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/

 

[koolishman]

Israeli-made nasal spray reduced COVID infection at mass gathering

A nasal spray may have reduced coronavirus infection rates at a mass gathering during Rosh Hashanah in the highly endemic community of Bnei Brak, according to new, preliminary research.

Some 83 members of an ultra-Orthodox synagogue in Bnei Brak used the nasal spray "Traffix" during Rosh Hashanah services, and after two weeks, 2.4% of Traffix users were infected with the coronavirus while 10% of non-users were infected with the coronavirus.


The odds ratio for coronavirus infection in Traffix users was reduced by 78%.

The results led the researchers to recommend the use of Traffix in addition to other precautionary measures. No side effects were reported among users.

The nasal spray, created by Nasus Pharma, is a nasal powder inhaler that creates a protective layer over nasal mucosa, blocking viruses from infecting nasal cells. The primary ingredient in Traffix, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, forms a muco-adhesive gel that covers the nasal cells, preventing viruses from engaging with receptors.

It also creates an acidic microenvironment that can remain for five hours and has been shown to prevent respiratory illnesses such as N1H1 influenza and rhinovirus.

The spray has been approved for use in Europe and Israel

‘Life-saving’ nose spray that kills 99.9% of viruses begins production in Israel

Health Ministry-approved labeling says antiviral is effective within 2 minutes; can save many lives in countries without access to vaccines, says inventor


A nasal spray that will be marketed as capable of killing 99.9 percent of virus particles has started rolling off production lines in an Israeli factory.

The spray could have prevented much of the world’s COVID-19 infection, its inventor, Dr. Gilly Regev, told The Times of Israel.

“We are hoping that our nasal spray will now save many lives of people in countries that are waiting for the vaccine,” said Regev, an Israeli-raised biochemist who co-founded the company SaNOtize and developed the spray in Canada. “This will be affordable and can be used for prevention, to protect from any respiratory viral infection.”

 

[koolishman]

SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.351 and P.1 escape from neutralizing antibodies

The global spread of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 is devastating health systems and economies worldwide. Recombinant or vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies are used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 (UK), B.1.351 (South Africa) and P.1 (Brazil) harbor mutations in the viral spike (S) protein that may alter virus-host cell interactions and confer resistance to inhibitors and antibodies. Here, using pseudoparticles, we show that entry of all variants into human cells is susceptible to blockade by the entry inhibitors soluble ACE2, Camostat, EK-1 and EK-1-C4. In contrast, entry of the B.1.351 and P.1 variant was partially (Casirivimab) or fully (Bamlanivimab) resistant to antibodies used for COVID-19 treatment. Moreover, entry of these variants was less efficiently inhibited by plasma from convalescent COVID-19 patients and sera from BNT162b2 vaccinated individuals.

These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may escape neutralizing antibody responses, which has important implications for efforts to contain the pandemic.

 

[CraigD]

Evidence mounting that COVID-19 can cause diabetes type II
A team of researchers from King's College London and Monash University has created a database of information that relates COVID-19 and type II diabetes. The team has created the database for two reasons—the first is that research to date has shown people with type II diabetes are more likely to suffer severe symptoms of the disease and to die from it than the general populace. The second is because of mounting evidence suggesting that COVID-19 could actually cause people to become diabetic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-evidence-mounting-covid-diabetes-ii.html

 

[Sutruk]

AstraZeneca says U.S. trial data shows its Covid-19 vaccine is 79 percent effective

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/astrazeneca-says-u-s-trial-data-shows-its-covid-19-n1261702

"The Phase 3 trial, conducted in the U.S., Chile and Peru with 32,000 volunteers, showed the vaccine was 79 percent effective against the disease and 100 percent effective in stopping severe and fatal cases, the company said in a news release.

AstraZeneca said it will now apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization and release its data for analysis by the scientific community in peer-reviewed literature."

 

[koolishman]

COVID-19 Vaccine in The Form of a Pill Is Set to Enter First Clinical Trials

A coronavirus vaccine which exists in pill form could enter the first phases of clinical trials this year.

