Sycophantic Chooch from South Carolina

 

“Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) indicated that he thought history would judge Trump's responsibility for the siege that resulted in the deaths of several people, including one Capitol Police officer, but added that he did not think it was the Senate's role to convict the former president for inciting the riot.

“‘Well, I mean, he’s going to have a place in history for all of this, but the point of the matter is that we're in Congress. We're not prosecutors. Impeachment was never meant to be a prosecution. I think I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to end the impeachment trial because I think it's blatantly unconstitutional. As to Donald Trump, he is the most popular figure in the Republican Party. He had a consequential presidency. January 6 was a very bad day for America, and he'll get his share of blame in history.'

“Graham's comments come as the Senate GOP has signaled that a conviction of the former president is unlikely to occur, as many members have expressed doubt over whether such a maneuver is constitutional. A number of Republicans, including Graham, have criticized the former president over the Jan. 6 violence. The president's second impeachment by the House last month saw 10 Republicans vote in favor of charging him with inciting an insurrection.

“The South Carolina Republican, a top ally of the former president during his one term in the White House, said last month that Trump's legacy had been ‘tarnished’ by the riot and that Trump's ‘actions were the problem’ that led to the violence” (The Hill).

 

“He Has No Values.”

 

“Host Chuck Todd asked Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press to respond to Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-California) suggestion after the Democratic House voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) from committee assignments that a future GOP majority could take similar action against individual Democrats.

“Schiff replied that he was unconcerned about McCarthy’s comments: ‘Kevin McCarthy stands for nothing except the perpetuation of his own position. He has no values, and in my view cares about little except for hoping to be speaker one day, God forbid,’ he said. ‘If members of either party are threatening other members of the body and suggesting they be executed, if they are casting doubt on 9/11 or school shootings, if they’re heckling victims of crime like Marjorie Taylor Greene did with the victim of the Parkland shooting … they should be expelled from their committees, whatever party they are in,’ the Democratic congressman said.

“Schiff added that he was not worried about setting a precedent that could be used against Democrats ‘as long as we hold the same standard. You have members that are threatening to execute each other, and they should be removed from their committees,’ he added, referencing comments Greene ‘liked’ on Facebook calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s [D-California] execution” (The Hill).

Here's why that second coronavirus shot can be such a doozy (CNN)

Updated 7:34 AM EST February 4, 2021

“So, you finally got your coronavirus vaccine. It took weeks of waiting, maybe a few calls before hitting the jackpot with a drive-through vaccination clinic. Or maybe you're a health care worker who got the shot at work. Now comes the hard part -- making sure you get that second dose on time. It means another appointment, and keeping a close eye on the calendar. Plus, perhaps, a little bit of anxiety.

“Doctors have been warning people that first dose can have a kick to it. And now, people are starting to report that second dose can cause more side-effects than the first dose. It's not an unexpected finding. Moderna and Pfizer both said in their submissions to the US Food and Drug Administration that there was a noticeable difference in the reactions to the doses when they were testing their vaccines in volunteers. ‘Grade 3 solicited local adverse reactions were more frequently reported after Dose 2 than Dose 1,’ Moderna's statement reads. Grade 3 adverse reactions include swelling, pain, body aches, headache and fever.

“But why? Analogies always help. Imagine you look out the window one night and see someone skulking around. He looks creepy, and you may be a little alarmed, but you don't panic. ‘The first time someone sees that peeping Tom, they might be quite creeped out. They might go the police station and report this person and someone will draw a sketch and that goes to all the police stations,’ says evolutionary biology professor Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona. 

“A few weeks later, you hear a noise, look out the window, and see the same face. You are more likely to react strongly this time, knowing you've seen this face before. Your heart pounds, your hands get clammy and your mind races. You may even call 911. And the police will be ready to come grab the guy. ‘The next time that person tries to do something, there is likely to be a much bigger response because there are more people who are familiar with that face now,’ Worobey explains.

“The first dose of vaccine is like that first look at the stranger -- the body's immune system takes notice and takes some precautions, but the second time it's even more primed to recognize and respond to that prompt. This is how vaccines work in general, of course. They're meant to be like a wanted poster, educating the immune system to be on the lookout. So-called prime-boost vaccines -- those that work better with two or more doses -- draw out this response. ‘With the first dose, you are having to generate an immune response from the ground up,’ Worobey said.

