BBC: China pneumonia outbreak: COVID-19 Global Pandemic

[The Sisko]

On 3/11/2021 at 9:48 PM, China said:

States with Republican governors had highest Covid incidence and death rates, study finds

 

States with Democratic governors had the highest incidence and death rates from Covid-19 in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, but states with Republican governors surpassed those rates as the crisis dragged on, a study released Tuesday found.

"From March to early June, Republican-led states had lower Covid-19 incidence rates compared with Democratic-led states. On June 3, the association reversed, and Republican-led states had higher incidence," the study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Medical University of South Carolina showed.

 

"For death rates, Republican-led states had lower rates early in the pandemic, but higher rates from July 4 through mid-December," the study found.

 

The researchers theorized that one reason for the change is that Democrats were in charge of states where people who had the virus first arrived in the country — but Republicans were less stringent about safeguards, which could have contributed to their states' ultimately higher incidence and death rates.

 

"The early trends could be explained by high Covid-19 cases and deaths among Democratic-led states that are home to initial ports of entry for the virus in early 2020," the researchers wrote. "However, the subsequent reversal in trends, particularly with respect to testing, may reflect policy differences that could have facilitated the spread of the virus."

 

The study, which which was published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined Covid-19 "incidence, death, testing, and test positivity rates from March 15 through December 15, 2020," when there were 16 million confirmed cases in the U.S. and 300,000 deaths. It focused on per-capita infection and death rates in the 26 GOP-led states and 24 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., and made statistical adjustments for issues such as population density.

 

But "policy differences" between the Republican and Democratic leaders emerged as a big factor for the reversal of the states' fortunes, the study suggests.

 

Click on the link for the full article

Why does this so-called science stuff hate freedom?
 

On 3/13/2021 at 2:37 PM, visionary said:

 

More evidence of the extreme liberal media bias.

[China]

France Finds Covid-19 Variant That Evades Gold-Standard Tests

 

A new Covid-19 variant is spreading in the French region of Brittany, where several patients developed tell-tale symptoms but tested negative for the virus.

 

Early analysis doesn’t suggest the mutated pathogen is more contagious or causes more severe disease than other versions, France’s health ministry said in a statement late Monday. Experiments are underway to determine the variant’s response to vaccination and antibodies from prior Covid infection, the ministry said.

 

A handful of patients whose infection was confirmed with samples from blood or deep in the respiratory system had tested negative at first with gold-standard tests, called PCR. Health authorities have increased surveillance amid concern globally about other variants that can thwart vaccines, spread quickly or foment worse symptoms.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by China

[China]

Covid: Slow walkers 'more likely to die', study finds

 

People who walk slowly may be nearly four times more likely to die from Covid-19, a new study has found.

 

Health researchers based in Leicester concluded slow walkers with a "normal" weight were 3.75 times more likely to die from the virus than brisk walkers.

 

The project used data collected from more than 400,000 middle-aged people.

 

Lead researcher Prof Tom Yates said self-reported walking pace could be used to predict whether someone was at higher risk from the virus.

 

The study, run by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, was designed to explore links between body mass index (BMI) and self-reported walking pace with the risk of contracting severe Covid-19 and mortality.

 

It used self-reported data from 412,596 people who participate in UK Biobank, a biomedical database and research study.

Slow walking was considered to be at a speed of less than three miles (4.8km) per hour, steady/average speed was three to four miles (6.4km) per hour, and brisk at more than four miles per hour.

 

Researchers also found slow walkers were 2.5 times more likely to develop severe Covid-19 than those in the fastest bracket.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TradeTheBeal!]

This is unpleasant.

 

 

[China]

Trump's Mar-a-Lago partially closed due to Covid outbreak

 

Former President Donald Trump's Palm Beach club has been partially closed because of a Covid outbreak.

 

That’s according to several people familiar with the situation, including a club member who received a phone call about the closure Friday. A receptionist at the Mar-a-Lago club confirmed the news, saying it was closed until further notice, but declined to comment further.

 

A person familiar with club operations said that, out of an abundance of caution, the club had partially closed a section "for a short period of time” and quarantined some of its workers. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation by name.

 

The extent of the outbreak, what portions of the club were closed or how it was affecting the former first family weren’t immediately clear.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

France puts Paris back in lockdown mode for next four weeks beginning Friday night

 

The French government backed off Thursday from ordering a tough lockdown for Paris and several other regions despite an increasingly alarming situation at hospitals with a rise in the numbers of COVID-19 patients. Instead, the prime minister announced a patchwork of new restrictions while reducing the national curfew by one hour.

 

Getting large doses of fresh air is being encouraged, meaning that people living in the Paris region and in the north of the country can walk as long as they like in a day, but within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of their homes and with a paper authorizing the stroll.

