Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #83

[mickey2942]

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?

The United States was way behind the eight ball on this. And conflicting information from our "experts" hasn't helped.

In addition, we have had ZERO modeling from leadership on mask wearing. ZERO cooperation from entities like NBA, NFL, who could have really come forward with helping people understand the importance of masks.

We are pretty much like a one legged duck, swimming aimlessly in circles in a very muddy pond.

 

[10ofRods]

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

This seems so...odd, to me. Is any one of these laureates from the UK and/or expert in medical ethics and matters of British law? Why is one of them an economist? Are there economic reasons to risk people with direct exposure?

Are they writing letters to the relevant bodies in all the nations of the world? Or just UK? Ought they not urge this for their own nations as well, then?

 

[Cool Cats]

This seems so...odd, to me. Is any one of these laureates from the UK and/or expert in medical ethics and matters of British law? Why is one of them an economist? Are there economic reasons to risk people with direct exposure?

Are they writing letters to the relevant bodies in all the nations of the world? Or just UK? Ought they not urge this for their own nations as well, then?

Very valid points. I am against anyone getting deliberately infected with the virus just to speed things up.

- Hippocratic Oath -

• "First do no harm"
• Hippocratic Oath - Wikipedia

 

[SouthAussie]

This seems so...odd, to me. Is any one of these laureates from the UK and/or expert in medical ethics and matters of British law? Why is one of them an economist? Are there economic reasons to risk people with direct exposure?

Are they writing letters to the relevant bodies in all the nations of the world? Or just UK? Ought they not urge this for their own nations as well, then?

The co-founders of the group (1 Day Sooner) are either both US or have strong US affiliations. Sophie Rose has a MHS in Infectious Disease Epidemiology Candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Josh Morrison is a Harvard Law School graduate.

And yet they are petitioning the UK govt for a challenge trial. AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer have said that they won't participate.

One article I read says that there are 11 other vaccines being trialled ... maybe they want to challenge trial one of those. I read that the US won't allow it. But that the UK might. (US .. UK .. another UK )

Volunteers are expected to receive in excess of US$5,000 each, and be isolated in a facility for a month or more, as per the Financial Times pay-walled article.



What is 1 Day Sooner? Scientists seek volunteers to become infected with coronavirus to speed up vaccine development
1Day Sooner
Controversial ‘human challenge’ trials for COVID-19 vaccines gain support | Science | AAAS
Challenge trials can speed development of a Covid-19 vaccine - STAT

 

[SouthAussie]

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

1 Day Sooner are stating this on their website, in their information about the volunteer challenge trial ....


The evidence base for COVID-19 is developing rapidly, and risks have varied by location and access to medical care, so any estimates are unfortunately imprecise.

According to the Lancet Journal of Infectious Disease, if you look at people 20-29 (both healthy and unhealthy), their risk of dying if infected by COVID-19 is one in 3,300. A recent piece in Science puts that risk lower, at 1 in 14,000. Anyone with a preexisting condition would also be excluded from a human challenge trial, which would further reduce the risk significantly.

Even if the risk of death among volunteers is rare, COVID-19 often causes severe illness among patients of all ages. It is not yet known whether the virus causes permanent damage to lungs or other organs.

Other severe complications that have been reported include cardiac injury, septic shock, and multi-organ failure.

1Day Sooner

 

[Black Widow]

Chicken pox is still a good example of herd immunity which is what I was answering. Before the vaccine, most kids caught it and achieved herd immunity, now it is by either the vaccine or by catching it. I personally have never caught it, either from when my brothers and sisters caught it or from when I was older and both my kids caught it. I was told by the doctor I must be immune from it. I certainly don't want shingles either but I am worried about getting that as a vaccine.

MOO

Like you, I was the only “ kid” of seven siblings in a small house who did not catch chicken pox,,,,did not catch it as a young adult when I looked after my six year old sister in law who got it.....nor did I catch it looking after my own two children. I did however get the shingles vaccine a few years ago after DH came down with shingles. It was easy. Just a little shot and zero reaction.

