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/

 

[Sutruk]

Preventive blood thinning drugs linked to reduced risk of death in COVID-19 patients

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210211195328.htm

"Patients given preventive blood thinning drugs (prophylactic anticoagulants) within 24 hours of admission to hospital with covid-19 are less likely to die compared with those who do not receive them, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

Their findings are based on data from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for 4,297 patients (average age 68 years; 93% men) admitted to hospital with covid-19 between 1 March and 31 July 2020.

A total of 3,627 (84.4%) of patients received prophylactic anticoagulation within 24 hours of admission and there were 622 deaths (14.5%) within 30 days.

Death at 30 days was 14.3% among those who received prophylactic anticoagulation compared with 18.7% among those who did not -- a relative risk reduction as high as 34% and an absolute risk reduction of 4.4%."

 

[koolishman]

Researchers propose that humidity from masks may lessen severity of COVID-19

Masks help protect the people wearing them from getting or spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but now researchers from the National Institutes of Health have added evidence for yet another potential benefit for wearers: The humidity created inside the mask may help combat respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.

The study, led by researchers in the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), found that face masks substantially increase the humidity in the air that the mask-wearer breathes in. This higher level of humidity in inhaled air, the researchers suggest, could help explain why wearing masks has been linked to lower disease severity in people infected with SARS-CoV-2, because hydration of the respiratory tract is known to benefit the immune system. The study published in the Biophysical Journal(link is external).

“We found that face masks strongly increase the humidity in inhaled air and propose that the resulting hydration of the respiratory tract could be responsible for the documented finding that links lower COVID-19 disease severity to wearing a mask,” said the study’s lead author, Adriaan Bax, Ph.D., NIH Distinguished Investigator. “High levels of humidity have been shown to mitigate severity of the flu, and it may be applicable to severity of COVID-19 through a similar mechanism.”

 

[koolishman]

Life savers: the amazing story of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine
Exactly a year ago, Oxford University scientists launched a joint enterprise that is set to have a profound impact on the health of our planet. On 11 February, research teams led by Professor Andy Pollard and Professor Sarah Gilbert – both based at the Oxford Vaccine Centre – decided to combine their talents to develop and manufacture a vaccine that could protect people from the deadly new coronavirus that was beginning to spread across the world.

A year later that vaccine is being administered to millions across Britain and other nations and was last week given resounding backing by the World Health Organization. The head of the WHO’s department of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals, Professor Kate O’Brien, described the jab as “efficacious” and “an important vaccine for the world”.

 

[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: 2,406,689
United States: 496,063
Brazil: 238,647
South Africa: 47,821
United Kingdom: 116,908
Canada: 21,228
Mexico: 173,771
Poland: 40,807
Russia: 80,126
India: 155,673
Bolivia: 11,155
Japan : 6,849
Indonesia: 33,183
Italy: 93,356
Spain: 64,747
Belgium: 21,634
France: 81,647
Netherlands: 14,793
Chile: 19,443
Philippines: 11,515

 

[dna]

I am sure that you will all be happy to hear that despite the shortage of vaccine, Bill Gates has found a way to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

 

[CraigD]

I am sure that you will all be happy to hear that despite the shortage of vaccine, Bill Gates has found a way to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

He's 65 and entitled to it under Washington state’s Phase 1B tier 1 of vaccine distribution.

This will divide the conspiracy nuts and haters... he waited like everybody else until he was eligible.

 

[dna]

How long did Bill Gates wait? 5 minutes after 1B became available. There are a lot of 1A people who have been unable to get vaccinated. I bet he didn't have to wait in a line.

It took me 15 years to get 1000 posts!

 

[CraigD]

How long did Bill Gates wait? 5 minutes after 1B became available. There are a lot of 1A people who have been unable to get vaccinated. I bet he didn't have to wait in a line.

It took me 15 years to get 1000 posts!

You seem to be angry at Bill Gates.

