COVID-19 News and Discussions

[erowind]

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[caltrek]

'We are a Warning for Everyone Else': Florida Epidemiologists Advise Other States to Learn from DeSantis' COVID Bungling
by Tom Boggioni
September 7, 2021

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/desantis/

Introduiction:

(Alternet) In a deep dive into why Florida was hit so hard by the resurgent Covid-19 virus that claimed more than 7,000 lives since July Fourth, one specialist in infectious diseases suggested that, if other states want to learn how to deal with the crisis if it hits their state, they need look no further then Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) -- and do the opposite of what he has done.

According to the report from the Washington Post, Florida appears to be "turning the corner" on Covid infections add related deaths --with the caveat that the long Labor Day weekend could unleash another round of Floridians becoming infected.

Now health officials are surveying the damage and pointing fingers in the hopes Florida lawmakers will have learned their lesson after becoming a hot spot for the delta variant.

"New infections were averaging more than 22,000 a day in the last days of August but have fallen to about 19,000. Yet recovery could prove fleeting: Holiday weekends such as Labor Day have acted as a tinderbox for earlier outbreaks, and late summer marks the return of students to college campuses," the Post is reporting. "Hospital leaders exhale as covid-19 admissions appear to have subsided from a peak of more than 17,000 in late August, dipping to about 15,000. The decline follows weeks of frenzy as a slew of hospitals treated more patients than at any point in the pandemic, reassigning employees, postponing surgeries and treating patients in hallways and reconfigured rooms."

Adding that Florida was the perfect petri dish for the virus to flourish again, the Post notes that epidemiologists are candidly admitting, "Florida taught the nation important lessons as the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus accounts for nearly all new cases."

[weatheriscool]

Optical techniques offer fast, efficient COVID-19 detection
https://phys.org/news/2021-09-optical-t ... ovid-.html
by American Institute of Physics

Without the prospect of herd immunity on the immediate horizon, speedy detection for COVID-19 remains imperative for helping to curb the pandemic. Point-of-care testing that can provide immediate results is an urgent need.

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and Omega Optics Inc. have investigated the opportunities and challenges in developing rapid COVID-19 sensing techniques. They discuss the prospects of optical biosensors for point-of-care COVID-19 testing in the journal Applied Physics Reviews.

"Due to growing cases resulting from more transmissible variants around the world and the need to prevent and control cases and outbreaks when they arise, we should be utilizing rapid testing more commonly to detect and stop the spread before hitting the transmission peak," said Aref Asghari, one of the authors.

[weatheriscool]

Idaho hospitals begin rationing health care amid COVID surge
Source: AP

By REBECCA BOONE

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho public health leaders announced Tuesday that they activated “crisis standards of care” allowing health care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare quietly enacted the move Monday and publicly announced it in a statement Tuesday morning — warning residents that they may not get the care they would normally expect if they need to be hospitalized.

The move came as the state’s confirmed coronavirus cases skyrocketed in recent weeks. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S.

The state health agency cited “a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-hea ... afb1518259

[Yuli Ban]

Idaho hospitals begin rationing health care amid COVID surge
Source: AP

By REBECCA BOONE

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho public health leaders announced Tuesday that they activated “crisis standards of care” allowing health care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare quietly enacted the move Monday and publicly announced it in a statement Tuesday morning — warning residents that they may not get the care they would normally expect if they need to be hospitalized.

The move came as the state’s confirmed coronavirus cases skyrocketed in recent weeks. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S.

The state health agency cited “a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-hea ... afb1518259

Begs to be seen if this is repeated elsewhere...

[wjfox]

50 cases of the Mu variant in the UK now, including 23 in London.

Japanese scientists: "Mu variant is highly resistant to sera from convalescent & [Pfizer]-vaccinated people. Direct comparison of different spike proteins revealed that Mu spike is more resistant... than all other current variants."

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv ... 5.full.pdf

[weatheriscool]

[raklian]

Jesus.

[andmar74]

That looks like serious stuff about the kidneys. You really want to avoid Covid-19.

[weatheriscool]

Biden expected to sign executive order requiring federal employees to be vaccinated
Source: Washington Post

Biden is expected to sign an executive order requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated amid a surge in coronavirus cases and pandemic deaths.

