COVID-19 News and Discussions

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Time_Traveller
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COVID-19: Cautionary tale from the Netherlands' coronavirus unlocking - what lessons can the UK learn?
Friday 16 July 2021

As the UK's nations prepare to ease coronavirus restrictions, another European nation is reimposing curbs on its citizens.

The Dutch celebrated their "Freedom Day" two weeks ago only to find COVID-19 cases soaring to unprecedented levels.

The spike in case rates led the Dutch prime minister to concede that coronavirus restrictions had been lifted too soon.

While the epidemiological situation varies between the two countries and direct comparisons are difficult, is there anything the UK could learn from the Dutch experience?
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-can ... obal-en-GB
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Everyone should take an hour to watch this.

Especially if you live in the UK.


weatheriscool
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Pfizer COVID vaccine significantly less effective against Delta variant
Source: The Jerusalem Post

The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against the Delta variant is “weaker” than health officials hoped, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Friday, as 855 people tested positive for coronavirus and more countries were listed as places of high infection.

“We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less,” Bennett said.

The prime minister held a meeting of top health officials and ministers to discuss the next steps for managing the virus in light of the numbers in Israel and what Bennett described as “the Delta mutation leaping forward around the world, including in vaccinated countries such as Britain, Israel and the US.”

He said that “Britain, in recent days, we have seen a jump in the number of children who are being hospitalized on a daily basis. This is a development that we are aware of; we are dealing with it rationally and responsibly.”
Read more: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/for ... ael-674084
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New Florida COVID-19 cases nearly double over last week; positivity rate jumps
Source: Fox 13 News

TAMPA, Fla. - New Florida coronavirus cases have nearly doubled in the last week, while the state’s positivity rate has also soared, topping 11 percent over the last seven days.

Florida is now issuing coronavirus data only once a week. The Department of Health stopped reporting daily coronavirus statistics in early June at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"COVID-19 cases have significantly decreased over the past year as we have a less than 5% positivity rate, and our state is returning to normal, with vaccines widely available throughout Florida," press secretary Christina Pushaw told The News Service of Florida at the time.

The weekly reports are issued each Friday. According to the summary released on June 16, Florida tallied 45,603 new coronavirus cases for the week of July 9-15. That’s nearly double the previous week’s total of 23,562 and roughly triple the week before that, which was 15,998.
Read more: https://www.fox13news.com/news/new-flor ... rate-jumps
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Covid: Younger adults still at risk of serious organ damage - study

By Jim Reed
BBC News

Published 2 days ago

Younger adults admitted to hospital with Covid are almost as likely to suffer from complications as those over 50 years old, a study has found.

Four in 10 of those between 19 and 49 developed problems with their kidneys, lungs or other organs while treated.

The research looked at 73,197 adults of all ages across 302 UK hospitals in the first wave of Covid in 2020.

"The message is that this is not just a disease of the elderly and frail," said Prof Calum Semple, who led the work.

"The data reinforces the fact that Covid is not flu and we are seeing even young adults coming into hospital suffering significant complications, some of which will require further monitoring and potentially further treatment in the future."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57840825
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Canada's 2nd Dose Vaccinations Surpass U.S. As Americans Grapple With COVID-19 Surge
Source: MSN.Com
The percentage of Canadians who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has for the first time surpassed the United States.

As of the afternoon of July 17, Canada had vaccinated 48.64 per cent of the population with two doses, according to COVID Tracker Canada. By comparison, 48.4 per cent of the American population were fully vaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. This comes less than two months after Canada eclipsed its southern neighbour in terms of single-dose coverage.

The vaccination gap between the two countries started slowly narrowing as Canada began ramping up its distribution in May. The supply of doses is now on the verge of outstripping demand, according to government officials.

On Thursday, Brig.-Gen. Krista Brodie, the military general overseeing Canada's distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, said the country was moving to a “more nuanced” approach, with more than two million doses of vaccine already being held back because provinces have said they can’t use them yet.

Meanwhile, the U.S. too has an abundance of vaccines as its vaccination rate has slowed down. Experts believe it may be because vaccine hesitancy is higher south of the border than in Canada.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/c ... li=AAggNb9
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COVID-19: UK's third wave may not peak until 'late August, early September', minister says
Sunday 18 July 2021

The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK is not expected to peak until "late August, maybe even early September", a minister has said.

Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News' Trevor Phillips on Sunday that cases are still rising, with more than 50,000 reported in each of the last two days.

He revealed the current government projection while encouraging people to keep the NHS COVID-19 app installed on their phones with contact tracing enabled.

Face masks won't be a legal requirement when England's restrictions end, Boris Johnson has announced

It comes after Downing Street announced that Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak would not be isolating despite coming into contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has tested positive for coronavirus.
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uks ... s-12358231
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Here’s Why Kids Need Their Own Clinical Trials for a COVID-19 Vaccine

https://theconversation.com/kids-arent- ... ine-162821

Introduction:
(The Conversation) Now that two-thirds of all adults in the United States have received at least one dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as of mid-July 2021, life seems to be returning to some semblance of pre-pandemic times. People are again traveling, eating in restaurants with friends, attending in-person gatherings and flocking to movie theaters and Major League baseball games.

Yet for parents of children under the age of 12, who are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, there is still no collective sigh of relief. Many parents have concerns about the upcoming school year and the uncertainty surrounding the delta variant.

Clinical research studies of the mRNA-based vaccines for children under 12 are ongoing, and authorization of a vaccine for this younger age group is still at least several months away. These trials are necessary because children have important differences in physiology and responses to vaccines from those of adults. Conducting separate studies in children under age 12 is a vital step toward ending the pandemic.

As a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, I have been conducting research on common infections in children and related vaccines for over 20 years. Here at the University of Pittsburgh, our Pittsburgh Vaccine Trials Unit has carried out both adult and pediatric clinical trials for vaccines to fight COVID-19.
Conclusion:
Often we hear from our volunteers that they wanted to help bring the pandemic to an end or felt it was their personal responsibility to help others. Their willingness to participate is crucial to finding a safe and effective vaccine that will hopefully help end the pandemic and to help parents – and kids – return to the freedoms of pre-pandemic life.
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Maximus
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Fact check: Do COVID vaccines protect against the delta variant?

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-do-cov ... a-58263950
In the United Kingdom, people have died of the delta variant despite being vaccinated. Are existing COVID-19 vaccines still effective? A look at the facts shows: Yes, complete vaccinations still protect against delta.

In the United Kingdom, at least 259 people have died after contracting the delta variant of COVID-19. Of these, 116 people were fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from Public Health England (PHE), an agency of the UK Ministry of Health. That is why one of the biggest questions being raised on the internet now is: Does a vaccination still protect against the delta variant?

The good news first: Yes, a vaccination still protects you.
Long story short:

1. High proportion of vaccinated deaths are due to simply most people in the UK being vaccinated (~70% vaccinated with at least one dose). Simple game of numbers. Numbers would likely be much, much higher if proportion of UK population vaccinated was not as high.
2. Delta variant appears to be more transmissible (Israeli study shows Pfizer only 64% effective at preventing transmission).
3. Vaccines still highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death (Pfizer shows 93% effectiveness in this regard, from the same study).
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