Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Wino wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:54 pm Cross street neighbors - husband has break thru diagnosed yesterday. I watched Cowboys get whipped weekend before last with them, but not I or his wife have any symptoms as yet. She's like me and has most covid symptoms most all the time - we're both waiting to test when our freebies come in from Uncle Joe via USPS. Myself, no fever and can still smell things, altho heard omicron may not affect smell. Postponed food/supplies shopping until tomorrow or Thursday.
The running nose and sniffles. welcome to Texas and the cedar elm tree pollen.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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TrueTexan wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 3:26 pm
Wino wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:54 pm Cross street neighbors - husband has break thru diagnosed yesterday. I watched Cowboys get whipped weekend before last with them, but not I or his wife have any symptoms as yet. She's like me and has most covid symptoms most all the time - we're both waiting to test when our freebies come in from Uncle Joe via USPS. Myself, no fever and can still smell things, altho heard omicron may not affect smell. Postponed food/supplies shopping until tomorrow or Thursday.
The running nose and sniffles. welcome to Texas and the cedar elm tree pollen.
Why don't all the damn pollinators get a motel room? This public sex has just gotta stop.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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“'Historic Turning Point': Cuba Issues Plan for Vaccine Internationalism

At a Tuesday press conference convened by Progressive International, individuals from Cuba's medical community explained their plan to deliver 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to low-income nations in the Global South—along with technology to enable domestic production and expert support to improve distribution.

"Today's announcements by Cuban scientists should mark a historic turning point in the history of the Covid-19 pandemic," David Adler, general coordinator of the Progressive International (PI) and head of its delegation to Cuba, said in a statement. "This lifesaving package sets the standard for vaccine internationalism."

Despite the added challenges imposed by a six-decade-long U.S. embargo—including syringe shortages and blocked solidarity donations—Cuba's public biotech sector has developed two highly effective Covid-19 vaccines and its universal healthcare system has fully inoculated over 86% of its population.

Representatives of the Cuban government said Tuesday that the Caribbean island has obtained enough funding from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration to manufacture 200 million doses. According to Dr. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director general of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, "They could produce 120 million doses in one year alone."

Not content to simply export its homegrown jabs, Cuba plans to take the following additional steps to ensure that these doses—and possibly millions more—make their way into the arms of people living in impoverished nations forsaken by Big Pharma and wealthy governments:

-Solidarity prices for Covid-19 vaccines for low-income countries;
-Technology transfer where possible for production in low-income countries; and
-Extending medical brigades to build medical capacity and training for vaccine distribution in partner countries.

That's according to key members of Cuba's health and technology sectors, including Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, director of science and innovation at BioCubaFarma; Olga Lidia Jacobo-Casanueva, director of the Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Devices (CECMED); and Ileana Morales Suárez, director of science and technology innovation at Cuba's Ministry of Public Health and coordinator of the nation's Covid-19 vaccination plan.

Those officials answered questions posed by journalists, vaccine manufacturers, public health experts, and foreign diplomats during Tuesday's briefing.

The panel was organized by PI in response to the rapid spread of Omicron amid persistent global vaccine apartheid—a combination that World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week makes the emergence of new variants "likely."

Nearly 10 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally to date. While more than 70% of people in high-income nations have been fully inoculated, less than 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one shot.

Unequal access to lifesaving jabs is the result of dose hoarding by wealthy governments—which have gobbled up most of the world's supply, occasionally wasting excess shots while flaunting their insufficient donations that are sometimes unusable when delivered just before expiration—and knowledge hoarding by pharmaceutical corporations, whose refusal to share publicly funded vaccine recipes has generated artificial scarcity.

By contrast, Cuba has quickly transitioned from protecting its own population to negotiating tech-transfer deals with numerous countries, including Argentina, Iran, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Nicaragua.

With a recent analysis estimating that more than 20 billion additional Covid-19 vaccine doses are required to end the pandemic, worldwide vaccine manufacturing must be ramped up significantly.

While Cuba may be incapable of satisfying global need by itself, its willingness to share technology and know-how can provide a "pathway to a new international health order, where public health and science are placed above private profit and petty nationalism," said Adler.

