Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #83

[BayouBelle_LA]

Elections officials ask voters to stop disinfecting mail-in ballots

“Voters do not have to worry about contracting COVID from their mail-in ballots," said Courtney Bailey-Kanelos, registrar of voters in Sacramento County.

Elections officials ask voters to stop disinfecting mail-in ballots

The ones that sprayed or microwaved their ballots are being sent a new one.

Sometimes I think people are losing their minds. It’s sad to see.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Experimental Covid vaccine: Thousands are signing up to be deliberately exposed to the virus - CNN

London (CNN)As most of us obsess with avoiding Covid-19 at all costs, a rapidly growing group of people around the world say they are prepared to deliberately take on the virus.

Tens of thousands of people have signed up to a campaign by a group called 1 Day Sooner to take an experimental vaccine candidate and then face coronavirus in a controlled setting.

So-called human challenge trials, while sometimes controversial, are nothing new. They have been used for cholera, typhoid, malaria, and even the common cold. But unlike for those diseases, we do not yet have a completely effective treatment for Covid-19, should the experimental vaccine fail.

As of last month, however, the UK government said that it is in active conversations to collaborate on such a trial, which would be the first in the world for coronavirus.

 

[Sundog]

Pandemic fatigue: More Canadians likely to visit family, friends during Thanksgiving than during Easter, poll finds | National Post

Pandemic fatigue has officially set in, a new poll concludes, after finding that significantly fewer Canadians are likely to obey health officials’ warnings to physically distance and avoid visiting family and friends during Thanksgiving than during Easter.

The poll, conducted by market researcher Leger with the Association for Canadian Studies between Oct. 2 and 4, surveyed 1523 Canadians — including 412 Quebecers — via a web panel, and compared responses with one conducted between April 10 and 12, surveying 1508 Canadians, witha margin of error of ±2.5 per cent.

Results from the poll stated that 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed in October had visited their family and friends between Oct. 2 and 4 while only 12 per cent of Canadians were willing to do so during the second week of April.

 

[rogue ant]

Virus that causes Covid-19 can survive up to 28 days on surfaces, scientists find

Australian scientists have found that the virus that causes Covid-19 can survive for up to 28 days on surfaces such as the glass on mobile phones, stainless steel, vinyl and paper banknotes.

It's important to note that the experiments were done in the dark to remove the impact of ultraviolet light because research has shown that direct sunlight can kill the virus. I think fomite transmission was overblown in the beginning because scientists knew so little about the virus.

 

[GRT]

If you've been infected by the virus, you may be immune for up to 4 months, according to the Harvard Gazette that cites a recent study on antibodies.

The blood’s plasma was isolated and applied to laboratory plates coated with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the virus’ “spike” protein, which attaches to cells, leading to infection. The team studied how different types of antibodies in the plasma bound to RBD. The results were compared to blood samples obtained from more than 1,500 individuals prior to the pandemic.

The researchers found that levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin G (IgG) remained elevated in infected patients for four months and were associated with the presence of protective neutralizing antibodies, which also demonstrated little decrease in activity over time.


“That means that people are very likely protected for that period of time,” said Charles. “We showed that key antibody responses to COVID-19 do persist.”

 

[10ofRods]

It would be fascinating to know the Chinese logistics of testing 9 million people so quickly. I mean, how do they pull that off? It's mind boggling. They tested 10 million in Wuhan in 10 days, too, when they had another small outbreak there in June.

Part of what I've noticed is that, where in the US, we might have 5 lines for walk up or drive up testing (5 swab users, 5 record takers - sometimes only 1 person doing both, which really slows it down). In big cities, of course, we have probably 200-300 different testing lines available throughout

China would have a huge number of tests available, but I'm guessing they can deploy personnel to staff 1000 testing stations at one time. Maybe more. Further, the Chinese already have all their residency and other data in a national system (with an app, is my understanding).

People are told when to show up by last name, and they show up. They comply. Testing is done in convenient places near residences and near work - people are told where they are expected to show up (I don't know if they are told a time, or just a day).

Then, back at the lab, they have lots (and lots) of PCR machines and people to run them. The number of people China can direct to a particular work locale, quickly, is amazing.

They have tons of PPE, lab equipment, swabs, etc. Warehoused and ready to go.

 

[oviedo]

With loose COVID-19 restrictions, Florida cases could rise, expert says

snipped
ORLANDO, Fla. —

As health officials in Florida reported another 1,500 COVID-19 cases on Monday, the state is bracing to become "like a house on fire," one infectious disease expert says.

"Florida is ripe for another large outbreak," said Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

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"What they've done is opened up everything as if nothing had ever happened there and you and I could be talking probably in eight to 10 weeks, and I will likely bet that Florida will be a house on fire," Osterholm told CNN's Jake Tapper.

