[COVID NEWS] Fauci warns against 'overreacting' to new strain, advises against banning UK flights

By artappraiser on Mon, 12/21/2020 - 11:53pm |

previous Covid News thread here, starting 12/15/2020 - 8:36pm with "CA ORDERS 5,000 BODY BAGS AMID "MOST INTENSE" CORONAVIRUS SURGE"; ending 12/21/2020 - 2:55pm

Fauci warns against "overreacting" to new strain, advises against banning UK flights https://t.co/iVx5FzOQhc pic.twitter.com/hMKIVOfTZu
— The Hill (@thehill) December 21, 2020

URL:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/531146-fauci-warns-against-overreacting-to-new-strain-advises-against-banning-uk

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It wouldn't cost that much for the developed world to spend the money to make sure everyone in the developing world gets a covid-19 vaccine. So why is the developed world not doing it? Diversity, equity, and inclusion stops at the border? https://t.co/oon2BM5J8Q
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) December 22, 2020

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 2:03am

Antarctica reports first coronavirus cases
Taiwan reports first coronavirus case in 8 months
EU recommends member states lift blanket ban on travel from U.K. over new virus variant.

from Axios.com's Coronavirus Dashboard from 1 hr. ago

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 7:00pm

Forget the San Andreas fault. THIS IS THE BIG ONE, southern california is living it right now

Top story: California shatters daily COVID-19 record with more than 62,000 new cases as hospital conditions worsen - Los Angeles Times https://t.co/Fsro6b7Qdx, see more https://t.co/CJj5jwJOnZ
— Marti Zuidam (@crossmediapubli) December 22, 2020

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 7:05pm

California is in the midst of one of its darkest winters. Hospitalizations and deaths have continued to soar as the state has emerged as the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic — and they don’t appear to be slowing down. https://t.co/UqpmWWq3L4
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2020

A surge in infections linked to Thanksgiving has led to many hospitals running out of room to treat the severest COVID-19 cases, and medical facilities are facing a serious staffing shortage on top of everything else. https://t.co/8ufDOAQCcZ
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 7:17pm

UK:

Newspaper headlines: 'Tier 4 to be widened' and 'kick in the baubles' https://t.co/YM5cRb3r7h
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 22, 2020

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 7:28pm

Joe Biden:

Here’s the simple truth: Our darkest days in this battle against COVID are ahead of us — not behind us.

We need to prepare ourselves and steel our spines. pic.twitter.com/TSn5hdpzGj
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 2:34am

Canada not allowing any flights from the UK for another two weeks!

Update: To prevent the new variant of COVID-19 from spreading in Canada, we’re extending the temporary suspension of passenger flights from the UK for another two weeks, until January 6th. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and do whatever it takes to keep you safe.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 4:08am

South Africa:

Today we report, with concern, a cumulative total of 954 258 cases of #COVID19, with 14 046 new
cases identified since the last report at a positivity rate of 26%. pic.twitter.com/uVCn0YfEeO
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 4:12am

NYC E.R. Doc & "Ebola survivor":

I wish there was a pardon equivalent for our severely ill COVID patients.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) December 24, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 4:14am

Paper at the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases estimates the new English strain of Covid is ~56% more transmissible than preexisting variants. November-style lockdown with schools and unis open not enough to prevent caseload rising. https://t.co/74hX1r2YDy pic.twitter.com/P0scLkRu0V
— Mike Bird (@Birdyword) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 4:16am

NEW: Christmas eve update on key Covid metrics in the UK and beyond

Cases and positivity rates are still rocketing in London and surrounding areas, the regions where the new B.1.1.7 variant is known to be most prevalent.

15% of tests in London now positive. pic.twitter.com/Th4MCbDKm6
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) December 24, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 5:07pm

$COCP Biomedical Advanced Research and Development (BARDA) #WarpSpeed and as a reminder they only gave $REGN $450M in July for an antiviral drug and more is coming https://t.co/qVK9vFunzN
— ms101phd (@ms101phd) December 24, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 5:09pm

Japan nailed the public health messaging: clear, simple and consistent. pic.twitter.com/qOmtVLn5Vu
— Brian Morrissey (@bmorrissey) December 24, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 5:20pm

“Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts. He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks.” https://t.co/ws4WA2qVKO
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 24, 2020

Your questions.
Fauci’s answers.