According to PI, "Cuba is in conversations with more than 15 countries regarding production" on their own soil. The state-run biotechnology organization, BioCubaFarma, is also working with the WHO to obtain a prequalification status for its protein-based vaccines, which are relatively easy to produce at scale and simple to store because they do not require freezing temperatures.

Pérez Rodríguez said Tuesday that "Cuba is open to any proposal that implies a greater impact of our vaccines in the world."

"As wealthy countries continue to block proposals that would make vaccines available to all, Cuba has emerged as a ray of hope," said Helen Yaffe, a lecturer in economic and social history at the University of Glasgow.

Health justice advocates continue to push for a temporary suspension of deadly intellectual property barriers at the World Trade Organization—a widely supported move that would enable qualified manufacturers to produce generic Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests—but the United Kingdom, Germany, and a few other opponents have sided with powerful drugmakers by stonewalling the measure.

In lobbying to maintain its extremely profitable IP monopolies, Big Pharma claims that waiving patents won't lead to an increase in the global supply of lifesaving medical tools because generic drug manufacturers in the Global South lack the capacity to replicate complex production processes.

Last month, however, experts identified 120 firms in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that stand ready to make billions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines if Pfizer and Moderna were compelled by German and U.S. policymakers to share formulas and technology.

"We could have put people's lives ahead of corporate profits and vaccinated the world, but we decided to hand over key decisions to western pharmaceutical corporations," Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said Tuesday. "We so desperately need a new model, and our hope now lies with those countries which have been ignored and marginalized in this pandemic but nonetheless stepped up, and took matters in their own hands."

In addition to pursuing tech-transfer where possible to boost global vaccine production, PI noted, "Cuba plans to send its Henry Reeve Brigades to countries in need of support with vaccine distribution, both for immediate deployment and longer term training of personnel."

PI explained:

Disparities in the ability to distribute vaccines are hindering governments' abilities to ensure a speedy rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in many low-income countries. According to the international humanitarian organization CARE, the cost for vaccine rollouts in developing countries has been vastly under-calculated by international donors leading to many donated doses lying around waiting to get into arms. Kate O'Brien, the WHO's vaccine director, reportedly said that funding for distribution "is absolutely an issue that we're experiencing and hearing about from countries."

The offer of technical assistance holds great promise for developing countries as many have shifted focus to building robust domestic biotech industries. At the Progressive International Summit, Anyang' Nyong'o, governor of Kenya's Kisumu County, invited Cuba "to come to Kenya to share technology and expand production of the vaccine candidates you are developing."

"Cuba's achievement in creating effective vaccines is immense," said Dearden, "and if we can use this know-how to build a better system, not driven by the greed of the few, it will be truly world-changing."

Zackie Achmat, co-founder of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, argued Monday in an opinion piece published by Al Jazeera that "there can be no illusions about the path ahead."

"The U.S. embargo will limit Cuba's ability to access credit and collaborate with suppliers, decreasing its capacity to produce and export at scale," wrote Achmat. "Cuba must move quickly to not only share its vaccine but its message and model of internationalism."

"Whatever reservations we may have about Cuba's political system, its commitment to global health equity is unmatched," he added. "If we follow its lead, it could herald an end to the reign of pharmaceutical monopolies enforced by rich countries. A new international health order is within reach."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... ationalism

Big Pharm is going Oh Crap we can't have this happening, Think of the lost profits.

Over the years Cuba has learned to make better friends in other countries by helping them rather than sending arms to oppressive governments to kill their citizens like we do here in the US.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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Kansas GOP lawmaker seeks legal cover as he faces investigation for prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19

Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, appears after a committee hearing Wednesday at the Statehouse in Topeka regarding his proposed legislation allowing doctors like himself to prescribe drugs for off-label use to treat COVID-19. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
Sen. Mark Steffen revealed Wednesday he is under investigation for prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients, accused the chief medical director of the University of Kansas Health System of spreading propaganda, and challenged him to a public debate.

Steffen, a Republican and anesthesiologist from Hutchinson, introduced legislation that would give himself and other doctors the authority to treat COVID-19 patients with ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine without fear of reprimand. He prevented Senate Bill 381 from being published until late Monday night, then complained that a hearing was postponed Tuesday morning because it gave “the media a 24-hour head start.”

