Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #83

[Cool Cats]

Wisconsin hits record number of coronavirus cases and deaths after Republicans try to overturn mask mandate
Tue, October 13, 2020, 8:38 PM EDT

Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers said the state is being “overwhelmed” by the surge of Covid-19 cases. (Getty Images)

Wisconsin has logged 17,437 new cases over the past week — more than any other state except for the much more populous California and Texas.

Next week, state officials plan to open a 530-bed field hospital at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee to help treat the influx of coronavirus patients. The decision came after Mr Evers said last week that "our healthcare systems are being overwhelmed by the surge of Covid-19 cases."

Over the past month, Wisconsin has become one of the nation's hot spots for Covid-19 as schools reopened and fatigue over social distancing and mask-wearing grew. Mr Evers, a Democrat, has also attributed the surge in cases to the Wisconsin Supreme Court striking down his "safer at home" order in May at the urging of his Republican colleagues.

The pushback from the state's GOP-controlled legislature didn't stop there — in July, Mr Evers issued a statewide order mandating masks in enclosed spaces, which he then extended to November. Republican lawmakers sued to overturn the mask mandate, but a judge ruled in Mr Evers' favor on Monday. According to CNN, Republicans said they would appeal the decision, calling the issue a "critical constitutional matter."

 

[tresir2012]

Nobel laureates call on UK to back infecting volunteers with Covid for vaccine trials

 

[Cool Cats]

Nobel laureates call on UK to back infecting volunteers with Covid for vaccine trials

"Fifteen Nobel laureates are among the prominent scientists calling on the UK government to support trials in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with Covid-19 to accelerate vaccine development."

Fine, who is going to volunteer after these 15 brave social conscious citizens go first?

 

[musicaljoke]

"Fifteen Nobel laureates are among the prominent scientists calling on the UK government to support trials in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with Covid-19 to accelerate vaccine development."

Fine, who is going to volunteer after these 15 brave social conscious citizens go first?

Are you able to find a list of the 15 Nobel laureates?

n.m. I found it.

UK Open Letter — 1Day Sooner

 

[sds71]

The union, known as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, claims that management at the MDOT MVA and Governor Larry Hogan's administration did not tell workers about the five positive cases at the branch and failed to protect them.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/maryland-mva-employees-say-they-learned-of-coworkers-covid-19-death-via-social-media

 

[Cool Cats]

Are you able to find a list of the 15 Nobel laureates?

1. Mario Capecchi, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine
   
   
2. Carol Greider, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
   
   
3. Oliver Hart, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
   
   
4. Lou Ignarro, Professor Emeritus, UCLA School of Medicine
   
   
5. William G. Kaelin, Jr., Professor of Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School
   
   
6. Barry Marshall, Clinical Professor and UWA Brand Ambassador, The University of Western Australia
   
   
7. Craig Mello, Distinguished Professor in RNA Therapeutics, University of Massachusetts Medical School
   
   
8. Paul Modrich, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University
   
   
9. Edvard Moser, Professor of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science
   
   
10. May-Britt Moser, Professor of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science
    
    
11. Sir Richard Roberts, Chief Scientific Officer, New England Biolabs
    
    
12. Michael Rosbash, Professor of Biology and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Brandeis University
    
    
13. Alvin Roth, The Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics, Stanford University
    
    
14. Jack Szostak, Alex Rich Distinguished Investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital
    
    
15. Arieh Warshel, Dana and David Dornsife Chair in Chemistry, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Southern California

UK Open Letter — 1Day Sooner

 

[Medstudies]

Dr. Box, Indiana State Health Commissioner, positive for COVID


Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box on Wednesday said she has tested positive for COVID-19.

Box said via phone during the weekly coronavirus update with Gov. Eric Holcomb that she does not have symptoms but has tested positive. She said her daughter and 23-month-old grandson have also tested positive for the virus.

Box, 62, told listeners that her grandson came home from daycare last Friday with what appeared to be a cold, which his mother later got over the weekend.

All three tested positive for the virus, and Box's daughter and grandson are "mildly symptomatic," she said.

 

[tresir2012]

"Fifteen Nobel laureates are among the prominent scientists calling on the UK government to support trials in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with Covid-19 to accelerate vaccine development."

Fine, who is going to volunteer after these 15 brave social conscious citizens go first?

They already have volunteers signed up and ready for it. From the link:-

"More than 2,500 UK volunteers have signed up to the 1Day Sooner movement, which has been petitioning parliament to support human challenge trials and funda challenge study centre to quarantine between 100 to 200 volunteers. Globally, the organisation has attracted over 38,500 willing participants."

