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/

 

[CraigD]

How can we take you seriously when the quotes you post are fake propaganda?

"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/d...-to-convince-them-that-they-have-been-fooled/

It's the same with the George Orwell quote posted on your profile page:
"The people will believe what the media tells them they believe. Φ George Orwell."

George Orwell never said that.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/1984-george-orwell/590638/

This was a fake quote distributed on social-media by a Russian troll farm during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

 

[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: 3,015,102
United States: 579,951
Brazil: 369,024
India: 175,673
Russia: 105,193
United Kingdom: 127,225
France: 100,404
Italy: 116,366
Spain: 76,981
Mexico: 211,693
Poland: 61,825
South Africa: 53,663
Indonesia: 43,328
Netherlands: 16,873
Canada: 23,541
Chile: 24,923
Belgium: 23,681
Philippines: 15,810
Japan : 9,538
Bolivia: 12,625
Papua New Guinea: 82

 

[Cal2]

How can we take you seriously when the quotes you post are fake propaganda?

"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/d...-to-convince-them-that-they-have-been-fooled/

It's the same with the George Orwell quote posted on your profile page:
"The people will believe what the media tells them they believe. Φ George Orwell."

George Orwell never said that.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/1984-george-orwell/590638/

This was a fake quote distributed on social-media by a Russian troll farm during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

About the only things not fake about Compassion are the things that drive him to be fake.

My psychological assessment.

 

[koolishman]

At 38.5% vaccinated, US may be running low on people eager for a shot

The US logged another 4 million or so vaccinations Friday, bringing the total doses administered in the country over 200 million at the time of writing. Over 127 million adults—38.5 percent of the US population—have received at least one shot. Over 80 million adults—24 percent of the US population—are now fully vaccinated.

The seven-day rolling average of US vaccinations per day is now around 3.35 million, and the Biden administration is on track to make its latest goal of 200 million vaccinations within the first 100 days in office.

“Vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer are still widely available,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a White House COVID-19 press briefing Friday. “We continue to work with pharmacies, states, and FEMA to make sure the vaccine supply remains robust across the country as we approach April 19th, when all Americans above age 16 or 18—depending on the vaccine received—will be eligible for vaccination.”

But the latest survey results and vaccination distribution data are pointing in the opposite direction. Together, they suggest that the US may be close to running out of people eager for their shot and that the robust pace of vaccination in the country may soon wane.

The latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccine survey suggests that enthusiasm for vaccines continues to increase. In February, 55 percent of people said they had already gotten at least one dose or plan to get one as soon as possible. That figure rose to 61 percent in March. But the percentage of people saying they “definitely” will not get vaccinated has held fairly stable, currently standing around 13 percent. The fraction of people who say they’ll only get vaccinated if they're required to do so has also stayed put at around 7 percent.

 

[Sutruk]

Worldwide COVID-19 death toll tops a staggering 3 million

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-global-covid-death-toll-tops.html

"The global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million people Saturday amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France.

The number of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of Kyiv, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; or metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal. It is bigger than Chicago (2.7 million) and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.

And the true number is believed to be significantly higher because of possible government concealment and the many cases overlooked in the early stages of the outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019."

 

[Sutruk]

Pfizer CEO: Vaccine third dose 'likely' needed within 12 months

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-pfizer-ceo-vaccine-dose-months.html

"The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will "likely" need a third dose of his company's COVID-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab.

CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required.

"We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen," Bourla told CNBC in an interview recorded on April 1.

"A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed," he said, adding that variants will play a "key role."

"It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus," he said.

 

[Sutruk]

India Has a Double Mutant Virus Variant. Should We Worry?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ble-mutant-virus-variant-should-we-be-worried

"As India’s daily tally of Covid-19 infections surge by a record 200,000-plus cases for three consecutive days, public health experts worry that a new -- possibly more virulent -- coronavirus variant could be racing through the crowded nation of more than 1.3 billion people.

The new variant, which has a so-called double mutation, is thought to be fueling India’s deadlier new wave of infections that has made it the world’s second worst-hit country, surpassing Brazil.

“This is a variant of interest we are following,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead officer on Covid, told reporters Friday. “Having two of these mutations, which have been seen in other variants around the world, are concerning,” she said.

