Covid-19 Updates & Info

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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2491

Post by ponchi101 »

Sure. One the reasons the US debt is not so "detrimental" is because a lot of the debt is held by American institutions. In a sense, the US debt is held by America (although other countries also buy American Treasury Bonds).
This is not related to C19, but an example. In Argentina, the Social & Health system is based on companies called AFJP (an acronym for retirement funds). During the Nestor Kirchner presidency, the administration issued a considerable amount of bonds, to be paid (as expected) in a certain time (10 years). Many of the AFJP's bought this debt, as it seemed like a solid investment. The bonds were traded internationally and well received.
Then, the bonds matured, and the Cristina Kirchner presidency went into default; this lead to most of the AFJP's to go belly up, taking with them the savings of hundreds of thousands of Argentineans. Because the AFJP's were the solid part of the retirement/health system, major companies had their health benefits and insurance policies managed by a given AFJP. Well, those savings were lost. And all this was due to Argentina's default. The bonds started to trade as low as 2% of their face value, as it was impossible to collect, so big international brokerage houses bought them, knowing they had the financial muscle to make the Argentinean government pay. Or at least, pay more than the 2% they funds have bought them for.
These funds were called in Argentina "Vulture Funds", because the government started saying the funds were the ones trying to scrape the "meat off the bones" of the Argentinean economy. The fact that the bonds had dropped 98% in value due to the government's default took a while to percolate down to the population.

And I read these C19 reports for all they have; they have been very valuable. But that section in there was the sole I could comment about. The rest, to me, are facts. I am frequently left like the man in Ti's GIF.
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2492

Post by Deuce »

I don't like the sensationalistic headline (so I replaced it)...
I find that the article is good and informative, though.

Hey, Mr. President - The Pandemic Ain't Finished - Here's The New Variant...

.
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

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Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2494

Post by dryrunguy »

Here's the latest Situation Report. I have questions about the Boston study.

::

EPI UPDATE The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 623 million cumulative cases and 6.55 million deaths worldwide as of October 19. Global weekly incidence again remained steady at slightly more than 3 million cases for the sixth consecutive week, decreasing only 0.87% compared to the previous week. Weekly incidence in Europe remained relatively steady over the previous week, falling 3% after steady increases for the previous 4 weeks. Weekly incidence increased 11% in the Western Pacific, while all other regions reported decreasing trends. Global weekly mortality continued to decrease for the ninth consecutive week, down 15% from the previous week.

UNITED STATES
The US CDC is reporting 96.8 million cumulative cases of COVID-19 and 1.06 million deaths. Daily incidence continues to decline, down to 37,052 new cases per day, the lowest average since mid-April. Average daily mortality also continues to decline, down to 323 deaths per day on October 18.**
**Changes in state-level reporting may affect the accuracy of recently reported data, particularly over weekends. In an effort to reflect the longer-term trends, the numbers reported here may not correspond to the most recent dates.

Both new hospital admissions and current hospitalizations continue to exhibit downward trends, with decreases of 1.8% and 3.3%, respectively, over the past week. Both trends peaked around the end of July, although the decreasing trend appears to be leveling.

The BA.5 sublineage continues to be the dominant strain in the US, accounting for 67.9% of sequenced specimens; however, its estimated prevalence has decreased for 8 consecutive weeks. Notably, the BA.4.6 sublineage (12.2%) appears to be losing its growth advantage to others, including BQ.1 (5.7%), BQ.1.1 (5.7%), and BF.7 (5.3%). BA.2.75.2 (1.4%) and BA.2.75 (1.3%) also show relative growth advantage over BA.5.

IMMUNE EVASIVE OMICRON SUBVARIANTS While past surges in COVID-19 cases have been driven largely by single SARS-CoV-2 variants, experts are eyeing a collection of Omicron subvariants that could drive an anticipated wave of infections this fall and winter. In the US, BA.4.6 appeared to be gaining momentum, although BF.7, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1 are showing recent potential growth advantage. The same sublineages are also showing evidence of growth advantage over BA.5 in the United Kingdom. Additional variants, including the recombinant variant XBB, are fueling increases in cases in Southeast Asia and Europe. The US has yet to see a large surge due to these subvariants, with the number of new cases continuing to drop. But public health experts warn data on new cases is unreliable—many are turning to wastewater surveillance to help predict where and when surges may occur—and most expect the downward trend to reverse over the next few weeks. The collection of variants, sometimes referred to as “scrabble variants” or “subvariant soup,” accounts for nearly 1 in 3 new infections reported in the US last week. Globally, detecting these variants and developing accurate assessments of the risk they pose to public health is challenging, as many countries have rolled back their surveillance efforts.

While available vaccines remain effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19, there are concerns the emerging subvariants will be more immune evasive than previous variants, particularly due to mutations in the receptor binding domain that would prevent antibodies from docking and attacking the virus. AstraZeneca’s EvuSheld, the only monoclonal antibody authorized to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, is ineffective against BA.4.6. Other monoclonal antibodies in development already demonstrate vulnerabilities to newly emerging Omicron subvariants. With this new information, the Biden administration is searching for other potential candidates for use among immunocompromised persons.

US RESPONSE With public vigilance waning and the hopes of new pandemic funding from the US Congress fading, the COVID-19 response in the US is entering a new and uncertain phase. Omicron subvariants remain the predominant circulating lineages, many with high levels of transmissibility and immune evasion. Most places have completely dropped public health measures meant to mitigate transmission, and fewer and fewer Americans are wearing masks indoors or in crowded public spaces. With lower vaccine demand and less federal funding, vaccine manufacturers must soon decide whether and how high to price vaccines and boosters moving forward. While people with health insurance likely will continue to be able to access free or low-cost COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, those who are uninsured or underinsured potentially could lose no-cost access, a factor that would exacerbate underlying inequities. One factor influencing when COVID-19 tools will be commercialized is when the public health emergency declaration ends; however, the Biden administration last week extended the public health emergency for another 90 days, into January 2023, ahead of an expected potential winter surge. This decision aligns with a recent statement from the WHO reinforcing that COVID-19 very much remains a global emergency and calling for nations to sustain efforts to fight against its spread. Still, the US likely will end its public health emergency in 2023, when it will significantly cut back on certain components of its COVID-19 response.

Notably, efforts are underway to prevent such a situation from happening again in the future. On October 18, US President Joe Biden signed a National Security Memorandum to launch the administration’s “National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan for Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health Security.” The strategy calls for US$88 billion in funding over the next 5 years to strengthen key areas of pandemic preparedness and biodefense. The strategy will also bring together key government sectors to support its implementation, including the White House, the Intelligence Community, the US Department of State, and the US HHS.

GAIN-OF-FUNCTION STUDY A laboratory at Boston University has come under criticism for its recent gain-of-function experiments on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Gain-of-function (GOF) refers to laboratory experiments that strategically and specifically enhance the function of one or more genes to study the outcome. They can range from something as simple as overactivating an important enzyme to enhancing the pathogenicity of a virus. In the Boston University (BU) experiments, performed at the BSL-3 level, the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 was modified to contain Omicron variant spike proteins with the aim of studying why some strains of SARS-CoV-2 are more pathogenic and transmissible than others. This work was reviewed internally by the BU institutional review board (IRB) and externally by the Boston Public Health Commission but not by the US NIH or NIAID, which were partial funders. NIH is currently launching a probe to evaluate whether this experiment should have been subject to federal oversight and review before moving forward. BU maintains that the research was not directly funded by the NIH and therefore there was no wrongdoing in not alerting them before beginning the experiment. The federal government takes GOF research very seriously, especially for those manipulating pathogens with potential pandemic potential, as SARS-CoV-2 certainly is. Even before the lab-leak hypothesis of SARS-CoV-2 origins, there was a large amount of controversy surrounding how and when to allow GOF research to move forward.

