The Playground

Quote from THHuxleynew

254 patients (51.8%) were fully vaccinated with 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All major ethnic groups in Malaysia were well represented in the study population. The majority had hypertension (369 [75.3%]), followed by diabetes mellitus (262 [53.5%]), dyslipidemia (184 [37.6%]), and obesity (117 [23.9%])

Most big pharma ivermectin fake studies have been done in Malaysia. After the great early success of Ivermectin treatment in Malaysia the FM/B/ /B world wide big pharma mafia did heavily bribe the government. Then the government did close the local producer for Ivermectin and stopped the distribution.

This study looks like selectively picking cases for making an argument. The setup is totally nonsensical without any possibility to control the real risk. Average enroll time was 5 days post symptoms... This is typical for all fake studies. A serious study would make 3 groups: Group 1 <2 days post symptoms on set then 2..5 days and > 5 days of symptoms onset.

Further you have to add high dose V-D2, zinc quercetin/HCQ... Also the dose regime must be adapted for the 3 groups and was inadequate for most treated.

But as a clown you are allowed to link any nonsense your friends handover to you. Jamma is the prime source for CoV-19 fake news.

Quote from JedRothwell

No doubt.

such a scientific approach...

And on the topic of reverse transcription of COVID spike RNA into the genome

Here is a detailed discussion of the evidence posted here that does a very good job of explaining why it has been wrongly interpreted by the antivaxxers.

RB will want to comment, being our (only?) expert on biology. Which bit of this take-down does he not agree with? Or does he agree, in which case he might with me reckon this claimed evidence from liver cells is of no significant value.

The return of the revenge of “COVID-19 mRNA vaccines permanently alter your DNA” and “lab leak”

Claims that COVID-19 vaccines "permanently alter your DNA" or that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in a lab were resurrected last week based on two dubious studies.…

sciencebasedmedicine.org

Aha! There’s the conspiracy theory! (More on that later.) First, though, I’ll just note that this is far from the first time that I’ve seen the claim that COVID-19 vaccines somehow interfere with DNA repair. Last time around, it was the claim that the vaccine somehow interferes with a process known as non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and thereby make those receiving it much more susceptible to cancer. That claim was deceptive. Indeed, the study was very poor quality and had no biological relevance to human cancer risk, although it did contribute to the fascist antivax claim that vaccines somehow “pollute” the blood, making the unvaccinated “purebloods“. Unsurprisingly, it’s exactly the paper Rose cited.

As for the second study, Rose is no less…off base:

Quote

Perhaps even more disturbing from a biological point of view, is something that many of us have hypothesized to be possible, has now been proven to be the case. Another new paper (link above) confirms that the Pfizer mRNA incorporates into human DNA. IN AS LITTLE AS 6 HOURS.

Huh is right.
Huh cells are ‘immortal’ liver tumor cells and grow ad-infinitum if you give them love. They are good for using in assays that involve viral propagation. LINE-1 is a reverse transcriptase that we carry and comprises ~17% of our genome! LINE-1 retrotransposons are necessarily active during embryogenesis are aberrantly active in tumorigenesis.

This claim, as has often been the case, rests on a kind of experiment that’s been done a number of times before to try to “prove” that the RNA virus SARS-CoV-2 can somehow mimic a retrovirus and insert its genetic sequence into the human genome, just like HIV. That’s why I’ll discuss this study first.

Artificial, thy name is this study

Before I discuss this study, let’s just reiterate that, for all the caveats and exceptions to the central dogma of molecular biology, for the vast majority of cases in normal mammalian cellular biology, information does not “flow backwards” from RNA to DNA. One of those exceptions, HIV and other retroviruses, requires two different enzymes to accomplish this “backwards” flow of genetic information. The first is the aforementioned reverse transcriptase, which “reverse transcribes” RNA sequences into DNA, destroying the RNA template in the process. However, that is not enough, as reverse transcriptase does not integrate the DNA strands thus produced into the human genome. A second enzyme is needed, a retroviral integrase. Integrases insert the double-stranded DNA produced by reverse transcriptase into the host’s chromosomal DNA; you can view this as a “point of no return,” after which the viral DNA becomes part of the host DNA, a form in which it is called a provirus, and a property of retroviruses that allow them to persist for so long in their hosts.

