Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #103

[Amonet]

The number of people already infected by the mystery virus emerging in China is far greater than official figures suggest, scientists have told the BBC.
There have been 41 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new virus, but UK experts estimate the figure is closer to 1,700.

New virus in China ‘will have infected hundreds'

Up to 4,500 patients in China may have caught the same strain of coronavirus that has killed two people, scientists fear.
Health officials in Wuhan – the city at the heart of the outbreak which started in December – confirmed four new cases today, taking the total to 48.
But Imperial College London researchers say this may be the 'tip of the iceberg' after analysing flights out of the city.

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PLEASE NOTE:

Tricia set up the Covid forum for people who are genuinely concerned about Covid-19. It is not for anyone who is here with a view to minimizing its existence or downplaying the severity of it. Please know that MSM, scientists, politicians, government agencies worldwide are not involved in the biggest conspiracy in the history of man to convey the pandemic as more serious than it is.

If you aren't concerned about Covid-19, this Covid forum is not for you. There are lots of other Websleuths threads you can participate in that need your help.

Members whose posts seem designed to downplay the seriousness of the virus or the pandemic may experience a loss of posting privileges, whether a Thread Reply Ban or Time Out of minimum 1 week up to 3 months from the Websleuths forum.

Sillybilly
WS Administrator

 

[Tiff23fr]

Please continue here…

 

[sds71]

"Masks don't add much, if anything."


Southwest’s C.E.O. tests positive for the coronavirus after a Senate hearing.

Southwest CEO tests positive for Covid-19 after testifying unmasked at Senate hearing - CNN

 

[CrimeAway]

Bringing forward the latest TWIV episodes from thread 102. Both episodes discuss boosters, Omicron, and the second focuses on the (very small) risk of blood clotting from the adenovirus vectored vaccines (J&J, AZ, & Sputnik).

Timestamps are in the comments which can be seen if you watch on YouTube (hover over the top of the video, and right-click to open in a new window). You can then also alter playback speed etc.

ETA: study that shows that a third dose of mRNA vaccine improves neutralization against Omicron

Plasma neutralization properties of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

 

[mickey2942]

Merry Christmas, we thought that we could make plans this year. Nope. We are staying home, alone, again. Vaccinated x 3 for both of us, but that doesn't seem to matter much for people who are extreme high risk.

We have three close friends who currently have Covid, two were Vaccinated. One was not.

 

[CrimeAway]

@mickey2942 I hope that your friends will get better soon.

 

[cujenn81]

[copied from @Arkay on previous thread]

If I get Covid I 1000% would quarantine myself. I wish that were the norm so that these variants would not spread as much. There was an anime fest here that spread omicron everywhere, and a Santa-con the other day, and Times Square New Year’s Eve is still on for now. JMO but I cannot understand people who’ve had covid or who’ve been exposed and are unvaccinated, and yet do not quarantine.

I think it’s incredibly selfish for anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID (or just know that they’ve been exposed!) to be out and about in public without taking a PCR test to confirm they are COVID-free. I know it’s super inconvenient and a real pain in the you-know-what… but I really wish more people were willing to do the right thing for the sake of humanity.

I somehow caught a gnarly cold during Thanksgiving weekend. I had the whole scratchy throat, stuffy nose, and fatigue thing. And the post-nasal drip had me coughing and clearing my throat a little bit. I was pretty confident it was only a cold, but it’d only been a week since I was boosted and couldn’t know for sure. So, I made the executive decision to stay home Monday (despite the mountain of time-sensitive work waiting on me at the office) and took one of those CVS drive-thru PCR tests. I didn’t get my results until late in the day on Tuesday, but at least I returned to my mountain of work on Wednesday with confidence that I wasn’t going to be responsible for an office outbreak.

Annoying, yes.
The end of the world? Not hardly.

 

[IceIce9]

NFL has moved four games because of COVID-19 outbreaks, Las Vegas at Cleveland from Saturday to Monday; and Seattle vs Los Angeles Rams and Washington vs Philadelphia from Sunday to Tuesday. Bears vs Vikings will be played Monday as well.

NFL.com | Official Site of the National Football League

The number of Cleveland Browns who have tested positive for COVID in unbelievable!


Here are the members of the Browns on the COVID list:

• HC Kevin Stefanski
• Acting RB Coach Ryan Cordell
• Offensive AC T.C. McCartney
• QB Baker Mayfield
• WR Jarvis Landry
• CB Troy Hill
• DT Malik McDowell
• DE Ifeadi Odenigbo
• S John Johnson
• TE Austin Hooper
• TE Ross Travis
• OT Jedrick Wills
• G Wyatt Teller
• G Drew Forbes
• DE Tak McKinley
• WR Jojo Natson
• S Grant Delpit
• LB Tony Fields II
• CB A.J. Green
• S Ronnie Harrison Jr.
• RB Kareem Hunt
• QB Case Keenum
• LB Jacob Phillips
• LB Mack Wilson
• DE Jadeveon Clowney NFL postpones Browns-Raiders game after slew of COVID cases

 

[acutename]

bringing this forward:

Dr. Hotez on what feeds vaccine refusal: “Anti-science aggression”

Excerpt:
People can call the myths and misconceptions spread about COVID-19 vaccines misinformation, but Dr. Hotez views it as an opposition to science. He is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.