Here for the convo: https://t.co/D0qPN7eIln

pic.twitter.com/58etbbL56q
— Andy Slavitt @ (@ASlavitt) December 23, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 5:39pm

classic anti-ideological Yglesias:

Honestly what is the point of living in California if not to say “we can do stuff outdoors all year round?” https://t.co/h52f66xmH3
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 26, 2020

Oh I see, LA County is taking advantage of its famous weather by banning outdoor dining to push social activity inside where the public health risk is much higher. Win-win.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 26, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 1:24am

dupe deleted

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 3:03am

I did a deep dive into the ethical framework the CDC used to justify vaccinating essential workers before the elderly, even though the CDC's own models showed that this would result in preventable deaths.

The framework was not very ethical. https://t.co/MOqtlFUiDi
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) December 22, 2020

What is it about public health that makes people think it’s their job to lie to people for their own good? https://t.co/JmYsQPSkwl
— Josiah Neeley (@jneeley78) December 24, 2020

When you can't just "trust the science" because the scientists keep lying to you and then saying, "oh, that was just a noble lie, sorry about that."https://t.co/2SKAiGiBto pic.twitter.com/hl06rjM7tA
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) December 24, 2020

This @Yascha_Mounk piece gives a specific example of the perils of "leveling-down equity"--here, it would've advanced a course in the name of equity for African Americans that, practically speaking, left more African Americans dead.https://t.co/6T6gSnVPpm
— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) December 24, 2020

From June, “Why Don’t Americans Trust Public-Health Experts?” (1/x) https://t.co/rJjqxruLhE
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“In January, as the earliest scary research into the outbreak in Wuhan began arriving from China, public-health officials downplayed the threat and systematically advised coronavirus panic be channeled into vigilance about the flu, which they considered a bigger problem.” (2/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“In February, as initial data arrived from China showing a dramatic age skew in mortality, with the old at far greater risk, and the very old at greater risk still, political leaders and public-health officials did practically nothing to protect the most vulnerable.” (3/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“In March, as evidence about the imperfect-but-still-significant efficacy of masks began rolling in, the WHO continued to advise against them.” (4/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“As recently as March 8, Anthony Fauci was advising the same thing on 60 Minutes, presumably to try and head off a possible mask run that would leave health workers undersupplied.” (5/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“In April, as it became clearer that outdoor transmission was significantly harder than indoor transmission, public officials across the country nevertheless continued closing parks and beaches.” (6/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“All of this guidance was issued in something of the fog of war, of course, and each piece, taken on its own, might seem sensible—the science being new and imperfect and often contradictory, it’s reasonable to try and guide the public toward more caution rather than less.” (7/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“But taken together they suggest a perhaps concerning pattern, one familiar to me now from years of writing about climate change and its long-understated risks...”
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

“Instead of simply presenting the facts experts massaged their messaging in the hope of producing a particular response from the public (and with the faith that they can expertly enough massage it to produce that outcome).” (X/x)
— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) December 25, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 3:25am

Meanwhile Good News About the Coronavirus Vaccine Is Becoming Contagious

Polls show that pervasive skepticism is melting, partly because of the high efficacy rates in trials and the images of real people getting the shot

By Jan Hoffman @ NYTimes.com, Dec. 26

[...] But over the past few weeks, as the vaccine went from a hypothetical to a reality, something happened. Fresh surveys show attitudes shifting and a clear majority of Americans now eager to get vaccinated.

In polls by Gallup, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, the portion of people saying they are now likely or certain to take the vaccine has grown from about 50 percent this summer to more than 60 percent, and in one poll 73 percent — a figure that approaches what some public health experts say would be sufficient for herd immunity.

Resistance to the vaccine is certainly not vanishing. Misinformation and dire warnings are gathering force across social media. At a meeting on December 20, members of an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited strong indications that vaccine denouncements as well as acceptance are growing, so they could not predict whether the public would gobble up limited supplies or take a pass.

But the attitude improvement is striking. A similar shift on another heated pandemic issue was reflected in a different Kaiser poll this month. It found that nearly 75 percent of Americans are now wearing masks when they leave their homes.