Retroviruses are not the only source of reverse transcriptase, as noted by Jessica Rose. Mammalian cells have very low levels of reverse transcriptase activity, so low that they’re usually not detectable under normal circumstances. One source is telomerase, which adds sequences known as telomere repeat sequences to the ends of chromosomes using an RNA template, to forestall the obligate chromosome shortening that occurs with each round of cellular replication. (Excessive telomerase activity is associated with the unlimited replicative potential of cancer.) Then there is LINE-1, mentioned by Rose and the focus of the paper.

LINE stands for long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs). They are what are known as retrotransposons, also known as class 1 transposable elements or transposons via RNA intermediaries. Basically, retrotranposons can copy and paste themselves into different locations in the genome by making RNA and converting that RNA back into DNA through reverse transcription. Because it’s simple, I’ll “borrow” an illustration of how they work from Wikipedia:

How retrotransposons copy and paste themselves into different locations in the genome.

You might reasonably be wondering at this point what LINE-1 could have to do with genetic sequences from the vaccine somehow getting into the human genome, thereby “permanently altering your DNA”. You’d be correct to wonder and likely would wonder even more if I told you that most LINEs in our genome are inactive and don’t make any functional enzyme and that they greatly prefer their own RNA and don’t randomly reverse transcribe just any old RNA. After all, retrotransposition (the process) requires that retrotransposons be able to replicate themselves and then paste the new copies elsewhere in the genome. It doesn’t matter that, as Rose points out, LINE-1 does make up approximately 17% of the human genome. Very little of it is active in normal physiology, although increased LINE-1 is associated with cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, and retinal diseases. (I almost hated to say that because it gives antivaxxers ideas.)

So what does the second study cited by Rose claim? What did the investigators do? First, let’s look at the investigators’ rationale:

Quote

A recent study showed that SARS-CoV-2 RNAs can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genome of human cells [25]. This gives rise to the question of if this may also occur with BNT162b2, which encodes partial SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In pharmacokinetics data provided by Pfizer to European Medicines Agency (EMA), BNT162b2 biodistribution was studied in mice and rats by intra-muscular injection with radiolabeled LNP and luciferase modRNA. Radioactivity was detected in most tissues from the first time point (0.25 h), and results showed that the injection site and the liver were the major sites of distribution, with maximum concentrations observed at 8–48 h post-dose [26]. Furthermore, in animals that received the BNT162b2 injection, reversible hepatic effects were observed, including enlarged liver, vacuolation, increased gamma glutamyl transferase (γGT) levels, and increased levels of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) [26]. Transient hepatic effects induced by LNP delivery systems have been reported previously [27,28,29,30], nevertheless, it has also been shown that the empty LNP without modRNA alone does not introduce any significant liver injury [27]. Therefore, in this study, we aim to examine the effect of BNT162b2 on a human liver cell line in vitro and investigate if BNT162b2 can be reverse transcribed into DNA through endogenous mechanisms.

This is thin gruel as a rationale. I note that I’ve discussed the cited study before, which involved the intravenous injection of a large amount of LNPs with a different mRNA than the vaccine’s spike protein mRNA, again an artificial design intended to make determination of the biodistribution of the LNPs possible given that in an intramuscular injection the vast majority of the mRNA remained at the injection site and in nearby lymph nodes.

I also note that it is not a new claim that SARS-CoV-2 itself is reverse transcribed in the infected cell to integrate with the host genome. This is a study from last summer that antivaxxers previously used to claim that, based on the supposed ability of SARS-CoV-2 to reverse transcribe, the vaccine could do the same. Let’s just say that this study was justifiably harshly criticized as not reproducible, very rare, and almost certainly artifacts of the experimental conditions used, given that appropriate controls weren’t used. To cite Ed Nirenberg again, no, SARS-CoV-2 is not reverse-transcribed to any significant extent, the publication of the study in PNAS notwithstanding.

I get the same vibes from this new study. So what did the authors do? They did indeed take Huh7 liver cells and expose them to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (BNT162b2), at 200,000 cells/well in 24-well plates. Then they did this:

Quote

BNT162b2 suspension was then added in cell culture media to reach final concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 μg/mL. Huh7 cells were incubated with or without BNT162b2 for 6, 24, and 48 h. Cells were washed thoroughly with PBS and harvested by trypsinization and stored in −80 °C until further use.

