news Covid19-Coronavirus updates and news

[Mister Funsky]

Having relatives and friends scattered all over the globe, I am getting an overload of input (some on the record and some off the record).

My intention for this thread is for community members from around the world to post first hand stories and/or links to information sources that, for the most part, should be reliable.

In my community, just outside a major southeastern city, 'assets' have been placed. Only because I have friends in both high and low places have I heard about some of this. At this point it is only some basic medical supplies that should be equally distributed anyway in preparation for a natural emergency (hurricane/wildfire/etc.).

I will start with posting a link to a site with current data that seems to come from an aggregate of sources and hope others will do the same as they come across similar sites/pages.

Because of the 'typhoid Mary' spread-ability of this disease, I feel we may be in for a really large spread globally which will impact the global economy and through extension, retail domain prices.

One thing is for sure...things will get worse before they get better.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa-coronavirus/

 

[Mister Funsky]

Hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the last two weeks...I anticipate states will start reacting pretty strongly soon. Shelves at a couple of stores I visited yesterday were a little picked over...hopefully just because Thanksgiving is coming up. Nonetheless, grab a few extras of your favorite things the next time you go shopping.

Current Covid19 death numbers as of 9:00 am EST are below, primarily from the source in the original post (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). If your country of interest is not listed below, simply go to the link above to do a search for relevant information.

Total: 1,302,072
United States: 248,635
Brazil: 164,332
South Africa: 20,076
United Kingdom: 50,928
Canada: 10,768
Mexico: 97,056
Russia: 32,443
India: 128,722
Bolivia: 8,825
Japan : 1,851
Indonesia: 15,037
Italy: 43,589
Spain: 40,461
Belgium: 13,891
France: 42,960
Netherlands: 8,358
Chile: 14,699
Philippines: 7,752

 

[Sutruk]

'Breakthrough finding' reveals why certain Covid-19 patients die

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...ls-why-certain-covid-19-patients-die-n1247576

Research shows Covid-19 patients with life-threatening illness have antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons.

"In an international study in Science, 10 percent of nearly 1,000 Covid-19 patients who developed life-threatening pneumonia had antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons. These antibodies — known as autoantibodies, because they attack the body itself — weren't found at all in 663 people with mild or asymptomatic Covid-19 infections."

"Interferons serve as the body's first line of defense against infection, sounding the alarm and activating an army of virus-fighting genes, said virologist Angela Rasmussen, an associate research scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

"Interferons are like a fire alarm and a sprinkler system all in one," said Rasmussen, who wasn't involved in the new studies.

Lab studies show that interferons are suppressed in some people with Covid-19, perhaps by the virus itself.

Interferons are particularly important for protecting the body against new viruses, such as the coronavirus, which the body has never encountered, said Zhang, a researcher at Rockefeller University's St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases.

When infected with the novel coronavirus, "your body should have alarms ringing everywhere," Zhang said. "If you don't get the alarm out, you could have viruses everywhere in large numbers."

 

[koolishman]

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in central ventilation systems, distant from patient areas, indicate that virus can be transported long distances and that droplet transmission alone cannot reasonably explain this, especially considering the relatively low air change rates in these wards

Abstract
Evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2, as well as other coronaviruses, can be dispersed and potentially transmitted by aerosols directly or via ventilation systems. We therefore investigated ventilation openings in one COVID-19 ward and central ducts that expel indoor air from three COVID-19 wards at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, during April and May 2020. Swab samples were taken from individual ceiling ventilation openings and surfaces in central ducts. Samples were subsequently subjected to rRT-PCR targeting the N and E genes of SARS-CoV-2. Central ventilation HEPA filters, located several stories above the wards, were removed and portions analyzed in the same manner. In two subsequent samplings, SARS-CoV-2 N and E genes were detected in seven and four out of 19 room vents, respectively. Central ventilation HEPA exhaust filters from the ward were found positive for both genes in three samples. Corresponding filters from two other, adjacent COVID-19 wards were also found positive. Infective ability of the samples was assessed by inoculation of susceptible cell cultures but could not be determined in these experiments.Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in central ventilation systems, distant from patient areas, indicate that virus can be transported long distances and that droplet transmission alone cannot reasonably explain this, especially considering the relatively low air change rates in these wards. . Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 must be taken into consideration for preventive measures.

 

[koolishman]

Mutated strain of coronavirus may 'jump back and forth'

A new coronavirus strain could potentially leap to other animals, such as rats, mice, ferrets and voles, an expert has warned.

