Congratulations on your subscription milestone! I and others seek expert advice rather than poorly supported opinions. You are my breakfast companion and I appreciate your company and your knowledge. Public Health impacts are totally undermine these days and your platform is reliable. You and your staff do an excellent job.
Congratulations on the YLE milestone! So well earned!! This post was, as always, tremendously timely, useful, and clear. Also, I’m glad you included the America Dissected episode in which you appear. For those of us who are not regular podcasters, it would be great if you could do this, or provide a link, each time you are on this podcast.
With respect, a couple of comments regarding wildfires, which in the Los Angeles current condition, includes combustion contaminants from all sorts of "non-forest" materials, as you mentioned:
The particulate-filtering (important concept) facepieces you mention (N95, P100), are just that--they filter out suspended particles in breathed air. N95 (not resistant to oil) and P100 (resistant to oil) remove 95% and 99.97%, respectively, of those particles of a size diameter greater than 0.3 micrometers. Neither are considered effective for air that contains VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and other types of gaseous contaminants. (Caveat: VOCs and acid gases that have adsorbed onto, or absorbed into, particles could be effectively captured by the facepiece material, but I do not know if this has even been researched.) Users are misled if they think that a N95 or P100 filtering facepiece provides 100% protection. (Hence, your comment "... P100 if you’re clearing burn sites or fighting fires, as these catch even the smallest particles" is misleading; reportedly just woodland fire smoke particles (fine particles, PM-2.5) alone are believed to be in the 2.5 to sub-2.5 micrometer range.) Proper fit is important, for materials that can remain airborne follow the path of least resistance; examples are improper size/fit, improper donning/wearing, failure to obtain sufficient face-to-facepiece seal (main culprit--facial hair).
Finally, with all that being said ,just about anything used to filter the air is better than nothing, as long as it is understood that there are limitations to all choices available, and some choices may have fatal outcomes (e.g. high levels of carbon monoxide). If all you have is a wet bandana--use it.
The debris and combustion compounds from the massive fires will persist in the environment for a long time, would definitely keep windows shut and use air purifiers and masks during windy days for a while in Southern California. So many tragic stories alongside the ecological collapse.
Congrats on 300K YLE subscribers! Happy to be one of them. Thank you for having started this, and for keeping at it-- the numbers speak for themselves as to how much we need what you bring. My only quibble on this post is that I think you've got the "waking up" metaphor backwards-- you're the one trying to help the rest of us wake up! Please don't "get back in line"!
Stick to health, which you are great at, but stay out of climate. At least you got the magnitudes of cold vs heat deaths correct. Cold is far more dangerous, but climate crazies are always trying to prove the opposite. Severity of weather events is NOT increasing. Many forecasts, no data. By far the most destructed storms, tropical cyclones (hurricanes in our hemisphere) show no increase. Checkout the Colorado State University data on tropical cyclones. I’ve been working on climate for nearly 50 years. It’s incredibly complex, but mostly boring . Slow rises in temp and precipitation don’t grab headlines. ). 0.0i5 degrees C. increase per year is so tiny its tough to measure. Forest fires are growing, but that’s 90% forest management, not climate. Malibu and Pacific Palisades have burned every 5-10 years for centuries. Huge fires occurred there in the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s, but no one lived there. Ditto floods. Asheville NC had a huge hurricane driven flood in 1916, killing 80 people. Asheville’s 2024 flood was almost identical, just more structures to damage and fewer casualties.
"I’ve been working on climate for nearly 50 years." In what capacity, for whom, and with what credentials? You haven't provided a single citation for your claims, of course, so making vague claims about expertise you almost certainly do not possess would be par for the course.
It is absurd to claim that climate change has no impact on public health in any case.
BA Harvard, Ph.D Stanford, co-author Solar Energy in America’s Future, Stanford Research Institute 1978, member, first DOE Panel on Global Warming, 1981, consultant to government agencies and corporations on energy and environment issues, author 2020 Visions, Stanford Alumni Association.
Regarding MT on the ILI map. I was an epi there when we finally connected syndromic data to the system which improved reporting (but we never did hit anything beyond yellow on the map). I agree that it’s largely due to the rural nature of the state and the severe weather, which also contributes to the lack of seeking healthcare unless it’s emergency room serious.
Awesome YLE, well deserved and I am most grateful for your knowledge and sharing. Your newsletter helps me navigate my way (as I am immunocompromised). Thank You!
