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News Worldwide impact of the novel coronavirus (covid-19)

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When the term fast-tracked is used - it doesn't mean that corners have been cut. I was of the same mind as you @Freida but a scientist & journalist here in Australia explained briefly on ABC Corona virus update what 'fast-tracked' meant.

He described the usual process that a vaccination takes of being linear eg. one phase begins, ends & then funding is found for the next phase once the results have been examined.

With the vaccine research for this pandemic he explained that companies are being given all of the funding to run each phase simultaneously. So if at any point a vaccine fails in any of it's trials - it will be evident much faster than waiting years and years for one stage to finish and the next to begin only to have it also fail or not.

But I also completely understand your opinion because science has inadvertently caused much harm at times. But worse, the reluctance of the various authorities to step up and take accountability.
 
its spiking here too. And yet they said today that they are opening the local schools for kindergartners. WTH? I'm really torn. I get kids should be with other kids, but helllloooooo there is still a pandemic. Is it really worth it to send our littlest into it? I've heard so many mixed opinions on kids getting covid - some say they can, some say they can't. I mean, they are basically walking petri dishes so I know they can get/spread just about anything
If it helps at all? From the American Academy of Pediatrics & the Children's Hospital Association most recent numbers, IE Expert Opinion next time you need one for your favorite armchair quarterback (I’m assuming you have those people in your life, like I do?)

There were 61,000 new cases in children during the last week of October, "which is larger than any previous week in the pandemic," the AAP said in a statement. From the onset of the pandemic through October 29, more than 853,000 children have tested positive for Covid-19, the AAP said, including nearly 200,000 new cases during the month of October.

I think something a lot of people outside of science/medicine have misunderstood is the word “relative”. Kids have always gotten sick. But scientists have been trying to find out why they’re not getting sick “relative to adults”. Meaning not as many, and with a far better mortality & morbidity rate. Like how with normal flu, children & elderly are the most susceptible doesn’t mean that adults in their prime don’t get it. They do. By the hundreds of millions. And transmit it on. But for some reason? Scientists seem to have forgotten that people who don’t speak medical-ease hear “don’t get sick” not “don’t get sick relative to adults”. Hopefully the news articles following the numbers since schools have re-opened will set the record straight.
 
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When the term fast-tracked is used - it doesn't mean that corners have been cut. I was of the same mind as you @Freida but a scientist & journalist here in Australia explained briefly on ABC Corona virus update what 'fast-tracked' meant.
Yep yep!

The normal flu-vaccine is fast tracked, that’s how we have a new flu vaccine at least once a year, and sometimes twice. We know it’s coming, and we (the world, that is, every developed nation contributes scientists & funding to making that vaccine) have the infrastructure in place to make it happen.
 
The UK is going back into lockdown on Thursday.
Nah not all of us. Scotland's not locked down (yet..). There's confusion about whether we can or not cos of furlough scheme and things. So right now we are still operating in tiers (Glasgow is almost locked down but restaurants etc can open til 6) n the islands are basically free to do whatever as long as they wear masks (I'm generalising. But they're the least locked down)
 
Nah not all of us. Scotland's not locked down (yet..)

* I meant England.

There's confusion about whether we can or not cos of furlough scheme and things

It's really unclear for you guys, PM saying one thing, ministers saying another.

So right now we are still operating in tiers (Glasgow is almost locked down but restaurants etc can open til 6)

Don't know about where you are, but the tiers did more harm than good where I am.
 
Wishing all the Gorgeous Peoples of MyPTSD Good vibes!

I feel for everyone who are living in places with wide virus spread. My partner and I have been watching closely what has been going on since February.

Last time Australia had roughly a low level of 3-4 weeks of low cases was before Victoria took off. During that time B and I thought we may have over reacted to the virus. Then Victoria happened, but it's still looking good here.

We are so fortunate in Australia, our risk is really low.

We are still staying mostly home but going to one social event per week wearing masks and going out to the many medical appointments that B needs wearing masks. We are trying to get all the many medical appointments done now whilst there is either a lull or while we all adjust to having a new socially distanced Covid19 normal.

We are quite good at wearing masks now. We watch each other for cross contamination, cleaning hands and socially distance. And we got to learn that in pretty low risk situations. We have been very lucky to be in the situation that we are in.

I just went out to an outdoor meditation group today, so I will keep adding activities to my week whilst socially distancing, having good hand hygiene and wearing a mask. I was the only one wearing a mask, it's a really nice one that fits well, is three layers and is light and has a lovely design on it. They are all elderly women but just keep among themselves. It was SO lovely to see them. They are a bunch of hilarious ratbags.

I am waiting for our doctor friends to say they trust the numbers, I just spoke to one and she said she's not going anywhere just yet but Australia is doing really well. I spoke to another one and her specialist group is looking at waste water in NSW and not meeting in person yet. I also spoke to my psychiatrist, she said to hold off just a bit longer and keep being careful. I also have a doctor friend couple who went into lock down in February like we did. They are going for all medical stuff to be done, went on a short holiday and are going out more and will wait and see what happens when the borders go down. They are still getting everything delivered and have taken a wait and see approach but have relaxed a bit. So I am watching them.

B is really ill and also high risk on top of that so we have taken it seriously and have been really cautious.

The specialist that B sees tomorrow is doing it via a teleconference, so he's still taking it seriously.

Some hospitals are very Covid19 aware and some others are not so much but all have many of the have protocols in place. A couple of hospitals I went into I really felt like they had it all together - masks, temperature testing, santisers, social distancing stickers etc - they were really on it.

I have been doing a lot of gardening at times but I am going to add in walks each day. I need to get out again. B and I are spending too much time together. He's not up for much but I need to get near the beach and the mountains and outside. Even if it is too hot to exercise go mall walking with a mask. I have had enough.