 

[10ofRods]

Nevada removes mandate for casinos/hotels/workplaces to report the number of Coronavirus cases:

Nevada stops COVID exposure reports for workplaces, hotel-casinos

22 culinary workers union members from Vegas (or a family member) had died by early July:

Nevada Culinary Union: 22 members or family have died from COVID-19

Hundreds were hospitalized. So that gives an indication of what the vectors/enforcement are like (kitchens are a problem).

The Wynn hotel group is the only hotel I can find that is being transparent (and definitely making attempts to protect workers, so if you're going...consider them):

Vegas resort tallies 548 COVID-19 positives, 3 worker deaths

 

[JerseyGirl]

Cuba relaxes coronavirus restrictions 7 months into pandemic

It allowed shops and government offices to reopen Monday, and it is welcoming locals and tourists at airports across the island except in Havana.

Face masks and social distancing remain mandatory. But authorities will no longer isolate those who have been in contact with suspected cases as the island returns to a semblance of normality.

Monday’s relaxing of restrictions occurred the same day as Panama’s government welcomed international flights for the first time since March and reopened hotels, casinos, theaters and museums.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Oklahoma surpasses 100,000 coronavirus cases

 

[JerseyGirl]

Mexico confirms 1st case of patient with both COVID-19 and the flu
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc13....e-u.s.-coronavirus-numbers-texas-vs./6967347/
Doctors around the world are concerned there may be more of these cases throughout the flu season.

They said having one of the viruses makes people more vulnerable to getting the other.

 

[10ofRods]

56% of hospitalized patients have neurological issues (abnormal MRI's, as well as other issues)

This study included patients aged 20-92, who were hospitalized in France and underwent extensive neurological testing (MRI's plus clinical exam).

Confusion was the most frequent clinical symptom (53%).

This group of patients, presenting with confusion significant enough to warrant an MRI, tended not to have the respiratory symptoms in such acute fashion.

They were all positive for CoVid, both clinically and upon PCR testing.

Agitation affected 30%.

27% had ischemic strokes.

The younger patients were more like to to have encephalitis (13% of total sample had encephalitis - but the numbers were significantly higher for the younger patients).

For those of you who like to study the brain, the encephalitis affected the corpus callosum via cytokine storm. This is the tissue that connects the two halves of our brains. It does a lot of work in creating accurate sensations in the brain, but obviously, one of its main jobs is help both hemispheres work together.

These neuro patients were twice as likely to be men (who have less with in their corpus callosum than women see [PDF] Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being | Semantic Scholar if curious). There are also non-technical webpages on this subject.

These neuro findings, especially the ischemic strokes, would confer lasting damage, as can encephalitis.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Russia Recruits Rare Dogs to Sniff Out Coronavirus as Second Wave Tightens Grip

The small, fox-like canines are Shalaikas, a cross between Arctic Nenets herding dogs known as Laikas and Southern Turkmen golden jackals. Russia hopes it will soon be able to use them to detect Covid-19 in humans.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

October 8, 2020

Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 — Final Report - Original Article
The New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764?query=featured_home

Study confirms benefits of using Remdesivir on COVID-19 patients

The drug is used for its ability to hinder the virus's ability to reproduce, and has been attributed to shorter hospital stays for patients receiving it in trials.

Results showed that those who received Remdesivir have a median recovery time of ten days, compared with 15 days among the placebo group.

The mortality rate among Remdesivir patients was also lower: an estimated mortality rate of 6.7% was attributed to the Remdesivir group at day 15 compared to 11.9% among the placebo group, and 11.4% with Remdesivir compared to 15.2% treated with the placebo by day 29.

Moreover, adverse events were reported in only 131 of the 532 patients who received Remdesivir (24.6%) compared to 163 of the 516 patients who received placebo (31.6%).

Ultimately, data from the report showed that "Remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults who were hospitalized with COVID-19 and had evidence of lower respiratory tract infection."

That's awesome! It's good to see progress and good news in this battle.

Next frontier: Medications (short of vaccine) that prevent patients from being hospitalized at all. I wonder if anything is in trials for that at all? I admit I haven't been following that closely lately.

Thanks for an update @Cool Cats... as so many these days.

Many many confirmation papers and this one seems to be confirming an old one as IIRC Remdesivir before didn't do anything to outcome as to mortality in previous papers, it just shortened the hospital stay. (for insurance? why don't they evaluate for mortality!) "Patients who received remdesivir had a shorter time to recovery (the primary end point) than those who received placebo (median, 10 days vs. 15 days in hospital)

Yet lets get before getting in the hospital and being a moderate/severe case to shorten even more?

So very interesting as this was discussed on post #6 on January 31 on the #2 thread. We've been talking in the threads about Remdesivir since .

Dr. Campbell and Dr. Seheult have many videos on such we have discussed for months.

This study just buttresses, yet again... it's just saying shorter median days for medium to severe cases. That's it. Shorten hospital days for medium to severe cases. Soooooooooooooooo far.

