wuhan - coronavirus

[Ausmumof3]

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2B319K?__twitter_impression=trueIl 

astra Zeneca vax paused in Denmark and Norway after a couple of cases of blood clots forming in those recently vaccinated.

[RootAnn]

Things are very much "life as normal" around here. Attached pictures from basketball game yesterday. No masks by staff or customers at the local vet yesterday with inside service. Grocery store has removed the one-way signs (not that anyone followed them). Eye doctor's office still had mask usage, thankfully, but didn't seem to be wiping surfaces down between patients (even though they were very good about doing it pre-COVID). 

[Ausmumof3]

 Brazil posted over 2,200 deaths yesterday.  I think it’s some kind of data anomaly but not great.  

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html
 

vaccination percentages by state for the US 

[Ausmumof3]

https://bit.ly/3vfgcRO?cc=1647f7625a0285f24f5f88788f2acde2
 

Novavax revealed the final results of its Phase 3 human trials of NVX-CoV2373 in a press release; the findings have not been submitted for peer-review in a scientific journal yet. The company reported that overall, its vaccine was 96% efficacious in protecting people from mild, moderate or severe COVID-19 disease if they were infected with the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine was slightly less efficacious, at 86%, in protecting against disease if people were infected with the B.1.1.7 strain of the virus, which is becoming dominant in the U.K., where the study was conducted. That gives the vaccine an overall efficacy of 89.7% against both the original and U.K. variants. By comparison, Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is 95% efficacious against COVID-19 disease, Moderna’s is 94%, and Johnson & Johnson’s is 66%.

In an ongoing, Phase 2B study of the vaccine in South Africa, where a more worrisome variant is increasingly responsible for a growing share of new infections, Novavax’s shot is so far 55% efficacious in protecting against COVID-19 symptoms.

“I did not think it was possible to have a vaccine prevent 96% of any respiratory disease,” says Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development at Novavax. “That’s outstanding, and I’m personally ecstatic. If you had asked me a year ago [to predict] the very best vaccine we could expect, I would have said 80% or 85% efficacy against any respiratory disease would be pretty amazing.”

 

 

[kbutton]

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/houston-reports-uncontrolled-community-spread-of-uk-variant.html?fbclid=IwAR36DdDrqJIQs8HWwoitGTJdTMRJ1BHes6IQDKhwaAmtvgbVSJ4Qvcw3DvI

 

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-12/brisbane-hospital-lockdown-doctor-covid/13244616
 

A Queensland hospital is in lockdown because a doctor has tested positive for Covid19 after coming into contact with an infected patient

 

[mommyoffive]

Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[Not_a_Number]

51 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

San Francisco also shut early and did well. Basically, the metro areas that acted promptly were seriously rewarded. 

Man, I really hate de Blasio. (And now with Cuomo's scandals, he isn't exactly worth supporting either, even though I still think he's twice smarter than our mayor. Blergh. NY needs better leadership.) 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Ausmumof3]

I am seeing some vague reports of another new variant in the Phillipines - from the same lineage as the Brazilian variant but different again.  I can’t find any good source clearly written information - interested if anyone does find something.

Apparently the QLD doctor was exposed to UK variant so they’re expecting it to be that.  (Sorry I should call it the correct name but I can’t remember it, apologies to any UK people).  The exposure was Wednesday, with the doctor having some contact with public Thursday but the levels of infection were low enough to not be overly worrying.   The hospital is locked down to non essential visits and all hospitals and aged care are closed to visitors for a few days.  Queensland has managed every other incidence well so really hoping they do it again this time.  Society in general is much more open and relaxed so we are really relying on the health authorities, whereas with earlier outbreaks people were being cautious over and above the requirements.

We also seem to be getting more hotel quarantine cases again.  They dropped off for a while so maybe that’s reflective somewhat of what’s happening in the rest of the world.

[Ausmumof3]

Another case for Australia in a quarantine worker in NSW.  They had received the first dose of vaccine but presumably not long enough ago to have effect yet.

QLD had a second case but believed to be likely a historic case not linked to the current one.

