Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #93

[ilovewings]

Michigan and Ohio as well!

Michigan is not opening to full capacity, though Governor Whitmer is relaxing some restrictions.

 

[ilovewings]

‘Extremely reckless’: Central Texas leaders react to Gov. Abbott’s announcement of relaxed COVID-19 measures | KXAN Austin

Governor considered reckless for relaxing Covid-19 measures including mandating the use of masks

 

[JaneEyre]

Archdiocese calls Johnson & Johnson vaccine 'morally compromised' due to abortion ties

The Archdiocese of New Orleans is warning local Roman Catholics that the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is "morally compromised" and should be avoided, if possible, in favor of other vaccines because of a connection to abortion.

Anti-vax at the Vatican? You might lose your job

Some Catholics and other believers have expressed faith-based concerns about vaccines because some of the ones available were indirectly connected to research that used aborted fetal cells. The Vatican’s doctrine office has judged it morally acceptable for Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines, including those that relied on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses.

 

[LadyL]

unfreakingreal

B.C. must break chains of transmission, official says, as 300 COVID-19 cases linked to pub's 1 trivia night

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brit...tF0RR6g4W0lRIjUA_ISdEQLbcXohv7fKXmgZjb1OmFYRw

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

More yuck!

https://nypost.com/2021/03/02/gov-cuomos-creepy-covid-19-test-comments-resurface/

The unsolicited, preserved-on-video comment now stands out, with Cuomo publicly accused of sexual harassment by three women in less than a week.

“You make that gown look good,” Cuomo said as Dr. Elizabeth Dufort — clad in the personal protective equipment that has become standard issue for medical professionals during the pandemic — walked out at his Albany briefing in May.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

New York's leading Democrats reach deal to strip Cuomo's emergency coronavirus powers

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers would be limited by state legislators under new legislation, the leaders of the state's Democratic legislative majorities announced Tuesday.

They said they had finalized a deal to strip Cuomo of his emergency coronavirus powers. It comes amid growing uproar surrounding his alleged treatment of women and his handling of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in the state’s nursing homes.

 

[Lilibet]

From CovidActNow.org

The Day’s Top COVID Stories

• STAT News covers the Biden administration's new announcement that the U.S. will have enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May. Previously, the administration pledged to have enough vaccines to inoculate roughly 300 million adults by the end of July. The increase in expected supply is driven by a new agreement between the administration and Merck, a pharmaceutical company that halted research on its own COVID vaccine earlier this year. To help speed up rollout, Merck will help manufacture the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine. While the accelerating timeline is exciting, it does not necessarily mean that all adults will be vaccinated by the end of May. The U.S. still must overcome distribution challenges, like the need for vaccinators, before the shots can all go into arms.
  
  
• The New York Times explores how the P.1 variant (first identified in Brazil) is driving reinfections. A record-breaking recent case surge in Manaus, a Brazilian city that some experts believe had reached herd immunity last spring, led researchers to investigate whether the new variant could evade previous immunity. In Manaus, researchers found that up to 61 percent of people who previously had COVID could be reinfected with P.1. The variant shares some mutations with B.1.1.7 (first identified in U.K.) and B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) that allow it to spread more easily, as well as additional mutations that help it escape antibodies. Researchers also found that CoronaVac, a Chinese vaccine currently being distributed in Brazil, is less effective against P.1. than other variants.
  
  
• USA Today dives into a new nationwide initiative to study COVID long-haulers. Dr. Fauci announced the initiative last week, along with a new name for long COVID, Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). The initiative seeks to answer questions about why some patients, known as long-haulers, continue to experience persistent symptoms months after recovering from COVID infections. While symptoms vary, the most commonly reported is “brain fog,” which includes memory problems, difficulty focusing, and intense fatigue. The launch of the initiative follows a recent study finding that 30 percent of all COVID patients still reported residual symptoms up to nine months after their illness.

New COVID Literature & Studies

• A study mathematically analyzes the effectiveness of various interventions aimed at limiting COVID transmission in retail stores. These interventions include reductions in customer density and restricting movement of customers in stores to one-way flow. The researchers assess two mechanisms of transmission: 1) close contact and 2) wake exposure, which refers to spread of viruses from one person by airflow to someone behind. Restricting customer movement to one-way flow is only effective if COVID spreads by close contact, while reducing customer density is very effective with either mechanism. Read the study.
  
  
• A pre-peer reviewed study offers preliminary results showing that one dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine can reduce the risk of COVID by 75%, 12 days after vaccination. One dose of the vaccine was also able to reduce even asymptomatic infection by the same amount. The full data of this study has not been released yet. Read the study.

Below The Fold

• How The Pandemic Changed Social Media (Vox)
  
  
• A Year In America's First COVID Epicenter (New Yorker)
  
  
• The Surprising Key To Combating Vaccine Refusal (Atlantic)

New from CAN

• We partnered with Harvard Global Health Institute to develop recommendations to help schools reopen and stay open safely. Learn more about our research-backed framework through our short video or explainer.
  