However, BU refutes that this experiment even should be considered as gain-of-function and maintain that they actually made a less dangerous version of the virus. The school criticized the initial media reports of the experiment, saying they were highly sensationalized; several outlets stressed the study’s finding that the altered strain caused 80% mortality in mice with severe disease, but that proportion is in line with experiments using unaltered SARS-CoV-2. Still, the finding that the resulting strain was less pathogenic does not alter the fact that the methods used fall within the definition of GOF research. Many biosecurity experts have come forward to disagree with BU’s characterization of their research and reiterate that this was in fact GOF research. The NIH inquiry and the renewed conversation among the scientific community will hopefully spur greater understanding and consensus around the risks and benefits of GOF research, in addition to institutionalizing the use of greater safeguards when conducting research with pathogens of pandemic potential.

LIFE EXPECTANCY & PREGNANCY-RELATED MORTALITY The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted decades worth of gains in global life expectancy. According to a study published October 17 in Nature Human Behaviour examining life expectancy losses during the pandemic, those countries that had higher proportions of their populations vaccinated by October 2021 experienced smaller life expectancy deficits in winter 2021. Of the 29 countries included in the analysis, most countries in Western Europe bounced back relatively well from life expectancy losses while most countries in Eastern Europe, the United States, and Chile experienced continuing declines in their pre-pandemic life expectancy. All nations had lower life expectancy than would be expected if pre-pandemic trends had continued. According to data from the US CDC, US life expectancy fell by a total of 2.6 years between 2019 and 2021 to 76.1 years, the lowest level since 1996.

In the US, COVID-19 contributed to about 25% of the more than 2,000 maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021, according to a report published by the US Government Accountability Office. Pregnant people are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes, the US CDC has warned. Since 2018, maternal deaths have increased nearly 80%, with COVID-19 associated with 401 of the 1,178 pregnancy-related deaths last year. Additionally, racial and ethnic disparities widened; pregnancy-related deaths among Black people climbed from 44 per 100,000 in 2019 to 68.9 per 100,000 in 2021, rose from 12.6 per 100,000 in 2019 to 27.5 last year for Hispanic individuals, and increased from 17.9 in 2019 to 26.1 in 2021 for White people. Many factors contributed to the increase in maternal deaths, including the emergence of the Delta variant, mental health, lack of access to medical care, and low vaccination rates among pregnant people, among others. Experts note that many of these deaths were preventable, highlighting the urgent need to find solutions.

US CDC VACCINES FOR CHILDREN PROGRAM The US CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on October 19 recommended that vaccines against COVID-19 be included in the CDC Vaccines for Children program, which provides no-cost vaccines for a variety of diseases to children and adolescents aged 18 and younger whose families cannot afford them. Children are eligible for the program if they qualify for Medicaid, or are uninsured, underinsured, or Native American. The panel of independent advisors voted unanimously to include COVID-19 vaccines in the program to ensure these children can receive the shots for free after the federal government shifts the vaccination program to the commercial market. When the Biden administration decides to end the COVID-19 public health emergency—which it extended again last week—more than 5 million children are expected to lose health insurance under federal programs.

During the meeting, the panel emphasized they were not voting on adding COVID-19 vaccines to the CDC annual vaccination schedule, although a meeting to consider doing is taking place today. While the CDC decides a recommended vaccination schedule for children based on age, US states decide which vaccines are mandatory for entry into schools. Nonetheless, the CDC had to push back on a Fox News contributor who amplified a false claim that the CDC was set to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for schoolchildren. Public health experts agree there is legitimate debate over whether school-aged children should be required to receive the vaccines but warned the erroneous claim represents another example of how quickly misinformation can spread and potentially harm children, erode trust in federal health institutions, or endanger health officials. Experts also agree more states and localities will require children be vaccinated to attend the upcoming 2023 school year.

NOVAVAX BOOSTER On October 19, the US FDA authorized Novavax’s monovalent, protein-based COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for adults. The Novavax booster targets only the original coronavirus strain, although the company is concurrently studying an Omicron-targeting vaccine, in addition to a bivalent booster. The US CDC recommended the monovalent product for use among adults aged 18 years and older who have not yet received any COVID-19 booster but who have completed a primary series vaccination with any authorized or approved vaccine at least 6 months prior. The authorization offers another option for individuals who cannot or are reluctant to receive one of the bivalent mRNA vaccine boosters, or for those who would otherwise not receive a booster.

MODERNA OMICRON BOOSTERS Moderna’s bivalent Omicron-containing booster (mRNA-1273.214), administered as a fourth vaccine dose, produced a stronger immune response to Omicron BA.1 compared to its original booster dose at 90 days, according to the company. Additionally, the updated booster elicited a significantly higher neutralizing antibody response against Omicron BA.4/BA.5 compared to the original version at 28 days, suggesting the booster can produce broad cross-neutralization against Omicron subvariants. Moderna’s BA.1 bivalent booster is central to fall and winter vaccination campaigns in the UK. The company expects to announce interim immunogenicity results of its Omicron BA.4/BA.5-targeting bivalent vaccine (mRNA-1273.222), which is authorized for use in the United States, later this year. It is unclear how well either booster will work against newly emerging Omicron sublineages—including BQ.1.1, XBB, BF.7, and BA.2.75.2—which are expected to be more immune evasive than their older relatives and expected to cause COVID-19 surges in several nations through the end of this year and into the next.

Moderna also announced this week it will work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to supply more than 100 million doses of its Omicron-adapted bivalent vaccines for purchase at its lowest-tier pricing in 2023 to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). Under the new framework, pending orders for Moderna’s original SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will be canceled, and COVAX will instead offer the newer vaccines to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which can use them as they see fit. COVAX has delivered nearly 1.8 billion doses of vaccines for COVID-19 to 146 countries, overcoming a rough start to obtain vaccine doses due to hoarding by wealthier nations. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, this week at the World Health Summit harshly criticized wealthy nations and pharmaceutical companies for failing to adequately share vaccine doses through COVAX.

https://covid19.who.int/
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2495

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2496

Post by ponchi101 »

We should also talk about C19 HOAX news.
My looney friend N sent me a tweet (he does not understand that I am averse to tweeter, except when filtered by Ti and other fellow TAT'ers) from Rob Roos, a dutch EU parliament member, who "proved" that pfizer et al "manipulated" the info to promote the vaccine. In reality, the vaccine "skipped" a few testing steps; that was what the emergency use approval was for.
So, his entire sphere (my friend's) is up on arms, because "criminal" Fauci and all these other companies (his literal word) forced us to get this "poison" (quote).
So difficult. We are playing some padel on Saturday, with two more anti-vaxxers/anti-science/anti-corporation people. I may not survive :)
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2497

Post by ti-amie »

Whites now more likely to die from covid than Blacks: Why the pandemic shifted
By Akilah Johnson and Dan Keating
October 19, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

SOMERVILLE, Tenn. — Skill Wilson had amassed more than three decades of knowledge as a paramedic, first in Memphis and then in Fayette County. Two places that felt like night and day.

With only five ambulances in the county and the nearest hospital as much as 45 minutes away, Skill relished the clinical know-how necessary to work in a rural setting. Doing things like sedating patients to insert tubes into their airways.

But when it came to covid-19, despite more than 1 million deaths nationwide, Skill and his family felt their small town on the central-eastern side of Fayette County, with its fields of grazing cattle and rows of cotton and fewer than 200 covid deaths since the start of the pandemic, was a cocoon against the raging health emergency.

“It was a lot easier to stay away from others,” his widow, Hollie Wilson, said of the largely White and predominantly conservative county of about 42,000 residents. “Less people. Less chance of exposure.”

