Coronavirus Covid-19

[rbkwp]

remain beinh vigilant
old common sense
we/you dont need bullshit authoratives,to tell us/guide us thru life

we are such a piss weak species these days/in this age
follow the pseudo leaders blindly

 

[dandelion]

The outbreaks in NSW and Victoria have put both states’ premiers under huge pressure, particularly Berejiklian, who has been widely criticised for not locking the state down early or strongly enough. Victoria’s outbreak looks more manageable, but the current lockdown may well be extended beyond tomorrow night.

all the time this epidemic has been going on, covid has mutated in ways which make it more effective at infecting people. The strain Australia has to face today is better at spreading than the one Australia faced in 2019.

So it will be harder to control and if it does break out uncontrollably it will kill more people than the original strain would have done. What Australia has done is play dice double or quits. It might keep it out and a vaccine will then prevent deaths on the scale others have seen. Or it might have kept itself free of mild disease only to fall victim to serious disease which breaks through now.

Pacific rim countries have all done better at keeping out covid than european ones. This is a deeply disturbing pattern. It implies people around rthe pacific were simply less susceptible to covid from the start. there is reason why tghis might be the case, because infection by other corona viruses creates immunity which is effective against covid. The pacific region has had outbreaks or corona viruses in recent years which never made it to europe. So they will have more immunity.

Australia therefore may have succeeded in keeping out a virus which would have killed no more than in Japan at 0.01%, but may now suffer a wave of infection more akin to the european model, because its immunity doesnt work against the new strains.

There is already evidence the vaccines are not working as well against new strains as hoped. The expectation is this will get worse. Australia may have missed the boat by not accepting a widespread covid epidemic in 2020 which would have boosted its immunity at the minimum death toll and moved it towards what has to be the final outcome of all this, living with covid which however causes no more death than other corona virus colds.

 

[rbkwp]

need
your advice/thoughts/projections on how your uks going to fare in the next 100 years dands

 

[rbkwp]

need
your advice/thoughts/projections on how your uks going to fare in the next 100 years dands

awaiting/need a on the spot uk update,dands
desperately

 

[rbkwp]

thanks
for your thou7ghts and everlasting love for your uk dands,priceless
your loyalty to your country,and your supporters
shows no bounds,as they say duh


and
CONGRATULATIONS QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA

for securing the olympic games,whenever
doubt our world wil be existing by then ha

 

[rbkwp]

a next ponderable
or ...

Should children get COVID vaccines?
SARS-CoV-2 is far less likely to cause serious illness in children than it is in adults. But some children do still become very ill, and the spectre of long COVID is enough for many paediatricians to urge vaccination as quickly as possible. A handful of vaccines have been tested in young people over the age of 12, including those made by Moderna, Pfizer–BioNTech, Sinovac and Sinopharm. So far, the vaccines seem to be safe in adolescents, and some companies have moved on to carrying out clinical trials in children as young as 6 months old. Another reason to vaccinate children is to protect others: concerns about transmission by children and adolescents are growing as new coronavirus variants emerge. There is concern about vaccinating ever-younger people in some countries when much of the world is still struggling to access any doses at all. Some experts say that we can do both, because wealthy countries have already bought more than enough doses to fully vaccinate their populations.

Nature | 7 min read
Reference: The Lancet Infectious Diseases paper

Archaeologists helped quell a COVID surge
When COVID-19 came to the fishing community of Andavadoaka, Madagascar, a team of archeologists pivoted from running field surveys to gathering and distributing aid. They repurposed grant money to buy protective equipment for the community, organized trucks to transport cleaning supplies and supported a grass-roots mask-sewing group. “We make careers off our friendships with some of the poorest and least powerful people on Earth,” says anthropologist Bram Tucker. “We have an ethical responsibility to do more than just be objective.”

Nature | 7 min read

Notable quotable
“I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honour their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.”
Physician Brytney Cobia shares her experience of losing young patients to COVID-19 in Alabama, which has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States. (AL.com | 7 min read)

 

[dandelion]

There was a report yesterday that in the first wave there were more deaths in care homes in the NW of England than the SE. Whereas the epidemic began in the SE and ended latest in the NW.