Biden is scheduled to lay out his strategy late Thursday for dealing with the pandemic in remarks from the White House.

The requirement for the estimated 2.1 million civilian workers will give them no option of regular testing to opt out of the requirement, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the president’s 5 p.m. remarks.

Covid cases have topped more than 150,000 while deaths are more than 1,000 a day as the delta variant has taken a toll.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... XUJR6YOTR4

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Japan passes 50% fully vaccinated rate, nearing level of European nations

Today 06:33 pm JST

Japan’s government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Japan’s vaccine rollouts began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries due to its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of COVID-19 measures, told NHK public television’s weekly talk show Sunday that about 60% of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, on par with current levels in Europe.

The government is studying a roadmap for easing restrictions around November when a large majority of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated. That would allow fully vaccinated people and those who test negative to travel, gather for parties or attend mass events.

The progress of vaccinations has helped reduce serious cases and deaths among older people, but infections from virus variants spread explosively in August among younger generations still largely unvaccinated, severely straining health care systems.

https://japantoday.com/category/nationa ... an-nations?



Credit: KYODO

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Data shows Covid booster shots are 'not appropriate' at this time, U.S. and international scientists
Source: CNBC

An expert review of scientific evidence to date has concluded that Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are not needed at this time for the general public, a group of leading U.S. and international scientists said Monday in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet.

The conclusion by scientists, including two senior Food and Drug Administration officials and the World Health Organization, came as studies continue to show the authorized Covid vaccines in the U.S. remain highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization caused by the fast-spreading delta variant.

While Covid vaccine effectiveness against mild disease may wane over time, protection against severe disease may persist, the scientists said. That’s because the body’s immune system is complex, they said, and has other defenses besides antibodies that may protect someone from getting seriously sick.

“Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high,” the scientists wrote, adding the wide distribution of boosters is “not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/13/covid-b ... clude.html

[wjfox]

11% of Israeli kids who got virus now suffer from ‘long COVID’ – study

Today, 12:36 am

More than 10 percent of Israeli children who were diagnosed with the coronavirus show signs of suffering from the so-called “long COVID,” the Health Ministry announced Monday.

According to the data, gathered from a follow-up survey of parents of 13,864 children aged 3 – 18 who had recovered from the virus, 11.2% reported symptoms of “long COVID.”

Of those who reported long-term symptoms, 1.8% of children under 12, and 4.6% of those aged 12 to 18 were still suffering from symptoms six months after the illness, the survey found, noting that the probability increased with age.

Among those 12 to 18, chances of long COVID were higher among those who had coronavirus symptoms, however, researchers also found long COVID even among 3.5% of the children who were asymptomatic when they tested positive.

More than 200,000 children under 18 have tested positive in Israel, with about half of them asymptomatic, the survey said.

“The meaning of this is that there are currently thousands of children in Israel suffering from long-term effects,” the statement said.

Read more: https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-than ... vid-study/

[wjfox]

Mutation rate of Covid19 virus is at least 50 per cent higher than previously thought

Last updated on Friday 10 September 2021

The virus that causes Covid19 mutates almost once a week – significantly higher than the rate estimated previously – according to a new study by scientists from the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh. Their findings indicate that new variants could emerge more quickly than thought previously.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid19, was previously thought to mutate about once every two weeks. However, new research from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and The MRC Human Genetics Unit at Edinburgh University, shows that this estimate overlooked many mutations that happened but were never sequenced.

Viruses regularly mutate, for example when mistakes are made in copying the genomes whilst the virus replicates.

Usually when we consider natural selection, we think about new mutations that have an advantage and so spread, such as the Alpha and Delta variants of Covid19. This is known as Darwinian selection or positive selection.

However, most mutations are harmful to the virus and reduce its chances of surviving – this is called purifying or negative selection. These negative mutations don’t survive in the patient long enough to be sequenced and so are missing from calculations of the mutation rate.

Allowing for these missing mutations, the team estimates that the true mutation rate of the virus is at least 50% higher than previously thought.

The findings, published in Genome Biology and Evolution, reinforce the need to isolate individuals with immune systems that struggle to contain the virus.

Read more: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/mu ... y-thought/