Covid seemed like other people’s problems — until it wasn’t.

The imbalance in death rates among the nation’s racial and ethnic groups has been a defining part of the pandemic since the start. To see the pattern, The Washington Post analyzed every death during more than two years of the pandemic. Early in the crisis, the differing covid threat was evident in places such as Memphis and Fayette County. Deaths were concentrated in dense urban areas, where Black people died at several times the rate of White people.

“I don’t want to say that we weren’t worried about it, but we weren’t,” said Hollie, who described her 59-year-old husband as someone who “never took a pill.” After a while, “you kind of slack off on some things,” she said.

Over time, the gap in deaths widened and narrowed but never disappeared — until mid-October 2021, when the nation’s pattern of covid mortality changed, with the rate of death among White Americans sometimes eclipsing other groups.

A Post analysis of covid death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from April 2020 through this summer found the racial disparity vanished at the end of last year, becoming roughly equal. And at times during that same period, the overall age-adjusted death rate for White people slightly surpassed that of Black and Latino people.


The nature of the virus makes the elderly and people with underlying health conditions — including hypertension, diabetes and obesity, all of which beset Black people at higher rates and earlier in life than White people — particularly vulnerable to severe illness and death.

That wasn’t Skill.

The virus also attacks unvaccinated adults — who polls show are more likely to be Republicans — with a ferocity that puts them at a much higher risk of infection and death.

That was Skill.

He joined the choir of critics opposing vaccination requirements, his rants in front of the television eventually wearing on Hollie, who, even if she agreed, grew tired of listening and declared their home “covid-talk free.”

So, she said, Skill commiserated with like-minded people in Facebook groups and on Parler and Rumble, the largely unmoderated social networking platforms popular with conservatives.

“We’re Republicans, and 100 percent believe that it’s each individual’s choice — their freedom” when it comes to getting a coronavirus shot, Hollie said in January. “We decided to err on the side of not doing it and accept the consequences. And now, here we are in the middle of planning the funeral.”

Capt. Julian Greaves Wilson Jr., known to everybody as Skill, died of covid Jan. 23, a month after becoming infected with the coronavirus. He fell ill not long after transporting a covid patient to the hospital. At the time he died, infection rates in Fayette County had soared to 40.5 percent among people taking coronavirus tests.

‘A different calculus’

Unequal exposure, unequal spread, unequal vulnerability and unequal treatment concentrated harm in communities that needed protection the most yet had the least. Cumulatively, Black, Latino and Native American people are 60 percent more likely to die of covid.

But as the pandemic progressed, the damage done by the virus broadened, and the toxicity of modern-day politics came to the fore.

The Post analysis revealed the changing pattern in covid deaths. At the start of the pandemic, Black people were more than three times as likely to die of covid as their White peers. But as 2020 progressed, the death rates narrowed — but not because fewer Black people were dying. White people began dying at increasingly unimaginable numbers, too, the Post analysis found.

In summer 2021, the nation saw some of the pandemic’s lowest death rates, as vaccines, shoring up the body’s immune response, became widely available.

Then came the delta variant. The virus mutated, able to spread among the vaccinated. As it did, an erosion of trust in government and in medicine — in any institution, really — slowed vaccination rates, stymieing the protection afforded by vaccines against severe illness and death.

After delta’s peak in September 2021, the racial differences in covid deaths started eroding. The Post analysis found that Black deaths declined, while White deaths never eased, increasing slowly but steadily, until the mortality gap flipped. From the end of October through the end of December, White people died at a higher rate than Black people did, The Post found.


That remained true except for a stretch in winter 2021-2022, when the omicron variant rampaged. The Black death rate jumped above White people’s when the spike in cases and deaths overwhelmed providers in the Northeast, resulting in a bottleneck of testing and treatment.

When the surge subsided, the Black death rate once again dropped below the White rate.

“Usually, when we say a health disparity is disappearing, what we mean is that … the worse-off group is getting better,” said Tasleem Padamsee, an assistant professor at Ohio State University who researched vaccine use and was a member of the Ohio Department of Health’s work group on health equity. “We don’t usually mean that the group that had a systematic advantage got worse.”

(...)

The shift in covid death rates “has vastly different implications for public health interventions,” said Nancy Krieger, professor of social epidemiology at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Officials must figure out how to connect with “communities who are ideologically opposed to the vaccine” while contending with “the cumulative impact of injustice” on communities of color.

“Think about the fact that everyone who is age 57 and older in this country was born when Jim Crow was legal,” she said. “What that did was intersect with covid-19, meaning that embodied history is part of this pandemic, too.”

So what contributed to the recent variation in death rates? And why?

The easy explanation is that it reflects the choices of Republicans not to be vaccinated, but the reasons go deeper. The Post interviewed historians and researchers who study the effects of White racial politics and social inequality on health, spoke with relatives and friends of those lost to covid, and compiled data from federal databases and academic studies.

What emerged is a story about how long-standing issues of race and class interacted with the physical and psychological toll of mass illness and death, unprecedented social upheaval, public policies — and public opinion.

Resilience gave way to fatigue. Holes left by rural hospital closures deepened. Medical mistrust and misinformation raged. Skeptics touted debunked alternatives over proven treatments and prevention. Mask use became a victim of social stigma.

Many Republicans decided they would rather roll the dice with their health than follow public health guidance — even when provided by President Donald Trump, who was booed after saying he had been vaccinated and boosted.

Researchers at Ohio State found Black and White people were about equally reluctant to get the coronavirus vaccine when it first became available, but Black people overcame that hesitancy faster. They came to the realization sooner that vaccines were necessary to protect themselves and their communities, Padamsee said.

As public health efforts to contain the virus were curtailed, the pool of those most at risk of becoming casualties widened. The No. 1 cause of death for 45-to-54-year-olds in 2021 was covid, according to federal researchers.

After it became clear that communities of color were being disproportionately affected, racial equity started to become the parlance of the pandemic, in words and deeds. As it did, vaccine access and acceptance within communities of color grew — and so did the belief among some White conservatives, who form the core of the Republican base, that vaccine requirements and mask mandates infringe on personal liberties.

“Getting to make this decision for themselves has primacy over what the vaccine could do for them,” said Lisa R. Pruitt, a law professor at the University of California at Davis who is an expert in social inequality and the urban-rural divide. “They’re making a different calculus.”

It’s a calculation informed by the lore around self-sufficiency, she said, a fatalistic acceptance that hardships happen in life and a sense of defiance that has come to define the modern conservative movement’s antipathy toward bureaucrats and technocrats.


“I didn’t think that that polarization would transfer over to a pandemic,” Pruitt said.

It did.

A lifesaving vaccine and droplet-blocking masks became ideological Rorschach tests.
(...)
The impulse to frame the eradication of an infectious disease as a matter of personal choice cost the lives of some who, despite taking the coronavirus seriously, were surrounded by enough people that the virus found fertile terrain to sow misery. That’s what happened in northern Illinois, where a father watched his 40-year-old son succumb to covid-19...

Stress, and its burden

While almost three years of chaotic public health crises have left Americans of all races uncertain about the future, they have also revealed the enduring nature of racial and class politics — and the cost they exact, including for White Americans.

Those triggers are layered upon each other, stoking stress, said Derek M. Griffith, who co-leads the Racial Justice Institute and directs the Center for Men’s Health Equity at Georgetown University.

“Whether it’s ‘I can’t pay my rent and mortgage as easily as I used to,’ or ‘I want to show I’m not worried about covid,’ your body doesn’t care where the stress is coming from. It’s just experiencing stress,” he said. “Then add to that how people are coping with the stress.”