India’s health ministry first acknowledged the presence of such a “double mutant” at the end of March, but has downplayed it since. While it’s a variant of interest, it “has not been stamped as a ‘variant of concern’ so as to say that it is more lethal or more infectious,” Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research, which works under the nation’s health ministry, told Bloomberg TV on Friday.

The double mutation has been found in several countries like Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Namibia, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S., according to an April 16 statement from the Indian government. “Higher transmissibility of this variant is not established as yet,” it said."

 

[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: 3,026,390
United States: 580,756
Brazil: 371,889
India: 177,168
Russia: 105,582
United Kingdom: 127,260
France: 100,593
Italy: 116,676
Spain: 76,981
Mexico: 212,228
Poland: 62,032
South Africa: 53,711
Indonesia: 43,424
Netherlands: 16,904
Canada: 23,591
Chile: 25,055
Belgium: 23,718
Philippines: 15,960
Japan : 9,584
Bolivia: 12,634
Papua New Guinea: 89

 

[Mister Funsky]

Experimental Antiviral Drug, MK-4482 Shows Potential Against Covid-19

A new study has found that an experimental antiviral drug, MK-4482, decreased levels of virus and disease damage in the lungs of hamsters treated for Covid infection.

Ever since the Covid pandemic began, experts have worked tirelessly to come up with a treatment to bring down the effects of the coronavirus. They have been experimenting with the existing drugs and see if they can work against the deadly disease. In a breakthrough, scientists have found that an experimental oral antiviral drug called MK-4482 may be able to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

https://www.thehealthsite.com/news/...4482-shows-potential-against-covid-19-808669/

(BTW, the site above, TheHealthSite.com, has some interesting articles from time to time, also, apologies for not posting much other than daily stats...been hectic around here for the last week or so. Second Moderna shot coming up this week...woohoo! May those of you waiting for you vaccine get it soon.)

 

[Sutruk]

Dr. Fauci says he expects J&J vaccine to resume later this week

https://www.wptv.com/news/national/...expects-j-j-vaccine-to-resume-later-this-week

"WASHINGTON — Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to meet this coming Friday to discuss the pause in Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, and the top U.S. infectious disease expert says he’d be “very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that “a decision almost certainly will be made by Friday. I don’t really anticipate that they’re going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.”

Fauci tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that one possibility would be to bring the one-and-done shots back “with some form of restrictions or some form of warning. …I believe by Friday we’re going to know the answer to that.’

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is in limbo in the U.S. after federal health advisers said last week they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk is."

The reports are rare — six cases out of more than 7 million inoculations with the J&J vaccine in the United States. The clots were found in six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died."

 

[CraigD]

Covid: trial to study effect of immune system on reinfection

Oxford scientists will track whether participants are reinfected when re-exposed to coronavirus

Now researchers at the University of Oxford have announced that they have gained research ethics approval for a new human challenge trial involving people who have previously had coronavirus. Recruitment is expected to start in the next couple of weeks.

“The point of this study is to determine what kind of immune response prevents reinfection,” said Helen McShane, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, and chief investigator on the study.

McShane said the team would measure the levels of various components of participants’ immune response – including T-cells and antibodies – and then track whether participants became reinfected when exposed to the virus.

Participants must be healthy, at low risk from Covid, aged between 18 and 30, and must have been infected with the coronavirus at least three months before joining the trial. As well as having previously had a positive Covid PCR test, they must also have antibodies to Covid. Given the timing criteria, McShane said it was likely most participants would have previously been infected with the original strain of the virus.

The first phase of the trial will initially involve 24 participants split into dose groups of three to eight people who will receive, via the nose, the original strain of coronavirus. The idea is to start with a very low dose and, if necessary, increase the dose – up to a point – between groups.

“Our target is to have 50% of our subjects infected but with no, or only very mild, disease,” said McShane, adding that once the dose required to achieve this is determined it will be administered to 10-40 other participants to confirm the dose.

The second phase of the study – expected to start in the summer – will involve a new group of participants and will study closely their immune response before and after exposure to the virus, as well as the level of virus and symptoms in those who become reinfected.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...-effect-of-immune-system-on-covid-reinfection

 

[CraigD]

At 38.5% vaccinated, US may be running low on people eager for a shot

The US logged another 4 million or so vaccinations Friday, bringing the total doses administered in the country over 200 million at the time of writing. Over 127 million adults—38.5 percent of the US population—have received at least one shot. Over 80 million adults—24 percent of the US population—are now fully vaccinated.