Really feeling for folks who are at such risk at this time.
 
If you ignore what the map is for? It’s quite pretty.


coronavirus-us-cases-promo-1601396060818-facebookJumbo-v157.png



Sadly, the State of Illinois can probably blame my step-ulcer (step uncle, autocorrect WIN) & his mates, who STILL believe Covid is a hoax for at least one, if not two, whole shades of red.

I am attempting to convince my family that due to Unclef*ckwit, we should probably “have” to go support ChiTown’s economy in the way of beef sandwiches and blues shows in the coming years. It’s a surprisingly difficult sell. Mostly because there’s debate as to whether we should eat his weight in sandwiches, an easy number to find out; or the total weight of coffin and pallbearers. And he seems oddly reluctant to get into one of those suckers, his mates in hand, on my cousins veterinary scale. My cousin is a very determined woman, however, and so I suspect once we have a total goal the rest of the Tribe who’s dithering on committing, will come over to our side.
 
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Denmark is trying to get in front of a mutated strain of the Corona virus that has infected a lot of it's Mink population despite strenous efforts to limit it's spread.

It is currently culling around 17 million Mink in an effort to stop the spread of the new strain which has already infected humans in Denmark.

It recognised the new strain about a month ago from what I can gather and began to cull in the northern parts of the country. Now it is spreading the cull to many more Mink farms.

Denmark exports most of it's mink fur to China.

A scientist, (ABC Australia) when describing this new strain of the virus, said it 'prevents the human immune system from forming anti-bodys and therefore will render all of the vaccines currently being researched and tested unusuable'.
 
A scientist, (ABC Australia) when describing this new strain of the virus, said it 'prevents the human immune system from forming anti-bodys and therefore will render all of the vaccines currently being researched and tested unusuable'.
This is the scariest part. I just learned of this just now and came here to see if it was posted. If this new strain gets out into the entire world, it makes vaccines way less effective. That makes making usable vaccines so much harder and take so much longer.

This is likely here to stay. The rate at which this virus mutates is scary!
 
The rate at which this virus mutates is scary!

^I've not heard that it is a virus that is prone to mutating easily. I read recently that corona virus including covid19 are relatively stable in comparison to other types of virus and don't have a high rate of mutation. For example the influenza virus does easily mutate so that's why new vaccines need to be developed all of the time.

That's not saying it cannot or won't mutate but that apart from it's ability to self-repair it hasn't, thus far, shown a high propensity to do so. Maybe we're just finding out more on that now that this particular virus (mink mutation) has become apparent?

Either way - it's not good at all.
 
'prevents the human immune system from forming anti-bodys and therefore will render all of the vaccines currently being researched and tested unusuable'.
In contrast to this - from an Associated Press article, Nov. 5 2020:
Kaare Moelbak of Statens Serum Institut said the virus variant was registered in August and September, and no mutations have been found since, so it was not known if it still exists...WHO officials said each case needs to be evaluated to determine if any of the changes mean the virus behaves differently.

“We are a long, long way from making any determination of that kind,” said Mike Ryan, the WHO emergencies chief. He said that such mutations happen all the time in viruses.

“Right now the evidence that we have doesn’t suggest that this variant is in any way different in the way it behaves,” he said in Geneva.

And something that I think aligns with what blackemerald1 posted, but with more detail:
...The virus produced by the mink mutation, on the other hand, seems impervious to antibodies produced in response to the dominant strain of the virus. What makes this mutation so much more troubling than previous mutations is not that the mutation increases how quickly the virus will spread, nor that it increases the severity of resultant disease. It’s the fact that the immune system cannot transfer knowledge about one form of the virus in fighting the other form. From the perspective of your immune system, they are two different viruses altogether.

In other words, if you have survived COVID-19, your immune system remains largely unequipped to battle the mink strain. Once pharmaceutical companies finish their monthslong race to devise an effective COVID vaccine, the vaccine would likely provide little protection against the emerging strain...
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From slate

That article goes on to say:
There is, fortunately, some cause for cautious optimism here. First, we don’t know yet how the mutant strain will affect the human body clinically. The 12 people infected with the mink strain may all remain symptom-free if the mink mutation also happens to have lowered its ability to cause disease...The second silver lining is the low case count of this mutant coronavirus—currently 12 people and just five animals. Given the rapid, aggressive governmental response, there is a good chance that this mutation will be stamped out before it can spread significantly, at least in the mink population. What hangs in the balance is the fate of the 12 infected people whose current health status remains unknown...Barring the hope for an impotent strain of the virus, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which cases of the mink strain explode exponentially, similar to the course of the original virus.

And from The Guardian (Nov. 6 2020) on virus mutation in general:
Viruses continuously accrue mutations as they replicate and circulate in populations, but most are harmless. Only a handful will change a virus’s ability to infect people or cause more serious disease.

"Sars-CoV-2 is not mutating as fast as other related viruses, but because it has been circulating in the human population for some time now, there’s quite a large set of mutations that have emerged,” said Prof David Robertson, a virologist at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.
Also, from the same piece:
Seven mutations [of SARS-CoV-2] have been identified so far...One was previously identified in an outbreak of Sars-CoV-2 on a mink farm in the Netherlands in April. It too was transmitted to humans, but it does not appear to have spread.

“I think it’s more about being aware that the virus can enter animal populations and exit back into humans,” said Julian Hiscox, the head of infection and global health at the University of Liverpool.

“The more genetic diversity in the virus there is, the more evolutionary room it’s got to play with. One of the reasons to try and keep the number of cases down as low as possible [in humans and animals], is to reduce the genetic diversity of the virus.”
 
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