 

[SouthAussie]

"Fifteen Nobel laureates are among the prominent scientists calling on the UK government to support trials in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with Covid-19 to accelerate vaccine development."

Fine, who is going to volunteer after these 15 brave social conscious citizens go first?

Yes, it would be good to see how committed they are to challenge trials if they actually participated in the challenge trials themselves.

Or is it fine for volunteers to be challenged, as long as it is not them?

 

[musicaljoke]

Yes, it would be good to see how committed they are to challenge trials if they actually participated in the challenge trials themselves.

Or is it fine for volunteers to be challenged, as long as it is not them?

One of the primary reasons for doing a challenge trial is to speed the process along toward a vaccine, provided it can be done safely and ethically. It seems to me that there are hot spots where one might expect to contact CoVid without having to deliberately infect a person, so I'm not sure that a challenge trial is necessary. Think Rose Garden.

I'm also not sure how a person can give informed consent when researchers can't truly know how the virus will affect them, both in the short and long term.

But, there's no doubt that the world needs a vaccine as quickly as possible, and if it can be done safely in order to save lives, it's worth discussing as a first step.

Here's the "Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of COVID-19 human challenge
studies", if you'd like some interesting reading.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream...2019-nCoV-Ethics_criteria-2020.1-eng.pdf?ua=1

 

[LadyL]

Sweden and the U.S. are unique in their failure to reduce coronavirus mortality rates as the pandemic progressed

The Swedish COVID-19 Response Is a Disaster. It Shouldn’t Be A Model for the Rest of the World

 

[10ofRods]

Yes, it would be good to see how committed they are to challenge trials if they actually participated in the challenge trials themselves.

Or is it fine for volunteers to be challenged, as long as it is not them?

I think they will be seeking much younger people for this type of trial.

The Oxford Vaccine is being given to people in one of the hottest spots on Earth - Brazil (and in its most CoVid-active neighborhoods). But it's not being given to older people. The point of this part of the trial is to compare the placebo group with the vaccine group (through multiple measures). I don't know the exact age criteria, but it isn't being given to children, either.

Meanwhile, Russia used a different method - 50,000 volunteers ranging from 18-50 (IIRC) of both sexes, with no pregnant women, took the vaccine and went on about their lives. No serious illnesses/reactions reported, but no word yet on whether any got CoVid. I believe they were in Moscow. Rates are going up. Some of those 50,000 should get CoVid (and I don't understand the biochemistry of this well enough, but basically the idea is that they can tell who came into contact with CoVid and did not get it by blood results).

 

[dixiegirl1035]

One of the primary reasons for doing a challenge trial is to speed the process along toward a vaccine, provided it can be done safely and ethically. It seems to me that there are hot spots where one might expect to contact CoVid without having to deliberately infect a person, so I'm not sure that a challenge trial is necessary. Think Rose Garden.

I'm also not sure how a person can give informed consent when researchers can't truly know how the virus will affect them, both in the short and long term.

But, there's no doubt that the world needs a vaccine as quickly as possible, and if it can be done safely in order to save lives, it's worth discussing as a first step.

Here's the "Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of COVID-19 human challenge
studies", if you'd like some interesting reading.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream...2019-nCoV-Ethics_criteria-2020.1-eng.pdf?ua=1

WHO has guidance also for challenge studies which was published in May 2020

Key criteria for the ethical acceptability of COVID-19 human challenge studies

PDF for folks that want to view that way the 18 pages or download here

 

[24Roses]

Iowa news today (some from late yesterday): As of 10:00-11:00 a.m., we had 1,180 new confirmed cases for a total of 101,812 confirmed cases of which 79,049 had recovered (+992). 11 more were reported to have passed for a total of 1,492. 74 were hospitalized in the last 24 hrs. for a total of 473 (new daily record). There 22,763 active positve cases. Oct. 14: 1,180 new cases in Iowa, 11 more deaths as hospitalizations continue reaching all-time high
Iowa COVID-19 Information
Hundreds of U of I students disciplined so far for COVID-19 violations
Cedar Rapids Mayor tested positive for COVID-19 in September, has recovered
‘Superspreader’ billboard takes aim at Trump ahead of Des Moines rally
New machine helping with same-day COVID-19 test results at Mercy Iowa City
Dubuque County posting 'red zone' 14.4% virus positivity rate
68 students infected in Iowa City schools, two group activities on hold

 

[JaneEyre]

CDC says small household gatherings are driving resurgence of COVID-19.

