BBC: China pneumonia outbreak: COVID-19 Global Pandemic

[TradeTheBeal!]

Caps/Rangers at the Garden with 2k fans sounds kinda awesome really.

 

 

[China]

White House looks at domestic travel restrictions as COVID mutation surges in Florida

 

The Biden administration is considering whether to impose domestic travel restrictions, including on Florida, fearful that coronavirus mutations are threatening to reverse hard-fought progress on the pandemic.

 

Outbreaks of the new variants — including a highly contagious one first identified in the United Kingdom, as well as others from South Africa and Brazil that scientists worry can evade existing vaccines — have lent urgency to a review of potential travel restrictions within the United States, one federal official said.

 

“There are active conversations about what could help mitigate spread here, but we have to follow the data and what’s going to work. We did this with South Africa, we did this with Brazil, because we got clear guidance,” one White House official said.

 

“But we’re having conversations about anything that would help mitigate spread,” the official said, referring to discussions about new travel restrictions that could target the spread of the U.K. mutation in Florida.

 

The U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7, has recently exploded in Florida, where over a third of all cases in the United States have been identified.

 

No decision is imminent, and any move to restrict travel or impose new health measures would be taken in partnership with state and local governments, two federal government officials said.

 

“This is a war and we’re at battle with the virus. War is messy and unpredictable, and all options are on the table,” the White House official said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[China]

All hypotheses remain open on COVID origins: WHO chief

 

The head of the World Health Organization has said that all hypotheses on the origins of COVID-19 remained on the table, following an investigative mission in China.

 

The WHO’s mission to Wuhan, where the first coronavirus infections were identified in December 2019, failed to identify the source of the virus but poured cold water on the theory that it leaked from the city’s virology laboratory.

 

“Some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded. Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies.

 

The mission has said its main hypotheses are that the virus originated in a bat, although there are several possible scenarios for how it passed to humans, possibly first by infecting another species of animal.

 

At a press conference in Wuhan on Tuesday, Ben Embarek quashed the theory that a leak from a virology lab in Wuhan could have caused the pandemic.

 

“The laboratory incident hypothesis is extremely unlikely,” he said. It “is not in the hypotheses that we will suggest for future studies”.

 

The previous US administration of President Donald Trump, which left office last month, said it believed the virus may have escaped from a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

 

When pressed on why the mission did not believe a lab could have been the source, Ben Embarek told Friday’s briefing that scientists from labs in Wuhan had told his team they did not have it. If they had been studying it before the outbreak, he said, it would not have been a secret.

 

“Usually laboratory researchers who work and discover new viruses would immediately publish their findings. That’s a common practice around the world, particularly with new, interesting viruses,” he said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Springfield]

If anyone has been following the UVA models for the VDH, things are looking really, really good right now.

 

Here. It's wonderful.

https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/182/2021/02/UVA-COVID-19-Model-Weekly-Report-2021-02-12.pdf

[China]

States risk repeating last summer's mistakes in reopening

 

It only took one day for customers to begin walking into her Des Moines, Iowa, deli without a mask after Gov. Kim Reynolds lifted the state's mask mandate.

 

Carey Hansen, owner of Manhattan Deli, said it had been weeks since she had to ask customers to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended mask guidance. But immediately after Reynolds' announcement, compliance dropped.

 

When she asked customers to put a mask on, they told her the governor no longer required them to do so. She countered, telling them that her shop required it, but the only backing she has now is the printed sign on her door, stating masks are required to enter.

 

"It felt really nice to just have it be a universal expectation that masks should be worn. And unfortunately, that's been completely undone this week here in Iowa," Hansen said.

 

Manhattan Deli was one of the restaurants to publicly announce it would continue to follow CDC guidelines, including requiring customers to wear masks and maintain social distancing, despite Reynolds' decision on Sunday to pull back her statewide restrictions.

 

"I don't currently feel like there's been a lot of learning to be had with the early reopening," Hansen said.

 

It's a valid fear, experts say, because the U.S. has seen it play out before.

 

Last summer, some states prematurely pulled back restrictions before they hit the federal criteria to safely reopen, bringing on the biggest spike the country had seen at that point. Now, experts warn the same situation could happen across the country as states like Iowa and Montana lift mask mandates, New York allows stadiums to reopen, California pulls back its stay-at-home orders and Illinois allows more people to partake in indoor dining.

 

The Biden White House coronavirus team says they want to avoid repeating that mistake.