I suggest two possible explanations. That it began in the SE before anyone noticed, so it had already killed a proportion of susceptible people without this being noticed and they were not counted. The other, that when government imposed restriction, this made the death rate worse. This had more effect in the N because it started later there.

Young people do not die of covid. Most of the cases of covid have been amongst young people. last september there was a new national outbreak because pupils were sent back to schools and universities...because schools had closed in the spring. The outbreak amongst them pushed cases into older age groups. We should not be thinking about national herd immunity, but herd immunity amongst the most mobile part of the population, which means the young. Stop that and you save the old. (some countries have based a vaccination policy on such considerations)

It was a terrible mistake to close schools because having more cases amongst the safe half of the population prevents cases amongst the unsafe half.

This fact has not changed. In the Uk now all the high risk have been offered vaccines. In fact all that are left are refusals or very low risk.

What should happen now is complete removal of restrictions and get this over as fast as possible.

Yesterday government announced a 3% pay rise for the NHS. Worker responded that real wages in the NHS have fallen by 1/3. On that basis they would be looking for a 50% increase. More debate this morning about whether this 3% rise will be funded from the treatment budget.

Government spent a trillion pounds on lockdown and other measures against covid. Much of this is private debt citizens have been forced into (though its true a big chunk of people have benefitted financially from covid). The result has been 130,000 people who died despite this failed policy.

If government had spent a fraction of this on a boosted annual budget for the NHS it could have saved many more lives (mostly from other illnesses but more capacity would have helped with covid), and life years. But it seems we are now going back to squeezing the NHS of funds. Its clear government policy was much more about keeping voters happy than saving lives.

if vaccination works, it has already been provided for everyone at any significant risk. We need to return to our normal policy with corona viruses, which is to have infections and boost our immunity further by being infected. The current strain of covid is probably the least dangerous we will face in future, as it will continue to change to escape our immunity. We need to be infected now to update our immunity, and indeed update vaccine immunity which was designed against the first wave virus, which is why new variants are infecting vaccinated people.

Our own immunity against covid is much more based on multiple attacks on different areas of the virus. Each of these is less than the concentrated response vaccines are designed to make on few areas, with almost all vaccines designed to attack the covid spike protein. With natural immunity, because there are multiple targets, any one or even several changes a virus makes will not completely neutralise natural immunity. Science has argued the vaccine work very well because they have produced concentrated antibody attack on the spike as designed. What we still dont know is how well this will work in practice. Early results are a bit disappointing, and experts seem to be expecting this will get worse. We need to go back to our own immune defences.

 

[rbkwp]

'staff shortage' complaints
hardly justifys your several years of thoughts/reasoning dands
almost suggests the uk may as well have released everyone ages ago duh

 

[rbkwp]

australia

finally caughtup with the wanker state premiers,and the federsal pm como

'doing better than new zealand' huh,boastful aussies

is thsat why our govbt has suspended all trans tasman travel/agreements
and
offering to bring any kiwi homt,within 7 days

ps000s of aussies still trapped overseas

 

[dandelion]

almost suggests the uk may as well have released everyone ages ago duh

Indeed it does.

your advice/thoughts/projections on how your uks going to fare in the next 100 years dands

Anyones guess. We had a settled future as part of the EU. I dont see this as a good time to strike out alone, and indeed the government seems to want to become part of the new pacific union in place of the European one. Anything dafter is hard to imagine. (nothing aginst people over there...but its on the opposite side of the world!)

Here in the Uk the government has vaccinated all the high and even low risk people. All that are left are very low risk unlikely to come to any harm catching covid.

It has said it has ended restrictions, but has given advice to behave as if they were still in force. Thats mad. Either there need to be restrictions or there do not.

There is nothing left to do in terms of vaccination which will do any real good. The government cannot afford to reimpose lockdown. It has already massively increased national debt and there is no plan how to pay for that. it just announced a 3% pay rise for NHS staff, when they say their wages have fallen from peak in real terms by 1/3. It just announced a 0% increase for the police and teachers. None of these are happy. Inflation is picking up.

