Zombie COVID-19, Back From the Dead March 31, 2026
Posted by geoff in News.Tags: covid, COVID-19, health, News, vaccine
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You might think that, based on charts like this (from the CDC):
…that COVID-19 would be long since a dead story. But sadly, your highly rational thoughts would be greatly underestimating the panic-dredging that our media loves to do:
A New, Highly Mutated COVID Variant Called ‘Cicada’ Is Spreading in the US. Know These Symptoms
The heavily mutated new BA.3.2 COVID-19 variant, aka “cicada,” is circulating in at least 25 U.S. states, the CDC said. What to know about its spread and symptoms.
BA.3.2, a highly mutated new COVID-19 variant that may be better able to escape immunity from vaccination or prior infection, is now spreading in the United States.
A new version able to escape immunity! Spreading fast!! In 25 states!!!
So let’s see how prevalent BA.3.2 is, as compared with other COVID variants:
As of the CDC’s best guess through mid-March, BA.3.2 is, ummm, well, ummm . . . not even on the chart. Golly, talk about a hidden threat.
If you wade through a good deal of the article, you find a few paragraphs that say the following:
“What’s interesting, however, is some of these mutations may actually make the virus bind less well to our cells. So yes, our immune system may not recognize it, but it also doesn’t recognize us as well,” Dr. Dana Mazo, an infectious diseases physician at NYU Langone Health, tells TODAY.com.
…
Is BA.3.2 making people sicker? Fortunately, no.
“There’s no evidence that BA.3.2 is causing more severe disease or hospitalizations in countries where it’s more widespread,” Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre, director of the global health and emerging pathogens institute at Mt. Sinai, tells TODAY.com.
“It can still cause problems, of course, but it’s not a more problematic strain that previous ones,” says García-Sastre.
Pekosz adds: “It looks scary on paper, but it hasn’t really made a big impact in terms of disease in most places yet.”
And that’s it. The “scary” Cicada variant is just another COVID strain that may be even wimpier than the strains of the past, due to its possible difficulty in binding to our cells.
The virus, “escape(s) immunity from vaccination or prior infection?” Hah! Your vaccination didn’t work anyway, so no loss there. Your prior immunity is just like the cold or flu – with each year’s variants it might help or not.
So, in summary, it’s business as usual. And yet, supposedly some hospitals are starting to ask people to mask up again (not verified)? Yeesh.
More Medical Panic Porn September 9, 2025
Posted by geoff in News.Tags: health, News, politics, public-health, vaccine
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Today’s terrifying disease being hyped by our hysterical press (CBS News in this instance) is: Chagas Disease!
Deadly “kissing bug” disease has spread in the U.S. Here’s what to know.
Chagas disease, a potentially deadly condition caused by an infected triatomine insect or “kissing bug,” may be becoming endemic in the United States, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
In the report, which was originally published last month for the September issue of the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, the authors said the disease is already endemic to 21 countries in the Americas, and growing evidence of the parasite is challenging the non-endemic label in the U.S.
So once again we have a “deadly condition” “spreading” in the US. And I’m afraid a lot of casual readers will see “endemic” and think “epidemic.” All the necessary elements to create a feeling of distress in the public.
Anyway, according to the CDC paper, the state of Texas has the longest series of case data on Chagas disease. The report’s Figure 2 shows the Texas stats:
The first thing you notice is: either there’s no trend, or the trend since 2017 is downward. So much for “spreading.” And after the inflammatory headline and intro, we find this confirmed in the CBS article:
The report notes that data is “inadequate” to prove that the insects are increasing in geographic distribution or abundance. But it also says that the bugs are “increasingly recognized” because of frequent encounters with humans and due to more research attention.
The second thing you notice is that the number of confirmed cases where people contracted the disease in Texas (rather than in another country) is tiny. In 2022 and 2023 that number is . . . 3.
Yes, 3 cases per year in Texas. The article notes that over the 11 years shown in the figure above, there were a total of 50 confirmed autochtonous (i.e., contracted in the US) cases.
Despite the lack of a significant health threat or any evidence that the threat is growing, the last line of the CDC report says changing the classification of Chagas disease from nonendemic to endemic is important so that we can do the things!!!
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Neglected Tropical Disease roadmap, recognizing Chagas disease endemicity in the United States as a regional issue will be imperative to begin implementing local, state, and national strategic plans to tackle this neglected disease that, as has been demonstrated, has never been exclusively tropical.
Sounds like the Chagas experts are really just angling for a funding boost.
I’ve Got a Bone-Chilling Uptick… October 16, 2024
Posted by geoff in News.Tags: health, News
13 comments
… in my pants (as Ace would say).
Once again the press wants to foist some medical panic porn upon us. This time it’s Eastern equine encephalitis, which is carried by mosquitoes. The New York Post decides it’s a major concern:
About 30% of EEE cases are deadly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is a rare but serious disease spread to humans by infected mosquitoes and bears some similarities to other mosquito-borne diseases in the US like dengue fever and West Nile virus.
…
A least 10 cases of EEE were confirmed across the US this year, including the deadly New York case and another in New Hampshire, marking a bone-chilling uptick compared to previous years.
With mosquito season being pretty much over, it’s hard to see how ten cases make a “bone-chilling uptick” (drama much?). But let’s get quantitative: Exactly how many cases were there in prior years?
For our answer, let’s peruse this lovely chart provided by the CDC:
Yeah, that data is all over the map. But ten cases in a single year doesn’t stand out. At all.
Another case of medical hysteria put to rest.
Innocent Bystanders 