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/

 

[rh2000]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1479570342742052866

 

[bmugford]

Show attachment 207619

https://www.reuters.com/legal/gover...asten-release-pfizer-vaccine-docs-2022-01-07/

The FDA didn’t dispute it had an obligation to make the information public but argued that its short-staffed FOIA office only had the bandwidth to review and release 500 pages a month.

While Pittman recognized “the ‘unduly burdensome’ challenges that this FOIA request may present to the FDA,” in his four-page order, he resoundingly rejected the agency’s suggested schedule.

Rather than producing 500 pages a month — the FDA's proposed timeline — he ordered the agency to turn over 55,000 a month. That means all the Pfizer vaccine data should be public by the end of the summer rather than, say, the year 2097.

Pittman in his order nodded to this as well, including a quote from the late senator John McCain, who said that excessive administrative secrecy “feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public’s confidence in the government.”


Works for me. I am all for transparency.

500 pages a month is just unreasonably slow.

Brad

 

[rh2000]

Everytime a new variant comes out I try to register the domain and it is always taken. Sometimes years in advance. It is becoming frustrating.

 

[Cal2]

Show attachment 207622

COVID-19: New Deltacron Variant Discovered in Cyprus

A new COVID-19 variant dubbed Deltacron has been discovered in Cyprus, with health authorities announcing a press conference for the coming week.

The discovery was made by Dr Leontios Kostrikis, who leads the team of scientists working at the University of Cyprus biotechnology and molecular virology lab.
Speaking to local media, Kostrikis explained that the new variant, Deltacron, shares the genetic background of the Delta variant along with some of the mutations of Omicron.

“We have found a significant number of mutations only previously found in Omicron cases, which is different from other variants as it has 30 mutations,” Dr Kostrikis told Cyprus Mail. “Ten of these were identified in these samples taken in Cyprus”.

The variant was identified in 25 samples taken in Cyprus, 11 of which came from people hospitalized for COVID-19 and 14 from the general population.

Correlation between Deltacron and hospitalizations​

Dr Kostrikis said that, “The frequency of the mutations was higher among those in hospital which could mean there is a correlation between Deltacron and hospitalizations”.

As the specific variant has not been identified anywhere else in the world, he said, this discovery could be of global interest, the Cyprus Mail report says.

DR Kostrikis said that the sequences of the 25 samples have been submitted to the GISAID database, to be made available to the global scientific community.

That being said, he concluded, it is still too early to predict whether Deltacron could overpower Delta and Omicron.

https://greekreporter.com/2022/01/08/deltacron/

 

[bmugford]

These stories never end...

QAnon Promoter Who Called Vaccinated People Idiots...dies of COVID.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon...diots-get-vaccinated-dies-of-covid?ref=scroll

A leading QAnon promoter who urged both her followers and strangers she passed on the street not to take the COVID vaccine died Thursday of the coronavirus, making her just the latest vaccine opponent killed by the disease.

Cirsten Weldon had amassed tens of thousands of followers across right-wing social media networks by promoting the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy under the screenname “CirstenW.” She was prominent enough to become a sort of QAnon interpreter for comedian conspiracy theorist Roseanne Barr and started recording videos about QAnon with her.

Weldon focused on attacking vaccines and other efforts to fight COVID-19, saying in one video that Dr. Anthony Fauci “needs to be hung from a rope.” She claimed the vaccine killed people and even recorded herself yelling at people standing in line to receive vaccines.

“The vaccines kill, don’t get it!” Weldon warned the waiting vaccine recipients in an undated video posted to one of her online accounts. “This is how gullible these idiots are. They’re all getting vaccine!”

 

[bmugford]

More Darwinism...

Anti-vaxxer podcaster dies from COVID-19 after contracting virus at far-right Reawaken America conference​

https://www.businessinsider.com/ant...f-covid-19-infected-at-far-right-event-2022-1

Anti-vaxxer Doug Kuzma, 61, who ran the FROG news podcast network, has died on January 3 after contracting COVID-19.