The seven-day rolling average of US vaccinations per day is now around 3.35 million, and the Biden administration is on track to make its latest goal of 200 million vaccinations within the first 100 days in office.

“Vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer are still widely available,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a White House COVID-19 press briefing Friday. “We continue to work with pharmacies, states, and FEMA to make sure the vaccine supply remains robust across the country as we approach April 19th, when all Americans above age 16 or 18—depending on the vaccine received—will be eligible for vaccination.”

But the latest survey results and vaccination distribution data are pointing in the opposite direction. Together, they suggest that the US may be close to running out of people eager for their shot and that the robust pace of vaccination in the country may soon wane.

The latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccine survey suggests that enthusiasm for vaccines continues to increase. In February, 55 percent of people said they had already gotten at least one dose or plan to get one as soon as possible. That figure rose to 61 percent in March. But the percentage of people saying they “definitely” will not get vaccinated has held fairly stable, currently standing around 13 percent. The fraction of people who say they’ll only get vaccinated if they're required to do so has also stayed put at around 7 percent.

We're noticing a similar trend in Australia.

Even though we have extremely limited supplies of vaccine thanks to consignments from Europe being withheld, people who are currently eligible - essentially those aged over 70-years, those with health issues, and healthcare workers - are declining the vaccine.

To date less than 1.5 million people have accepted the first dose, which means vaccines are sitting unused.

There are now discussions about fast tracking to the next age bracket of over 50 year-olds.

Thankfully we don't currently have an outbreak, but that could quickly change leaving many vulnerable people at risk who had the option of being vaccinated, but were scared off by fearmongering over blood clots.

I'm now looking forward to possibly getting vaccinated earlier than I had anticipated.

National Cabinet endorses PM's push to offer AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to more over-50s
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04...endorse-astrazeneca-vaccine-over-50/100078562

Coronavirus Australia: Vaccine bookings plummet after AstraZeneca blood clot link
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...k/news-story/1cbfffb92b8b533dcf9dcc7a7baeda04

And this bizarre headline from the sister publication:
AstraZeneca shot deadlier to most Aussies than Covid
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/andrew-bolt-the-morrison-government-bet-on-the-wrong-vaccine/news-story/283337db6720e13e98e9e8aa15e6b1b6

Not sure how that headline made it to publication considering we have had one death out of 1.5 million vaccinations, and out of a population of 25 million, about 900 died from Covid during the outbreak last year. It's an opinion piece behind a paywall, and probably clickbait to entice readers to pay for access.

 

[koolishman]

Human challenge trial launches to study immune response to COVID-19
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has now been active for a year, not much is known about what happens when people who have already had COVID-19 are infected for a second time.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have launched a human challenge trial to look at what kind of immune response can stop people from becoming re-infected. They also want to see how the immune system reacts second time round. A human challenge trial in medical research is a carefully controlled study that involves purposefully infecting a subject with a pathogen or bug, in order to study the effects of that infection.

 

[koolishman]

New U.S. military microchip implant detects COVID-19 in 5 minutes or less
Like other contagious diseases, the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 lies in early detection of the virus.

This means, in this day and age, we have to be aware of any symptoms that may pop up over time. But not everyone can recognize symptoms when they present themselves. And as we all know, failing to do so could lead to virus transmission.

But things could change with a new medical microchip developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a military lab unit working under the U.S Department of Defence.

Designed to be implanted under the skin, the microchip can detect COVID-19 in the bloodstream within minutes.

The microchip itself is carried in a green tissue-like gel. When implanted, the microchip will be able to display chemical reactions in the body, which signals the 'user' that COVID-19 symptoms will appear the next day.

I can imagine the conspiracy nuts in this thread and elsewhere crying "Told you so, they want to microchip us".

