Coronavirus Updates

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Herd immunity(60%) without a vaccine would cost the U.S. very approximately:

Months perhaps years of prolonged damage and symptoms for as many people as currently live in California, Florida and New York.

Medical treatment for 3ish California's worth of people with 'more than mild' symptoms.

Critical hospitalization for one Michan's (10th most populous state) worth of people with more severe symptoms.

Graves for One Austin TX's (our 10th most populous city) worth of people.

Any policy makers pushing for the 'herd immunity' strategy before we have a reliable vaccine should be treated like an 'enemy combatant'.

(eta: Napkin math, might be off by a decimal point here or there... but what's a million people, more or less, anyway?)

 

[Sovereignty]

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Or, getting better at covering the numbers up as other causes of death? From a friend's tweet thread:

 

[Sovereignty]

Or, getting better at covering the numbers up as other causes of death? From a friend's tweet thread:

I guess the trick is to get admitted to a hospital as a covid patient. ETA: Early on, you didn't want that to happen.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I guess the trick is to get admitted to a hospital as a covid patient.

You first.

ETA: I misunderstood your statement. Well, yeah, assuming a person is even admitted as early on nursing home patients just died in their beds. Then, there are a myriad of complications not attributed to it alongside a running govt effort to attempt to force doctors to not list covid as the cause of death, and finally the CDC which has an ongoing attempt to be taken control of the official numbers being reported as such.

 

[Sovereignty]

You first.

Maybe I have. I had some strange virus in early April.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

If you're pinning your hopes on a Covid vaccine, here's a dose of realism | David Salisbury

A targeted immunisation programme may offer some protection, but it will not deliver ‘life as normal’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Teen wins $25k for finding molecule that may disarm coronavirus

A teen from Texas has won a national science competition for identifying a molecule that can bind and potentially disable SARS-CoV-2.

www.livescience.com

 

[Free]

Trial to deliberately infect people with coronavirus draws mixed reaction

It could help understand infection, but experts are skeptical it will speed vaccines.

arstechnica.com

Researchers in the United Kingdom plan to begin intentionally infecting a small batch of healthy young people with the novel coronavirus in January as part of a first “human challenge trial,” according to an announcement Monday.

The plan has not yet been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates clinical trials in the UK, and outside experts have had mixed reactions to the announcement so far.

 

[Sovereignty]

Teen wins $25k for finding molecule that may disarm coronavirus

A teen from Texas has won a national science competition for identifying a molecule that can bind and potentially disable SARS-CoV-2.

www.livescience.com

Anika Chebrolu, who hails from Frisco, used computer modeling to search for a compound that binds tightly to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — a structure that juts off the coronavirus surface and plugs into human cells to trigger infection. In theory, such a compound should prevent the virus from infecting cells.

The compound she came up with contains lead, so I'm a bit dubious about the result, but the methods she used are impressive work for someone so young.

 

[Free]

The compound she came up with contains lead, so I'm a bit dubious about the result, but the methods she used are impressive work for someone so young.

It's a lead (long e) compound, not lead (short e).

 

[Free]

 

[Sovereignty]

Well, maybe so.

ETA: The tweet is a bit vague. Here's the title of the actual STAT version of this news.

CDC expands definition of ‘close contacts,’ after study suggests Covid-19 can be passed in brief interactions

Now, the agency says it’s someone who spent a cumulative 15 minutes or more within six feet of someone who was infectious over 24 hours, even if the time isn’t consecutive, according to an agency spokesperson.

I saw elsewhere someone commenting how news organizations soften headlines when they get posted on Twitter.

 

[eku zhong]

phhht our government is still holding out hope for the Olympics. What could possibly go wrong.

Japan gov't to test risk of coronavirus infection at Tokyo Dome

 

[danielravennest]

phhht our government is still holding out hope for the Olympics. What could possibly go wrong.

Japan gov't to test risk of coronavirus infection at Tokyo Dome

Maybe superspreading can be one of the events.

 

[Sovereignty]

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine trial is fully enrolled, 37 percent of participants are minorities

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Covid-19 blood plasma therapy has limited effect, study finds

Authors agree other trials using higher antibody levels may prove more effective

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link because paywall

Mr Haseltine argues that, to combat a pandemic, states need at least two of three qualities: leadership, governance and public solidarity. The US, he argues, has none of the three in sufficient quantities and has suffered the consequences. “By governance, I mean, a national public health system that can execute and implement policy on a national level. China has it, most European countries have it. We don’t. When Trump says ‘it’s not my problem’, he’s actually right. The same kind of chaotic organisation, lack of central administration [and] lack of capability to create policy and execute policy that currently exists for testing, exists for vaccine distribution,” says Mr Haseltine. “And you can expect the same result.”

“I think countries that have done well have listened to science and countries that have done badly have not listened to science,” says Wellcome’s Mr Jameel. “China was very authoritarian, but they listened to everything science told them.” Still, even China was caught off guard by an event that was utterly predictable.

 

[Sovereignty]

And now for something completely different...

Neuropilin-1 facilitates SARS-CoV-2 cell entry and infectivity

There is limited knowledge about the virus-host interactions that determine cellular entry of SARS-CoV-2. Viruses display considerable redundancy and flexibility because they can exploit weak multivalent interactions to enhance affinity. While the focus to date has been almost entirely on the role of ACE2 in SARS-CoV-2 entry, the expression pattern of ACE2 does not match tissue tropism of SARS-CoV-2.

So drugs that interfere with neuropilin-1 might help with COVID-19.

 

[Free]

Back on the climb.