Some people left the ReAwaken America event suffering from a dry cough and shortness of breath. Rather than considering a COVID-19 outbreak, however, far-right influencers baselessly suggested these symptoms resulted from an anthrax attack at the event.

 

[Cal2]

.

 

[J Sokol]

These stories never end...

They seem incapable of connecting the dots.

 

[Cal2]

They seem incapable of connecting the dots.

Blame much on chemical imbalance? Dopamine? Video I posted before. See starting 1:45:

https://www.technologynetworks.com/...t-conspiracy-theories-do-to-your-brain-323919

 

[rh2000]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1480319013892894720

 

[Cal2]

COVID-19: New Deltacron Variant Discovered in Cyprus

A new COVID-19 variant dubbed Deltacron has been discovered in Cyprus, with health authorities announcing a press conference for the coming week.

The discovery was made by Dr Leontios Kostrikis, who leads the team of scientists working at the University of Cyprus biotechnology and molecular virology lab.
Speaking to local media, Kostrikis explained that the new variant, Deltacron, shares the genetic background of the Delta variant along with some of the mutations of Omicron.

“We have found a significant number of mutations only previously found in Omicron cases, which is different from other variants as it has 30 mutations,” Dr Kostrikis told Cyprus Mail. “Ten of these were identified in these samples taken in Cyprus”.

The variant was identified in 25 samples taken in Cyprus, 11 of which came from people hospitalized for COVID-19 and 14 from the general population.

Correlation between Deltacron and hospitalizations​

Dr Kostrikis said that, “The frequency of the mutations was higher among those in hospital which could mean there is a correlation between Deltacron and hospitalizations”.

As the specific variant has not been identified anywhere else in the world, he said, this discovery could be of global interest, the Cyprus Mail report says.

DR Kostrikis said that the sequences of the 25 samples have been submitted to the GISAID database, to be made available to the global scientific community.

That being said, he concluded, it is still too early to predict whether Deltacron could overpower Delta and Omicron.

https://greekreporter.com/2022/01/08/deltacron/

More on Deltacron, Deltacron cases:

"Some experts have suggested the cases are more likely to be from lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron.

Dr. Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College's Department of Infectious Disease, said on Twitter: "The Cypriot 'Deltacron' sequences reported by several large media outlets look to be quite clearly contamination - they do not cluster on a phylogenetic tree and have a whole Artic primer sequencing amplicon of Omicron in an otherwise Delta backbone."

In another tweet, Peacock explained that contamination is common when new variants are sequenced in labs.

"In this case potentially mixing up small amounts of RNA samples/swab material in the sequencing labs - which then makes it look like the virus has mixed in the real world (when it hasnt) - it happens quite commonly because tiny volumes of liquid can cause this issue...," he wrote.

Late last month, Peacock also explained that any alleged new strains should be detected in multiple labs before being classified.

He also expressed doubt about the timing because "true recombinants" do not tend to appear until a few weeks or months after there's been substantial co-circulation of multiple variants.

"We're only a couple of weeks into Omicron - I really doubt there are any [prevalent] recombinants yet...," he wrote on December 28.

Peacock also noted that "much of what we understand about what makes delta more transmissible/infectious, omicron already possess — it's currently unclear to me what omicron could have to gain from delta (with what we currently know at least).""

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/tech...s-new-strain/ar-AASB0nA?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

 

[.X.]

How about a DeltaCron variant , they are either getting Lazy or Flaunting, or both

 

[Sutruk]

Omicron-specific vaccines could be ready by March. Will we need them?​

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...iant-specific-covid-vaccine-booster-rcna11598

"Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson said Monday that they are continuing to develop updated Covid-19 vaccine booster shots that target the omicron variant, which is still spreading rapidly across the globe.

The current versions of the Covid boosters available in the U.S. — the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA formulas and the Johnson & Johnson adenovirus version — are still formulated to target the original form of the virus first identified in China in late 2019.

Research shows those shots still provide adequate protection against the new, super contagious strain, especially against severe disease, hospitalization and death. However, the drugmakers have said they will continue to work on variant-specific boosters in case they are needed.