 

[MajorHoople]

COVID-19 Antibodies Provide Lasting Immunity, New Study Shows

"The question of how long immunity lasts against COVID-19 is one step closer to being answered, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Arizona Health Sciences studied the production of antibodies from a sample of nearly 6,000 people and found immunity lasts for at least several months after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“We clearly see high-quality antibodies still being produced five to seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said lead researcher Deepta Bhattacharya, associate professor University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson’s Department of Immunobiology. “Many concerns have been expressed about immunity against COVID-19 not lasting. We used this study to investigate that question and found immunity is stable for at least five months.”

When a virus first infects cells, the immune system deploys short-lived plasma cells that produce antibodies to immediately fight the virus. Those antibodies appear in blood tests within 14 days of infection. The second stage of the immune response is the creation of long-lived plasma cells, which produce high-quality antibodies that provide lasting immunity."

"The latest time-points we tracked in infected individuals were past seven months, so that is the longest period of time we can confirm immunity lasts,” Bhattacharya said. “That said, we know that people who were infected with the first SARS coronavirus, which is the most similar virus to SARS-CoV-2, are still seeing immunity 17 years after infection. If SARS-CoV-2 is anything like the first one, we expect antibodies to last at least two years, and it would be unlikely for anything much shorter."

COVID-19 antibodies provide lasting immunity, new study shows | KOIN.com

More info and a good 4 minute video at the link.

 

[Satchie]

The co-founders of the group (1 Day Sooner) are either both US or have strong US affiliations. Sophie Rose has a MHS in Infectious Disease Epidemiology Candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Josh Morrison is a Harvard Law School graduate.

Actually, Sophie Rose is a candidate for an MHS, not yet a graduate. The guy organizing the petition is an undergraduate at University College London.

They seem to be a very young organization, in terms of the people running/volunteering for it, and because they were only founded last April.

I think they have succeeded in getting media attention...as for the rest, time will tell.

 

[Satchie]

Why is one of them an economist? Are there economic reasons to risk people with direct exposure?

RSBM

I think that any proposal that might get a vaccine more quickly is something an economist would sign.

It seems to me, that Covid 19 has resulted in a lot of people believing that science should proceed by petition, or popular vote. Which is part of a larger trend I suppose.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Skyrocketing numbers here in Ireland. I'm betting we'll be in our strictest level of lockdown (Level 5) within a matter of weeks...

Ban on household visits across Ireland and three counties enter Level 4 as record 1,095 diagnosed with Covid-19

Visits to other households will be banned for the entire country from tonight under strict new Covid-19 regulations.

The only visits that will be allowed are those for essential reasons - such as childcare - or on compassionate grounds.

Up to six people from two different households can meet outdoors, but they must maintain social distancing of two metres.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet last night signed off on Level 4 restrictions for Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal. For these counties it means that, as well as a ban on household visits, weddings will be reduced to just six people and hairdressers and barbers will have to close.

Pubs and restaurants will be permitted to provide only delivery and takeaway services.

The move to Level 4 for Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan will come into effect from midnight tonight and will remain in place until November 10. The decision to increase restrictions in some of the Border counties follows the closure of hospitality businesses and schools in the North, where cases of Covid-19 continue to spiral. However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last night warned that other counties may join Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan on Level 4.

(More at link)

Coronavirus Ireland latest: Ban on household visits across Ireland and three counties enter Level 4 as record 1,095 diagnosed with Covid-19

 

[sds71]

Basset hounds and beagles trained to detect COVID-19 by using armpit sweat samples | WTNH.com

 

[tresir2012]

This seems so...odd, to me. Is any one of these laureates from the UK and/or expert in medical ethics and matters of British law? Why is one of them an economist? Are there economic reasons to risk people with direct exposure?

Are they writing letters to the relevant bodies in all the nations of the world? Or just UK? Ought they not urge this for their own nations as well, then?

They all appear to be from the US except for the famous Aussie Barry Marshall, who self infected himself to prove that H-Pylori caused ulcers.

Link below.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)67587-3/fulltext

Also, maybe they are writing to the UK because they want to test the UK vaccine. But I would not be surprised if they have written to other governments also.