About 60 individuals attended the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday to support Steffen and others who support his proposed bill. The model legislation, which also has been introduced in Tennessee, would require pharmacists to fill prescriptions for the off-label use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, even though health authorities say the drugs are ineffective in treating COVID-19 and could be harmful. Steffen said he intends to amend a provision in the bill that would grant doctors immunity from civil liability for any damages caused by the drugs.

The bill also would overturn any disciplinary action already taken against physicians for prescribing the drugs and block future discipline. Steffen said he has prescribed ivermectin to patients and has been under investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for a year and a half.

“They clearly have no interest in resolving it,” Steffen said. “They’re using it to hold over to me to think they’re going to silence me as I serve as a state senator. And obviously, that’s not working out for them. None of it is patient-based complaints. It’s all what I’ve said in the public and what I said as a county commissioner. I stand by everything I said. And again, we’ve got board overreach that desperately needs to be put under control.”

Steffen walked away from reporters after the hearing when pressed for details about the investigation and his treatment of patients.

In remarks before the committee, Steffen referred to Steve Stites, chief medical officer of the KU Health System, as the “Fauci of Kansas.” Steffen said Stites spreads “propaganda” through his daily news briefings about COVID-19, and challenged Stites to join him in a public forum on the topic in Hays.
https://www.rawstory.com/kansas-gop-law ... gal-cover/

Well, got to pass a law to cover their asses from being sued for malpractice. Way to stop this is when they are caught doing this crap you don't pull their license of discipline them. You just pull their Medicare/Medicaid permit to bill and let the insurance companies do the same. They don't get paid. and have the law say they can't bill for services not covered by Medicare/ Medicaid or private insurance. Hit them in the pocketbook. Also have pharmacists be allowed to refuse to fill the prescriptions and if they do fill them they can be held libel for damages.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Scientists and health officials around the world are keeping their eyes on a descendant of the omicron variant that has been found in at least 40 countries, including the United States.

This version of the coronavirus, which scientists call BA.2, is widely considered stealthier than the original version of omicron because particular genetic traits make it somewhat harder to detect. Some scientists worry it could also be more contagious.

But they say there’s a lot they still don’t know about it, including whether it evades vaccines better or causes more severe disease.

WHERE HAS IT SPREAD?

Since mid-November, more than three dozen countries have uploaded nearly 15,000 genetic sequences of BA.2 to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data. As of Tuesday morning, 96 of those sequenced cases came from the U.S.

“Thus far, we haven’t seen it start to gain ground” in the U.S., said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas, which has identified three cases of BA.2.

The mutant appears much more common in Asia and Europe. In Denmark, it made up 45% of all COVID-19 cases in mid-January, up from 20% two weeks earlier, according to Statens Serum Institut, which falls under the Danish Ministry of Health.

WHAT’S KNOWN ABOUT THIS VERSION?

BA.2 has lots of mutations. About 20 of them in the spike protein that studs the outside of the virus are shared with the original omicron. But it also has additional genetic changes not seen in the initial version.

It’s unclear how significant those mutations are, especially in a population that has encountered the original omicron, said Dr. Jeremy Luban, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

For now, the original version, known as BA.1, and BA.2 are considered subsets of omicron. But global health leaders could give it its own Greek letter name if it is deemed a globally significant “variant of concern.”

The quick spread of BA.2 in some places raises concerns it could take off.

“We have some indications that it just may be as contagious or perhaps slightly more contagious than (original) omicron since it’s able to compete with it in some areas,” Long said. “But we don’t necessarily know why that is.”

An initial analysis by scientists in Denmark shows no differences in hospitalizations for BA.2 compared with the original omicron. Scientists there are still looking into this version’s infectiousness and how well current vaccines work against it. It’s also unclear how well treatments will work against it.

Doctors also don’t yet know for sure if someone who’s already had COVID-19 caused by omicron can be sickened again by BA.2. But they’re hopeful, especially that a prior omicron infection might lessen the severity of disease if someone later contracts BA.2.

The two versions of omicron have enough in common that it’s possible that infection with the original mutant “will give you cross-protection against BA.2,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, an infectious diseases expert at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Scientists will be conducting tests to see if antibodies from an infection with the original omicron “are able to neutralize BA.2 in the laboratory and then extrapolate from there,” he said.