Pfizer plans to begin human studies for an omicron-specific booster in January, and if all goes as planned, the shot could be ready by March, the company said in a statement to NBC News. Pfizer said it expects to provide an "update" on the next steps for its modified shot later this month.

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a CNBC interview that the company's new booster for omicron should be in clinical trials "very soon."

 

[rh2000]

How about a DeltaCron variant , they are either getting Lazy or Flaunting, or both

Hoax

 

[Cal2]

‘Deltacron’ is a new strain of COVID-19 and not a lab error, Cypriot scientist says​

"Other scientists have speculated that Leonidos Kostrikis’s findings are a result of laboratory contamination.

But Kostrikis told Bloomberg in an emailed statement Sunday that the cases he has identified “indicate an evolutionary pressure to an ancestral strain to acquire these mutations and not a result of a single recombination event.”

Eleven of the 25 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 14 remained among the general public.

The higher Deltacron infection rate among the patients hospitalized for COVID-19, compared with non-hospitalized patients, rules out the contamination hypothesis, said Kostrikis, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology.

What’s more, the samples were processed in multiple sequencing procedures in more than one country. And at least one sequence from Israel deposited in a global database exhibits genetic characteristics of Deltacron, he said.

“These findings refute the undocumented statements that Deltacron is a result of a technical error,” he said."

https://nationalpost.com/news/world...in-and-not-a-lab-error-cypriot-scientist-says

 

[Mister Funsky]

Canada added to ‘do not travel’ list, and other changes in CDC’s risk categories

(CNN) — Canada was moved to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s highest-risk category for travel on Monday.

Canada has seen a steep rise in cases as the Omicron variant spreads. The country recorded 294,437 new cases for the week ending January 8, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, its highest weekly total of the pandemic.

Canada was joined by one other destination — the Caribbean island of Curaçao — in moving Monday to the CDC’s Level 4 category, indicating “very high” COVID risk.

The CDC places a destination at Level 4 when more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents are registered in the past 28 days. The CDC advises travelers to avoid travel to Level 4 countries.

Canada had been at Level 3 since August 30, 2021. Curaçao, a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, had been at Level 3 since November 22, 2021.

On December 15, Canada issued an advisory to its citizens asking that they avoid all nonessential international travel. Last week, a group of air travelers partying maskless en route to Mexico from Montreal earned a rebuke from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Most international visitors to Canada are required to be vaccinated and to have a negative COVID-19 test result.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/01...st-and-other-changes-in-cdcs-risk-categories/

 

[Cannuck]

Vaccinations Surge In Quebec Now That It’s Required To Purchase Alcohol And Weed​

The new rules require a COVID vaccine to enter state-run Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) and Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) locations beginning Jan. 18.

More than 78% of people in Quebec are fully vaccinated, according to Canadian government data.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...ires-vaccine-passport-for-saq-cannabis-stores

 

[Mister Funsky]

I figured this would happen sooner or later, somewhere....

Canadian Province of Quebec Says Tax Coming for Unvaccinated​

Quebec premier says those without Covid-19 vaccines are burdening healthcare system; ‘We have to go further’​

OTTAWA—The premier of the Canadian province of Quebec said his government would impose a tax on citizens who refuse to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday the tax is necessary because the unvaccinated, who make up about 15% of the province’s 8.6 million people, are taking up roughly half of the acute-care beds in provincial hospitals and have become a drain on the healthcare system.

The tax, which Mr. Legault said officials are now drafting, marks another sign of the impatience among government leaders and heads of state for citizens who won’t get vaccinated and the steps officials are prepared to take to change people’s minds.

more......

https://www.wsj.com/articles/canadi...-says-tax-coming-for-unvaccinated-11641934573

 

[Cannuck]

I figured this would happen sooner or later, somewhere....

Canadian Province of Quebec Says Tax Coming for Unvaccinated​

Quebec premier says those without Covid-19 vaccines are burdening healthcare system; ‘We have to go further’ ​

How far do they need to go and where do they stop? Agreed it seems to be a disease of the unvaccinated and the majority carry the burden, but it's a slippery slope when the governement begins mandating and/or taxing lifestyle choices.