MOO... the design of the study was SPECIFICALLY to address only hospital length possibly?

 

[10ofRods]

Oklahoma surpasses 100,000 coronavirus cases

With just 4 million people, that's about 2.5% of their population, with the usual provisos about lack of testing and under-reporting (see CDC's excess death stats).

That's way way less than is needed for any kind of "herd immunity," but it's worry as if the 14,000 currently active cases were all out in the community until diagnosis, that's a lot of potential for community spread. The cases seem to be centered on Oklahoma City, with the usual urban transmission vectors.

766 new cases from yesterday...a lot for a state with a smaller population.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Germany, Poland institute new measures to fight coronavirus

Bars and restaurants are to close at 11:00 pm local time in Berlin until October 31 in a partial curfew, a measure already imposed -- but starting an hour earlier -- in the financial capital Frankfurt.

The shutdown in the German capital -- with more than 400 new cases daily -- also covers all shops except pharmacies and petrol stations, although they will be banned from selling alcohol.

"This is not the time to party," said Berlin's mayor Michael Muller. "We can and we want to prevent another more severe confinement."

Chancellor Angela Merkel had already warned Friday that high-infection areas would be given 10 days to bring down cases or face tougher action, calling big cities the "arena" to keep the coronavirus pandemic under control.

Neighbouring Poland announced new measures on Saturday to curb the pandemic after reporting record infections for a fifth straight day.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Experimental Covid vaccine: Thousands are signing up to be deliberately exposed to the virus - CNN

London (CNN)As most of us obsess with avoiding Covid-19 at all costs, a rapidly growing group of people around the world say they are prepared to deliberately take on the virus.

Tens of thousands of people have signed up to a campaign by a group called 1 Day Sooner to take an experimental vaccine candidate and then face coronavirus in a controlled setting.

So-called human challenge trials, while sometimes controversial, are nothing new. They have been used for cholera, typhoid, malaria, and even the common cold. But unlike for those diseases, we do not yet have a completely effective treatment for Covid-19, should the experimental vaccine fail.

As of last month, however, the UK government said that it is in active conversations to collaborate on such a trial, which would be the first in the world for coronavirus.

That IIRC is outlawed world wide.. perhaps I'm just misled as many folks might be from just the headline. UK collaboration? huh????

I guess it's a clickbait so I'll have to look and ETA later?. MOO, is this real?

There is no where in this world that it is accepted to PURPOSEFULLY do human challenges for vaccines or treatments studies for a deadly virus by a manufacturer and governments etc.

Perhaps others have drilled down... I'm behind in threads. This is indeed interesting.

 

[Woodland]

Pandemic fatigue: More Canadians likely to visit family, friends during Thanksgiving than during Easter, poll finds | National Post

Pandemic fatigue has officially set in, a new poll concludes, after finding that significantly fewer Canadians are likely to obey health officials’ warnings to physically distance and avoid visiting family and friends during Thanksgiving than during Easter.

The poll, conducted by market researcher Leger with the Association for Canadian Studies between Oct. 2 and 4, surveyed 1523 Canadians — including 412 Quebecers — via a web panel, and compared responses with one conducted between April 10 and 12, surveying 1508 Canadians, witha margin of error of ±2.5 per cent.

Results from the poll stated that 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed in October had visited their family and friends between Oct. 2 and 4 while only 12 per cent of Canadians were willing to do so during the second week of April.

Thank goodness for 'socialized medicine.' Even the careless and foolish will receive equal medical care if necessary.

 

[Tillicum]

I just learned something today I wanted to share. I knew that our state and counties received funds to help in the Covid fight but I didn't realize that the townships also received funds. My township received $100,000. We're a rural township of mostly farms and we have 3 churches in the township. They decided to split the money between the churches and now all 3 churches' restrooms will be revamped to be touch free. Every little bit helps IMO. I'm really curious if anyone has heard of this in your area?

ETA Our church has a day care in the building and this is where Covid started in the church. Hopefully these touch free bathrooms will make a difference.

 

[CharlestonGal]

That IIRC is outlawed world wide.. perhaps I'm just misled as many folks might be from just the headline. UK collaboration? huh????

I guess it's a clickbait so I'll have to look and ETA later?. MOO, is this real?

There is no where in this world that it is accepted to PURPOSEFULLY do human challenges for vaccines or treatments studies for a deadly virus by a manufacturer and governments etc.

Perhaps others have drilled down... I'm behind in threads. This is indeed interesting.

No, not click bait. In the last decade, challenge trials have been done for H1N1, dengue, malaria, typhoid fever, hookworm, cholera. Zika was approved for challenge trial as well, but was never conducted for various reasons.

UK is looking at a SARS-CoV2 challenge early next year.

A Challenge Trial for COVID-19 Would Not Be the First of Its Kind