HOW CONCERNED ARE HEALTH AGENCIES?

The World Health Organization classifies omicron overall as a variant of concern, its most serious designation of a coronavirus mutant, but it doesn’t single out BA.2 with a designation of its own. Given its rise in some countries, however, the agency says investigations of BA.2 “should be prioritized.”

The UK Health Security Agency, meanwhile, has designated BA.2 a “variant under investigation,” citing the rising numbers found in the U.K. and internationally. Still, the original version of omicron remains dominant in the U.K.

WHY IS IT HARDER TO DETECT?

The original version of omicron had specific genetic features that allowed health officials to rapidly differentiate it from delta using a certain PCR test because of what’s known as “S gene target failure.”

BA.2 doesn’t have this same genetic quirk. So on the test, Long said, BA.2 looks like delta.

“It’s not that the test doesn’t detect it; it’s just that it doesn’t look like omicron,” he said. “Don’t get the impression that ‘stealth omicron’ means we can’t detect it. All of our PCR tests can still detect it.”

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF?

Doctors advise the same precautions they have all along: Get vaccinated and follow public health guidance about wearing masks, avoiding crowds and staying home when you’re sick.

“The vaccines are still providing good defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death,” Long said. “Even if you’ve had COVID 19 before — you’ve had a natural infection — the protection from the vaccine is still stronger, longer lasting and actually … does well for people who’ve been previously infected.”

The latest version is another reminder that the pandemic hasn’t ended.

“We all wish that it was over,” Long said, ”but until we get the world vaccinated, we’re going to be at risk of having new variants emerge.”
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/heres ... f-omicron/

The World Health Organization has said the appearance of the subtype, called BA.2, is increasing in many countries. Two cases have also been found in Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous county.

“We don’t really know what that means yet. We’ll be learning that in the days and weeks to come,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s health officer and public health director. “So far, we don’t really know how it behaves.”

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious-disease expert, said Wednesday that there’s nothing in the early data right now that makes him worried about BA.2.

“And the reason why I’m not worried is because I’m confident that, if you get boosted ... you wouldn’t go to the hospital,” Chin-Hong said. “I’m not worried about it as being more deadly,” he said, based on early data out of Denmark, but added that he’s “keeping an open mind. You never know what’s going to happen. It has a few more mutations. But I’ll be shocked if it makes you sicker.”

BA.2 will still be a risk for infecting people who haven’t been vaccinated and haven’t had prior exposure to Omicron. “I think our vaccines and our boosters will still work,” Chin-Hong said.

Cody said she thinks more coronavirus waves are yet to come, but it’s unclear what the next one will look like — whether it will be something little or another huge mountain.

“The road ahead still has a lot of uncertainty. We don’t know what’s going to come next,” Cody said at a town hall Tuesday night. “The greatest challenge for all of us is that we can’t quite see around every corner.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor, said this week that he doesn’t expect that the pattern of huge challenging variants emerging twice a year will last forever.

“What likely happens when you have waves of this is that, after a while, there is enough background immunity — either from infection-plus-boost, or vaccine-plus-boost, or just plain infection-and-recover-from-infection — when you put it all together, you can have a degree of immunity in the community such that, even if new variants emerge, they don’t take that surge effect that we’ve seen with the … five surges that we’ve seen since early 2020,” Fauci said on MSNBC on Tuesday.

“So I don’t believe we’re going to be seeing that indefinitely,” Fauci said. “I think it’s going to come down and down. And quite frankly, the more people that we get vaccinated and the more people we get boosted, the less the likelihood that we’ll be seeing these return of variants that keep challenging us.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... -questions

State numbers released for my county show over 25% of the population has had COVID since the pandemic started and over 6,000 are no longer with us and others are still hospitalized.

The state is saying that we've peaked but infections are still going up in my county. County infection rates: https://www.kron4.com/health/coronaviru ... alifornia/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Michele Bachmann Says Sarah Palin Should Be 'Commended' For Dining Out With COVID

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin should be “commended” for dining out in Manhattan this week while infected with contagious COVID-19, insisted onetime GOP presidential contender and avid Donald Trump supporter Michele Bachmann.