With the new autocracy coming in on January 20th, we should all hope that Substackers who tell the truth, such as Katelyn, are. yes, permitted to continue.
Are you not familiar with The Twitter Files? Or Zuckerberg's recent confession that he caved to Biden Administration demands that Facebook and Instagram censor content contra to his administrations narrative? Here's a couple links for you so you can get up to speed on the government attacks on our free speech these past 5 years.
I am up to speed, as you put it, on your misinformation and twisting of historical events.
Yes, Zuckerberg was pressured to remove dangerous and damaging disinformation from his platform. And rightly so. But then apparently you think encouraging people to ingest a dewormer (ivermectin) or hydroxychloroquine, both worthless against SARS-CoV-2, or encouraging them to be anti-vax, is a good idea.
And now Zuckerberg is kissing Trump's ass because there's no low to which he won't stoop to gain more and more and more money. It's never enough. And if he has to kowtow to an autocratic lunatic, well, c'est la vie. Can't wait for more disinformation to be pumped out on his platforms that will harm people. Pass the popcorn!
The only consolation I see from the pandemic is that it cleared the gene pool of a lot of stupid people. Silver lining.
Why are you just now concerned about government censorship? It's been on steroids these past 10 years. Our President was kicked off Twitter! Here's a good recap of some of the egregious censorship that took place under the current administration.
I’m wondering the same thing about Oklahoma being yellow while the states around it are dark. Is this because of under-reporting by Oklahoma? Can you help us understand which states do and do not fully report and why? Without that understanding, how useful is the chart overall? 🤔
The cat food post has caused a huge response among the raw feeders. There were several things brought out by veterinarians about this advice. First they did not follow the FDA and USDA guidelines about testing a possibly tainted animal food. They only sampled the one open bag of Northwest Naturals and they should have tested numerous bags of that lot. The other issue is that on further investigation, this cat was not a totally indoor cat as reported. The place where the owner bought cat food said that the cat was frequently in the store with the owner and was further reported that the cat went on outings in parks with the family. The cat could have picked up the virus from the ground or even nudging a dead bird.The point is we can't really make blanket warnings without adequate procedures whether it's for humans or animals. That's what discredits the organizations in place to supposedly protect us. It may not seem a big deal - but it was to people who believe raw feeding is appropriate and don't want to change if not necessary. But even more importantly, it causes me to wonder if I'm getting adequate information from the government. As we witnessed recently, lack of trust in government agencies can result in havoc.
WOW! What a milestone. Congratulations. Just fyi re: LA and AQI. The majority of the air quality "monitors" in the L.A. area are actually sensors that only measure PM2.5.
Thank you for your coverage of these issues. I would be very interested in learning from you the incidence of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis that is warned about, particularly from the Novavax covid vax 24-25. I am trying to figure out what to do with the vax this year, having survived horrific shingles from a bivalent mRNA and then months of severe pain from the RSV vax to the point that I couldn’t turn my head. I am between the rock and the hard place. Thank you.
Please forgive my curiosity... Did you perhaps have chickenpox years ago? Shingles can suddenly occur at any point afterwards. Correlation ("I got vaccinated, then I got shingles") does not necessarily prove causation.
I’m aware. However, It is a correlation in the literature. Altho it too, months to clear and endangered my eye, it was relatively nothing compared to the RSV vax, which reacted about 5 days after the vax. And was considerably more serious.
but did you have chicken pox at an earlier age is the question that needs answering. That fact has far more influence on shingles than any other you mention.
Congrats on reaching 300k readers. But the epidemic line is missing from the chart. When did readership cross the epidemic threshold?
Hahaha okay this made me laugh
Congratulations on your subscription milestone! I and others seek expert advice rather than poorly supported opinions. You are my breakfast companion and I appreciate your company and your knowledge. Public Health impacts are totally undermine these days and your platform is reliable. You and your staff do an excellent job.
Congratulations on the YLE milestone! So well earned!! This post was, as always, tremendously timely, useful, and clear. Also, I’m glad you included the America Dissected episode in which you appear. For those of us who are not regular podcasters, it would be great if you could do this, or provide a link, each time you are on this podcast.