When it comes to racism, most people think of something that occurs between individuals. But it’s as much about who has access to power, wealth and rights as it is about insults, suspicion and disrespect. Prejudice and discrimination, even if unconscious, can be deadly — and not just for the intended targets.

(,,,)

Perhaps...explaining covid’s unequal burden as part of an enduring legacy of inequality “signaled these disparities were not just transitory epidemiological trends, which could potentially shift and disproportionately impact White people in the future.”

Translation: Racial health disparities are part of the status quo.

Us vs. them

Questions about the government’s role in ensuring the public’s health and well-being hang heavy with historical inflections in states such as Tennessee, once home to the president who argued that Reconstruction-era legislation to help and protect newly freed enslaved people violated states’ rights.

And so in many ways, the roots of the consternation over recent pandemic-control measures began sprouting a century and a half earlier.

But that hasn’t stopped people such as Civil Miller-Watkins from wondering why those roots are choking so many now.

The former Fayette County school board member, who possesses an abiding belief in the power of the common good, said she finds the mind-set “I know what’s good for me, and if it’s harmful for you, you’re going to have to deal with it” worrisome amid a pandemic.

“Living in a rural county is not for the faint of heart, especially as a Black person,” the 56-year-old said. Still, she can’t help but wonder, “if I’m the same neighbor you give sugar to, and you know I have an 84-year-old in my house and a little-bitty baby at home, why wouldn’t you wear a mask around me?”

It’s a question that dogged her over Christmas when two of her grandchildren were infected with the coronavirus days before they were scheduled to be vaccinated.

“We put it on Republicans and politics,” she said, “but I think we should dig deeper.”

That’s what Jonathan M. Metzl, director of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, did for six years while researching his book “Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland.”

Published in 2019, it is a book about the politicization of public health and mistrust of medical institutions. It is a story about how communal values take a back seat to individuality. It’s an exploration of disinformation and how the fear of improving the lives of some means worsening the lives of others.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but I was writing a prehistory of the pandemic,” Metzl said in an interview. “You’re seeing a kind of dying-of-Whiteness phenomenon in the covid data that’s very similar to what I saw in my data.”

Metzl and Griffith, a Vanderbilt professor at the time, conducted focus groups on the Affordable Care Act throughout middle Tennessee including White and Black men who were 20 to 60 years old. Some were small-business owners and security guards. Others were factory workers and retirees.

The divergent medical experiences of Black and White patients permeated Metzl’s focus groups, particularly when the conversation veered toward the politics of health and government’s role in promoting well-being.

“Black men described precisely the same medical and economic stressors as did White men and detailed the same struggles to stay healthy,” Metzl wrote. “But Black men consistently differed from White men in how they conceived of government intervention and group identity. Whereas White men jumped unthinkingly to assumptions about ‘them,’ Black men frequently answered questions about health and health systems through the language of ‘us.’ ”

Tennessee has yet to expand Medicaid under the ACA, a decision fueling rural hospital closures at a rate that eclipses nearly every other state because there isn’t enough money to keep the doors open. Not only would expanding Medicaid have saved hospitals, Metzl wrote, it would have saved thousands of lives — White and Black.

Metzl said watching the pandemic unfold felt like a flashback to past battles over federal health-care reform. Messaging that leaned into quantitative data about masks and vaccines sounded eerily similar to the mistakes made, “at least for this part of the country,” with the ACA, he said.

“The minute public health infrastructure started to talk about the statistical public health benefits of the mask” and not how everyone needed to be on the same page to stay safe, Metzl said, “I just knew that it was going to open a door for the same kind of anti-ACA stuff, which is ‘the government’s telling you what to do.’ ”

As Metzl conducted research for his book in 2016, a 41-year-old uninsured Tennessean named Trevor who was jaundiced and in liver failure told him “I would rather die” than sign up for the ACA. When asked why, Trevor, who was identified by first name only, said: “We don’t need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.”

Now during the pandemic, there are people like 39-year-old Chad Carswell of North Carolina whose kidneys functioned recently at just 3 percent. He was denied a new kidney in January after refusing to take a coronavirus vaccine as required for the transplant at the time, saying: “I was born free. I’ll die free.”


Much like protests to “repeal and replace” the ACA, Metzl said rejecting public health measures is about dogma more so than a mistrust of the science of vaccines or masks.

“We’ve oversimplified this with morality tales about the vaccine is good, and anti-vaxxers are bad, and they’re automatically racist,” Metzl said. “Being anti-vaccine or anti-mask is part of an ideology. When people get more desperate, they get more ideological.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... s-us-race/


There are some very good graphs at the link.
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2498

Post by ti-amie »

ponchi101 wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 7:24 pm We should also talk about C19 HOAX news.
My looney friend N sent me a tweet (he does not understand that I am averse to tweeter, except when filtered by Ti and other fellow TAT'ers) from Rob Roos, a dutch EU parliament member, who "proved" that pfizer et al "manipulated" the info to promote the vaccine. In reality, the vaccine "skipped" a few testing steps; that was what the emergency use approval was for.
So, his entire sphere (my friend's) is up on arms, because "criminal" Fauci and all these other companies (his literal word) forced us to get this "poison" (quote).
So difficult. We are playing some padel on Saturday, with two more anti-vaxxers/anti-science/anti-corporation people. I may not survive :)
You posted this while I was posting the WaPo article. It's all very sobering.
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2499

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Here's the latest Situation Report.

::

EPI UPDATE The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 625.7 million cumulative cases and 6.56 million deaths worldwide as of October 26. Global weekly incidence dropped to 2.8 million new cases after remaining steady for 6 weeks, decreasing 12.5% compared to the previous week. Weekly incidence in all regions remained relatively steady or fell over the previous week. Global weekly mortality continued to decrease for the tenth consecutive week, down 11.6% from the previous week.*
*The WHO dashboard notes that data from the Africa Region are incomplete.

UNITED STATES
The US CDC is reporting 97.1 million cumulative cases of COVID-19 and 1.07 million deaths. Incidence for the week ending October 19 remained steady over the previous week, at 260,808 reported cases. Weekly mortality also remained steady for the week ending October 19, at 2,566 reported deaths.**
**Beginning October 20, the US CDC began reporting and publishing aggregate case and death data, and line level data where applicable, from jurisdictional and state partners on a weekly basis rather than daily. As a result, COVID-19 data on cases and deaths are updated every week on Thursdays by 8pm ET.

New hospital admissions remained steady last week, increasing 1.1%, while current hospitalizations continued to exhibit a downward trend, decreasing 2.9% over the past week. Both trends peaked around the end of July and both now appear to be leveling.

The BA.5 sublineage continues to be the dominant strain in the US, accounting for 62.2% of sequenced specimens; however, its estimated prevalence has decreased for 9 consecutive weeks. The second most prevalent sublineage, BA.4.6, appears to be losing its growth advantage to others, decreasing to 11.3% as of October 22. Several other Omicron sublineages continue to exhibit increasing trends, including BQ.1 (9.4%), BQ.1.1 (k7.2%), and BF.7 (6.7%). BA.2.75 (1.6%) and BA.2.75.2 (1.3%) and also show relative growth advantage over BA.5.

GLOBAL PANDEMIC PROJECTIONS The number of new daily global COVID-19 cases is projected to rise slowly over the coming months, increasing from about 17 million now to about 18.7 million by the end of January 2023, the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts in an analysis published this week. The increase will be impacted by the emergence of various Omicron lineage subvariants, seasonal behavioral changes, and COVID-19 policies in China, where many of the world’s most susceptible population resides. The model’s reference scenario also estimates 245,000 additional reported deaths due to COVID-19 will occur through February 1. The analysis also includes estimates using an 80% mask use scenario and an antiviral access scenario.