The virus could then "come back in future years into the human population", said Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust.

His comments came amid new warnings about the virus's evolution in mink.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said mink-to-human transmission could occur.

And continued spread of coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2) in mink farms may eventually give rise to other mutated strains, or variants, "of concern".

Further assessment was needed to assess whether mutated forms of the virus might hinder the effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, a new report


https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/detection-new-sars-cov-2-variants-mink

 

[koolishman]

Shutting Down COVID-19 Virus’s Destructive Proteins with Aerosolized Molecules
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have successfully used molecules comprised of small strands of RNA to shut down the production of destructive proteins generated by the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, the researchers are working to aerosolize the RNA molecules so that they could be incorporated in an inhalable drug that would mitigate viral chaos. The finding appears online today in Gene Therapy.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41434-020-00210-0#citeas

 

[koolishman]

Chemists discover the structure of a key coronavirus protein

MIT chemists have determined the molecular structure of a protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This protein, called the envelope protein E, forms a cation-selective channel and plays a key role in the virus’s ability to replicate itself and stimulate the host cell’s inflammation response.


If researchers could devise ways to block this channel, they may be able to reduce the pathogenicity of the virus and interfere with viral replication, says Mei Hong, an MIT professor of chemistry. In this study, the researchers investigated the binding sites of two drugs that block the channel, but these drugs bind only weakly, so they would not be effective inhibitors of the E protein.

MIT chemists have determined the molecular structure of a protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This protein, called the envelope protein E, forms a cation-selective channel and plays a key role in the virus’s ability to replicate itself and stimulate the host cell’s inflammation response.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Current Covid19 death numbers as of 9:00 am EST are below, primarily from the source in the original post (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). If your country of interest is not listed below, simply go to the link above to do a search for relevant information.

Total: 1,311,878
United States: 250,014
Brazil: 164,946
South Africa: 20,153
United Kingdom: 51,304
Canada: 10,828
Mexico: 97,624
Russia: 32,834
India: 129,225
Bolivia: 8,835
Japan : 1,867
Indonesia: 15,148
Italy: 44,139
Spain: 40,769
Belgium: 14,106
France: 43,892
Netherlands: 8,443
Chile: 14,738
Philippines: 7,791

 

[CraigD]

Charting the COVID-19 spread in Australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03...ls-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704

Australia’s pandemic death toll now sits at 907. Victoria has the biggest share of that total with 819 deaths.

I think we are in a rather unique position where our continent has had no locally acquired cases for a number of days - I'd like to think we have eliminated the virus, but it's likely still lurking in the community.

EDIT:
Australia has almost eliminated the coronavirus — by putting faith in science

...Perhaps most important, though, leaders from across the ideological spectrum persuaded Australians to take the pandemic seriously early on and prepared them to give up civil liberties they had never lost before, even during two world wars.

A lack of partisan rancor increased the effectiveness of the message...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c198b2-1cb7-11eb-ad53-4c1fda49907d_story.html

 

[Mister Funsky]

Rough times in South Texas...

Texas Court Rejects El Paso's COVID Shutdown as City Resorts to 10 Mobile Morgues

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/t...10-mobile-morgues/ar-BB1b1g8P?ocid=uxbndlbing

 

[CraigD]

Charting the COVID-19 spread in Australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03...ls-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704

Australia’s pandemic death toll now sits at 907. Victoria has the biggest share of that total with 819 deaths.

I think we are in a rather unique position where our continent has had no locally acquired cases for a number of days - I'd like to think we have eliminated the virus, but it's likely still lurking in the community.

EDIT:
Australia has almost eliminated the coronavirus — by putting faith in science

...Perhaps most important, though, leaders from across the ideological spectrum persuaded Australians to take the pandemic seriously early on and prepared them to give up civil liberties they had never lost before, even during two world wars.

A lack of partisan rancor increased the effectiveness of the message...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c198b2-1cb7-11eb-ad53-4c1fda49907d_story.html

I spoke too soon.
Covid has yet again escaped from hotel-quarantine, this time in Adelaide, South Australia. Here we go again ;(
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...us-cases-outside-of-hotel-quarantine/12885746

 

[koolishman]

I spoke too soon.
Covid has yet again escaped from hotel-quarantine, this time in Adelaide, South Australia. Here we go again ;(
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...us-cases-outside-of-hotel-quarantine/12885746

Hope this gets contained.