 

"It is conceivable that we are turning the corner on this. But we've been fooled before with different surges that came back, if you look at the pattern of the last year and a couple of months," Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical expert, said at an event hosted by Duke University on Wednesday.

 

He cautioned that a state-by-state patchwork of rules doesn't work because the virus doesn't adhere to state borders and urged state leaders to stick with a uniform approach.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

4 hours ago, China said:

"I don't currently feel like there's been a lot of learning to be had with the early reopening," Hansen said.

 

Recall the phrase :Nobody ever learns anything, the second time they make the same mistake."  

 

[visionary]

 

[China]

New COVID-19 cases, deaths in U.S. dip to lowest since fall

 

New coronavirus cases and deaths in the United States have both dipped to their lowest levels in months, according to data Monday from Johns Hopkins University.

 

The data show a total of 64,900 new COVID-19 cases nationwide on Sunday, the fewest for any one day since the end of October.

 

Sunday's cases marked the seventh time in the past eight days that new U.S. cases were under 100,000, a streak also not seen since late in October, before the start of the greatest surge in cases and deaths to date.

 

The data also show fewer than 1,100 coronavirus-related deaths in the United States on Sunday. That figure is the lowest since late November.

 

Johns Hopkins University's case figures and deaths are typically lower for Sunday due to slower reporting at the end of the weekends.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

 

[Hersh]

4 hours ago, visionary said:

 

 

Remember when panicky Democrats were all like "I wish Cuomo would've run so we wouldn't have 90 year old Joe Biden running against Trump"? Don't think this ends well for Cuomo's political ambitions. 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

Fauci getting the bag.

[EmirOfShmo]

I was able to get registered on the Virginia website this morning - before the 8am 'start time'. For whatever reason it was up & running about 7:56am when I checked & it let me register. As soon as I completed my registration the website crashed & is still down.

This system should have been up, fully stress tested & ready for prime time months ago. Maybe the Fed should have developed a system last & distributed it to t states to use. 

For anyone interested here's the site: https://vaccinate.virginia.gov/

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

On 2/5/2021 at 4:33 PM, EmirOfShmo said:

Didn't see this posted...

 

New Israeli Covid drug which cured 30 cases of disease hailed by scientists as 'huge breakthrough'

A new coronavirus drug which successfully cured 30 cases of the disease in Israeli hospital patients has been hailed by scientists as a ‘huge breakthrough’.

The EXO-CD24 substance was developed at the Ichilov Medical Centre in Tel Aviv and successfully completed its first phase of clinical trials on Friday.

The treatment was given to 30 patients with coronavirus, whose conditions ranged from moderate to severe.

Twenty-nine of the patients were then discharged from the hospital in the following three to five days, while one patient took slightly longer to recover.

A protein known as CD24 is delivered to the lungs by exosomes in the drug, which helps to rebalance the immune system and prevent it from overreacting to the virus.

Professor Nadir Arber originally designed EXO-CD24, which is breathed in as a gas and taken once every five days, in order to treat patients who had ovarian cancer.

“Even if the vaccines do their job, and even if there aren't any new mutations, one way or another, the coronavirus will be staying with us,” Prof Arber told the news site Arutz Sheva.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/israeli-covid-drug-cured-30-191709164.html

 

This post did not get enough love but it's very significant.  We all know COVID is not going to disappear, if better treatments can be developed that's a game changer.  

[CousinsCowgirl84]

1 hour ago, EmirOfShmo said:

I was able to get registered on the Virginia website this morning - before the 8am 'start time'. For whatever reason it was up & running about 7:56am when I checked & it let me register. As soon as I completed my registration the website crashed & is still down.

This system should have been up, fully stress tested & ready for prime time months ago. Maybe the Fed should have developed a system last & distributed it to t states to use. 

For anyone interested here's the site: https://vaccinate.virginia.gov/

 

I already registered with the Virginia health department???

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

People are ****ed up.

[China]

Opera Singers Help Covid-19 Patients Learn to Breathe Again

 

On a recent afternoon, the singing coach Suzi Zumpe was running through a warm-up with a student. First, she straightened her spine and broadened her chest, and embarked on a series of breath exercises, expelling short, sharp bursts of air. Then she brought her voice into action, producing a resonant hum that started high in a near-squeal, before sinking low and cycling up again. Finally, she stuck her tongue out, as if in disgust: a workout for the facial muscles.

