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

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As for stimulus checks. Its really hard to know someone else financial situation. I have said thru all of this we are blessed, but its not all simple. My husband lost his job of 40 yrs feb 1st. He had no job prospects. So we cashed out pensions to pay off autos and mortgage. Then he got another job. We keep getting hit with other major expenses but are making it. Now its tax time, and even though we paid a lot out of the pension, we owe our state 20K, so the stimulus check would be of great help.
 
Well, there's a reason for
You might want to reread my post: I said, "When a nation sends out stimulus checks for two reasons, it is to help the people who are suffering from some kind of catastrophe and help stabilize the economy." There is always a cause for a problem with the economy.....could be war, could be a plague, could be an environmental catastrophe.......and if you've done any extensive reading, or listened to Trump talk, then it has a secondary purpose.....to help those who are in trouble financially.
 
Mrs Spock, thank you for the encouragement and the hug...(((hug)))) back at you . I really appreciate all you share here. Im even feeling a bit better today.
(((hug @brat17)))

I am so glad that you are feeling a little bit better today. It's reaching out that we can assist each other. You don't know how many people you assisted by reading your experience, and that's the wonderful thing about this forum. And share that it is a big thing, this pandemic, with so many new stresses, challenges and responsibilities.

I have upped my CBT and I am listening to podcasts here @brat17 List of Feeling Good Podcasts | Feeling Good There's some coronavirus podcasts here - and they are good - as are all the rest of them. As I suffer from a lot of anxiety and depression I find all the podcasts really useful. They distract me from my current preoccupations but also give me skills to manage other situations. It might or might interest you, hopefully knowing there's another resource available is useful. And if that is not useful, knowing someone cared enough to share what is useful for them, hopefully that makes a difference.

I have joined online meditation communities/Sanghas and they have very much assisted me in feeling connected and enjoying folks' company from around the world. Being here - I already have that, and I feel immensely grateful for all the folks here.

We don't know how the pandemic will effect people's mental health in the long run, and perhaps, though the peoples on this forum have suffered immensely, perhaps we are the lucky ones because we have communities that we can reach out in, and we have communities in which we can find meaning and purpose in supporting other folks in our cohort. Not everyone has that.

Research is already being done.
Some are suffering a lot, especially our young people.

(1) Media briefing on COVID-19 - YouTube

This is truly amazing! 55 million people have now been vaccinated around the world! That is tremendous in a year or so that the pandemic started. So it's up and running. It's a marathon, and not a sprint though.


The passing of Pfizer and the complications of AstraZeneca trials and data.

 
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If you want any other resources @brat17 let me know. I collect stuff in order to share them with other folks. The Self Compassion stuff is free as well. It's a good site. Self-Compassion Exercises by Dr. Kristin Neff

Look at Laurie Garrett. She looks exhausted.

Bad news here. Vaccines failing. Not high enough efficacy. AstraZeneca might have less than 10% efficacy for the elderly at 1.40-2:00. It will appear before the European Union Medicines Agency. I hope it's higher for other age groups, at least the young, as it could be used to prevent spread in the Third World but it won't be passed for the US now. The CDC is not passing anything under 50% efficacy. The US has Pfizer and Moderna, if only everyone could get it immediately. Hopefully Johnson and Johnson is a single dose & has also high efficacy. That could be a game changer.

The thing is the VOCs, (3:05) and that's the issue. Egads, it's a race against time, I didn't know about the 3:25 Ohio or Californian variants, and the other new VOCs - 3:30 US has the Brazilian, B1351 variant (first detected in South Africa) and B117 (first detected Kent, UK) strains to worry about. 😭 😭 😭 Johnston is saying it's 30% more infectious than they common form of Covid19. If Laurie Garret is concerned, then it's time to be concerned. Who would have thought I would end up writing about "common" Covid19. At 5:32 Laurie Garret says that the vaccines are still working in the labs and there's no research/data on whether that will happen in human. She wrote an amazing book on Ebola, it's well worth the read. I am researching something else at the moment so my mind is mostly distracted from Covid19. I have been cooking and dropping food off for folks who are struggling this week which has been a great gratitude exercise to do. The science of it all is really fascinating.