Palin is to “be commended because she’s trying to act like a normal human being in the greatest city in America,” the former Minnesota representative said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Friday.

Bachmann declared that it’s time to “start resuming normal American life … rather than cowering in our basements,” where the unvaccinated can’t infect anyone else. Palin, who opposes COVID vaccines, has said she would get vaccinated “over my dead body.”

Palin is in New York for her defamation trial against The New York Times, but the trial was delayed until next week after she tested positive for COVID-19, the judge announced Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff noted: “She is, of course, unvaccinated.”

City health guidelines advise anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus to quarantine for at least five days. Yet Palin was spotted dining out at Elio’s on Manhattan’s Upper East Side two days after her positive test was reported. She was seen maskless and sitting close to others in a heated outdoor dining area.

The former Alaska governor also dined indoors at the restaurant last Saturday, in violation of New York City’s vaccination mandate for indoor dining. The manager told The New York Times that the restaurant “made a mistake” by failing to check Palin’s proof of vaccination card (which she doesn’t have) during her Saturday visit.

A spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) encouraged anyone near Palin on her nights on the town to immediately be tested for COVID.

A City Hall statement added: “The key to NYC rules were put in place to protect all New Yorkers — including the small businesses that power our city’s economy. Ms. Palin needs to respect small business workers and follow the rules just like everyone else.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michele- ... ce54aad823

Idiots praising idiots.

And in other COVID news
Washington State Trooper Who Quit Over Vaccine Mandates Reportedly Dies Of COVID

Washington State Trooper Robert LaMay, who grabbed headlines when he blew up at Gov. Jay Inslee (D) over vaccine mandates last year, has died of COVID-19, KIRO news radio reported Friday.

LaMay published a video he recorded on his last day in which he said, “Jay Inslee can kiss my ass.”

LaMay started his career in 1999, and worked all over the state. He retired last October instead of getting vaccinated.

“We don’t do vaccines,” he told Fox News in an interview last year after he quit, referring to himself and his family. “We don’t do flu shots or any of that stuff.”

LaMay told Fox that he obtained a religious vaccine exemption, but that he decided that required changes in his job due to his unvaccinated status were unacceptable.

Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said of LaMay in a statement Friday: “I am deeply saddened over the news that our former friend and colleague Trooper Robert LaMay has passed away.”

This “agency’s prayers and remembrances are with his family and loved ones. Rob served honorably for over two decades and we were disappointed to see him leave the agency this past October. His service to this state and agency will be long remembered and appreciated.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-l ... 9a12bd8084

Another anti-vaxxer idiot bites the dust.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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tonguengroover wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:03 pm So my granddaughter was only sick for a couple days, runny bleeding nose and a low fever. Now she's up and running. Grandson tested positive now and my son and daughter in law have yet to test positive. I'm certain they will. I may have to run up there and baby sit.

Hope they're fully vaxxed and boosted so it will be mild if they do. Pack your bags grandpa just in case.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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On the subvariant of Omicron, BA.2 which is dominant in Denmark.
The subvariant is 1.5 times more transmissible than the original omicron strain, referred to by scientists as BA.1, according to Statens Serum Institut, which conducts infectious disease surveillance for Denmark.

The new sublineage doesn’t appear to further reduce the effectiveness of vaccines against symptomatic infection, according to the U.K. Health Security Agency.

“Currently there is no evidence that the BA.2 lineage is more severe than the BA.1 lineage,” CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said.

BA.2 overtook the original omicron as the dominant variant in Denmark over the course of a few weeks, said Troels Lillebaek, the chairman of the Scandinavian nation’s committee that conducts surveillance of Covid variants.

BA.1 and BA.2 have many differences in their mutations in the most important areas. In fact, the difference between BA.1 and BA.2 is greater than the difference between the original “wild strain” and the Alpha variant, which was the first major mutation to take root across the world.

The BA.2 variant has five unique mutations on a key part of the spike protein the virus uses to attach to human cells and invade them, Lillebaek told CNBC. Mutations on this part of the spike, known as the receptor binding domain, are often associated with higher transmissibility.