 

The student, Wayne Cameron, repeated everything point by point. “Good, Wayne, good,” Zumpe said approvingly. “But I think you can give me even more tongue in that last bit.”

 

Though the class was being conducted via Zoom, it resembled those Zumpe usually leads at the Royal Academy of Music, or Garsington Opera, where she trains young singers.

 

But Cameron, 56, isn’t a singer; he manages warehouse logistics for an office supplies company. The session had been prescribed by doctors as part of his recovery plan after a pummeling experience with Covid-19 last March.

 

Called E.N.O. Breathe and developed by the English National Opera in collaboration with a London hospital, the six-week program offers patients customized vocal lessons: clinically proven recovery exercises, but reworked by professional singing tutors and delivered online.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Ball Security]

39 minutes ago, visionary said:

People are ****ed up.

I called this back during the inauguration.  Please tell Mr. Greenwood that the stock market is doing big numbers though.

[China]

9 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I already registered with the Virginia health department???

 

They just sent a note that says in part:

 

Quote

Today, we launched a new statewide vaccine pre-registration system, to make it easier for people to sign up for a free COVID-19 vaccination. If you are receiving this email, you have been transferred automatically to the new statewide system and you do not need to do anything at this time. You will maintain your current status, and can confirm that you are in the new system at any time, at vaccinate.virginia.gov. 

 

[China]

I swear states like Iowa and Alaska are behaving as if they are in an episode of Short Attention Span Theater.  Or maybe a better analogy would be that they can see the finish line so I guess it's OK to just sit down for a minute.

 

‘Uncharted territory’: Cheers, deep frustration as Alaska loses state COVID-19 emergency declaration

 

Alaska on Sunday became one of two states in the United States without a formal COVID-19 public health disaster declaration and the only state without any disaster-related provisions, at least right now.

 

The physically isolated and medically fragile state is also seeing a sharp reduction in coronavirus cases.

 

But without the declaration, everything from hospital coronavirus treatment units to space for large vaccination clinics is in limbo, observers say. In place since March, it provided legal backing for state health orders, as well as flexibilities to respond to the virus and deliver vaccine to Alaskans.

 

“Alaska is definitely in uncharted territory here,” said Emily Ford, government relations director with Providence Alaska Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital in Anchorage.

 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in a news conference Sunday, the day the declaration expired, said it was time to start moving Alaska past restrictions. Alaska boasts one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. Declining daily case counts have been followed by dropping hospitalization and death statistics.

 

The expiration led to the immediate closure of a popular drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at Lake Otis Parkway on Providence property operated in partnership with the municipality. The “alternate care site” was authorized by federal waivers granted by the declaration, hospital officials say.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

[The Evil Genius]

 

[tshile]

I generally hate sharing stuff like this. I cannot personally vet it. And I’m not knowledgeable enough to go against it. Just sharing... 

 

and up until now I’ve been positive about things just like @Springfieldhas been. The models were looking good. 
 

but a daily briefing had the following talking points:

mega surge expected with new variant in 4-6 weeks

infection rate expected to double every 10 days

expected to be 30-50% more transmissible 

expected to be 30% more lethal

expected to have 40-60% increased hospitalization rate

 

 

this is not good. 

[TheGreatBuzz]

15 minutes ago, tshile said:

I generally hate sharing stuff like this. I cannot personally vet it. And I’m not knowledgeable enough to go against it. Just sharing... 

 

and up until now I’ve been positive about things just like @Springfieldhas been. The models were looking good. 
 

but a daily briefing had the following talking points:

mega surge expected with new variant in 4-6 weeks

infection rate expected to double every 10 days

expected to be 30-50% more transmissible 

expected to be 30% more lethal

expected to have 40-60% increased hospitalization rate

 

 

this is not good. 

Where did you hear this?  Was it a WH briefing?

[tshile]

6 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

Where did you hear this?  Was it a WH briefing?

No. Someone I know that sits in on daily briefings. I’ve been posting the info throughout. It’s been mostly accurate (the info is accurate in its legitimacy but with the nature of projections it’s not always 100% accurate as things play out)

 

very similar to Springfield. In fact as far as I can tell he’s mostly got the same primary source as where my info comes from. Numbers are usually exact or very similar. 
 

edit: the primary source is a combination of Virginia department of health and cdc for the most part. Some are from proprietary models for a specific region 

Edited February 18, 2021 by tshile