The only reason for lockdown and Test and Trace last year was to suppress covid until the vaccine was available. That suppression was a failure because we had two whole waves of covid despite it. It failed. But the rationale for it at all is gone now. There is nothing left except to return to the original national plan for epidemics. just manage the cases.

All this talk about people continuing restrictions voluntarily is plain daft, because all we can do is let covid rip and see what happens. The sooner we find out what happens the better, and the sooner it will be all over. There is no benefit to delay. All it does is run up lockdown costs.

 

[rbkwp]

COVID-19 coronavirus update
News
Limited insights from mass test events
A series of large events held in the United Kingdom has yielded few insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Earlier this month, the government unveiled the results of the first phase of an experimental programme that allowed live audiences at sports events, concerts, festivals and other mass gatherings, with the aim of learning about the virus’s transmission. Members of the programme’s science board highlighted some of the study’s limitations: the virus was not circulating widely in the community at the time, the Delta variant had not yet taken hold and only 15% of the people required to return pre- and post-event COVID tests did so. More results are to come, including from the Euro football championship on 11 July, which was watched in-person by 60,000 fans.

Nature | 5 min read
Infographic

COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS ROUND-UP
Top stories from earlier in the week:

• Researchers might now know why Delta has been so successful: people infected with it produce far more virus than do those infected with the original version of SARS-CoV-2. A study of some of the first people in China to be infected with Delta showed that their viral load — a measure of the density of viral particles in the body — was roughly 1,000 times higher than in people infected with the original coronavirus strain. (Nature | 4 min read)
• Should children get COVID vaccines? With vaccination campaigns under way in some countries while others weigh the options, Nature looks at the evidence for vaccinating younger people. (Nature | 7 min read)

 

[dandelion]

Germans refuse vaccination. Germany: Herd Immunity is Impossible. Now What?

 

[rbkwp]

no doubt we never know what life has in store for us,these days
how quickly it began
to me,no bnlame game requred,could have been,likely is,our fault

A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 18, 2021. Hannah Beier/Reuters/File Photo

COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths are once again on the rise in the United States. Cases alone have tripled over the past two weeks. It’s a phenomenon fueled both by the more transmissible delta variant and by plateauing vaccination rates as a number of Americans, many of whom believe false information about the shot, refuse to get vaccinated. Officials have referred to this most recent wave as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” — 99.5 percent of deaths and 97 percent of hospitalizations are now among those who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine.

But this spike has not prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change its guidance on masking. Fully vaccinated people, the agency says, are still at a very low risk of developing symptomatic illness or transmitting the coronavirus to others. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy noted that recent flare-ups are a “local and regional phenomenon” as opposed to a national one — the virus is surging in undervaccinated communities, not so much in ones with high vaccination rates.

Murthy added that it may be wise for counties in which the coronavirus is circulating widely to implement mask mandates and other pandemic precautions, or for individuals who live in those areas to take more steps to protect themselves, even if they’re fully vaccinated. That especially goes for people who are immunocompromised or are in regular contact with immunocompromised folks, and those who live with unvaccinated children.

Dr. Ranit Mishori of Georgetown University seconds Murthy’s advice. She told the PBS NewsHour that she goes maskless among fellow fully vaccinated people in her life, but keeps her mask on in public spaces like restaurants and other businesses where she can’t be sure that everyone around her has been immunized.

Breakthrough infections, where fully vaccinated people test positive for COVID-19, can and do happen. But that’s not an indication that the vaccines aren’t working. The shots have so far proven to be remarkably effective when it comes to protecting immunized people against hospitalization and severe disease. Experts are keeping a close eye on breakthrough cases because if the number of fully vaccinated people who develop serious illness ever begins to rise, that could be a sign that it’s time to distribute booster shots, according to the Associated Press.

