Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #53

[tresir2012]

Wonder if the jail where this group is being held has Coronavirus. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

Apparently it was still free of the virus when this article was published.

No cases: Genesee County Jail inmates clean cells to avoid coronavirus

 

[Inthedetails]

"Fifteen kids in New York City have been hospitalized with a rare, life-threatening inflammatory syndrome 'potentially associated with COVID-19,' health officials said in an alert Monday night."

https://nypost.com/2020/05/05/15-kids-hospitalized-in-nyc-with-illness-linked-to-coronavirus/

bbm

 

[cody22]

Landlords, lenders brace for nationwide rent strike

National Virus News....moo

 

[tresir2012]

UK deaths are today the highest in Europe and second highest in the world.

UK coronavirus death toll rises above 32,000 to highest in Europe

The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe from coronavirus after new official figures revealed that more than 32,000 people have died from the virus.

The Office for National Statistics said 29,648 deaths were registered in England and Wales with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificates by 2 May .

With the addition of deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this takes the UK’s death toll to 32,313, according to calculations by Reuters.

This figure far exceeds the death toll of 29,029 in Italy – until now Europe’s worst-hit country. Italy’s total does not include suspected cases.

Ministers and experts have warned against international comparisons, saying the figure for excess mortality – the number of deaths from all causes that exceed the average for the time of year – is a more meaningful gauge.

The latest ONS figures for the week ending 24 April show there were 21,997 total deaths, which is 11,539 more than the average for that week.

But the total weekly death toll dipped slightly by 354 deaths, from the record level of 22,351 the week before. This was the first decrease in weekly deaths since the start of the outbreak and confirms other figures showing the UK is past the peak of infections.

The increase in Covid-19 deaths only partly explains the unprecedented levels in total deaths. The reasons behind an extra 3,312 deaths in the week ending 24 April remain unclear, with speculation that they could have been caused by delayed hospital admissions for other life threatening conditions and other factors such as economic hardship, and mental health problems.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Global leaders unite to ensure everyone everywhere can access new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19

Unprecedented gathering of heads of government, institutions and industry cements commitment to accelerate development and delivery for all populations
24 April 2020

Heads of state and global health leaders today made an unprecedented commitment to work together to accelerate the development and production of new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19 and assure equitable access worldwide.
[...]
The challenge is to speed up and harmonize processes to ensure that once products are deemed safe and effective, they can be brought to the billions of people in the world who need them. Past experience, in the early days of HIV treatment, for example, and in the deployment of vaccines against the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, shows that even when tools are available, they have not been equally available to all.
[...]
They pledged to work towards equitable global access based on an unprecedented level of partnership. They agreed to create a strong unified voice, to build on past experience and to be accountable to the world, to communities and to one another.

I see no direct reference to the US being represented in this article. In my opinion, this is one of my biggest fears.... We must be at the table with the world on this. We must. The Gates Foundation is international.
I hope someone can correct me...and that somehow we ARE there....

So today leaders came together at a virtual event, co-hosted by the World Health Organization, the President of France, the President of the European Commission, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The event was joined by the UN Secretary General, the AU Commission Chairperson, the G20 President, heads of state of France, South Africa, Germany, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Italy, Rwanda, Norway, Spain, Malaysia and the UK (represented by the First Secretary of State).

 

[tresir2012]

As I've learned in many years of health care advocacy, unfortunately, failure is the only effective teaching tool for some institutions and groups. For some, its only when they personally experience a tragic and catastrophic situation that they realize the importance of prevention and minimizing risk.

Some folks are unable to empathize with others and the community at large and fully understand how their actions can affect others and, most importantly, that other people's lives are just as important as theirs. The latter is the biggest hurdle for many people today. I learned that in church, as a child. I guess they don't teach that in many churches today. It's at the core of many of our problems today.

Not so many people even go to church anymore so they wouldn't hear the message even if it was taught in churches today IMO.

 

[Trino]

Landlords, lenders brace for nationwide rent strike
National Virus News....moo

Kind of a strong statement below:

We don’t want to ever have to pay back the rent we’ve lost because the reality is that this economic crisis is going to last far longer than the public health crisis,” Cea Weaver the coordinator for Housing Justice for All, a New York-based group of tenants and housing activists, told FOX Business.

 

[BUF]

Last night Mr. BUF put the tv. A movie had just started and it freaked me out...talk about the twilight zone!! I hit the info button...yikes! We turned it off right away!

