Headlines: 

• See graphs below 
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a new rule requiring hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) to report information about COVID-19, influenza, and RSV starting November 1, 2024. Questions: 1. Why are they waiting until November to require hospitals to report COVID data? Why not do it now? If this is true, one can only think it is because the election is in November 2. Why are they combining ALL respiratory deaths (RSV, Flu, COVID)? I think they are trying to bury COVID deaths. They now break it down into all these demographics, but don’t show the trend…... 
• “Transmission remains stubbornly high near 1 million infections per day. Forecast suggests a steep decline in cases in coming weeks” (note: Don’t know why they made the dashes downward (see fig. on weekly rates of C-19-associated hospitalizations below) - wishful thinking?). 

980,000 new infections/day 1 in every 34 people currently infected 64% higher than 12 month avg. https://x.com/jpweiland/status/1829650388511047960?s=66&t=NqAnsfk8ZQx9izE_Bg7x3w 

• The most recently emerged variants (KP.3.1.1.) does not longer get replaced by more transmissible variants (as used to be the case before). Does his mean the potential of SC-2 to naturally select more infectious variants got exhausted and that the virus will need to shift gears to ensure its further survival?