COVID research: Masks, Vaccines, Social Distancing, Treatments

[RTH10260]

‘Being truthful is essential’: scientist who stumbled upon Wuhan Covid data speaks out
Florence Débarre’s discovery of genetic data online showed for first time that animals susceptible to coronavirus were present at market

Michael Safi and Eli Block
Tue 28 Mar 2023 03.00 BST

One of the most compelling clues to the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic was uploaded without announcement to a scientific database, going unnoticed for weeks.

And then, just as suddenly, it vanished from public view.

The genetic data, from swabs taken at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, in the weeks after Covid-19 first emerged, were available online just long enough for a Parisian scientist to stumble upon them while working from her couch on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month.

“I have a bad work-life balance,” says Florence Débarre, an evolutionary biologist whose accidental discovery of the files led to confirmation for the first time that animals susceptible to the coronavirus were present at the Wuhan market.

Her findings, which she and her colleagues posted online last week, have illuminated the way forward for identifying the origins of the pandemic – as well as the treacherous path faced by scientists seeking to follow it. Since the publication, Débarre has been set upon by online mobs and received threats to her safety. “Last night, I was crying over the horrible things I’m reading about myself on social media,” she says.

Débarre, a senior researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, is one of thousands of scientists around the world attempting to trace the virus’s journey before it exploded among humans from late 2019. She was searching for data on Gisaid, a virology database, early in March when she stumbled on something unusual.




https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... speaks-out

[AndyinPA]

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday cleared the way for people who are at least 65 years old or immune-compromised to receive a second updated booster shot against the coronavirus, an option designed to bolster protection for the most vulnerable Americans even as the pandemic recedes.

The action appears likely to provide a measure of reassurance to people whose age or medical issues put them at risk of serious illness if they are infected by the coronavirus. Some got updated boosters last fall, soon after the omicron-targeting shots were authorized, but patients and physicians recognize the mRNA vaccines have a history of waning protection within months of administration.

People who are eligible for the extra boosters might be able to get them as soon as this week. Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the second booster, and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to sign off quickly.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.wgal.com/article/cdc-expect ... s/43744642

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the program providing information on how to track COVID-19 cases will soon come to an end.

The CDC is expected to move away from tracking community-level transmission.

According to a CDC spokesperson, it's tied to the end of the public health emergency, which will change the way we receive COVID-19 data.

Dr. John Goldman with UPMC says this shouldn’t be a problem.

"So, if you look at the volume of PCR testing that's occurred in the country, it's gone down in the last several months. Some of that is because we don't have as much COVID,” Goldman said.

The other part of it is more people are taking at-home COVID-19 tests.

And often, the results of those tests aren't reported to the CDC.

We're in the UPMC system. When my husband was in the hospital that ten days, we had to wear masks all the time. There are three major health systems here. Two of them announced a week or two that they were discontinuing the mask requirement. UPMC just announced yesterday that they will be discontinuing their mandate, starting May 1, I think.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/other/ ... d70e&ei=23

For the past several months, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have dominated COVID-19 cases in the U.S. But now, there’s a class of new COVID subvariants on the rise and one in particular is getting plenty of attention. It’s called XBB—or Gryphon—and there’s a chance it could overtake everything else out there.

XBB is getting a lot of buzz because it spreads fast—and seems to be able to evade immunity that people have built up from having a previous COVID-19 infection or getting the vaccine, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Still, Dr. Schaffner says, “it’s early days and we have a lot to learn.”

[Dave from down under]

not that it wasn't expected...

[RTH10260]

[AndyinPA]

If you're female, your body belongs to the republicans. So stop the anti-mask, -vaccine crap.

[Reddog]

Noticed this on the CDC website. For some reason I found it interesting that they explicitly addressed the highlighted part. The way I figure is that the people who actually believe that are not likely to read the CDC anyway.

Vaccine ingredients vary by manufacturer. None of the vaccines contain eggs, gelatin, latex, or preservatives. All COVID-19 vaccines are free from metals, such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys. They are also free from manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors. None of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized or approved in the United States contain any live virus.