“We know that even as we work hard to defeat COVID-19, the virus continues to evolve as all viruses do. That’s yet another reason why we want to limit COVID-19 transmission – the fewer people who get COVID-19, the fewer opportunities the virus has to evolve,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm said.
Looks like the Brazilian VOC has made it to the US. First Known Case Of Brazilian Covid-19 Variant Identified In U.S.


Professor Woo-Joo Kim from South Korea also looks exhausted.


All the professionals around the world are looking pretty exhausted.
 
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Bad news here. Vaccines failing. Not high enough efficacy. AstraZeneca might have less than 10% efficacy for the elderly at 1.40-2:00.
Facts are really important with this topic.

This "info" started with a couple of German news outlets where the vaccine is being rolled out. AstraZeneca has released a statement in response (which isn't as catchy a news title as "vaccine failing") saying the statement is completely false.

The problem is in the trial processing. For the AstraZeneca trials, the first stage of the trial was initially to people only under the age of 55. Older participants were included in later stages of the trials. So, there is less data about its efficacy on older people because there were less older participants.

For the best information about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine? There haven't been any new releases of information from the Oxford Lamcet since early December. That's the space to watch.

A similar issue came up past week with reports out of Norway that around 30 people in aged care facilities who had received the Pfizer vaccine had subsequently died. However, those 2 statements, though reported as if the vaccine was the obvious cause of death, were misleading. In that particular week, less aged care residents died than in any average given week in the country, and I'm not aware of the causes of death in those cases having been linked to the virus by any reliable primary source of data.

There's a lot of news stories out there, all competing for the 'big story'. But accurate reporting, reporting that doesn't mislead the public, is super important. If in doubt, or if any given news article causes you to suddenly panic? Go check out the primary sources of data;)
 
In respect to the elderly people in Norway - it was disclosed on the ABC yesterday (25.1.2021) that the deaths were being primarily attributed to terminal illnesses and not the vaccine. The commercial media have got it wrong and unfortunately the super hype makes better news rather than facts.
 
Facts are really important with this topic.
You are completely right about this.

Facts are not only really important with this topic, they are absolutely crucial.

For me if someone is a contributor and writer for the Lancet, in my mind they are a credible source.

Laurie Garrett is a credible source. She writes for the Lancet during this pandemic.

and in the past.

She has deep knowledge, a wide range of contacts and she is able to follow in real time what is going on in China.

Laurie Garrett wrote a book predicting the pandemic of Covid19, even predicting collective rage at health measures that have had to have been put in place. It's called "The Coming Plague". Well worth the read. Garrett tracked the virus through Chinese social media during October/November 2019 onwards, Morrison knew about the virus in November 2019 as did Trump. I have a copy of the letter from the CSIRO stating the warned Morrison in November and urged him to take measures to prevent the spread of infection. We could have easily prevented all the deaths in private aged care in Australia. Trump warned Israel which apparently took precautions. Look at the world vaccine tracker. They have one of the highest levels of vaccination. US alerted Israel, NATO to disease outbreak in China in November — TV report

Part of Laurie Garrett's CV is here. Laurie Garrett

Garrett, along with Dr Fauci, predicted the levels of infections and deaths 6 months ago that the US is currently undergoing. She also predicted that VOCs would arise last year. Dr Anthony Fauci is also published in the Lancet, but I am not aware of any articles on this pandemic.

Some countries have made the spreading of disinformation illegal, sadly not the US, UK and Australia. So in those countries there is often a health expert/s that is the source of information for the countries.

Professor Raina MacIntyre is one of Australia's leading experts. She cites the Lancelet in her talks and is published in it.

Raina has a 28-year track record in pandemics, epidemic infections, serious emerging infections, vaccines and control of respiratory viruses. She has worked as a clinician in hospitals, in health departments on outbreak control, and her PhD research was on screening, surveillance and contact tracing for TB and involved detailed tracking of the risk of infection in high risk contacts. She worked for 15 years at the National Centre for Immunisation Research, and has conducted many vaccine clinical trials and has expertise in vaccinology and vaccine programs, especially vaccination of adults, at-risk and immunosuppressed populations.

and

She is a graduate of the Australian Field Epidemiology Training program, the MAE at ANU, and has extensive experience in shoe-leather epidemiology of infectious diseases outbreaks. Her in-depth understanding of the science of outbreak investigation draws from this experience combined with her academic training through a Masters and PhD in Epidemiology.
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Other Australian experts get their cues from her. You can listen to Norman Swan talking about taking his cues from her here.