On a Lighter Note

• Watch Dolly Parton "Get A Dose Of Her Own Medicine" (Twitter)

The above is from an email alert I get from this website.
America’s COVID warning system.

 

[ilovewings]

unfreakingreal

B.C. must break chains of transmission, official says, as 300 COVID-19 cases linked to pub's 1 trivia night

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brit...tF0RR6g4W0lRIjUA_ISdEQLbcXohv7fKXmgZjb1OmFYRw

What can one say???

 

[SouthAussie]

One dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech’s or AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine helps to prevent disease severe enough to require hospitalisation of people in their 80s with other illnesses, interim data from a UK study showed on Wednesday.

.... preventing symptomatic illness severe enough to result in hospitalisation among patients with a median age of 87 years.

Interim UK study finds one dose of COVID shots reduces hospitalisation

 

[SouthAussie]

Paywalled, but here is the gist ...

An apparent intentional explosion at a covid testing centre in a town near Amsterdam (Netherlands) on Wednesday. It shattered the windows of the building, right before the testing centre was due to open. Luckily, no-one was hurt.

The area around the testing centre is currently having one of the worst covid outbreaks. Hospitals are re-routing patients as their ICUs are full.

They have a 9pm-4:30am curfew in that area .. and since the start of 2021 some people have been displaying anger toward the healthcare authorities. Police are investigating.

Explosion rocks Dutch COVID-19 test centre

 

[Cool Cats]

Can't believe it's been a year since I've done anything out in public except the bare essentials.


When I get my shot I'm going to walk around the Mall and buy something I don't need - but want! Then stopping in Barns and Noble to get a coffee, with shots of raspberry and 1/2 & 1/2, and then go pick out some books and read in a comfortable chair...Simple pleasures missed.

 

[GRT]

More yuck!

https://nypost.com/2021/03/02/gov-cuomos-creepy-covid-19-test-comments-resurface/

The unsolicited, preserved-on-video comment now stands out, with Cuomo publicly accused of sexual harassment by three women in less than a week.

“You make that gown look good,” Cuomo said as Dr. Elizabeth Dufort — clad in the personal protective equipment that has become standard issue for medical professionals during the pandemic — walked out at his Albany briefing in May.

Oh ick!

It's so disappointing. I used to think Cuomo was someone to look up to when it came to news on the virus, but he's just an ordinary lech!

He made horrible life-and-death decisions by putting infected persons in nursing homes. Then, he and his staff lied about it to protect their own rear ends. And now, we find out he's a creep to top it all off. I read yesterday that a growing number of Democrats are calling for him to step down. He ought to just do it and save us from having to read more of these creepy accounts.

I guess the bigger they are, the harder they really do fall.

 

[GRT]

Can't believe it's been a year since I've done anything out in public except the bare essentials.


When I get my shot I'm going to walk around the Mall and buy something I don't need - but want! Then stopping in Barns and Noble to get a coffee, with shots of raspberry and 1/2 & 1/2, and then go pick out some books and read in a comfortable chair...Simple pleasures missed.

Oh my gosh! Now, I want one, too! Sounds delish!

I'm so ready for life to get back to normal.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

That's great news! I've always felt as though PSAs should have been used to instill confidence, address skepticism, and reinforce good science since day one. I'm glad to see it's finally happening.

soooo ditto to this. Should have been happening a year ago.....

 

[GRT]

Paywalled, but here is the gist ...

An apparent intentional explosion at a covid testing centre in a town near Amsterdam (Netherlands) on Wednesday. It shattered the windows of the building, right before the testing centre was due to open. Luckily, no-one was hurt.

The area around the testing centre is currently having one of the worst covid outbreaks. Hospitals are re-routing patients as their ICUs are full.

They have a 9pm-4:30am curfew in that area .. and since the start of 2021 some people have been displaying anger toward the healthcare authorities. Police are investigating.

Explosion rocks Dutch COVID-19 test centre

Here's another account from Reuters -- not behind a paywall.

 

[GRT]

soooo ditto to this. Should have been happening a year ago.....

If only it had! I wonder how many lives could have been saved if people had all banded together to get through this!

 

[TAM121]

I know I'm not in the minority, but I have a junior student (straight A since 3rd grade) absolutely struggling with "remote learning". In quotes because it's far from learning … it's submitting handfuls of assignments before 11:59pm. But not to worry, if you don't get it submitted by then, they give you another week to turn it in. And then again at the end of the grading period, all for full credit. I wish I was kidding. There mayyyy be a video by the teacher once a week, about 10 minutes worth of instructing, otherwise it's links to various y-tubes on the subject topic. Once assignments are submitted, it takes weeks to receive a grade back.