Movie “Carriers”... as four survivors of a viral pandemic attempting to avoid the looming threat of becoming infected.
Carriers (film) - Wikipedia

 

[tresir2012]

I see no direct reference to the US being represented in this article. In my opinion, this is one of my biggest fears.... We must be at the table with the world on this. We must. The Gates Foundation is international.
I hope someone can correct me...and that somehow we ARE there....

So today leaders came together at a virtual event, co-hosted by the World Health Organization, the President of France, the President of the European Commission, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The event was joined by the UN Secretary General, the AU Commission Chairperson, the G20 President, heads of state of France, South Africa, Germany, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Italy, Rwanda, Norway, Spain, Malaysia and the UK (represented by the First Secretary of State).

This was organised by WHO and as President Trump has withdrawn WHO funding, it would surprise me if anyone was there representing the US.

 

[ilovewings]

Something I noticed in trips yesterday to the grocery store (hopefully the last trips for another month or so). People are doing their shopping with the whole family in tow. Groups of 6 or 8 people moving around the store together, none of them wearing masks. Kids and adults running around bumping into others, etc. I saw many groups like this in the stores I shopped at. Is it too much to ask that 1 or 2 adults go shopping and leave other family members at home?

it is going to get worse-- you watch the news and you see lots and lots of people
trying to pretend we can get back to normal-it scares the hell.out of me

 

[weepingangel]

54 residents at Medford nursing home die from coronavirus

By Jackson Cote | jcote@masslive.com
The coronavirus has claimed the lives of dozens of residents at a Medford nursing home in the past four weeks and infected more than 100, according a report from The Boston Globe.

Genesis Healthcare, the parent company of the Courtyard Nursing Care Center, told the Globe on Monday that 54 residents at the 224-bed facility have died since April 5 due to COVID-19. Another 117 residents and 42 staffers have been diagnosed with the virus.

Massachusetts/more at link

 

[Trino]

Not going to a retail store. Online works. Not going to a sit-down restaurant. Drive-thru has worked well. Not staying in a hotel/motel. Home works. Not flying anywhere. Definitely not going to a concert or sports event (TV or online). July 4 (and Labor Day) will just be another day. And, in no way will I consider going to the State Fair.

I will solo bicycle, take walks in lightly used areas, go to the grocery store. Maybe I'll miss the ambience, but maybe I'll survive too.

Trump will have to face the price of reopening the US economy: tens of thousands of American lives - CNNPolitics

"While 56% said they are comfortable going to the grocery store now, 67% said they would be uncomfortable visiting a retail store and 78% said they'd be uncomfortable going to a sit-down restaurant, according to the poll."

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I hven't posted in such a long time about covid19 because knowing a little science is dangerous. I was hoping for a scientific breakthrough but Arizona State University just identified a woman's test sample of Covid19 and it showed 80 some deletions in its genome sequence of 30,000 which is wonderful. I will try to find the exact scientific paper to link but this is the first time I feel like a corner is turned. The deletions show that that virus is weakening in even one person which is really something to celebrate, omg. How many other people have a weakened virus?!!!!!! If the virus attenuates over time, our immune systems will be able to fight this terrible virus, to me this is better than a vaccine but that is IMOO because it shows that this virus is being weakened. I have thrills and chills thinking about this! Thank God for all the scientists and lab assistants and donors who go in everyday to work with this virus under all kinds of conditions in their own lives. Will look for the scientific link! Might just be an abstract! Wonderful.

thanks for the heads up on this... i will want to learn more..so hopefully you can provide the one link for starters...
And now I see that Henry has provided lots more "education".

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This is a tweet from Harald Ringbauer who appears to be knowledgeable in population genetics. I don't even begin to claim to understand all he says but here are some highlights....my interpretation, I think.....4 mutations appear to be more virulent and becoming more prominent.

Lately there has been speculation about a SARS-CoV-2 clade defined by four mutations that globally rose to >60 % frequency. Here are the dynamics per country and US state. Heads-up: Not only increased infectivity can explain such dynamics, but also expansion bottle necks. 1/11 Harald Ringbauer on Twitter

These four "equivalent" mutations draw attention because two change a codon in ORF1b and in the infamous S protein - (the latter one is key for host specificity). So far, SARS-CoV-2 has only 49 mutations with >1% frequency, and these four are the only ones with >25% 3/11 Harald Ringbauer on Twitter

Now, these four mutations are interesting to follow globally: They are almost absent in early East Asia, but now dominate in many European countries (e.g. Italy, Switzerland, France Belgium), and much of the US (in particular the hard hit East Coast). 5/11

Interestingly, in countries where one observed a mixture initially (US west coast, UK, Australia, Brazil) - the derived clade seems to rise now. If there is any difference in infectivity we really should know, as it changes what containment measures stabilize R0~<1. 6/11