Oravax, the company working on the substance, announced in a press release that it hopes to begin the first phase of clinical trials in humans by June.

The step is only the earliest phase of developing a vaccine. There is no guarantee of success, and even if it works it could be a year or more before it is authorized for use (Moderna and Pfizer began their first human trials in March and May 2020 respectively).

Oral vaccines are an option being assessed for "second-generation" vaccines, which are designed to be more scalable, easier to administer, and simpler to distribute.

Oravax is joint venture by two firms: the Israeli-American company Oramed and the Indian company Premas Biotech. Its press release Friday said that trials could begin by June.

An oral vaccine could "potentially [enable] people to take the vaccine themselves at home," Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed, said in the release.

The vaccine could be shipped in a normal refrigerator and stored at room temperature, Kidron said, "making it logistically easier to get it anywhere around the world," the Jerusalem Post reported.

 

[koolishman]

AstraZeneca may have included ‘outdated information’ in Covid vaccine trial, U.S. health agency says

A U.S. health agency on Tuesday said that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information in trial results of its Covid-19 vaccine, potentially casting doubt over published efficacy rates.

It comes just one day after the findings of a large U.S. trial showed that the vaccine was safe and highly effective and throws into question whether AstraZeneca can seek U.S. clearance for the vaccine next month as planned.

The Data Safety Monitoring Board “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a statement.

 

[Cannuck]

How to Counter COVID Misinformation

The conclusion: knowledgeable people online should employ material from appropriate health sources to “refute false or misleading health information clearly, simply, and with evidence.”

Scientific American 324, 4, 44-51 (April 2021) doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0421-44

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...isinformation-about-covid-vaccines-and-masks/

 

[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: 2,737,714
United States: 555,991
Brazil: 295,685
India: 160,200
Russia: 95,818
United Kingdom: 126,172
France: 92,621
Italy: 105,328
Spain: 73,543
Mexico: 198,239
Poland: 49,761
South Africa: 52,196
Indonesia: 39,865
Netherlands: 16,290
Canada: 22,716
Chile: 22,359
Belgium: 22,728
Philippines: 12,992
Japan : 8,835
Bolivia: 12,074
Papua New Guinea: 37

 

[CraigD]

How to Counter COVID Misinformation

The conclusion: knowledgeable people online should employ material from appropriate health sources to “refute false or misleading health information clearly, simply, and with evidence.”

Scientitific American 324, 4, 44-51 (April 2021) doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0421-44

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...isinformation-about-covid-vaccines-and-masks/

@Mister Funsky, you should update the thread rules to 'reputable sources'

 

[koolishman]

Coronavirus: How the common cold can boot out Covid

The team at the Centre for Virus Research in Glasgow used a replica of the lining of our airways, made out of the same types of cells, and infected it with Sars-CoV-2 and rhinovirus, which is one of the most widespread infections in people, and a cause of the common cold.

If rhinovirus and Sars-CoV-2 were released at the same time, only rhinovirus is successful. If rhinovirus had a 24-hour head start then Sars-CoV-2 does not get a look in. And even when Sars-CoV-2 had 24-hours to get started, rhinovirus boots it out.

"Sars-CoV-2 never takes off, it is heavily inhibited by rhinovirus," Dr Pablo Murcia told BBC News.

He added: "This is absolutely exciting because if you have a high prevalence of rhinovirus, it could stop new Sars-CoV-2 infections."


Similar effects have been seen before. A large rhinovirus outbreak may have delayed the 2009 swine flu pandemic in parts of Europe.

Further experiments showed rhinovirus was triggering an immune response inside the infected cells, which blocked the ability of Sars-CoV-2 to make copies of itself.

When scientists blocked the immune response, then levels of the Covid virus were the same as if rhinovirus was not there.


However, Covid would be able to cause an infection again once the cold had passed and the immune response calmed down.

Dr Murcia said: "Vaccination, plus hygiene measures, plus the interactions between viruses could lower the incidence of Sars-CoV-2 heavily, but the maximum effect will come from vaccination."

