Covid-19 News

Quote from JedRothwell

[The statement that masks work.] It has already been put to the test. Look at the data from Taiwan and Japan. They have not even started vaccinations in Japan but the numbers are way down, thanks entirely to masks and social distancing.

Why go and look at other countries, especially when the cultures are so different? Look just at the individual states in the US. I don't see much of a difference at all between states with mask mandates and those without. Do you? Data? But speaking of Japan, their cases numbers may be going down (not deaths yet though), but they are also going down in most countries or states now, it appears.

Quote from JedRothwell

You can also compare cities in the U.S., both now and in 1918. Masks make a huge difference.

Perhaps a couple of months ago I provided a reference that masks were shown to be hardly effective in 1918. But back then masks were often just cotton gauze over the mouth and nose. What makes a 'huge' difference is the type of mask. N95 makes a big difference, surgical masks some, typical cloth masks not so much. This is being generous by assuming one time mask use, something that is hardly adhered to by the great majority of the population.

Quote from Mark U

Why go and look at other countries, especially when the cultures are so different? Look just at the individual states in the US. I don't see much of a difference at all between states with mask mandates and those without. Do you? Data?

Yup. There are very differences between cities where masks are enforced, and cities where they are not. See:

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818

Large differences were also observed in 1918. Face masks and social distancing had a huge effect. See:

https://www.cityhealth.org/blo…e-city-policymakers-today

"St. Louis took action within a day of the first cases arriving. Philadelphia waited for over a week before taking infection prevention steps.

Based on a 2007 Journal of the American Medical Association article, researchers found St. Louis experienced one of the lowest excess death rates in the nation: 358 per 100,000 people. In contrast, Philadelphia’s was over twice as high, with 748 excess deaths per 100,000."

Quote from Mark U

Perhaps a couple of months ago I provided a reference that masks were shown to be hardly effective in 1918.

Your reference was wrong. Face masks were very effective then, and they still are now. Face masks are the main reason the death rate in Japan is 28 times lower than in the U.S., even though their population is older.

Quote from zorud

Pfizer is anyway one of your big enemies

The role of BigPharm in Covid needs to be seen in historical context.. they have 'form"

Merck..1.4 biilion penalties

Pfizer.. 3.4 billion

Gilead has no "form" unlike Roche and Astrazeneca..Novartis J&J.GSK..etc.... its still growing

I am not unjustly prejudiced against crocodiles...its just their natural inclination

but don't hug crocodiles or offer them a handshake.

.even though the NIH might...

..

https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent-totals

Quote from JedRothwell

Yup. There are very differences between cities where masks are enforced, and cities where they are not. See:

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818

Summary : After 3 weeks of mask mandates, the reduction of the rate of infection was 2 percent after masks were mandated.

Two percent reduction! Start the presses! Personally I would have expected the reduction to be something more like five to ten percent. Even more reason to take public masking less seriously.

Quote from JedRothwell

Large differences were also observed in 1918. Face masks and social distancing had a huge effect. See:

https://www.cityhealth.org/blo…e-city-policymakers-today

"St. Louis took action within a day of the first cases arriving. Philadelphia waited for over a week before taking infection prevention steps.

There is no mention of masks in that article. St. Louis quickly shut down all public meetings and schools and made sure there was no lingering of customers at shops. Philadelphia delayed action by a week. Excess deaths per capita was double in Philadelphia. Sounds about right, if one can even consider a comparison of just two cities reliable. The study I linked to was much more robust, and it had to do with 'masks'.

The efficiency of masks is much higher during summer/wet times. In winter you should use a FP98 mask. But if you are infected things look a bit different. Then you protect the others not yourself.

Anyway: Most deaths contained the virus indoor at home or by visiting a friend. Living along an infected person is the real danger. The only thing you can do against it : Have your personal ivermectin ready. If your partner is PCR positive then start treatment before you have symptoms. You most likely got a high dose and after this it (age > 65) can go really fast in some cases.

Increased hazard of death in community-tested cases of SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern 202012/01

https://www.medrxiv.org/conten…2.01.21250959v1.full-text

Discussion

Our analysis focuses on deaths within the first 28 days following a positive test, which could overestimate the change in mortality associated with SGTF if individuals infected by VOC 202012/01 die sooner than individuals infected with preexisting SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, the consistency of results when analysing data with 60 days of followup or unlimited followup (Fig. 2c) suggests that this is not the case. By stratifying on test time and region, we attempted to control for the effects of pressure on health services, which cannot be adjusted for directly, as these lie on the causal pathway between infection and mortality.