 

[Mister Funsky]

but it's a slippery slope when the governement begins mandating and/or taxing lifestyle choices

Agreed. It may be too late for this anyway...this current surge will (I hope) be last big one in North America. It will certainly create a lot of mistrust and anger.

 

[oldtimer]

It's been a while since I posted here, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I recently got my J&J booster shot and luckily I haven't caught Covid so far (knock on wood).

There are two points that I like to make now that I am here:

I believe that it was a big mistake when they started loosening the mask and physical distancing protocols last year right before all these new variants started to show up. I mean a lot of people had already gotten used to wearing mask and abiding by the other hygiene and pandemic protocols and it was a big mistake to cause people to break those habits knowing now that the Covid is going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

The second point that I want to make is that I hope that by now people are going to realize that most of the new variants are going to be originating in the unvaccinated people and although the Omicron that is very contagious has turned out to be kind of mild, but sooner or later we are going to be facing a new variant that is both very contagious and also has a very high fatality rate at the same time and in such a scenario a billion or more people might die in the matter of six months specially in the areas that the vaccines are not readily available.

The World as a whole dropped the ball when it came to controlling this pandemic at the very beginning, but we have to make sure that we are not going to drop the ball again and be prepared before a Hyper Covid variant shows up.

IMO

 

[J Sokol]

Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within minutes in air – study​

Coronavirus loses 90% of its ability to infect us within 20 minutes of becoming airborne – with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes, the world’s first simulations of how the virus survives in exhaled air suggest.

The findings re-emphasise the importance of short-range Covid transmission, with physical distancing and mask-wearing likely to be the most effective means of preventing infection. Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ty-to-infect-within-five-minutes-in-air-study

 

[Mister Funsky]

Experts believe Omicron may be headed for rapid drop in US, Britain​

University of Washington scientist predicts daily cases in US to peak at 1.2 million by January 19, and then quickly fall ‘because everybody who could be infected will be infected’​

AP — Scientists are seeing signals that COVID-19′s alarming Omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the US, at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically.

The reason: The variant has proved so wildly contagious that it may already be running out of people to infect, just a month and a half after it was first detected in South Africa.

“It’s going to come down as fast as it went up,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

At the same time, experts warn that much is still uncertain about how the next phase of the pandemic might unfold. The plateauing or ebbing in the two countries is not happening everywhere at the same time or at the same pace. And weeks or months of misery still lie ahead for patients and overwhelmed hospitals even if the drop-off comes to pass.

“There are still a lot of people who will get infected as we descend the slope on the backside,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, which predicts that reported cases will peak within the week.

more...

https://www.timesofisrael.com/experts-believe-omicron-may-be-headed-for-rapid-drop-in-us-britain/

 

[Sutruk]

Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.

I have to disagree with this one. It has been already quite proben that it's an airborne virus and can be spread through an important distance. At this stage of the pandemic saying ventilation has a lesser impact is not "entirely correct" to say the least.

On the article:

"People have been focused on poorly ventilated spaces and thinking about airborne transmission over metres or across a room. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen, but I think still the greatest risk of exposure is when you’re close to someone".

Yeah right, when you are close to someone and he/she breaths over you, that's for sure a ticket to get infected.
But even he says "I'm not saying that doesn't happen"... well, that has been enough to infect thousands or millions of people in this pandemic.
There have been plenty of reported cases when just one person in a closed room or space not enough ventilated has infected 10's of people in that room, and not all of them were "close to the infected person".

Just my opinion about that article

 

[Sutruk]

Covid vaccines prevented nearly a quarter-million deaths last spring​

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...-quarter-million-deaths-last-spring-rcna11653

"The Covid vaccination campaign in the United States cut hospitalizations and deaths by nearly half in the first six months of 2021, new research suggests.

The shots saved nearly 241,000 lives and prevented almost 1.2 million hospitalizations, according to a model published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open."