The U.K. Health Security Agency on Friday said BA.2 has a “substantial” growth advantage over the original omicron. The sister variant spread faster than the original omicron in all regions of England where there were enough cases to conduct an analysis, according to the agency.

However, a preliminary assessment found that BA.2 doesn’t appear to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines any more than the original omicron. A booster dose was 70% effective at preventing symptomatic illness from BA.2 two weeks after receiving the shot, compared with 63% effectiveness for the original omicron strain.

The World Health Organization has not labeled BA.2 a variant of concern. However, WHO officials have repeatedly warned that new variants will arise as omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, warned on Tuesday that the next Covid will variant be more transmissible.

“The next variant of concern will be more fit, and what we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating,” Van Kerkhove said. “The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe.”

Lillebaek said there is not enough data yet to determine whether BA.2 is able to reinfect people who caught the original omicron. However, prior infection would likely provide some crossover immunity to BA.2.

Pfizer and Moderna started clinical trials this week on omicron-specific shots amid growing concern that new variants will emerge as immunity induced by the original vaccines wanes.

New Covid cases are increasing in Denmark, with more than 50,000 new infections reported on Friday in a country of 5.8 million people, according to the country’s health ministry. Lillebaek said it’s safe to assume that BA.2 is driving the increase of new infections in Denmark right now.

New hospital admissions in Denmark rose by 12 for a total of 967 patients who are Covid positive. Lillebaek said this increase is likely within the limits of what the health system can manage. However, he noted that 80% of Danes are fully vaccinated and 60% have received booster shots.

“If you are in a community or living in a country where you have a low vaccination rate, then you will have for sure more admissions to hospital and more severe cases and then more going to ICU,” he said.

In the U.S., about 67% of those eligible are fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/28/the-new ... tates.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Now we have another expert that is as good as Rand Paul.
Anti-vaxx 'expert' claims vaccines will turn people into ‘transhumanist cyborgs' controlled by 5G

Sherri Tenpenny is an influential religious-right anti-vaccine activist who has testified before the Ohio state House, appeared on Charlie Kirk’s podcast, and been a speaker at multiple ReAwaken America events, where she has shared the stage with the likes of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Eric Trump, Mike Lindell, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Alex Jones.

Despite the fact that Tenpenny is an osteopathic doctor with no expertise on vaccines, she regularly appears on right-wing programs where she spreads wild conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines.

Recently, she has begun to claim that COVID-19 vaccines are designed to create “quantum entanglement” between those who take them and the internet in an effort to turn humanity into “transhumanist cyborgs.”

“The stated goal is to depopulate the planet and the ones that are left, either make them chronically sick or turn them into transhumanist cyborgs that can be manipulated externally by 5G, by magnets, by all sorts of things,” Tenpenny said during an appearance on “The Stew Peters Show” Thursday night. “I got dragged through the mud by the mainstream media when I said that in May of last year in front of the House committee in Columbus, [Ohio]. Well, guess what? It’s all true.”

“The whole issue of quantum entanglement and what the shots do in terms of the frequencies and the electronic frequencies that come inside of your body and hook you up to the ‘Internet of Things,’ the quantum entanglement that happens immediately after you’re injected,” she continued. “You get hooked up to what they’re trying to develop. It’s called the hive mind, and they want all of us there as a node and as an electronic avatar that is an exact replica of us except it’s an electronic replica, it’s not our God given body that we were born with. And all of that will be running through the metaverse that they’re talking about. All of these things are real, Stew. All of them. And it’s happening right now. It’s not some science fiction thing happening out in the future; it’s happening right now in real time
https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/tenpenny/

Just more excuses for bad behavior. She claims to be an osteopathic doctor. Maybe the state board needs to check on her license to practice medicine. I would say she is a few pennies short of a dollar.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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There have always been anti-vaxxers, they're just more visible now because of COVID. Last figure I saw 20% of the population were anti-COVID vaccine, the real core like Robert F Kennedy, Jr are a smaller percentage and they're against all vaccines.

