Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #70

[Betty P]

I didn't realize AstraZeneca was funding the Oxford vaccine. That's good, they have the ability to mass produce.

Has the UK announced how/ who would have access to the vaccine?

The US is also helping fund the Oxford/AZ vaccine through its Operation Warp Speed program:

Fact Sheet: Explaining Operation Warp Speed

The agreement with the Oxford/AZ vaccine is to make 300 million doses of the vaccine available to the US. We gave them $1.2 BILLION for the development and manufacture of the vaccine.

"Manufacturing: The federal government is making investments in the necessary manufacturing capacity at its own risk, giving firms confidence that they can invest aggressively in development and allowing faster distribution of an eventual vaccine. Manufacturing capacity for selected candidates will be advanced while they are still in development, rather than scaled up after approval or authorization. Manufacturing capacity developed will be used for whatever vaccine is eventually successful, if possible given the nature of the successful product, regardless of which firms have developed the capacity."

"Distribution: Before the countermeasures are approved or authorized, the program will build the necessary plans and infrastructure for distribution.

HHS plans for a tiered approach to vaccine distribution, which will build on allocation methodology developed as part of pandemic flu planning and be adjusted based on experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 response, data on the virus and its impact on populations and the performance of each vaccine, and the needs of the essential workforce. OWS will expand domestic manufacturing and supplies of specialized materials and resources, such as glass vials, that can be necessary for distribution. DoD’s involvement will enable faster distribution and administration than would have otherwise been possible.

Select actions to support OWS distribution efforts include:

• May 12: DoD and HHS announced a $138 million contract with ApiJect for more than 100 million prefilled syringes for distribution across the United States by year-end 2020, as well as the development of manufacturing capacity for the ultimate production goal of over 500 million prefilled syringes in 2021.
• June 9: HHS and DoD announced a joint effort to increase domestic manufacturing capacity for vials that may be needed for vaccines and treatments:
  • $204 million to Corning to expand the domestic manufacturing capacity to produce an additional 164 million Valor Glass vials each year if needed.
  • $143 million to SiO2 Materials Science to ramp up capacity to produce the company’s glass-coated plastic container, which can be used for drugs and vaccines."

 

[CSIDreamer]

COVID-19 vaccine trials attract more than 107,000 volunteers so far

Volunteers needed for vaccine trials.

 

[tresir2012]

Cuomo took care of it:

Astoria Lounge Suspended From Coronavirus Open Restaurants Program After Crowds Party In The Street

There's still another 8,699 bars. Phew.


"Outside of the bar, Mike, who held a to-go cocktail in a plastic container, said, "It's a business, they gotta run their *advertiser censored*. I think it's kinda unfair."

"We just wanted to have a nice dinner, a girl's night out," said Tatiana Soriano, 19, of Forest Hills. "We Uber'd here and were expecting that."

Soriano added: "I just feel like our lives can't stop because of this, so it's nice that they're slowly reopening."

Police hand out masks outside Brik Lounge in Astoria, Queens. SCOTT HEINS / GOTHAMIST
City Councilmember Costa Constantinides said, "We understand many bars and restaurants are in dire straits because of the pandemic."

"That's no excuse, however, for the small few to turn our neighborhood into one giant resort bar," he said in a statement Saturday afternoon. Neighbors organizeda Sunday morning clean-up after the weekend parties.

No other restaurant has been suspended out of the 8,700 establishments permitted to expand sidewalk seating into the curb area or parking space on the street, the de Blasio spokesperson said.

On Friday, the program was expanded to 40 blocks of roadways for an open restaurants and open streets dual program in order to allow for businesses to space out tables six feet apart in the street through October.

On the Lower East Side, bar-goers packed an area underneath a tent outside of Set LES, a Ludlow Street bar.

A neighbor who lives at Ludlow and Houston Streets told us, "No one gives a *advertiser censored* and it's like April never happened," referring to the peak of coronavirus infections in New York."

More at link.

 

[ilovewings]

New study - 10-19 year olds just as likely, if not more likely, to spread the virus.

So basically, we’re going to kill a lot of middle and high school teachers this fall.

A physician I just saw on MSNBC states the coronavirus is like the cold virus (obviously much much worse), but it spreads like a cold virus - he said children over 10 or 11 are like adults in their ability to spread the virus. This means not only teachers, but kids spreading it to each other, their parents, grandparents and people in the the community will be much more at risk for the virus. I know kids going back to school will be a nightmare in too many communities.

