NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

[CZroe]

After hearing about the videogame vendor exposing everyone at the flea market today I found out another videogame vendor just got over the virus... same guy who sold me those Nintendo games with thousands of dollars of drugs hidden inside. It's freakin' everywhere, folks.

 

[Svnla]

Tokyo is getting nervous....

Japan poised for state of emergency as Covid-19 cases soar | CNN

Japan may enter a state of emergency this week as the country grapples with soaring coronavirus cases, a number of which have been linked to a new, potentially more infectious variant.

www.cnn.com

If things are not getting better, the 2021 Olympic is not looking good.

 

[Zorba]

After hearing about the videogame vendor exposing everyone at the flea market today I found out another videogame vendor just got over the virus... same guy who sold me those Nintendo games with thousands of dollars of drugs hidden inside. It's freakin' everywhere, folks.

Especially at Flea markets in the South.

 

[Zorba]

Apparently the Trump admin is thinking about cutting the Moderna dose in half to double the number of doses available. To me this seems like a worse idea than spreading or the first and second doses. Both are mostly untested, of course.

Feds may cut Moderna vaccine doses in half so more people get shots, Warp Speed adviser says

Federal officials have said the U.S. will need to vaccinate roughly 80 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.

www.politico.com

 

[CZroe]

Especially at Flea markets in the South.

The other flea market game vendor shut down his flea market booth a year ago and now runs a shop (Infinite Games). Said he had to close it for over a week and only just reopened. His infections wasn't really related to flea market vendors in the South except that they were the only two long-term game vendors there for years and I found out yesterday that they both had it.

I didn't go to the flea market specifically to avoid people during the height of the pandemic but I did go to the Infinite Games shop to drop off some repaired game consoles and pick up a broken Atari 5200 CX-52 controller for repair.

 

[K1052]

Apparently the Trump admin is thinking about cutting the Moderna dose in half to double the number of doses available. To me this seems like a worse idea than spreading or the first and second doses. Both are mostly untested, of course.

Feds may cut Moderna vaccine doses in half so more people get shots, Warp Speed adviser says

Federal officials have said the U.S. will need to vaccinate roughly 80 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.

www.politico.com

Well there is actual data in Moderna's phase 2 trial when they gave 25, 100, and 250 microgram doses as opposed to no data for stretching the time between doses. I think the scientific argument for a 50 microgram dose to the 18-55 group who respond most strongly to vaccination is much much better than delayed 2nd doses although I'm not entirely in love with the idea.

That said the core problem is the total disorganization in distribution and delivery of the supply into the population. Looks like near total chaos with state and county health officials building out their plans on the fly.

 

[CZroe]

To me this seems like a worse idea than spreading or the first and second doses. Both are mostly untested, of course.

Again, the original recommendations were 3-12 weeks after the first injection, yet you aren't saying the same thing about the follow-up dose at 21 days. How is taking one extreme end of their recommended range any better an idea or more tested than taking the other end?

 

[CZroe]

Well there is actual data in Moderna's phase 2 trial when they gave 25, 100, and 250 microgram doses as opposed to no data for stretching the time between doses. I think the scientific argument for a 50 microgram dose to the 18-55 group who respond most strongly to vaccination is much much better than delayed 2nd doses although I'm not entirely in love with the idea.

That said the core problem is the total disorganization in distribution and delivery of the supply into the population. Looks like near total chaos with state and county health officials building out their plans on the fly.

The vaccine manufacturer says 3-12 weeks for the second dose.

If 12 weeks is "stretching" the time then 3 weeks is compressing the time. The data always supported a 3-12 week timeline hence that being the recommendation from the start. Saying there is no data for 12 week timeline is the same as saying that there is no data for a 21 day timeline. I feel that we are talking in circles here if this is still getting lost in the discussion.

 

[Ajay]

That said the core problem is the total disorganization in distribution and delivery of the supply into the population. Looks like near total chaos with state and county health officials building out their plans on the fly.

I'm starting to think that many states just didn’t put plans in place before the vaccines were out. In our city, the Governor could have just enlisted the national guard to set up the Armory for all vaccinations except for nursing homes. It’s central enough for the whole city, bus routes could be extended and it’s near the highway that runs through Manchester. Doing a thousand vaccinations a day would have been a good pipe cleaner for a larger rollout. They could have added HS gyms (3) to spread things out a bit.

Sending vaccines out to many different places is nuts.

 

[K1052]

Lots of pics of medical personnel getting 2nd Pfizer doses no social media today.

 

[Zorba]

Again, the original recommendations were 3-12 weeks after the first injection, yet you aren't saying the same thing about the follow-up dose at 21 days. How is taking one extreme end of their recommended range any better an idea or more tested than taking the other end?

They only tested the shortest time frame. Just like with cutting the doses in half. They did some early research with smaller doses, but phase 3 was all 100 mg, 4 weeks apart (for Moderna).

So there is a ton of data for one dosing scheme and very little for anything else.

 

[K1052]

Not exactly a shock

https://twitter.com/x/status/1346256039415402497

 

[Brainonska511]

Not exactly a shock

https://twitter.com/x/status/1346256039415402497

Yep. There really is only good evidence to follow the Phase 3 dosing used by Pfizer and Moderna. Run another trial if you want different dosing regimes.