Even the father of vaccination Edward Jenner, a country doctor in rural England had opposition.
For some parents, the smallpox vaccination itself induced fear and protest. It included scoring the flesh on a child’s arm, and inserting lymph from the blister of a person who had been vaccinated about a week earlier. Some objectors, including the local clergy, believed that the vaccine was “unchristian” because it came from an animal.[3] For other anti-vaccinators, their discontent with the smallpox vaccine reflected their general distrust in medicine and in Jenner’s ideas about disease spread. Suspicious of the vaccine’s efficacy, some skeptics alleged that smallpox resulted from decaying matter in the atmosphere.[4] Lastly, many people objected to vaccination because they believed it violated their personal liberty, a tension that worsened as the government developed mandatory vaccine policies.[3]

The Vaccination Act of 1853 ordered mandatory vaccination for infants up to 3 months old, and the Act of 1867 extended this age requirement to 14 years, adding penalties for vaccine refusal. The laws were met with immediate resistance from citizens who demanded the right to control their bodies and those of their children.[3] The Anti Vaccination League and the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League formed in response to the mandatory laws, and numerous anti-vaccination journals sprang up.[2]
https://www.historyofvaccines.org/index ... -movements

Ignorance of science and conspiracies weren't confined to the 1800s.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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highdesert wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:39 pm
tonguengroover wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:03 pm So my granddaughter was only sick for a couple days, runny bleeding nose and a low fever. Now she's up and running. Grandson tested positive now and my son and daughter in law have yet to test positive. I'm certain they will. I may have to run up there and baby sit.

Hope they're fully vaxxed and boosted so it will be mild if they do. Pack your bags grandpa just in case.
Yes the adults are fully vaxxed. The grandson is 2 years old. Being in daycare they brought home an incredible amount of crud sicknesses. Hoping that fortified their immune system. Seems to have worked the the five year old daughter.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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tonguengroover wrote:
highdesert wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:39 pm
tonguengroover wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:03 pm So my granddaughter was only sick for a couple days, runny bleeding nose and a low fever. Now she's up and running. Grandson tested positive now and my son and daughter in law have yet to test positive. I'm certain they will. I may have to run up there and baby sit.

Hope they're fully vaxxed and boosted so it will be mild if they do. Pack your bags grandpa just in case.
Yes the adults are fully vaxxed. The grandson is 2 years old. Being in daycare they brought home an incredible amount of crud sicknesses. Hoping that fortified their immune system. Seems to have worked the the five year old daughter.
Best wishes for your family.

My 4 oldest have been in school this year and so far only my 16y/o has caught it. He was vaccinated so it was very minor. I’m fortunate that the only one in my whole extended family who is unvaccinated is my 4 y/o and thankfully, he’s surrounded by a bubble of vaccinated people. I’m fortunate enough not to have to put him in daycare. I know many families have to; as I have certainly had to put all 5 of them in daycare in the past. Hoping he’s eligible by the time preschool starts this fall.


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Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Here in So Cal, many friends in the dancing community have tested positive and others have had symptoms but never bothered to test. Folks are dancing, getting boosted, showing their vax cards, or simply wearing masks when they Tango. There is little fear out there anymore for catching the coronavirus at least within the dancing community.

I don’t know any dancers who has gone into the hospital recently. Everyone is recovering from the recent variant though some admit to having strange long-term symptoms.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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The Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the agency announced Monday.

Moderna’s vaccine, now known as Spikevax, was previously available under emergency use authorization and is the second coronavirus vaccine to get full FDA approval. Pfizer and BioNTech’s product was approved in August.

“While hundreds of millions of doses of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine have been administered to individuals under emergency use authorization, we understand that for some individuals, FDA approval of this vaccine may instill additional confidence in making the decision to get vaccinated,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

Moderna, a biotechnology company, said Monday that Spikevax has been approved by regulators in more than 70 countries and that more than 800 million doses were shipped worldwide last year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... e-updates/

White House officials have grown so frustrated with top health official Xavier Becerra as the pandemic rages on that they have openly mused about who might be better in the job, although political considerations have stopped them from taking steps to replace him, officials involved in the discussions said.

Top White House officials have had an uneasy relationship with Becerra, the health and human services secretary, since early in President Biden’s term. But their dissatisfaction has escalated in recent months as the omicron variant has sickened millions of Americans in a fifth pandemic wave amid confusing and sometimes conflicting messages from top health officials that brought scrutiny to Biden’s strategy, according to three senior administration officials and two outside advisers with direct knowledge of the conversations.

