Muse
Lifer
- Jul 11, 2001
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Which is no proof that wise folks don't.Nope, it just proves fools eat waffles.
Which is no proof that wise folks don't.Nope, it just proves fools eat waffles.
We really need to meme out the mask/SD ideas. We can only do so much in terms of ramping up vaccine production. Only a handful of companies are capable of manufacturing mRNA vaccines (i.e. Pfizer & Moderna). Most of the pharma giants are incapable of a crucial step. This is a great read that explains why it's not possible to increase levels of the mRNA vaccines to levels that we'd like any time soon (other vaccine types are another matter), followed by myriad comments by in-the-main people deep in pharma:Indiana reported a backlog of 1,500 so the real count for 2/4 is about 3600. The new infections curve is bending down and deaths will soon dip as well. However, it's much too early to celebrate as many experts are cautioning that the new strains can/will cause a 3rd wave in March/April.
Look at UK/Spain/Portugal/France for a preview of what a third wave can bring.
Only a handful of companies are capable of manufacturing mRNA vaccines (i.e. Pfizer & Moderna). Most of the pharma giants are incapable of a crucial step. This is a great read that explains why it's not possible to increase levels of the mRNA vaccines to levels that we'd like any time soon (other vaccine types are another matter), followed by myriad comments by in-the-main people deep in pharma:
Experts are saying we want 75%+ of the populace vaccinated or we won't have herd immunity. That requires a lot of vaccine and an overwhelming public commitment to get stuck. And meantime, people will need to keep masked up and socially distanced.But we don't need to. There's only so much of the population that is going to take it and you are basically guaranteed now to have at least J&J in the mix.
Experts are saying we want 75%+ of the populace vaccinated or we won't have herd immunity. That requires a lot of vaccine and an overwhelming public commitment to get stuck. And meantime, people will need to keep masked up and socially distanced.
Just got a call from my mom that she tested positive for Covid, and it sounds like my Dad is coming down with the symptoms as well. Both are in their late 60's, not in terrible or great health, and my Dad was on the waitlist at his work to get the jab.
Both describe feeling more run down than they have ever felt before, basically eat/drink/sleep/repeat.
Keeping my finger's crossed, I'd rather have parent's who do the whole "It wasn't THAT bad" thing over no parents. Can't do anything about it now other then check in on the daily, but there is that, so not getting super wrapped up about it.
Prior to this current surge, the virus was always somewhere else affecting someone else, but its slowly crept in closer and closer as more people I know get it. Kinda wild, like meeting a celebrity.
Why wait? I think many states will just reopen again like it's summer 2020, if they haven't done so already.That's unlikely to happen. What's more likely to happen is most states will go back to normal soon after the vaccine is generally available to genpop. People catch it, they catch it.
AstraZeneca is less effective against the S. Africa variant.
Indiana reported a backlog of 1,500 so the real count for 2/4 is about 3600. The new infections curve is bending down and deaths will soon dip as well. However, it's much too early to celebrate as many experts are cautioning that the new strains can/will cause a 3rd wave in March/April.
Look at UK/Spain/Portugal/France for a preview of what a third wave can bring.
I figure that depends on available ICU beds. If that gets challenged, they'll have to restrict... no indoor dining (or limited), close bars, salons, restrict capacity. The wild card is the new strains. A mutation happens every ~2 weeks.That's unlikely to happen. What's more likely to happen is most states will go back to normal soon after the vaccine is generally available to genpop. People catch it, they catch it.
Bill Gates has been saying since march that filling would be a bottle neck and obtaining the vials. This should be something the NDA could've helped with back in March.Interesting how step 5 (fill/finish) seems to be tripping up both companies too now with Moderna asking to squeeze more doses in vials and Pfizer partnering up for help. Would seem to indicate they can actually make more vaccine than they can readily prepare for shipment. Did they scale up their lipid + rna mixing infrastructure but forget what happens after that?
I wonder if anyone has tried the antibody treatments on a long hauler. I wonder if that would help their system finally clear the virus.Watched some longish (13-15 minute) videos about "long haulers," "long-covid" sufferers. Makes me want to be even more careful to stay uninfected until I'm immunized by vaccinations.
There's a 60 Minutes Australia segment (didn't know they had one like the USA version), that was excellent, offered on Youtube, on long haulers. There are other long-covid videos, one deals with a NYC clinic that's seen over 1000 CV19 suffers who are experiencing lasting effects. Apparently most of these were 20-40 people, not the older you might expect, and most were never hospitalized. However, even with their relatively mild cases, they didn't get over the infection, it's persisted for months with no end in sight. Likely many of these people will suffer chronically for life. Here's a couple of zoom-type shots that are food for thought that I grabbed with print screen from the 60 Minutes Australia piece.
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I'm sure they've tried anything obvious, for instance that NYC clinic that's dedicated to treating long-covid-19 patients that's seen over 1000 of them. Check the videos.I wonder if anyone has tried the antibody treatments on a long hauler. I wonder if that would help their system finally clear the virus.
- Just wanted to update this post.
My mom is fine, and nearly fully recovered. She was a school teacher, and was quite active until recently. Her bout with Corona Virus landed solidly into "the worse Flu you've ever had" territory, but she has made a near full recovery.
My dad was admitted to the hospital on 1/30. I had bought my mom an oxygen sensor and my Dad's O2 Saturation had dropped to 80% while awake. She called the Paramedics, who after some discussion decided to take my Dad to the hospital, rather than the ER.
Today we just got the call that the doctor felt that while he was far from 100%, he had done all the recovering that he could do in a hospital after a week long round of Remdesivir. O2 tank shipped to my Parent's house, and my Dad will basically need 24/7 O2 assistance for a minimum of 1 month.
Hug the people you love folks. Call em if you can't. Think of that person that you haven't spoken to in a while, not because you don't want to, but you're just busy. Connect with them. Enjoy every day you have with the people that you have.
It shouldn't be difficult in theory, but you'd still probably need to run a trial and there are substantial manufacturing hurdles for the mRNA vaccines.The virus has not adapted to the vaccines. There is basically nobody vaccinated in South Africa so no selective pressure from them. It's mutating from explosive spread.
It should not be that difficult to turn the RNA and adenovirus vaccines on the mutations of concern in an expeditious manner to improve efficacy. Boosters in the fall seem probable.
It shouldn't be difficult in theory, but you'd still probably need to run a trial and there are substantial manufacturing hurdles for the mRNA vaccines.
It shouldn't be difficult in theory, but you'd still probably need to run a trial and there are substantial manufacturing hurdles for the mRNA vaccines.
Why didn't they set up smaller plants PER country? Or per country WILLING to do so: this should be TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE to set up, so not all could afford it.
The country would provide the building and the equipment per the vaccine maker specs and the company would produce the vaccines locally. Because the number of vaccines required to be produced in such factories would be quite small by comparison to their current factories, they could produce them much faster and, in case of big countries like USA, they could always make multiple factories instead of just one. And they could also do this for EVERY COVID vaccine maker.
By increasing the number of plants manufacturing the vaccine, it could reach the require number for "normalcy" a heck of a lot sooner, no? A total of between 4.9B and 5.6B vaccines are needed for herd immunity (70% to 80% vaccinated) and that's just for 1st dose, so double that for 2nd dose.
By keeping the number of plants manufacturing the vaccine low they are in essence bottlenecking the vaccine deployment thus for all intents and purposes, prolonging this crisis.