 

[J Sokol]

Brazil Is Looking Like The Worst Place On Earth For COVID-19

RIO DE JANEIRO — Cinthia Ribeiro knew she had a fight on her hands when COVID-19 arrived in her hometown in Brazil. What she didn't know was that, one year on, humans would be out to kill her too.

The fresh wave of infections now racing across the landscape has reached her city, flooding hospitals with patients, and pushing intensive care unit occupancy rates up to 96%.

The country is now widely viewed as the epicenter of the pandemic, with the highest number of daily deaths of any nation. On Tuesday, that number topped 3,000 for the first time, with 3,251 deaths recorded.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsa...ng-like-the-worst-place-on-earth-for-covid-19

 

[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: 2,748,763
United States: 556,885
Brazil: 298,843
India: 160,477
Russia: 96,219
United Kingdom: 126,284
France: 92,908
Italy: 105,879
Spain: 73,744
Mexico: 199,048
Poland: 50,340
South Africa: 52,251
Indonesia: 39,983
Netherlands: 16,339
Canada: 22,735
Chile: 22,384
Belgium: 22,763
Philippines: 13,039
Japan : 8,861
Bolivia: 12,093
Papua New Guinea: 39

 

[koolishman]

Coronavirus: 'Double mutant' Covid variant found in India

A new double mutant variant of the coronavirus and 771 others have been detected in samples collected from 18 states across India.

Of the 10,787 samples, 736 were positive for the UK variant, 34 for the South African variant and one for the Brazilian variant.

The report comes amid a recent surge in Covid cases in India.

But the government said there was no link between the spike in cases and these variants.

India reported 47,262 cases and 275 deaths on Wednesday - the sharpest daily rise this year.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), a group of 10 national laboratories under India's Health Ministry, carried out genomic sequencing on the samples. Genomic sequencing is a testing process to map the entire genetic code of an organism - in this case, the virus.

 

[koolishman]

Study: Covid-19 affects sense of hearing too.

THE LINK BETWEEN CONTRACTING COVID-19 and losing one’s taste and smell is well established.

However, new research and anecdotal reports suggest Covid-19’s attack on the senses may go beyond those senses — extending to the ability to hear.

Not everyone who becomes sick with Covid-19 will experience hearing loss, and not all experiences of hearing loss will be the same. However, certain themes do link some patient stories.

For example, a 45-year-old man with asthma developed a severe case of Covid-19 for which he had to be intubated. After extubation, he developed sudden hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear. According to the case report published in October, “he had no previous history of hearing loss or ear pathology.”

Meanwhile, in October, a 42-year-old woman named Meredith Harrell recounted to CNN a moment when she was walking from her backyard to her house. Her right ear started to ring. Other than the ringing, she couldn’t hear anything out of her right ear. She took a Covid-19 test and was positive, but other than the hearing loss in her right ear, she didn’t have any symptoms. While steroids have helped some people recover their hearing after Covid-19, they didn’t work for Harrell.

Cases like these have prompted researchers from the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness to review all the case studies of Covid-associated hearing loss they can find and warn the public of the possible link. They published their findings Monday in the International Journal of Audiology.

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/coronavirus-side-effect-hearing-loss-study

 

[oldtimer]

.
You having a support group that helps you along the way is very important, I on the other hand have many health issues too including continuous stabbing pain in my heart that seems not to want to go away, but unlike you I don't have many people who care for me, as the matter of fact there are some people like my next door neighbor who seem to be taking a special pleasure in harassing and tormenting me (for whatever political, religious, and racial hatred and animosity that they might have for me) which has contributed greatly to the demise of my physical condition over the last few years.

I hope you continue to develop the ability to block out the negative...your next door neighbor seems to be one of these negative entities worthy of being ignored.

Looks like my neighbor is fixing to move after all,

But that's after them taking 20 years off of my life by all the abuse and harassment that they subjected me to from having been right next to me. (and I don't know if their harassing phone calls are going to continue or not after they leave).

I strongly believe that they were being sponsored by a bigger group who apparently didn't like the fact that I have been so vocal on so many fronts.