[Ausmumof3]

Worldwide passed 120,000,000 cases today and US passed 30,000,000 by worldometer stats.  The small uptick in daily cases worldwide is continuing though daily deaths are still going down but levelling out.  The US is still trending down, I’m not sure where the upward tick is driven by I think maybe Europe?

[Ausmumof3]

Both cases and deaths are continuing to escalate in Brazil so that may be one part of it.

[Laura Corin]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Worldwide passed 120,000,000 cases today and US passed 30,000,000 by worldometer stats.  The small uptick in daily cases worldwide is continuing though daily deaths are still going down but levelling out.  The US is still trending down, I’m not sure where the upward tick is driven by I think maybe Europe?

There are some Eastern European countries being hit badly.  

[Ausmumof3]

ABC

Here's the latest on the worsening COVID-19 situation in Papua New Guinea.

Australia is expected to ramp up urgent coronavirus assistance to Papua New Guinea as aid groups warn the country is facing a public health catastrophe from a "staggering" increase in cases.

PNG's Prime Minister James Marapesounded the alarm on the pandemic yesterday, warning that his nation was approaching an infection rate "of about one person to three or four".

"The number is quite staggering, if we don't do [a] corrective response to this, our health system will be clogged and we won't be able to sustain it," Mr Marape told journalists in Port Moresby.

The pandemic has already placed enormous strain on PNG's hospitals and health clinics.

Port Moresby Hospital's COVID-19 isolation ward is full and additional beds are filling up rapidly, while dozens of medical workers have tested positive.

The pandemic has infected PNG politicians, staff at key national institutions such as the Prime Minister's Department and Australian diplomatic officials working in the country.

[Ausmumof3]

35 minutes ago, kand said:

I wonder why the health care workers there are being hit so hard. Over 100 nurses positive at one hospital? I wonder what the PPE situation is. 

I suspect not great though I haven’t seen anything specific about it.  I’m also wondering whether one of the variants is in play.  I don’t know if they would do enough genomic testing to know?  

[Ausmumof3]

Apparently Qld have been assisting with testing and they are seeing around 50pc positivity.  
 

Honestly after Australia has vaccinated quarantine workers maybe we should help vaccinate PNG before our own population ... 

[bookbard]

4 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Honestly after Australia has vaccinated quarantine workers maybe we should help vaccinate PNG before our own population ... 

Absolutely. We are at such low risk here - they should be supporting vaccinating PNG and other higher risk groups such as in the Pacific Islands. 

[Ausmumof3]

2,798 deaths for Brazil today. 😞.  Cases worldwide steadily increasing again but from a higher starting point.  

[Ausmumof3]

I think if I understand correctly this is ICU occupancy map for Brazil?  Anyone with foreign language skills able to confirm?

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Ausmumof3

[TCB]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I think if I understand correctly this is ICU occupancy map for Brazil?  Anyone with foreign language skills able to confirm?

 

I speak some Portuguese. That picture is showing the % of ICU beds occupied in the different states in Brazil. Actually just looked at it again and it is % of Covid 19 ICU beds. Don’t know what the state of other ICU beds are, but I would imagine the whole health system is not doing well.

Edited March 17, 2021 by TCB

[Ausmumof3]

17 minutes ago, TCB said:

I speak some Portuguese. That picture is showing the % of ICU beds occupied in the different states in Brazil. Actually just looked at it again and it is % of Covid 19 ICU beds. Don’t know what the state of other ICU beds are, but I would imagine the whole health system is not doing well.

Thank you.

[Corraleno]

New study examining heart tissue from patients who died of covid found that 75% had the virus in their heart:

"SARS-CoV-2 was present in 30 of [41] hearts, the team reports today in Modern Pathology. And only those patients experienced new atrial fibrillations, fast and irregular heart rhythms, or early or extra heartbeats, compared with the other patients in the study—a correlation Stone calls “pretty phenomenal.”

Still, it’s unclear whether the virus attacked the heart directly in these cases. Most of the infected cardiac cells were immune cells, which SARS-CoV-2 could have invaded elsewhere in the body before they traveled to the heart. It’s also unclear whether the virus—rather than the immune cells themselves—is causing the problems.