 

[koolishman]

For what it's worth, an Oct/20 Forbes article:

4 Reasons Why WHO Won’t Admit Coronavirus Is Airborne

"Why is WHO reluctant to acknowledge that Coronavirus is airborne? There are many potential explanations — and some have nothing to do with scientific evidence."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvcham...ization-coronavirus-airborne/?sh=1c5ac45f3f1c

From The Lancet

Ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Heneghan and colleagues' systematic review, funded by WHO, published in March, 2021, as a preprint, states: “The lack of recoverable viral culture samples of SARS-CoV-2 prevents firm conclusions to be drawn about airborne transmission”.
1
This conclusion, and the wide circulation of the review's findings, is concerning because of the public health implications.
If an infectious virus spreads predominantly through large respiratory droplets that fall quickly, the key control measures are reducing direct contact, cleaning surfaces, physical barriers, physical distancing, use of masks within droplet distance, respiratory hygiene, and wearing high-grade protection only for so-called aerosol-generating health-care procedures. Such policies need not distinguish between indoors and outdoors, since a gravity-driven mechanism for transmission would be similar for both settings. But if an infectious virus is mainly airborne, an individual could potentially be infected when they inhale aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, sneezes, or coughs. Reducing airborne transmission of virus requires measures to avoid inhalation of infectious aerosols, including ventilation, air filtration, reducing crowding and time spent indoors, use of masks whenever indoors, attention to mask quality and fit, and higher-grade protection for health-care staff and front-line workers.

Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses is difficult to demonstrate directly.

Mixed findings from studies that seek to detect viable pathogen in air are therefore insufficient grounds for concluding that a pathogen is not airborne if the totality of scientific evidence indicates otherwise. Decades of painstaking research, which did not include capturing live pathogens in the air, showed that diseases once considered to be spread by droplets are airborne.

Ten streams of evidence collectively support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted primarily by the airborne route.

Jose-Luis Jimenez on Twitter: "23/ We dispel the myth about R0, as well as other commonly-held myths about airborne transmission in this article in the Journal of Hospital Infection, led by prominent virologist Julian Tang: https://no_url_shorteners/Yf8BpkW0VO https://no_url_shorteners/zifux1jKI4" / Twitter

 

[koolishman]

COVID-19: Scientists identify human genes that fight infection

Research pinpoints interferon stimulating genes that control SARS-CoV-2 replication.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a set of human genes that fight SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19. Knowing which genes help control viral infection can greatly assist researchers’ understanding of factors that affect disease severity and also suggest possible therapeutic options. The genes in question are related to interferons, the body’s frontline virus fighters.

The study was published in the journal Molecular Cell.

“We wanted to gain a better understanding of the cellular response to SARS-CoV-2, including what drives a strong or weak response to infection,” says Sumit K. Chanda, Ph.D., professor and director of the Immunity and Pathogenesis Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and lead author of the study. “We’ve gained new insights into how the virus exploits the human cells it invades, but we are still searching for its Achille’s heel so that we can develop optimal antivirals.”

Soon after the start of the pandemic, clinicians found that a weak interferon response to SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in some of the more severe cases of COVID-19. This knowledge led Chanda and his collaborators to search for the human genes that are triggered by interferons, known as interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), which act to limit SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Based on knowledge gleaned from SARS-CoV-1, the virus that caused a deadly, but relatively brief, outbreak of disease from 2002 to 2004, and knowing that it was similar to SARS-CoV-2, the investigators were able to develop laboratory experiments to identify the ISGs that control viral replication in COVID-19.

“We found that 65 ISGs controlled SARS-CoV-2 infection, including some that inhibited the virus’ ability to enter cells, some that suppressed manufacture of the RNA that is the virus’s lifeblood, and a cluster of genes that inhibited assembly of the virus,” says Chanda. “What was also of great interest was the fact that some of the ISGs exhibited control across unrelated viruses, such as seasonal flu, West Nile and HIV, which leads to AIDS”.

 

[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: 3,035,149
United States: 581,068
Brazil: 373,442
India: 178,793
Russia: 105,928
United Kingdom: 127,270
France: 100,733
Italy: 116,927
Spain: 76,981
Mexico: 212,339
Poland: 62,133
South Africa: 53,736
Indonesia: 43,567
Netherlands: 16,916
Canada: 23,623
Chile: 25,177
Belgium: 23,747
Philippines: 16,048
Japan : 9,641
Bolivia: 12,648
Papua New Guinea: 89

 

[koolishman]

New COVID-19 vaccine may offer broad protection from coronaviruses

A COVID-19 vaccine that could provide protection against existing and future strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and other coronaviruses, and cost about $1 a dose has shown promising results in early animal testing.