This is not just the product of my imagination, in the past few years both me and certain members of my family have been subjected to what amounts to physical and emotional torture. Not that I have been doing anything to anyone, but simply because I have been exercising my freedom of speech to follow what I am passionate about as a Human Rights and Environmental intellectual and activist.

Many bad things have happened to me that makes me genuinely concerned as to my safety, from the time back in the fall of 2018 where I was poisoned by the people at the local little Cesar's pizza who intentionally gave me some contaminated parmesan cheese packets which started my latest heart problems to the people at the local peerless tire store who intentionally messed up the alignment on my car which made one of my front wheels to come off while driving in town.

There have been countless other assassination attempts on my life by the people who are not happy by that fact that they have not been able to force me to conform to the profile that they had made for me that was meant to suit some of their own twisted agendas and interests.

It is only with the grace of God that I am still able to continue being an activist despite of all the efforts to discredit or even eliminate my voice over the years.

By the way my neighbor got a new car and apparently a new home out of this if that tells you anything.

IMO

 

[Cal2]

'I don't recognize the person that I am': COVID-19 long hauler hopes new clinic will provide treatment, answers

Cousineau is known as a COVID-19 “long hauler,” meaning a patient who has experienced symptoms of the virus long after infection, sometimes months later. It remains unclear just how many people experience symptoms weeks or even months after infection.

“At least three to six months out, for symptoms like fatigue, we've seen ranges from 30 per cent to maybe even 70 per cent of the patients still having persistent symptoms,” said Dr. Emilia Liana Falcone, the director of the Montreal clinic.

The Montreal clinic is among several post COVID-19 clinics across Canada and around the world, which aim to support these long haulers.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...inic-will-provide-treatment-answers-1.5323431

 

[Compassion]

@Mister Funsky, you should update the thread rules to 'reputable sources'

If he does that then 95% of your MSM sources are disallowed.

 

[Corey]

Coronavirus' long haulers' feared they would never recover. Then they got the vaccine - ABC News

Cheers
Corey

 

[CraigD]

Coronavirus' long haulers' feared they would never recover. Then they got the vaccine - ABC News

Cheers
Corey

It's an anecdotal report, possibly a placebo effect as they reveal in the article.


If that's the case, the vaccine could potentially clean up the reservoir. But it's also possible the vaccine doesn't help at all, and it's just a placebo effect or people recovering naturally.

"I think this question is going to be out there for some time," Dr Hamilton said.

"I don't think there's going to be a huge paper tomorrow that's going to drop, that's going to conclusively answer this either way.

"But it is intriguing, isn't it?"

 

[Cannuck]

The US is about to reach a surprise milestone: too many vaccines, not enough takers

The challenge will be convincing enough outliers to get vaccinated so that America can return to normality.

Medical experts think we will need a vaccination rate of around 80% to reach the point where infections are dramatically reduced in the US, and projections show that 70% of Americans will be vaccinated by late June.

But those projections assume that everyone who is eligible will take a vaccine. A recent Pew study estimates, however, that only 69% of Americans want a shot. That means reaching the threshold will require efforts to understand why the “maybes” are hesitant and how their minds might be changed.

The least effective messengers? After a year filled with misinformation, it’s perhaps not surprising that politicians sway “nearly nobody” into getting a shot.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/22/1021079/united-states-covid19-vaccine-surplus-not-enough-people/

 

[koolishman]

Scientists find evidence that novel coronavirus infects the mouth's cells

An international team of scientists has found evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects cells in the mouth. While it's well known that the upper airways and lungs are primary sites of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there are clues the virus can infect cells in other parts of the body, such as the digestive system, blood vessels, kidneys and, as this new study shows, the mouth. The potential of the virus to infect multiple areas of the body might help explain the wide-ranging symptoms experienced by COVID-19 patients, including oral symptoms such as taste loss, dry mouth and blistering. Moreover, the findings point to the possibility that the mouth plays a role in transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to the lungs or digestive system via saliva laden with virus from infected oral cells. A better understanding of the mouth's involvement could inform strategies to reduce viral transmission within and outside the body. The team was led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Researchers already know that the saliva of people with COVID-19 can contain high levels of SARS-CoV-2, and studies suggest that saliva testing is nearly as reliable as deep nasal swabbing for diagnosing COVID-19. What scientists don't entirely know, however, is where SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva comes from. In people with COVID-19 who have respiratory symptoms, virus in saliva possibly comes in part from nasal drainage or sputum coughed up from the lungs. But according to Warner, that may not explain how the virus gets into the saliva of people who lack those respiratory symptoms.

