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COVID-19 Origins & Research

We have ALL your misinformation, plus some TRUE FACTS and SCIENCE.
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Lani
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COVID-19 Origins & Research

#1

Post by Lani »

Interesting article about the WHO report, why it is incomplete, and what is known to date.

We still don’t know the origins of the coronavirus. Here are 4 scenarios.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scie ... 48368741AA

Earlier this week, the World Health Organization released a report from a team of international researchers that traveled to China to investigate four possible scenarios in which the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have caused the initial outbreak. In the days since, however, world governments have expressed concern that the investigators lacked access to complete data, while scientists say that the report has shed little light on how the virus got jumpstarted.

That’s unsurprising given that it typically takes years to trace a virus back to its roots—if it’s possible at all, says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center. But in this case, she says, “I think we do have enough evidence to say that some are more likely than others.”

:snippity:
In the absence of a smoking gun showing that bats passed the virus directly to humans, scientists believe the more likely theory is that the virus first traveled through another animal, such as a mink or a pangolin. Unlike bats, these animals have regular contact with humans—particularly if they’re being raised on a farm or trafficked in the illegal wildlife trade.

If the virus jumped first to another animal, that might also explain how it adapted to be harmful to humans—although Robertson says that the virus likely wouldn’t have had to change much. Genomic analyses suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is a generalist virus rather than one specifically adapted to humans, explaining why it can easily jump among pangolins, mink, cats, and other species. [Dogs, too.]
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#2

Post by Lani »

From my morning email from John Hopkins:
A Wall Street Journal story is giving new life to calls for a deeper investigation into the origins of the pandemic—particularly the theory that SARS-CoV-2 may have escaped from a Wuhan lab.

Driving the story: Previously undisclosed US intelligence reports revealed that back in November 2019, three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care after falling ill, fueling debate about where the pandemic began, WSJ reported Sunday.

Well before these questions were dominating the news cycle, David Relman, professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford, had concerns that well-intentioned laboratory research may be creating pathogens with pandemic potential, and that we may be dealing with the consequences of such research today.
:snippity:

Relman’s view: Odds are, the virus jumped from animals to humans, but a “lab leak”—more likely an accident than a deliberate scheme—is not completely out of the question.

“I’m not sure that we’ll get to a definite conclusive answer,” he said.
Relman's podcast:
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#3

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Indian Covid variant 64% more infectious than Kent strain
Chris Smyth, Whitehall Editor
Friday June 11 2021, 10.55am BST, The Times

Although two vaccine doses are almost as effective against the Indian strain as against the Kent variant, one dose is markedly less so, new findings suggest

The Indian variant of the coronavirus is 64 per cent more infectious than the Kent strain and twice as likely to put patients in hospital, Public Health England has concluded.

Cases of the faster-spreading Indian, or Delta, strain are now doubling every 4.5 days in some parts of the country, and account for 96 per cent of cases across England, effectively killing off the Kent variant.


paywall https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/indi ... -vrht7mgvx
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#4

Post by Lani »

And meanwhile, people are getting on planes, trains, and ships. Masking is fading away. What could go wrong? :think:
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#5

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Scientists begin to unravel the mysteries of the coronavirus and brains
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... -affected/

Long article about what's known and not known. CDC issued a warning about the bodies of covid patients: airborne debris from autopsies could be an infectious hazard. And that delayed research on the impact of covid on the brain.
Patients reported visual and auditory disturbances, vertigo and tingling sensations, among other perplexing symptoms. Some lost their sense of smell, or their vision became distorted. Weeks or months after the initial onset of symptoms, some remain convinced after even a mild bout of the coronavirus of persistent “brain fog.”

Even as the pandemic appears ready to recede in the United States, dropping below an average of 20,000 new cases daily, it will take years to more fully understand the way the virus afflicts the brain. Autopsies of the sickest covid patients have revealed clotting in the brain and other signs of acute damage. They offered little evidence the virus attacks the organ directly. Beyond that, many other neurological details of covid remain unknown.
However, the data is till coming in.
“We are now convinced that there is something neurologically, both acutely and non-acutely,” he said.