 

Stores, however, will feel the pinch with all non-essential outlets closing down, though bookstores won't be shuttered. And travel between regions is forbidden without a compelling reason.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LD0506]

2% of people carry 90% of COVID-19 virus, and roommates are safer than you think

 

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-people-covid-virus-roommates-safer.html?fbclid=IwAR0klsJUuOxrJv0Zde_WEstl0axKPDH4QGsBXYf8kHMS9vISb2B6FlFbQZI

[Larry]

14 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

2% of people carry 90% of COVID-19 virus, and roommates are safer than you think

 

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-people-covid-virus-roommates-safer.html?fbclid=IwAR0klsJUuOxrJv0Zde_WEstl0axKPDH4QGsBXYf8kHMS9vISb2B6FlFbQZI

 

Yeah, if it weren't for those damned infected people, this disease would be a lot smaller.  

[China]

The Covid-19 pandemic almost didn't happen, a new genetic dating study shows

 

The coronavirus pandemic almost didn't happen, a new study shows.

 

Researchers working to show when and how the virus first emerged in China calculate that it probably did not infect the first human being until October 2019 at the very earliest. And their models showed something else: It almost didn't make it as a pandemic virus.

Only bad luck and the packed conditions of the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan -- the place the pandemic appears to have begun -- gave the virus the edge it needed to explode around the globe, the researchers reported in the journal Science.

 

"If things had been just a tiny bit different, if that first person who brought that into the Huanan market had decided to not go that day, or even was too ill to go and just stayed at home, that or other early super-spreading events might not have occurred. We may never have even known about it."

The team employed molecular dating, using the rate of ongoing mutations to calculate how long the virus has been around. They also ran computer models to show when and how it could have spread, and how it did spread.

"Our study was designed to answer the question of how long could SARS-CoV-2 have circulated in China before it was discovered," said Joel Wertheim, associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

 

"To answer this question, we combined three important pieces of information: a detailed understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 spread in Wuhan before the lockdown, the genetic diversity of the virus in China and reports of the earliest cases of COVID-19 in China. By combining these disparate lines of evidence, we were able to put an upper limit of mid-October 2019 for when SARS-CoV-2 started circulating in Hubei province."

The evidence strongly indicates the virus could not have been circulating before that, the researchers said. There have been reports from Italy and other European countries of evidence the virus may have infected people there before October. But Thursday's study indicates only about a dozen people were infected between October and December, Worobey said.

 

"Given that, it's hard to reconcile these low levels of virus in China with claims of infections in Europe and the U.S. at the same time," Wertheim said in a statement. "I am quite skeptical of claims of COVID-19 outside China at that time."

The study indicates the virus did emerge in China's Hubei province and not elsewhere, the researchers said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Well, I guess this settles it:

 

 

[China]

To shave or not to shave? How beards may affect Covid-19 risk

 

Growing a beard may seem as harmless as committing to elastic waistbands, as far as pandemic trends go. But for some, choosing to forego shaving could impact one crucial method for ending the pandemic.

 

An important part of wearing face masks to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus is that the mask fits snugly. Depending on a beard's length and thickness, experts have said it may reduce the effectiveness of mask-wearing by creating more space between your face and the mask.

Any opening "increases the chance that there is a virus that will get to the orifices, which can then obviously give you the disease," said Dr. Mona Gohara, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine.

Mask-wearing doesn't totally prevent infection, but it can help limit the spread of potentially virus-laden respiratory droplets among people. Mask use can reduce the number of new coronavirus infections by nearly 50%, according to a December 2020 study.

 

However, given the evidence that "not being protected adequately with masks and social distancing does increase your risk of coronavirus," Gohara said, "if your mask isn't fitting properly, then you are increasing your risk."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[China]

Minnesota reports zero new COVID-19 deaths for first time in months

 

Minnesota for the first time since April 13 reported zero deaths in its daily situation update for COVID-19.

 

The number comes with caveats, including that daily COVID-19 reports have always been lower on Mondays, and reflect when investigations are complete rather than when deaths actually occur. The number nonetheless is a sign of hope after a full year of the pandemic in Minnesota.

 

Overall, the state has reported 6,782 deaths due to COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus. The state on the other hand on Monday reported 1,152 newly diagnosed infections — a high total for a Monday — bringing Minnesota's total case count to 506,376.

 

Health officials remain concerned that new, more infectious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus could disrupt pandemic progress in Minnesota. The positivity rate of diagnostic testing increased again to 4.5%, inching closer to Minnesota's warning threshold of 5% for significant viral spread.

 

The number of Minnesota hospital beds with COVID-19 patients also reached 318 on Sunday, up from a low of 210 on March 6 but well below the peak of 1,864 on Nov. 29.

 

Whether due to vaccination, COVID-19 fatigue or spring restlessness, Minnesotans' habits amid the pandemic are changing. Mobility levels had been 30% below normal in mid-February, but rebounded to 12% below normal in Minnesota, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington state, while the share of people who always wear masks in public declined from 79% to 75% in the same time frame.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TradeTheBeal!]

