COVID-19 News and Discussions

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caltrek
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Fauci Indicates Another COVID-19 Variant Could Emerge this Winter
by Sareen Habeshian and Erin Doherty
October 4, 2022

Introduction:
(Axios) NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that "we should not be surprised" if a new COVID-19 variant emerges this winter.

Driving the news: "We should anticipate that we very well may get another variant that would emerge that would elude the immune response that we've gotten from infection and/or from vaccination," Fauci said during an event with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

• Fauci said it we're currently moving "in the right direction,"

But, but, but: "We are entering into the winter months, where no matter what the respiratory disease is, there's always a risk of an uptick."
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/10/04/fauci ... nter-2022
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COVID Boosters Could Save 90,000 Lives, $56.5 Billion
by Tina Reed
October 5, 2022

Introduction:
(Axios) About 90,000 lives would be saved and more than 936,000 hospitalizations could be prevented if 80% of Americans eligible for the latest COVID-19 boosters get vaccinated by year's end, according to a new paper from The Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health.

The big picture: Even matching 2020–2021 flu vaccine levels of closer to 50%–55% could save about 75,000 lives and prevent about 745,000 hospitalizations.

Why it matters: The U.S. is on track for a far lower rate. Only 36% of adults older than 50 have gotten second boosters.

• "If vaccination continued at its current pace through the end of March 2023, a potential winter surge in COVID-19 infections could result in a peak of around 16,000 hospitalizations and 1,200 deaths per day by March 2023," the researchers said.
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/10/05/covid-boosters-study
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Repurposing Existing Drugs to Fight New COVID-19 Variants
October 6, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) EAST LANSING, Mich. – MSU researchers are using big data and AI to identify current drugs that could be applied to treat new COVID-19 variants.

Finding new ways to treat the novel coronavirus and its ever-changing variants has been a challenge for researchers, especially when the traditional drug development and discovery process can take years. A Michigan State University researcher and his team are taking a hi-tech approach to determine whether drugs already on the market can pull double duty in treating new COVID variants.

“The COVID-19 virus is a challenge because it continues to evolve,” said Bin Chen, an associate professor in the College of Human Medicine. “By using artificial intelligence and really large data sets, we can repurpose old drugs for new uses.”

Chen built an international team of researchers with expertise on topics ranging from biology to computer science to tackle this challenge. First, Chen and his team turned to publicly available databases to mine for the unique coronavirus gene expression signatures from 1,700 host transcriptomic profiles that came from patient tissues, cell cultures and mouse models. These signatures revealed the biology shared by COVID-19 and its variants.

With the virus’s signature and knowing which genes need to be suppressed and which genes need to be activated, the team was able to use a computer program to screen a drug library consisting of FDA-approved or investigational drugs to find candidates that could correct the expression of signature genes and further inhibit the coronavirus from replicating. Chen and his team discovered one novel candidate, IMD-0354, a drug that passed phase I clinical trials for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. A group in Korea later observed that it was 90-fold more effective against six COVID-19 variants than remdesivir, the first drug approved to treat COVID-19. The team further found that IMD-0354 inhibited the virus from copying itself by boosting the immune response pathways in the host cells. Based on the information learned, the researchers studied a prodrug of IMD-0354 called IMD-1041. A prodrug is an inactive substance that is metabolized within the body to create an active drug.
Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/967161

To read a technical presentation on the research findings: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext ... 2)01340-2
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Study Gives Estimated Global Proportions of Individuals with Persistent Fatigue, Cognitive, and Respiratory Symptom Clusters After COVID-19
October 10, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) About The Study: In this modeling study with data for 1.2 million individuals (from 22 countries) who had symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2020 and 2021 and survived the acute phase, an estimated 6.2% experienced at least one of the three Long COVID symptom clusters (persistent fatigue with bodily pain or mood swings; cognitive problems; or ongoing respiratory problems) three months after acute infection onset. The risk of Long COVID was greater in females and in those who needed hospitalization for the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly among those needing intensive care unit care.

Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/967296

Read a full presentation of study results as published in the JAMA Network here (some technical terms related to statistics included in this discussion): https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/ ... rm=101022
Last edited by caltrek on Wed Oct 12, 2022 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Misrepresentation and Nonadherence Regarding COVID-19 Public Health Measures
October 10, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) In this national survey study of 1,733 U.S. adults, nearly half of participants reported misrepresentation and/or nonadherence regarding COVID-19 public health measures. The most common reasons included wanting life to feel normal and wanting to exercise personal freedom. Future work is needed to examine strategies for communicating the consequences of misrepresentation and nonadherence and to address contributing factors.
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/967252

Read a full presentation of study results as published in the JAMA Network here (some technical terms related to statistics included in this discussion): https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman ... rm=101022
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Evidence suggests pandemic came from nature, not a lab, panel says

https://www.science.org/content/article ... panel-says

The acrimonious debate over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic flared up again this week with a report from an expert panel concluding that SARS-CoV-2 likely spread naturally in a zoonotic jump from an animal to humans—without help from a lab.

“Our paper recognizes that there are different possible origins, but the evidence towards zoonosis is overwhelming,” says co-author Danielle Anderson, a virologist at the University of Melbourne. The report, which includes an analysis that found the peer-reviewed literature overwhelmingly supports the zoonotic hypotheses, appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on 10 October.
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caltrek wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:42 pm Misrepresentation and Nonadherence Regarding COVID-19 Public Health Measures
October 10, 2022

...
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/967252

Read a full presentation of study results as published in the JAMA Network here (some technical terms related to statistics included in this discussion): https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman ... rm=101022
More on that:

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Presented without comments.

And, as always, bye bye.
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Which States in the U.S. Have the Most Long COVID Patients
by Tina Reed
October 14, 2022

Introduction:
(Axios) Nearly a third of Americans who know they've had COVID say they've also experienced the often disabling aftereffects known as long COVID, according to recent CDC data.

Driving the news: The rate of those reporting long COVID symptoms was highest in West Virginia (49%), compared to the state with the lowest rate of people reporting long COVID: Vermont (22%).

Be smart: A study published this week in JA
MA Network Open found long COVID could set individuals back the equivalent of a decades' worth of aerobic fitness, the Washington Post reported.
See here for interesting interactive map of the United States comparing rates of long COVID: https://www.axios.com/2022/10/14/long- ... tates-map
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