After 48 hours, the cells were harvested. RNA was extracted for PCR, and in other experiments genomic DNA was extracted from the cells. Of particular importance however, is that the segment of the nucleic acid for the spike protein that was amplified by PCR was this:

Spike amplicon, specifically the part of the sequence amplified by PCR in this experiment.

Why did they pick primers that amplified only this segment of the gene for spike protein? PCR efficiency drops off the longer the segment that is amplified, and a 444 base segment is actually rather long for quantitative real time PCR. In any event, this choice means that the only thing that can be said is that perhaps this segment of spike was reverse transcribed. Another thing to note is that a very high concentration of vaccine was used, microgram quantities for only 200,000 cells. That in and of itself is very artificial, but that’s not all that’s artificial. As Ed Nirenberg points out, Huh7 was derived from a liver cancer. Unsurprisingly, the Huh7 genome is, as is the case with many cancer-derived cell lines, really messed up.

He also notes that L-1 expression is substantially overexpressed in cancer (i.e., cancer cells have a lot more of it than normal cells).

In other words, the investigators stacked the deck by using a cell line that has a high level of LINE-1. If I were a peer reviewer for this study, I would have demanded that the investigators use a more genomically “normal” cell line. No cell line that is immortal—can propagate indefinitely—has a “normal” genome, but some have genomes that are less messed up than others. There are a number of respiratory cell lines, for instance, that could work, or what about simple primary cultures of vascular endothelial cells, such as HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells)? Why did they use only one cell line? In general, if you see a paper that uses only one cell line, be very, very skeptical, not just for COVID-19 but for any basic science studies.

So back to the paper. What did the authors find? Yes, they found that the vaccine, as expected, drove spike mRNA expression, leading to high levels in the cells, while not having much effect on LINE-1 expression, concluding that increased LINE-1 expression compared to control was observed at 6 h by 2.0 µg/mL BNT162b2, while lower BNT162b2 concentrations decreased LINE-1 expression at all time points. If you look at the figure, I call noise, because it doesn’t make a lot of physiologic sense that the lower vaccine concentrations would depress LINE-1 expression but lead to increased expression only at the 6 hour time point.

Whenever you see a graph like this, get out your BS detector.

Hilariously, this chart is the very same one included in Rose’s article, but she fails to see its shortcoming. Amusingly, the authors used two-tailed Student’s t-tests to compare these differences, which is not the correct statistical test for multiple time-dependent comparisons, and the finding of this result is most consistent with noise. Had I been a peer reviewer, I would definitely have called out the statistics used.

But what about reverse-transcribed DNA for spike? Yes, the authors did detect that in the genomic DNA isolated from the cells. They even sequenced the amplified segment and found that it was the same spike sequence targeted by the PCR primers. Checkmate, scientists! Not quite, and the authors even add some weasel words:

Quote

In this study we present evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 is able to enter the human liver cell line Huh7 in vitro. BNT162b2 mRNA is reverse transcribed intracellularly into DNA as fast as 6 h after BNT162b2 exposure. A possible mechanism for reverse transcription is through endogenous reverse transcriptase LINE-1, and the nucleus protein distribution of LINE-1 is elevated by BNT162b2.

Note that this study most definitely did not show that this reverse transcription had anything to do with LINE-1, leaving the authors to speculate. They could have presented evidence that LINE-1 was responsible, perhaps by knocking it out to produce cells that don’t make it or using siRNA that targets the LINE-1 mRNA to decrease its level, and showing that that it blocked the reverse transcription of spike. They didn’t do that. So they speculate, and antivaxxers ignore that this is speculation to present it as a fact that SARS-CoV-2 is reverse transcribed through the reverse transcriptase activity of LINE-1.

Next:

Quote

Our study shows that BNT162b2 can be reverse transcribed to DNA in liver cell line Huh7, and this may give rise to the concern if BNT162b2-derived DNA may be integrated into the host genome and affect the integrity of genomic DNA, which may potentially mediate genotoxic side effects. At this stage, we do not know if DNA reverse transcribed from BNT162b2 is integrated into the cell genome. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the effect of BNT162b2 on genomic integrity, including whole genome sequencing of cells exposed to BNT162b2, as well as tissues from human subjects who received BNT162b2 vaccination.