“The body produces antibodies, but also starts to generate immune cells called B cells to make targeted antibodies. This takes time -- a process known as maturing. ‘You end up with a finely-tuned B-cell population,’ Worobey said. ‘Then the second time you give a person the shot, those cells are sitting around like a clone army and can immediately start producing a very big immune response, which is what is happening when people feel like they have been kicked in the teeth.’

“Thomas Geisbert, a professor and expert in emerging viral threats at the University of Texas Medical Branch, notes that some vaccines build up plenty of response with a single dose. But the prime-boost strategy builds a longer-lasting defense force, he says. ‘Your immune system is already jacked up from the first dose,’ he said. So, with a second dose, ‘You tend to build up a longer and more durable response.’

“The flu-like symptoms that come with any viral infection are not caused by the virus itself. They are caused by the body's response. The fever and muscle aches come from inflammation, which in turn is a sign that immune cells called T cells are sending out an alarm in the form of signaling chemicals called cytokines. ‘You get swelling at the injection site,’ said Geisbert. ‘People can have chills or aches and pains, or they are feeling off or feeling tired.’ 

“That bodes well for predicting whether the vaccines will provide better protection than natural immunity. "These symptoms mean that your immune system is revving up and the vaccine is actually working," US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told a White House briefing last month. The new coronavirus has only been around for about a year, so no one can say yet whether it will be more like measles, which people catch once in a lifetime, or like influenza, which people catch over and over again.

“Studies indicate that immunity to coronavirus lasts for months anyway -- six months, nine months or even longer. That's not 100% of the population -- immunity varies a lot from one person to another, and a few cases have been documented of people being infected twice with coronavirus. But they seem to be uncommon instances. These studies also take snapshots of people's immune systems over time and they show that right after infection, two types of antibody spike in number and then crash, while a third type builds up more slowly. And then B cells that have been "trained" to recognize the virus start producing specific antibodies that build up in the blood.

“Vaccination may speed up this process -- providing people quicker protection but also perhaps providing a broader level of protection that a natural infection would. ‘Because this is all going so fast, the studies and the key data are not there yet,’ Geisbert said” (CNN).

I've had my Covid-19 vaccine — now what can I safely do? (CNN)

Updated 6:21 AM EST February 3, 2021 (CNN)

The day has finally come. You've received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine currently on the Western market — Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca. Does that mean you're free to go about life as you did before the pandemic once immunity kicks in?  Sorry, there is no immunity passport yet, experts told CNN. There are still safety precautions you need to follow in order to keep you, your loved ones and everyone else safe and protected from the deadly coronavirus. 

Read on for answers from the experts on top questions such as when can you stop wearing a mask, eat inside a restaurant, travel, go to sporting events and concerts, and freely visit friends and family.

Can I please stop wearing a face mask? Let's "face" it: The answer is no. Try to think of a face mask as your new best friend, one that you plan to cherish and appreciate for a good, long time. Here are five reasons why.

1) It's not 100% protection. Even the best of the currently available vaccines only offer up to 95% protection when you are fully immunized. That means there is a 5% chance you can catch the novel coronavirus at any time. Think that sounds small? Let's compare that risk to birth control: Pills, patches, vaginal rings and shots are 91% to 96% effective. Yet that translates to nine women becoming pregnant for every 100 women on each of those forms of birth control, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

2) Everyone's different. Some people are going to mount more robust immune responses to both rounds of the Covid-19 vaccination than others. That's one of the key reasons experts are insisting everyone receive the second shot of the vaccine within a key time frame. "In looking at the Phase 1, Phase 2 data, what I saw with a single dose is some people had high levels of virus-neutralizing antibody, others were non-responders," said vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, in a prior interview. "So, the major reason for the second dose is to get everybody to respond. If you just get a single dose, you don't really know where you stand," Hotez said. Remember, it can take two to three weeks after you get the second shot before your immunity fully kicks in.

3) A moving target. As is typical with viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mutating around the world -- creating variants that are proving to be more contagious than those the US is currently battling. Experts are already warning that antibodies from a prior case of Covid-19 won't protect against being reinfected with a variant from South Africa. "If it becomes dominant, the experience of our colleagues in South Africa indicate that even if you've been infected with the original virus that there is a very high rate of reinfection," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday. "Previous infection does not seem to protect you against reinfection." There is also a possibility that the current vaccines won't fully protect against the new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That's being studied feverishly right now, so stay tuned.