Still better than US, India etc.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Current Covid19 death numbers as of 9:00 am EST are below, primarily from the source in the original post (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). If your country of interest is not listed below, simply go to the link above to do a search for relevant information.

Total: 1,320,488
United States: 251,271
Brazil: 165,673
South Africa: 20,206
United Kingdom: 51,766
Canada: 10,891
Mexico: 98,259
Russia: 33,186
India: 129,911
Bolivia: 8,841
Japan : 1,880
Indonesia: 15,211
Italy: 44,683
Spain: 40,769
Belgium: 14,303
France: 44,246
Netherlands: 8,486
Chile: 14,777
Philippines: 7,832

 

[Cannuck]

US past the 1/4 million mark

Hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the last two weeks...I anticipate states will start reacting pretty strongly soon. Shelves at a couple of stores I visited yesterday were a little picked over...hopefully just because Thanksgiving is coming up. Nonetheless, grab a few extras of your favorite things the next time you go shopping.

Recent hospitalizations could be related to the election, final rallies, lineups @ poll stations etc. If anything like Canada, expect large spikes following Thanksgiving...that doesn't bode well for Christmas

 

[Mister Funsky]

Recent hospitalizations could be related to the election, final rallies, lineups @ poll stations etc. If anything like Canada, expect large spikes following Thanksgiving...that doesn't bode well for Christmas

Yes, the normal end of year celebrations (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years) will be/should be subdued.

Although I and several other family members have homes on adjoining properties, we are only planning to get together if the weather allows...my sister has a large concrete area and we plan to fit it with several tables that will allow our respective groups to remain separate.

Of course some of the family members don't like the plan (one house is big enough to accommodate 20 or so of us in the dining room) but they wont influence the rest of us. They are mad that I will not prepare my award winning Mac and Cheese unless we get together outside...they do, however, have the option to send me money to prepare a 'carry away' version!

 

[Mister Funsky]

Wow, just look at the extremes some resort towns are going to just to get free press...don't they know all the hospitals are empty and this thing is just the flu?!?!?!?

Reno hospital opens COVID-19 surge unit in parking garage

“Over the weekend, it really looked as though our back was against the wall,” with patients unable to move out of the ER because there were no available hospital beds, Dr. Tony Slonim, president and CEO of Renown Health, said during a call with reporters Friday."

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local...ovid-19-surge-unit-in-parking-garage-2183110/

 

[koolishman]

New HCQ study
COVID-19 outpatients: early risk-stratified treatment with zinc plus low-dose hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: a retrospective case series study

Highlights


•
First COVID-19 outpatient study based on risk stratification and early antiviral treatment at the beginning of the disease.

•
Low-dose hydroxychloroquine combined with zinc and azithromycin was an effective therapeutic approach against COVID-19.

•
Significantly reduced hospitalisation rates in the treatment group.

•
Reduced mortality rates in the treatment group.



In conflict with earlier studies.

 

[J Sokol]

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective, according to company data

(CNN)The Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective against coronavirus, according to early data released Monday by the company, making it the second vaccine in the United States to have a stunningly high success rate.

"These are obviously very exciting results," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor. "It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding."

Vaccinations could begin in the second half of December, Fauci said. Vaccinations are expected to begin with high-risk groups and to be available for the rest of the population next spring.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/health/moderna-vaccine-results-coronavirus/index.html

 

[Mister Funsky]

Current Covid19 death numbers as of 9:00 am ET are below, primarily from the source in the original post (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). If your country of interest is not listed below, simply go to the link above to do a search for relevant information.

Total: 1,326,791
United States: 251,934
Brazil: 165,811
South Africa: 20,241
United Kingdom: 51,934
Canada: 10,953
Mexico: 98,542
Russia: 33,489
India: 130,280
Bolivia: 8,849
Japan : 1,883
Indonesia: 15,296
Italy: 45,229
Spain: 40,769
Belgium: 14,421
France: 44,548
Netherlands: 8,530
Chile: 14,819
Philippines: 7,839

 

[J Sokol]

Social Distancing Comes Naturally: How Finland Keeps Covid In Check

Helsinki: While many countries struggle with a second wave of the coronavirus, Finland has halted a rise in new infections at Europe's lowest level, helped by the fact that for Finns social distancing comes naturally.

While a remote Nordic location and one of Europe's lowest population densities play in its favour in the fight against COVID-19, it helps that many Finns like personal space and solitude.

