Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #78

[JerseyGirl]

CDC director says Covid-19 vaccine for general public likely to be available in late 2021

“If you’re asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public, so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we’re probably looking at third, late second quarter, third quarter 2021.”

Redfield said that he thought the vaccination would begin in November and December “and then will pick up, and it will be in a prioritized way. It will be those first responders and those at greatest risk for death, and then eventually that will expand.”

CDC says U.S. should have enough coronavirus vaccine to return to 'regular life' by third quarter of 2021

 

[JerseyGirl]

Fauci: Plan to 'Hunker Down' for Fall and Winter

Dr. Anthony Fauci says fall and winter could be very difficult for the United States as the flu season arrives on top of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it’s not going to be easy,” Fauci said during an online panel discussion with doctors from Harvard Medical School.

The number of daily cases – about 36,000 -- is lower than August but still too high, Fauci said.

 

[KALI]

This is a sad state of affairs. Locked out of your home.

This is still unresolved in Australia.

PM told to 'call his dogs off' as stoush erupts over helping stranded Australians overseas


"It's time Scott Morrison called his dogs off and actually took the lead here and worked with the premiers."

Thousands of Australians 'in distress'
The international arrival cap was in place to ensure the hotel quarantine system was not stretched to capacity, but the Federal Government now claims Australia's case load has eased to the extent more people should be allowed into the country.

Mr McCormack today told media he simply wanted to make sure that more Australians could return home.

"There are some heart-wrenching stories," he said.

Federal Attorney General Christian Porter told Perth radio station 6PR about 2,500 Australians overseas were categorised as "in distress" or "need to come home quickly".


More at link

 

[tresir2012]

Trump in 'Fox & Friends' interview claims coronavirus vaccine coming ‘in a matter of weeks’

President Trump in an interview on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday claimed a vaccine for coronavirus could be approved "in a matter of weeks."


"I'm not doing it for political reasons, I want the vaccine fast," Trump said of the push for a vaccine, called "Operation Warp Speed. "You wouldn't have a vaccine for years ... I speeded up the process with the FDA... We're going to have a vaccine in a matter of weeks, it could be four weeks, it could be eight weeks ... we have a lot of great companies."

......

The vaccine comment comes as several Democrats have cast doubt on the safety of a potential vaccine due to the accelerated process: Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his vice-presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., have expressed concerns about potential political pressure they said could lead to a vaccine being approved too early.


Video
NORTH CAROLINA DEM SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS HE WOULE BE 'HESITANT' TO TAKE CORONAVIRUS VACCINE DUE TO 'CORRUPTION'

"I will not take [Trump's] word for it," Harris said when asked by CNN if she would take a vaccine approved before Nov. 3. "I would want to see what the scientists said," Biden responded to a question about a vaccine. North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham also said Sunday in a debate against Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Sunday that he would be hesitant to take a vaccine that's approved by the end of the year.

Republicans have accused them of irresponsible rhetoric.


On the coronavirus pandemic, Trump was also asked about his interviews with Woodward whose recently-released book about Trump detailed conversations in which Trump said he was downplaying the threat of the virus.

"I don't want to create panic," Trump said in response. "I don't want to build it up."

He added that the U.S. is in a better spot now on the pandemic than it was earlier this year.


"We're rounding the turn on the pandemic," Trump said. "Texas is coming down, Florida is doing great."


A lot more at link but OT.

To address the comments of those who say they want to wait to hear what scientists say, this link below is very informative from the Oxford vaccine scientists.

Oxford scientists: these are final steps we're taking to get our coronavirus vaccine approved

 

[KALI]

Our Yorkie has a Covid-19 hairdo just like me. I'm going to have to watch a YouTube video to see if I can clean him up.

My vet also has a park and call process in place. I am appalled by the lack of consideration I see from other clients that get right next to the staff, without masks, and those trying to get in the locked doors. They have had to temporarily close a few times after potential exposure. My groomer has related to me how insensitive some of her clients have been, asking if she will come to their homes to groom, if she can't get "just one" more in on her schedule, etc. I always tip her generously because she's awesome and my little guy loves her. I took her a package of masks I'd ordered from Old Navy and a bag of pocket size hand sanitizers a couple trips back and she's still thanking me.
I would be lost without them providing what I consider a necessary service.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

It's rather simple why we're where we're at. We were focused on making plans for how quickly we could re-open, before we had even started to shut down in early March. We were like a football player looking at the wide open field to the end zone, before catching the ball.

We couldn't re-open the economy fast enough. And we're essentially where it was predicted we'd be today, if the curve wasn't flattened sufficiently.

 

[Lato]

Louisiana has 508 new cases and 18 new deaths as of today.
www.nola.com

LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron says most players on football team
have caught Covid-19
Three or four players with the virus and others in quarantine.
www.wdsu.com

 

[tresir2012]

It's rather simple why we're where we're at. We were focused on making plans for how quickly we could re-open, before we had even started to shut down in early March. We were like a football player looking at the wide open field to the end zone, before catching the ball.

We couldn't re-open the economy fast enough. And we're essentially where it was predicted we'd be today, if the curve wasn't flattened sufficiently.

I don't agree. Over 80k deaths in the US were nothing to do with "opening up" at all.

 

[MrX]

It's rather simple why we're where we're at. We were focused on making plans for how quickly we could re-open, before we had even started to shut down in early March. We were like a football player looking at the wide open field to the end zone, before catching the ball.

We couldn't re-open the economy fast enough. And we're essentially where it was predicted we'd be today, if the curve wasn't flattened sufficiently.