Our state closed school March 13, 2020 … and reopened September 8, 2020 IF your county was in green status on their chart. Our county didn't open for their full 5 day instruction until October 12th. They attended 15 days that month, went the first 4 days in November then our county had too many cases that put them in an orange status, therefore closing the schools. They didn't open back until January 19th, 2021. Between then and today, they've attended 19 days. That's 38 days of school from September to March. And it's not even been consecutive. We've had 2 major ice storms and flooding in there as well that's closed schools. It's been so back and forth, it's no wondering my child, as well as many others are struggling. And not to mention the social aspect of all this! In the middle of a pandemic, my child asked to look for a job, somewhere he could be around peers and have social interaction which he thrives off of, so he started working for a major grocery chain in our area. Which has done wonders for his social game, but his education is severely lacking.

Simply put, it's just not working here and in many, many other areas. Our schools need to open back up fully as well as our businesses. I have hope that my state will follow suit with FL, TX and MS.

 

[Cool Cats]

'This has been a huge mental toll': Working moms still struggle a year into the pandemic

Opal Foster and her son, Jeremiah, continue to work together from the kitchen table, one year into the pandemic.

The kitchen table has become more than just a place to eat dinner for Opal Foster and her 13-year-old son, Jeremiah, of Silver Spring, Maryland. It has also served as an office and a school for a year now.

Foster lost her job last March, joining the more than 2 million women who left the workforce in the U.S. over the course of 2020.

Foster said she collected unemployment and was able to freelance until she was able to get a part-time job in December. All the while, she continued to work with Jeremiah to juggle remote learning. He has Down syndrome and requires extra help in class.

Nicole Strauch with her family

Since the pandemic began, Nicole Strauch of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, has gone into work every day as an occupational therapist at a long-term care nursing home. Her husband works from home with her son and their nanny.

“I really kind of felt like a germ coming into the house,” she told ABC News. “I'd strip in the garage and shower and hope that I wasn't infecting my family.”

In December, the nightmare scenario happened: Her facility experienced an outbreak. She said over 90% of her patients contracted the coronavirus and more than 35 of them died.

“Trying to be a parent, but then also dealing with death constantly. It was the most trauma I've ever seen,” she recounted in tears.

Kristine Tague, of Canonsburg, Pa., spends time with her son.

Kristine Tague's son walks past an empty playground.

"This has taken a huge mental toll on me,” says Kristine Tague, who works as an airline industry technical illustrator in Texas.

Her toddler is in day care and her kindergartener attends in-person classes. Both institutions require students to quarantine if they’ve been exposed to the virus so she’s set up an area in her home office for them.

“Anytime there's an exposure, it's a quarantine of 14 days with the school district. So, basically I've had to take my children for tests, holding down my toddler, so that way he can get the nasal swab -- not fun,” she said.

Last year, her husband tested positive for COVID-19 and had to quarantine in the guest room. As he recovered, Tague continued to work full-time while taking care of her toddler and helping her kindergartener with remote learning.

“The hardest thing is being OK and saying, ‘Yes, I need to take this break and it's OK.’”

 

[Marysmith]

I know I'm not in the minority, but I have a junior student (straight A since 3rd grade) absolutely struggling with "remote learning". In quotes because it's far from learning … it's submitting handfuls of assignments before 11:59pm. But not to worry, if you don't get it submitted by then, they give you another week to turn it in. And then again at the end of the grading period, all for full credit. I wish I was kidding. There mayyyy be a video by the teacher once a week, about 10 minutes worth of instructing, otherwise it's links to various y-tubes on the subject topic. Once assignments are submitted, it takes weeks to receive a grade back.

Our state closed school March 13, 2020 … and reopened September 8, 2020 IF your county was in green status on their chart. Our county didn't open for their full 5 day instruction until October 12th. They attended 15 days that month, went the first 4 days in November then our county had too many cases that put them in an orange status, therefore closing the schools. They didn't open back until January 19th, 2021. Between then and today, they've attended 19 days. That's 38 days of school from September to March. And it's not even been consecutive. We've had 2 major ice storms and flooding in there as well that's closed schools. It's been so back and forth, it's no wondering my child, as well as many others are struggling. And not to mention the social aspect of all this! In the middle of a pandemic, my child asked to look for a job, somewhere he could be around peers and have social interaction which he thrives off of, so he started working for a major grocery chain in our area. Which has done wonders for his social game, but his education is severely lacking.

Simply put, it's just not working here and in many, many other areas. Our schools need to open back up fully as well as our businesses. I have hope that my state will follow suit with FL, TX and MS.

I’m sorry. That’s got to be sooo frustrating! Mine is actually in real time with a teacher giving lessons and then working on stuff and the teacher is available...

 

[weepingangel]

Looks like massachusetts may be going to bump educators /staff up the priority list. No link yet.
All things considered imo we’ve done a poor job w the vaccines here. But I think we’ve recently moved out of the bottom part of the list of states being successful with it. And the J&j shot will surely help.