Coronavirus Updates

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

It is time for a modern Chinese fairy tale we all will NOT believe: China cancels coronavirus clinical trials due to shortage of patients

• Many studies halted ‘because no one expected that China would control the epidemic so quickly’, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan says
• Almost 600 clinical trials have been registered since the outbreak began, which is evidence of Chinese researchers’ determination to find a treatment for Covid-19, he says

China cancels clinical trials due to shortage of coronavirus patients

Many studies halted ‘because no one expected that China would control the epidemic so quickly’, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan says.

www.scmp.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It is time for a modern Chinese fairy tale we all will NOT believe: China cancels coronavirus clinical trials due to shortage of patients

• Many studies halted ‘because no one expected that China would control the epidemic so quickly’, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan says
• Almost 600 clinical trials have been registered since the outbreak began, which is evidence of Chinese researchers’ determination to find a treatment for Covid-19, he says

China cancels clinical trials due to shortage of coronavirus patients

Many studies halted ‘because no one expected that China would control the epidemic so quickly’, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan says.

www.scmp.com

China denies cover-up as Wuhan coronavirus deaths revised up 50%

Revision to total comes after weeks of scepticism over officially reported figures

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Roche to commence rollout of coronavirus antibody test in UK

Pharmaceutical company says it can produce tests in the high tens of millions by June

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Old news: hundreds of corona infection on board of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Hot news: at least over 668 corona infections on board of the French nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charle de Gaulle.

 

[Pamela]

In case anyone has not seen this whole clip — here is what someone who is not afraid of Trump sounds like:

 

[Anya Ristow]

I expressed interest in an NIH antibodies clinical trial but they haven't gotten back to me. Possibly they have a wealth of volunteers.

 

[Free]

Ugh.

 

[Free]

More bad news, for the U.S.

 

[OrinB]

Ugh.

I've been waiting for someone to say this for months! It's not as if making antibodies in your body will automatically make you immune - your body will always produce a response to a virus, but that doesn't imply immunity. HIV and the common cold seroconversion does not make you immune from being re-infected by the virus.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I've been waiting for someone to say this for months! It's not as if making antibodies in your body will automatically make you immune - your body will always produce a response to a virus, but that doesn't imply immunity. HIV and the common cold seroconversion does not make you immune from being re-infected by the virus.

But there's no way of knowing whether or not antibodies do actually protect you against a second infection unless you can reliably test for their presence in the first place, is there?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Operation reopen America: are we about to witness a second historic failure of leadership from Trump?

Without mass testing, contact tracing, and protective gear for health workers – all in critically short supply – the president’s plan could be disastrous

www.theguardian.com

 

[Fionalein]

I've been waiting for someone to say this for months! It's not as if making antibodies in your body will automatically make you immune - your body will always produce a response to a virus, but that doesn't imply immunity. HIV and the common cold seroconversion does not make you immune from being re-infected by the virus.

Herd immunity is not binary, even if you can get reinfected your body is trained for the situation.

 

[OrinB]

But there's no way of knowing whether or not antibodies do actually protect you against a second infection unless you can reliably test for their presence in the first place, is there?

I've been waiting for someone to say this for months!

True enough. Though we do have a test for the antibodies, but we're not testing enough people to see. Yet the assumption from weeks ago about herd immunity has been taken as a given!

 

[Kara Spengler]

I expressed interest in an NIH antibodies clinical trial but they haven't gotten back to me. Possibly they have a wealth of volunteers.

More likely they are just overwhelmed. Especially since at least one of their trials is nationwide.

That reminds me. I am normally involved in a computer conference on their campus in the summer. There has yet to be an announcement if it is virtual or what.

 

[danielravennest]

Antibody tests in Santa Clara county, CA shows many more people have been infected than official counts

The PCR type test has been in short supply, so they have limited its use to people with significant symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing, etc.) and those exposed to people who tested positive. This new test from Premier Biotech looks for two kinds of antibodies in blood samples. The first is generated quickly during an infection. The second is produced later, and primes the body to react to later exposure. This is how we develop immunity from vaccines or past infections.

The fact that 2.5-4% of people in that county are showing antibodies, vs 0.1% official positive tests by PCR implies most people get mild or no symptoms. It also implies the disease is more easily spread than they thought.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Antibody tests in Santa Clara county, CA shows many more people have been infected than official counts

The PCR type test has been in short supply, so they have limited its use to people with significant symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing, etc.) and those exposed to people who tested positive. This new test from Premier Biotech looks for two kinds of antibodies in blood samples. The first is generated quickly during an infection. The second is produced later, and primes the body to react to later exposure. This is how we develop immunity from vaccines or past infections.

The fact that 2.5-4% of people in that county are showing antibodies, vs 0.1% official positive tests by PCR implies most people get mild or no symptoms. It also implies the disease is more easily spread than they thought.

And if that's the case, it completely changes the basis upon which assumptions are made about when infection rates will peak, and about how rapidly they'll drop off, since the percentage of the population who are immune (because they've had the asymptomatic strain of the virus) will be increasing far more rapidly than we thought.

If I properly understand it, it's as if there's been a widespread but haphazard and undocumented vaccination programme going on without our knowing it.

 

[danielravennest]

If I properly understand it, it's as if there's been a widespread but haphazard and undocumented vaccination programme going on without our knowing it.

What we don't know yet is how much immunity a mild case confers and how long it will last. But yes, if we are lucky this "silent spread" will help a bit, on top of all the other things we can do until a real vaccine is available.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Why counting coronavirus deaths is not an exact science | Gianluca Baio and Marta Blangiardo

It’s the data that gets all the headlines, but the two main sources of information in the UK have their own limits, say Profs Gianluca Baio and Marta Blangiardo

www.theguardian.com

 

[danielravennest]

Americans at World Health Organization transmitted real-time information about coronavirus to Trump administration

More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials.

A number of CDC staffers are regularly detailed to work at WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said.

The presence of so many U.S. officials undercuts President Trump’s charge that the WHO’s failure to communicate the extent of the threat, born of a desire to protect China, is largely responsible for the rapid spread of the virus in the United States.

Outline reader due to paywall

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

The presence of so many U.S. officials undercuts President Trump’s charge that the WHO’s failure to communicate the extent of the threat,

Clearly they failed "101: Communicating Effectively With Trump".

"People at the W.H.O. were talking about how great Trump is when they said 'Hey! He's a very stable genius! He's the only one who could possibly understand that {IMPORTANT DATA HERE IN SMALL WORDS, TWEET-SIZED CHUNK ONLY}. Clearly the failing {Deepstate/Obamas/Democrats} would be totally against {2nd TWEET-SIZED CHUNK OF IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS}. Sad!"

So it's all their fault, not his for never reading intelligence briefings like a sad failing dumb old president should.