COVID-19 News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

New York lifts COVID restrictions across commercial, social settings
Source: WABC

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Andrew Cuomo announced New York state-mandated COVID restrictions on commercial and social settings will be lifted effective immediately -- and to celebrate, there will be fireworks across the state Tuesday night.

"We have hit 70% vaccination," a triumphant Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday, meaning the state can "now return to life as we know it."

Any federal guidelines involving schools and mass transit remain.

During remarks at One World Trade Center, in front of an obliging audience, Cuomo recalled darker days of frequent death and overwhelming caseload.

Read more: https://abc7ny.com/ny-covid-vaccine-tes ... /10792105/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

I don't know what other countries' vaccine programs look like, but here in the UK, we've been doing it based on the oldest first.

We're almost down to the level of teenagers now:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-peo ... y-12333572

[Maximus]

I don't know what other countries' vaccine programs look like, but here in the UK, we've been doing it based on the oldest first.

We're almost down to the level of teenagers now:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-peo ... y-12333572

Same in Canada, but we prioritized vaccinating everyone with the first dose, whereas the UK seems to have gone for full vaccination. The rise in India variant cases in UK youth makes for a bit of a serendipitous development for Canada's approach; our government only did it this way out of necessity, as we had a pretty bad shortage of vaccines for the first few months of 2021, but it also means our youth are already mostly vaccinated with one dose. Hopefully this will keep transmission of the India variant low.

[wjfox]

Here we go again.

This virus has pretty much ended the world as we know it.

Let's face it. We're never going back to normality. Destined to spend the rest of our lives in an endless cycle of lockdowns and vaccinations.

[Time_Traveller]

Here we go again.

This virus has pretty much ended the world as we know it.

Let's face it. We're never going back to normality. Destined to spend the rest of our lives in an endless cycle of lockdowns and vaccinations.

Well there goes my planned holiday next year, time to keep an eye on this one over the next few months then.

[weatheriscool]

Russian scientists warn of possible new 'Moscow variant'
Source: The Telegraph

Russian authorities are investigating a possible new Covid variant amid a sudden spike in cases.

On Wednesday the country reported 13,397 new cases - around half of which were in the capital, Moscow - and 396 deaths.

The more transmissible Delta variant - now detected in 74 countries and behind India’s devastating second wave of Covid - has been identified in Russia but there are also fears that a new Moscow variant might be behind the recent spike in cases.

Denis Logunov, deputy director of the Gamaleya Institute, which developed Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, told the state-owned Russian news agency Tass the capital may “have its own Moscow strains”.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-scie ... 33255.html

[Yuli Ban]

Here we go again.

This virus has pretty much ended the world as we know it.

Let's face it. We're never going back to normality. Destined to spend the rest of our lives in an endless cycle of lockdowns and vaccinations.

Not quite, and it's all thanks to mRNA tech. We can create new versions that can resist these mutations literally within a day or two; the only thing that takes a while is scaling up production. It literally doesn't matter how much the virus mutates— we have the technology to counter its every move like a kung fu master capturing his pupil's every punch.
However it is true we do have to be alert about it, especially considering the prominence of anti-vaxxers. If anyone's going to crash society, it's them.

[weatheriscool]

More Than 500 Breakthrough Infections Reported in Mass. in Under 3 Weeks
Source: NBC Boston


By Mary Markos • Published June 16, 2021 • Updated on June 16, 2021 at 9:14 am

More than 500 fully vaccinated people tested positive for coronavirus in Massachusetts in under three weeks, according to recent state data.

As of June 5, there were 3,641 cases of COVID-19 among 3,500,011 fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Public Health. That's 558 more cases than the reported 3,083 fully vaccinated people who had tested positive as of May 17, first reported by MassLive.

The so-called breakthrough cases — cases where fully vaccinated individuals test positive for coronavirus — have so far been rare, but are possible. The numbers account for approximately one in 1,000 vaccinated people in Massachusetts.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 10,262 breakthrough infections were reported throughout the country as of April 30, at which time 101 million people had been vaccinated.

Read more: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/mo ... s/2406851/

[Ken_J]

I've got to admit that I've been expecting for a while that we will eventually see a few strains in circulation each year changing and likely some not being slowed by the vaccines. I think globally we've so mishandled this that we are likely in for a five year or more course, of waves.

I have a creeping suspicion that we will get a wave in the next 18 months of a variant that will if not lead to more deaths in the middle spread of age groups in the population, at the very least leave a lot of people in the middle age groups and potentially a lot of children with severe damage, and potentially life long health consequences (thinking like COPD, arythmias, elevated stroke rate in younger populations etc).