With respect, a couple of comments regarding wildfires, which in the Los Angeles current condition, includes combustion contaminants from all sorts of "non-forest" materials, as you mentioned:
The particulate-filtering (important concept) facepieces you mention (N95, P100), are just that--they filter out suspended particles in breathed air. N95 (not resistant to oil) and P100 (resistant to oil) remove 95% and 99.97%, respectively, of those particles of a size diameter greater than 0.3 micrometers. Neither are considered effective for air that contains VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and other types of gaseous contaminants. (Caveat: VOCs and acid gases that have adsorbed onto, or absorbed into, particles could be effectively captured by the facepiece material, but I do not know if this has even been researched.) Users are misled if they think that a N95 or P100 filtering facepiece provides 100% protection. (Hence, your comment "... P100 if you’re clearing burn sites or fighting fires, as these catch even the smallest particles" is misleading; reportedly just woodland fire smoke particles (fine particles, PM-2.5) alone are believed to be in the 2.5 to sub-2.5 micrometer range.) Proper fit is important, for materials that can remain airborne follow the path of least resistance; examples are improper size/fit, improper donning/wearing, failure to obtain sufficient face-to-facepiece seal (main culprit--facial hair).
Finally, with all that being said ,just about anything used to filter the air is better than nothing, as long as it is understood that there are limitations to all choices available, and some choices may have fatal outcomes (e.g. high levels of carbon monoxide). If all you have is a wet bandana--use it.
See CU Boulder study for an idea of the dilemmas those who return to surviving homes face. Just entered link after your question.
Congrats!! Cheers to the next 300k 🥂
Yes, that’s real champagne.
The debris and combustion compounds from the massive fires will persist in the environment for a long time, would definitely keep windows shut and use air purifiers and masks during windy days for a while in Southern California. So many tragic stories alongside the ecological collapse.
Congrats on 300K YLE subscribers! Happy to be one of them. Thank you for having started this, and for keeping at it-- the numbers speak for themselves as to how much we need what you bring. My only quibble on this post is that I think you've got the "waking up" metaphor backwards-- you're the one trying to help the rest of us wake up! Please don't "get back in line"!
Congrats on the milestone! I really appreciate your clear and timely writing. So valuable! Happy Friday.
Stick to health, which you are great at, but stay out of climate. At least you got the magnitudes of cold vs heat deaths correct. Cold is far more dangerous, but climate crazies are always trying to prove the opposite. Severity of weather events is NOT increasing. Many forecasts, no data. By far the most destructed storms, tropical cyclones (hurricanes in our hemisphere) show no increase. Checkout the Colorado State University data on tropical cyclones. I’ve been working on climate for nearly 50 years. It’s incredibly complex, but mostly boring . Slow rises in temp and precipitation don’t grab headlines. ). 0.0i5 degrees C. increase per year is so tiny its tough to measure. Forest fires are growing, but that’s 90% forest management, not climate. Malibu and Pacific Palisades have burned every 5-10 years for centuries. Huge fires occurred there in the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s, but no one lived there. Ditto floods. Asheville NC had a huge hurricane driven flood in 1916, killing 80 people. Asheville’s 2024 flood was almost identical, just more structures to damage and fewer casualties.
"I’ve been working on climate for nearly 50 years." In what capacity, for whom, and with what credentials? You haven't provided a single citation for your claims, of course, so making vague claims about expertise you almost certainly do not possess would be par for the course.
It is absurd to claim that climate change has no impact on public health in any case.
BA Harvard, Ph.D Stanford, co-author Solar Energy in America’s Future, Stanford Research Institute 1978, member, first DOE Panel on Global Warming, 1981, consultant to government agencies and corporations on energy and environment issues, author 2020 Visions, Stanford Alumni Association.
I had the same reaction to the gratuitous comment about “global warming”. It’s inappropriate and detracts from otherwise good medical advice.
The authorities strongly suspect arson. I guess that qualifies as a type of anthropogenic global warming.
Actually, no, they don't. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-12/power-lines-old-embers-arson-investigators-experts-amateur-sleuth-seek-cause-of-l-a-firestorms Here in the real world, where things are more complicated than they are on Fox or Newsmax or wherever, causal factors are harder to sort out in a mess like this and, believe it or not, there might be several of them.
Including arson.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arson-investigators-actively-looking-into-palisades-fire-as-unusual-burn-patterns-discovered/ar-BB1rbyrf
Quote: "Severity of weather events is NOT increasing."
Bullshit.
$100 says you can’t find clear data proving increasing severity on any major weather issue — hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, droughts
$100 says you’re not interested in clear data, only in sealioning.
