Neverending Covid-19 Coronavirus

Vaccine developers who have already reported promising phase III trial results against COVID-19 estimate that, between them, they can make sufficient doses for more than one-third of the world’s population by the end of 2021. But many people in low-income countries might have to wait until 2023 or 2024 for vaccination, according to estimates from the Duke Global Health Innovation Center in Durham, North Carolina.


So ya about a vaccine, but boo about richer countries not making an effort to get vaccines to poorer countries so they don't have to wait for years.
 
We were told last night before work in the huddle that our floor will be the next Covid unit.

It's not that surprising, as we are kind of the last option. The unit I'm on has been temporarily in the Birth Center building, so the babies downstairs has saved us from having a lot of Covid pts so far....but not any more.

Too many cases coming in - and moms/babies are already coming in with it that it's moot at this point.

So that makes us the 4th Covid unit....1 ICU floor and 2 Medical Floors and now us.

This winter is going to be a shit show. And this is Oregon - our numbers are good compared to elsewhere - and it sucks here....and getting worse.
 
Only in NOLA...
We were told last night before work in the huddle that our floor will be the next Covid unit.

It's not that surprising, as we are kind of the last option. The unit I'm on has been temporarily in the Birth Center building, so the babies downstairs has saved us from having a lot of Covid pts so far....but not any more.

Too many cases coming in - and moms/babies are already coming in with it that it's moot at this point.

So that makes us the 4th Covid unit....1 ICU floor and 2 Medical Floors and now us.

This winter is going to be a shit show. And this is Oregon - our numbers are good compared to elsewhere - and it sucks here....and getting worse.
I just want to say bless you in the most non-sarcastic way possible. Thank you and bless you. You and @Lee Newman are on the front lines and I'm not sure if I've expressed how thankful I am to both of you. I'm not big into prayer but I like to send intentions out into the universe and I would like to send an intention for protection to both of you. I really appreciate all that you are doing.
 
Looks like they might have found a genetic variation that leads to worse covid outcomes/symptoms.

We have observed that higher levels of the soluble lectin CD209 are associated with the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs505922-C (which has an r2 of 0.9 with rs657152-A). CD209 facilitates the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) to T lymphocytes through antigen-presenting cells.5 These findings raise questions of therapeutic and prognostic relevance. Could a lower threshold for the initiation of thromboprophylaxis be beneficial? Is there a correlation between CD209 levels and SARS-CoV-2 viral load?
 
Looks like they might have found a genetic variation that leads to worse covid outcomes/symptoms.

We have observed that higher levels of the soluble lectin CD209 are associated with the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs505922-C (which has an r2 of 0.9 with rs657152-A). CD209 facilitates the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) to T lymphocytes through antigen-presenting cells.5 These findings raise questions of therapeutic and prognostic relevance. Could a lower threshold for the initiation of thromboprophylaxis be beneficial? Is there a correlation between CD209 levels and SARS-CoV-2 viral load?
So like... does the vaccine protect against this variant too?
 
So like... does the vaccine protect against this variant too?
The variant is one that is in our DNA; specifically in the area of the DNA that codes for blood type. Researchers found that the worst covid related sicknesses all occurred in people with this DNA because they produce more immune proteins called CD209. These proteins likely give the covid virus more to latch on to. However, just because two things happen at the same time doesn't always mean that one causes the other--correlation vs. causation. That's why they need to do more studies on this.
 
My sister-in-law (wife's sister) has Covid19. She is 45 and has asthma so we're all somewhat concerned. Yesterday she woke up covered in hives, head to toe, which is apparently a thing with this...I hadn't heard that yet. Her husband seems to have a mild case based on symptoms (waiting on his results) and their twin teenage daughters have no symptoms. This is the closest to home this has hit for us. We haven't been in contact with her in over a month, so we are ok...just worried.
 
Bill Gates is monkeying around with health data at the detriment of the world.

Fueled by more than $600 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—a virtually unheard-of sum for an academic research institute—the IHME has outgrown and overwhelmed its peers, most notably the World Health Organization (WHO), which previously acted as the global authority for health estimates.

Today the IHME’s sprawling estimates have become the gold standard for understanding an increasingly broad array of topics related to health and development—particularly in the data-poor developing world, where record keeping is sparse. Its website offers interactive maps that allow users to drill down to virtually any village in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, to find out how many years of education people have; how malaria, HIV, and lower respiratory infections are changing over time; who has access to piped water; or how many men are circumcised. These estimates—educated guesses, really—help guide billions of dollars in aid spending and tell health ministers, charities, researchers, and journalists where things are getting better or worse.

“In a relatively short period of time, the IHME has exerted a certain kind of hegemony or dominance on global health metrics production,” says Manjari Mahajan, a professor of international studies at the New School. “It’s a kind of monopoly of knowledge production, of how to know global health trends in the world. And that produces a concentration of…power that should make anybody uncomfortable.”

Critics say this monopoly power can be seen in the ways the IHME appears to play by a different set of rules from the rest of the scientific community. Many describe its estimates as a black box.

It’s quite impossible to criticize or indeed comment on their methods, since they are completely opaque,” says Max Parkin, from the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a blow to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s pandemic-related ban on indoor religious services, siding with a church that defied the policy and challenged it as unconstitutional religious discrimination.

This ruling essentially states that states do not have the power to limit indoor worship services. They can't ban them or have capacity restrictions as the SCOTUS says that these are unconstitutional.
 