The change reflects a constellation of recent events: the uncoupling of the vaccine from Election Day; clinical trial results showing about 95 percent efficacy and relatively modest side effects for the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna; and the alarming surge in new coronavirus infections and deaths [....]

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 4:45pm

Fecal aerosols... 9 infections in 3 families due to vertically shared toilet drainage pipes + aerosols from pipes.

To even prove it, tracer gas was released into drainage system of one unit & shown to come out of the other.

Fecal airborne transmission is real. #COVID19 https://t.co/u2DmwpxYIJ
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 25, 2020

New requirements mandate -ve #COVID19 test within 3 days of flying to US

Have we learned nothing?

Cannot stop transmission by asking for tests a full 3 days before

Much better to use a rapid test at gate

Can be Antigen or RNA... but must be rapid.
https://t.co/qQqRxqZ7qj
— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) December 25, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 3:13am

Just another personal story from the ground. My mother is terrified. Pinellas county is a hot spot and every day on the news there's a death count. Until now no one where she lives had covid but three weeks ago the first person on her retirement village brought it back from Wisconsin. Then her daughter who was caring for her caught it. In my call today now there are many on the village who are sick. She's following the story so closely that she actually knows more of the details than I do. Which is astonishing as I usually know much more about almost everything that she does.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 4:58pm

learning as if her life depended on it? because: it really does!

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 8:15pm

Nearly half of Economist & NYT articles have mentioned COVID this year; that 1-story dominance of news coverage for a year is exceeded only by WWI & WWII
https://t.co/HByPREhQh2
— Matt Grossmann (@MattGrossmann) December 20, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 8:36pm

Sobering—1 out of every 1,000 people living in the US has died of #COVID19–residents, not just among cases.

330,000 are just diagnosed COVID deaths. US has accumulated now *420,000 excess deaths* compared to average of a many prior years.

Please stay safe. Thread pic.twitter.com/0FZ1bC4vtd
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 26, 2020

2) Excess deaths have occurred in every group over the age of 25. And it’s not just the elderly. pic.twitter.com/GzyYLheenw
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 26, 2020

3) Rely in just vaccine? No. The Trump administration goal was 20,000,000 vaccinated by end of 2020... we have only vaccinated merely 1 million.... only 5% of that goal! We only have days left. https://t.co/aU5DAGstOR
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 26, 2020

4) US and Sweden are still among the highest in cases per capita (there are some smaller countries with more than US like Slovenia, home of Melania). Unlike Austria, US has not been able to crush the curve. We need aggressive action now. pic.twitter.com/nXsAWhFxcn
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 26, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 11:07pm

Nine months into the pandemic and the federal government still can't manage to get health workers the protective equipment they need? https://t.co/X1agrHSo3T
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) December 27, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 11:10pm

BREAKING—95%—new data from Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine shows 95% efficacy & is “100% effective” in preventing severe illness, says AZ CEO. That’s on par w/ Moderna & Pfizer. No official data yet, but UK said to likely approve in days. HUGE. #COVID19
https://t.co/e4ra7GgmxG pic.twitter.com/YYn0MsORcy
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 27, 2020

2) As u know, Oxford was unhappy with the last trial because of the dosing quirk with the half dose / full dose issue that led to a split finding of 90% in the half-full dose, but 63% in the full-full dose. Hence they said last month they will redo with a new trial. https://t.co/6bDkuShf0P
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 27, 2020

3) Recall the original Phase 3 trial last month was still quite good. 70% overall (averaging across all doses), or 90% in the half-full dose. Oxford was the FIRST to publish formally in a journal! Moderna & Pfizer didn’t publish until later even though they were approved first. https://t.co/KJYkinJHhm
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 27, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/26/2020 - 11:14pm

Japan, Spain, France, Sweden and Canada find cases of the new coronavirus variant.

@ NYTimes.com Coronavirus Live News page, 1 hr. ago, authors at end of past

Japan, Spain, France, Sweden and Canada have found small numbers of infections involving a new, potentially more transmissible variant of the coronavirus, most linked to travel from the U.K., where it was first detected.