‘TRIPLEDEMIC’ Experts in the US are warning the nation could see a convergence of three respiratory diseases—COVID-19, influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—this fall and winter, in what some are calling a “tripledemic.” There are signs that cases of all three infections are rising in parts of the country, likely driven by people feeling confident enough to stop wearing masks and gather more indoors. Newly emerging sublineages of the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) have mutations that potentially make them resistant to existing therapeutics and preventive treatments and possibly immune evasive enough to bypass protections provided by previous infections or vaccination. That is leading the US government to step up efforts to get more people vaccinated and boosted with newer bivalent shots that target the Omicron BA.5 and BA.4 lineages.

Cases of RSV are surging earlier than usual, especially among young children. While many kids contract the virus by age 2 through mingling with other children, there is a potential that nonpharmaceutical interventions—such as lockdowns, social distancing, masking, and increased hygiene—helped to limit the spread of other respiratory diseases, essentially creating an “immunity gap.” Therefore, some toddlers and infants have never been exposed to RSV, leaving them more susceptible to infections. Notably, there is no vaccine and no effective treatment for RSV. Most people recover within a week or two, but RSV can be serious for young children and older adults who have weaker immune systems or underlying health conditions. Already, about three-quarters of pediatric hospital beds nationwide are full and emergency rooms are experiencing long waits.

Additionally, some parts of the country, especially Southern states, are experiencing an early flu season. Flu rates are highest among young children aged 0-4, but the number of cases is increasing in every age group. The past two years saw lower-than-average numbers of cases, and though there is a flu vaccine, protection rates range from 20%-60%. And, unfortunately, flu vaccine uptake dropped during the pandemic. The Southern Hemisphere saw an early flu season with higher case numbers and higher hospitalizations, and many feel nations in the Northern Hemisphere will follow that trend as the weather cools. With hundreds of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and increases of other respiratory viruses, taking steps to prevent disease transmission—including getting vaccinated and/or boosted, staying home if sick, wearing masks, and washing hands—remains vital this season to help prevent further strain on the healthcare system, severe disease, and more deaths.

US BOOSTER CAMPAIGN As the US heads into its third winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, US health officials this week announced additional efforts to encourage individuals, particularly those who are older or immunocompromised, to get vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19 at no cost. US President Joe Biden publicly received his fifth shot, coinciding with the release of an updated COVID-19 plan that includes enlisting Walgreens, DoorDash, and Uber to provide free delivery of antiviral prescriptions, calling on educational institutions to hold vaccination clinics for their communities, encouraging employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated, and urging building operators to improve indoor air quality.

The US appears to be in a better position heading into this winter, with treatments and vaccine doses more widely available, but Biden administration officials are concerned another surge in cases, as well as rising cases of other respiratory diseases, could overwhelm healthcare systems and lead to more deaths. Some experts are concerned a crisis-fatigued public and mixed pandemic messaging are making booster campaign efforts more challenging; only about 19.4 million US residents have gotten the updated shot, accounting for less than 10% of those who are eligible, according to US CDC data. The Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are gaining ground in the US, and for those already vaccinated, receiving an updated booster dose is the best protection from severe disease or death. While some might not look forward to vaccination side effects, a study published October 21 in JAMA Network Open suggests those who experience fever, chills, or muscle pain tended to have more robust antibody responses following the shots. But don’t worry: even among those who experience little to no side effects, vaccines elicit a strong immune response.

BIVALENT BOOSTER IMMUNE RESPONSE Early data on the immunogenicity of the new bivalent booster targeting the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sublineages show the shots appear to work about as well as earlier monovalent booster doses. The two preprint studies—one from researchers from Harvard University and the other from Columbia University—show that neutralizing antibody responses to the bivalent vaccine formulation were about the same as those to the monovalent vaccine formulation when examined 3-5 weeks post-vaccination. Researchers emphasized, however, that the boosters still offer robust and prolonged protection against severe disease or death from COVID-19, and public health officials continue to encourage people to get boosted as soon as possible. Some experts suggested that the studies were not run for a long enough time and included too small of a population to provide a full picture of bivalent vaccine booster immunogenicity.

US COVID DEATH RATES A data brief published October 25 by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) analyzed COVID-19 mortality rates in 2020, illuminating demographic trends early on in the outbreak according to urbanicity, age, and sex. The report’s findings noted that overall age-adjusted COVID-19 death rates ranked highest to lowest were found in large central metropolitan urban counties, noncore rural counties, micropolitan rural counties, large fringe metropolitan urban counties, small metropolitan urban counties, and medium metropolitan urban counties. When broken down by sex, geographic trends remained largely similar, although the highest death rates for women were found in noncore rural counties and the second highest death rates found in large central metropolitan urban counties. Notably, death rates were at least 50% higher for men than women across all counties, with the greatest difference found in large central metropolitan urban counties, where rates were 78% higher for men.

Another data brief by NCHS found that this trend was further exacerbated in adults aged 65 and older, with males experiencing death rates 1.5 times higher than females. Sex differences in COVID-19 death rates in adults aged 65 and over held across all races. Death rates in older men were highest among Hispanic men, followed by non-Hispanic Black men and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native men. Death rates among older women were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native women, followed by non-Hispanic Black women and Hispanic women. As has been well-established in other studies, overall COVID-19 death rates increased by age group in adults aged 65 and older. The majority (66.2%) of deaths due to COVID-19 among these older adults occurred in a healthcare setting, compared with 24.3% in a nursing home or long-term care facility, and 4.7% at home.

US WORKFORCE The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the US workforce, particularly due to the burden of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), more commonly known as long COVID. Some estimates posit that the economic costs of long COVID could be trillions of dollars. With an estimated 16 million people of working age suffering with long COVID, and as many as 4 million out of work because of their symptoms, many recognize COVID-19 as a mass disabling event. A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York notes there has been an increase of about 1.7 million people with disabilities since the pandemic began and close to 1 million workers with new disabilities, likely due to an increase in Americans living with long COVID.

Many people with long COVID have reduced the number of hours they work or dropped out of the labor force, but an increase in the number of workers with disabilities suggests that more people with long COVID and disabilities are continuing to work. Some experts believe that the surge of workers with disabilities could also be attributed to a tight labor market and a rise in remote work, which allows people with disabilities to enter and remain in the workplace. As more people with long COVID and disabilities enter and remain in the workplace, experts encourage employers to make reasonable workplace accommodations to retain them. Advocates encourage employers to set a positive example by supporting their employees’ needs regardless of their status under the Americans with Disabilities Act, under which employers are expected to make “reasonable accommodations” for people with disabilities.

Similar to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)— which also often follows viral infection—symptoms of long COVID can include fatigue, brain fog, and muscle/joint pain. The accommodations employers have provided to workers with ME/CFS, such as telework and flexible scheduling, could be extended to workers with long COVID as well, along with other changes that allow workers to control their environment, limit physical exertion and commuting, take breaks as needed, manage symptoms, and access comprehensive health benefits. Although making workplace accommodations requires upfront costs, advocates encourage employers to consider the long-term benefits of creating flexible and inclusive policies.

Relatedly, a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research illustrated the phenomenon of “long social distancing” and documented that anxiety around getting COVID-19 has kept close to 3 million people out of the workforce, consequently reducing potential economic output by nearly 1%, or US$250 billion, in the first half of 2022. Long social distancing has ramifications beyond the workforce and economy; many people who continue to protect themselves through social distancing have reported waning social support and increased isolation. Although many in the US seem to be moving on from the pandemic, the long-term economic and social impacts of COVID-19 continue to affect people who struggle to make a complete recovery.