Vaccines created by UVA Health's Steven L. Zeichner, MD, PhD, and Virginia Tech's Xiang-Jin Meng, MD, PhD, prevented pigs from being becoming ill with a pig model coronavirus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). The vaccine was developed using an innovative approach that Zeichner says might one day open the door to a universal vaccine for coronaviruses, including coronaviruses that previously threatened pandemics or perhaps even coronaviruses that cause some cases of the common cold.

Targeting Coronavirus

Zeichner and Meng's vaccine takes an unusual approach in that it targets a part of the spike protein of the virus, the "viral fusion peptide," that is essentially universal among coronaviruses. The fusion peptide has not been observed to differ at all in the many genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that have been obtained from thousands of patients around the world during the pandemic.

Meng and Zeichner made two vaccines, one designed to protect against COVID-19, and another designed to protect against PEDV. PEDV and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both coronaviruses, but they are distant relatives. PEDV and SARS-CoV-2, like all coronaviruses, share several of the amino acids that constitute the fusion peptide. PEDV infects pigs, causing diarrhea, vomiting and high fever, and has been a large burden on pig farmers around the world. When PEDV first appeared in pig herds in the US, it killed almost 10% of US pigs - a pig pandemic.

One advantage of studying PEDV in pigs is that Meng and Zeichner could study the ability of the vaccines to offer protection against a coronavirus infection in its native host - in this case, pigs. The other models that have been used to test COVID-19 vaccines study SARS-CoV-2 in non-native hosts, such as monkeys or hamsters, or in mice that have been genetically engineered to enable them to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. Pigs are also very similar in physiology and immunology to people - they may be the closest animal models to people other than primates.

In some unexpected results, Meng and Zeichner observed that both the vaccine against PEDV and the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 protected the pigs against illness caused by PEDV. The vaccines did not prevent infection, but they protected the pigs from developing severe symptoms, much like the observations made when primates were tested with candidate COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines also primed the immune system of the pigs to mount a much more vigorous immune response to the infection. If both the PEDV and the COVID-19 vaccines protected the pigs against disease caused by PEDV and primed the immune system to fight the disease, it is reasonable to think that the COVID-19 vaccine would also protect people against severe COVID-19 disease, the scientists say.

 

[koolishman]

How Opera Singing Is Helping Long-Haul Covid-19 Patients Recover

Frustrated that she wasn’t getting better, Sheeba turned to the internet for answers and stumbled upon ENO Breathe. Launched in June, ENO Breathe began as a pilot program in partnership with the English National Opera (ENO) and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, part of one of the largest healthcare networks in the United Kingdom. Working together, a team of doctors, therapists and vocal coaches developed a breathing and well-being program for people like Sheeba who were recovering from Covid-19 but still suffering from breathlessness and anxiety. Their idea was simple: Take the same vocal techniques and breathing exercises used by opera singers and apply them to Covid-19 patients in a group setting. The program is structured into hour-long sessions that take place via Zoom once a week over the course of six weeks. (It’s also entirely free.)

“The program mirrors the training of opera singers, but in a more accessible way,” says Jenny Mollica, director of ENO Baylis, ENO’s learning and participation program. “Patients don’t need a background in singing to participate.”


The practice of singing—in particular operatic singing, which involves hitting different ranges and holding notes for extended periods of time—is rooted in breathing and involves engaging the diaphragm, a muscular respiratory structure that contracts and expands when a person inhales and exhales.

 

[CraigD]

How Opera Singing Is Helping Long-Haul Covid-19 Patients Recover

Frustrated that she wasn’t getting better, Sheeba turned to the internet for answers and stumbled upon ENO Breathe. Launched in June, ENO Breathe began as a pilot program in partnership with the English National Opera (ENO) and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, part of one of the largest healthcare networks in the United Kingdom. Working together, a team of doctors, therapists and vocal coaches developed a breathing and well-being program for people like Sheeba who were recovering from Covid-19 but still suffering from breathlessness and anxiety. Their idea was simple: Take the same vocal techniques and breathing exercises used by opera singers and apply them to Covid-19 patients in a group setting. The program is structured into hour-long sessions that take place via Zoom once a week over the course of six weeks. (It’s also entirely free.)

“The program mirrors the training of opera singers, but in a more accessible way,” says Jenny Mollica, director of ENO Baylis, ENO’s learning and participation program. “Patients don’t need a background in singing to participate.”


The practice of singing—in particular operatic singing, which involves hitting different ranges and holding notes for extended periods of time—is rooted in breathing and involves engaging the diaphragm, a muscular respiratory structure that contracts and expands when a person inhales and exhales.