4) You could be a silent spreader. Remember "Typhoid Mary" Mallon? She was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook for New York families and refused to believe she was an asymptomatic conduit for typhoid fever because she remained healthy. Refusing to cooperate with authorities, Mallon contaminated at least 122 people in the 1880s, leaving five dead, before she was caught and quarantined twice for a total of 26 years. That scenario could apply to Covid-19. "We don't yet know whether being vaccinated means that you're no longer a carrier of coronavirus. That is, fully immunized people may still be able to spread Covid-19 to others," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. "It's possible that someone could get the vaccine but could still be an asymptomatic carrier," Wen said in a Q&A for CNN. "They may not show symptoms, but they have the virus in their nasal passageway so that if they're speaking, breathing, sneezing and so on, they can still transmit it to others."

5) Will immunity last? Researchers don't yet know just how long the immunity given by the current vaccines -- such as it is -- will last. There is a possibility that booster doses may be needed in the months or years to come. That's not uncommon -- adults need tetanus and diphtheria boosters every 10 years. So, until more is known about how long the protection lasts -- and against which variants -- stay safe and protect others by wearing a mask. 

When can I hang out with friends and family? That depends on everyone's vaccine status, experts say. If friends or other members of your family have also received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, the risk is greatly reduced, especially if the visit is outdoors. "It's probably pretty safe to see others who were also vaccinated, after everyone gets both doses and waits a few weeks," Wen said. It would also be safe if the unvaccinated friends or family members or friends quarantined for 10 days before the outdoor get-together. 

However, if the visit is indoors, "there is going to be some level of risk," Wen said, especially with the current spread of more contagious variants and the less than 100% efficacy of today's vaccines. "That risk will be much lower than if you were not vaccinated, but the risk is still going to be there to you, and you could still be a risk to the unvaccinated members of your family, as you could be an asymptomatic carrier who transmits to them," Wen said. "If you really want to spend time with the grandkids indoors, the safest way to do this is still for everyone to quarantine for at least 10 days and lower their risk during these 10 days," Wen said. "Quarantining for seven days and a negative test is an option too, but everyone also has to do the quarantine — a negative test alone is not enough."

And again, just because you've been vaccinated, that doesn't reduce your responsibility. You should continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing whenever you are around others. "You wouldn't want to engage in activities where you could potentially acquire the novel coronavirus and then transmit it to others," Wen said. "That includes seeing other people who are vaccinated, but not wearing a mask — based on what we know now, they could have the virus and pass it onto you, and you could pass it onto the people you live with. An abundance of caution is still a good idea."

When can I eat at an indoor restaurant or go to a concert or sporting event? Indoor restaurants are likely hotspots for Covid-19 transmission. That's partly because no one is wearing a mask while they eat, thus spreading their respiratory droplets around as they socialize. The other reason? Most restaurants do not have HEPA filters or other filtration equipment on their circulation systems, leaving the air poorly ventilated and a prime breeding ground for virus spread.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding "poorly ventilated spaces." So, even with a second vaccine, you're still taking a chance that you might be exposed to Covid-19 and become a silent spreader. But won't the typical 6-foot spread between tables or booth partitions do the trick?  "I think the 6 feet indoors is not enough by itself," said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, who has been studying Covid-19 transmission. "You have to have good ventilation in that bar or restaurant," said Marr, the co-author of a paper on airborne transmission of Covid-19 via very small droplets called aerosols.

However, even a HEPA filter wouldn't make environmental engineer Marr feel comfortable eating inside a restaurant. In order for the filter to protect you, the virus-laden air would have to pass through the air handling system and be filtered first before it gets to you, she said. "HEPA filters reduce the amount of virus in the background air, but most transmission takes place in these close contact type of scenarios where you're near someone that's infected and they're spreading lots of virus. The HEPA filter doesn't help with that," she said. "And since I can't wear a mask while I'm eating, I'm just avoiding indoor restaurants until this is over," Marr said.

What about fun things to do, such as concerts and sporting events? "Once vaccinated, an outdoor sporting event or concert is probably safe, if there is good social distancing between households and everyone is wearing masks," Wen said. "Indoor, crowded gatherings are probably still best to avoid even if you're vaccinated."