Regardless, the study may help explain why the steroid dexamethasone is so helpful to some patients. The drug was one of the first found to prevent deaths from severe COVID-19. It reduces inflammation, so it may have curbed the presence of SARS-CoV-2–harboring immune cells in the heart, Stone says. Only 50% of the patients treated with dexamethasone had the virus in their hearts, compared with 90% of patients who were not on the drug.

... Maleszewski says the new findings are a call to action. Scientists need to probe more cardiac tissue, he argues, not just to see how COVID-19 kills patients, but to figure out how it hurts the hearts of those that survive. The disease may, for example, create scar tissue that can cause cardiac problems down the line. We’re starting to understand what COVID-19 does to patients when they have it, he says. “What’s not clear is what happens later on.”

 

 

[Melissa in Australia]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:49 AM, Ausmumof3 said:

Apparently Qld have been assisting with testing and they are seeing around 50pc positivity.  
 

Honestly after Australia has vaccinated quarantine workers maybe we should help vaccinate PNG before our own population ... 

heard that they are going to send 1 mil doses of vaccine from the latest shipment form Europe to PNG as a mater of urgency. these were doses for Aussies, but as we don't have an immediate risk they will be better used there

[Ausmumof3]

Do we think the US is going to have a fourth wave or is the vaccination enough?  It definitely seems to be plateauing at the moment.  

[Terabith]

36 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Do we think the US is going to have a fourth wave or is the vaccination enough?  It definitely seems to be plateauing at the moment.  

I think there will be a fourth wave, but I think it's going to hit some areas a lot harder than others.  

[Elfknitter.#]

8 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I think there will be a fourth wave, but I think it's going to hit some areas a lot harder than others.  

This, exactly.

[busymama7]

1 hour ago, Elfknitter.# said:

This, exactly.

Can we predict what areas and why?

[Ausmumof3]

Just now, busymama7 said:

Can we predict what areas and why?

Good question.  I’m wondering if this relates to the vaccination uptake/rates, previous infection rates or something else.

[Ausmumof3]

In kind of COVID related news Australia’s population has declined for the first time since 1916, due to border closures etc as well as the ongoing low birth rate.

 

[Wheres Toto]

I think the areas with a lot of vaccine hesitancy are going to be hit hard, especially since they correspond to some of the areas that are opening up and stopping mask mandates prematurely (IMO).  

I'm worried about what's going to happen when vaccine-induced immunity starts wearing off.  How bad will it get before we realize people need to start going for boosters?  I would expect that a lot of the mask mandates may be loosened by that point so I could see it being worse.   Unless the variants start causing surges before mask mandates are relaxed, in which case they will probably not be relaxed as quickly.  

[Starr]

When ish do you think another wave will hit? Spring/summer or will it be more like fall?

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Wheres Toto said:

 

I'm worried about what's going to happen when vaccine-induced immunity starts wearing off.  How bad will it get before we realize people need to start going for boosters? 

We are still studying/following up on the people enrolled in the intitial trials, who were vaccinated ahead of the general public. We should see antibodies lower in them first, giving up the heads up of when to booster the general populace. 

[busymama7]

12 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

We are still studying/following up on the people enrolled in the intitial trials, who were vaccinated ahead of the general public. We should see antibodies lower in them first, giving up the heads up of when to booster the general populace. 

Ok so antibodies only last an average of 3-4 months after infection but maybe T cells activate if re exposed.  Is this different for the vaccine? Are the antibodies lasting longer than an infection or are they testing something other than antibodies to measure immune response?  

[ktgrok]

14 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

Ok so antibodies only last an average of 3-4 months after infection but maybe T cells activate if re exposed.  Is this different for the vaccine? Are the antibodies lasting longer than an infection or are they testing something other than antibodies to measure immune response?  

Vaccine may produce a much higher/stronger antibody response, from what I remember reading. 

“However, when you get the second dose of the vaccine, you’re further training your immune system,” said Boslett. “You’re strengthening that response from the antibody-producing B cells and you’re also activating T memory cells that stick around for much longer.” Getting both doses of the vaccine means your body is shown this spike protein multiple times in a short duration. “So that immune response might be bigger, better and longer lasting than just getting the infection one time,” she said.

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/01/419691/covid-19-vaccine-fact-vs-fiction-expert-weighs-common-fears

Edited March 20, 2021 by ktgrok

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, Starr said:

When ish do you think another wave will hit? Spring/summer or will it be more like fall?