[China]

Bad News Bias

 

The U.S. media is offering a different picture of Covid-19 from science journals or the international media, a study finds.

 

Bruce Sacerdote, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, noticed something last year about the Covid-19 television coverage that he was watching on CNN and PBS. It almost always seemed negative, regardless of what was he seeing in the data or hearing from scientists he knew.

 

When Covid cases were rising in the U.S., the news coverage emphasized the increase. When cases were falling, the coverage instead focused on those places where cases were rising. And when vaccine research began showing positive results, the coverage downplayed it, as far as Sacerdote could tell.

 

But he was not sure whether his perception was correct. To check, he began working with two other researchers, building a database of Covid coverage from every major network, CNN, Fox News, Politico, The New York Times and hundreds of other sources, in the U.S. and overseas. The researchers then analyzed it with a social-science technique that classifies language as positive, neutral or negative.

 

The results showed that Sacerdote’s instinct had been right — and not just because the pandemic has been mostly a grim story.

 

The coverage by U.S. publications with a national audience has been much more negative than coverage by any other source that the researchers analyzed, including scientific journals, major international publications and regional U.S. media. “The most well-read U.S. media are outliers in terms of their negativity,” Molly Cook, a co-author of the study, told me.

 

About 87 percent of Covid coverage in national U.S. media last year was negative. The share was 51 percent in international media, 53 percent in U.S. regional media and 64 percent in scientific journals.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Was there positive Covid news?

[TD_washingtonredskins]

46 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Was there positive Covid news?

I grappled with that too, but then realized it's a comparison with other coverage. So, I still think it's valid. If the rest of the world was finding nuggets of positivity to report on and the US wasn't, that's still telling about how this country's media flocks to the negative when they can. 

[China]

3 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

I grappled with that too, but then realized it's a comparison with other coverage. So, I still think it's valid. If the rest of the world was finding nuggets of positivity to report on and the US wasn't, that's still telling about how this country's media flocks to the negative when they can. 

 

 

[TheDoyler23]

23 hours ago, China said:

Well, I guess this settles it:

 

 

 

"Made it rain" is a bit of an overstatement. Dude made it sprinkle. 

[China]

Carcinogen found in hand sanitizers sold during pandemic

 

A carcinogen has been found in hand sanitizer that entered the market during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an online pharmacy. 

 

The pharmacy, Valisure, tested numerous hand sanitizer products for chemicals including benzene, formaldehyde and others, finding higher levels of the cancer-causing benzene in nearly two dozen products sold in the U.S.

 

The products entered the market last year amid nationwide shortages of well-known brands. 

 

Some of the brands included artnaturals, a beauty and skincare company. Artnaturals describes itself as born from "a desire to free beauty from high prices, toxic chemicals and all-around bad vibes."

 

Others included two products sold with colored sanitizer and cartoon imagery of the "Star Wars" character Baby Yoda from the TV show "The Mandalorian." 

 

Following the findings, Valisure submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging an investigation into the hand sanitizers. An FDA spokesperson told The Hill that it had received the petition and was reviewing it.

 

The analysis went on to suggest that while only a fraction of the market had been tested, few of the products containing high levels of benzene appeared to be manufactured in Mexico; most came from the U.S. or China.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[bcl05]

My hospital currently has no COVID patients in our ICUs.  First time since April we could say that.  At our peak we were > 40 ICU patients every day.  

Edited March 25, 2021 by bcl05

[Captain Wiggles]

Why not quadruple the goal.... no no quintuple it? ONE BILLION vaccines in a hundred days. 🤪

 

Now that would be impressive.  

[skinsmarydu]

39 minutes ago, clietas said:

Why not quadruple the goal.... no no quintuple it? ONE BILLION vaccines in a hundred days. 🤪

 

Now that would be impressive.  

I kinda read this in Dr. Evil's voice 

[China]

Brazil governor calls Bolsonaro a 'psychopathic leader' who made 'unbelievable mistakes' on Covid-19

 

The governor of Sao Paulo state has called Jair Bolsonaro a "psychopathic leader," in a sharp rebuke over the Brazilian President's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

"We are in one of those tragic moments in history when millions of people pay a high price for having an unprepared and psychopathic leader in charge of a nation," Joao Doria said in an interview with CNN on Monday.

Doria said much of the deaths from the virus in Brazil could have been avoided if Bolsonaro had "acted with the responsibility that the position gives him."

He added that Bolsonaro made "unbelievable mistakes, the biggest one was having a political dispute with the governors who are trying to protect the population."

 

The Covid-19 crisis in Brazil has never been worse.

Nearly every Brazilian state has an ICU occupancy of 80% or higher, according to a recent CNN analysis of state data. As of Friday, 16 of 26 states were at or above 90%, meaning those health systems have collapsed or are at imminent risk of doing so.

 

And as of Friday, less than 10 million people in the country of about 220 million had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to federal health data. Only 1.57% of the population had been fully vaccinated.
 

Click on the link for the full article