This led to some epic handwaving:

Quote

The cell model that we used in this study is a carcinoma cell line, with active DNA replication which differs from non-dividing somatic cells. It has also been shown that Huh7 cells display significant different gene and protein expression including upregulated proteins involved in RNA metabolism [56]. However, cell proliferation is also active in several human tissues such as the bone marrow or basal layers of epithelia as well as during embryogenesis, and it is therefore necessary to examine the effect of BNT162b2 on genomic integrity under such conditions. Furthermore, effective retrotransposition of LINE-1 has also been reported in non-dividing and terminally differentiated cells, such as human neurons [57,58].

Sure thing, guys, but no. This is, as I said, just handwaving.

As Ed Nirenberg asks, why didn’t they bother to do the necessary follow-up experiments to determine if this DNA sequence is actually integrated into the genome? Come to think of it, why didn’t they do PCR of the entire spike sequence to show that the full length sequence had been reverse-transcribed? Or even just do PCR of different fragments from the spike sequence? It boggles the mind.

None of this stops Rose from going straight off the end of the plank of science to this conclusion:

Quote

LINE-1 retrotransposons are also involved during early embryonic development. Since LINE-1 expression levels are significantly increased then what effect is this over-expression having on embryogenesis? I need a walk. This article will be updated.

I can hardly wait for Rose’s “updates”, given how far she had to reach to find some rationale to take a highly artificial experiment that almost certainly doesn’t show that the mRNA for the SARS-CoV-2 spike used in COVID-19 vaccines is reverse transcribed under normal conditions, much less “integrated” into the genome of the cells in which it finds itself. I’m guessing that her “updates” will be as hilariously off base as her original post.

Quote from THHuxleynew

although it did contribute to the fascist antivax claim that vaccines somehow “pollute” the blood

Thanks for confirming that you are fascist antivaxx. You as a front man (clown) for CoV-19 gene therapy with long living poisonous spike RNA may also soon be dealing with the negative outcome.

Now everything falls back on the freemason cricket brain folks. First promoting an antivaxx therapy. Intentionally killing all working drugs... So now you have to live with your antivaxx damage...

Quote from THHuxleynew

antivaxxers.

there's that ANTIVAX argument AGAIN?

The Dr gave me my Novavax .. Injection yesterday

Dr .So why don't you want to take the Pfizer booster.... it's routine. advised

Me. No long term data on mRNA vaccines... protein based vaccines have a much longer safety record

Dr You know of course that there has been some myocarditis with Novavax..

,,but less than with the Pfizer

Me Yes.. I checked..there is even myocarditis with the DTP vaccine,,one or two

Dr I didn't know that

Me Btw Dr do you aspirate?

Dr Well Its not routine now. And some people say its less comfortable

would you like me to aspirate

Me Yes.please . Risk reduction.and all that. Society today..so comfort -oriented,,

I heard that Germany has switched over to aspiration..

BTW the Swedes have shown that the Pfizer produces DNA in liver cells,,

Dr No. I hadn't heard..

Me Of course ,,these are just in vitro cells. not whole humans...

I thought it must be a bit boring for the doctor doing intramusculars all day long..

and the aspiration...? didn't notice a thing..

and I shall take ivermectin with me on the plane to New Zealand

next week . just in case,,

Quote from Wyttenbach

Most big pharma ivermectin fake studies have been done in Malaysia.

Malaysia..No 62 on the corruption scale

My expatriate friends corroborate...

.Mahathir... Najib etc

Yang di pertua

English speaking....la

Corruption Perceptions Index - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Quote from THHuxleynew

And this RCT (recent) is one of many that mean unless they are positively fraudulent (as we know some of the flakey ones pro-ivermectin were) mean that although ivermectin might still be helpful, it can't be obviously helkpful as the advocates and Bob ythink:

Sorry, TH : that one has been discussed. The headlines say "ivermectin worse for disease progression" ... but almost ignores :

.... and 28-day in-hospital death in 3 (1.2%) vs 10 (4.0%) (RR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.09-1.11; P = .09).

or the fact it was given very late (a week after symptoms), where all the literature on antivirals say they are effective early.