I do believe the vaccines attenuated the severity of the pandemic. Similarly after the Salk and Sabin vaccines became available, my folks couldn’t wait for us to get vaccinated. Seemingly overnight news of polio cases were nearly nonexistent.

My thoughts on masks are that masks have 2 major functions. First they keep stuff from getting into the body. I’ve worked in a foundry, grain mill, coal-fired power plant, lead-acid battery plant, tannery, body shop in automobile assembly. I never hesitated to wear a mask, (I didn’t wear the mask to protect the lead-oxide from catching my cold). The second function is to keep bodily aerosols from spreading very far. The best example is in surgery. I haven’t been a doctor, but they don’t wear masks (as well as scrub) while doing an open reduction of a compound fracture to keep from catching a compound fracture. I have had a compound fracture, I believe surgical procedures helped prevent secondary infections. Even then I was on glucose/penicillin in one arm, whole blood in the other.
There are 2 other minor functions of masks; First to conceal identity in unlawful activities ( or halloween extortion rackets). Second religious reasons, which I believe contributed to the anti mask fervor (after the anti muslim backlash after 9/11).

During the mask mandates the primary functions overlapped, but anything less than N95 was less effective because of the size of the virus. I happened to have boxes of N95 that I had bought for home projects e.g. attic, drywall etc. I had also ju$t bought a PAPR because of a project in the battery plant.

Sorry for the rambling, long winded rant, I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I wanted to express my views. I know I may be wrong, but for now that’s how I see it.

While this may be a conspiracy theory, but I have wondered if some potential heirs would get vaccinated, then convince people, they could inherit from, to not get vaccinated. “Why don’t you move to Florida, and only listen to Fox nooz, and Noozmax”.

[Volkonski]

Wow, that CDC list of what the vaccines don't contain shows how crazy the antivaxers have become.

[Sam the Centipede]

During the mask mandates the primary functions overlapped, but anything less than N95 was less effective because of the size of the virus.

Type IIR blue surgical masks don't provide a fully effective barrier to vrions but they provide more protection to the wearer than nothing.

But they also protect others because expelled air and moisture is hindered by the mask and crawls out slowly, allowing heavier droplets to fall under gravity and aerosols emitted during speech are not blasted (relatively!) into the listener's face.

Less effective is not the same as ineffective!

For hospital workers wearing masks for long periods, a Type IIR is significantly less uncomfortable than N95/FFP2 (Euro/US approx. equivalents).

Also, for a long period, we were instructed to change masks when entering or leaving many areas, especially wards, which would have made the use of N95/FFP2 difficult, frustrating and expensive.

[northland10]

One advantage to the need for mask-wearing is that I ended up with many extra masks in various places, including my car and backpack. This was handy when I was down in Evanston for a few days, and one day was really bad with the Canadian smoke. Instead of putting on a mask when going inside, I grabbed one to put on when I went outside.

[keith]

Less effective is not the same as ineffective!

My favorite argument:

[Reddog]

Less effective is not the same as ineffective!

My favorite argument:

That’s excellent! Imma gonna steal that analogy.
That reinforces my overlapping functions during the pandemic.

[Sam the Centipede]

Off Topic

One little oddity from relaxation of mask rules in healthcare settings: in the pre-vaccine period our hospital's procedures required single use aprons, gloves and masks for transferring all patients and similar interactions. When those rules were dropped it required a mental effort to shift back to normal infection control procedures because the prompts of donning/doffing the gear were absent.

So, brain back on, should I wash/sanitize my hands now? Do the 5 moments of hand hygiene* apply?

Easy enough, but a surprise with "whoops, I haven't washed my hands yet!" moments on the first shift

*

► Show Spoiler

internationally used, most countries use a formulation on the WHO's rules.