MOO.

 

[tresir2012]

Like you, I was the only “ kid” of seven siblings in a small house who did not catch chicken pox,,,,did not catch it as a young adult when I looked after my six year old sister in law who got it.....nor did I catch it looking after my own two children. I did however get the shingles vaccine a few years ago after DH came down with shingles. It was easy. Just a little shot and zero reaction.

Did you grow up on a farm, out of interest, as I did? My job was shutting in the chickens at night and wonder if that was why I never caught it. MOO.

 

[SouthAussie]

It seems that Australia has suffered no excess deaths this year - between Feb and May. Nor has New Zealand.


Australia has suffered no excess deaths from COVID-19, according to an important study of 21 industrialised countries published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Led by Imperial College, London, the study assessed how many people were expected to die in a normal year in each country and compared this with how many did die over the first wave.

Likely because our flu deaths were so hugely reduced this year ... so it has kind of balanced those figures out.
(When we are speaking of numbers alone.)

Australia has suffered no extra deaths from COVID-19

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Did you grow up on a farm, out of interest, as I did? My job was shutting in the chickens at night and wonder if that was why I never caught it. MOO.

Pretty sure chicken pox has nothing to do with actual chickens!

 

[SouthAussie]

Testing of 9,000,000 started this week ....


The director of a hospital in the Chinese city of Qingdao which is at the centre of a local outbreak of coronavirus has been dismissed.

The recent discovery of 12 new infections has also prompted the suspension of a senior Communist Party official from the city's Health Commission.

The authorities began testing Qingdao's entire population of nine million people this week.

Hospital director in Qingdao dismissed

 

[tresir2012]

Pretty sure chicken pox has nothing to do with actual chickens!

I am wondering because cow pox has something to do with cows.

It is why some people are immune that is the interesting thing.

I’ve never had chickenpox, what’s your superpower?

 

[SouthAussie]

A very sad side effect of the pandemic .....


A doctor who has surveyed almost 10,000 health care workers nationally about their mental health during the pandemic, says many have indicated they'll leave the workforce.

The survey by the Royal Melbourne Hospital found more than 60 per cent reported anxiety, about the same number felt burnt-out, and about a quarter reported depression.

"The responses that we're seeing are quite categorical and they're from people in very different health professional backgrounds, so nurses, doctors, allied health staff all indicating that enough's enough," she said.

Many healthcare workers will leave workforce after pandemic, survey shows

 

[tresir2012]

Tucker Carlson responds to CDC after agency critiques commentary about mask-wearing

During his commentary, Carlson cited a study conducted by 11 medical institutions that analyzed a group of people who tested positive for coronavirus during the month of July. The study found that among those who were infected, more than 70% reported they had "always" worn a mask over the preceding 14 days. Another 14.4% said they had "often" worn a mask.

In a statement issued to Fox News on Wednesday, a CDC spokesperson wrote that "social media postings citing a table in an MMWR published September 11, 2020, suggest that CDC’s face mask guidance is failing to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 because study participants had indicated having worn masks often and still contracted COVID-19.

The statement added, "CDC guidance on masks has clearly stated that wearing a mask is intended to protect other people in case the mask wearer is infected. At no time has CDC guidance suggested that masks were intended to protect the wearers."

 

[SouthAussie]

On October 13 the White House confirmed that it is embracing what the Los Angeles Times editorial board calls the “let people die” strategy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy involves deliberately letting the novel coronavirus rip through the population while attempting to shield the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions.

From a public health and ethical viewpoint, the fact that the Great Barrington Declaration is now the Trump administration’s official policy is deeply troubling. The declaration, says Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University, has “shocked and dismayed the vast majority of people working in public health and clinical medicine.”

For a start, no pandemic has ever been controlled by deliberately letting the infection spread unchecked in the hope that people become immune.

Allowing millions more Americans to get COVID-19 would also be devastating for the U.S. economy. An economy cannot be healthy if its population is sick.

The White House Wants to Achieve Herd Immunity By Letting the Virus Rip. That is Dangerous and Inhumane.