Josephson has a hunch the coronavirus could be acting like herpes simplex, which commonly causes cold sores and in rare cases, dangerous brain swelling known as encephalitis. That swelling triggers the immune system. And sometimes, weeks or months later, the patient deteriorates not because of the virus but because of an autoimmune attack.
Another study:
Although there wasn’t much virus to be found, the brains of people killed by the coronavirus weren’t unscathed. The Columbia researchers, looking at thin slices of brain tissue under microscopes, found two main types of problems in patients who died of covid.
Lots more on research in the article.

People who have CFS/ME/Fibro will appreciate this:
Joanna Hellmuth, a cognitive neurologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, said she hears the same story repeatedly from previously healthy young adults who tell her that after even a mild case of covid: “My brain doesn’t work like it used to.”

Hellmuth said cognitive impairment is showing up in people who measure well in mood testing, suggesting their symptoms are not caused by depression or another psychiatric problem. She has seen similar patterns caused by other viruses.
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#6

Post by Lani »

Good, and very long, article:
The Lab Leak Theory Doesn’t Hold Up
The rush to find a conspiracy around the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins is driven by narrative, not evidence.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/la ... tpcc=33922

Almost all major viral illnesses have a conspiracy theory attached to them. This article reviews the current COVID-19 ones, explains what's known and what isn't, and then tears down the major conspiracies.
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#7

Post by RTH10260 »

Just an additional IMHO

About the wet market origin. I don't believe that the wet market was directly the origin of the covid virus. While it is likely that the most original infection was bat induced, I don't believe it jumped hosts at the market itself. It is my opinion that the first infected person visited the wet market and triggered the spread during the incubation period with a waterfall effect. That's the reason why Chinese authorities pinpointed the wet market as a common location where many patients had been in the days before the visible effects of the illness.
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#8

Post by Suranis »

That seems a reasonable opinion.
Hic sunt dracones
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#9

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Previous Covid infection may not offer long-term protection, study finds
Research found marked differences in immune response of medical staff six months after contracting virus

Thu 17 Jun 2021 13.34 BST

Previous infection with coronavirus does not necessarily protect against Covid in the longer term, especially when caused by new variants of concern, a study on healthcare workers suggests.

Researchers at Oxford University found marked differences in the immune responses of medical staff who contracted Covid, with some appearing far better equipped than others to combat the disease six months later.

Scientists on the study, conducted with the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, said the findings reinforced the importance of everyone getting vaccinated regardless of whether they had been infected with the virus earlier in the pandemic.

“If you look at the trajectory of the immune response after infection, mostly it is still detectable six months later, but it’s highly variable between people,” said Eleanor Barnes, a professor of hepatology and experimental medicine at Oxford and a senior author on the study.

“That is quite different to vaccination. If you vaccinate you get a really robust response, but with natural infection there’s much more diversity in responses.”



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... tudy-finds
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#10

Post by Lani »

Yikes!


New Covid study hints at long-term loss of brain tissue, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warns
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/new-cov ... warns.html
Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Thursday about the potential for long-term brain loss associated with Covid, citing a new study from the United Kingdom.

“In short, the study suggests that there could be some long-term loss of brain tissue from Covid, and that would have some long-term consequences,” the former FDA chief and CNBC contributor said.

“You could compensate for that over time, so the symptoms of that may go away, but you’re never going to regain the tissue if, in fact, it’s being destroyed as a result of the virus,” said Gottlieb, who serves on the board of Covid vaccine-maker Pfizer.

:snippity:

“The diminishment in the amount of cortical tissue happened to be in regions of the brain that are close to the places that are responsible for smell,” he said. “What it suggests is that, the smell, the loss of smell, is just an effect of a more primary process that’s underway, and that process is actually shrinking of cortical tissue.”
UK Research paper here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#11

Post by RTH10260 »

carry ove from other thread
Lani wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:59 am
CDC delays meeting on kids’ COVID vaccine heart risk
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/18/ ... eart-risk/
The abrupt postponement did not sit well with medical experts who have raised alarm over the rate of heart inflammation seen in adolescents, teens and young adults — mostly males and typically after the second of the two shots of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.

Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Friday on Twitter that he thought the rescheduling was “a joke,” given the seriousness of the risk. He argues kids should not get the second shot until the heart risk is better understood.

The CDC has acknowledged “rare” but increased reports of myocarditis and pericarditis mostly in adolescent boys and young men age 16 or older after they received the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. The inflammation of the heart muscle or lining typically arises within a week, more often after the second of the two shots, with chest pain, shortness of breath and a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heartbeat.

For now, the CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone age 12 years and older, “given the risk of COVID-19 illness and related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death.”

But many health experts like Makary have disagreed with that risk calculation, several of whom cited concerns at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting on the matter last week. Though no one is known to have died of heart inflammation after the COVID-19 vaccines, CDC data at that meeting indicated there were more reported cases than expected. The reported incidents of heart inflammation were much higher than the rare blood clots that had led to a 10-day suspension of Johnson and Johnson’s one-shot vaccine and a warning of the risk.

“The issue for me is at what stage are we going to say we know enough to justify widespread use of the vaccine in adolescents and children,” said Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatrics professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “The first mandate is to do no harm. We don’t know if we’re doing no harm.”
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#12

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Heart Problems After Vaccination Are Very Rare, Federal Researchers Say
More than 1,200 cases have been reported, mostly mild and more often in young men and boys. The benefits of vaccination still far outweigh the risks, experts said.

By Apoorva Mandavilli
June 23, 2021

The coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna may have caused heart problems in more than 1,200 Americans, including about 500 who were younger than age 30, according to data reported on Wednesday by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, the benefits of immunization greatly outweighed the risks, and advisers to the C.D.C. strongly recommended vaccination for all Americans 12 and older.

The heart problems reported are myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle; and pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart. The risk is higher after the second dose of an mRNA vaccine than after the first, the researchers reported, and much higher in men than in women.

But overall, the side effect is very uncommon — just 12.6 cases per million second doses administered. The researchers estimated that out of a million second doses given to boys ages 12 to 17, the vaccines might cause a maximum of 70 myocarditis cases, but would prevent 5,700 infections, 2,215 hospitalizations and two deaths.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/heal ... heart.html
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#13

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Seattle scientist digs up deleted coronavirus genetic data, adding fuel to the covid origin debate

Joel Achenbach, Ben Guarino and Yasmeen Abutaleb
June 24, 2021 at 1:00 a.m. GMT+2

An American scientist has incited a new skirmish over the origin of the coronavirus, reporting that he has retrieved potentially significant genetic data about SARS-CoV-2 that had been stored on a digital archive at the National Institutes of Health and later deleted.

Jesse Bloom, a computational biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, posted his findings on the preprint server bioRxiv, where papers that have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal have been landing by the thousands since the start of the pandemic.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/c ... story.html
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#14

Post by Dave from down under »

Coronavirus epidemic broke out in East Asia around 25,000 years ago, gene study shows

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/202 ... /100226362
Coronaviruses have sparked some massive disease outbreaks in living memory, but we've actually been battling them for millennia, according to a new study.

Key points:
Scientists have found evidence of an ancient coronavirus outbreak in the genome of modern humans from East Asia

A virus that interacts with human cells and tissues in a similar way to the virus that causes COVID-19 drove the outbreak

The findings could help researchers find new ways to fight COVID-19
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#15

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East Asia :?: It's all those commies all over again :!:
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#16

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Covid ‘perfect storm’ as more patients hit by fungal infections
Weakened lungs and immune systems make people increasingly vulnerable, warn scientists

Natalie Grover Science correspondent
Thu 1 Jul 2021 17.58 BST

Arash of cases of a rare “black fungus” infection affecting thousands of critically ill Covid patients in India caused alarm last month. Now scientists are warning that other dangerous or even deadly fungal infections have spawned in critically ill coronavirus patients globally, including in the UK.