The variant is one that is in our DNA; specifically in the area of the DNA that codes for blood type. Researchers found that the worst covid related sicknesses all occurred in people with this DNA because they produce more immune proteins called CD209. These proteins likely give the covid virus more to latch on to. However, just because two things happen at the same time doesn't always mean that one causes the other--correlation vs. causation. That's why they need to do more studies on this.
Exactly.

So like... does the vaccine protect against this variant too?

Just to add to the above, since the variation is in human DNA, it won't directly affect vaccines. For a vaccine to be affected, a variation would need to be in the virus itself and also be in the same region of the protein that the vaccine mimics. Even then, a vaccine usually contains multiple epitope target sequences (so the body would generate multiple different antibodies that target the viral protein at different spots), so maybe a viral protein mutation would eliminate the efficacy of some of the antibodies in the pool produced by the vaccine, but not all.

For SARS-CoV-2, the mutation would have to be in Spike because that's the viral protein being targeted by the vaccines. Good news is Spike doesn't seem to be that amenable to mutations (they do happen, just not at high frequency).
 
Exactly.



Just to add to the above, since the variation is in human DNA, it won't directly affect vaccines. For a vaccine to be affected, a variation would need to be in the virus itself and also be in the same region of the protein that the vaccine mimics. Even then, a vaccine usually contains multiple epitope target sequences (so the body would generate multiple different antibodies that target the viral protein at different spots), so maybe a viral protein mutation would eliminate the efficacy of some of the antibodies in the pool produced by the vaccine, but not all.

For SARS-CoV-2, the mutation would have to be in Spike because that's the viral protein being targeted by the vaccines. Good news is Spike doesn't seem to be that amenable to mutations (they do happen, just not at high frequency).
Ok, I’m a bit confused by it all but here’s what I know. I’m A+ blood type with very heavy neanderthal genes (97% more than other users of 23 and me). It sounds like the science of this all is likely putting me in a high risk category....... BUT the vaccine would still protect me?
 
Ok, I’m a bit confused by it all but here’s what I know. I’m A+ blood type with very heavy neanderthal genes (97% more than other users of 23 and me). It sounds like the science of this all is likely putting me in a high risk category....... BUT the vaccine would still protect me?

Yes, you'd be at higher risk of severe disease, but the actual increase in risk is not mentioned in the paper (unless I missed something). From other studies suggesting a A-type increase in risk, the increase is significant but small.

This is irrelevant for vaccines. Should still protect you based on what we know.
 
My god.
My coworkers heard (so they now believe) that:
A) The Covid vaccine has baby lung fragments in it. ("Plus a lot of mercury and other baby parts!")
B) The Covid vaccine sterilizes women. ("It's true, a Pfizer employee said it HIMSELF!")
If either of these things are true, I apologize for being uneducated on the new vaccine.

We're down to about 50% of the company wearing masks because the bosses said they won't police it. I'm still wearing mine.

No wonder I have trouble sleeping at night...I am literally surrounded by idiots.
 
My god.
My coworkers heard (so they now believe) that:
A) The Covid vaccine has baby lung fragments in it. ("Plus a lot of mercury and other baby parts!")
B) The Covid vaccine sterilizes women. ("It's true, a Pfizer employee said it HIMSELF!")
If either of these things are true, I apologize for being uneducated on the new vaccine.

We're down to about 50% of the company wearing masks because the bosses said they won't police it. I'm still wearing mine.

No wonder I have trouble sleeping at night...I am literally surrounded by idiots.
 
Take care, man. The latest numbers for Alberta are staggering considering the population size. Please stay safe.
Thanks, I'm doing my best. I've been working from home since March and am only really going out for groceries and walks (when the streets are mostly empty). It's just really frustrating, especially since we found out the provincial government is also ignoring federal funding so they can keep complaining about Trudeau. Hope you're staying safe too.
 
Thanks, I'm doing my best. I've been working from home since March and am only really going out for groceries and walks (when the streets are mostly empty). It's just really frustrating, especially since we found out the provincial government is also ignoring federal funding so they can keep complaining about Trudeau. Hope you're staying safe too.

I'm good here so far, thanks for asking. Been working from home since March too, but the little one goes to school and my wife is an optometrist, so she works with the public (she's ultra cautious though, working with an N95 all day, and understands the blind-spots in the work space, so I'm confident with her abilities). Masks have been mandatory here since July, which I think was huge in things not getting worse than they did over the last few months. Otherwise, Ottawa/Gatineau was ramping up badly a few months ago but it looks like we turned a corner over the last few weeks. Fingers crossed. I'm mostly worried for after xmas because you know a small but significant group will not follow directives. Doesn't take much.
 
My god.
My coworkers heard (so they now believe) that:
A) The Covid vaccine has baby lung fragments in it. ("Plus a lot of mercury and other baby parts!")
B) The Covid vaccine sterilizes women. ("It's true, a Pfizer employee said it HIMSELF!")
If either of these things are true, I apologize for being uneducated on the new vaccine.

We're down to about 50% of the company wearing masks because the bosses said they won't police it. I'm still wearing mine.

No wonder I have trouble sleeping at night...I am literally surrounded by idiots.
I saw someone else say it would sterilize people (intentionally). Why? What motivation would pharmaceutical companies have to halt population growth globally? Cannot even fathom the stupid that goes into believing that.
 
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