And I wonder if in the next 6 months as this situation starts to reveal itself as a possible course of things, if maybe we might see some brutal economic outcomes, bordering on the slide into depression.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

I have actually been wondering about this.

A Mix-and-Match Approach to COVID-19 Vaccines Could Provide Logistical and Immunological Benefits
by Maureen Ferran

Introduction:

(The Conversation) While it’s now pretty easy to get a COVID-19 shot in most places in the U.S., the vaccine rollout in other parts of the world has been slow or inconsistent due to shortages, uneven access and concerns about safety.

Researchers hope that a mix-and-match approach to COVID-19 vaccines will help alleviate these issues and create more flexibility in the immunization regimens available to people.

Around the world, different pharmaceutical companies have taken different approaches to developing vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna created mRNA vaccines. Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson went with what are called viral vectors. The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is protein-based.

So mixing vaccines could mean more than just switching manufacturers – like from Pfizer for dose one to Moderna for dose two. You might be tapping into a different way to stimulate your immune response if you opt for a first dose of AstraZeneca and a second dose of Moderna.

The most obvious benefits of treating various brands and kinds of COVID-19 vaccine as interchangeable are logistical – people can get whatever shot is available without worry. By speeding up the global vaccination rollout, mixing and matching vaccines could help end this pandemic. Researchers also hope combining different vaccines will trigger a more robust, longer-lasting immune response compared to receiving both doses of a single vaccine. This approach may better protect people from emerging variants.

[weatheriscool]

A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It.

Source: New York Times

The U.S. government will invest $3.2 billion to develop antiviral pills for Covid-19, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday. Such a treatment could keep people out of the hospital and potentially save many lives in the years to come, as the virus becomes a perennial threat despite the distribution of effective vaccines. A number of other viruses, including influenza, H.I.V. and hepatitis C, can be treated with a simple pill.

But despite more than a year of research, no such drug exists for the coronavirus. Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program for accelerating Covid-19 research, invested far more money in the development of vaccines than of treatments, a gap that the new program will try to fill. The new influx of money will speed up the clinical trials of a few promising drug candidates. If all goes well, some of those pills might become available by the end of this year. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will also support research on entirely new drugs — not just for the coronavirus, but for viruses that could cause future pandemics.

.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/heal ... viral.html

[wjfox]

UK records 11,007 Covid cases - the highest single-day figure since February 19

Thursday 17 June 2021, 4:40pm

More than 11,000 new Covid cases have been reported by the Department of Health, according to the latest figures.

In total, 11,007 new cases have been reported in the UK in the last 24-hour reporting period to 9am on Thursday.

The figure reported is the highest since February 19 when 12,027 cases were reported - almost four months ago.

There have now been 4,600,623 confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK since the start of the pandemic.

The UK government also confirmed a further 19 deaths among patients who died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-17/uk- ... ebruary-19

[weatheriscool]

Global COVID-19 death toll exceeds 4 million - Reuters tally
Source: Reuters




June 17, 20217:21 PM Updated 29 minutes ago

(Reuters) - Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a grim milestone of 4 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as many countries struggle to procure enough vaccines to inoculate their populations.

While the number of new cases and deaths have abated in countries like the United States and Britain, several nations have vaccine shortages as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain around the world.

It took over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2 million, while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days, according to a Reuters analysis.

The top five countries by total number of deaths – the United States, Brazil, India, Russia and Mexico – represent about 50% of all deaths in the world, while Peru, Hungary, Bosnia, the Czech Republic and Gibraltar have the highest death rates when adjusted for population. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi

...................................



Hospitals in Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay are largely seeing COVID-19 patients between the ages of 25 and 40 as the trend toward younger patients continued. In Brazil’s Sao Paulo, 80% of intensive care units (ICU) occupants are COVID-19 patients.
...........

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKCN2DU00I

[weatheriscool]

A COVID Outbreak At The U.S. Embassy In Kabul Has Sickened 114 People And Killed 1
Source: NPR

A COVID Outbreak At The U.S. Embassy In Kabul Has Sickened 114 People And Killed 1

Updated June 17, 2021 3:52 PM ET

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul says it is suffering from a major COVID-19 outbreak that has largely confined staff to their quarters and is disrupting many of its operations. Earlier this week, the embassy announced that it was suspending in-person visa interviews for Afghans who had worked for the U.S. military.

