Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #83

[CSIDreamer]

This just makes good sense, JMOO. Dr. Nabarro also said:

“Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.”

https://nypost.com/2020/10/11/who-warns-against-covid-19-lockdowns-due-to-economic-damage/

At least they see the train wreck up ahead. It just keeps getting worse. Jmo

 

[GRT]

At least they see the train wreck up ahead. It just keeps getting worse. Jmo

True, I'm glad they're getting the word out. The doctor said lockdowns should be a "last resort."

 

[CharlestonGal]

Masks - sigh.
Cities/businesses aren’t enforcing it.
People aren’t wearing them.
JMO

It makes sense why they aren't wearing them. It's like telling your children they should not smoke or drink as you yourself, and your friends, are puffing a cigarette and chugging a beer.

It doesn't work like that.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Regeneron CEO says U.S. secured 300k doses of antibody cocktail with $450 million contract

Dr. Leonard Schleifer, the founder and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which developed the antibody cocktail heralded by President Trump, estimated Sunday that a $450 million contract the company won from the federal government over the summer will secure roughly 300,000 doses of the treatment.

"They bought from us several hundred thousand, maybe around 300,000 doses, which they are going to make it for free," Schleifer said in an interview with "Face the Nation." "We can't do this alone. We need the entire industry."
......
Mr. Trump was given a single dose of Regeneron's antibody cocktail while he was being treated for COVID-19 and has gone on to praise the treatment, officially known as REGN-COV2, as a "cure" for the virus.

But the treatment has yet to undergo a peer-reviewed drug trial and has only been given to 10 people outside of clinical trials.

Schleifer called Mr. Trump's case a "case report" and said while it is evidence of how the drug worked, it's the "weakest evidence that you can get."

"The real evidence has to come — about how good a drug is and what it will do on average — has to come from these large clinical trials, these randomized clinical trials, which are the gold standard," he said.

I wish the press would stop repeating this misinformation that antibodies are a "cure". They are not and never will be. The CEO even admits that trials haven't even been conducted yet to determine how good these drugs are or what they will do "on average".

This is the hydroxy hype all over again and I wish they would stop doing it. It's not helpful. imo

 

[beatrixpotter]

This just makes good sense, JMOO. Dr. Nabarro also said:

“Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.”

https://nypost.com/2020/10/11/who-warns-against-covid-19-lockdowns-due-to-economic-damage/

I think it was all done with the best intentions but had many clearly unintended consequences. Everyone was acting on the data they had at the time or the sudden surprise of overwhelmed hospitals.

The problem is so many in our country aren't taking the steps necessary to prevent lock down. So many states including my own refused to require masks for example. Things were growing exponentially in most places until they started actually placing limits like with social distancing. And then stores requiring masks basically forced masks on people in public when the local governments didn't have the balls to require it.

So will the people who want to latch on to not using shut downs also latch on to what's recommended we do to avoid shut downs in the first place? Hopefully so! I know a surprising amount of people though who object to basically anything that places any limitations on them or anyone else as being morally wrong. I'm not sure what they really expect to be the results of that other than they all seem to be personally banking on thinking they have great immune systems.

 

[GRT]

I wish the press would stop repeating this misinformation that antibodies are a "cure". They are not and never will be. The CEO even admits that trials haven't even been conducted yet to determine how good these drugs are or what they will do "on average".

This is the hydroxy hype all over again and I wish they would stop doing it. It's not helpful. imo

Early scientific testing on animals appears to indicate the treatment has potential.

REGN-COV2 antibodies prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection in rhesus macaques and hamsters - PubMed

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Add to that: Test, trace, isolate.

Yeah, that's the part that's always missing in these "lockdowns are evil" scenarios. In addition to "use taxpayer money to take care of taxpayers while reducing their exposure". Can't just do 25% of your homework and expect an A+. It takes effort and intelligence to reduce infections while maintaining a reasonable standard of living for your people - if you care about that.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

hmmm.....based on what exactly, I wonder? I see no mention of a negative PCR in that memo, the only real way to declare someone no longer contagious.