We do not identify the mechanism for an increased mortality rate in this analysis. There is some evidence that infections with VOC 202012/01 may be associated with higher viral loads, as measured by Ct values detected during PCR testing of specimens (Fig. S13), although Ct values can be biased during the growth phase of an epidemic2. Higher viral loads resulting from infection with VOC 202012/01 may be partly responsible for the observed increase in mortality, partly because they may reduce the efficacy of standard antiviral treatments for COVID-19. The impact of viral load on observed SGTF mortality could be assessed using a mediation analysis, which is outside the remit of this study.

We previously identified that the novel SARS-CoV-2 lineage VOC 202012/01 appears to have a substantially greater transmission rate than preexisting variants of SARS-CoV-23, but could not robustly estimate any increase or decrease in associated disease severity from ecological analysis. The individual-level linked community testing data analysed here suggest that the fatality rate among individuals infected with VOC 202012/01 is higher than that associated with infection by preexisting variants. Crucially, due to the nature of the data currently available, we were only able to assess mortality among individuals who received a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 in the community that was processed at one of the three national Lighthouse laboratories capable of returning an SGTF positive or negative result. Indicators for VOC 202012/01 are not currently available for the vast majority of individuals who die due to COVID-19, as they are first tested in hospital. Accordingly, the evidence we provide here must be contextualised with further study of a larger population sample. Our analysis is consistent with analyses by other groups using different methods to verify the increased risk of death among community-tested individuals with SGTF4. Estimates of increased mortality based upon Pillar 2 data will become more robust as test results and mortality outcomes continue to accrue over time, although our analysis using stratified Cox regression, which estimates hazard ratios for mortality by comparing outcomes between individuals with and without SGTF who were tested in the same place and at the same time, would no longer accrue additional information at the point when SGTF becomes effectively fixed in England—which may occur as soon as February 2021 if current trends continue3.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission among children and staff in daycare centres during a nationwide lockdown in France: a cross-sectional, multicentre, seroprevalence study

https://www.thelancet.com/jour…-4642(21)00024-9/fulltext

Summary

Background

The extent to which very young children contribute to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is unclear. We aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in daycare centres that remained open for key workers' children during a nationwide lockdown in France.

Methods

Children and staff who attended one of 22 daycare centres during a nationwide lockdown in France (between March 15 and May 9, 2020) were included in this cross-sectional, multicentre, seroprevalence study. Hospital staff not occupationally exposed to patients with COVID-19, or to children, were enrolled in a comparator group. The primary outcome was SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in children, daycare centre staff, and the comparator group. The presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in capillary whole blood was measured with a rapid chromatographic immunoassay. We computed raw prevalence as the percentage of individuals with a positive IgG or IgM test, and used Bayesian smoothing to account for imperfect sensitivity and specificity of the assay. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04413968.

Findings

Between June 4 and July 3, 2020, we enrolled 327 children (mean age 1·9 [SD 0·9] years; range 5 months to 4·4 years), 197 daycare centre staff (mean age 40 [12] years), and 164 adults in the comparator group (42 [12] years). Positive serological tests were observed for 14 children (raw seroprevalence 4·3%; 95% CI 2·6–7·1) and 14 daycare centre staff (7·7%; 4·2–11·6). After accounting for imperfect sensitivity and specificity of the assay, we estimated that 3·7% (95% credible interval [95% CrI] 1·3–6·8) of the children and 6·8% (3·2–11·5) of daycare centre staff had SARS-CoV-2 infection. The comparator group fared similarly to the daycare centre staff; nine participants had a positive serological test (raw seroprevalence 5·5%; 95% CI 2·9–10·1), leading to a seroprevalence of 5·0% (95% CrI 1·6–9·8) after accounting for assay characteristics. An exploratory analysis suggested that seropositive children were more likely than seronegative children to have been exposed to an adult household member with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 (six [43%] of 14 vs 19 [6%] of 307; relative risk 7·1 [95% CI 2·2–22·4]).

Interpretation

According to serological test results, the proportion of young children in our sample with SARS-CoV-2 infection was low. Intrafamily transmission seemed more plausible than transmission within daycare centres. Further epidemiological studies are needed to confirm this exploratory hypothesis.

U.K. COVID Variant Doubles Every 10 Days in the U.S.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/new…s-every-10-days-in-the-us

Feb. 8, 2021 -- The coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom is rapidly becoming the dominant strain in several countries and is doubling every 10 days in the United States, according to new data.