Fungi are ubiquitous – in soil, water, air, faeces and human skin. Usually, people’s elaborate, adaptive immune systems are enough of a repellent but when that shield is weakened by disease, congenital conditions or age, they are far more vulnerable to microscopic assailants.

When Covid-19 emerged, doctors found that the best tools in their arsenal to fight the virus were steroids, which happen to be immunosuppressants. Wary of secondary bacterial infections in intensive care units, doctors often gave coronavirus patients broad-spectrum antibiotics as a precaution.

But the combination of lungs battered by Covid, impaired immune systems, and both good and bad bacteria wiped out by antibiotics left critically ill patients exposed to moulds and spores.

“It’s an unfortunate perfect storm for these organisms, and we’re seeing it,” said Dr Tom Chiller, the chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).


https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... infections
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#17

Post by Lani »

Long, informative article about what we know about the virus, what we don't, and what has been debunked. "Blaming humans for disease is as old as time itself."

The Lab Leak Theory Doesn’t Hold Up
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/la ... tpcc=34363
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#18

Post by RTH10260 »

crossposting - slightly more than the standard four para rule suggests
How does the Delta variant dodge the immune system? Scientists find clues.

By Apoorva Mandavilli
July 8, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ET

The Delta variant of the coronavirus can evade antibodies that target certain parts of the virus, according to a new study published on Thursday in Nature. The findings provide an explanation for diminished effectiveness of the vaccines against Delta, compared with other variants.

The variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60 percent more contagious than Alpha, the version of the virus that thrashed Britain and much of Europe earlier this year, and perhaps twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. The Delta variant is now driving outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Indonesia and Australia.

Delta is now the dominant variant in the United States. Infections in this country had plateaued at their lowest levels since early in the pandemic, although the numbers may be rising, while hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus have continued a steep plunge. That’s partly because of relatively high vaccination rates: 48 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 55 percent have received at least one dose.

But the new study found that Delta was barely sensitive to one dose of vaccine, confirming previous research that suggested that the variant can partly evade the immune system — although to a lesser degree than Beta, the variant first identified in South Africa.

French researchers tested how well antibodies produced by natural infection and by coronavirus vaccines neutralize the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, as well as a reference variant similar to the original version of the virus.

The researchers looked at blood samples from 103 people who had been infected with the coronavirus. Delta was much less sensitive than Alpha to samples from unvaccinated people in this group, the study found.

One dose of vaccine significantly boosted the sensitivity, suggesting that people who have recovered from Covid-19 still need to be vaccinated to fend off some variants.

The team also analyzed samples from 59 people after they had received the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

Blood samples from just 10 percent of people immunized with one dose of the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were able to neutralize the Delta and Beta variants in laboratory experiments. But a second dose boosted that number to 95 percent. There was no major difference in the levels of antibodies elicited by the two vaccines.

“A single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca was either poorly or not at all efficient against Beta and Delta variants,” the researchers concluded. Data from Israel and Britain broadly support this finding, although those studies suggest that one dose of vaccine is still enough to prevent hospitalization or death from the virus.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/heal ... unity.html
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#19

Post by Lani »

Lani wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:30 am Yikes!


New Covid study hints at long-term loss of brain tissue, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warns
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/new-cov ... warns.html
Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Thursday about the potential for long-term brain loss associated with Covid, citing a new study from the United Kingdom.
:snippity:
UK Research paper here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf
Anxiety, depression and insomnia were most common among recovered COVID-19 patients in the study who developed mental health problems. The researchers from Britain’s Oxford University also found significantly higher risks of dementia, a brain impairment condition.

“People have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings ... show this to be likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Oxford.

Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after COVID-19, Harrison said.
:snippity:
The study also found that people with a pre-existing mental illness were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without.

Mental health specialists not directly involved with the study said its findings add to growing evidence that COVID-19 can affect the brain and mind, increasing the risk of a range of psychiatric illnesses.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SKBN27P35N
People who have recovered from COVID-19 are more likely to score lower on intelligence tests, new research has found.