He talked about this “anti-science aggression” and what medical professionals can do to offset it as part of a virtual education session, “Medical misinformation gone viral: The science of misinformation spread and how to combat it,” held during the November 2021 AMA Section Meetings.

“It’s not fun for us to talk about, and as physicians and physician-scientists, it’s not something we’re trained to think about,” Dr. Hotez said, “but increasingly we have to come to terms that this is a major killer in the United States and we have to begin chipping away at the problem.”

today, walking outside at lunch, I go past a restricted entrance to a govt building- there is tent erected nearby and entry requires a rapid test. three men walk out and what do they do? they begin smoking cigarettes of course because that is the best thing for lung health no? so, yes, anti-science, do-what-I-want... always with us.

 

[Satchie]

[copied from @Arkay on previous thread]

If I get Covid I 1000% would quarantine myself. I wish that were the norm so that these variants would not spread as much. There was an anime fest here that spread omicron everywhere, and a Santa-con the other day, and Times Square New Year’s Eve is still on for now. JMO but I cannot understand people who’ve had covid or who’ve been exposed and are unvaccinated, and yet do not quarantine.

I think it’s incredibly selfish for anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID (or just know that they’ve been exposed!) to be out and about in public without taking a PCR test to confirm they are COVID-free. I know it’s super inconvenient and a real pain in the you-know-what… but I really wish more people were willing to do the right thing for the sake of humanity.

I somehow caught a gnarly cold during Thanksgiving weekend. I had the whole scratchy throat, stuffy nose, and fatigue thing. And the post-nasal drip had me coughing and clearing my throat a little bit. I was pretty confident it was only a cold, but it’d only been a week since I was boosted and couldn’t know for sure. So, I made the executive decision to stay home Monday (despite the mountain of time-sensitive work waiting on me at the office) and took one of those CVS drive-thru PCR tests. I didn’t get my results until late in the day on Tuesday, but at least I returned to my mountain of work on Wednesday with confidence that I wasn’t going to be responsible for an office outbreak.

Annoying, yes.
The end of the world? Not hardly.

In my province in Canada, we must self-isolate after testing positive, and I believe you get phone calls checking up. At this point, the health service can handle the number of cases, but that could change.

But everywhere, I imagine many people don't get tested, so that the reported number of cases seriously under-represents the reality.

I think many people are only tested because they've come into close contact with someone who's tested positive - I think this is how they've detected a lot of the omicron cases, rather than people voluntarily going for a test.

JMO

 

[epiphany]

New York reports a record number of coronavirus cases for one day.

New York officials reported 21,027 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest single-day total since the earliest days of pandemic, when the availability of testing was not as widespread as it is now.

The data, which reflected test results for Thursday, showed a drastic change in the virus’s presence in New York. For weeks, case counts had been rising steadily, primarily because of a winter surge driven by the Delta variant. But the spike in recent days is because of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, epidemiologists believe.

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University, said that for now, the Omicron variant seemed to be infecting more people in New York than in other parts of the country.

“In that sense, this sort of reminds me of March 2020,” she said. “We are taking the first wave of Omicron in this country, and, similar to the last time in New York, we will be essentially the testing ground for what this variant will do.”

Covid Live Updates: Suburban Maryland County Moves to Remote Learning

 

[epiphany]

My son's live-in partner went to dinner Friday night with three of her co-workers. Three of the four began having symptoms on Sunday. All 3 tested positive by Mon and Tues. One's rapid test was negative, and they told her to return the following day. She then tested positive. They are all in their 30s and only one (who has remained negative) had her booster (about 2-3 wks ago). Ofc, each is concerned about infecting roommates, live-in partners and spouses. My son's rapid was negative early Tues and still has not received the results of his PCR yet.

My other adult child and her partner have been notified of positive results of friends, co-workers and building residents. I can't wait for Spring.

 

[MimosaMornings]

NFL has moved four games because of COVID-19 outbreaks, Las Vegas at Cleveland from Saturday to Monday; and Seattle vs Los Angeles Rams and Washington vs Philadelphia from Sunday to Tuesday. Bears vs Vikings will be played Monday as well.

NFL.com | Official Site of the National Football League

The number of Cleveland Browns who have tested positive for COVID in unbelievable!