 

[Ajay]

Not exactly a shock

https://twitter.com/x/status/1346256039415402497

I had thought that there was an end run going on around the FDA. So glad this wasn’t the case. So, I am surprised in a good way.

 

[pmv]

Seems to be growing faster in the UK than almost anywhere else. If it continues at the current rate it's going to be infecting an additional 2 million people every month. None of the other countries in Europe seem to be seeing that rate of increase - not France, Italy, Spain nor Germany or Poland. Wonder if that's because of the new strain? Or are people really not being careful? Seems worst in Essex, but it's engulfing London also.

It's scary, feels like whatever you do the sheer force of mathematics means it's coming for you (and your elderly or sick family members).

 

[Denly]

Have over 100k vaccinated so far here in Canada. It's a small percentage of population but considering we were not really expecting to have any by 2021 it's a good start.

Neat tracker site here: https://covid19tracker.ca/vaccinationtracker.html

420k (nice) doses delivered so far.

Thanks for the link, it looks like provinces and territories are not doing a very good job rolling it out. Fed was called not getting doses quick enough - rightfully so - but looks like they're ahead of schedule. Dam they have 9 mth to prepare for this.

 

[Zorba]

Thanks for the link, it looks like provinces and territories are not doing a very good job rolling it out. Fed was called not getting doses quick enough - rightfully so - but looks like they're ahead of schedule. Dam they have 9 mth to prepare for this.

It's like no one believed it was actually coming. Also this needs to be ran by a few massive organizations, not thousands of local ones, IMHO.

 

[pmv]

Perhaps this will clarify things for you:

"Police in Wisconsin said on Thursday evening that they had arrested a hospital employee who was fired after being suspected of intentionally spoiling hundreds of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine."

"...after a health center in the state said an employee admitted to deliberately spoiling 500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine."

On Wednesday Aurora medical center said the doses appeared to have been spoiled deliberately.

"A pharmacist at the suburban medical center deliberately removed hundreds of coronavirus vaccine doses from refrigeration and left them out overnight – twice, not just once as officials had initially believed, the health system’s chief medical officer said later on Thursday."

"“This was a situation involving a bad actor, as opposed to a bad process,”

Wisconsin police arrest hospital worker suspected of intentionally spoiling Covid vaccine doses

Investigation launched after medical centre says worker admitted leaving 500 doses out of refrigeration

www.theguardian.com

More on this story now - seems the guy was a conspiracy-theory believer.

US pharmacist who tried to ruin Covid vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, police say

Misinformation about the vaccines has surged online as rollout has been susceptible to local disruption

www.theguardian.com

 

[Zorba]

More on this story now - seems the guy was a conspiracy-theory believer.

US pharmacist who tried to ruin Covid vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, police say

Misinformation about the vaccines has surged online as rollout has been susceptible to local disruption

www.theguardian.com

Shocking... In other news the Pope might be Catholic.

 

[K1052]

From what I'm seeing on science twitter concern about the UK variant evading vaccines is rapidly diminishing, even though it appears more infectious and still a serious problem. The South African variant is now the new hotness in spike mutations though it looks like it may evade some antibody response in some people...still a bit early. Realistically COVID vaccines might have to be eventually updated on a somewhat regular basis to cover prevailing mutations, maybe newer shots will cover several. RNA and adenovirus platforms are able to make this change very quickly.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wonder if it will become like the flu shot where you need to get the updated version every year. From sounds of it, it's not too hard for the vaccine to be modified though, so that is good news.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

LA County has started limiting both oxygen and transportation of cardiac arrest patients to hospitals. If EMTs can't start the heart at the scene, and there's low probability of survival, then they can call it at scene. This is nuts and sad.

LA County Paramedics Told Not To Transport Some Patients With Low Chance Of Survival

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that have inundated ICUs, the Southern California county is also asking ambulance crews to conserve bottled oxygen.

www.npr.org

 

[Brainonska511]

From what I'm seeing on science twitter concern about the UK variant evading vaccines is rapidly diminishing, even though it appears more infectious and still a serious problem. The South African variant is now the new hotness in spike mutations though it looks like it may evade some antibody response in some people...still a bit early. Realistically COVID vaccines might have to be eventually updated on a somewhat regular basis to cover prevailing mutations, maybe newer shots will cover several. RNA and adenovirus platforms are able to make this change very quickly.

That's because your body doesn't just make a single antibody against the target - it makes multiple antibodies that can bind to different parts. Makes it harder for a single mutation to evade the immune system.

 

[K1052]

That's because your body doesn't just make a single antibody against the target - it makes multiple antibodies that can bind to different parts. Makes it harder for a single mutation to evade the immune system.

Yeah, not something that is probably going to happen soon or all at once. Would be nice for the US to ramp up genomic surveillance so there aren't any nasty surprises we only realize after weeks or months.

 

[Brainonska511]

Yeah, not something that is probably going to happen soon or all at once. Would be nice for the US to ramp up genomic surveillance so there aren't any nasty surprises we only realize after weeks or months.

That would probably require empowering the CDC and having an executive who understands that the pandemic is real. Won't happen for at least 2 more weeks.