What a horror!! Invalid !!!!!

I'd bet it passes the 80% CI test, which is another way of eliminating the null bias of crossing the no-result line at 1.0. (aka Killed by Statisticians)

Rapid and Effective Vitamin D Supplementation May Present Better Clinical Outcomes in COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Patients by Altering Serum INOS1, IL1B, IFNg, Cathelicidin-LL37, and ICAM1

Rapid and Effective Vitamin D Supplementation May Present Better Clinical Outcomes in COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Patients by Altering Serum INOS1, IL1B, IFNg, Cathelicidin-LL37, and ICAM1 - PubMed

Vitamin D treatment shortened hospital stay and decreased mortality in COVID-19 cases, even in the existence of comorbidities. Vitamin D supplementation is…

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Abstract

Background: We aimed to establish an acute treatment protocol to increase serum vitamin D, evaluate the effectiveness of vitamin D3 supplementation, and reveal the potential mechanisms in COVID-19.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 867 COVID-19 cases. Then, a prospective study was conducted, including 23 healthy individuals and 210 cases. A total of 163 cases had vitamin D supplementation, and 95 were followed for 14 days. Clinical outcomes, routine blood biomarkers, serum levels of vitamin D metabolism, and action mechanism-related parameters were evaluated.

Results: Our treatment protocol increased the serum 25OHD levels significantly to above 30 ng/mL within two weeks. COVID-19 cases (no comorbidities, no vitamin D treatment, 25OHD <30 ng/mL) had 1.9-fold increased risk of having hospitalization longer than 8 days compared with the cases with comorbidities and vitamin D treatment. Having vitamin D treatment decreased the mortality rate by 2.14 times. The correlation analysis of specific serum biomarkers with 25OHD indicated that the vitamin D action in COVID-19 might involve regulation of INOS1, IL1B, IFNg, cathelicidin-LL37, and ICAM1.

Conclusions: Vitamin D treatment shortened hospital stay and decreased mortality in COVID-19 cases, even in the existence of comorbidities. Vitamin D supplementation is effective on various target parameters; therefore, it is essential for COVID-19 treatment.

Quote from RobertBryant

and I shall take ivermectin with me on the plane to New Zealand

next week . just in case,,

Omicron is a free vaccine, but may be in a terror state you have just to take one more shot ....

Japan can't do this. There never was a lock down or vaccine passport/mandate etc... This sounds like a free country...

Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis in COVID-19: Incidence and correlated risk factors in a cohort of non-ICU patients

Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis in COVID-19: Incidence and correlated risk factors in a cohort of non-ICU patients

Background Venous thromboembolism is a frequent complication of COVID-19 infection. Less than 50% of pulmonary embolism (PE) is associated with the evidence of…

journals.plos.org

Abstract

Background

Venous thromboembolism is a frequent complication of COVID-19 infection. Less than 50% of pulmonary embolism (PE) is associated with the evidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities. DVT may also occur in the venous system of the upper limbs especially if provoking conditions are present such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of UEDVT in patients affected by moderate-severe COVID-19 infection and to identify potential associated risk factors for its occurrence.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients affected by moderate-severe COVID-19 infection admitted to our unit. In accordance with the local protocol, all patients had undergone a systematic screening for the diagnosis of UEDVT, by vein compression ultrasonography (CUS). All the patients were receiving pharmacological thromboprophylaxis according to international guidelines recommendations. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors associated with UEDVT.

Results

257 patients were included in the study, 28 patients were affected by UEDVT with an incidence of 10.9% (95% CI, 7.1–14.7). At univariate analysis UEDVT appeared to be significantly associated (p< 0.05) with pneumonia, ARDS, PaO2/FiO2, D-dimer value higher than the age adjusted cut off value and need for CPAP ventilation. Multivariate analysis showed a significant association between UEDVT and the need for CPAP ventilation (OR 5.95; 95% IC 1.33–26.58). Increased mortality was found in patients affected by UEDVT compared to those who were not (OR 3.71; 95% CI, 1.41–9.78).

Conclusions

UEDVT can occur in COVID-19 patients despite adequate prophylaxis especially in patients undergoing helmet CPAP ventilation. Further studies are needed to identify the correct strategy to prevent DVT in these patients.