Here are the members of the Browns on the COVID list:

• HC Kevin Stefanski
• Acting RB Coach Ryan Cordell
• Offensive AC T.C. McCartney
• QB Baker Mayfield
• WR Jarvis Landry
• CB Troy Hill
• DT Malik McDowell
• DE Ifeadi Odenigbo
• S John Johnson
• TE Austin Hooper
• TE Ross Travis
• OT Jedrick Wills
• G Wyatt Teller
• G Drew Forbes
• DE Tak McKinley
• WR Jojo Natson
• S Grant Delpit
• LB Tony Fields II
• CB A.J. Green
• S Ronnie Harrison Jr.
• RB Kareem Hunt
• QB Case Keenum
• LB Jacob Phillips
• LB Mack Wilson
• DE Jadeveon Clowney NFL postpones Browns-Raiders game after slew of COVID cases

What the heck?

 

[MimosaMornings]

Merry Christmas, we thought that we could make plans this year. Nope. We are staying home, alone, again. Vaccinated x 3 for both of us, but that doesn't seem to matter much for people who are extreme high risk.

We have three close friends who currently have Covid, two were Vaccinated. One was not.

Oh no, sorry to hear about your plans and your friends. Were they all together or got it separately?
No holiday gatherings for me either.

 

[CharlestonGal]

What the heck?

I'm not confidant in the NFL's self reported vaccination rates. They're the same people who covered up the widespread brain damage among their players for years and years. Antonio Brown was only suspended after his chef publicly ratted him out for his fake vaccination card. Who knows how many other players have them? jmo

 

[MimosaMornings]

They tell us how to stay safe. But what do experts do to avoid COVID as holidays loom? — Los Angeles Times

“
Ferrer follows three rules for staying alive during winter 2021-22, guidance that forms the backbone of her advice to us all:

1.Get vaccinated and boosted.

2.Get tested when you're going to be in high-risk situations for you or those around you, or if you've been exposed to a COVID-19-positive person or have symptoms yourself.

3.Wear a mask when you're indoors in a public place or with people outside of your household.

Ferrer is 65, which makes her more vulnerable to the virus. Her husband and many of her friends are also older. She's recently switched to wearing KN95 masks, which offer more protection than cloth masks or the thin, blue surgical numbers. She will not attend nor host large parties during this normally festive season. She stocks up on test kits. She offers them to guests.”

 

[acutename]

My son's live-in partner went to dinner Friday night with three of her co-workers. Three of the four began having symptoms on Sunday. All 3 tested positive by Mon and Tues. One's rapid test was negative, and they told her to return the following day. She then tested positive. They are all in their 30s and only one (who has remained negative) had her booster (about 2-3 wks ago). Ofc, each is concerned about infecting roommates, live-in partners and spouses. My son's rapid was negative early Tues and still has not received the results of his PCR yet.

My other adult child and her partner have been notified of positive results of friends, co-workers and building residents. I can't wait for Spring.

we have: more cases at work, more cases in schools... free testing site that I pass frequently and which used to be deserted now always has long lines. however, they say that we do not have omicron yet; we have surging delta. when I look at the daily stats, omicron does not even show up.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Article classifies Omicron as antigenic shift.

Antigenic Drift
A minor change to a flu virus is known as antigenic drift. Both influenza A and B viruses undergo antigenic drift. (This is descriptive of SARS Alpha, Gamma, Delta, etc.)

Antigenic Shift
Antigenic shift is a more major change in the influenza virus. This shift typically occurs when a human flu virus crosses with a flu virus that usually affects animals (such as birds or pigs).

When the viruses mutate, they shift to create a new subtype that is different from any seen in humans before. When a major antigenic shift like this occurs, very few people have any type of immunity to the new, or "novel," flu virus. (This is Omicron, the first antigenic shift of the SARS-CoV 2.)

Broadly neutralizing antibodies overcome SARS-CoV-2 Omicron antigenic shift

ETA: And there is that mouse again.

Omicron RBD binds with increased affinity to human ACE2 and gains binding to mouse ACE2
The unprecedented number of substitutions found in the Omicron genome raises questions about its origin. Twenty-three out of the 37 Omicron S amino acid mutations have been individually observed previously in SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest (VOI), VOC, or other sarbecoviruses, whereas the remaining 14 substitutions have not been described before in any SARS-CoV-2 isolates.

 

[ilovewings]

Merry Christmas, we thought that we could make plans this year. Nope. We are staying home, alone, again. Vaccinated x 3 for both of us, but that doesn't seem to matter much for people who are extreme high risk.

We have three close friends who currently have Covid, two were Vaccinated. One was not.

Somebody needs to explain to me how, with 60% of the country
vaxxed, that we are almost back to where we were when the pandemic started--
Have the 40 percent of unvaxxed people caused this???

 

[weepingangel]

I was guessing many of the vaxxed ones probably didn’t get. A booster (unless it was required of them. idk)
The nfl has done fairly well hasn’t it? Unil now
Hockey is having issues as well I think. It’s a long known riskier activity -temperature etc iirc.

I'm not confidant in the NFL's self reported vaccination rates. They're the same people who covered up the widespread brain damage among their players for years and years. Antonio Brown was only suspended after his chef publicly ratted him out for his fake vaccination card. Who knows how many other players have them? jmo