Can I travel if I've been vaccinated? "I want to emphasize that now is not the time to be traveling period, internationally or domestically, it's just not a good time to be traveling," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's new director, in a CNN global town hall last week. And that applies to people who have already been vaccinated, added Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser. "Getting vaccinated does not say now I have a free pass to travel," Fauci said at the CNN global town hall. "Nor does it say that I have a free pass to put aside all of the public health measures that we talk about all the time." "I mean, if you absolutely have to travel and it's essential, then obviously, one would have to do that. But we don't want people to think because they got vaccinated, then other public health recommendations just don't apply," Fauci said.

 

On Hubris Derangement Syndrome: Jared Kushner was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Abby Zimet

 

                                      Super villain fish eye

“Because God knows there’s still plentiful weirdness lurking in the conspiratorial water, Jared Kushner - Waxen Wonder Boy, Possessed Ken Doll, merciless slumlord and former ‘senior-adviser’ to his twice-impeached father-in-law - was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Trump/Epstein fanboy Alan Dershowitz, a sort of bad joke of the day likened to Hannibal Lecter nominating Jeffrey Dahmer for a Michelin Star.

“Jared and his deputy Avi Berkowitz received the admittedly low-bar, send-a-postcard-to-Norway honor - Hitler got it back in the day - for negotiating the ‘Abraham Accords,’ a normalization pact between Israel and several Arab countries enabling the Saudis to continue fueling a deadly arms race in the region. 

“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had long been courting Kushner and, thus, likely and deliberately rendering him complicit in both the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the wounding and killing of countless Yemeni and Palestinian children. Though it seems unlikely the uber- racist, apartheid-friendly Kushner lost much sleep over the carnage. Of his nominal so-called ‘peace plan’ for the Middle East, one of his 782 ‘jobs’ in the White House, he said it was ‘a great deal,’ adding, in a historically tone-dead bit of victim-blaming, that if Palestinians rejected it, ‘They're going to screw up another opportunity like they've screwed up every other opportunity they've ever had.’

“The role here of Dershowitz - a longtime Zionist, defender of the indefensible likes of Trump and OJ, and groupie to Epstein (though he insists he kept his underpants on) who argued at age 80 for lowering the age of consent to 14 - was so perfectly, icky appropriate to spur the revival of the #CreepyDershowitz hashtag.

“Among hundreds of other nominations, the Nobel Committee received, the front-runners are reportedly Black Lives Matter, Greta Thunberg, WHO, Stacey Abrams and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. May they please do the right thing.

“Meanwhile, the nomination of the inept, corrupt Kushner, with his robotic smirk best captured in the famous Buckingham Palace grift, was met with such horrified laughter on Twitter people could barely stagger to their keyboards to make clear they didn't have Jared's Nobel on their 2012 Bingo Card because he's scum of the earth; they didn't realize you could buy a Nobel; they didn't know committing crimes for four years in the White House qualified you for same; they're not sure the guy who sent the Jewish Space Laser to earth even deserves noble cheese fries, at least as much as their own mint juleps or garden gnomes; they'll never forgive the longtime damage done by ‘Jared Fucktard Kushner's pale, ghastly fingers’ on the lives of countless poor people living in his crappy New York buildings as seen in the documentary ‘Dirty Money’; and if he actually gets it and the Sorest Biggest Loser doesn't again, this year's Seder could prove really awkward.

“Many aimed their fury at the ignorant, arrogant shmuck who, tasked with slowing COVID -yet another job he was breathtakingly unqualified for – and hence the Times' headline, later changed, ‘Jared Kushner Is Going to Get Us All Killed’ - haughtily referenced ‘our stockpiles’ of PPE. ‘Because nothing says peace like, 'Fuck the blue states - let them die.’

“Others asked if we know yet on which black market Jared allegedly sold our missing piles of PPE and 8,722 ventilators and 20 million vaccine doses after he got done selling the ragged remains of his soul to the devil. Jared's so despised one guy wondered if he'd be the first person nominated for both a Nobel and life in prison in the same month - though ‘shouldn't both honors be withheld until he reaches puberty?’ - and one prompted a lively debate pondering if Jared would steal a life jacket from a toddler.

“The query got a million yeses, also suggestions he'd object to the kid having it in the first place. He'd mark it up to sell back to his parents if he hadn't already separated them, and he'd ride the kid for buoyancy and sell the jacket to the Saudis. In a final unsurprising assault on decency, news came that in 2020 Ivanka, the tawdry two of 'em, made between $23,791,645 and $120,676,949 in outside income last year despite their busy schedules as ‘advisers’ and sellers of vaccines and state secrets. That's millions, from super-villains of a party that think $1,400 is too much to give struggling Americans. Bottom-line, lest we forget: #TrumpCrimeFamily  (Abby Zimet, On Hubris Derangement Syndrome, Common Dreams).