 

[ArianeEmory]

It looks like this is the portal to volunteering for vaccine trials in the US:

Volunteer for a Local Clinical Study | COVID-19 Prevention Network

 

[Simply Southern]

The US is also helping fund the Oxford/AZ vaccine through its Operation Warp Speed program:

Fact Sheet: Explaining Operation Warp Speed

The agreement with the Oxford/AZ vaccine is to make 300 million doses of the vaccine available to the US. We gave them $1.2 BILLION for the development and manufacture of the vaccine.

"Manufacturing: The federal government is making investments in the necessary manufacturing capacity at its own risk, giving firms confidence that they can invest aggressively in development and allowing faster distribution of an eventual vaccine. Manufacturing capacity for selected candidates will be advanced while they are still in development, rather than scaled up after approval or authorization. Manufacturing capacity developed will be used for whatever vaccine is eventually successful, if possible given the nature of the successful product, regardless of which firms have developed the capacity."

"Distribution: Before the countermeasures are approved or authorized, the program will build the necessary plans and infrastructure for distribution.

HHS plans for a tiered approach to vaccine distribution, which will build on allocation methodology developed as part of pandemic flu planning and be adjusted based on experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 response, data on the virus and its impact on populations and the performance of each vaccine, and the needs of the essential workforce. OWS will expand domestic manufacturing and supplies of specialized materials and resources, such as glass vials, that can be necessary for distribution. DoD’s involvement will enable faster distribution and administration than would have otherwise been possible.

Select actions to support OWS distribution efforts include:

• May 12: DoD and HHS announced a $138 million contract with ApiJect for more than 100 million prefilled syringes for distribution across the United States by year-end 2020, as well as the development of manufacturing capacity for the ultimate production goal of over 500 million prefilled syringes in 2021.
• June 9: HHS and DoD announced a joint effort to increase domestic manufacturing capacity for vials that may be needed for vaccines and treatments:
  • $204 million to Corning to expand the domestic manufacturing capacity to produce an additional 164 million Valor Glass vials each year if needed.
  • $143 million to SiO2 Materials Science to ramp up capacity to produce the company’s glass-coated plastic container, which can be used for drugs and vaccines."

Hey, they are thinking ahead with vials. Hopefully vials won't become a swab issue.

Happy, manufacturing for drug and vials are coming to the US. Better control, faster delivery times, and hopefully jobs.

 

[Rose in SC]

Crosspost from the Coronavirus testing thread:
Had my test this morning. The doctor's office was super crowded (well, the parking lot was, lol). Results took longer than 15 minutes, more like an hour. They told us to go home and wait for a call. We both tested NEGATIVE!

All of my co-workers tested negative as well. I'll continue to work from home until I get the CVS test results, hopefully by Thursday. The other secretary in the office is okay with that. This Covid scare may be the kick in the pants I need to start eating better consistently and to finally give up some bad habits.

THANK YOU to everyone who cheered me on and offered me hope and good advice over the last few days. I appreciate it all so much!

 

[Simply Southern]

It looks like this is the portal to volunteering for vaccine trials in the US:

Volunteer for a Local Clinical Study | COVID-19 Prevention Network

The site the NHI director sited was a dot net site. I've not been able to locate yet.

Thanks, we make have some members or those that read the thread interested.

 

[Bravo]

Excellent news Rose.

 

[Simply Southern]

Crosspost from the Coronavirus testing thread:
Had my test this morning. The doctor's office was super crowded (well, the parking lot was, lol). Results took longer than 15 minutes, more like an hour. They told us to go home and wait for a call. We both tested NEGATIVE!

All of my co-workers tested negative as well. I'll continue to work from home until I get the CVS test results, hopefully by Thursday. The other secretary in the office is okay with that. This Covid scare may be the kick in the pants I need to start eating better consistently and to finally give up some bad habits.

THANK YOU to everyone who cheered me on and offered me hope and good advice over the last few days. I appreciate it all so much!

What a wonderful blessing !!!! So happy for you and glad you shared the results.

Hoping today is less stressful and you can breath a little sign of relieve.

 

[tresir2012]

The study re the Astra Zeneca vaccine is available as a pdf download in this article.

AstraZeneca's stock fall 3% as results from early-stage study on coronavirus vaccine are published

From the link.

AstraZeneca is developing the experimental vaccine with the University of Oxford; the study was published in The Lancet. The single-blind, randomized, controlled trial found that neutralizing antibody responses were reported in 91% of 35 patients when utilizing one test and 100% of 35 patients when using a different test. It also found that T-cell responses peaked on day 14. "A single dose elicited both humoral and cellular responses against SARS-CoV-2, with a booster immunization augmenting neutralizing antibody titers," the study's authors wrote.

 

[ArianeEmory]

I must be missing something on why that would cause their stock to fall. I'm no market expert (by far) but it seems like any vaguely good news shoots Moderna, Novavax, etc prices skyward.

