News for week of 2023-03-06

Carlotta SusannaStaff - March 5, 2023

News

Make a top-level comment for a new story/topic. Discussions about the topic should be in the replies to the top-level comment. That way things stay organized and every main comment as you scroll down is a different piece of news.

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“March 3 (Reuters) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday it was issuing a health alert advisory to notify clinics and public health officials to be watchful after a case of measles was confirmed at a large gathering in Kentucky.  On Feb. 24, the Kentucky Department for Public Health identified a confirmed case of measles in an unvaccinated individual with a history of recent international travel, the CDC said.  While infected, the individual attended a large religious gathering on Feb. 17–18, with an estimated 20,000 people there from other states and countries, the national agency said.”

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-issues-advisory-after-confirmed-measles-case-kentucky-2023-03-03/

 

An ingredient in many artificial sweeteners was found to double the risk of heart problems, likely due to its effect on blood clotting.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/prevention/103281

 

Taking metformin during COVID illness substantially reduces odds of developing long COVID.

”Over a thousand people with mild-to-moderate Covid were randomly assigned to 2 weeks of metformin (500 mg pills, 1 on day 1, twice a day for 4 days, then 500 mg in AM and 1000 mg in PM for 9 days) or placebo. There was a 42% reduction of subsequent Long Covid as you can see by the event curve below, which corresponds to an absolute decrease of 4.3%, from 10.6% reduced to 6.3%.”

https://erictopol.substack.com/p/a-break-from-covid-waves-and-a-breakthrough

My current impression is that someone who gets COVID should immediately start taking both Paxlovid and metformin.

(Small side note: The article mentions that only 15% of Americans have never had COVID. Look around any grocery store at the number of people wearing masks, and you’ll see this is similar to the number of people who are still trying. It can be done.)

 

Some Cali residents are being urged to have at least two weeks worth of essentials in anticipation of possible flooding. 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/weather/california-atmospheric-river-flood-wednesday/index.html

 

Baby formula shortage continues – one year so far.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/08/us-baby-formula-shortage-one-year-later

(Medication shortages of Ozempic and Adderall have also continued for several months now with no end in sight. Whatever medications you rely on, consider this a reminder to keep a stockpile if you can. It’s hard to know in advance what part of our economy will fail next.)

 

Update: Looks like the Ozempic shortage is easing after 3 months.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/novo-nordisks-diabetes-drug-ozempic-back-supply-after-months-shortage-2023-03-17/

 

Another eyedrop brand recalled due to contamination: Pharmedica Purely Soothing.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/pharmedica-usa-llc-issues-voluntary-worldwide-recall-purely-soothing-15-msm-drops-due-non-sterility

At this point, anyone putting anything in their eyes should be doing weekly searches for “[my eyedrop brand] recall” just in case…

 

Revealed: the 10 worst places to live in US for air pollution https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/08/10-most-air-polluted-places-to-live-us

Plus an interactive tool to check your neighborhood’s air pollution levels https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2023/mar/08/air-pollution-interactive-map-usa-hotspots

 

BREAKING: CSX train derails in West Virginia, spilling diesel fuel into a river. 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/us/csx-train-derail-injuries/index.html

 

Perhaps this comment would be better under the “Forum” section?  But an accident like this leaves me wondering how I could pre-filter water if I was relying on a river contaminated like this — If I was backpacking or otherwise using the river water. I don’t think I’d want to put fuel laden water into my water filter bag?

 

If the river has a thick layer of oil over the top, it will probably clog up your filter. In that case, might be better off finding a different water source. Alternatively, you could take advantage of oil’s tendency to float on the surface and try to pull water from deeper down.

 

If this proposed project happens, risk of spill along Colorado River, making the southwest US even less sustainable:

“According to the plans shared with federal agencies, up to five two-mile-long oil trains a day would run more than 100 miles directly alongside the Colorado River – a vital drinking water source for 40 million Americans, 30 tribal nations and millions of acres of farmland. A derailment could be catastrophic for the river,”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/09/utah-oil-railroad-uinta-railway-developers-tax-breaks

 

How climate change is making allergy season worse (allergy season starting earlier than ever and lasting longer) https://weather.com/health/allergy/news/2023-03-07-climate-change-asthma-allergy-season-worse

 

US man puts phone on drone to send rescue message. When a US motorist got stuck in the snow on a remote road in Oregon, he used sky-high thinking to save himself. After realising he was without mobile phone reception, he typed a text message to a trusted person showing his exact location, attached the phone to a drone and launched it several hundred feet into the air. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64905689

 

This was such a cool story; thank you for sharing! Makes me wonder whether I should spend my next “prepper fun money” on an iPhone 14 with satellite messaging – or a drone.  (The correct answer, as we all know, is BOTH!)

 

Haha drones are cool, not going to lie lol

FYI There was another forum post about using drones as survival tools https://theprepared.com/forum/thread/drones-as-a-survival-and-evacuation-tool/

 

Never pass up the opportunity to rationalize the purchase of a drone!

 

The 16th largest bank in the U.S. looks to be in trouble:

“Trading of the bank’s shares was halted Friday before markets opened, after the stock fell by double-digits in pre-market trading on the heels of a more than 60% decline Thursday. Other bank stocks slipped in Thursday trading as well, underscoring investor worries over broader risks to the financial industry.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/crisis-silicon-valley-bank-shows-tech-sector-worries-spilling-wall-str-rcna74311

 

Update: FDIC has placed the bank’s assets into receivership

https://apnews.com/article/svb-fed-bonds-rates-banks-inflation-a24b28b3caeede91c76cd120aa9b7966?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_01

 

Bank update: Fed will ensure that everyone with accounts at SVB can withdraw money on Monday.

https://www.ft.com/content/8e0be2f4-0b41-4768-b586-49180980ba90

 

ASHRAE will develop building standards by June 2023 to prevent airborne infections such as COVID and flu.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00642-9

“When ventilation rates were at least 10 litres per second per student, the infection risk was 80% lower.”

”When ASHRAE releases its infection-mitigation standard in June, the hope is that these recommended targets will be adopted into local building codes that new buildings must comply with.”

My impression: This is important and long overdue. Improving clean air delivery in buildings is comparable to the development of vaccines in terms of reducing the harm from COVID and other respiratory viruses. I’ll be watching for more details and hope they specify reasonable options for upgrading older buildings as well.

 

As promised months ago, ASHRAE just released a draft of their new standard for preventing airborne infections. Besides setting minimum standards for how much ventilation/filtration is needed in various contexts, there are also lots of details about other aspects of airflow requirements.

https://osr.ashrae.org/Online-Comment-Database/ShowDoc2/Table/DocumentAttachments/FileName/4071-ASHRAE%20Standard%20241P%20Advisory%20Public%20Review.pdf/download/false