In Arkansas, where only about a third of residents have been fully vaccinated, health care providers there are grappling with trauma and burnout as they once again face a deluge of severely ill, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. Nationally, about half of all Americans are vaccinated; the state’s vaccination rate ranks as third-lowest in the country.

All over the world, infections at the site of surgical incisions are a major cause of new illnesses, extended hospital stays and even death. In the U.S. alone, these infections cost more than $3 billion annually, with even worse statistics in developing countries. But one 17-year-old Iowa scientist is working on a more affordable way to detect these infections early.

The severe drought across the Western U.S. is causing long-term problems, exacerbated by the warming atmosphere driven by climate change. In California’s San Joaquin Valley, demand for water has threatened the drinking supply for hundreds of thousands of rural residents — including the farmers who grow a significant part of the country’s food supply.

Human-caused climate change has had a direct impact on the increasingly dire consequences of extreme weather events around the world. Moving away from burning coal for energy has been a particularly crucial facet of the international push to reduce emissions and prevent the global temperature from rising beyond an additional 1.5 degrees Celsius. A quarter of electricity generated in the United Kingdom, for example, comes from wind turbines today. In 2012, 40 percent of the country’s energy was coal-powered — now, it’s less than 2 percent.

As wildfire season continues to rage in the West, some fire-fighting organizations are looking toward wildfire management methods that Indigenous people in North America have used for millennia. Native tribes like the Yurok have traditionally set relatively small, contained fires to create breaks that wildfires couldn’t cross because the fuel — the vegetation — had already burned. These techniques are resurfacing in local fire management collaborations between tribes, U.S. Forest Service and non-governmental organizations to help prevent now-common calamities.

Ask the science desk:

Moderna is evaluating the efficacy of potential booster shots designed to further protect recipients against new variants of the coronavirus. Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson announced that its vaccines so far appear to offer strong protection against the more-transmissible delta variant,.

Ongoing trials at the National Institutes of Health are examining the safety and efficacy of mixing different COVID-19 vaccines by giving participants booster shots manufactured by a different company than the one that developed their initial shot, or shots. Someone who was first vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer's vaccine, for example, might receive Johnson & Johnson's as a third shot.

Federal officials are also evaluating whether to greenlight booster shots for those who are immunocompromised, but have not yet made a decision on that possibility.

Editor’s note: Johnson & Johnson is a funder of the PBS NewsHour.

What we’re reading, watching and listening to this week:

The growing assault on Brazil’s Indigenous areas. (Yale Environment 360)

• “Under President Jair Bolsonaro, illegal miners, loggers and ranchers are invading and occupying ever-larger amounts of Indigenous territory. Brazil’s original inhabitants are increasingly opposing these incursions, leading to conflicts and a surge in killings of local activists.”
  

The orchardist rescuing fruit trees in New Mexico. (High Country News)

• “By the time orchardist Gordon Tooley got to Truchas, New Mexico, in 1991, half of the apple varieties were lost, thanks in part to fewer varieties being grown commercially for the sake of efficiency. Now, he and his wife rescue old varieties from across the Southwest and cultivate them in their thriving orchard.”
  

Pterosaurs may have been able to fly as soon as they hatched. (Science News)

• “Agile flying may have helped the hatchlings not only escape predators, but also chase tricky prey such as insects, all while navigating dense vegetation, the team suggests.”
  

Is climate change happening faster than expected? A climate scientist explains. (Grist)

• “Climate scientists have long warned that global warming would lead to extreme heat in many parts of the world. But the 120 degree Fahrenheit temperatures brought on by the heatwave in the Pacific Northwest in June were more in line with what researchers had imagined would occur later this century. “
  

Marsquakes reveal that the Red Planet has a surprisingly large core, and a thin crust. (Space.com)

• “These findings will impact our understanding not only of the Red Planet today, but also how it and other rocky worlds formed and evolved in our solar system, scientists said.”
  

This new shape opens a ‘wormhole’ between numbers and geometry. (Quanta Magazine)

• “At the center of Fargues and Scholze’s work is a revitalized geometric object called the Fargues-Fontaine curve. After a decade, the curve is only now achieving its highest form.”
  