I am seeing rumblings of experts saying they may be seeing early signs. the drop off has stopped and plateaud, positivity is creeping up in some areas, and there’s an increase in new variants circulating that’s partly why I asked.

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I am seeing rumblings of experts saying they may be seeing early signs. the drop off has stopped and plateaud, positivity is creeping up in some areas, and there’s an increase in new variants circulating that’s partly why I asked.

Yeah, my oldest's school is going back in person in a week, and we feel like grinches, but we are keeping them home (with oldest child's agreement), since we feel like we just don't know what's going to happen with the new variants and I'm worried about a spike.  The school is tiny and honestly could not be any more careful than they are being, but still, the unknowns are worrisome.  

I'm assuming I'll be able to get 16 and 17 year olds vaccinated before fall and then they can attend school in person.  

[melmichigan]

Our entire county just moved all 6-12 kids to virtual learning.  The CC is already virtual.  A few districts have moved their K-5 to virtual, but that depends on the district and their numbers.  Our county cases more than doubled in the last week with close to a 19% positivity.  Our surge is here.  We have 10% of the county vaccinated but luckily for now the numbers are growing most in the 10-18 year range.  The graph is actually missing on the edge, but we're actually almost to the peak from last time.  Being as our state has 15% of the B.1.1.7 cases, and there is known community spread in the county, many speculate that is what we are seeing the beginnings of.

Edited March 21, 2021 by melmichigan

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, Terabith said:

Yeah, my oldest's school is going back in person in a week, and we feel like grinches, but we are keeping them home (with oldest child's agreement), since we feel like we just don't know what's going to happen with the new variants and I'm worried about a spike.  The school is tiny and honestly could not be any more careful than they are being, but still, the unknowns are worrisome.  

I'm assuming I'll be able to get 16 and 17 year olds vaccinated before fall and then they can attend school in person.  

I remember your thread.  Hope it all works out for the best and you can get back next year 

[Terabith]

46 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I remember your thread.  Hope it all works out for the best and you can get back next year 

They're being super supportive, so seems like there shouldn't be a problem with that.  There are other kids not going back in person, too.  (Thank goodness.)

[ktgrok]

Well, this isn't good as far as preventing another surge. Sigh. And all those people can be spreading variants, etc. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/20/us/miami-beach-crowds-clevelander-covid/index.html

And what burns is if they waited a few freaking months, they could be vaccinated and party this summer. Not being willing to wait just a few more months is SO infuriating. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by ktgrok

[Acadie]

13 hours ago, melmichigan said:

Our entire county just moved all 6-12 kids to virtual learning.  The CC is already virtual.  A few districts have moved their K-5 to virtual, but that depends on the district and their numbers.  Our county cases more than doubled in the last week with close to a 19% positivity.  Our surge is here.  We have 10% of the county vaccinated but luckily for now the numbers are growing most in the 10-18 year range.  The graph is actually missing on the edge, but we're actually almost to the peak from last time.  Being as our state has 15% of the B.1.1.7 cases, and there is known community spread in the county, many speculate that is what we are seeing the beginnings of.

I'm so sorry to hear this and hope you and your family and friends stay safe. Here in OH our  surges have followed Michigan's in the past, so I appreciate the heads up. The graph is really striking and I hope this information will help people take seriously the need to do whatever we can to prevent variant-fueled surges this spring and summer. 

 

[Bootsie]

DH and DS went to the barber who asked if they had gotten sick--turns out that the last time they were in, New Year's Eve, the barber started feeling ill that evening and had COVID.  He said that he had given all of his client list/contact information of clients who had been in for contact tracing; Two-and-a-half months later, neither DH or DS have been contacted.  Luckily, neither DH or DS became ill.  

[historically accurate]

Possibly Covid 19 infections can lead to diabetes - call for new studies. 

My brother was just diagnosed with diabetes last month. He suspects he had Covid following a trip to Israel in early 2020. Never tested, but he was very sick for about a week and a half. Lost a lot of weight and basically sat in his chair with fever, chills, and coughing during most of it. Who knows if the two are connected?  

