Category Archives: Coronavirus

Title 8 vs. Title 42 — A Brief Primer on Immigration Law

By tmess2 | Published May 14, 2023

This past week, the expiration of “Title 42” was a big headline in the news.  And, while it is too soon to be sure, it is likely that the expiration may end up being a tempest in a tea pot (not that the MAGA folks will ever admit this reality).  But to the extent that this comes up as a topic, here is some basic (admittedly oversimplified) immigration law for non-lawyers.

One of the major development in law in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Napoleonic Code in France.  Prior to Napoleon, when laws were enacted, they were recorded and published.  But you would need to search through every annual volume to see what the statutes were on any given topic.  The concept behind the Napoleonic Code was that in addition to the annual volumes of that year’s new statute, there would also be a collection organized by topic of the current laws in effect on a topic.  It took time for the idea to catch on her, but eventually, the U.S. organized its laws into the U.S. Code.

But there is one problem with the code system — where do you place a law in the code that impacts multiple topics.  When it comes to immigration law, most laws impacting immigration are found in Title 8 — the part of the U.S. Code governing immigration and naturalization.  However, there is also a title of the U.S. Code (Title 18) that contains most of the federal criminal statutes — which is why there are some things that are not allowed by Title 8 which are simply improper immigration and not criminal.  And for this discussion, there is Title 42 which contains laws related to Public Health and Welfare. Continue Reading...

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Notes from your Doctor: Covid-19 Updates

By DocJess | Published January 25, 2021

The news about the coronavirus and various treatments and vaccines was rather dour yesterday. Luckily, as individuals we can hear and understand that knowledge and use it to inform our actions to, as best as possible, protect ourselves and our loved ones.

Variants and Mutants

  • It appears that the British variant is not only more transmissible, but also potentially more deadly.
  • The Brazilian mutant has been found in a patient in Minnesota.
  • There appears to be a “home grown” variant in California that may have contributed to the large explosion of cases and deaths.
  • The South African mutant appears to be afforded neutralizing effects by the Moderna vaccine, but potentially not by the Pfizer one. Moderna is developing a booster just in case.

Vaccines

  • AstraZeneca is going to announce to the EU version of the FDA that it is only 10% effective for people aged 65 and over, meaning it will not be approved in the US.
  • Merck has ceased work on its two vaccines as they are not showing efficacy in Phase 1 and 2 trials.
  • Johnson & Johnson may announce that they are seeking FDA Emergency Use Authorization in 2 – 3 weeks.
  • Novavax is about a third of the way to their Phase 3 target enrollments, and their protocol called for a large number of people over age 65. They are starting to see requests from participants to be unblinded, and the rate is double amoungst those over age 65.
  • West Virginia has the highest percentage of vaccinated population, mostly because they are NOT using chain pharmacies for distribution. When we look at roll out percentages, comparing State, hospital and pharmacy penetration, pharmacies outside of West Virginia do the worst.

What does it mean when something is “More Transmissible”?

I get this question a lot, and I am going to explain it in simple, non-medical terms. Think of someone smoking a cigarette, and of “transmissible” as how much smoke you can smell.

If you are outside on a windy day, you may smell a whiff of smoke from a single cigarette. The further away it is, the less you smell. You may not even see the smoke itself to smell it. Continue Reading...

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Notes from your Doctor: Let’s Talk Vaccines

By DocJess | Published September 21, 2020

There are currently 27 vaccines in Phase 1 trials, 15 in Phase 2, and 9 in Phase 3. Both China and Russia have approved vaccines, but, um, there are some problems as none were ready for prime time yet. In fact, one of the Chinese vaccines was approved for single dose, and now they’re going to give everyone who got a first dose a second one, because one dose alone didn’t confer protection.  You can see details on all of the vaccines here.

Source: New York Times, reprinted with permission.

The chart at the left presents information on the different trial phases. Sometimes Phases 1 and 2 are combined to speed up the process. And after Phase 3, there is an approval phase, although in some cases, there can be Emergency Use Limited Approvals. Continue Reading...