In a note sent to staff, seen by NPR, the embassy says 114 people "have COVID and are in isolation; one has died, and several have been medevaced." The note goes on to say that military hospital ICU resources are at full capacity and that the embassy has been forced to "create temporary, on-compound COVID-19 wards to care for oxygen-dependent patients." Most of the cases involve individuals who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

"We are saddened by the deaths of many valiant Afghans, who have been sickened by this pandemic and we in fact grieve the passing of an embassy local staff member," said Ned Price, the State Department's spokesperson.

The embassy requests staff to get vaccinated, stay six feet from others, suspends the use of pools and gyms, and demands strict mask compliance from staff. "Wear your masks, correctly! We are seeing a lot of noses."

---- snip ----

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/10076250 ... nd-killed-

[wjfox]

CureVac fails in pivotal COVID-19 vaccine trial with 47% efficacy

June 17, 2021

German biotech CureVac NV (5CV.DE) said on Wednesday its COVID-19 vaccine was only 47% effective in a late-stage trial, missing the study’s main goal and throwing in doubt the potential delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to the European Union.

The disappointing efficacy of the shot known as CVnCoV emerged from an interim analysis based on 134 COVID-19 cases in the study with about 40,000 volunteers in Europe and Latin America.

The stakes for CureVac and prospective buyers of its vaccine in Europe had risen after age limits were imposed on the use of the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccines due to a link to extremely rare but potentially fatal clotting disorders.

CureVac's shot was also expected to help in low and middle-income countries that have lagged far behind richer nations in the global immunisation drive.

As CureVac’s only major supply deals, the European Union in November secured up to 405 million doses of the vaccine, of which 180 million are optional. That was followed by a memorandum of understanding with Germany for another 20 million doses.

CureVac's U.S. traded shares fell 50.6% to $46.81 in after-hours trading following publication of the data.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-06-16/

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

"It’s a tipping point’: Flood of COVID-19 Vaccine Donations Buoys Mood at WHO
by Jon Cohen
June 17, 2021

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06 ... s-mood-who

Introduction:

(Science) GENEVA—Just a few weeks ago, the mood here at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) was still decidedly somber. WHO had pushed hard for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, yet a “grotesque” gap had formed between rich and poor nations, said WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Whereas several rich countries had enough vaccine to start to vaccinate teenagers, who are at very low risk of becoming severely ill, nurses and doctors in Africa remained unprotected.

“Have you got anyone left to vaccinate in your places?” Bruce Aylward, a top-level WHO official asks facetiously. “Are we going to vaccinate the goldfish next?”

But a meeting of the G7, held in Cornwall, U.K., last weekend, has changed the gloomy outlook. The leaders of the seven big industrialized democracies committed to donating 1 billion doses—870 million more than previously announced—by the end of 2022. The vast majority will move through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility, a nonprofit set up by WHO that Aylward is working with. COVAX has built a war chest of $9.6 billion solely for purchasing vaccine at discount prices for poor countries.

“It’s a tipping point,” Aylward says. Seth Berkley, who heads Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—another key COVAX partner—says the new interest in helping poorer countries marks a long overdue “mindset shift.” “We’ve been talking about it from the beginning: You’re only safe if everyone’s safe,” he says. “But nobody was listening.”

There’s more good news: Vaccine manufacturers are still scaling up production, and Novavax, a U.S.-based biotech, reported stellar efficacy results for its low-cost, easy-to-store vaccine this week, further raising hopes that the gap between rich and poor can be narrowed. (Many had hoped a few hundred million more doses might come from CureVac this year, but that company yesterday reported disappointing results from an efficacy trial that may derail its candidate.)

[wjfox]

COVID jabs rush as NHS vaccine programme opens to all adults

20 June 2021

More than 700,000 life-saving COVID jabs were booked on the day that the NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, was opened up to people aged 18 to 20.

People rushed to make 721,469 appointments through the national booking service on Friday, more than 30,000 an hour or more than eight every second.

That does not include appointments made through local GP-led vaccination services or people getting jabbed at walk-in centres.

Everyone aged 18 and over is being urged to arrange a jab if they have not yet had one as the health service enters the final push to protect the country against the virus.

[...]

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: “This pandemic has been a challenge for everyone but the various restrictions have hit young people particularly hard. That’s why it’s good news that COVID vaccinations are now open to all adults across the country, and already well over three million people in their twenties have now had their first jab.

“So if you’re 18 and over and haven’t yet had yours, now’s the time. It’s the single easiest way to protect yourself, keep friends and family safe, and hopefully give us all our summer freedoms back.

“Please encourage your friends and loved ones to do the same, as we’re now in the race to the finish line. The more of us who are vaccinated, the safer we all are, and the sooner freedom can return.”

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2021/06/covid-jabs-rush/