Regarding MT on the ILI map. I was an epi there when we finally connected syndromic data to the system which improved reporting (but we never did hit anything beyond yellow on the map). I agree that it’s largely due to the rural nature of the state and the severe weather, which also contributes to the lack of seeking healthcare unless it’s emergency room serious.
Awesome YLE, well deserved and I am most grateful for your knowledge and sharing. Your newsletter helps me navigate my way (as I am immunocompromised). Thank You!
Congratulations! Hoping that you and many other excellent Substackers are permitted to continue writing - and sharing!!
Permitted?
With the new autocracy coming in on January 20th, we should all hope that Substackers who tell the truth, such as Katelyn, are. yes, permitted to continue.
Do you mean just like the outgoing administration unquestionably did?
"Unquestionably did" what?
Are you not familiar with The Twitter Files? Or Zuckerberg's recent confession that he caved to Biden Administration demands that Facebook and Instagram censor content contra to his administrations narrative? Here's a couple links for you so you can get up to speed on the government attacks on our free speech these past 5 years.
https://americansforprosperity.org/blog/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-twitter-files/
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/meta-ceo-admits-biden-harris-admin-pressured-company-censor-americans
I am up to speed, as you put it, on your misinformation and twisting of historical events.
Yes, Zuckerberg was pressured to remove dangerous and damaging disinformation from his platform. And rightly so. But then apparently you think encouraging people to ingest a dewormer (ivermectin) or hydroxychloroquine, both worthless against SARS-CoV-2, or encouraging them to be anti-vax, is a good idea.
And now Zuckerberg is kissing Trump's ass because there's no low to which he won't stoop to gain more and more and more money. It's never enough. And if he has to kowtow to an autocratic lunatic, well, c'est la vie. Can't wait for more disinformation to be pumped out on his platforms that will harm people. Pass the popcorn!
The only consolation I see from the pandemic is that it cleared the gene pool of a lot of stupid people. Silver lining.
Why are you just now concerned about government censorship? It's been on steroids these past 10 years. Our President was kicked off Twitter! Here's a good recap of some of the egregious censorship that took place under the current administration.
https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/06/court-filings-reveal-more-government-lies-about-censorship-seek-deeper-investigation/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I’m wondering the same thing about Oklahoma being yellow while the states around it are dark. Is this because of under-reporting by Oklahoma? Can you help us understand which states do and do not fully report and why? Without that understanding, how useful is the chart overall? 🤔
The cat food post has caused a huge response among the raw feeders. There were several things brought out by veterinarians about this advice. First they did not follow the FDA and USDA guidelines about testing a possibly tainted animal food. They only sampled the one open bag of Northwest Naturals and they should have tested numerous bags of that lot. The other issue is that on further investigation, this cat was not a totally indoor cat as reported. The place where the owner bought cat food said that the cat was frequently in the store with the owner and was further reported that the cat went on outings in parks with the family. The cat could have picked up the virus from the ground or even nudging a dead bird.The point is we can't really make blanket warnings without adequate procedures whether it's for humans or animals. That's what discredits the organizations in place to supposedly protect us. It may not seem a big deal - but it was to people who believe raw feeding is appropriate and don't want to change if not necessary. But even more importantly, it causes me to wonder if I'm getting adequate information from the government. As we witnessed recently, lack of trust in government agencies can result in havoc.
Agree with all the comments
Nicely done, did and do.............
congratulations, I am pleased to be one of these 300,000
WOW! What a milestone. Congratulations. Just fyi re: LA and AQI. The majority of the air quality "monitors" in the L.A. area are actually sensors that only measure PM2.5.
Thank you for your coverage of these issues. I would be very interested in learning from you the incidence of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis that is warned about, particularly from the Novavax covid vax 24-25. I am trying to figure out what to do with the vax this year, having survived horrific shingles from a bivalent mRNA and then months of severe pain from the RSV vax to the point that I couldn’t turn my head. I am between the rock and the hard place. Thank you.
Please forgive my curiosity... Did you perhaps have chickenpox years ago? Shingles can suddenly occur at any point afterwards. Correlation ("I got vaccinated, then I got shingles") does not necessarily prove causation.
I’m aware. However, It is a correlation in the literature. Altho it too, months to clear and endangered my eye, it was relatively nothing compared to the RSV vax, which reacted about 5 days after the vax. And was considerably more serious.
but did you have chicken pox at an earlier age is the question that needs answering. That fact has far more influence on shingles than any other you mention.