EU brain clot data: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/astrazenecas-coronavirus-vaccine-plausibly-linked-to-rare-brain-clots-european-regulators-say/ar-BB1fomFN?li=BBnb7Kz . We haven’t seen this from the other vaccines. Are we looking hard enough? Is there any reason AstraZeneca alone would cause this? More: https://exbulletin.com/world/838035/ (link updated 5/10/21; foreign version of NY Times original article). This vaguely suggests that some form of autoimmune issue is involved. Why are antibodies interacting with platelets?
Half a million new Obamacare enrollees in the last 6 weeks: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/politics/obamacare-enrollment-biden/index.html (link replaced 5/10/21). These are only federal marketplace enrollees. Many states are also offering extended enrollment.
WSJ: UK limits use of AstraZeneca vaccine: https://www.wsj.com/articles/astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine-receives-backing-from-eu-regulator-11617804998 . The US has no need for domestic use of this vaccine. We will likely approve it as it is acceptable (but less desirable than the vaccines we already have). Approval is sensible in terms of global use of this vaccine. Approving it only for people over 30 is problematic for India and most of Africa, where average age is under 30.
US to have half of all adults vaccinated this week: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/07/us-covid-vaccinations-cases . This really is a remarkable accomplishment. It is our nature to ignore things that are going well.
MGM Las Vegas offers in-room COVID testing, on-site vaccinations for employees: https://www.ktnv.com/news/coronavirus/mgm-doubles-down-on-las-vegas-visitor-safety-offers-in-room-covid-testing . This is a push to jump-start the convention business. It’s amusing that the MGM VP called this a “needle mover”.
Vaccine shopping is a growing reality: https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-vaccine-shopping-choice-pharmacies-c4f4ea55-341c-4b4e-a75c-37eba3d2c9be.html . As a larger percentage of adults become vaccinated, this is one more way to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
Oral vaccine being tested: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-oral-testing-los-angeles/ . More importantly, this reflects an attempt to leverage and focus the new vaccine technologies. As mentioned previously, one of the most beneficial things that may come out of the pandemic is a renewed research focus on vaccines. I am particularly interested in the use of mRNA technology in fighting cancer. That was BioNTech’s focus before the pandemic. And the owners are now billionaires.
How well is the vaccine rollout working?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/encouraging-signs-that-the-vaccine-rollout-is-having-the-desired-effect/ar-BB1fmwqG?li=BBnb7Kz . We know that more than a quarter of the people who have died were in nursing homes. The vaccination focus on those locations has reduced the death rate. But if you strip that data out of the overall data, the 2020 to 2021 comparison would be less dramatic.
Second, the pandemic comes in waves. That’s because we keep reopening too soon and then locking down again. It is not clear that the third (or fourth) wave is really different from the earlier waves. And variants will be a significant part of the fourth wave analysis. They are more dangerous, especially among younger Americans.
WSJ: Don’t laminate your vaccine card: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-your-covid-19-vaccine-card-11617809790 . This article makes the excellent point that boosters are likely. In this case, you will want to update your vaccine card. Vaccine card sleeves are now available.
US continues to fail at adequate genomic sequencing: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00908-0 . This ranks as one of the worst failures of the US pandemic response.
New Zealand suspends entry from India: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzealand-india/new-zealand-suspends-entry-for-travellers-from-india-due-to-high-covid-19-cases-idUSKBN2BV0AE. This island nation is protecting itself from high-risk entrants.
South Korea reports surge in cases, expects new restrictions: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-southkorea-idUSL1N2M1021 . By any measure, this “surge” is tiny in comparison to other countries. Contact tracing was and is a critical part of pandemic response.
South Korea grants conditional approval to J&J vaccine: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-04-07/south-korea-grants-conditional-approval-to-johnson-johnson-coronavirus-vaccine .
Brazil’s surge continues to worsen: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/07/brazils-coronavirus-death-toll-passes-4000-a-day-for-first-time . Great blame is being placed on Bolsonaro for failing to secure an adequate supply of vaccines. This has become an appalling rejection of reality.
US Treasury has issued 156 million stimulus payments to taxpayers: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-treasury-156-million-coronavirus-relief-payments-issued-76919829 .