Congrats on 1000 posts

 

[dna]

I am just pointing out the unfairness of it all. There are plenty of older vulnerable people who can't separate themselves from their caregivers or family who can't get vaccinated. Critically ill and hospitalized patients who can't get vaccinated. But for a healthy billionaire...getting a vaccination is not a problem.

 

[koolishman]

How ‘killer’ T cells could boost COVID immunity in face of new variants

In the race against emerging coronavirus variants, researchers are looking beyond antibodies for clues to lasting protection from COVID-19.

Alongside antibodies, the immune system produces a battalion of T cells that can target viruses. Some of these, known as killer T cells (or CD8+ T cells), seek out and destroy cells that are infected with the virus. Others, called helper T cells (or CD4+ T cells) are important for various immune functions, including stimulating the production of antibodies and killer T cells.

T cells do not prevent infection, because they kick into action only after a virus has infiltrated the body. But they are important for clearing an infection that has already started. In the case of COVID-19, killer T cells could mean the difference between a mild infection and a severe one that requires hospital treatment, says Annika Karlsson, an immunologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “If they are able to kill the virus-infected cells before they spread from the upper respiratory tract, it will influence how sick you feel,” she says. They could also reduce transmission by restricting the amount of virus circulating in an infected person, meaning that the person sheds fewer virus particles into the community.

 

[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: 2,412,834
United States: 497,174
Brazil: 239,294
South Africa: 47,899
United Kingdom: 117,166
Canada: 21,293
Mexico: 174,207
Poland: 40,832
Russia: 80,520
India: 155,764
Bolivia: 11,202
Japan : 6,912
Indonesia: 33,367
Italy: 93,577
Spain: 64,747
Belgium: 21,662
France: 81,814
Netherlands: 14,816
Chile: 19,541
Philippines: 11,517

 

[J Sokol]

United States: 497,174

Just as predicted in January.

U.S. expected to hit 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by February, CDC warns

As the U.S. closes in on 400,000 coronavirus deaths, the incoming director of the Centers for Disease Control said that by the middle of February, officials expect the death toll to be staggering.

"By the middle of February, we expect half a million deaths in this country," Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u...d-19-deaths-by-february-cdc-warns/ar-BB1cS8iB

 

[koolishman]

Dr Anthony Fauci wins USD 1 million Israeli prize for ”defending science

Dr Anthony Fauci has won the USD 1 million Dan David Prize for "defending science" and advocating for vaccines now being administered worldwide to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Sadly, at some point today the death total in the US will exceed half a million. It makes me think back to a year ago when the phrase 'its just the flu' was being tossed around. Yes, it is a SARS, but just a little more dangerous than your average flu. May those who have lost loved ones and those suffering from the lingering consequences of the infection find some comfort today.

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: 2,420,640
United States: 498,203
Brazil: 239,895
South Africa: 48,094
United Kingdom: 117,396
Canada: 21,311
Mexico: 174,657
Poland: 41,028
Russia: 80,979
India: 155,840
Bolivia: 11,234
Japan : 6,952
Indonesia: 33,596
Italy: 93,835
Spain: 65,449
Belgium: 21,702
France: 82,226
Netherlands: 14,843
Chile: 19,624
Philippines: 11,524

 

[koolishman]

Brilliant XKCD webcomic on how mRNA vaccines work.

xkcd: mRNA Vaccine

More about XKCD. xkcd - Wikipedia

 

[koolishman]

India Is Set to Become a Vital COVID Vaccine Maker — Perhaps Second Only to the US

India could become the world's second largest COIVD vaccine maker, and analysts say the country has the capacity to produce for both its own population and other developing countries.

Most of the world's vaccines have historically come from India. Even before Covid-19, the South Asian country produced up to about 60% of the world's vaccines — and can do so at a relatively low cost.

India has been a manufacturing hub for vaccines … even before the pandemic, and should therefore be a strategic partner in the global inoculation against COVID-19," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report last month.