Then again, I'm a science type and demand evidence for practically everything. lol

@CharlestonGal, there is an additional way to determine LIVE viruses particles, (you can also make 10-fold dilutions of a sample and culture in cell lines such as VERO to even titer to find an endpoint to determine viral load), and perhaps that is what he has had done? After all, I would think that POTUS would have the best diagnostics that others don't have access to. MOO

Virus isolation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for diagnostic and research purposes

ETA: Thanks for this that came later in the thread

You and others stating the same

"This evening I am happy to report that, in addition to the president meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning's COVID P.C.R. sample demonstrates, by currently recognized standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others," Conley said in his memo. "Now at day 10 from symptoms onset, fever-free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms improved, the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus," he wrote.

"In addition, sequential testing throughout his illness has demonstrated decreasing viral loads that correlate with increasing cycle threshold times, as well as decreasing and now undetectable subgenomic [COVID] mRNA," Conley added.

But several experts were skeptical about the wording describing Trump's test results, which did not explicitly categorize the president as "negative" for the coronavirus.

Conley's memo suggested Trump's viral load was dropping, but appeared to still be detectable

And the mRNA Conley mentioned is a part of the virus that can be spotted by lab work, Susan Butler-Wu, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Southern California, told the Times. But that procedure is "experimental at this point," she added.

There is also no test that can definitively show if a person at the end of a coronavirus infection is still contagious, Melissa Miller, a clinical microbiologist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, told the newspaper.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-...no-longer-infectious-after-covid-19-diagnosis

 

[dixiegirl1035]

The implications of this are overwhelming. A new normal. A new deadly virus that is not going to magically leave even with a vaccine. We are just going to have to find a way to adapt other than pretending it's not a problem. Clearly hospital systems the world over are not prepared to handle this virus infecting us year round and we are going to have to find a way to adapt. We can handle the common coronaviruses because almost none of us need hospitalization from them. Even if we find a vaccine with 50% efficacy we will still have this much greater burden on our healthcare. :/

I wonder when the new rates for next year's health insurance will be coming out. As the rates are locally based iirc, the rates in New York are going to really increase. I'm wondering how much they'll go up all over the place due to COVID as iirc they went up 20% last year in my area on average.

Hmmm, I guess we'll know in another month or so? Wonder if it will come out before or after the election?

 

[JaneEyre]

Those threads were enormously helpful to me in grasping what was coming. Of course it precipitated tons of anxiety I'm already prone to because this idea was so frightening and overwhelming. But basically over and over again almost everything we talked about potentially happening has happened.

The only thing that has not happened is I truly thought states would start shutting down again when things became overwhelmed again. In reality it makes sense to really only apply that to certain areas rather than the entire country as a whole regardless of the state of each individual community.

I guess it remains to be seen what happens this winter....

I think I would have been somewhat blindsided without this thread, without you all. It really was and is a blessing for me.

 

[Cool Cats]

October 10, 2020
Coronavirus: I'm part of a COVID-19 vaccine trial in New Jersey

I volunteered for a COVID-19 vaccine trial in New Jersey. Here's what it's been like since the shot.

EDIT - I AM QUOTING THE VOLUNTEER IN THE ARTICLE, SMALL AMOUNT OF ARTICLE PER TOS. THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME PERSONALLY. SORRY FOR ANY EARLIER CONFUSION.

The day of my appointment, I read and signed the 22-page consent form. Balani took my medical history, gave me a physical and swabbed me to see if I had an active COVID-19 infection. A nurse took my vital signs and eight vials of blood. I downloaded the app and learned how to use it.

This is called a double-blind study because both the researchers and the participants are blind to what was inside that syringe.

I admit, I have a hunch. But I won’t share it, in case the team monitoring me reads this.

