There is good news everywhere

• Nationally, it is clear the Delta wave has peaked and is on the decline. Suddenly, to be on a cresting wave feels pretty nice. There’s a little exhale moment happening. The seven day average dropped to 110K cases per day from 130K cases per day last week and 150K the week before.
• Hospitalizations and deaths are down too. 
• In other good news, the Mu variant is reportedly no where to be found. None of the genetic sequencing done in the US over the last two weeks turned up any Mu, after seeing it earlier in the summer. It’s disappeared! -for the moment, at least. I’m taking the opportunity to say Mu is officially not to be worried about anymore. Take that with a grain of salt because I don’t recommend worrying about anything, if you can help it.
• The Berkshire case load dropped to 140 cases over this last week, the lowest since mid August. There were 184 and 183 cases the last two weeks, and 153 the week before, and 219 before that.  We need another week before we can be sure we are dropping. Case rates are dropping in our state, so I suspect it’s true.
•  Pandemics do end, you know. Just saying. No one is certain this surge is the final act of the COVID-19/ SARS CoV-2 Pandemic, but there are those of us that are flying our optimism flags. Delta upped the natural immunity numbers to new heights. We can only speculate what that means.

Other good news items that I encountered this week

More testimony that early treatment works. Dr Brian Tyson In California has been treating COVID using some of the early outpatient protocols since the moment they emerged. He has treated over 6000 patients. He gives more testimony that early treatment with the multi-drug protocol he helped put together with Dr Peter McCullough saves lives. He has never lost a patient who started treatment in the first week. He treats immunized and un-immunized patients. He said currently he treats 50% vaccinated and 50% unvaccinated. Early diagnosis is key number one. He says he has only lost 4 patients out of the entire panel he has treated!

Dr Mobeen Syed M.D, MS is another doctor treating COVID, also in California. He also is having excellent results. He says that if he treats COVID early he is not seeing any cases of Long Covid. He is part of the aforementioned community of doctors that uses the same multiple drug regimens.

Now that we are all smiling, do you mind if I share a cheeky advert?

“For all those people who wore a mask while alone in the care, the new outdoor seatbelt is now available.”

I wore my mask alone in the car too (actually, maybe I didn’t. But I get it! You don’t want to touch it.) Think how great it’ll be to reminisce about all this stuff in the years to come -if only because it’ll mean it’s all behind us. I can’t wait to start a sentence with, “Now that the Pandemic is over…” or “Ever since the Pandemic ended…”

Concluding thought

While I actually do enjoy reading about and pondering the origins of SARS CoV-2, the thought occurred to me this week: Enough about the virus’ origins for a minute here, what about OUR OWN origins?

“The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we’ve learned most of what we know. Recently, we’ve waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.”

Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Friends, we have a lot to learn, don’t we? I couldn’t wish for a better group with whom to ponder the mysteries of the world.