The findings by Nicole L. Washington, PhD, associate director of research at the genomics company Helix, and colleagues were posted Sunday on the preprint server medRxiv. The paper hasn't been peer-reviewed in a scientific journal.

The researchers also found that the transmission rate in the United States of the variant, labeled B.1.1.7, is 30% to 40% higher than that of more common lineages.

The findings lend credence to modelling predictions the CDC released in January. The agency said at the time that the new strain could cause more than half of new infections in this country by March, even as the U.S. races to deploy vaccines.

In the new study, while clinical outcomes initially were thought to be similar to those of other coronavirus variants, early reports suggest that infection with the B.1.1.7 variant may increase death risk by about 30%.

A coauthor of the current work, Kristian Andersen, told The New York Times, "Nothing in this paper is surprising, but people need to see it."

Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, said, “We should probably prepare for this being the predominant lineage in most places in the United States by March."

Our study shows that the US is on a similar trajectory as other countries where B.1.1.7 rapidly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant, requiring immediate and decisive action to minimize COVID-19 morbidity and mortality," the researchers write.

The authors point out that the B.1.1.7 variant became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the United Kingdom within a couple of months of its detection.

"Since then, the variant has been increasingly observed across many European countries, including Portugal and Ireland, which, like the UK, observed devastating waves of COVID-19 after B.1.1.7 became dominant," the authors write.

The B.1.1.7 variant has likely been spreading between US states since at least December 2020, they write.

As of Sunday, there were 690 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the US in 33 states, according to the CDC. But, the true number of cases is certainly higher. Normal coronavirus tests do not detect if an infection comes from one of the variants. Only genomic sequencing can do that, and the U.S. has only recently begun to ramp up that type of testing.

Washington and colleagues examined more than 500,000 coronavirus test samples from cases across the United States that were tested at San Mateo, CA-based Helix facilities since July 2020.

In the study, they findings of the variant varied across states. By the last week in January, the researchers estimated the proportion of B.1.1.7 in the U.S. population to be about 2.1% of all COVID-19 cases, though they found it made up about 2% of all COVID-19 cases in California and about 4.5% of cases in Florida. The authors acknowledge that their data is less robust outside of those two states.

While those percentages are still low, "our estimates show that its growth rate is at least 35-45% increased and doubling every week and a half," the authors write.

"Because laboratories in the US are only sequencing a small subset of SARS-CoV-2 samples, the true sequence diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in this country is still unknown," they note.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the U.S. is facing a "Category 5" storm with the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant as well as the variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

"We are going to see something like we have not seen yet in this country," Osterholm said recently on NBC's Meet the Press.

Signs of self-sustained inflammatory circuits in severe COVID pneumonia

Pneumonia is a hallmark of severe COVID-19, but many details about the lung inflammation observed in this disease are unknown. An analysis of cells from the lungs of people with this condition sheds some light on the mystery.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00296-5

The most life-threatening complication of COVID-19 is severe pneumonia with intense damage to the air sacs of the lungs. Inflammation has a central role in this process. Although inflammation is an essential part of our immune defences to control infection, it can nevertheless cause collateral damage to tissues. Because of the high death rate and long duration of illness observed with COVID-19 pneumonia, it has been suggested that the inflammation that arises from infection with SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that causes COVID-19) is somehow different from the type of inflammation caused by other respiratory infections. However, there was a lack of comprehensive data to support this claim. Writing in Nature, Grant et al.1 address this knowledge gap by directly comparing immune cells isolated from the lungs of people with COVID-19 pneumonia with immune cells obtained from people who had pneumonia that arose from other causes.

Like most viruses that infect the respiratory system, SARS-CoV-2 can enter the body through the nose or mouth, and infect the epithelial cells that line the surface of the respiratory tract in the throat and lungs. Infected cells release molecular signals that alert immune cells in the blood to migrate to the lung to augment antiviral responses2. Although important information can be gleaned by studying such immune cells found in the bloodstream, a true understanding of lung inflammation requires research that involves the isolation of these cells from the air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs.