From the transcript:

And I remember in January doing an interview with Raina MacIntyre and asking her how worried she was and she said 7/10, and I thought, well, Raina MacIntyre is worried 7/10, I should be worried 7/10. And then not so long after that, I think it was probably a couple of weeks later Raina was up at 9/10, so I thought, hmm, well, I should probably be up at 9/10 as well.

Prof Raina Mactyre is published in the Lancet. She creates intellectual property which is published in the Lancet.


Prof Raina MacIntyre is often citing articles in pre print with the Lancet.

And her Lancet articles are quoted in the media.

And Prof Raina MacIntrye, prior to the pandemic, considers the route to funding vaccines. She comes to the table with deep knowledge.

Here is 13 pages of her "Select Publications"
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She cites the Lancet.
“The research in The Lancet shows that risk can be further reduced by the use of face masks,” Professor MacIntyre added. The research reported that masks and respirators reduced the risk of infection by 85%, and face masks were equally effective when used in the community and in healthcare settings, even well-designed 12-layer cloth masks. “When you are out and about, you cannot tell who is infected and who is not,” Professor MacIntyre said. “You yourself may be infected and not know it. Especially with the growing evidence of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, universal face mask use is an important way to reduce the spread of infection.”

Dr Zoe Hyde is an epidemologist - and she is also a credible source. Her article

Australia needs herd immunity The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine won’t deliver it Australia needs herd immunity


Dr Zoe Hyde is also published by the Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32153-X/fulltext

and here https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32350-3/fulltext

The Medical Journal of Australia is another peer reviewed journal.


Dr John Chapman teaches medicine and is called to comment in the media in the UK. He sees AstraZeneca as the vaccine of hope for the Third World.

These are the sources for his last video.
UK https://covid.joinzoe.com/data#levels... https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk

US, CDC data https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-trac...
Past 7 days https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphi...
Global vaccine tracker https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/co...
UK vaccine tracker https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/detai...
US vaccine tracker https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-trac...
Europe vaccine tracker https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/vac...

US Brazil variant https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation... Minnesota resident with recent travel history to Brazil.

Anthony Fauci We have concern about the mutation that’s in South Africa It is clearly different and more ominous than the one in the U.K.

Mr. Biden 1.5 million per day https://www.washingtonpost.com/politi... I think with the grace of God . . . we’ll be able to get that to 1.5 million a day (Now close to 1 million per day) By spring, everyone who wants a vaccine should be able to get one. It’s going to be a logistical challenge that exceeds anything we’ve ever tried in this country, but I think we can do that I feel confident that by summer we’re going to be well on our way to heading toward herd immunity. I feel good about where we’re going, and I think we can get it done We will still be talking about this into the summer We’re still going to be dealing with this issue in the early fall

Death toll could rise to 600,000 or even 660,000

In week after 2nd Pfizer shot, 20 of 128,000 Israelis get COVID https://www.timesofisrael.com/week-af... 0.015 %

Professor Cyrille Cohen, Immunologist, Bar Ilan University Israel, general population, around 0.65% are infected in a week

Imperfect control group Vaccine is slightly exceeding 95% effectiveness

Anat Ekka Zohar, Analyst None of the 20 hospitalized or suffered from a fever higher than 38.5 degrees EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides

Pfizer 61% reduction, down to 31 m

This new schedule is not acceptable to the European Union EU, €336 million ($409 million)

EU move requiring drugmakers to preregister all vaccine exports, Oxford AZ approval, 29th January, starting 15th February

Serbia Population, 7 million Inactivated, two-dose vaccine from Sinopharm One million doses, 79.3% effective China, Bahrain, Brazil, Peru
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But let us not be Anglocentric and think that it is only the English speaking epidemiologists published in English epidemiological or medical journals are the only sources of credible information. As I have been saying for awhile it takes a special type of racism to ignore our Asian neighbours successes and research with mask wearing. I can't read all their articles as I don't speak their languages but I can listen to them speak and listen to their English speaking colleagues who cite their work.