Until next time,


Bella Isaacs-Thomas
Megan McGrew
News assistant on the PBS NewsHour’s science desk

 

[rbkwp]

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

• Covid-19 cases are rising across the country as the delta variant becomes more widespread, but state-level Republicans are still working to undermine public health officials’ authority with new laws that limit officials’ ability to institute mask mandates, the use of quarantine, and emergency orders. [Washington Post / Frances Stead Sellers and Isaac Stanley-Becker]
• Meanwhile, some GOP leaders have finally taken a firm pro-vaccine stance, with governors like Kay Ivey of Alabama urging residents to get the jab. But a year and a half of right-wing vaccine misinformation means it may be too little, too late. [AP / Jill Colvin and Brian Slodysko]
• Some, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have focused on other political priorities, such as going to Texas to politicize border security despite cases, hospitalizations, and deaths rising in Florida. [The Hill / Joseph Choi]
• States such as Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri have seen the largest increases in coronavirus cases over the last two weeks, making the rhetoric of their Republican leaders and lawmakers all the more significant. [Newsweek / Benjamin Fearnow]
• The differing approaches highlight a growing rift within the GOP, where some leaders are encouraging vaccination while others continue to spread misinformation and curb leaders’ powers to impose public health precautions — with Americans’ lives hanging in the balance. [Politico / Adam Cancryn]
• Meanwhile, some states and cities are experimenting with vaccine passport requirements. In California, entrance into a bar will hinge on proof of vaccination. [Yahoo News / Andrew Romano]
• In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that city workers must be vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus testing in order to work, starting in mid-September. [NYT / Emma Fitzsimmons and Sharon Otterman]

 

[rbkwp]

TOP STORIES
Schools, hospitality set to reopen as Victoria moves cautiously out of lockdown
State government sources tell the ABC the staggered return of students from tomorrow had been canvassed, and hospitality venues would be allowed to reopen with strict density limits.

The factors Berejiklian is weighing up before deciding on lockdown future
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is weighing what life will look like beyond July 31, but declares "our mission is to allow our citizens to live as safely and freely as possible."

NSW is worried about low vaccine rates in over 60s but it's not just hesitancy to blame
Hesitancy may only be one reason behind the low COVID-19 vaccine uptake among over 60s and experts warn the issue should not be oversimplified.

The 'muscle' of the economy that's narrowly avoided a COVID shutdown
Wherever you live in Australia, you could be affected by a shutdown of Western Sydney. The south-west suburbs at the centre of Sydney's COVID-19 crisis are also major hubs of retail distribution, transport and logistics.

Your daily guide to the Games: Swimming finals, Opals and Matildas headline Tuesday action
Australia's medal pursuit in the pool continues on day 4, and we will also get our first chance to see the Opals in action. Here are the Olympic events to watch out for on day 4.

 

[rbkwp]

Academic rigour, journalistic flair

In the race to produce a COVID vaccine, Russia’s Sputnik V was the first out of the blocks, receiving emergency approval from the Russian health ministry in August 2020.

Many scientists expressed concerns at the time, because this happened before data on the vaccine were published.

Since then, trial results published in The Lancet and real-world data suggest this vaccine is safe and very effective. The vaccine’s developer went as far as claiming it’s “the world’s most effective vaccine”.

But as the University of Sydney’s Megan Steain and Jamie Triccas write, many researchers have criticised the vaccine’s developer for failing to share their raw data or the full details of their study design. Of the published data, some scientists say there are inconsistencies.

Despite being approved by 69 countries with a total population of over 3.7 billion, Sputnik V is yet to be approved by the World Health Organization or the European Medicines Agency.

Liam Petterson

Deputy Editor, Health + Medicine

Antonio Calanni/AP/AAP
Growing evidence suggests Russia’s Sputnik V COVID vaccine is safe and very effective. But questions about the data remain
Megan Steain, University of Sydney; Jamie Triccas, University of Sydney

What kind of vaccine is Sputnik V, how does it work, and

 

[rbkwp]

Hello Nature readers,
Today we discover the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2, see evidence that vaccines reduce the spread of the coronavirus and hear a powerful call to stop mass COVID deaths in Africa.