The relationship between vitamin D status and idiopathic lower-extremity deep vein thrombosis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p…0vein%20thrombosis%20(DVT).

Vitamin D has been shown to have an anticoagulant effect. A decrease in 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration has also been associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism. Hence, we sought to determine the relationship between 25(OH) D levels and idiopathic lower-extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Navy Labs To Reopen The Once Taboo Case On Nuclear Cold Fusion

Federal labs are reexamining the DOD’s research into cold fusion and low-energy nuclear reactions, potentially leading to revolutionary technologies.

Navy Labs To Reopen The Once Taboo Case On Nuclear Cold Fusion

Federal labs are reexamining the DOD’s research into cold fusion and low-energy nuclear reactions, potentially leading to revolutionary technologies.

www.thedrive.com

Covid vaccines not linked to deaths, major US study finds - BBC News

A major study of vaccine side-effects in the US found no link between two Covid jabs and the number of deaths recorded after vaccination.

Researchers looked at "adverse events" from nearly 300 million vaccine doses given in the US between December 2020 and June 2021.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 92% of reported side-effects after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were mild.

About 4,500 people died after being vaccinated, in the US, up to June 2021.

But no unusual patterns in the data were detected that might suggest a link to the vaccine itself.

Study author Dr Tom Shimabukuro said: "[It's] reassuring that reactions to both mRNA vaccines are generally mild and subside after one or two days - confirming reports from clinical trials and post-authorisation monitoring."

Quote from ZenoOfElea

A major study of vaccine

Tom Shimabukuro...old news,,, 3rd Sept 2021..

"leading vaccine safety for the COVID-19 response and the deputy director of CDC's Immunization Safety Office."

surely Zena you can find something less than 6 months old?

Round and round we go on this 'merry-go-round' in our 'playground' - when the TRUTH was out originally with that eminent expert Virologist Professor Didier Raoult who originally discovered that anti-virals were the only successful approach to treating COVID-19. How many more cycles do we have to go through until our Anti-bat concoction of anti-viral drugs is finally accepted as legitimate SCIENCE?

Gregory Byron Goble thanks for your attempt to shift the emphasis on COVID to more important legitimate LENR. (more relevant to what the US military is up to!). We have done the COVID issue to DEATH I think!

Quote from ZenoOfElea

But no unusual patterns in the data were detected that might suggest a link to the vaccine itself.

If you believe in such fake news then you like to be a guinea pig. This if Putin like FUD for the masses...

do they really want to protect school children?

Parents left frustrated as schools, districts reject donations of air filters for classrooms

Parents left frustrated as schools, districts reject donations of air filters for classrooms | CBC News

Some parents who have offered to donate filters to their child's schools to help curb the spread of COVID-19 were turned down. While vaccines and masking…

www.cbc.ca

Ministry says it has invested $114.5M on school ventilation, but teachers' union says more needs to be done

When his daughter returned to school in the fall, Dave Pataky said he wanted to keep the risk of COVID-19 transmission to a minimum.

Pataky, who has a background in physiology and neuroscience, had concerns about the HVAC system at Walton Elementary School in Coquitlam, B.C., so in September he volunteered to create an air-filter solution.

He built two Corsi-Rosenthal boxes — a do-it-yourself device consisting of furnace filters and a box fan — which he says were used at the school for about three months.

Over the Christmas break, he brought the boxes home for maintenance and discussed building around 25 more for the school. But in January, the local school district told him to put the brakes on his plans.

Pataky said the district told him the DIY filters were not approved by CSA Group, formerly known as the Canadian Standards Association.

"I had to abandon the idea," Pataky said. "So the kids are in their classroom, re-breathing each other's air, which is the perfect environment for something as highly contagious as Omicron."

While vaccines and masking continue to be important to curbing the spread of COVID-19, experts say proper ventilation and filtration are also key.

Michael Brauer, a professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, says opening windows to bring in fresh air can reduce risk while filters, including homemade Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, are "something that complement ventilation."

Pataky said his child's school has MERV-9 filters — MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value — which fall short of MERV-13 filters, the standard set by the Education Ministry-led steering committee for HVAC systems. Even if it had better filtration, he says, a Corsi-Rosenthal box could only help.

"All the engineers I've spoken to have said any extra filtration in a room is always better," Pataky said.