Details of infrastructure tax hikes: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/yellen-details-dollar25-trillion-in-tax-hikes-to-fund-biden-jobs-plan/ar-BB1foX8S?li=BBnb7Kz . It’s interesting that the $1.9 trillion package is now $2.3 trillion with $2.5 trillion in tax hikes. There is built-in negotiating room. Also, the revenue lost by dropping the corporate rate proposal from 28% to 25% could be replaced in other ways. For example, you could have an alternate minimum tax based on gross receipts for large corporations above a certain size. That would solve the “zero tax to pay” problem. It would also solve Senator Wicker’s fake complaint.
WSJ: We don’t understand current reality: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-offers-broad-definition-of-infrastructure-in-push-for-2-3-trillion-package-11617828150 . What everyone (except Republican politicians) understands is that roads were the Eisenhower definition of infrastructure. Now internet service is a necessity, and sustainable energy use is needed to avoid melting down the ecosystem.
WSJ: G-20 looks to global agreement on minimum corporate tax rates by July: https://www.wsj.com/articles/g-20-to-seek-agreement-on-global-minimum-tax-rate-by-mid-2021-11617807018 . This would be a major step forward in international corporate tax policy.
WSJ: 15% minimum tax on profitable corporations: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-softens-tax-proposal-aimed-at-profitable-companies-that-pay-little-11617809422 . As mentioned yesterday, a minimum tax could cover losses by reducing the proposed corporate tax rate to 25% from 28%.
Republican “straw man” politics: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/greg-abbott-prohibits-vaccination-requirements-and-vaccine-passports-with-executive-order/ar-BB1fmAs7?li=BBnb7Kz . Abbott’s order prohibits local governments from requiring vaccinations or vaccine passports. But no one has suggested mandatory passports. Mandatory vaccinations would only occur in an employer circumstance. But are there some circumstances where this might be wise? Nursing homes come to mind. As usual with Abbott and DeMentis, this is politics without thoughtful policy.
Executive orders on gun policy: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/07/biden-executive-actions-guns-479704 . Real change requires legislative action. This may require significant Democratic Senate wins in 2022.
McConnell’s corporate “outrage” is a flop: https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/546828-the-memo-politics-upended-as-top-republicans-slam-corporate-america . This is still a losing issue for Republicans. They look more and more like a rural, regional party. With Orange Julius out of the daily news, they lack the policies to gain any traction. The “multiple reconciliations” ruling in the Senate may give Democrats the chance to address immigration comprehensively – but likely after infrastructure.
WSJ: McConnell retreats after being laughed down: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sen-mcconnell-backs-off-warning-to-corporate-america-on-politics-11617826090 .
Pence launches conservative advocacy group: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/546848-pence-launches-conservative-political-group . This might have some traction with evangelicals, but otherwise this is going nowhere. Pence is about as exciting as a pile of garbage, as the fly video demonstrated.
Flyin’ Ted makes the news with ethics violations: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/546935-cruz-accused-of-using-campaign-funds-to-promote-book-watchdog-ethics. Filing an ethics complaint against Flyin’ Ted ignores the reality that slugs self-slime.
“Titanic” Matt Gaetz sought preemptive pardon from Orange Julius: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/06/politics/matt-gaetz-pardon-donald-trump/index.html . Obviously, innocent people do not seek pardons, let alone a preemptive pardon. Even in OJ world, preemptive pardons were off the table.
The “great replacement”: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-researcher-suggested-us-capitol-rioters-came-from-towns-that-fear-the-rise-of-immigrants-and-people-of-color-reactions-to-that-finding-reveal-how-divided-the-right-and-left-are/ar-BB1fmPEb?li=BBnb7Kz . This is a sensitive topic but worth discussion. I only interact with a small number of Trump supporters. Anecdotally, however, they are people who at some level are threatened by immigrant communities. Also, this is noticeable in the agricultural communities in the West. There are significant Latino communities in towns that were once very white. The immigrants are seen as changing the “way of life” in these places.
Fermilab finds muons acting strangely. It’s evidence for a fifth force of nature: https://www.bbc.com/news/56643677 . If this proves out, it will fundamentally change physics. The major advance of the past 50 years has been the development and verification of the Standard Model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model . The Standard Model’s great achievement has been the prediction and verification of the Higgs boson. Theorized by Peter Higgs in 1964 (Higgs was 35), it was verified in 2013. Higgs shared the Nobel Prize in Physics that year for this work (age 74).
But the Standard Model does not explain everything. For example, why is there more matter in the universe than antimatter? Without this answer, we literally do not know why we exist. This is just one example of why this potential discovery of non-Standard Model behavior is so important.