For seven days after my injection, I took my temperature each evening, measured the size of the mosquito-bite-sized bump on my arm as it faded away, and noted that at first my arm hurt a little, but “not enough to affect daily activities.” I recorded this and other information — including my lack of headaches, fatigue, muscle aches and nausea — on a secure phone app that sends the data to Moderna.

A nurse prepares a shot in July as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

To answer one question I get a lot: No one will deliberately expose me to the virus as part of this study.

Dramatically higher risk is not part of the deal. I have no plans to stroll unprotected through an intensive care unit for COVID patients. To be honest, I don’t even plan to dine indoors at a restaurant.

That caution, which experts say is shared by other trial volunteers, may actually slow the research; the faster that cases accumulate, the faster experts can see whether the vaccine works.

Unfortunately for research science, people who volunteer for studies like this tend to be better educated and more health-oriented.

They are therefore more likely to protect themselves from COVID-19, which means it will be a while before a sufficient number of infections piles up.

Not since the polio epidemic has the public been more fixated on the race for a vaccine. Who will get the first batches? How it will be distributed? How effective will it be? How will the public accept it?

All these questions remain unanswered. But I feel like I’m part of history now.

I’ll let you know what happens.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I think I would have been somewhat blindsided without this thread, without you all. It really was and is a blessing for me.

Unfortunately, a prediction I made on March 2nd as it would eventually be endemic like the flu, is something I still consider as I don't see how this can be wiped out like polio at this time. We'll see how long the neutralizing antibodies last.. but if it's like other coronaviruses the B cell immunity isn't too long lasting as @CharlestonGal has pointed out, and T cell inate just won't cut it.

MOO

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Coronavirus: I'm part of a COVID-19 vaccine trial in New Jersey

The day of my appointment, I read and signed the 22-page consent form. Balani took my medical history, gave me a physical and swabbed me to see if I had an active COVID-19 infection. A nurse took my vital signs and eight vials of blood. I downloaded the app and learned how to use it.

For seven days after my injection, I took my temperature each evening, measured the size of the mosquito-bite-sized bump on my arm as it faded away, and noted that at first my arm hurt a little, but “not enough to affect daily activities.” I recorded this and other information — including my lack of headaches, fatigue, muscle aches and nausea — on a secure phone app that sends the data to Moderna.

Interesting read, thanks! I did note:

The Moderna study is designed to take 25 months.

As soon as 53 people receive confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19, the sponsors — and an independent, external advisory group called a “data and safety monitoring board” — will do the first, interim assessment to compare how many people with and without the vaccine became infected. Another assessment is planned after 105 cases among participants, and the final assessment is to come after 151 cases. Safety monitoring will go on for some time after that.

Moderna’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, said Oct. 1 that the earliest the company could apply for an EUA would be Nov. 25, assuming the safety data was good.

 

[CSIDreamer]

3567 results for the search Covid 19

Search of: Covid19 - List Results - ClinicalTrials.gov

 

[rogue ant]

No successful coronavirus vaccines to date. The SARS one actually made people sicker and have a worse reaction to the virus when exposed.

RSBM. BBM.
Would you have a link for that ?

 

[GRT]

October 10, 2020
Coronavirus: I'm part of a COVID-19 vaccine trial in New Jersey

I volunteered for a COVID-19 vaccine trial in New Jersey. Here's what it's been like since the shot.

The day of my appointment, I read and signed the 22-page consent form. Balani took my medical history, gave me a physical and swabbed me to see if I had an active COVID-19 infection. A nurse took my vital signs and eight vials of blood. I downloaded the app and learned how to use it.

This is called a double-blind study because both the researchers and the participants are blind to what was inside that syringe.

I admit, I have a hunch. But I won’t share it, in case the team monitoring me reads this.

For seven days after my injection, I took my temperature each evening, measured the size of the mosquito-bite-sized bump on my arm as it faded away, and noted that at first my arm hurt a little, but “not enough to affect daily activities.” I recorded this and other information — including my lack of headaches, fatigue, muscle aches and nausea — on a secure phone app that sends the data to Moderna.

