COVID-19 (f/k/a "the Coronavirus")

[TSmith34, Inc.]

> all known novel coronavirus strains

So they're saying they can eliminate the common cold?

I know, that was the first thing I thought of as well. Seems rather too good to be true. Need the sciency types to weigh in.

[tower912]

Getting it from a lab and hamsters to effective for humans is the trick.   I believe that the big pharma R&D related to COVID will eventually pay huge dividends in society.   And I think there will be a breakthrough that ultimately ends COVID.   Probably year 4.


If the morons actually take it.

[Jockey]

Liberty University refused mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and social distancing rules.

We’re still in August and the whole school is already in quarantine. Classes online, no eating in cafeteria, etc.

Falwell jr. has even had to put in a camera so he can watch his wife and the cabana boy from another room.

[pacearrow02]

Liberty University refused mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and social distancing rules.

We’re still in August and the whole school is already in quarantine. Classes online, no eating in cafeteria, etc.

Falwell jr. has even had to put in a camera so he can watch his wife and the cabana boy from another room.

What are your thoughts on all the measures Duke put into place with 98% of their student body vaccinated and they just went into full lock down as well. 

[pbiflyer]

Liberty University refused mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and social distancing rules.

We’re still in August and the whole school is already in quarantine. Classes online, no eating in cafeteria, etc.

Falwell jr. has even had to put in a camera so he can watch his wife and the cabana boy from another room.

Now that was funny!

[pacearrow02]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1432697419033100291

This thread pretty much captures where I’m at.  This administration like some other recent global events is lacking any sort of strategic plan. 

A lot of flying by the seat of our pants it feels like. 

[pbiflyer]

If we just stop counting covid deaths, the numbers will go down!

Florida changed its COVID-19 data, creating an ‘artificial decline’ in recent deaths

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article253796898.html

As cases ballooned in August, however, the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found.

On Monday, Florida death data would have shown an average of 262 daily deaths reported to the CDC over the previous week had the health department used its former reporting system, the Herald analysis showed. Instead, the Monday update from Florida showed just 46 “new deaths” per day over the previous seven days.

[Jockey]

With COVID-19 cases continuing to spike in Idaho, Gov. Brad Little outlined the state’s increasingly dire situation as Idaho nears the activation of crisis standards of care. Little said Tuesday he was deploying members of the National Guard to help strained Idaho hospitals.

For the public, Little said one way to help would be getting a COVID-19 vaccine. “It is our ticket out of the pandemic,” Little said.

Just minutes after Little made his plea, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin called his suggestion “shameful.”

[rocket surgeon]

If we just stop counting covid deaths, the numbers will go down!

Florida changed its COVID-19 data, creating an ‘artificial decline’ in recent deaths

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article253796898.html

As cases ballooned in August, however, the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found.

On Monday, Florida death data would have shown an average of 262 daily deaths reported to the CDC over the previous week had the health department used its former reporting system, the Herald analysis showed. Instead, the Monday update from Florida showed just 46 “new deaths” per day over the previous seven days.

  maybe they'll give the grope gov's emmy to the "d' man eyn'a?

[jficke13]

  maybe they'll give the grope gov's emmy to the "d' man eyn'a?

Hey I'm getting this news bulletin in, hot of the presses, wow, so I'm hearing that the fact that one person is bad has no relevance to whether a completely different person is also bad. Whoa, who knew?

[pbiflyer]

  maybe they'll give the grope gov's emmy to the "d' man eyn'a?

I’m good with DeSantis following Cuomo’s lead. He should. Both are bad. See how easy that is?

[Hards Alumni]

> all known novel coronavirus strains

So they're saying they can eliminate the common cold?

The common cold is a rhinovirus, not a coronavirus, but I'm just being pedantic. 

[MU82]

Getting vaccinated is NOT simply a personal choice that affects only those who make it.

According to the Charlotte Observer, the largest hospital system in North Carolina had 215 ventilators in use as of Monday; that's almost its entire inventory. Of those, 207 were being used by COVID-19 patients. And of those, 199 were being used on those who were unvaccinated.

The problem is bad enough in Charlotte. But the situation is really dire in the system's more rural hospitals and medical centers, because some of those only have a few ventilators available. When those are all in use, there might not be another ventilator within many miles.