 

[tresir2012]

I must be missing something on why that would cause their stock to fall. I'm no market expert (by far) but it seems like any vaguely good news shoots Moderna, Novavax, etc prices skyward.

This is probably the highest it's been for a while so some investors are cashing out now I guess IMO and there are probably plenty of buyers who want to make some in the future perhaps?

 

[Betty P]

Hey, they are thinking ahead with vials. Hopefully vials won't become a swab issue.

Happy, manufacturing for drug and vials are coming to the US. Better control, faster delivery times, and hopefully jobs.

Yeah, no harm at all in going back to manufacturing these kinds of medical supplies in the US. We did it that way for hundreds of years. Pardon my being blunt, but it was idiotic to shut down our own quality manufacturing plants and jobs here only to rely on third world countries thousands of miles away to provide inferior products, just so some billionaires can buy more yachts, hookers and their own private islands.

 

[ArianeEmory]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article244345862.html

What exempts you from wearing a mask? Experts explain the rare circumstances

Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, sang a different tune, saying that surgical and cloth masks should have no detrimental effects, even to people with chronic lung illnesses, ABC News reported.

“People with underlying chronic lung disease, such as COPD or asthma, should be able to wear a non-N95 facial covering without it affecting their oxygen or carbon dioxide levels,” Rizzo told the outlet.

...

Some people have said their anxiety disorders are triggered by mask wear, but Hudak said he’s never seen it in patients or colleagues.

“I treat lots of doctors and nurses who have anxiety disorders, and who wear masks all the time, and literally no one has ever said ‘I feel afraid wearing a mask in the operating room,” he told The Verge. “Mask-wearing is not a trigger for panic attacks.”

For those whose medical conditions are so serious they may need to forgo wearing masks, doctors say it’s best to just stay home, according to Health.

“If you are truly that fragile, a COVID-19 infection could be a death sentence,” Jim Keany, an emergency medical physician, told the magazine.

 

[CSIDreamer]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article244345862.html

What exempts you from wearing a mask? Experts explain the rare circumstances

I need to commit "if you are truly that fragile" to memory. While I have a habit of not biting back on SM, occasionally I can't help myself with perfectly healthy people that "are truly too fragile" to wear a mask lol. Jmo

 

[musicaljoke]

I just found an article discussing the two so thought I would post it for review.

Comparing Norway and Sweden: Norwegian coronavirus measures reduced hospitalizations drastically

Thank you for posting this link to the report from the Norwegian School of Economics. The summary of the report states, that if Norway had followed the lenient approach used in Sweden, the peak number of hospitalisations in Norway would have been 231 percent higher, and the peak number of ICU patients would have increased by 140 percent.

Denmark would have experienced 2.5 times the number of deaths had they decided to keep the economy open. The effect on deaths in Norway appears even higher, though the estimates are more uncertain.

Results show that social distancing measures are effective in reducing the stress in the healthcare system, and in reducing the deaths caused by the virus.

It will be interesting to see if they continue this study with an economic impact report. From other papers, we know that economists believed that closing down and getting the virus under control was better for the economy than taking half steps that neither controlled the virus spread, nor allowed for a return to regular business.

If anyone wishes to read the full paper, it's available here:

The Effect of Social Distancing Measures on Intensive Care Occupancy: Evidence on COVID-19 in Scandinavia by Steffen Juranek, Floris Zoutman :: SSRN

 

[Simply Southern]

I need to commit "if you are truly that fragile" to memory. While I have a habit of not biting back on SM, occasionally I can't help myself with perfectly healthy people that "are truly too fragile" to wear a mask lol. Jmo

I've been amazed as so many who can't wear a mask due to health conditions, but manage to go out to eat in restaurants and hanging out in our bars. FB is amazing...

 

[CSIDreamer]

This is the sweetest thing ever!

Country Time sending $100 bailout funds to kids' lemonade stands as COVID-19 rocks U.S. economy

A Country Time promotion is sending $100 bailout checks to the eligible child owners of lemonade stands nationwide that have closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s called “The Littlest Bailout,” and children ages 14 years and younger are invited to apply for assistance.

 

[MrX]

These US virus hotspots broke records over the weekend

I really wish we could get back to a time when news was reported as a statement of the facts of a matter, and the hyperbole was confined to the Editorial Section. The daily death reports for AZ, in this piece, are a misrepresentation of the facts. The daily high, per AZDHS (ADHS - Data Dashboard) is 65, NOT 147. It should be common knowledge, for folks tasked with reporting these stories, how numbers are reported. Whether it's laziness or "spin," it needs to stop. The same article shows a Johns Hopkins graphic listing AZ as one of only four states with a week-over-week decline in cases. It's disheartening to see actual "good news" buried under shoddy reporting.