A nurse prepares a shot in July as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

To answer one question I get a lot: No one will deliberately expose me to the virus as part of this study.

Dramatically higher risk is not part of the deal. I have no plans to stroll unprotected through an intensive care unit for COVID patients. To be honest, I don’t even plan to dine indoors at a restaurant.

That caution, which experts say is shared by other trial volunteers, may actually slow the research; the faster that cases accumulate, the faster experts can see whether the vaccine works.

Unfortunately for research science, people who volunteer for studies like this tend to be better educated and more health-oriented.

They are therefore more likely to protect themselves from COVID-19, which means it will be a while before a sufficient number of infections piles up.

Not since the polio epidemic has the public been more fixated on the race for a vaccine. Who will get the first batches? How it will be distributed? How effective will it be? How will the public accept it?

All these questions remain unanswered. But I feel like I’m part of history now.

I’ll let you know what happens.

You're very brave! Thank you for sharing your experience. I see what you mean when you say the participants' lack of desire to be infected could slow the research. Then again, I don't want you to unnecessarily get sick!

I'm very glad you have not experienced any strong negative side effects--that's positive news!

I hope you continue to update us on the study.

And, thank you for volunteering!

 

[GRT]

I wonder when the new rates for next year's health insurance will be coming out. As the rates are locally based iirc, the rates in New York are going to really increase. I'm wondering how much they'll go up all over the place due to COVID as iirc they went up 20% last year in my area on average.

Hmmm, I guess we'll know in another month or so? Wonder if it will come out before or after the election?

I think if you purchase through the Market Place, the rates will be out by the first of November. It will be interesting to see if they've gone up.

I bet they have. Private insurers, too.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

3567 results for the search Covid 19

Search of: Covid19 - List Results - ClinicalTrials.gov

I did a quick perusal on the search term for "withdrawn" studies. Of course many hydroxycloroquine ones.

Thanks, I've bookmarked in case someone I know gets it so that I can click on that one page and go to the map part and know IMMEDIATELY what hospitals are doing certain trials in my area.

Until I did that, I didn't realize (I guess I should have) is that many trials are hospital specific. Some insurance companies' policy coverage allow you to go to multiple ones (as opposed to ObamaCare folks, who usually are very restricted on which ones they are covered in network)

MOO GREAT LINK for all of us to keep and share.

ETA: I see actively recruiting for Regeneron trials also. But, would hate to be the one getting the placebo... as that would really be bad... MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

Realistically, with this kind of highly contagious, more or less airborne, virus it is no longer possible for any country to detect, identify, and contain something like this before it travels the world. 100 years ago maybe, but we are too globally interconnected now. Millions of passengers are in-flight to destinations all over the world every single day. And millions had traveled from China before anyone knew about the existence of CoVid.

It would have traveled the world no matter where it initially emerged. Which is why most nations have pandemic response plans. Once it infects the hive, the entire hive is at-risk and must respond, quickly and cooperatively. And that is exactly what did not happen. With the exception of a few nations that did have good plans and acted on them decisively, the entire hive is now infected.

This kind of thing is going to continue to happen periodically, and can emerge from any point on the globe. Spanish Flu started in Kansas, USA of all places. When the next outbreak happens, hopefully we will do a better job, globally, and use the experience we've gained having experienced this one. IMO

Yes, agreed.

Believe it or not, I was reading the other day about organisations preparing for the next pandemic. I guess that now is probably a good time for that, while it is fresh in everyone's minds - exactly what happens, how quickly these things spread, where the weak areas are.

IMO

 

[Cool Cats]

You're very brave! Thank you for sharing your experience. I see what you mean when you say the participants' lack of desire to be infected could slow the research. Then again, I don't want you to unnecessarily get sick!

I'm very glad you have not experienced any strong negative side effects--that's positive news!

I hope you continue to update us on the study.

And, thank you for volunteering!

I was quoting the volunteer in the article! And per TOS I only quoted a small amount of the article.

I will EDIT the post so it's clear it's not about me personally.

Sorry for any confusion on this.