Goodnight all. If you’re heartbroken about our world, you are not alone. We pray for all victims of violence. We pray for peace. We pray for democracy everywhere; for our Israeli and Palestinian brothers and sisters. For Ukraine. The Big Lie is still a big lie. The Lord bless you & keep you!

"we conclude that wearing masks, wearing higher quality masks (respirators), and mask mandates generally reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission in these study populations."
#Covid
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10446908/

NEW REPORT: Measuring Religion in China

Many Chinese adults practice religion or hold religious beliefs, but only 1 in 10 formally identify with a religion.

https://pewresearch.org/religion/2023/08/30/measuring-religion-in-china/ 🧵

Other viruses may have seriously hindered #COVID in Finland last autumn. We saw a plunge in the amount of #SarsCov2 in #wastewater[1] after schools had started in around August 11th[2]. You'd expect the opposite to happen, right?

It has been suggested that simultaneous spread of rhinoviruses may interfere with SARS-Cov-2 [3] so I tried to look at it. I didn't find open data on #rhinovirus in Finland, so I settled for #enterovirus on which data was available[4]. THL says rhinovirus cases are sometimes registered as enterovirus[5], and a layperson (like me) may think that these common viruses could show similar patterns anyhow because they are relatives.

As you can see, the surge of enterovirus cases aligns very well with the plunge of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.

(I posted about this in Finnish at first, but then thought that you international people could find it interesting, too.)

[1] https://www.thl.fi/episeuranta/jatevesi/jatevesiseuranta_viikkoraportti.html
[2] https://www.oph.fi/fi/uutiset/2022/koulujen-tyo-ja-loma-ajat-lukuvuonna-2022-2023
[3] https://nitter.privacydev.net/LongDesertTrain/status/1561185893423239169 or https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1561185893423239169.html
[4] https://sampo.thl.fi/pivot/prod/fi/ttr/shp/fact_shp?row=time-12059&row=12318L&column=area-12260.&filter=area-12260&filter=reportgroup-12228#
[5] https://thl.fi/fi/web/infektiotaudit-ja-rokotukset/taudit-ja-torjunta/taudit-ja-taudinaiheuttajat-a-o/enterovirus/enteroviruksen-esiintyvyys-suomessa

@mgerdts You are right it was a cedar. There were a number of these bent trees in a small area. A sign nearby stated that something damaged the trees when they were young, perhaps a late spring frost. Thanks for the link. I enjoyed reading about the trail trees which I had not heard of before.

One of a number of "Tree Horses" at Presqu'ile Provincial Park on Lake Ontario.
#trees #Ontario #park #UnusualTrees #outdoors

@wainjoe Great post!

@carrieberry Same here in my part of Ontario!

https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/06/27/toronto-star-owner-in-talks-to-merge-with-postmedia.html

Great - so Conservative news media will own every piece of corporate news media in Canada. I hope to hell that the Competition Bureau steps in and denies this merger.

We need stronger independent news sources - not more consolidation in news media.

#Canada
#TorStar
#PostMedia

Hiking today in Balsam Lake Provincial Park and saw a white ash tree that is supposedly one of the largest in Ontario. It is a magnificent old tree.
#Hiking #Trees #Ontario

Lovely view of the strawberry moon tonight. Perhaps the forest fire smoke is giving it a little extra color!

#FullMoon #ForestFire

The joys and frustrations of #gardening in zone 5b.

A new WHO #COVID19 update notes 17,000 global deaths in the past 28 days with the highest number, 5,300, coming from the US. The US represents 31% of worldwide #COVID deaths but has just 4.2% of the world's population. Could it be the US is better at reporting? I think the US may be a bit better than average at COVID reporting, but I also think the US is, more than most nations, inviting considerable ongoing transmission. #WearAMask https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---18-may-2023#:~:text=18%20May%202023-,Weekly%20epidemiological%20update%20on%20COVID-19,--%2018%20May%202023

"Long COVID: The Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Mucous Membranes May Be A Factor" https://presse.inserm.fr/en/covid-long-la-persistance-du-sars-cov-2-dans-les-muqueuses-pourrait-etre-en-cause/66975/ #covid

Quote for today!

Meaningful May - Day 11: Look around for things that bring you a sense of awe and wonder #meaningful

@Melanie76Nicole Trilliums are a favorite of mine also. Thanks for commenting!

I had a great bike ride today. The weather was very pleasant and many spring wild flowers were in full bloom. There were lots of marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) and white trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) along the side of the trail.
#Biking #Spring #WildFlowers #Outdoors #MarshMarigolds #Trilliums

Me: what's the matter?
Black Hole: nothing