Professor Woo-Joo Kim from Korea University Guro Hospital Professor of Infectious Diseases, expert on Tuberculosis, AIDS, measles, SARS, Swine flu, Ebola, MERS,.



This "info" started with a couple of German news outlets where the vaccine is being rolled out. AstraZeneca has released a statement in response (which isn't as catchy a news title as "vaccine failing") saying the statement is completely false.
So it will be interesting to see how this plays out with what Australian/world experts saying AstraZeneca has serious issues in terms of not good enough efficacy and the company itself, releasing it's statements. I am happy to be wrong about this, very happy indeed.

It will be very interesting to see if AstraZeneca gets passed by the CDC. According to Laurie Garret, who is published in the Lancet, this is not going to happen.
The problem is in the trial processing. For the AstraZeneca trials, the first stage of the trial was initially to people only under the age of 55. Older participants were included in later stages of the trials. So, there is less data about its efficacy on older people because there were less older participants.
The context of vaccines and politicians who have invested in the companies that are producing the vaccines is an issue with AstraZeneca, along with it's lower efficacy. Australia has so much corruption in our political class from sportsrorts to... it's extensive. That one of our politicians has investments in the company that produces AstraZeneca, and that party is known for it's corruption, well there's going to be questions and doubt.
For the best information about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine? There haven't been any new releases of information from the Oxford Lamcet since early December. That's the space to watch.
All the above professionals cite the Lancet and are published in the Lancet. They also have access to pre-press articles as they are often part of the peer reviewing process of the Lancet. They provide professional development for their peers and students. Prof Raina MacIntyre puts the professional development that she provides on YouTube, which is why I get to watch it. She wants as many medical professionals to get access to the information as possible.
A similar issue came up past week with reports out of Norway that around 30 people in aged care facilities who had received the Pfizer vaccine had subsequently died.
You are correct. That was sensationalist reporting.
However, those 2 statements, though reported as if the vaccine was the obvious cause of death, were misleading.
You are totally right. It was misleading, as it hadn't been confirmed that the vaccine was the obvious cause or even a contributing cause of death.
In that particular week, less aged care residents died than in any average given week in the country, and I'm not aware of the causes of death in those cases having been linked to the virus by any reliable primary source of data.
You are on the money. It hasn't been linked by any reliable primary source of data. That is most likely incorrect information. Some of the vaccines were given to the terminally ill and folks too fragile to be given injections. This information has not penetrated through the disinformation and misinformation of the media. I had a rash of elderly people ring me to ask would I take the Pfizer vaccination? (Yes!) and is it safe? (Yes millions of people have had it now - for what we know at this time.) Every individual has to consult their doctor over their specific circumstances. I am not a doctor and cannot say. But generally yes!
There's a lot of news stories out there, all competing for the 'big story'.
Unfortunately @Sideways you are right. I wish I could disagree.

There certainly are unscrupulous media, and they have been preying on the unsuspecting public by creating clickbait with misinformation, and disinformation. Which causes unnecessary distress, anxiety and confusion. I feel angry about it at times.
But accurate reporting, reporting that doesn't mislead the public, is super important. If in doubt, or if any given news article causes you to suddenly panic?
As I have previously stated Laurie Garrett, is an expert, who publishes in the Lancet. She is not given to hyperbole. I wasn't panicking by a long shot. I was concerned as Laurie is concerned.

Go check out the primary sources of data;)
I hope the above sources and links illustrate that I am indeed looking at primary sources of data, and also the experts that create that data, or intellectual property, individually or in collaboration with their expert peers, these are some of the professionals that I follow closely. These professionals are part of the "peer" in peer reviewed for journals such as the Lancet. It is true though, that I unless I can listen to an non English speaking expert in English or with subtitles that I am relying on other expert's analysis of their works. It is most fortunate that many of the interviews have subtitles. I am most grateful to have access to the information that I have access to.
 
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