Scientists tested 81,337 people between January and December last year as part of the Great British Intelligence Test, including almost 13,000 who had been infected with the virus.

Those who had been on ventilators saw the biggest deficit - equivalent to a seven-point drop.
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-lin ... s-12364433

Lancet published the study. There is some discussion about whether the IQ drop also happens when ventilators are used for other illnesses. Anyway, if you want to read a long and depressing thread, here's one:
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#20

Post by Lani »

How will the pandemic end? The science of past outbreaks offers clues.
Now that the light at the end of the tunnel as dimmed, you may be wondering when the pandemic will officially be over. The answer depends on many factors, perhaps the most critical being the global nature of the crisis.
Longish article. Here are some highlights.

Only two diseases in recorded history that affect humans or other animals have ever been eradicated: smallpox, a life-threatening disease for people that covers bodies in painful blisters, and rinderpest, a viral malady that infected and killed cattle. In both instances, intensive global vaccination campaigns brought new infections to a halt. The last confirmed case of rinderpest was detected in Kenya in 2001, while the last known smallpox case occurred in the U.K. in 1978.

Joshua Epstein, professor of epidemiology in the New York University School of Global Public Health and founding director of its Agent-Based Modeling Laboratory, argues that eradication is so rare that the word should be wiped from our disease vocabulary. Diseases “retreat to their animal reservoirs, or they mutate at low levels,” he says. “But they don’t typically literally disappear from the global biome.”

Most causes of past pandemics are still with us today. More than 3,000 people caught the bacteria that cause both bubonic and pneumonic plague between 2010 and 2015, according to the WHO. And the virus behind the 1918 flu pandemic that ravaged the globe, killing at least 50 million people, ultimately morphed into less lethal variants, with its descendants becoming strains of the seasonal flu.

As with the 1918 flu, it’s likely the SARS-CoV-2 virus will continue to mutate, and the human immune system would eventually adapt to fend it off without shots—but not before many people fell ill and died. “Developing immunity the hard way is not a solution that we should be aspiring to,” Omer says.
:snippity:
There is another option, scientists and historians say: People will decide the pandemic is over, long before any governing body declares it so.
:snippity:
If society attempts to declare an end to the pandemic before science does, we’d be accepting its severe outcomes—including death. That’s often been the case with past pandemics.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scie ... 48368741AA
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#21

Post by Lani »

I received an email this weekend about Delta.
East-West Center Senior Fellow and infectious disease expert Dr. Tim Brown gave an illuminating presentation on the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and the threat it poses today. Largely ignored for several months as it spread silently through the rest of the world, the Delta variant now casts a long shadow, obscuring the light many countries had seen at the end of the tunnel.

In this webinar, Dr. Brown spoke about:
• The evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants from the “wild type” to Delta;
• COVID-19 vaccine efficacy;
• Changes in the Delta variant that make it a formidable adversary;
• Implications for effective future responses to the evolving threat of COVID-19; and
• When he thinks the COVID-19 pandemic will end.
I watched the video last night. Very informative. Also, he brings up things that we have talked about here. WEAR MASKS. Don't send children to school unless everyone wears a mask and socially distance. Don't eat in a restaurant - everyone will be there for awhile and not wearing a mask. Etc. And sadly, he explains why the pandemic isn't ending any time soon. There needs to be global response if we want something resembling normal in the future.

In case you're interested:
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#22

Post by RTH10260 »

Why you still ought to use a mask...
Jabbed adults infected with Delta ‘can match virus levels of unvaccinated’
Researchers say implications for transmission remain unclear but reaching herd immunity even more challenging

Natalie Grover Science correspondent
@NatalieGrover
Thu 19 Aug 2021 00.01 BST

Fully vaccinated adults can harbour virus levels as high as unvaccinated people if infected with the Delta variant, according to a sweeping analysis of UK data, which supports the idea that hitting the threshold for herd immunity is unlikely.

