which together make up over half of the PAHO Latin America budget.  These countries went along, and then found minimal assistance and support as PAHO’s budget was almost zeroed out. Right at the first waves of the pandemic, and even now.

It is very likely, as was noted in the New York Times, that these countries saw pandemic cases explode precisely because of the actions of Trump and his vassal Bolsonaro.  Probably thousands of people died needlessly in Latin America.

How can this behavior, these actions be defended in the minds of anyone? How can this be seen as the action of a “right to life” leader?  How can such crude and vile populism be defended by anyone of sound mind?

 

 

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