Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #94

[margarita25]

BBM:

India hits 100 million vaccinations as Covid-19 cases surge - CNN

“New Delhi (CNN)India has been gripped by a life or death race against Covid-19, as the country of nearly 1.4 billion people rolls out one of the fastest vaccination drives in the world while recording all-time high tallies of infections.”

[...]

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced a four-day vaccination drive starting Sunday.
India is now regularly administering over 3 million vaccines a day, surpassing the United States' daily rollout and gaining on China's, according to University of Oxford research group Our World in Data.“

[...]

“Delhi authorities announced Friday that all educational institutions will remain closed until further notice.
The rise in cases comes as India's top researchers announced last month that there are nearly 800 variants of concern present in the country.“

 

[anneg]

I hugged my parents today for the first time in 14 months! We've all been one month past our second doses.

Wonderful!!

 

[margarita25]

'Grim reaper' artist in Berlin protests Brazil virus stance

 

[anneg]

I am getting the kind of feelings I had over a year ago when things were so scary, out of control, no vaccine, etc. I was telling people then that I was terrified of the virus and that if DH and I (both age 76) caught it, we might well die. Now we have been fully vaccinated since early February (Pfizer). But with all these mutations and new variants, I'm getting very worried, along with @margarita25 and many others on this thread. Especially worried about younger people.

Don't forget about the no-discussion thread on variants:
SARS-CoV-2 Variants - Coronavirus COVID-19 **NO DISCUSSION**

Many thanks to Margarita for her hard work here!!

 

[margarita25]

So, I’m hearing about a lot of breakthrough cases, people still testing positive for covid despite vaccination, but this is to be expected, that some will still contract the virus, but the severity is reduced, as is risk of death. With millions vaccinated, there will be a small number of people who get infected, as related to “efficacy” percentages. The main thing is to minimize the impact, as we know (and block transmission, as this element is still being studied), as well as block furniture variants...

However, still dying? I thought we were to expect zero deaths? I suppose I may have misunderstood this/wasn’t expecting this. I wonder what the age and comorbidities may have been with those who died. I thought 95% meant a small number may still contract it, but if they did, it would be minimized, but that there was zero risk of associated death.

“PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — A small number of vaccinated Oregonians have nevertheless tested positive for the novel coronavirus — and three of them died, according to the Oregon Health Authority.“

[...]

““It’s a reminder that while the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are all highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illness and death, no vaccine is 100% effective, and vaccine breakthrough cases will occur,” according to a news release.“

 

[ilovewings]

So, I’m hearing about a lot of breakthrough cases, people still testing positive for covid despite vaccination, but this is to be expected, that some will still contract the virus, but the severity is reduced, as is risk of death. With millions vaccinated, there will be a small number of people who get infected, as related to “efficacy” percentages. The main thing is to minimize the impact, as we know (and block transmission, as this element is still being studied), as well as block furniture variants...

However, still dying? I thought we were to expect zero deaths? I suppose I may have misunderstood this/wasn’t expecting this. I wonder what the age and comorbidities may have been with those who died. I thought 95% meant a small number may still contract it, but if they did, it would be minimized, but that there was zero risk of associated death.

“PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — A small number of vaccinated Oregonians have nevertheless tested positive for the novel coronavirus — and three of them died, according to the Oregon Health Authority.“

[...]

““It’s a reminder that while the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are all highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illness and death, no vaccine is 100% effective, and vaccine breakthrough cases will occur,” according to a news release.“

We really don't have any details about the three people who died: For all we know they could have had the virus before getting vaccinated. We need more information, and we probably won't get it.

 

[margarita25]

Omg, happy dance, Biden administration Secretary of State (paraphrasing): “We’re going to be the world leader in helping the world get vaccinated”. Yay! This is what I’m talking about!! This is a global issue and we are (supposed to be) leader of the free world. Nobody is safe until we are all safe.

Eta: Talking about COVAX! “We are the largest contributor to that”. Yay, this made my day!

 

[margarita25]

MIS-C in Colorado: 5-year study of post-COVID syndrome underway

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Colorado National Guard confiscates thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Colorado Springs medical spa under investigation

—

ugh:

“As of Saturday, hospitalizations due to COVID in Colorado are up 47%.“

COLORADO COVID: Local doctors give insight to '4th COVID wave' FOX31 KDVR

—

Video on vaccine hesitancy: it seems Dr. Gupta was filming a video on vaccine hesitancy pre-covid wrt measles, etc.