PANDEMIC POLITICIZATION Polling and analysis in the US show Republicans are more likely than Democrats to have lower rates of vaccine uptake and areas with more Republican voters have experienced more COVID-19-related deaths. But viewing the pandemic through a political lens is not useful, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, said last week, urging people to instead view COVID-19 strictly through a public health and medical lens. Nevertheless, partisan messaging surrounding the pandemic is ramping up as US political candidates campaign ahead of mid-term elections. This week, US President Joe Biden publicly received an updated COVID-19 vaccine booster vaccine and called on the country to put politics aside to focus on personal health and the health of friends and family. His public vaccination likely was an effort by the White House to increase awareness that a new booster shot is available—a recent KFF poll found that around half of adults say they have heard “a little” or “nothing at all” about the bivalent boosters—but also a political move to highlight the Biden administration’s COVID-19 efforts, which typically score higher approval ratings than other issues.

Several Republican candidates are arguing that scientific and public health institutions have gained too much power during the pandemic. A new poll from the Pew Research Center suggests that while a majority of respondents agree that government investments in scientific research are worthwhile for society, many expressed a shared concern that the US is failing to gain ground in science globally. Notably, a partisan divide became apparent when respondents were asked about their views on the role of scientists in the policy arena, with Democrats more likely than Republicans to support scientists in active policy roles. Additionally, respondents’ confidence in scientists is lower than the high point seen early in the pandemic but has remained steady over the past year, according to the poll. While other issues appear to be dominating this year’s elections and both parties’ overall spending on COVID-19 messaging has dropped since the 2020 election, the pandemic remains an important issue for voters and elected officials.

https://covid19.who.int/
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2500

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US BOOSTER CAMPAIGN As the US heads into its third winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, US health officials this week announced additional efforts to encourage individuals, particularly those who are older or immunocompromised, to get vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19 at no cost. US President Joe Biden publicly received his fifth shot, coinciding with the release of an updated COVID-19 plan that includes enlisting Walgreens, DoorDash, and Uber to provide free delivery of antiviral prescriptions, calling on educational institutions to hold vaccination clinics for their communities, encouraging employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated, and urging building operators to improve indoor air quality.
In my location when you sign up for your booster you can prearrange for an Uber to pick you up.

At the height of the pandemic the ambulances were very busy and there would be at least two or three ambulances, sirens blaring, audible. Right now in my neighborhood the sirens are almost at the level they were back then.

Anecdotal but I wanted to mention it. There is also a shortage of the flu vaccine.
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2501

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Here is the latest Situation Report. Came out yesterday. Haven't read it yet.

::

EPI UPDATE The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 628 million cumulative cases and 6.57 million deaths worldwide as of November 2. Global weekly incidence dropped for a second week after remaining steady for 6 weeks, falling 14% compared with the previous week to 2.5 million new cases. Weekly incidence fell over the previous week in Africa (-40%), Europe (-29%), and the Eastern Mediterranean (-8%); remained relatively steady in South-East Asia (-2%); and increased slightly in the Americas (+5%) and Western Pacific (+5%). Global weekly mortality decreased slightly from the previous week, down 4%.

UNITED STATES
The US CDC is reporting 97.3 million cumulative cases of COVID-19 and 1.07 million deaths. Incidence for the week ending October 26 remained relatively steady over the previous week, rising to 265,839 reported cases from 261,315 cases for the week ending October 19. Weekly mortality also remained relatively steady for the week ending October 26, up slightly to 2,649 reported deaths from 2,591 deaths the week ending October 19.**
**Beginning October 20, the US CDC began reporting and publishing aggregate case and death data, and line level data where applicable, from jurisdictional and state partners on a weekly basis rather than daily. As a result, COVID-19 data on cases and deaths are updated every week on Thursdays by 8pm ET.

Both new hospital admissions and current hospitalizations appear to have leveled over the past week, rising slightly by 2.1% and 0.1%, respectively.

The BA.5 sublineage continues to be the dominant strain in the US, accounting for 49.6% of sequenced specimens, but its estimated prevalence appears to be decreasing more rapidly now. The Omicron sublineages BQ.1 (14%) and BQ.1.1 (13.1%) are exhibiting growth advantages over other sublineages, including BA.4.6 (9.6%) and BF.7 (7.5%). Several other Omicron sublineages continue to exhibit increasing or steady trends, including BA.5.2.6 (2.8%), BA.2.75 (1.8%), and BA.2.75.2 (1.2%).

LONG COVID/PASC Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), commonly referred to as long COVID, continues to pose a heavy yet poorly understood toll on an uncertain proportion of individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. Healthcare providers, scientists, and long COVID patients are hunting for answers regarding the condition, which cuts across all demographic groups and COVID-19 disease severities.

A group of international researchers published a commentary in Nature Reviews Nephrology highlighting recent studies indicating that long COVID increases the risk of adverse long-term kidney events and can have negative effects on the cardiovascular, hematological, and neurological systems, as well as on mental health and glycometabolism. Given the likelihood that long COVID will lead to new noncommunicable diseases in millions of people despite vaccine-mediated protection, the authors call for governments, health systems, and researchers to further investigate prevention and treatment of long COVID, in addition to building health systems capacity for the expected future noncommunicable disease burden. Notably, the US National Institute of Health’s (NIH) RECOVER Initiative has announced a new clinical trial testing Paxlovid as a treatment for long COVID in collaboration with Duke Clinical Research Institute.

A new systematic review from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) attempted to better characterize the prevalence of long COVID, stratified by initial COVID-19 disease severity, utilizing recruitment setting as a proxy indicator. Across 74,213 patients from 61 cohort studies in 15 countries assessed at least 12 weeks after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, at least one long COVID symptom was found in 50.6% (95% CI: 41.1% to 60.2%) of patients recruited in community settings, 66.5% (95% CI: 56.0% to 76.3%) of patients recruited in hospital settings, and 73.8% (95% CI: 62.3% to 83.9%) of patients recruited in intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Prevalence of individual long COVID symptoms (specifically fatigue, shortness of breath, depression, headache, and dizziness) were higher among hospital settings than community settings. While the study only included patients infected pre-Omicron and did not include uninfected individuals as a control, this investigation—one of the largest studies of long COVID—indicates that the burden of the condition is greater than previously estimated and suggests long COVID symptoms may be worse for patients with more severe COVID-19 disease.

Similarly, a study published October 27 in JAMA Network Open assessed the prevalence of COVID-19 symptoms lasting longer than 2 months past infection in 16,091 US survey respondents between February 5, 2021, and July 6, 2022, as well as potential associations between long COVID and sociodemographic factors, prior vaccination status, and predominant variant at the time of infection. According to the results, 14.7% of respondents reported COVID-19 symptoms at least 2 months after infection, reflecting 13.9% of the previously infected US adult population after reweighting. Notably, further analysis indicated that female gender (adjusted odds ratio: 1.91; 95% CI, 1.73-2.13) and older age per decade above 40 years (adjusted odds ratio: 1.15; 95% CI, 1.12-1.19) may be associated with long COVID development, while risk may be less among those who received primary vaccination series prior to infection (odds ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.60-0.86), individuals with a graduate education vs high school or less (adjusted odds ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56-0.79), and urban vs rural residence (adjusted odds ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.64-0.86). Compared with ancestral COVID-19, infection during periods when the Epsilon variant (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69-0.95) or the Omicron variant (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.92) predominated in the US was also associated with lower risk of long COVID symptoms.

VACCINE BOOSTERS With a worrisome mix of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages expected to drive another cold-weather surge of COVID-19 cases, experts in the US are encouraging people to get vaccinated and boosted using the new bivalent shots. Notably, however, only 7.3% of the US population aged 5 years and older have received the updated boosters, which target both the original SARS-CoV-2 viral strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants. Experts expect the new shots to help provide broad protection against these and newly emerging sublineages. Several recent studies posted as preprints—one each from research teams led by scientists from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Emory University School of Medicine, the University of Texas Medical Branch, and two led by researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center—show that the new bivalent BA.5/4 boosters performed as well as or better than the original boosters and have the potential for BA.5 neutralization 4-fold higher than the original booster. These data, taken together with a study published in Science Immunology showing that booster doses (original) help improve neutralizing antibodies without strongly affecting cellular immune responses, further underline the necessity of booster shots to help strengthen waning immunity and protect against severe disease and death from COVID-19.