A computer simulation of the structure of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. (Janet Iwasa, University of Utah)
This is how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells
Scientists are unpicking the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2, the tricks it uses to evade detection and the quirks that make the Delta variant so dangerous. Researchers have discovered key adaptations that help the virus to grab on to human cells with surprising strength and then hide itself once inside. Later, as it leaves cells, SARS-CoV-2 executes a crucial processing step to prepare its particles for infecting even more human cells.

Nature | 15 min read

COVID vaccines slash viral spread
Many vaccines have been shown to provide strong protection against COVID-19. Now, growing evidence finds that they also reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by more than 80%. However, the studies were done before the highly transmissible Delta variant became prevalent — and scientists say it might be more easily spread by vaccinated people than earlier variants.

Nature | 5 min read
Reference: medRxiv preprint 1 & medRxiv preprint 2
NIH windfall raises hopes — and fears
A US plan to boost funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by US$9 billion in 2022 has won praise from researchers and science-policy analysts. But some observers worry that the windfall could lead to increased competition and career uncertainty among PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Previous large increases in funding — notably the doubling of the NIH budget from 1998 to 2003 — created a glut of junior scientists who lacked long-term career prospects, says science-policy researcher Navid Ghaffarzadegan. “We need to invest in science, but there are side effects that we have to watch out for.”

Nature | 6 min read
Features & opinion
Stop mass COVID deaths in Africa now
“As I write, mass fatalities from COVID-19 have begun in Africa,” writes Mosoka Fallah, the former director-general of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia. Meanwhile, “rich countries are hoarding vaccines, allowing doses to expire while unvaccinated people who want to be immunized die”. In 2014, during the worst period of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Fallah saw people die in the streets as the world stood by. He issues a powerful plea to not let it happen again with COVID-19.

“Let me say this as an African: our world as we know it is on the brink; we face massive death tolls, and the collapse of economies and nations,” he writes. “What is the real meaning of humanity? For all lives to be given the same value.”

Nature | 5 min read

 

[rbkwp]

The real reason CDC is updating their mask guidelines

(Shutterstock)
On Tuesday (July 27), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their mask guidance, saying fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks in public indoor spaces if there is substantial coronavirus transmission in their area.

Data from the U.S. and other countries indicates that some vaccinated people infected with the delta variant may be contagious and spread the virus to others. Still, breakthrough infections are uncommon and most coronavirus transmission is occurring through unvaccinated individuals, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director said.
Full Story: LiveScience (7/27)

Dozens of medical groups urge COVID-19 vaccination mandates for health workers

(Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
More than 50 U.S. medical groups, representing millions of health care professionals, are calling for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all health and long-term care workers, according to news reports.

A vaccination mandate "is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being," according to a joint statement released by the medical organizations.
Full Story: LiveScience (7/26)

 

[rbkwp]

​

Germany could make unvaccinated pay for COVID tests — report
The German government plans to end free coronavirus tests once enough Germans are vaccinated, according to a newspaper report. Although 51% of the population is fully inoculated, the pace is slowing.

​

COVID: Berlin court bans anti-lockdown protests
Judges in the German capital have moved to ban a number of weekend demonstrations amid fears they will lead to a rise in coronavirus infections. Police expect protesters to travel to Berlin nonetheless.

​

COVID: Will India be able to meet its vaccination target?
Despite an uptick in the pace of vaccinations, production and supply problems continue to be a hurdle. The Indian government is still hopeful of vaccinating the entire adult population by the end of the year.


uhmmm
our wotld
still up shit creek,without a paddle,as they/we say huh

ps
not so clever,after all

happens to be from germany media dw
but could be from anyone
almost 2 years on,minimal progress huh

 

[rbkwp]

world and governments still going nuts over this current happening
conveniently placing aside the olypics 000s atterndacer,relatively cv free,it seems

gaurantee many will start mentioning things after the global event