The rapid spread of the variant led to the lockdown of London and southern England this week, prompted a temporary French blockade of the English Channel and resulted in countries around the world barring travelers from the U.K. Because few countries have the level of genomic surveillance that Britain does, there is concern that the variant may have been traveling across the world undetected for weeks.

A recent study by British scientists found no evidence that the variant is more deadly than others but estimated that it is 56 percent more contagious.

So far, the British variant has been diagnosed in seven people in Japan, the country’s health ministry said. All had either recently traveled to the U.K. or been in contact with someone who had.

The discovery in Japan prompted the country to close its borders to all new entry by nonresident foreigners. The ban will go into effect at midnight on Monday and last through the end of January, the public broadcaster NHK reported.

In Spain, the variant was found in the capital region, local authorities said on Saturday. Antonio Zapatero, a regional health official, said that four cases had been confirmed in Madrid, while another three were being treated as suspicious. At least two of the cases involve people who had recently been to Britain and then tested positive in Madrid, as well as some of their relatives.

The first case of the new fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus in France was identified on Friday, according to the French health ministry. Officials said that the patient was a French citizen living in Britain who had traveled from London to Tours, a city in central France, on Dec. 19, a day before the British government imposed a lockdown following the emergence of the variant.

Officials in Sweden announced on Saturday that a case of the variant had been detected there after a traveler visited Sormland, near Stockholm, from the United Kingdom over Christmas, Reuters reported. No additional cases had been detected, the Public Health Agency of Sweden said.

Health officials in Ontario, Canada, said on Saturday that they had confirmed two cases of the variant in the province. The two cases were a couple from Durham, about 90 miles northwest of Toronto. The couple had no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contacts, the province’s health ministry said.

It is normal for viruses to mutate, and most of the mutations of the coronavirus have proved minor. The British variant has a constellation of 23 mutations, several of which might alter its transmissibility. Vaccine experts are confident that the available vaccines will be able to block the new variant, although that has to be confirmed by laboratory experiments that are now underway.

The European Union’s member nations are scheduled to begin vaccinating against the virus on Sunday with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Hungary began administering the vaccine a day early, on Saturday.

A few other concerning variants have also been identified, including one in South Africa and another in Nigeria. The U.K. said on Thursday that it would ban travel from South Africa after the British health secretary, Matt Hancock, said two people were confirmed to have been infected with the variant that emerged there.

Germany and Singapore have identified infections with the new variant. And Denmark, which has wider genomic surveillance than many other countries, detected 33 cases of the variant from Nov. 14 to Dec. 14, according to the Danish health authorities.

The U.S. has not yet reported any cases of the U.K. variant. But the country will require all airline passengers arriving from Britain to test negative for the coronavirus within 72 hours of their departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The rule will take effect on Monday.

Hisako Ueno and Mike Ives contributed reporting.

— Ben Dooley, Raphael Minder, Marc Santora, Isabella Kwai and Norimitsu Onishi

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/27/2020 - 12:01am

How is it that California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, the state with some of the strictest lockdown protocols in the country, remains such a hotbed of new COVID-19 cases? https://t.co/WN9QoHZ6d0
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) December 27, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/27/2020 - 4:09am

December is the deadliest month in the US since the coronavirus pandemic began -- and projections for January are 'nightmarish,' expert says https://t.co/qnM0HUKGo8
— Fulvio Meloni (@MeloniFulvio) December 27, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/27/2020 - 10:17am

December has been the nation's deadliest month since the Covid-19 pandemic's start -- with more than 63,000 Americans lost to the virus in the past 26 days. In comparison, the entire month of November saw about 36,964 deaths.

[....] experts continue to warn that while the end is in sight, the pandemic is not over and another surge stemming from the Christmas holiday could be on its way.

More than 1.1 million people were screened at airports on Saturday, according to the TSA, marking the third busiest day for US air travel since March. More than 616,000 were screened on Christmas Day alone, and hundreds of thousands more traveled in the days leading up to the holiday.

"We very well might see a post-seasonal -- in the sense of Christmas, New Years -- surge," Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning, pointing to holiday travel and private gatherings taking place despite the advice of health experts [....]

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/27/2020 - 10:32am

[COVID NEWS] Fauci warns against 'overreacting' to new strain, advises against banning UK flights

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