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What Everyone is Getting Wrong about COVID

By DocJess | Published June 25, 2020

The frames for the discussion on how the US deals with COVID fall into two camps:

  • Save the economy vs lockdown the country
  • Wear a mask vs don’t wear a mask

So long as that’s what everyone concentrates on, the disease will not be “managed” until there is a set of vaccines (different vaccines will be necessary for different cohorts) and effective treatment protocols. And that’s not going to be near-term. Until that happens, cases will continue to rise, and will keep spreading, and it will happen stealthily, that is, we won’t know it’s a problem until after it is already a disaster. UNLESS we re-frame the discussion and adopt a program that will work to stem the spread. Honest, other countries have done it, and we need to do it here.

This is the United States, where politics trumps reality far too often. We have no national leadership, and we won’t until such time as the Orange Menace has been removed to the cell he so richly deserves and takes his minions with him. Therefore, solutions need to be at the state and local level, and there actually ARE ways to do this, get the case counts down, and simultaneously keep as much of the economy operational as possible. Continue Reading...

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Notes from your Doctor: Surviving the Next Phase of Coronavirus

By DocJess | Published June 13, 2020

As you know, case counts are rising across the country, at last count, in 23 states, with 15 states showing their highest case counts since before they shut down. In some places, hospitals are days away from being overwhelmed. And yet, no one is planning on new lockdowns, most are planning further re-openings. To be fair, Oregon and Utah are pausing moving forward.

There is no national policy on what to do, nor how to handle things, so states are left on their own. In some states, governors say things like “we expected that there would be more cases” as hospitals implement emergency plans. That gem is courtesy of Doug Ducey of Arizona. In addition, if you are one of those who go out, you’ve indubitably seen fewer people wearing masks and observing social distancing.

WHAT IS A PERSON TO DO??? Continue Reading...

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Notes from Your Doctor: Can I Touch Surfaces?

By DocJess | Published May 22, 2020

The news reported last night that it was safe to touch surfaces. Um, not exactly correct.

The CDC website says:

It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus. (emphasis mine.) Continue Reading...

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS TIP: MATH AND NUMBERS

By DocJess | Published March 27, 2020

Yesterday, the United States crossed the Rubicon and had the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world.

People are freaking out. They are panicking.

BUT Continue Reading...

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Notes from your Doctor: Markets and Medicine

By DocJess | Published February 28, 2020

The market has fallen one Fibonacci, we’re in correction territory. For those of us retired or close to retirement, who don’t have pensions — this can be scary. For the one percent, it’s a buying opportunity. As a member of the 99%, I have found that throwing my 401(k) statements directly in the fireplace is easiest on the nerves.

But I don’t really understand the market, and I am not a source of information on it, beyond being able to quote Goldman-Sachs which announced yesterday that if the market falls much more, it’s a true threat to the Orange Menace’s chances for re-election, so I’m cool with having to live on cat food.

The real problem, and one you need to be concerned with, is that the Chief Cheeto only cares about the market. And there is nothing he can do about it – the Fed needs to hold off as long as possible in dropping interest rates because they’re going to need that ability. They’ll get to zero and start quantitative easing again. The ONE AND ONLY THING over which the regime has power is to stop the flow of correct information relative to Covid-19 to endeavor to convince people that “everything’s okay”. Sadly for the cabal, “the market” isn’t that dumb. Continue Reading...

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What if they gave a Convention and Nobody came?

By DocJess | Published February 27, 2020

Last evening the first community based US coronavirus case was announced. There is never just one. And so, just like flu hits different areas of the country at different times, there will be pockets and hot spots, and then they’ll clear and there will be others.

In China, the first cases arose in November of 2019. (Yes, that’s correct, not December.) It was noticed by medical personnel in December, who were silenced by the regime (and several later died), and not “believed” by the Xi regime until late January, when they began locking down China. It is now two months later, and China is still in partial lock-down. It will take another few months, at least, to get back to full speed.

The difference between China (and Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan) is that we know it’s coming, and we are learning every day from what those countries do what works and what doesn’t. And we know the best possible thing to do is to test people, and the worst possible thing to do is to place large numbers of people in an enclosed space. Like, um, a political convention with people coming from all over the country, and journalists coming from other countries. Continue Reading...

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Notes from Your Doctor: Preparing for Pandemic

By DocJess | Published February 26, 2020

When not if…that was the word from CDC yesterday, and they’re correct. Covid-19, aka coronavirus is here, and it will at some point be “community based” meaning that it will spread from person to person amoungst people who have not been to any of the affected areas, and were not repatriated.

Is it time to panic? No.

It is, however, time to prepare. Continue Reading...

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