One should clean (i.e. wash or sanitize) hands:

• before touching a patient
• before performing a clean or aseptic procedure
• after an exposure risk to body fluids
• after touching a patient or their immediate surroundings
• after touching any object or furniture in the patient’s immediate surroundings

[bill_g]

MSN with latest numbers by county -

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ ... e29f&ei=32

[AndyinPA]

Florida must be taking their surgeon general and DeSantis's crazy recommendations seriously. What's with Montana. But that would be far fewer people.

[Resume18]

Florida must be taking their surgeon general and DeSantis's crazy recommendations seriously. What's with Montana. But that would be far fewer people.

How long before DeSantis starts sandbagging those numbers?

[bill_g]

Florida must be taking their surgeon general and DeSantis's crazy recommendations seriously. What's with Montana. But that would be far fewer people.

How long before DeSantis starts sandbagging those numbers?

3 ... 2 ... 1 ....

[Slim Cognito]

I’d say he’s already on it.

[Volkonski]

CDC advisers recommend updated Covid shot for everyone ages 6 months and up
The latest vaccines are expected to become available within two days after the CDC director signs off on them.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... rcna104586

Everyone ages 6 months and older should get the updated Covid vaccine this fall, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overwhelmingly recommended Tuesday.

The final decision now falls to CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, who is expected to sign off on the committee's recommendations as soon as Tuesday evening.

That move would then clear the way for shots — projected to be available within the next 48 hours in some areas, the CDC said.

It's unclear whether most people will get them, however. Just 17% of people who were eligible for the last booster shot in 2022 got it, said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... rcna105090

Doctors say they're finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Covid from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up.

The illness' past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract.

"It isn’t the same typical symptoms that we were seeing before. It’s a lot of congestion, sometimes sneezing, usually a mild sore throat," said Dr. Erick Eiting, vice chair of operations for emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York City.

The sore throat usually arrives first, he said, then congestion.

[Slim Cognito]

That sounds exactly like my symptoms when I get a common cold. But I can't take any chances bringing it home to Hubs and he's too sick to get vaccinated with his fluctuating fever.

Which brings me to DuhSantis saying people under 65 shouldn't get the vax because it isn't safe. So he wants the older, more vulnerable people to get the "unsafe" vaccination?

Also, fuck him and the FL surgeon general he rode in on.

[AndyinPA]

I'll bet he'll get vaxed.

[pipistrelle]

She wrote to a scientist about her fatigue. It inspired a breakthrough.

Walitt was interested because he was orchestrating an intensive study on a small number of inpatients at NIH’s research hospital who were diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS. (I was a patient in this study and Hwang also used my data in his research.)

This contact sparked Hwang’s curiosity: What if this unusual cancer syndrome patient also had an illness, such as ME/CFS, that causes chronic fatigue?

Hwang began a detailed biochemical search. He found that skin cells taken from Twinam appeared to be churning out an excess of a protein called WASF3. Zooming inside Twinam’s mitochondria, Hwang and colleagues eventually saw something stunning: Like a stick jammed into bicycle spokes, the overabundant protein was literally gumming up the gears of energy production.

Implications for chronic fatigue syndrome, long COVID, etc.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -mutations

An antiviral drug used to treat patients with Covid-19 may be causing mutations in the virus and fuelling the evolution of new variants, scientists have said.

Molnupiravir, which is also sold under the brand name Lagevrio, is designed to mutate coronavirus to destruction, but researchers found evidence that the virus can sometimes survive the treatment, leading to mutated versions that occasionally spread to other people.

There is no evidence molnupiravir has produced more dangerous variants of Covid, but scientists said the mutations increased the genetic diversity of the virus in the wild and provided more options for future evolution.

“People have some concerns about molnupiravir and to some sense this makes those more concrete,” said Dr Theo Sanderson, the lead author on the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London. “We know these viruses can still be alive following a significant number of mutations and they can still be transmissible in some cases.”

The findings are important for continuing assessments of the risks and benefits of molnupiravir and other drugs in development that work in a similar way, the researchers say.