"Based on data from our laboratories, we suspected at least some of the virus in saliva could be coming from infected tissues in the mouth itself," Warner said.

To explore this possibility, the researchers surveyed oral tissues from healthy people to identify mouth regions susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vulnerable cells contain RNA instructions for making "entry proteins" that the virus needs to get into cells. RNA for two key entry proteins—known as the ACE2 receptor and the TMPRSS2 enzyme—was found in certain cells of the salivary glands and tissues lining the oral cavity. In a small portion of salivary gland and gingival (gum) cells, RNA for both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 was expressed in the same cells. This indicated increased vulnerability because the virus is thought to need both entry proteins to gain access to cells.

 

[CraigD]

The US is about to reach a surprise milestone: too many vaccines, not enough takers

The challenge will be convincing enough outliers to get vaccinated so that America can return to normality.

Medical experts think we will need a vaccination rate of around 80% to reach the point where infections are dramatically reduced in the US, and projections show that 70% of Americans will be vaccinated by late June.

But those projections assume that everyone who is eligible will take a vaccine. A recent Pew study estimates, however, that only 69% of Americans want a shot. That means reaching the threshold will require efforts to understand why the “maybes” are hesitant and how their minds might be changed.

The least effective messengers? After a year filled with misinformation, it’s perhaps not surprising that politicians sway “nearly nobody” into getting a shot.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/22/1021079/united-states-covid19-vaccine-surplus-not-enough-people/

Use it or lose it.

There are people around the world literally dying for want of a vaccination.

Billions of people will be waiting for at least another year.

 

[oldtimer]

"Based on data from our laboratories, we suspected at least some of the virus in saliva could be coming from infected tissues in the mouth itself," Warner said.

To explore this possibility, the researchers surveyed oral tissues from healthy people to identify mouth regions susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vulnerable cells contain RNA instructions for making "entry proteins" that the virus needs to get into cells. RNA for two key entry proteins—known as the ACE2 receptor and the TMPRSS2 enzyme—was found in certain cells of the salivary glands and tissues lining the oral cavity. In a small portion of salivary gland and gingival (gum) cells, RNA for both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 was expressed in the same cells. This indicated increased vulnerability because the virus is thought to need both entry proteins to gain access to cells.

This is purely an abstract thought on my part:

The secretions around and under our teeth could transfer certain materials including viruses from other organs and parts of our body to our mouth.

This is more apparent when for example our mouth tastes kind of sugary at the base of our teeth hours after we have eaten something sweet. Hence the irritation and tooth decay that follows not by the sweets that we are chewing at the moment, but rather by the sugar that is being transferred to the base of our teeth from other places in our body.

But as I said this is just a theory based on abstract thought, no medical research or expertise involved in my part in making this observation which could be totally wrong, but perhaps worth looking into. (I hope it help with the research)

IMO

 

[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: 2,759,177
United States: 558,425
Brazil: 300,500 (est)
India: 160,726
Russia: 96,612
United Kingdom: 126,382
France: 93,180
Italy: 106,339
Spain: 74,064
Mexico: 199,627
Poland: 50,860
South Africa: 52,372
Indonesia: 40,081
Netherlands: 16,371
Canada: 22,759
Chile: 22,402
Belgium: 22,786
Philippines: 13,095
Japan : 8,908
Bolivia: 12,107
Papua New Guinea: 39

 

[Cannuck]

Use it or lose it.

There are people around the world literally dying for want of a vaccination.

Billions of people will be waiting for at least another year.

As a domainer, my effort to help information flow: Covax.global

I feel fortunate to have received the full vaccine regimen (an average of 10% of Canadians having received at least one dose to date).

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...eople-in-canada-have-received-shots-1.5247509