I don't know - we had experts predict that bars, gyms and restaurants would be our downfall, here, yet they are all reopened and every metric is falling through the floor. I can't imagine what will happen if Melbourne experiences another couple cases in October and tries to close, again. Even the Big 10 realized that shutting down may not be the answer: Big Ten backtracks on its decision to postpone and will play football this fall after all - CNN

 

[JerseyGirl]

Not enough Covid-19 vaccines for return to normal until 2022: WHO scientist

Do not expect there to be enough Covid-19 vaccines for life to return to normal until 2022, World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan predicted on Tuesday.

Swaminathan said the WHO’s Covax initiative, the resource-pooling mechanism to provide equitable vaccine access to countries with differing income levels, would only be able to garner around hundreds of millions doses by the middle of next year, meaning each of the some 170 countries or economies that have joined “will have something”.

But the number of doses will be too small to change the need for social distancing and mask wearing until production is increased and reaches the goal of 2 billion by the end of 2021.

Swaminathan said the WHO was planning to issue guidelines on the emergency use of vaccines by the end of this week.

 

[Warwick1991]

Not enough Covid-19 vaccines for return to normal until 2022: WHO scientist

Do not expect there to be enough Covid-19 vaccines for life to return to normal until 2022, World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan predicted on Tuesday.

Swaminathan said the WHO’s Covax initiative, the resource-pooling mechanism to provide equitable vaccine access to countries with differing income levels, would only be able to garner around hundreds of millions doses by the middle of next year, meaning each of the some 170 countries or economies that have joined “will have something”.

But the number of doses will be too small to change the need for social distancing and mask wearing until production is increased and reaches the goal of 2 billion by the end of 2021.

Swaminathan said the WHO was planning to issue guidelines on the emergency use of vaccines by the end of this week.

Yet another possibility is that some vaccines will require 2 doses, complicating a major logistics challenge.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Bill Gates: This is the 'very best case' scenario for when life can return to normal post-pandemic

Currently there are more than 170 vaccines being developed worldwide, with at least 31 in clinical trials. Gates told reporters that Pfizer's vaccine is the only one that could theoretically get emergency use license by the end of October.

Trump suggested that there could be a vaccine before Election Day on Nov. 3 in a press conference on Sept. 7. However, Fauci said that it's "unlikely we'll have a definitive answer" at that time.

Gates said in the new interview that he thinks distributing vaccines to everyone in the world will "stretch" into 2022.

"Unless you get herd immunity at really surprising levels, like 20% or 30%, you've got 7 billion people, each of them needing two doses. That's 14 billion doses to administer. We don't make anything at that volume. So even if 80% of all the vaccines get approved and we get all this capacity, to get the eradication it stretches into 2022.

"You hope it doesn't stretch past 2022," Gates said.

 

[Clair Louise]

This is a sad state of affairs. Locked out of your home.

You know, countries handle it differently as they think is best. Australia has had 824 deaths from the virus while other have had tens of thousands.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Multiple White House staff members have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump visited Philadelphia. The White House press pool was informed of the positive COVID-19 cases Wednesday, but Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says he is not releasing any further information.

“I don’t comment on any health-related issues as it relates to the White House ever,” Meadows told press pool reporters.

White House Staff Members Reportedly Test Positive For COVID-19 Less Than 24 Hours After President Donald Trump Visited Philadelphia

 

[SoCalDavidS]

White House employees test positive for coronavirus - report
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 21:07
Less than one day after the ceremony marking the historic deals with the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, several White House employees tested positive for coronavirus, according to Israeli media. According to reports, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not provide details regarding the identities or positions of the employees who tested positive. At this point, it is unknown whether the employees in question attended the ceremony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Israeli delegation.

White House employees test positive for coronavirus - report

 

[Bravo]

Ontario preparing surge capacity of 78,000 daily COVID-19 tests

 

[SoCalDavidS]

#Breaking: Israel's entire delegation, just landed, must enter quarantine

Noga Tarnopolsky
@NTarnopolsky
· 46m
Multiple White House staffers have tested positive for #COVID-19 today one day after Israeli PM Netanyahu, UAE FM Abdullah bin Zayed & Bahraini FM Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani met with them.
https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/1306288505463730178

 

[JerseyGirl]

White House employees test positive for coronavirus - report
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 21:07
Less than one day after the ceremony marking the historic deals with the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, several White House employees tested positive for coronavirus, according to Israeli media. According to reports, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not provide details regarding the identities or positions of the employees who tested positive. At this point, it is unknown whether the employees in question attended the ceremony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Israeli delegation.

White House employees test positive for coronavirus - report

idi... oops.

White House largely disregards coronavirus precautions during Abraham Accords signing

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were greeted by Trump and first lady Melania, who were flanked by soldiers outside the doors of the West Wing. Netanyahu briefly waved to cameras, posing alongside the group for pictures before heading inside.

... remarkably absent during the White House arrival was any sort of facial mask or any clear attempt at social distancing.

And in Israel, citizens are bracing for a second nationwide lockdown caused by the pandemic after observing a record of 4,217 new cases in 24 hours last Thursday.

Ahead of the signing on Tuesday, the Israeli Minister of Health said that Netanyahu would wear a mask during the signing. But during the agreements ceremony on the South Lawn, none of the foreign leaders, including Netanyahu, were seen wearing masks.

Anyone who meets with Trump is tested, according to protocol. And officials traveling in the three delegations at the White House were tested for coronavirus before meeting the President.

But the guests invited to attend were not expected to be tested. Those attendees who were not expected to be tested included lawmakers, Trump allies and members of the Cabinet.

 

[CSIDreamer]

You know, countries handle it differently as they think is best. Australia has had 824 deaths from the virus while other have had tens of thousands.

I need to see if there is any info regarding suicides and overdoses. I know my state had a crazy rise during lockdown. It was awful.

 

[Clair Louise]

I need to see if there is any info regarding suicides and overdoses. I know my state had a crazy rise during lockdown. It was awful.

That is a shame.