COVID19

[Sandydragon]

Anti-mask activists. These people are too fucking stupid to insult. All educated through social media. Well done 'murrica, well done. Am I ever going to be able to visit home again? Fuck.

Not just in the states. My LinkedIn feed is full or people liking reports which show that masks don’t work, the great panic is just hype etc etc. I’m having a cull of my connections. Life’s too short.

[morepork]

The US government is at the moment engaging in an active smear campaign against public health figures within it's own administration in an attempt to apportion blame for the current sorry state of affairs. Totally FUBAR.

14-7-20

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/worl ... pdate.html



"The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, beginning on Wednesday, send all coronavirus patient information to a central database in Washington — a move that has alarmed public health experts who fear the data will be distorted for political gain.

The new instructions are contained in a little-noticed document posted this week on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. From now on, H.H.S., and not the C.D.C., will collect daily reports about the patients that each hospital is treating, how many beds and ventilators are available, and other information vital to tracking the pandemic.

Officials said the change should help ease data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating scarce supplies like personal protective gear and the drug remdesivir.

Hospital officials want to streamline reporting, saying it will relieve them from responding to requests from multiple federal agencies, though some say the C.D.C. — an agency that prizes its scientific independence — should be in charge of gathering the information.

“The C.D.C. is the right agency to be at the forefront of collecting the data,” said Dr. Bala Hota, the chief analytics officer at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Public health experts have long expressed concern that the administration is politicizing science and undermining the disease control centers; four former C.D.C. directors, spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations, said as much in an opinion piece published Tuesday in The Washington Post. The data collection shift reinforced those fears.

“Centralizing control of all data under the umbrella of an inherently political apparatus is dangerous and breeds distrust,” said Nicole Lurie, who served as assistant secretary for preparedness and response under former President Barack Obama. “It appears to cut off the ability of agencies like C.D.C. to do its basic job.”

The shift grew out of a tense conference call several weeks ago between hospital executives and Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.

After Dr. Birx complained that hospitals were not adequately reporting their data, she convened a working group of government and hospital officials who devised the new plan, according to Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, who participated.

But news of the change came as a shock inside the C.D.C., which has long been responsible for gathering public health data, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. A spokesman for the disease control centers referred questions to the Department of Health and Human Services, which has not responded to a request for comment.

The dispute exposes the vast gaps in the government’s ability to collect and manage health data — an antiquated system at best, experts say. "


Totally broken, totally fucked.

[Which Tyler]

[Mikey Brown]

Anti-mask activists. These people are too fucking stupid to insult. All educated through social media. Well done 'murrica, well done. Am I ever going to be able to visit home again? Fuck.

Haha. Jesus.

I guess this is the inevitable reaction from the "personal responsibility" crowd. If you never, ever under any circumstances acknowledge that your actions may affect other people, then you can't be to blame for anything.

You'd sort of respect them more if they just came out and said 'Look, I get that I may be asymptomatic and passing this thing on to thousands of other people, many of whom will die, but until it hits me directly I simply don't give a shit.'

[paddy no 11]

yup cloaking it in personal freedom is nonsense what they really mean is i'm too thick/lazy to be bothered with this

[Digby]

Why is having to wear clothing not an affront to liberty?

[paddy no 11]

Why is having to wear clothing not an affront to liberty?

I doubt liberty is their main motive

Affront is a strong word in this instance

[Galfon]

Oxford/AstraZen vacc. trial going to plan - Phase I results awaiting publication.( appears safe )

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 21691.html

Moderna (US) due to start phase II this month and early results promising..
Looks like both may be available after autumn/winter, so it's hold on to yer hats for now. This winter could be Fred Karno's.

[paddy no 11]

Oxford/AstraZen vacc. trial going to plan - Phase I results awaiting publication.( appears safe )

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 21691.html

Moderna (US) due to start phase II this month and early results promising..
Looks like both may be available after autumn/winter, so it's hold on to yer hats for now. This winter could be Fred Karno's.

Hopefully it works, going to be a rough winter with seasonal flu and covid

[Banquo]

Oxford/AstraZen vacc. trial going to plan - Phase I results awaiting publication.( appears safe )

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 21691.html

Moderna (US) due to start phase II this month and early results promising..
Looks like both may be available after autumn/winter, so it's hold on to yer hats for now. This winter could be Fred Karno's.