So if somebody gets into a car accident or suffers a serious asthma attack or gets rescued from drowning or whatever, it's quite possible that there will not be a ventilator available to keep them alive.

Why? Because some jamoke exercising his or her "personal choice" refused to get vaccinated.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I see a news blurb that Connecticut hospitals are taking out of state COVID patients.

[MU82]

I see a news blurb that Connecticut hospitals are taking out of state COVID patients.

We'll send y'all ours!

[MUBurrow]

I’m good with DeSantis following Cuomo’s lead. He should. Both are bad. See how easy that is?

[rocket surgeon]

The common cold is a rhinovirus, not a coronavirus, but I'm just being pedantic. 

  sorry doctor hards, but...

  10-40% are caused by rhinovirus

  20% coronovirus

  20% rsv and parainfluenza


https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes

[Skatastrophy]

  sorry doctor hards, but...

  10-40% are caused by rhinovirus

  20% coronovirus

  20% rsv and parainfluenza


https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes

I wish I didn't have to know about any of this stuff. I would like to go back to the days that I was living in ignorance.

[Hards Alumni]

  sorry doctor hards, but...

  10-40% are caused by rhinovirus

  20% coronovirus

  20% rsv and parainfluenza


https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_causes

Fair enough.  But eliminating all coronaviruses won't eliminate the common cold... since only 20% of common colds are coronaviruses.

But you know, my point still stands.  But now you're just being pedantic.   

[MU82]

From the Charlotte Observer:

Charlotte-area doctors issued dire warnings ahead of Labor Day weekend travel and gatherings, urging North Carolinians to get the COVID-19 vaccine amid a surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and even deaths.

”Quite frankly, beds are scarce,” Novant Health chief clinical officer Dr. Sid Fletcher said Thursday morning. “We are running short on resources.”

The Charlotte area’s three largest health care systems — Atrium Health, Novant Health and CaroMont Health — teamed up Thursday to issue a rare joint warning about the surge in COVID-19 cases locally. That surge is largely fueled by high numbers of unvaccinated residents and the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19.

The vast majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths lately are among unvaccinated people, according to the hospital groups.

Close to 1,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Charlotte-area hospitals in Atrium, Novant and CaroMont facilities, according to the hospital systems. CaroMont is based in Gastonia.

And 857 out of 933 hospitalized patients — or 92% — are unvaccinated. Just 76 of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are vaccinated.

Of 126 patients on life support, 122 — or 97% — are unvaccinated, according to the three hospital systems.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

From the Charlotte Observer:

Charlotte-area doctors issued dire warnings ahead of Labor Day weekend travel and gatherings, urging North Carolinians to get the COVID-19 vaccine amid a surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and even deaths.

I am traveling to a tournament this weekend.

On the positive side, it will be outdoors and there will be plenty of room so people will not be crammed together.

On the negative side, it will be outdoors and is going to be hot as balls.

[MU82]

Hard to argue with what this guy says, especially the part I bolded ...

A Mooresville man whose wife died of Stage IV breast cancer has drawn millions of views on TikTok after he blasted unvaccinated people for filling hospital beds needed by non-COVID patients like his wife.

Jason Arena says in the video that his wife, Marilyn Arena, was discharged after only two days because the hospital told the couple they needed the beds for people streaming in with COVID-19. He doesn’t name the hospital in his video.

As a result, he said, his wife never had fluid drained and other needed procedures.

Marilyn Arena died on Aug. 20, 15 days after he posted the video, Arena told local and national media outlets this week, including CNN and WBTV.

“Ninety-nine percent of everybody that’s in the hospital with COVID right now is unvaccinated,” Arena says in his Aug. 5 video, which has drawn about 5 million views. “If you really (vulgarity) believe that COVID is not real, and you really believe that’s not a big deal, and you really believe you don’t need to get the vaccine, that is your (vulgarity) right, OK? I’m not going to argue with you about that.

“What I am going to argue with you about is you running to the hospital once you get the virus,” he says. “If you don’t trust the medical field to prevent you from getting it, why do you trust them to cure you from it?

“ ... Stick to your (vulgarity) guns and keep your (vulgarity) ass at home. Stop running to the hospital and putting everybody else at risk,” he says in the video. “People like my wife ... get kicked out of the hospital because your dumb ass is too stupid to go get a vaccine shot.”

