We stand on guard for thee, against invading Yankee zombie hordes

⇒ Issue #71 [In numerology, the number 71 resonates with business, efficiency, and introspection; 71 is a business-oriented number.]
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 07/08: 108,334*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 07/08: 8,786*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 07/08: 12,060,772*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 07/08: 549,846*

July 9, 2020 -- Hello to CurveFlatteners everywhere. It's Mitch Shannon reporting this morning, leaving all my tell-tale signs of toast crumbs in the kitchen, hand-sanitizer smears on the Lenovo keyboard, and disembodied voices with lilting Irish accents trailing from the unattended Amazon Echo. I do not envy that other person damned to spend their quarantine with me.

On a day of literal black clouds, complete with heavy rainfall and power outages in the Swansea neighbourhood of Toronto, there's a silver lining: Barbers are back combing and clipping, servers have returned to plunking beers on patio tabletops, and the curve is indeed flattening in Canada. Reports of new Covid-19 cases have fallen by more than 70 per cent during the past 30 days, some regional hotspots notwithstanding. You might think it would follow that Canadians feel relieved of their virus-related anxieties. But we are not. 

As the CBC's Éric Grenier writes, just as the virus seems to be on the wane for the moment, there occurs a spike in fear. Léger Research's weekly poll for the Association for Canadian Studies found our level of worry about personally becoming infected rose by 7 points following Canada Day, to 58 per cent. That's the highest percentage recorded in nearly three months. 

What could there possibly be to fear? Why, America, of course. Covid cases are spiking in the USA, where pandemic control measures have been uneven at best. And the thought of impending carloads of unwell tourists, diseased visitors, and other invading zombie hordes arriving here from the lower forty-eight is keeping us on edge, according to Léger findings. In May, the survey recorded a scant 21 per cent of Canadians wanted to see the border open within 30 days. That percentage has fallen significantly, and it's now only 11 per cent who currently favour a July border reopening. 

For those who were hoping to alleviate their stress by attending the ninth annual Just for Laffs comedy festival in Toronto, it is now a case of no giggling for you. Organizers of the event yesterday (07/08) cancelled the nine-day event planned, citing travel and crowd restrictions. South African funnyman Trevor Noah was the planned headliner.

COVID CHRONICLE 07-09-20

• CNS manifestations of Covid-19, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), stroke and Guillain-Barré syndrome, were reported from multiple UK centres yesterday (07/08.) Dr. Michael Zandi of University College London, co-lead author of a study of 40 patients published in the journal Brain, tells the Guardian newspaper: “We’re seeing things in the way Covid-19 affects the brain that we haven’t seen before with other viruses. [...] The brain does appear to be involved in this illness.” Neurologist Dr. Adrian Owen of Western University in London, Ont. tells Reuters news agency: "My worry is that we have millions of people with Covid-19 now. And if in a year’s time we have 10 million recovered people, and those people have cognitive deficits... then that’s going to affect their ability to work and their ability to go about activities of daily living,"  Meanwhile, a new review by University of Liverpool (U.K) researchers published in Lancet Neurology analysed data involving CNS complications in Covid patients in China, Italy and the USA. The data revealed that approximately 1,000 patients being treated for the virus had CNS complications, notably encephalitis. Says co-author Dr. Ava Easton: "It is really important that doctors around the world recognize that Covid-19 can cause encephalitis and other brain problems, which often have potentially devastating, life-changing consequences for patients."
• With mood disorder levels escalating (see previous item) and access to psychiatric care impeded by Covid-19 (see Daily CurveFlattener passim), an evidence review from researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. finds behavioural Tx delivered digitally is more effective than in-person sessions, according to an evidence review published in an online edition of the Lancet. The researchers found web apps, videoconferencing, email and texting improved patients' symptoms more effectively than in-person therapy when measured using standardized mood-symptoms scales. The study found there was no difference in the level of satisfaction or function between the two delivery methods. Says author Dr. Zena Samaan, a psychiatrist at St. Joseph's Healthcare: "It is not surprising that electronic interventions are helpful in that they offer flexibility, privacy and no travel time, time off work, transport or parking costs. It makes sense that people access care, especially mental health care when they need it from their own comfort space."
• The Internet-spread crackpot theory that 5G wireless towers are responsible for the transmission of Covid-19 has resulted in vandals attacking cellular infrastructure. However, an Oregon State University animal study into the effects of radiofrequency radiation generated by the technology appears to disprove the rumour. Researchers looked at embryonic zebrafish, an organism used to discover interactions between environmental stressors and biological systems. According to a press release from the university, zebrafish and humans have similar developmental processes and are similar on a genomic level, meaning zebrafish research can easily be applied to humans. The study was published July 9 in the journal PLOS ONE.
• The incarcerated population in the USA tests positive for Covid-19 five-and-a-half times more often the general U.S. population, according to a new analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers also found the death rate of U.S. prisoners was 39 deaths per 100,000 prison residents, higher than that of the U.S. population at 29 deaths per 100,000 people. After adjusting for age and sex differences between the two groups, the death rate would be three times higher for prisoners compared to the general U.S. population. The findings were published online in a research letter on July 8 in JAMA. Says lead author Brendan Saloner, PhD: "While these numbers are striking, we actually think the disparities within prisons is much greater. Some prisons are not reporting any cases, others are not even testing inmates, so the need for policies to protect incarcerated populations is more important than ever."

STORIES CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

Chronicle's man about Hertel Village, Cory "Duke" Perla, is putting together a video on the effects of oxidative stress on facial skin ageing. It will be posted as a Healthminute.TV video to www.derm.city

RIGHT NOW WE'RE LISTENING TO...

The cornball ITV crime drama "Heartbeat" ran for about 12 million episodes spread over 7,000 seasons and is now syndicated all over the world, including our patch of Ontario, Canada. The series, a period piece set in North Yorkshire in the early 1960s and '70s, featured some exquisite rock and pop selections including a few forgotten favourites. The soundtrack earworm I acquired while watching an episode last night was "No Milk Today," a non-hit for Herman's Hermits written by Graham Gouldman, sardonic songwriter and frontman for the band 10cc ("I'm Not in Love," "Dreadlock Holliday") It would be a better world if I could tune this song out, but that is the nature of earworms. Once it's in your skull, forget about everything else.

LATER WE'RE READING

Debating which overly-thick book I'll pick up that falls in the category of one I've owned for 20 years and haven't yet gotten around to reading. My pal Shafiq Qaadri recently recommended Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, a work I've managed to avoid since it appeared back in 1996. I figured I'd get to that one after I finished Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, another dense tome I've never bothered to crack open. (Confession: I once carried the Pynchon novel for the entirety of a four-day Via Rail train trip to Vancouver, figuring I'd be bored enough to want to read it. Didn't happen then. Will it happen now as the pandemic wears on? It just might.)

HOW IS YOUR DAY GOING?

Here's hoping you are having a better week than many of us. Share your thoughts via email, text message, a social network, or you can always pick up the phone. My colleague John Evans takes over the typing duties tomorrow.