Hopefully it works, going to be a rough winter with seasonal flu and covid

IF people get stuck into the hand washing and distancing and the hospitals continue with hugely improved infection control, then seasonal flu could well be a lot less than we've become used to. They won't though.

[paddy no 11]

Oxford/AstraZen vacc. trial going to plan - Phase I results awaiting publication.( appears safe )

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 21691.html

Moderna (US) due to start phase II this month and early results promising..
Looks like both may be available after autumn/winter, so it's hold on to yer hats for now. This winter could be Fred Karno's.

Hopefully it works, going to be a rough winter with seasonal flu and covid

IF people get stuck into the hand washing and distancing and the hospitals continue with hugely improved infection control, then seasonal flu could well be a lot less than we've become used to. They won't though.

Yup, community acquired pneumonia should be another victim of social distancing and good hygeine etiquette also.....

[Banquo]

Hopefully it works, going to be a rough winter with seasonal flu and covid

IF people get stuck into the hand washing and distancing and the hospitals continue with hugely improved infection control, then seasonal flu could well be a lot less than we've become used to. They won't though.

Yup, community acquired pneumonia should be another victim of social distancing and good hygeine etiquette also.....

If nothing else, the hospitals are getting a long overdue kick up the ar5e on infection control.

[Mellsblue]

Good news from Singapore. T-cells will give years of immunity even if antibodies only last a short time. The T-cells also boost immunity for all coronaviruses. Even more good news if these pandemics do become more regular.

[morepork]

Almost. All COVID cases had reactive T-cells, which means their immune systems had memory specific for the virus. Individuals that had SARS had long lasting T cell memory against that virus, and some indivuals who were never exposed to either virus had a slightly different memory apparently directed to a conserved protein domain in animal coronaviruses. Somewhere along the way they were exposed to these and they trigered a memory that looks like it might be effective for a T cell response against the COVID-causing beasty. Good observation that will help target a treatment.

It does however mean that hoomans are loaded with appreciable quantities of viruses that originate in other species. The more we encroach on animal habitat, the more frequent this zoonotic transmission will become. We can expect more of this shit in the future.


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2550-z

"Memory T cells induced by previous pathogens can shape the susceptibility to, and clinical severity of, subsequent infections1. Little is known about the presence of pre-existing memory T cells in humans with the potential to recognize SARS-CoV-2. Here, we first studied T cell responses to structural (nucleocapsid protein, NP) and non-structural (NSP-7 and NSP13 of ORF1) regions of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescents (n=36). In all of them we demonstrated the presence of CD4 and CD8 T cells recognizing multiple regions of the NP protein. We then showed that SARS-recovered patients (n=23) still possess long-lasting memory T cells reactive to SARS-NP 17 years after the 2003 outbreak, which displayed robust cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 NP. Surprisingly, we also frequently detected SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells in individuals with no history of SARS, COVID-19 or contact with SARS/COVID-19 patients (n=37). SARS-CoV-2 T cells in uninfected donors exhibited a different pattern of immunodominance, frequently targeting the ORF-1-coded proteins NSP7 and 13 as well as the NP structural protein. Epitope characterization of NSP7-specific T cells showed recognition of protein fragments with low homology to “common cold” human coronaviruses but conserved amongst animal betacoranaviruses. Thus, infection with betacoronaviruses induces multispecific and long-lasting T cell immunity to the structural protein NP. Understanding how pre-existing NP- and ORF-1-specific T cells present in the general population impact susceptibility and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is of paramount importance for the management of the current COVID-19 pandemic."

[Galfon]

Good news from Singapore. T-cells will give years of immunity even if antibodies only last a short time. The T-cells also boost immunity for all coronaviruses. Even more good news if these pandemics do become more regular.

Owd'ns appear less fortunate
I understand T cell memory generated later in life functions poorly, so generation of novel immune responses against pathogens etc. in the aged, can be impaired

[Galfon]

Bolting horse / is it too late ? #2 (+..)
Bozza may be about to declare office working can resume and be actively encouraged.There are concerns apparently of suburbs getting the bustle back but city & town centres still dead...('polo mint') ; just might be that the usual customers are at home in the suburbs and not down-town anymore. It just might be that it works better for the employer (cost, productivity) and employee ( cost, time, productivity, well-being etc..) and they would prefer to keep it going. (does help the environment somewhat too.)
Revenue generated by the big-Commute and centre based hospitality businesses may never recover..more job losses..a new Normal not exactly hoped for, but things have just been jolted on, innit.