Double-Masking? Here’s How It Can Keep You Safe

 

“With more contagious variants of the coronavirus spreading and vaccination still months away for many Americans, experts agree it’s time to think harder about how well your face masks are protecting you. That could mean double-masking or upgrading to an N95 respirator, the gold standard used by healthcare workers, in particularly risky situations, experts told BuzzFeed News. And while the best way to mask will depend on individual circumstances, it’s clear an ill-fitting, flimsy layer of cloth just doesn’t cut it…

“How should you double-mask? When? Is a cloth mask still effective? ‘The philosophy that one mask is good, two masks are better is probably true,’ said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. ‘I would prefer that somebody wore one mask properly than two masks improperly, but if you can wear two masks properly, that's great.’

“…Whatever you wear, make sure it fits snugly to your face. Whether you’re doubling up, wearing an N95, or just donning your favorite fabric mask, the most important thing to do is make sure you’re wearing it properly. Masks should cover your nose and mouth and be as tight to your face as possible, according to the CDC. ‘It should fit tightly all the way around the mask, so that there aren’t any gaps where air — and viruses — can easily leak through,’ wrote Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News. ‘Having a gap is like having a hole in the mask.’

“In an article published earlier this month, Marr, an expert in airborne transmission of viruses, recommended wearing a cloth mask on top of a surgical mask as one way to reduce leaks. Some engineers have also developed braces that help seal masks to the wearer's face. ‘It forces the air to go through the material’ rather than leaking out the sides or around your nose, Huffman said. Before heading out, check to see if you can feel air coming out the sides of the mask or out around your nose, and if so, try to adjust the nose wire and straps to make it as tight as possible.

“Who should double up? Dr. Monica Gandhi, who coauthored the article with Marr, recommends that people who are more at risk of severe illness, work indoors around other people, or live-in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high wear a cloth mask on top of a surgical one or insert a filter in between two cloth layers. The idea has been hailed as common sense by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. The CDC, meanwhile, has not made a recommendation on double-masking and did not respond to questions from BuzzFeed News.

“Gandhi, an infectious diseases doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said people shouldn’t double-mask if they’re just going out for a walk in an area where they can still keep their distance from others. Double-masking is more important when indoors and in places where distancing is difficult, she added. Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at UCSF, said he prefers to wear the cloth mask or whichever layer is flatter underneath, saying he’s found it’s easier to create a seal on his face that way. (This reporter personally tried it both ways and found not too much of a difference.) ‘It’s what works for the wearer,’ Rutherford said.

“While some experts said it was probably fine to wear two cloth masks — as long as you can breathe easily and fit them close to your face — they said it probably isn’t worth it to wear three or more masks at once. ‘It just muffles your voice and it doesn’t add any extra efficacy,’ Gandhi said…

“I have N95s. Where should I wear them? While there is still an inadequate supply of N95s, the gold standard for protection, substitutes like KN95s are more available to the general public than they were months ago. If you have access to them, experts recommended wearing them in indoor spaces where you’re mixing with strangers, like at the grocery store and on public transit. ‘The extent of the surge has been greater and that means that the possibility that the person standing in line next to you has an infection is greater,’ said Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF.

“Some experts are now arguing for universal N95 use, and certain European countries have begun requiring medical-grade face coverings in grocery stores and on public transit, though the CDC still says N95s and surgical masks should be reserved for healthcare workers. Even as daily case counts decline from the spikes seen over the holiday season, the spread of more contagious variants makes all activities outside one’s home riskier than ever before. ‘The hierarchy here is surgical is better than cloth, and N95 is better than surgical,’ Wachter said.

“That isn’t to say you should worry about going to the store or other indoor spaces with strangers if you and others are still just wearing cloth masks, according to Benjamin. ‘Even if you properly wear even a sufficiently thick cloth mask, your risk should be reduced and at the end of the day, this whole drill and exercise is about reducing risk,’ Benjamin said. ‘For the average person doing most of the average things that we do, I still believe that properly wearing a good cloth mask that's more than two layers thick should be sufficient.’

