Omicron…New York in a State of Emergency Saturday, November 27, 2021. 1:00 PM Yesterday morning we had not heard of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529. The New York Times did not mention it and The Economist had no information in their morning news feed. It was then one of many variants of the virus that causes COVID. Then the World Health Organization named it Omicron. WHO reserves Greek letter names for variants of particular concern. Omicron is one of them. The global…
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COVID and kids Disparate strategies point to need for vaccine By Richard Sternberg M.D. The amount of information regarding COVID in children and the risks and benefits of vaccination is overwhelming and as reported even varies from country to country. There is no clear-cut consensus on anything in the younger age groups other than that the risk of developing a case requiring treatment, hospitalization, or leading to death is lower if the patient is younger. Still, the risks of vaccine…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg: Hey Aaron Rodgers, Man Up! Last week a friend told me a story that should have surprised me, but unfortunately I was inured to. In fact, you could say I had been immunized to the situation. Her friend who she had worked with frequently over the past few months, came up to her smiling and announced that he had finally “bit the bullet” and had gotten vaccinated against COVID. He had refused up to that point…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg COVID: Good News/Bad News Six weeks ago, I wrote about a new drug called malnupiravir from Merck that was a game changer in the treatment of COVID-19. When taken in the first few days of infection it was 50% effective in the prevention of hospitalization and death. While not as good as monoclonal antibodies this was considered an amazing result and the study was terminated early in order to immediately ask for emergency approval. It was…
Cooperstown to consider cannabis opt-out law in December By KEVIN LIMITI • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN — The Board of Trustees voted to consider a cannabis opt-out law on December 6 at 6:30 p.m. MacGuire Benton was the dissenting vote. Hanna Bergene and Joe Membrino were absent. Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh has been in favor of an opt-out law, arguing for drafting a law which would then become open to public comment. “The only option for getting public comment is holding a…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg, M.D. Life/COVID 67.0 Evolution On the one hand the media is reporting the number of cases of COVID-19 is receding in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Delta variant wave of the pandemic has passed its peak. On the other hand, it states that that the approaching winter season and holidays present another opportunity for cases to increase. I read a report on October 28 that “Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie see virus deaths.”…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg Long COVID The concept of Long COVID has become a hot topic, especially since people are finally becoming aware that having COVID–19 is not just an acute respiratory syndrome that may or may not lead up to death but a very complicated potentially lifelong debilitating disease process. While there is a general agreement on what Long COVID is, there is no uniform definition internationally and it is not clear that some long-term post COVID complications such…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg, M.D. A return to normalcy after COVID? It appears the summer surge of COVID-19 in the United States is abating. Numbers are going down except in the hardest hit states. The average number of deaths last week was approximately 1,800 per day and the number of daily infections is about 100,000. These seem to be trending down but if they flare up again and represent averages over the long-term we are talking about 675,000 deaths per…
Opinion by Richard Sternberg M.D. There is good news to report on COVID prevention Last week, Merck and Company announced that an experimental pill they are working on to treat COVID-19 early in the course of the disease to keep patients from becoming seriously ill or dying is proving safe and effective. After discussion with the FDA, it and Merck felt the results were so good they decided to close additional enrollment to the trial. They will finish out the…
Life in the Time of Covid-19 Here we go again with the coronavirus pandemic Several months ago, I stopped writing my weekly column on life in the time of Covid-19. The rollout of the vaccinations was going well locally, the numbers of people hospitalized locally were low, and organizations were opening up. The Rotary Club that I belong to in Cooperstown was making plans to go back to meetings in person. I was also recovering from major surgery and it…