Consulting firm Deloitte predicts that India will be second only to the U.S. in terms of coronavirus vaccine production this year. PS Easwaran, a partner at Deloitte India, said more than 3.5 billion COVID vaccines could be made in the country in 2021, compared to around 4 billion in the U.S.

 

[Sutruk]

Making masks fit better can reduce coronavirus exposure by 96 percent

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/double-mask-fit-reduce-coronavirus-exposure-covid-19-pandemic

"Taking steps to improve the way medical masks fit can protect wearers from about 96 percent of the aerosol particles thought to spread the coronavirus, a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. That’s provided both people are wearing masks. But even if only one person is wearing a mask tweaked to fit snugly, the wearer is protected from 64.5 percent to 83 percent of potentially virus-carrying particles, the researchers report February 10 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

 

[CraigD]

India Is Set to Become a Vital COVID Vaccine Maker — Perhaps Second Only to the US

India could become the world's second largest COIVD vaccine maker, and analysts say the country has the capacity to produce for both its own population and other developing countries.

Most of the world's vaccines have historically come from India. Even before Covid-19, the South Asian country produced up to about 60% of the world's vaccines — and can do so at a relatively low cost.

India has been a manufacturing hub for vaccines … even before the pandemic, and should therefore be a strategic partner in the global inoculation against COVID-19," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report last month.

Consulting firm Deloitte predicts that India will be second only to the U.S. in terms of coronavirus vaccine production this year. PS Easwaran, a partner at Deloitte India, said more than 3.5 billion COVID vaccines could be made in the country in 2021, compared to around 4 billion in the U.S.

Some big numbers!

Apparently China is also producing huge numbers in an effort to supply 40% of the worlds vaccine demand:

According to China's immunity plan, we need to inoculate 1 billion people, which means 2 billion doses. And the demand may increase to 4 billion if we add supplies for other developing countries. Eighteen vaccine producers are accelerating expansion of manufacturing capabilities, and China's total annual capacity is expected to reach 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213557.shtml

 

[koolishman]

AI used to 'predict the next coronavirus'

A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to work out where the next novel coronavirus could emerge.

The researchers used a combination of fundamental biology and machine learning.

Their computer algorithm predicted many more potential hosts of new virus strains than have previously been detected.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

.
"We were able to predict which species had the chance for many coronaviruses to infect them," she explained. "Either because they are very closely related [to a species known to carry a coronavirus] or because they share the same geographical space," she said.

This step concluded that many more mammals were potential hosts for new coronaviruses than previous surveillance work - screening animals for viruses - had shown.

The Asian palm civet and greater horseshoe bat, for example, were predicted to be host to 32 and 68 different coronaviruses, respectively. And in species including the common hedgehog, the European rabbit and the dromedary camel, the algorithm predicted that Sars-CoV-2 might recombine with other, existing coronaviruses.

 

[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: 2,431,690
United States: 499,991
Brazil: 240,983
South Africa: 48,313
United Kingdom: 118,195
Canada: 21,397
Mexico: 175,986
Poland: 41,308
Russia: 81,446
India: 155,949
Bolivia: 11,274
Japan : 7,015
Indonesia: 33,788
Italy: 94,171
Spain: 65,979
Belgium: 21,750
France: 82,812
Netherlands: 14,929
Chile: 19,644
Philippines: 11,577

 

[koolishman]

Did you survive Covid? Maybe you can thank your Neanderthal ancestors
People who survive a bout of Covid-19 with mild symptoms or even no symptoms may be able to thank their Neanderthal ancestors, a new study suggests.

Researchers found a genetic mutation that reduces the risk of severe Covid-19 infection by about 22%. It was found in all the samples they took of Neanderthal DNA, and in about 30% of samples from people of European and Asian origin.

The genetic region involved affects the body's immune response to RNA viruses such as the coronavirus, as well as West Nile virus and hepatitis C virus, the researchers reported Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This region encodes proteins that activate enzymes that are important during infections with RNA viruses," they wrote.

It may be one of those mutations that has been passed down over the millennia because it helped people survive, Svante Paabo and Hugo Zeberg of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany reported.