There is abundant evidence that Covid vaccines in the UK continue to offer significant protection against hospitalisations and death. But this new analysis shows that although being fully vaccinated means the risk of getting infected is lower, once infected by Delta a person can carry similar virus levels as unvaccinated people.

The implications of this on transmission remain unclear, the researchers have cautioned. “We don’t yet know how much transmission can happen from people who get Covid-19 after being vaccinated – for example, they may have high levels of virus for shorter periods of time,” said Sarah Walker, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the University of Oxford.

“But the fact that they can have high levels of virus suggests that people who aren’t yet vaccinated may not be as protected from the Delta variant as we hoped.”



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... vaccinated
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#23

Post by Lani »

There is some info in the video above about that. A vaccinated person can be infected w/Delta without feeling ill and pass it on. Also, It only takes 2 -3 days after contact for the person to have a high level of the virus to share with everyone near them.

The US was unprepared to confront Delta. In Wednesday's WaPo, there is a long article about the CDC not responding, apparently waiting until all the research was completed, written up, and a PPT completed. It should have issued warnings while acknowledging that more research was needed. That was also in the above video. Dr. Brown was following Delta in other countries, but found no info about it at the CDC.

How CDC data problems put the U.S. behind on the delta variant
Critics say the CDC’s failure to share real-time data led to overly rosy assessments of vaccine effectiveness — and complacency on the part of many Americans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... 2f47fb797b
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#24

Post by sugar magnolia »

Lani wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:35 am
The US was unprepared to confront Delta. In Wednesday's WaPo, there is a long article about the CDC not responding, apparently waiting until all the research was completed, written up, and a PPT completed.
How ironic, considering how many people are refusing the vaccine because the "research isn't complete."
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Re: COVID-19 Origins & Research

#25

Post by tencats »

Inside the Wuhan lab: French engineering, deadly viruses and a big mystery
Today at 4:00 a.m. EDT
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Seven years into her search, Shi discovered in 2011 a close relative to SARS in a cave in subtropical Yunnan province. Her team’s paper, published in 2013, launched her to national prominence, and she gained the nickname “Bat Woman.”

In 2014, at age 50, Shi received a $58 million national grant to continue studying coronaviruses in China’s south. Three years later, her team announced that it had found all the genetic pieces of the SARS virus in bats in a Yunnan cave — essentially proving the disease’s origin.

Meanwhile, Yuan’s 13-year endeavor was finally bearing fruit, with the P4 lab greenlighted in 2017 to begin operation. The $42 million lab was not for everyday experiments. Only a handful of the WIV’s 300 scientists had been trained to use it, including Shi, the deputy director.

Shi entered the international limelight on Jan. 23, 2020, the same day Chinese authorities sealed off Wuhan to contain a new disease. In a preprint paper, her team announced that it had found a virus 96.2 percent identical to the novel coronavirus.

Shi had originally feared that the virus could have come from her lab, as she told Scientific American. But she has since become adamant that the WIV never crossed paths with the virus, saying that she checked the lab records and that all staffers tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Wuhan lab’s classified work complicates search for pandemic’s origins

Shi’s supporters say that if there had been a lab coverup, it’s unlikely the staff could have kept the secret from leaking out, especially with a full-court press by U.S. intelligence agencies. The U.S. intelligence report delivered to President Biden last month said that the coronavirus was not a bioweapon and that Chinese authorities did not know about the virus in advance.

Yuan and Shi have retreated from the world amid the controversy. The “comprehensive news” section of the WIV’s website once highlighted international collaborations, but it has dwindled to politically correct posts about researchers studying the speeches of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Nielsen-LeRoux said she last heard from Yuan in March 2020, toward the end of the Wuhan lockdown.

“We had a very hard time in combating the infection in Wuhan,” Yuan wrote to her in an email. “The virus is spreading in your country, and more people are infected during the last days, and the situation worries me a lot. I am confident that we could finally curb the spreading of the virus with our joint effort, and our life will return back to normal soon.”
Very interesting.
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