“Will my cloth mask protect me from the new coronavirus variants? Experts said the variants don’t have superpowers to penetrate masks better than the older versions of the virus. But when they do get through, it’s more likely a person will get sick. ‘It’s not so much that the mask is less effective against stopping particles, it's that these variants of the virus can transmit a little bit more efficiently,’ Huffman said. ‘The mask is doing its job and is still doing it in exactly the same way it was.’

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about the variants or what makes them more contagious. It could be that they’re better at entering cells, or that they produce higher viral loads, meaning that when an infected person talks or coughs, they’re spewing out more viral particles. ‘What they do have is the ability to exploit any kind of lapses in the way you wear those masks, so if you’ve got a flimsy mask or if you’ve got a mask that you don’t wear that well ... it’s going to be less forgiving when you’re dealing with a new variant,’ said Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

“If you’re still wearing a bandana or a single-layer cloth mask, it’s time to upgrade. Because more contagious versions of the virus are spreading, experts agree that it’s worth it for people to upgrade their masks. ‘People should not be wearing bandana masks at all,’ Benjamin said. ‘Certainly, that covering will reduce your risk to some degree, but it's really insufficient.’

“Rosie Redfield, a microbiologist and professor in the University of British Columbia's Department of Zoology, recommends people check their current masks for leaks and determine how well they filter the air that passes through them. ‘When you breathe out, do you feel warm air flowing past your cheeks and eyes? If you’re outside, do your glasses fog up? Does it get harder to breathe if you use the sides of your hands to press the mask edges tightly to your face? Yes, to these questions means that your mask leaks,’ Redfield said in an email to BuzzFeed News.

“Tightening the straps or changing the shape of the nose wire may help, but you may need to simply try a new mask, she said. To test how well your mask filters air, Redfield said to see how hard it is to blow air through it when it’s pressed against your mouth. ‘If it’s almost as easy as without the mask, then the mask is not a good filter,’ she said. ‘If it's very hard to blow air through the mask, then the mask may be too tight a filter, making it more likely that air will be forced to go around it rather than through it.’

“Experts recommend getting several washable, multilayered cloth masks with a filter or a filter pocket. Gandhi said you can also sew a filter or vacuum bag in between two layers of fabric. ‘If you’re wearing a single ply, particularly if you're not vaccinated, I personally would go to double-masking or upgrade the quality of the mask, whichever one is convenient,’ said Wachter.

“Until more people are vaccinated, keep distancing and wearing masks, and avoid mixing indoors. Of course, masks are just one way to reduce your risk of transmitting and spreading COVID-19, and everyone should continue distancing, avoiding crowds, limiting time indoors with people outside your household, and staying home as much as possible. That message has been stressed by public health officials since the beginning of the pandemic, and though it’s sparked fights in some states, President Joe Biden has said he is working to depoliticize safety measures like mask-wearing.

“More than a year into the coronavirus outbreak, Adalja said everyone should be ‘much more meticulous’ about the precautions they take when outside their homes, and when you are eligible to get the vaccine, go get it. ‘Whatever it is, try to do a little bit better job at both the masking and all the different prevention steps that you and we have been doing to try to get everybody past that finish line where we have enough people vaccinated to spend less attention on these things,’ Huffman said” (BuzzFeed).

"If approved, aducanumab would be the first available treatment to potentially change the progression of Alzheimer’s"

 

This morning [January 29], Biogen announced that the FDA has extended the review period for aducanamab by three months, to June 7, 2021. The FDA requested additional data and analyses for its review of the potential treatment for Alzheimer’s. The request for the additional data and analyses is considered a Major Amendment to the FDA application, which drives the extended time for review.

As a science-based patient advocacy organization, we are encouraged and appreciate the thoughtful and rigorous review of scientific data and analysis by the FDA.

We believe the publicly released scientific data, the crushing realities faced by individuals and families living with Alzheimer’s, and no approved treatment for the underlying disease, support FDA approval of aducanumab, accompanied by a Phase 4 post marketing surveillance study.

If approved, aducanumab would be the first available treatment to potentially change the progression of Alzheimer’s, not just the symptoms, for millions of people facing the disease today.

We will continue to advocate, driven by science, on behalf of our constituents. I will continue to share important developments as the FDA pursues their review process. And, I will notify you when they announce a final decision. Of course, no matter the outcome in this case, we remain relentless in our efforts to realize our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s. Thank you for everything you do to make that possible.

Harry Johns
Chief Executive Officer

Alzheimer's Association
225 N. Michigan Ave., FL 17, Chicago, IL 60601
800.272.3900 | alz.org