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-diabetes-pandemic-trigger-metabolism-covidiab/

 

[mommyoffive]

On 3/21/2021 at 9:01 AM, ktgrok said:

Well, this isn't good as far as preventing another surge. Sigh. And all those people can be spreading variants, etc. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/20/us/miami-beach-crowds-clevelander-covid/index.html

And what burns is if they waited a few freaking months, they could be vaccinated and party this summer. Not being willing to wait just a few more months is SO infuriating. 

I saw the pictures of it this morning on the news!  Crazy.  But it also just pisses me off so much because you know they are going to go home and spread the virus. 

[mommyoffive]

Covid cases rise across more than half of the U.S. as country races to vaccinate (msn.com)

 

B.1.1.7 in Michigan

Adding to the urgency of the need to get people vaccinated quickly is the looming threat of new variants, which appear to have already caused severe surges across much of Europe and other parts of the world. The CDC has projected that the more contagious and potentially more deadly B.1.1.7 variant, which was discovered in the United Kingdom, could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by the end of the month.

Some health officials have said that the B.1.1.7 variant could be what's behind some particularly worrying surges seen in various states, including Michigan, where cases have risen dramatically in recent days. According to data from Hopkins, Michigan is reporting an average of almost 3,000 new cases per day, up by about 50% from a week ago.

The rise in cases there comes after the state allowed restaurants to reopen for indoor dining on Feb. 1, pushed for schools to offer in-person learning by March 1 and eased restrictions on restaurants and gatherings earlier this month. The recent surge there even prompted Fauci recently to plead with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to "hold off for a bit" on reopening.

Along with the easing of restrictions, Michigan also has the second-highest count of B.1.1.7 cases of any state in the country, behind only Florida. The state has 616 cases of the variant, according to the CDC, though there are likely many more cases that have not yet been confirmed, which means the strain could be driving the outbreak there.

Edited March 22, 2021 by mommyoffive

[1234]

I know our numbers are flat right now but expected to rise again soon based on those states around us. The Covid ICU doctor I follow for updates doesn’t expect our cases to get as high as our last peak in December though. He also doesn’t think our hospitalizations and deaths will rise too much this time (obviously not certain but hopeful).  It looks like around 70% of those over 60 have had at least one dose of the vaccine (around 60% is fully vaxed) and that age group has made up 90% of our deaths, so hopefully he’s right things don’t get as bad as before.

[kbutton]

20 minutes ago, Joker2 said:

I know our numbers are flat right now but expected to rise again soon based on those states around us. The Covid ICU doctor I follow for updates doesn’t expect our cases to get as high as our last peak in December though. He also doesn’t think our hospitalizations and deaths will rise too much this time (obviously not certain but hopeful).  It looks like around 70% of those over 60 have had at least one dose of the vaccine (around 60% is fully vaxed) and that age group has made up 90% of our deaths, so hopefully he’s right things don’t get as bad as before.

I think is a reasonable line of thought, and I think vaccination rates and openings will be some of the factors of whether it's worse or better in any given area. It makes me upset that we can't cross this finish line better, but I do feel so much better that our older population is much more protected and that I have my two doses scheduled (tomorrow is the first! Pfizer).

I do wonder if more younger people spreading it will drive rates of other problems though, such as long covid, diabetes, lung issues, etc. that show up weeks or months later. 

My super careful, relatively young (maybe late 30's) optometrist got Covid from a patient, and she has new onset exercise-induced asthma, and she said it was a full 12 days of misery when she was ill. She feels lucky to have gotten off that unscathed.

[Not_a_Number]

1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

Possibly Covid 19 infections can lead to diabetes - call for new studies. 

My brother was just diagnosed with diabetes last month. He suspects he had Covid following a trip to Israel in early 2020. Never tested, but he was very sick for about a week and a half. Lost a lot of weight and basically sat in his chair with fever, chills, and coughing during most of it. Who knows if the two are connected?  

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-diabetes-pandemic-trigger-metabolism-covidiab/

 

This kind of stuff is why I’m not in the “let’s just let kids get it!” camp 😕 . We don’t know the long term effects. We just don’t.

[Acorn]

A two year old I know was just diagnosed with diabetes several months after Covid.