3 days ago:

 

[Cool Cats]

COVID-19 almost killed him; on Saturday, New Jersey man ran 20 miles between hospitals that saved him

Paulo Santos (top center) with wife Christine Santos (left) and their children Ava (bottom center) and Paulo Jr. at Jersey Shore University Medical Center after Paulo's 20-mile run Saturday.

On April 10, 2020, Paulo Santos staggered up the driveway of his Manalapan, New Jersey, home, leaning heavily on a walker. The distance was only a few feet. It felt like scaling Mount Everest.

“I couldn’t stand for more than 30 seconds at a time without my legs collapsing from weakness,” he recalled.

Santos had just been discharged from the hospital, where a near-fatal case of COVID-19 forced him onto a ventilator for two weeks. He’d lost 45 pounds. When he took off his shirt, his wife of 11 years was stunned.

“He was so gaunt,” Christine Santos said, “he had excess skin hanging.”

Members of the staff at CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, send Paulo Santos off on his 20-mile run Saturday

An overwhlemed Paulo Santos (in red) is greeted by wife Christine Santos (left) upon his arrival at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune after running 20 miles from CentraState Healthcare in Freehold Saturday.

How he was saved
While Santos was on life support, doctors made the crucial decision to transfer him to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, which had gained approval to use the drug Remdesivir on COVID patients. Dr. Eric Costanzo, director of critical care services at Jersey Shore, had assembled a “prone” team to deal with intubated patients. Lying prone — on the stomach, arms positioned above the shoulders — maximizes oxygen intake for struggling lungs. The problem: Over a long term, that position causes nerve damage.

The prone team consists of a respiratory therapist and five attendants to ensure patients aren’t lying in one position for too long.

“We’ve extubated 170 critically ill COVID cases,” Costanzo said. “We haven’t had negative feedback on nerve issues.”

Paulo Santos (center, in red) is greeted by members of the staff of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune upon his arrival after running 20 miles Saturday.

Thus began a long road back, which included a post-COVID heart attack. On Saturday, exactly 12 months after his discharge, the 40-year-old turned the page once and for all with a remarkable feat. He ran the 20 miles from Freehold Township’s CentraState Healthcare System, where he initially checked in last March, to Neptune’s Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was transferred in a desperate bid to keep him alive.

He ran to raise money for the doctors and nurses who saved him, and mostly to say thank you. The feat took a little under five hours. Staff members from each hospital gathered at both the starting and finish lines, holding signs and cheering.

 

[mickey2942]

Real-world Israeli study shows SA variant can break through Pfizer vaccin

Pfizer says vaccine protection lasts at least 6 months after 2nd shot

"In the Pfizer-BioNTech trial, six cases of the variant were observed, none of them in people who had been given the vaccine — indicating an efficacy of 100 percent, it said."

So, which is it?! The ongoing contradiction of information is maddening about this pandemic.

 

[margarita25]

Real-world Israeli study shows SA variant can break through Pfizer vaccin

Pfizer says vaccine protection lasts at least 6 months after 2nd shot

"In the Pfizer-BioNTech trial, six cases of the variant were observed, none of them in people who had been given the vaccine — indicating an efficacy of 100 percent, it said."

So, which is it?! The ongoing contradiction of information is maddening about this pandemic.

I too am seeing a lot of inconsistencies and variable reports.

Bottom line, I think, jury is still out, it’s all still being studied.

 

[mickey2942]

I too am seeing a lot of inconsistencies and variable reports.

Bottom line, I think, jury is still out, it’s all still being studied.

Great. I knew it was not a good sign when I was issued seven new N95 masks a few months ago at work. Side issue, I am really tired after a 9 hour day wearing an N95 mask.

 

[margarita25]

 

[acutename]

So, I’m hearing about a lot of breakthrough cases, people still testing positive for covid despite vaccination, but this is to be expected, that some will still contract the virus, but the severity is reduced, as is risk of death. With millions vaccinated, there will be a small number of people who get infected, as related to “efficacy” percentages. The main thing is to minimize the impact, as we know (and block transmission, as this element is still being studied), as well as block furniture variants...

However, still dying? I thought we were to expect zero deaths? I suppose I may have misunderstood this/wasn’t expecting this. I wonder what the age and comorbidities may have been with those who died. I thought 95% meant a small number may still contract it, but if they did, it would be minimized, but that there was zero risk of associated death.

“PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — A small number of vaccinated Oregonians have nevertheless tested positive for the novel coronavirus — and three of them died, according to the Oregon Health Authority.“

““It’s a reminder that while the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are all highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illness and death, no vaccine is 100% effective, and vaccine breakthrough cases will occur,” according to a news release.“

could have had some bad comorbidities too- recall the discussion about some people who did not have a long life expectancy before they got COVID....

 

[acutename]

Real-world Israeli study shows SA variant can break through Pfizer vaccin

Pfizer says vaccine protection lasts at least 6 months after 2nd shot

"In the Pfizer-BioNTech trial, six cases of the variant were observed, none of them in people who had been given the vaccine — indicating an efficacy of 100 percent, it said."

So, which is it?! The ongoing contradiction of information is maddening about this pandemic.

The article I read about the Israeli study said that it was a "small sample." Do not know how small. This article says the same thing. some of my vaccinated friends are telling me how safe they feel. Not sure that I will ever feel safe again.

 

[acutename]

A friend who has been designing rapid Covid tests (and thus obviously really pays attention to all the Covid news) just shared this.

It's a pretty small sample b/c there's not much of it in Israel, but they're finding those double vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine actually have a HIGHER rate of prevalance of the South African variant than those who aren't vaccinated.



South African variant can 'break through' Pfizer vaccine, Israeli study says

when I read this, I wondered if it was an effect of the vaccination, or if the fully vaccinated people starting to assemble, travel, go out without precautions. since it is not ethical to actually expose people to viruses, all these studies are based on people (vaccinated and an unvaccinated control group) just going about their life and "seeing who gets an infection."

 

[acutename]

I have a question, something I’ve been wondering about.

Are mutations always unique to a single individual source when they originate? Does a particular variant always start in a single individual, and then spread from that one person? Or can more than one person undergo the exact same mutation separately, therefore a new variant originating in multiple sources? I would guess the first, but idk. Dr. Ding mentioned that a mutation can occur within someone who may be elderly and be immunocomprosed, and the virus may stay longer in his/her body, therefore having more time to replicate and undergo a mutation.

pretty sure you could at least have similar mutations occurring in different places... some genetic virus researcher could probably calculate how many mutations are possible based on how big this virus's genome is and maybe some mutations are just more likely based on how the genes are configured, IMHO. of course it is not a simple equation because you can have "multiple mutations" which the researchers are looking at now. all IMHO.

 

[ilovewings]

MIS-C in Colorado: 5-year study of post-COVID syndrome underway

—

Colorado National Guard confiscates thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Colorado Springs medical spa under investigation

—

ugh:

“As of Saturday, hospitalizations due to COVID in Colorado are up 47%.“

COLORADO COVID: Local doctors give insight to '4th COVID wave' FOX31 KDVR

—

Video on vaccine hesitancy: it seems Dr. Gupta was filming a video on vaccine hesitancy pre-covid wrt measles, etc.

3 days ago:

While it is discouraging that the "spa" might be violating certain practices in giving the vaccine, the good part is the oversight that stopped it.

 

[margarita25]

Brazil now has more young than old COVID patients in ICUs

“The number of people aged 39 or younger in intensive careunits with COVID-19 in March rose sharply to more than 11,000, or 52.2 percent of the total, said the Brazilian ICU Project.”

[...]

"Previously, this was a population that would typically only develop a less-severe form of the disease and would not need intensive care. So the increase for this age group is very significant," said Dr. Ederlon Rezende, co-coordinator of the project, an initiative of the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine (AMIB).”

[...]

“Another factor may be the new Brazilian variant, known as P1, which experts say is partly responsible for the country's COVID-19 death toll exploding in March.

The numbers suggest that P1, which can re-infect people who have had the original strain of the virus, may also be more virulent, Rezende said.

"The patients arriving in ICUs now are younger, have no pre-existing conditions and are developing more severe cases of the virus, too," he told AFP.“

 

[margarita25]

COVID Data Tracker
Variant Proportions

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Updated April 10, 2021
CDC /
US COVID-19 Cases Caused by Variants
COVID-19 and Your Health

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“Earlier in the pandemic, not many children were becoming infected with the coronavirus, and they did not appear to be major sources of virus transmission to other age groups. “That changed with B.1.1.7,” says epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “We're now seeing substantial numbers of outbreaks in schools and in school-related activities.”

In a study conducted in the U.K., where this variant was first detected, more children were infected with B.1.1.7 than other SARS-CoV-2 variants, compared to older age groups. The same scenario is now emerging in the U.S.”

How this more contagious virus variant became dominant in the U.S.