Plus: asks and points of interest So it turns out that one way you can take care of your health is to take care of your back? And your humble correspondent isn’t always the best at that? All of which is to say: no essay this week, mostly bullet points. But before we get to those, let’s check in on…
At first glance, it might seem like Wisconsin has passed the high water mark for COVID, flu and RSV:
At this point, you’re probably thinking “He’s got a ‘but,’ doesn’t he? What’s the ‘but’?” And you’re right, I do! All this sounds like good news — and it is. But: even though COVID hospital admissions have dropped, they’re still quite high. Hospitals and particularly intensive care units are quite full. And again, COVID admissions have fallen. But hospitalizations from flu are still climbing, as are mortality rates for all respiratory viruses.
We are in something of a strange position on the COVID front these days. Infections are moving up, but it’s not time to hit the panic button quite yet. New boosters are on their way, but they haven’t been approved yet, and there’s no official guidance on how to use them.
I’ve been meaning for a while now to talk about long COVID and the effect it might have on your community. And so I will today. The view from 30,000 feet: there’s a lot we’re uncertain about. But we do know long COVID hurts people physically, emotionally, and financially. But before we get to that: Combination flu and COVID vaccines won’t…
The story arises from a reconsideration of evidence by the U.S. Department of Energy. The DoE used to think it unlikely that COVID started in a lab. But based on undisclosed intelligence, it now says that it did, more likely than not.
You can guess from that last sentence that this is not a firm conclusion. And indeed, it’s not. The DoE says that it has “low confidence” in its theory. To my knowledge, none of the other U.S. intelligence agencies have said they have conclusive evidence one way or another.
In fact, news reports are that the intelligence community is divided on this question. Some say COVID had natural origins, some say it didn’t.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 5, 2022 CONTACT: The Rev. Daniel Schultz, Community Health Program Director, Wisconsin Council of Churches, 608-837-3108 x31; CHURCHES URGED TO RETURN TO PHYSICALLY DISTANCED MINISTRY STATEWIDE – The Wisconsin Council of Churches strongly recommends that churches statewide temporarily return to remote operations as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations soar due to the highly-transmissible Omicron variant in Wisconsin. While the WCC…
With One Body And One Spirit: Returning to Church 3.0 1. The theology, ethics & values which guide these recommendations are anchored in 1 Corinthians 12:26-27, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” In times of…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. – 2 Corinthians 1:1 (NRSV) INTRODUCTION By…