The gold-standard approach to obtain immune cells from the lungs is a technique termed bronchoalveolar lavage, in which saline is introduced into the small airways and air sacs and then gently removed using suction to retrieve the cells of interest. Using this method, Grant and colleagues obtained immune cells (Fig. 1) from 88 people who had COVID-19 pneumonia and 211 people who had pneumonia that arose from other infections. All samples came from people in intensive-care units who required a mechanical ventilator to breathe. In most cases, samples were obtained at repeated intervals during illness, providing a comprehensive analysis over time (a longitudinal analysis) of the inflammatory response in the lungs of people with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Research from Israel shows mRNA vaccine is ~50% effective in reducing severe cases

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there is a ray of hope as vaccinations against the virus roll out in many countries.

Israel is one of the countries that has started vaccinating its residents. The country has administered more than 55 doses of either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine for every 100 residents. A third of its population has already received at least the first dose of the required two doses to date.

In a report published on the pre-print server medRxiv*, researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Trento, and the Racah Institute of Physics suggest that the shape of the outbreak in patients over 60 years old has changed because of the vaccinations.

After the vaccination roll out in Israel, there has been a decline in new moderate and severe cases earlier than expected, by about a week.

Quote from Fm1

Our analysis focuses on deaths within the first 28 days following a positive test, which could overestimate the change in mortality associated with SGTF if individuals infected by VOC 202012/01 die sooner than individuals infected with preexisting SARS-CoV-2 variants.

A 30% higher death rate for B1.171 is more or less what we expect from the lock-down induced excess mortality.

The death rate increases with the initial virus load over time a person gets. B1.171 (UK-strain) seems to either develop a higher virus count or more likely - according silicon models - sticks better. Both effects lead to higher virus load in the home locked in situation.

Today the main source of death is the lock-down as this forces people (always the same what is important) to stay long time side a side. Together with the silly surgical masks recommendation - instead of FP98 - this is the main path to contain the virus outside and - second step - to severely infect your family members.

Quote from Fm1

Research from Israel shows mRNA vaccine is ~50% effective in reducing severe cases

Such early reports simply are silly and have no ground. Here in Switzerland the infection rate among the older >65 has dropped 4x over 8 weeks without any vaccination.

Let's wait 3 months after the lock-down did end. During a lock down no statistics can be made.

The coverup in progress

WHO says 'most likely' pathway of Covid virus was from animals to humans, dismisses lab leak theory

https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

An international team of scientists led by the World Health Organization said Tuesday that the search for how the coronavirus was first introduced remains a "work in progress," with further research needed into how and whether the disease circulated in animals before infecting humans.

Scientists have been working in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease was first identified, for the past four weeks as part of their search for clues to the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The team of investigators has visited hospitals, laboratories and markets, including the Huanan Seafood Market, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Wuhan Center for Disease Control laboratory.

The visit, which has been shrouded in secrecy, was also expected to see researchers speak with early responders as well as some of the first patients. The team completed two weeks of quarantine before beginning to visit local sites.

Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO's food safety and animal disease specialist and chairman of the investigation team, said at a press briefing that the "most likely" pathway for Covid was a crossover into humans from an intermediary species. This hypothesis will "require more studies and more specific (and) targeted research," he said.

The initial findings of the investigation did not find evidence of large Covid outbreaks in Wuhan or elsewhere before Dec. 2019. However, researchers did find evidence of wider Covid circulation outside the Huanan Seafood Market that same month, Ben Embarek said.

He added it was not yet possible to pinpoint the animal intermediary host for the coronavirus, describing the findings after nearly a month of meetings and site visits as "work in progress."

Covid reinfections may be more common than realized. Why isn't the U.S. tracking them?

Little is known about reinfection rates

https://www.nbcnews.com/health…alized-why-isn-t-n1256898

Scientists have confirmed that reinfections after initial illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus are possible, but so far have characterized them as rare. Fewer than 50 cases have been substantiated worldwide, according to a global reinfection tracker. Just five have been substantiated in the U.S., including two detected in California in late January.

That sounds like a rather insignificant number. But scientists’ understanding of reinfection has been constrained by the limited number of U.S. labs that retain Covid-19 testing samples or perform genetic sequencing. A KHN review of surveillance efforts finds that many U.S. states aren’t rigorously tracking or investigating suspected cases of reinfection.

KHN sent queries about reinfection surveillance to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Of 24 responses, fewer than half provided details about suspected or confirmed reinfection cases. Where officials said they’re actively monitoring for reinfection, they have found far more potential cases than previously anticipated.

In Washington state, for instance, health officials are investigating nearly 700 cases that meet the criteria for possible reinfection, with three dozen awaiting genetic sequencing and just one case confirmed.

In Colorado, officials estimate that possible reinfections make up just 0.1 percent of positive coronavirus cases. But with more than 396,000 cases reported, that means nearly 400 people may have been infected more than once.