"Maybe the Finnish personal comfort zone is a bit wider than in some other European countries. We'd like to keep people a metre or more away or we start feeling uncomfortable," said Mika Salminen, director at Finland's public health authority THL.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/soc...y-how-finland-keeps-covid-19-in-check-2325976

It seems that being an introvert is helpful in a pandemic.

 

[koolishman]

Vitamin D and survival in COVID-19 patients: A quasi-experimental study

Highlights
.Vitamin D may be a central biological determinant of COVID-19 outcomes.

•Bolus vitamin D3 supplementation during or just before COVID-19 was associated with less severe COVID-19 in frail elderly.

•Bolus vitamin D3 supplementation during or just before COVID-19 was associated with better survival rate in frail elderly.

•Randomized controlled trials are expected to firmly conclude the effect of vitamin D supplementation on COVID-19 prognosis.

 

[CraigD]

Hope this gets contained.

Still better than US, India etc.

I agree much better than international incidents:

barely 48 hours after those initial infections, we now have over 20 infections and about 4,000 close contacts are in quarantine and SA Health orders more people to immediately self-isolate and get tested.

Most Australian states have now closed their borders to South Australia.

Go hard, go fast, and no politics involved.

This is how we contain this wicked beast!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...orthern-adelaide-coronavirus-cluster/12891846

 

[Mister Funsky]

Current Covid19 death numbers as of 8:00 am EST are below, primarily from the source in the original post (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). If your country of interest is not listed below, simply go to the link above to do a search for relevant information.

Total: 1,334,719
United States: 252,684
Brazil: 166,067
South Africa: 20,314
United Kingdom: 52,147
Canada: 11,027
Mexico: 98,861
Russia: 33,186
India: 130,577
Bolivia: 8,859
Japan : 1,885
Indonesia: 15,393
Italy: 45,733
Spain: 41,253
Belgium: 14,616
France: 45,054
Netherlands: 8,530
Chile: 14,863
Philippines: 7,862

 

[koolishman]

Very good summary of the vaccine developments.

Covid: Will there be more than one coronavirus vaccine?

Pfizer/BioNtech is the first pharmaceutical company to share information from the final stages of vaccine testing.

The data suggests the jab could prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19.

About 43,000 people have been given the vaccine, and no safety concerns have been raised.

• Who will get the vaccine first and when can you have it?

Moderna ran a trial of its vaccine on 30,000 people in the US, in which half were given dummy injections,

It says its vaccine protects 94.5% of people, after only five of the first 95 trial participants who developed Covid symptoms had received the real vaccine.

Trial results are also due in the next few weeks on a vaccine being developed by British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca and scientists at the University of Oxford.

Meanwhile encouraging data on a Russian vaccine called Sputnik V has also been released.

Based on interim results from a phase 3 trial, the same stage reached by the Pfizer jab, Russian researchers report that it is 92% efficient.

 

[CraigD]

I agree much better than international incidents:

barely 48 hours after those initial infections, we now have over 20 infections and about 4,000 close contacts are in quarantine and SA Health orders more people to immediately self-isolate and get tested.

Most Australian states have now closed their borders to South Australia.

Go hard, go fast, and no politics involved.

This is how we contain this wicked beast!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...orthern-adelaide-coronavirus-cluster/12891846

Update:

South Australia ordered into six-day lockdown amid COVID-19 outbreak

"We are going hard and we are going early. Time is of the essence."

"If we leave this any longer ... then we will be in this for a long haul and we will be like the experience in Victoria,".

South Australia will be ordered into a major lockdown for six days in what the State Government is describing as a "circuit breaker".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...-lockdowns-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/12894666

 

[Sutruk]

What is mRNA? How Pfizer and Moderna tapped new tech to make coronavirus vaccines

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/sci...rna-tapped-new-tech-make-coronavirus-n1248054

"If the experimental coronavirus vaccines win approval from the Food and Drug Administration, they will be the first-ever authorized vaccines that use mRNA.

Now, both Pfizer and Moderna are testing their separate vaccine candidates that use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to trigger the immune system to produce protective antibodies without using actual bits of the virus. If the experimental coronavirus vaccines win approval from the Food and Drug Administration, they will be the first-ever authorized vaccines that use mRNA — a development that would not only turn the tide in this pandemic but could also unlock an entirely new line of vaccines against a variety of viruses.

The technology behind mRNA vaccines is thought to be more versatile than traditional methods of vaccine development, which means they can be manufactured quicker and more economically than others that require using bacteria or yeast to make and purify the coronavirus’s spike protein."