But the prior for a "selection" scenario is low; in population genetics serial population bottlenecks that spawn exponentially growing local offshoots are a prime scenario of something we call "drift" or "gene surfing" - making rare mutations much more common by chance. 7/11

It could well be these four mutations were the lucky ones in Europe, rose to high frequency there and established "later" colonies in the US that took over because there are more of them. But in the lack of a good demographic model this is very hard to assess. 8/11

So we need 1) More viral genomic data from later weeks where founder effects become less prominent; and ideally with no glaring holes in geographic sampling and 2) Other lines of evidence (infectivity assays on cell lines, clinical data cross-linked to clades). 10/11

Harald Ringbauer on Twitter

Thanks Henry.. yes, I think we have a lot to learn here. For starters, I had to look up the definition of "clade"..I suspect I will be having to look up lots of terms. But very interesting info.

 

[ilovewings]

Not going to a retail store. Online works. Not going to a sit-down restaurant. Drive-thru has worked well. Not staying in a hotel/motel. Home works. Not flying anywhere. Definitely not going to a concert or sports event (TV or online). July 4 (and Labor Day) will just be another day. And, in no way will I consider going to the State Fair.

I will solo bicycle, take walks in lightly used areas, go to the grocery store. Maybe I'll miss the ambience, but maybe I'll survive too.

Trump will have to face the price of reopening the US economy: tens of thousands of American lives - CNNPolitics

"While 56% said they are comfortable going to the grocery store now, 67% said they would be uncomfortable visiting a retail store and 78% said they'd be uncomfortable going to a sit-down restaurant, according to the poll."

Ditto to what you said but here is the thing:<modsnip> the citizens of this country are going to pay the price of reopening the economy MUCH TOO SOON- by dying.

 

[Inthedetails]

.

This was organised by WHO and as President Trump has withdrawn WHO funding, it would surprise me if anyone was there representing the US.

Incredibly disappointing.



jmo

 

[tresir2012]

France's first coronavirus case 'was in December'

"A patient treated in a hospital near Paris on 27 December for suspected pneumonia actually had the coronavirus, his doctor has said.

This means the virus may have arrived in Europe almost a month earlier than previously thought.

Dr Yves Cohen said a swab taken at the time was recently tested, and came back positive for Covid-19.

The patient, who has since recovered, said he had no idea where he caught the virus as he had not travelled abroad.

Knowing who was the first case is key to understanding how the virus spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is possible more early cases will come to light, and spokesman Christian Lindmeier urged countries to check records for similar cases in order to gain a clearer picture of the outbreak.

The French health ministry told the BBC that the government was obtaining confirmation on the case and that it would consider further investigations if they proved necessary.

France is not the only country where subsequent testing points to earlier cases. Two weeks ago, a post-mortem examination carried out in California revealed that the first coronavirus-related death in the US was almost a month earlier than previously thought."

I think this has happened in a lot of countries, as we have suspected. If it was already around in Europe in December this was way before WHO knew anything about it, so there are probably a lot more out there who had it.

 

[Inthedetails]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed> I just don't think the economy is going to instantly bounce back. People are nervous not only about their health as we "open up," but about their finances. It's unknown what will happen in the next few months, and people don't tend to spend in times of uncertainty.

What would help the economy is a PLAN, a path that people can follow and feel grounded and reassured. Instead, everything feels chaotic and divisive...and that is not the way back to a stable economy, imo.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

France's first coronavirus case 'was in December'

"A patient treated in a hospital near Paris on 27 December for suspected pneumonia actually had the coronavirus, his doctor has said.

This means the virus may have arrived in Europe almost a month earlier than previously thought.

Dr Yves Cohen said a swab taken at the time was recently tested, and came back positive for Covid-19.

The patient, who has since recovered, said he had no idea where he caught the virus as he had not travelled abroad.

Knowing who was the first case is key to understanding how the virus spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is possible more early cases will come to light, and spokesman Christian Lindmeier urged countries to check records for similar cases in order to gain a clearer picture of the outbreak.

The French health ministry told the BBC that the government was obtaining confirmation on the case and that it would consider further investigations if they proved necessary.

France is not the only country where subsequent testing points to earlier cases. Two weeks ago, a post-mortem examination carried out in California revealed that the first coronavirus-related death in the US was almost a month earlier than previously thought."

I think this has happened in a lot of countries as we have suspected.

I think the "mystery" of how this virus first started is fascinating (while also heartbreaking for the world-wide suffering and deaths the virus has caused). I think it will be a topic of study for generations to come.

jmo