Interesting. Do you remember when the professional advice was that breathing exercises on social-media in 2020, didn't help Covid patients?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7194711/

 

[CraigD]

COVID-19 surges in Indian capital New Delhi as a six-day lockdown looms

India's capital region of New Delhi has ordered a six-day lockdown as daily COVID-19 cases nationwide hit a new record and the health system crumbled under the weight of new infections.

Key points:

• New Delhi's Chief Minister says the state's oxygen quota has been cut
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being criticised for holding rallies and allowing large religious gatherings
• India's total caseload is now 14.8 million, second only to the United States at 31 million

New Delhi is among the worst hit cities in India, where a second major wave of coronavirus infections is straining health infrastructure.

New Delhi which has a population of over 20 million has fewer than 100 critical care beds available in New Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, as social media was flooded with complaints.

"Delhi's health system is unable to take more patients in big numbers," Mr Kejriwal told a virtual press briefing on Monday.

"If a lockdown isn't implemented now the situation will go beyond control."

Read on...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-19/covid-19-coronavirus-india-new-delhi/100078092

 

[Cal2]

Ted Nugent Catches Coronavirus After Year of Telling Us the Pandemic Is All Fake

Ted Nugent—the right-wing singer who’s spent the past year boring on about his ridiculous coronavirus and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories—has announced that he’s fallen badly sick with COVID-19. Since the pandemic began last year, Nugent has described it as a “scam,” ridiculed mask-wearers as “sheep,” and proudly announced that he would never take a coronavirus vaccine. But he changed his tune in a Facebook live on Monday when he complained to viewers: “I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days. I thought I was dying. Just a clusterfuck. I was tested positive today. I got the Chinese shit. I’ve got a stuffed up head, body aches. My God, what a pain in the ass. I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ted-n...r-year-of-telling-us-the-pandemic-is-all-fake

At least he manned up enough to admit it, even when “Everybody told me that I should not announce this,” he said.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/ted-...-after-calling-it-not-a-real-pandemic-2924035

 

[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: 3,046,282
United States: 581,542
Brazil: 375,049
India: 180,550
Russia: 106,307
United Kingdom: 127,274
France: 101,180
Italy: 117,243
Spain: 77,102
Mexico: 212,466
Poland: 62,734
South Africa: 53,757
Indonesia: 43,777
Netherlands: 16,938
Canada: 23,667
Chile: 25,277
Belgium: 23,782
Philippines: 16,141
Japan : 9,671
Bolivia: 12,666
Papua New Guinea: 91

 

[Mister Funsky]

At least he manned up enough to admit it

I was always a fan of Terrible Ted until he aligned with deniers. Hopefully he will make an impact announcing his infection.

 

[koolishman]

New AI tool tracks evolution of COVID-19 conspiracy theories on social media

A new machine-learning program accurately identifies COVID-19-related conspiracy theories on social media and models how they evolved over time—a tool that could someday help public health officials combat misinformation online.

“A lot of machine-learning studies related to misinformation on social media focus on identifying different kinds of conspiracy theories,” said Courtney Shelley, a postdoctoral researcher in the Information Systems and Modeling Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory and co-author of the study that was published last week in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

“Instead, we wanted to create a more cohesive understanding of how misinformation changes as it spreads. Because people tend to believe the first message they encounter, public health officials could someday monitor which conspiracy theories are gaining traction on social media and craft factual public information campaigns to preempt widespread acceptance of falsehoods.”

The study, titled “Thought I’d Share First,” used publicly available, anonymized Twitter data to characterize four COVID-19 conspiracy theory themes and provide context for each through the first five months of the pandemic.

The four themes the study examined were that 5G cell towers spread the virus; that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation engineered or has otherwise malicious intent related to COVID-19; that the virus was bioengineered or was developed in a laboratory; and that the COVID-19 vaccines, which were then all still in development, would be dangerous.

“We began with a dataset of approximately 1.8 million tweets that contained COVID-19 keywords or were from health-related Twitter accounts,” said Dax Gerts, a computer scientist also in Los Alamos’ Information Systems and Modeling Group and the study’s co-author. “From this body of data, we identified subsets that matched the four conspiracy theories using pattern filtering, and hand labeled several hundred tweets in each conspiracy theory category to construct training sets.”