NON-NEEDLE VACCINE ADMINISTRATION The administration of vaccines through oral or nasal delivery routes offers several probable advantages, including the potential for stimulating immune reactions that could prevent transmission or symptomatic infection. Additionally, needle-free administration could make vaccination more accessible to countries with limited health infrastructure that have struggled with traditional vaccine administration in the past. Plus, those wary of needles could be persuaded to get vaccinated. The Chinese city of Shanghai last week began the rollout of what is believed to be the world’s first inhalable SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Administration takes less than 20 seconds: a mist containing the vaccine is inhaled slowly through the mouth, then patients hold their breath for five seconds. The CanSino Biologics vaccine was approved in September as a booster dose, but the effectiveness of the inhaled vaccine is not known.

Researchers around the world are investigating another non-needle application, nasal administration. Nasal vaccines, administered through drops or sprays, could offer fast-acting protection, aimed at targeting virus cells where they first take hold in the lining of the nose and throat. Vaccines delivered intranasally differ from traditional vaccines, however, in that they are short-lived compounds aimed at blocking the virus’s ability to enter cells rather than building long-term immunity. They would require frequent application to fully coat the surface where viral cells may enter and likely would need to be used on a regular basis. Regulators in India approved a nasal vaccine in September, but it is not yet in use and efficacy data have not been released. Notably, Oxford and AstraZeneca’s attempt at nasal vaccine administration did not yield significant protection in first-phase human clinical trials. The small trial, which included 30 previously unvaccinated individuals and 12 participants who had received a primary 2-dose vaccination, elicited mucosal membrane antibody responses in only a minority of participants.

A study published October 27 in Science tested an approach the Yale-led researchers dubbed “prime and spike.” The method capitalizes on existing systemic immunity to SARS-CoV-2 gained from primary intramuscular (IM) vaccination to boost the body’s immune response in the respiratory tract using intranasal vaccine delivery. Administered in mice, the nasal spray elicited robust mucosal responses and offered comparable systemic neutralizing antibody booster responses to IM-administered boosters months out from primary vaccination. More research and funding are needed on non-needle vaccines, a key reason why nasal vaccine research has not progressed at the rate of IM-delivered vaccines. In the US, which led the race to develop SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, a lack of funding is preventing promising candidates and methodologies—such as the one tested by Yale researchers—from progressing into human studies and closer to regulatory authorization.

TRAVEL MASK MANDATES The US Supreme Court this week let stand a lower court ruling allowing the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to require mask use for travelers on planes, trains, and other methods of transport. The lower court’s ruling, from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, said the TSA has the authority to maintain safety and security during national emergencies. The TSA dropped its mask mandate in April after a federal judge in a different case ruled the agency had exceeded its authority. As part of a comprehensive strategy, the use of high-quality masks can help reduce the risk of viral transmission, including SARS-CoV-2.

GLOBAL VACCINE ACCESS If SARS-CoV-2 vaccines had been equitably shared among all nations in 2021, 295.8 million infections and 1.3 million deaths due to COVID-19 could have been prevented worldwide by the end of that year, even without any associated changes in behavior, according to a retrospective modeling study published October 27 in Nature Medicine. Additionally, if wealthier nations had kept nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)—such as mask use and limitations on gathering sizes—in place for longer under this scenario, as many as 3.8 million lives could have been saved, the modeling suggests. Vaccine equity has improved globally, although disparities in access persist, according to the WHO. Overall, 68% of the world’s population has received at least one vaccine dose, but that proportion drops to 23% in low-income countries.

Though vaccine access is improving, other challenges remain, including the spread of mis- and disinformation, a lack of laboratory capacity and access, and the need for large capacity storage facilities, among others. Some experts are warning that the emergence of newer variants capable of greater immune evasion could create a critical situation in 2023, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) whose populations are undervaccinated. But the situation also provides an opportunity for increased efforts to supply LMICs with next-generation vaccine boosters. Even as access to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines improves, the world needs to seriously look to the future and devise systems that will facilitate the equitable distribution of medical countermeasures during the next disease outbreak.

https://covid19.who.int/
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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

#2502

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Here's the latest Situation Report. I believe this is the first evidence that the bivalent vaccines increase immune response against the most recent subvariants. The section on ending the COVID-19 public health threat by using a "whole of society" or "whole of government" approach made me chuckle, especially the part about rebuilding trust of government.

::

EPI UPDATE The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 630.6 million cumulative cases and 6.58 million deaths worldwide as of November 10. Global weekly incidence dropped for a third week, falling nearly 12% compared with the previous week, to 2.2 million new cases. Weekly incidence fell over the previous week in Europe (-32.5%) and the Eastern Mediterranean (-11%) and remained relatively steady in the Americas (-3%). The South-East Asia (+28%), Western Pacific (+10%), and Africa (+9%) regions experienced increasing weekly incidence. Global weekly mortality decreased slightly from the previous week, down 9%, reaching the lowest level since mid-June 2022.

UNITED STATES
The US CDC is reporting 97.6 million cumulative cases of COVID-19 and 1.07 million deaths. Incidence for the week ending November 2 rose slightly over the previous week, rising to 273,110 from 260,830 for the week ending October 26. Weekly mortality remained relatively steady for the week ending November 2, down slightly to 2,504 reported deaths from 2,581 deaths the week ending October 26.**
**The US CDC updates weekly COVID-19 data on cases and deaths on Thursdays by 8pm ET.

Both new hospital admissions rose 6.2% over the past week, while current hospitalizations remained stable, falling slightly by 0.4%.

The BA.5 sublineage is quickly losing dominance in the US, accounting for 39.2% of sequenced specimens. The Omicron sublineages BQ.1.1 (18.8%) and BQ.1 (16.5%) are exhibiting growth advantages over other sublineages, including BA.4.6 (9.5%) and BF.7 (9%). Several other Omicron sublineages continue to exhibit increasing or steady trends, including BA.5.2.6 (3.1%), BA.2.75 (2.3%), and BA.2.75.2 (1.3%).

DECLINE IN GLOBAL DEATHS The number of global deaths due to COVID-19 has dropped 90% compared to nine months ago, according to the WHO. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week said the total number of COVID-related deaths reported during the first week in November was slightly more than 9,400, while the number of global weekly deaths in February rose as high as 75,000. The large drop in COVID-19 deaths is cause for optimism, Dr. Tedros said, but he urged governments to remain vigilant. Low global testing rates, waning surveillance activities, vaccination gaps between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries, and newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants could lead to a resurgence in cases.

MASKING IN SCHOOLS A study published November 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine examining universal masking requirements in Boston, Massachusetts, greater metropolitan area schools found that the lifting of those requirements was associated with an additional 44.9 COVID-19 cases per 1,000 students and staff (95% CI, 32.6 to 57.1), corresponding to an estimated 11,901 cases and to 29.4% of the cases in all districts, in the 15 weeks after universal masking ended. Infection rates were lower among masked students than unmasked students, even in the area’s public schools that are often in older buildings with poor ventilation systems, more crowded, and attended by students more often from communities considered to be at-risk. The findings add to evidence underlining the importance of public health mitigation measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2—and possibly other respiratory viruses—in schools, including universal masking requirements.