"We show that a haplotype on chromosome 12, which is associated with about a 22% reduction in relative risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19 when infected by SARS-CoV-2, is inherited from Neandertals," they wrote. "The relative risk of needing intensive care is reduced by about 22% per copy of the Neandertal haplotype," they added.

 

[koolishman]

Third shot may be needed to combat new coronavirus variants, Bill Gates says

A third dose of coronavirus vaccine may be needed to prevent serious cases of new variants of the disease, Bill Gates said Tuesday. The billionaire philanthropist's comments come amid to the growing concern that current vaccines are less effective against the South African and Brazilian variants.

"The discussion now is do we just need to get a super high coverage of the current vaccine, or do we need a third dose that's just the same, or do we need a modified vaccine?" Gates told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell.

"All five of the companies that have U.S. vaccines are looking at making that modification and adding that in so that people who've already had two shots might need to get a third shot," he said. "I think it's reasonably likely that we will have a tuned vaccine just to make absolutely sure that as these variants hit the U.S. that they're not escaping from vaccine protection."

Gates is funding studies in South Africa to determine whether the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines were as effective against the more contagious variant.

 

[koolishman]

UK approves first-of-its-kind study to infect young people with Covid

The UK has approved a first-of-its-kind study that will expose young and healthy volunteers to Covid-19 as part of efforts to further understand the virus, the government has announced.

Due to begin in the next few weeks, the study will recruit up to 90 carefully-selected participants aged between 18 and 30 - who are at the lowest risk of complications from coronavirus - and expose them to the pathogen in a safe and controlled environment.


The researchers will initially use the coronavirus that was first introduced to the UK in March 2020, as opposed to the more transmissible variant that was detected in Kent late last year.

After exposure, the volunteers will be closely monitored by medics and scientists for 24 hours a day throughout the study. They will be kept in quarantine for a minimum of 17 days and only allowed to return home after this period once they are no longer deemed infectious.

 

[CraigD]

MRI Scans Link COVID-19 to Potentially Dangerous Eye Abnormalities

Researchers using MRI have found significant abnormalities in the eyes of some people with severe COVID-19, according to a study published in the journal Radiology. The study results support the need for eye screening in these patients to provide appropriate treatment and management of potentially severe ophthalmological manifestations of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 100 million people since it began early in 2020. While the virus primarily attacks the lungs, it has been linked with eye abnormalities like conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, and retinopathy, a disease of the retina that can result in a loss of vision. Eye abnormalities visible on MRI exams have been reported but there is limited research on the nature and frequency of these abnormalities.

To find out more, the French Society of Neuroradiology (SFNR) initiated a study of 129 patients with severe COVID-19 who underwent brain MRI.

Of the 129 patients, nine (7%) had abnormal MRI findings of the globe, or eyeball. The MRI scans showed one or more nodules in the back part, or posterior pole, of the eyeball. Eight of the nine patients had spent time in the intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19.

https://scitechdaily.com/mri-scans-link-covid-19-to-potentially-dangerous-eye-abnormalities/

 

[rh2000]

Third shot may be needed to combat new coronavirus variants, Bill Gates says

A third dose of coronavirus vaccine may be needed to prevent serious cases of new variants of the disease, Bill Gates said Tuesday. The billionaire philanthropist's comments come amid to the growing concern that current vaccines are less effective against the South African and Brazilian variants.

"The discussion now is do we just need to get a super high coverage of the current vaccine, or do we need a third dose that's just the same, or do we need a modified vaccine?" Gates told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell.

"All five of the companies that have U.S. vaccines are looking at making that modification and adding that in so that people who've already had two shots might need to get a third shot," he said. "I think it's reasonably likely that we will have a tuned vaccine just to make absolutely sure that as these variants hit the U.S. that they're not escaping from vaccine protection."

Gates is funding studies in South Africa to determine whether the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines were as effective against the more contagious variant.

Gates is such a good doctor.