Immune Disorder, and Birth Rates

 #James Somers, "Immune Disorders, "The New Yorker, November 9, 2020.

"Whenever a host develops an immune defense, it perversely rewards the survival of the very parasite that can defeat it." "Viruses and bacteria reproduce half a million times faster than we do." "Almost every one of our cells is perpetually scanning itself for evidence of invasion." "Antibodies, for instance, don't just attach to invaders to block their entry into cells; they also tag them so that they'll be easier for white blood cells to find and eat." 

A trial test case found that those who received interferon early in their infection were seventy-nine percent less likely to become seriously ill. "Later, although, it might be harmful; at that point, your adaptive immune system could already be out of control." "The lopsidedness of the virus means that vaccines might not be as effective in older patients, even with double the dose, or after repeated inoculations." "In older hamsters, as in older people, innate immunity is less likely to contain the virus and adaptive immunity is slower to turn on and off."

"A phenomenon known as cellular senescence is partly responsible for the body's increasing inflammation through time. As cells age and divide, small errors accrete in their DNA. These errors could lead to cancer, among other maladies."

Eliana Dockterman, "Pregnant pause, TIME, November 16, 2020.

"A June report from the Brookings Institution estimated that the U.S. would see as many as 500,000 fewer births in 2021, a 13% drop from the 3.8 million babies born in 2019. The health clinic, Marx, has seen a 50% jump in requests for birth control since the beginning of the pandemic, and a 40% increase for Plan-B." "A survey from the Guttmacher Institute found that 34% of sexually active women in the U.S. have decided either to delay getting pregnant, or to have fewer children, because of concerns arising from COVID-19." "The U.S. fertility rate is the lowest it has been since 1986." 

"By 2034, Americans over age 65 are expected to outnumber those under [age] 18 for the first time in U.S. history. "A July survey from the Mom Project, a startup that pairs mothers who have dropped out of workforce with new jobs, found that U.S. moms are twice as likely as dads to leave their jobs in 2020, because of the strains of juggling work and family care during the pandemic."

"The childcare industry has been slammed by the pandemic, according to a July survey from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It predicted that without substantial government investment, 40% of childcare programs surveyed would be forced to close, because of low enrollment and higher operating costs." Phillip Levine and Melissa Kearney, university professors, "have found that every 1% increase in unemployment translates to a 1.4% drop in the birth rate." 

"For the first time in U.S. history, that distribution is changing. From 1970 to 2011, the ratio of seniors (ages 65 and older) to working-age people was steady at 24 to 100, according to a calculation by Dowell Myers, director of Population Dynamics Research Group at the University of Southern California. Now that ratio looks like 48 to 100." "One in four is considering downshifting her career, or leaving the workforce, because of COVID-19, according to a Lean In and McKinsey survey of 12 million workers at 317 companies."

#Vivienne Walt, "The Bulwark of Budapest," TIME, November 16, 2020.

"In the decades since Hungarians have seen judges and bureaucrats appointed for their political fealty, the media transferred into pro-government propaganda, and civil society groups starved of resources, [Prime Minister] Orban has brazenly flouted Europe's rules ensuring press freedom and an independent judiciary."

"Losing Budapest, which makes up more than a third of Hungary's economy, and has one-fifth of the population, dealth a body blow to Orban, suggesting for the first time that he might be susceptible to a challenge." "In September, the European leadership issued a first-of-its-kind report into the rule of law in Europe that heavily criticized Hungary, detailing multiple allegations of corruption and abuses of judicial independence.'

"Europe's migrant arrivals have been steadily declining since 2015, yet among Orben's supporters, it is still a hot issue. The government has severely restricted immigration to Hungary, instead trying to boost birth rates with payments to families for each child born, and lifetime tax-free status for women who have four children or more."