PFIZER-BIONTECH BA.4/5 BOOSTER Pfizer and BioNTech released new data last week suggesting their updated Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine booster offers increased antibody response against the current most commonly circulating variants in populations aged 55 and older. Federal officials hope the news of more significant protection against COVID-19 will encourage people to get the booster shot, as less than 9% of the US population has done so. In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Israel detailed data from a 6-month follow-up of more than 11,000 healthcare workers who had 4 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. According to the research, participants had good neutralizing antibody responses, equivalent to those seen after a third dose, but that protection waned more quickly than after the third dose, waning completely after 13 weeks. The researchers said their findings suggest that boosters should be timed wisely to align with projected disease waves or be made seasonally available, similar to influenza vaccination.

Health regulators in the UK approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent booster targeting Omicron BA.4/5 this week for individuals aged 12 years and older, following the US, Canada, and the European Union. The UK already approved bivalent boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna targeting Omicron BA.1. The UK also expanded the conditional marketing authorization for Novavax’s Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) as a homologous and heterologous booster dose after a primary vaccine series of any authorized SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Novavax this week said a version of its vaccine targeting Omicron BA.1 (NVX-CoV2515) showed a strong immune response as the fourth dose.

In other vaccine-related news, AstraZeneca announced this week the company has withdrawn its application for authorization of its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the US due to waning demand and the availability of other vaccines.

COMBINATION COVID/FLU VACCINE Pfizer and BioNTech announced last week they are once again partnering to test a new vaccine candidate—an mRNA-based combination SARS-CoV-2 and influenza vaccine that incorporates the current bivalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with a new quadrivalent influenza vaccine candidate called qIRV (22/23). The Phase 1 trial, which has already begun and aims to enroll 180 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-64 years in the US, will assess the vaccine candidate’s ability to generate immune response, safety, and tolerability.

In addition to the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate, Moderna and Novavax also are developing combination SARS-CoV-2 and influenza vaccines. If any of the vaccine candidates under development are successful, it would relieve people from the burden of scheduling and receiving separate annual shots for 2 respiratory diseases. Health experts hope an mRNA-based influenza vaccine might improve immune responses in older adults. If successful in trials, a combination vaccine could be ready for use during the 2023-2024 flu season.

THERAPEUTICS The United States is heading into a third pandemic winter with uncertainty surrounding several existing treatments for COVID-19 and few options to boost immune protection for immunocompromised individuals. While there is an updated bivalent vaccine booster, uptake is low; only 8.4% of the US population aged 5 years and older have received the shot. Notably, new data show the newer SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants—including BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB, and XBB.1—can evade both vaccine-induced and infection-derived immunity. Additionally, the new sublineages are skirting the protection of the remaining monoclonal antibody therapies, including bebtelovimab, used as a treatment for people at high-risk of severe disease, and Evusheld, given prophylactically to people with compromised immune systems. The newer variants also have multiple pathways that could lead to resistance to the antiviral Paxlovid, one of the most effective treatments available, according to research published in Nature.

As the virus continues to develop ways to skirt available therapeutics, stronger efforts are needed to develop and authorize new drugs. Scientists are examining several new strategies, including targeting the human proteins SARS-CoV-2 uses to reproduce. A study published November 4 in Clinical Infectious Diseases showed that twice daily oral zinc supplementation decreased the 30-day death and ICU admission rate and shortened symptom duration among COVID-19 patients. This week, the US FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for anakinra (Kineret) injection for the treatment of COVID-19 in certain hospitalized patients at risk of developing severe respiratory failure. Anakinra is an interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist currently FDA-approved to treat other conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis. On November 9, an FDA advisory panel voted against authorizing an oral drug, sabizabulin, to treat high-risk hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The panel voted 8-5 against the drug’s use, citing concerns over efficacy and safety data being based on a small clinical trial and hinting that it might reconsider additional data gathered from a larger trial. The FDA is not obligated to follow the panel’s recommendations, although it usually does.

In related news, a preprint study from researchers with the US Veterans Health Administration suggests that taking Paxlovid to treat COVID-19 may reduce the risk of later developing post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), commonly called long COVID. The analysis, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed that people treated with Paxlovid within 5 days of a positive test were 26% less likely to develop many long COVID symptoms—including cardiovascular issues, hematologic disorders, neurocognitive impairment, fatigue, and trouble breathing—1 to 3 months after testing positive, compared with people who took a placebo. The study has several limitations, including that most of the people included were White and male. Last month, the US NIH announced it is beginning a study to evaluate Paxlovid as a treatment for people already experiencing long COVID.

ENDING COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT A peer-reviewed research article seeking consensus on how to end the COVID-19 public health threat was published November 3 in the journal Nature. The study convened a panel of 386 experts from academia, health settings, nongovernmental organizations, and governmental organizations from 112 countries and territories to develop the recommendations. Using the Delphi study methodology—a method used to identify consensus views across subject matter experts—the research presents a set of 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations. In an opinion piece published in STAT, a group of the panel’s co-chairs noted that the process of developing, and agreeing on, the recommendations took approximately 14 months and discussed feeling discouraged at times, because world leaders and the general public seemed ready to move on from a problem that still needs solutions.

Some of the highest-ranking recommendations from the study call for “whole-of-society” and “whole-of-government” approaches to ending the COVID-19 health threat. Other recommendations include calling on governments to improve communication, rebuilding public trust, and engaging with communities while managing the pandemic response. The authors mention that improved indoor air quality is needed, in the form of enhanced air filtration and ventilation, in public spaces to prevent the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19. Mechanical interventions like enhanced filtration and ventilation can prevent the spread of disease without relying on the actions of individuals. Indoor air quality has received more focus internationally since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some world leaders are taking steps to push for improvements. It remains to be seen if world leaders and the general public will heed the advice from the panel.

CHINA The Chinese government today reaffirmed its commitment to its "dynamic zero" COVID-19 policy, despite growing frustrations from Chinese citizens and heavy economic impacts. This week, the number of new COVID-19 cases in China reached a six-month high, prompting public health officials to reinstate lockdowns, frequent testing, and travel restrictions in some areas, frustrating both Chinese residents and the international community. The country’s restrictions are also interrupting the global economy. China’s 1.4 billion people largely lack immunity due to low infection rates, and Chinese-made vaccines have proven less effective against newer, more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants, challenging the nation’s exit from its zero COVID policies.

CORRECTION Due to an editing oversight, a story in last week’s report misrepresented research on nasal vaccines and other experimental compounds that might be used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Errors in the following paragraph contained in the story Non-Needle Vaccine Administration, which can be read in full here, were corrected to state:

Researchers around the world are investigating another non-needle application, nasal vaccines administered through drops or sprays. Regulators in India approved a nasal vaccine in September, but it is not yet in use and efficacy data have not been released. Notably, Oxford and AstraZeneca’s attempt at nasal vaccine administration did not yield significant protection in first-phase human clinical trials. The small trial, which included 30 previously unvaccinated individuals and 12 participants who had received a primary 2-dose vaccination, elicited mucosal membrane antibody responses in only a minority of participants. Some compounds under investigation that are delivered intranasally differ from traditional vaccines, however, in that they provide short-lived protection aimed at blocking a virus’s ability to enter cells rather than building long-term immunity. They would require frequent application to fully coat the surface where viruses could infect cells and likely would need to be used on a regular basis.

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Re: Covid-19 Updates & Info

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Post by ponchi101 »

Well, a bit of good news. The paragraph on declining global deaths is encouraging.
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ponchi101 wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:15 pm Well, a bit of good news. The paragraph on declining global deaths is encouraging.
Count on deaths rising significantly in the coming weeks - and remaining higher until April or May, as high population areas are headed into the colder/winter months - meaning more people congregating indoors (and largely unmasked this time)...
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Post by atlpam »

Received my bivalent booster yesterday.
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