Yep. If you're gonna use the "it's my right to not get the vaccine" argument, then keep your dumb ass away from the hospital. Die at home, with dignity.

[Jockey]

“If you don’t trust the medical field to prevent you from getting it, why do you trust them to cure you from it?"

Very, very astute.

[forgetful]

Comments or thoughts from the sciencers?

This new antibody can stop all COVID-19 strains, including new variants, experts say
https://www.deseret.com/coronavirus/2021/8/27/22643254/antibody-stops-covid-19-coronavirus-variants-delta-lambda

"A team of researchers may have found an antibody that can neutralize all known novel coronavirus strains, including the developing variants.

GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology recently conducted a huge collaborative study by scientists and developed a new antibody therapy, called Sotrovimab. During the project, they discovered a new natural antibody “that has remarkable breadth and efficacy,” according to the Berkeley Lab."

Just seeing this now, as I've been a bit busy the last week.

A couple general thoughts, and comments to clarify what has been done.

First...no, nowhere near a cure for the common cold (even those caused by coronaviruses). These new antibodies are only specific to a clade of beta-coronaviruses closely related to SARS and SARS-COV2. The epitopes recognized by these antibodies are not conserved in other coronaviruses.

Second...this is not actually new news, the existence of these broadly effective neutralizing antibodies has been known and studied for awhile. What was new, and why there is now a new article, is that researchers were able to better understand the mechanism of action of some of these very broad-spectrum antibodies.

So a general question may be, if we knew of these, why haven't we been scaling them up as pharmaceuticals. We definitely can produce these on scale, but have largely not went down this road, because the focus for monoclonal antibodies has been on antibodies that demonstrate extremely potent neutralizing capacity.

In general, there is a tradeoff in getting more breadth in coverage (broader spectrum) and neutralizing potency; these are generally inversely correlated. So a potent monoclonal antibody will be significantly less potent.

The new research shows two things. 1) That there may be intermediate options, where you see an increase in breadth and still pretty high potency. In light of the number of escape variants out there now, a shift in focus to these types of antibodies might be warranted. Especially since it appears that viral mutations escaping these antibodies are rare, and appear to lead to less infectious strains. 2) They now understand the mechanism of action for antibodies with wide breadth. These typically target a region neglected in current pharmaceutical design, which means we might be able to design more potent versions that retain broad efficacy across the SARS-like virus family (sarbecoviruses).

So no magic bullet yet, but moving in the right direction. In addition, the number of new doors this research is opening will lead to countless new developments on treatments for many diseases, not just COVID.

In the meantime, science will keep on sciencing.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Just seeing this now, as I've been a bit busy the last week.

A couple general thoughts, and comments to clarify what has been done.

First...no, nowhere near a cure for the common cold (even those caused by coronaviruses). These new antibodies are only specific to a clade of beta-coronaviruses closely related to SARS and SARS-COV2. The epitopes recognized by these antibodies are not conserved in other coronaviruses.

Second...this is not actually new news, the existence of these broadly effective neutralizing antibodies has been known and studied for awhile. What was new, and why there is now a new article, is that researchers were able to better understand the mechanism of action of some of these very broad-spectrum antibodies.

So a general question may be, if we knew of these, why haven't we been scaling them up as pharmaceuticals. We definitely can produce these on scale, but have largely not went down this road, because the focus for monoclonal antibodies has been on antibodies that demonstrate extremely potent neutralizing capacity.

In general, there is a tradeoff in getting more breadth in coverage (broader spectrum) and neutralizing potency; these are generally inversely correlated. So a potent monoclonal antibody will be significantly less potent.

The new research shows two things. 1) That there may be intermediate options, where you see an increase in breadth and still pretty high potency. In light of the number of escape variants out there now, a shift in focus to these types of antibodies might be warranted. Especially since it appears that viral mutations escaping these antibodies are rare, and appear to lead to less infectious strains. 2) They now understand the mechanism of action for antibodies with wide breadth. These typically target a region neglected in current pharmaceutical design, which means we might be able to design more potent versions that retain broad efficacy across the SARS-like virus family (sarbecoviruses).

So no magic bullet yet, but moving in the right direction. In addition, the number of new doors this research is opening will lead to countless new developments on treatments for many diseases, not just COVID.

In the meantime, science will keep on sciencing.

Thanks for explaining this in (mostly) people terms.