[morepork]

I'm sure his communication will be succinct, unambiguous and on point.

[Sandydragon]

Bolting horse / is it too late ? #2 (+..)
Bozza may be about to declare office working can resume and be actively encouraged.There are concerns apparently of suburbs getting the bustle back but city & town centres still dead...('polo mint') ; just might be that the usual customers are at home in the suburbs and not down-town anymore. It just might be that it works better for the employer (cost, productivity) and employee ( cost, time, productivity, well-being etc..) and they would prefer to keep it going. (does help the environment somewhat too.)
Revenue generated by the big-Commute and centre based hospitality businesses may never recover..more job losses..a new Normal not exactly hoped for, but things have just been jolted on, innit.

Some newspaper, like the Times, have been banging in about this for weeks. In order to save Pret, I need to endure a cramped train commute and then suffer in a cramped office which is just designed to transmit infections.

I think we have firmly moved into save the economy mode and not beat the virus .

In my view this is the wrong approach. We should look to improving the environment by reducing the commute and reimagine what offices should be used for.

[Galfon]

We should look to improving the environment by reducing the commute and reimagine what offices should be used for.

True ; key office functions have turned inside out with cloudworld.
He won't want to be misinterpreted as worrying more about the economic recovery than some citizens dying, as occurred with flattening of the sombrero so the hospitals could stay open at the beginning, rather than aiming for a flat-cap or even beret. (strict lockdown/lower mortalities )

[Digby]

Some of the systems/suggestions around getting office workers in/out of a building, up stairs, and into lifts are frankly hilarious. So we've got that to enjoy.

[Mellsblue]

Someone better have a plan for the tens of thousands of people whose jobs rely on people commuting in to cities. It’s not necessarily about saving Pret, it’s saving all the jobs at Pret and it’s supply chain.
I’m all for home working, for numerous reasons, but if we’re doing it in huge numbers in one fell swoop I hope someone comes up with a brilliant plan to re-employ all those that lose their job.

[Mellsblue]

Imperial College saying the the U.K. had a R rate of 0.57 when lockdown was eased in May......

[Puja]

Someone better have a plan for the tens of thousands of people whose jobs rely on people commuting in to cities. It’s not necessarily about saving Pret, it’s saving all the jobs at Pret and it’s supply chain.
I’m all for home working, for numerous reasons, but if we’re doing it in huge numbers in one fell swoop I hope someone comes up with a brilliant plan to re-employ all those that lose their job.

Surely this situation is basic income o'clock, even if only temporarily? Massive paradigm shift, huge job losses and the collapse of industries that just plain might not come back. Is it better for the economy to spend money propping up dinosaur industries just to keep people employed, or spend the money to see if a different system would work better?

Puja

[Galfon]

A chief scientific adviser speaks..!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53436865

so no need to change after all, but
'work from home if you can' -->'go back to work if you can' --> 'home working perfectly good option' (for many..)

sounds like he wants businesses to open up again even if does not make business sense - yet more bail-outs ?
(homeworkers are already working after all..)

[Mellsblue]

Someone better have a plan for the tens of thousands of people whose jobs rely on people commuting in to cities. It’s not necessarily about saving Pret, it’s saving all the jobs at Pret and it’s supply chain.
I’m all for home working, for numerous reasons, but if we’re doing it in huge numbers in one fell swoop I hope someone comes up with a brilliant plan to re-employ all those that lose their job.

Surely this situation is basic income o'clock, even if only temporarily? Massive paradigm shift, huge job losses and the collapse of industries that just plain might not come back. Is it better for the economy to spend money propping up dinosaur industries just to keep people employed, or spend the money to see if a different system would work better?

Puja

If working in city centre and public transport service industries are dinosaur industries then a very large part of the UK’s entire economic model is completely fecked. Think of the list that are highly predicated on commuters:
food outlets
cleaners
taxi drivers
security/concierge
pubs/bars
tube/train workers
bus drivers
refuse workers
the supply chain for all of the above

If we go down a UBI route it won’t be temporary, and that’s before you get to how we can afford it, that it’s not a substitute for a job - financially or psychologically - that it’ll impinge on the life chances of the kids in ubi homes etc etc.

You’ve either got to hope that the market will suddenly provide new jobs for mostly poorly educated people or that cities’ economies, particularly London’s, will collapse so quickly and so badly that all the landlords take a punt on turning office accommodation in to resi and people move back in to the cities.

Grim.