In Minnesota, officials have investigated more than 150 cases of suspected reinfection, but they lack the genetic material to confirm a diagnosis, a spokesperson said.

In Nevada, where the first U.S. case of Covid-19 reinfection was identified last summer, Mark Pandori, director of the state public health lab, said there’s no doubt cases are going undetected.

“I predict that we are missing cases of reinfection,” he said. “They are very difficult to ascertain, so you need specialized teams to do that work, or a core lab.”

Such cases are different from instances of so-called long-haul Covid-19, in which the original infection triggers debilitating symptoms that linger for months and viral particles can continue to be detected. Reinfection occurs when a person is infected with Covid-19, clears that strain and is infected again with a different strain, raising concerns about sustained immunity from the disease. Such reinfections occur regularly with four other coronaviruses that circulate among humans, causing common colds.

Quote from Fm1

WHO says 'most likely' pathway of Covid virus was from animals to humans, dismisses lab leak theory

Of course they can say nothing else as long as they stay in China. Also big pharma would kill them as they fear an uproar in the population after the lab origin is confirmed.

But experts I know, with serious gen techniques background did never doubt one second that only a lab could do this.

As said once more: Best natural match is 93% this are about 2000 mutations and all intermediate steps are missing. So you have to find 2000 animals..or you must redefine probability like communism/totalitarianism does it for elections...

Quote from Wyttenbach

Of course they can say nothing else as long as they stay in China. Also big pharma would kill them as they fear an uproar in the population after the lab origin is confirmed.

But experts I know, with serious gen techniques background did never doubt one second that only a lab could do this.

As said once more: Best natural match is 93% this are about 2000 mutations and all intermediate steps are missing. So you have to find 2000 animals..or you must redefine probability like communism/totalitarianism does it for elections...

This isnt 911, the evidence is in code -- forget about a coverup -- they will have police all thought and enforce a digital fascist state where they delete much of what any intelligent questioning scientist says. If anyone thinks that they are part of a Death Cult who is against vaccines and total liars, right?

more evidence of vaccine failure

OC Man Tests Positive For COVID-19 Weeks After Getting Second Vaccine Dose

https://losangeles.cbslocal.co…ive-covid-19-vaccine/amp/

You might be surprised by this man’s story, this patient’s story, I’m not, and it’s not the first one that I’ve heard of,” Dr. Tirso del Junco Jr., chief medical officer of KPC Health, said. “I think I’ve heard of six or seven independent cases over the last three weeks of individuals that have been vaccinated with different timelines that have tested positive, and I think we’re going to continue to see that more and more.”

These cases are why doctors like del Junco have urged people to keep their face coverings on — whether they’ve been vaccinated or not — especially in light of new COVID-19 variants spreading in the community.

“We’re going to truly understand the effectiveness and how long these vaccines are effective, number one,” del Junco said. “Number two, as soon as we started the vaccination program is when we started hearing about these mutant strains. We’ve got three aggressive mutant strains now that people keep talking about, and that’s been long after we started this vaccination process.”

As for Michael, he said his live-in girlfriend tested positive for coronavirus five days after he received his second dose and said his case was relatively minor.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clinical trials showed the Pfizer vaccine was “95% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 illness in people without evidence of previous infection.”

Here we go the spin begins!

Evidence Covid may have emerged outside of Wuhan, WHO team says

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1257105

Early data suggests that Covid-19 could have been circulating for weeks before it was identified in the city of Wuhan in December 2019, according to the Chinese lead of the World Health Organization team that on Tuesday released first details of its fact-finding mission into the origins of the virus.

"This indicates the possibility of the missed reported circulation in other regions," said Dr. Liang Wannian, the head of the Covid-19 panel at China's National Health Commission and the Chinese lead on the joint international team that includes WHO scientists

Promising Cures for CV.

https://www.israel21c.org/has-…found-the-cure-for-covid/

Quote from sam12

Promising Cures for CV.

Has been linked before.

An Ivermectin cure costs less 1$ and also as a preventive it can end the pandemic.

Any mention of a new drug is just propaganda for big pharma, that wants to sell us over expensive crap.

Do you really want the next emergency use of any drug? Do you remember Viox, Contergan, Thaliumbromid, Opioids... ? The long time stretching before death from Gilead crap Remdesivir? Do you like pharma terror

Kick as many responsible people until there ass is dead blue to allow and promote Ivermectin. I do it for 9 months now.