New COVID surge: 4th worst

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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Source: Covid-19 Wastewater Monitoring | Biobot Analytics

The first post-Thanksgiving wastewater viral load figures are available. For the nation as a whole, the Nov. 30th wastewater viral load was 866 copies/mL, behind only the peaks of late December 2021, July 2022, and April 2020. The anemic decline from July 2022 to late October 2022 is being reversed quickly.

The flu map (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm) is more like what you’d expect in February in a particularly nasty flu season. Flu season has been ramping up at an unprecedented rate.

I’m so glad that I got my updated COVID booster. I can’t believe that barely 10% of eligible people have gotten it. It’s so much better to be just one variant behind than 7 variants behind.

I’m so glad that I got my flu shot. Because I didn’t want to get my flu shot and COVID booster at the same time, I decided to get the former just before the latter became available. So I got my flu shot just before Labor Day weekend and my updated COVID booster a week later.

The updated COVID booster, the flu shot, physical distancing (when possible), and face masks should be no-brainers rather than the subjects of debates. These precautions should be considered to be just the bare minimum to avoid being Darwin Award fodder. In my opinion, they don’t go far enough.

A new habit that I’ve started this year is using xylitol nasal spray. There’s a commercial product called Xlear that you can buy. (Just make sure to avoid the version with the drug in it.) You can also make your own xylitol nasal spray for MUCH cheaper with distilled water, salt, xylitol, and drops of grapefruit seed extract. I add in a dash of bromelain powder as well.

Why can’t there be a national debate about xylitol nasal spray? Xylitol is said to reduce viral loads by making it more difficult for viruses to attach to cells. I’m making this a PERMANENT addition to my daily routine. (NOTE: This is IN ADDITION to other precautions, NOT a substitute.) From what I’ve read, the nose is where viruses live. It seems to make sense given that nasal symptoms (which I think are nasty) are common in colds, RSV, flu, and COVID-19. Also, the nasal passages are a stagnant environment that does not get cleansed easily. It seems to me that infections happen because the immune system has limited ability to detect viruses there, has limited ability to fight viruses there, and/or can be overwhelmed by a sufficiently large viral load.

Why can’t there be a national debate about Vitamin D3? The pandemic prompted me to supplement with it all year long, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. (Prior to the pandemic, I skipped Vitamin D3 supplementation in summer.) My target is 60 to 80 ng/mL, the upper end of normal. Vitamin D deficiency is said to promote numerous weird and nasty health problems.

Why can’t there be a national debate about selenium? One Brazil nut per day provides plenty of selenium. If you cannot eat Brazil nuts (due to allergies/intolerances or because they’re unavailable), you can get selenium from a supplement instead. I’m making sure to get enough selenium for the rest of my life.

And why can’t there be a debate about the impact of junk food on immune system health and inflammation? The Standard American Diet is the most toxic diet in the history of the world to EVER be accepted as the societal norm. Excessive junk food consumption today is like the chain-smoking of the 1950s and early 1960s. Unfortunately, bad diets will be harder for society to combat than smoking. All living things need to eat, but no living things have a need to suck on burning objects. Because I’ve always been thinner than most people and never had blood cholesterol problems, immune system health is now my biggest motivation to consume a healthy diet.

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Depends on what you mean by national debate. Here’s one good reason why resources probably shouldn’t be directed this way. Well, an article with lots of reasons why. Even on this board, we’ve had a few threads on articles systematically debunking the notion that, if adequate is good, lits should be even better.

Probably holds just the same with your Brazil nut and xylitol spritzer too.

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Because vitamin salesmen are snake oil salesmen. They do not belong on the stage. Does not matter how many people buy into a bunch of lies.

You are doing what you want to do. That is your business obviously. But it is not a national debate.

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Pretty good article. Sooo…my medically prescribed d3supplements did significantly improve my d3 blood readings, but there is no evidence that my improved readings are associated with improved health outcomes?

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I was clearly told if I take fish oil my blood work will improve but my mortality risk wont change. I needed to exercise and change my diet.

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Apparently, that’s so.

One reason I posted the article from this specific author (John Mandrola) is that I knew there were a fair number of links to large scale studies contained in it…saves me the job of pointing out the foolishness of repeatedly repeating :wink: the same ole “national dialogue” tomfoolery. When there are so many studies out there basically in the public domain that refute the notion that hyper supplementation has meaningful clinical benefits, continuing to search for something to support ones beliefs to the contrary smacks of anti scientific, magical thinking.

There’s a lot of it around and it gets to be a bit like playing whack-a-mole trying to point out the faulty reasoning. It’s more than just a tedious exercise, mind. As Mandrola points out, there’s an opportunity cost to channeling research $$$bucks to keep coming up with the same null result. Happens a lot with anti-vaxxers. For all the evidence showing no correlation between MMR vaccines and autism, nothing is enough to satisfy the True Believer. Mark my words, this’ll come up again in the not too distant future from the same source.

No dog in this fight. In the past, my vit D has never measured low. My new PCP doesn’t order tests routinely, I found. Suits me…got enough real stuff to be going on with!

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I don’t remember where, nor do I remember when, it was long before “the Internet” as is appears today. Probably somewhere between 3 and 4 decades ago. But I clearly remember someone saying that supplements, for the most part, for the vast majority of people, simply result in expensive urine.

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For the “True Believers” you are on your own looking as humans do for consensus. Unfortunately other people with diseases are being hurt by you. It is always an option to believe a sociopath that lies endlessly to you. Spreading lies about pills is truly wrong.

Then VeeEnn the argument goes supplements are not drugs so they do no harm. We can spread the word. False on a few counts, people need help and you are not necessarily a doctor reading this, taking too many of a supplement can increase your mortality risk, your abusing other people’s wallets, and most of all you are buying into complete lies and spreading them. Ugly.