Meet the Ontario teen building DIY air purifiers for seniors and small businesses

In a statement to CBC News, School District 43 said HVAC systems across Coquitlam schools have been inspected and are running at optimized levels.

"Student and staff safety is important to us and we expect that equipment brought into our schools meets Canadian safety standards, and homemade units do not meet that standard," the district said.

HEPA filter donation rejected

After she and her family came down with COVID-19 in September, Elizabete Costa offered to have her son bring his own high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter into his classroom at Victoria's Monterey Middle School, which has MERV-10 filters.

She said the teacher and students were happy, but "the morning after I dropped off the HEPA filter, the principal removed it from the classroom and put it in a bag in his office."

When she asked why, she said the principal told her the school had sufficient filtration.

Costa later received a notification about a COVID-19 exposure in the classroom — the same week the filter was removed.

"Even then they would not put the HEPA filter back," she said.

B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) president Teri Mooring says parents donating filters to schools is a symptom of a bigger problem.

"It's a pretty sad commentary on our public school system that families and also teachers are feeling like they need to purchase their own HEPA filters to keep schools safe," she said.

Mooring said the BCTF's assessment of information collected on school ventilation found that "about half the districts in the province have quite a bit of work to do on ventilation systems."

The union has also advocated for greater information about school ventilation systems, which can now be found online.

$114.5M spent on ventilation upgrades

B.C.'s Ministry of Education says it has invested $114.5 million to help school districts upgrade ventilation in thousands of classrooms around the province.

The ministry said a recent survey of 19 school districts found more than 1,500 standalone HEPA filters have been purchased through the latest round of funding.

Calls grow for HEPA air filters in Canadian classrooms

All of the province's public schools have conducted regular inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems this year, the ministry said, and it's up to individual districts to decide where additional supports from families and communities are needed.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says while HEPA filters can be used as an additional tool, their effectiveness against COVID transmission has not yet been demonstrated and should not replace adequate ventilation, physical distancing and hygiene measures.

Brauer said the Omicron variant is so highly transmissible that stopping transmission is not likely, but measures such as masks and ventilation can help reduce risk. HEPA filters, he said, can be effective if appropriate for the size of the room, and he sees no downside to having them in classrooms.

"It's hard to imagine how it would hurt," he said.

The Homemade Air Purifier That’s Been Saving Lives During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Made from everyday items found in hardware stores, the Corsi-Rosenthal box is a testament to the power of grassroots innovation

The Homemade Air Purifier That's Been Saving Lives During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Made from everyday items found in hardware stores, the Corsi-Rosenthal box is a testament to the power of grassroots innovation

www.smithsonianmag.com

Quote from RobertBryant

Tom Shimabukuro...old news,,, 3rd Sept 2021..

"leading vaccine safety for the COVID-19 response and the deputy director of CDC's Immunization Safety Office."

surely Zena you can find something less than 6 months old?

BBC says article 12 hours old.

Bloody BBC, sooner they are privatised the better

Still if it is science and data then a few months should not matter.

Quote from Fm1

When his daughter returned to school in the fall, Dave Pataky said he wanted to keep the risk of COVID-19 transmission to a minimum.

To many idiots live in the united states. 90% of the population got an education at a world ranking level behind 30th place and below some development countries.

The USA "measures to protect children" in fact did kill at least 10x more children from RSV infections than would have happened without protection...

Clear minded, not fully mafia controlled countries (Sweden,Switzerland) , never required masks in school age < 12 and never did stop school.

No children did die here because of this "regime"....

Also the dark vaccine terror country Germany did stop ventilators in school. This is the method of the Putin buddies to stress the population.

Be aware that CoV-19 and Ukraine war is made by the same people. You can go back in my posts. I announced this war several months ago in at least 2 posts.

Now the FM/R/B mafia makes the big bucks with oil and weapons. So in fact the nuclear weapons are now used against the own population...as an excuse for ongoing war...

It is sad to see that the vaccinated only continue to die in India at a 200x higher rate than the treated people.

#IndiaFightsCorona COVID-19

www.mygov.in

Kerala now, since days, delivers 80% of all India corona deaths. with 1/44 of the population...

Of course "vaccines" have no side effect .... At least the India type of side effect is cured within minutes...