The US is seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases. Small household gatherings are helping drive it, CDC chief says

 

[Rose in SC]

We are just so bad here in FL... we are all concerned that our governor is also secretly buying into the erroneous and horribly flawed herd immunity theory...

Positivity: According to Johns Hopkins University, Florida’s positivity rate Tuesday was 11.74 percent.

Florida adds 2,725 coronavirus cases, 123 deaths Tuesday

BBM - Now granted South Carolina has what . . . 1/4 of the population of Florida? 5m compared to 20m? Our positivity rate Tuesday was 11.1% with 700 new cases (17 more deaths). Yet so many people here, at least in my little town, seem to think we're done with Covid. No longer a big deal (and some think it wasn't a big deal to start with).

 

[10ofRods]

Dr. Box, Indiana State Health Commissioner, positive for COVID


Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box on Wednesday said she has tested positive for COVID-19.

Box said via phone during the weekly coronavirus update with Gov. Eric Holcomb that she does not have symptoms but has tested positive. She said her daughter and 23-month-old grandson have also tested positive for the virus.

Box, 62, told listeners that her grandson came home from daycare last Friday with what appeared to be a cold, which his mother later got over the weekend.

All three tested positive for the virus, and Box's daughter and grandson are "mildly symptomatic," she said.

I hope she's okay. What an object lesson in what we know about transmission. Positivity among younger people (including toddlers - who are rarely tested in the US) predicts positivity among the 45 and over crowd in the next 30 days.

This virus's worst psychological characteristic is how it divides the old from the young and very young.

If everyone wears a mask and families can rely upon that, we can change that. It used to be common sense.

 

[Yvettea]

When we wonder why people in some areas are so uninformed about Covid consider what they are being told. In Broken Arrow, OK (population 109,000) for instance they are being told by the Tulsa Health Department that the reason for wearing a mask is: to prevent positive asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals from spreading the virus if they were to sneeze, cough or touch their face.
Then they are shown this video:

Leaving the impression that masks are for positive asymptomatic people. The mask is worthless of course. No one could wear that!
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) information | City of Broken Arrow

 

[dixiegirl1035]

When we wonder why people in some areas are so uninformed about Covid consider what they are being told. In Broken Arrow, OK (population 109,000) for instance they are being told by the Tulsa Health Department that the reason for wearing a mask is: to prevent positive asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals from spreading the virus if they were to sneeze, cough or touch their face.
Then they are shown this video:

Leaving the impression that masks are for positive asymptomatic people. The mask is worthless of course. No one could wear that!
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) information | City of Broken Arrow

Yeah, these videos were REALLY popular when this was produced in EARLY April.

I, myself, followed one for making a mask out of socks. I still use it today on top of my N95 mask with a vent as vents are not good for others (I didn't know all when I purchased as many here did from paint stores back in February)

Hopefully, folks have progressed and not harping on what was what was believed back in April. It's hard to have folks change and continue with the continuum of science learnings.

We've come a long way since those socks and self made masks... and this outdated video from April 6th.

Hopefully, folks will adapt and move forward with learning and not search and find outdated information. Yet, many don't know how to search for recent info and may come across info such as this.

That is a fear of many, that folks are stuck with an original message and don't adapt to all the changes and new learnings we have had.

MOO

The idea is still valid though in general is it not? The error MOO agreed is that it states that it is for aysmptomatics... and not for all?

So, the issue perhaps @Han is that many videos of folks doing what they thought was best should be taken down as is out of date? Dunno but perhaps a phone call to do a heads up to TulsaHealth may be in order for your concern?

 

[Yvettea]

Yeah, these videos were REALLY popular when this was produced in EARLY April.

I, myself, followed one for making a mask out of socks. I still use it today on top of my N95 mask with a vent as vents are not good for others (I didn't know all when I purchased as many here did from paint stores back in February)

Hopefully, folks have progressed and not harping on what was what was believed back in April. It's hard to have folks change and continue with the continuum of science learnings.

We've come a long way since those socks and self made masks... and this outdated video from April 6th.

Hopefully, folks will adapt and move forward with learning and not search and find outdated information. Yet, many don't know how to search for recent info and may come across info such as this.

That is a fear of many, that folks are stuck with an original message and don't adapt to all the changes and new learnings we have had.

MOO

The idea is still valid though in general is it not? The error MOO is that it states that it is for aysmptomatics... and not for all?

Yes, the messaging is generally good but how do the uninformed filter the good from the bad. It makes me wonder what people in small communities are hearing if they are getting their news locally.

Could this explain the ignorance and reluctance to wear masks?