The frustration with Becerra comes as top White House and health officials face growing criticism for health messaging missteps, as well as controversial policies about coronavirus testing and isolation. The administration has also struggled in the face of a tsunami of cases that have overwhelmed hospitals and shuttered some schools and businesses because so many workers became infected.

White House and HHS officials denied such tensions and pointed to the administration’s work on delivering vaccines, as well as new covid treatments and diagnostic tests, as proof of a productive working relationship. “Since day 1, the administration has managed a strong, coordinated COVID-19 response thanks to Secretary Becerra and HHS officials at every level of government,” White House spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement.

Becerra, a former California attorney general and longtime congressman with little health-care experience, was never given a clear role in a response that is run out of the White House, prompting defenders to say it is unfair to blame him for recent stumbles. Still, his low profile has become more confounding as the pandemic has worn on and health officials have made statements that sometimes blindsided the president and bewildered the public, some officials and outside experts say.

They also said the health secretary isn’t fulfilling a core responsibility of his job, which is to act as a de facto field marshal coordinating the nation’s vast health bureaucracy to achieve the White House’s strategy, even though he does not set it. For instance, they cited officials’ airing of differences over booster shots and covid-19 isolation guidance as confusing and unnecessary. They said the tension between Becerra and the White House has complicated the pandemic response at a time when Americans are already exhausted and struggling to make sense of ever-changing guidelines.
Topol, who wrote an editorial in Science magazine this month, saying Becerra had “shirked” responsibilities such as collecting covid data and coordinating his deputies, said he had heard similar concerns from people close to the White House. The secretary has “to step up or step aside,” Topol said.

Several administration officials voiced similar displeasure with Becerra’s leadership, although they would not do so on the record because they were not authorized to speak with the media. The health secretary “is taking too passive a role in what may be the most defining challenge to the administration,” said one senior administration official.
This story is based on interviews with 28 senior administration officials, health agency officials, outside advisers and experts, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive discussions.

As health secretary, Becerra oversees a $1.5 trillion agency charged with responding to myriad national crises, including disease outbreaks, extreme weather events and housing migrant children at the border. He is responsible for coordinating policy rollouts and communications among health agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a job made particularly difficult by the pandemic. The nation’s most prominent health officials, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy and Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all report to Becerra or his deputies.

Bipartisan lawmakers have raised concerns about the agency’s persistent coordination difficulties, from collecting infectious-disease data to clearly communicating health guidance. A government watchdog last week echoed those criticisms, saying such issues have plagued responses to emergencies across four presidential administrations and, if left unaddressed, will “hamper the nation’s ability to be prepared for, and effectively respond to, future threats.”
Yet removing Becerra would likely draw the ire of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other grass-roots groups that pressed Biden to appoint more Latinos to his Cabinet. Officials are also loath to take on a complicated staffing change with a divided Senate as they prioritize confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice and navigate election-year politics.

Biden is also averse to firing staffers and unlikely to make major changes unless there are glaring reasons to do so, one senior official said. As a result, the informal conversations about replacing Becerra are unlikely to escalate to serious deliberations in the near future.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... eadership/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Hutchinson is a conservative, he's not a wacko Trumper. He's come out in favor of vaccinations and wearing masks.
During a Monday morning session of the National Governors Association at the White House, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson praised the Biden administration’s handling of the pandemic while also asking for more clarity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hutchinson, in a rare Republican acknowledgment of the White House’s pandemic response, thanked Biden and Vice President Harris for their “clarity on keeping schools open.”

“Your voice has been important for a national perspective,” Hutchinson said. “Our schools are opening classroom instruction, and thank you for that clarity.”

The Arkansas governor said he expected the president and vice president to address CDC standards and rules.

“We need the CDC to help us to have the right standards to end this pandemic and move to a more endemic status,” Hutchinson said. “I hope that the CDC can be helpful to define that more clearly.”

The president acknowledged his administration’s work to keep schools open.

“I know that education funds help many of you stay open, keep the schools open, keep them open safely,” Biden said. “There’s a lot of money you have there for everything from dealing with ventilation to clean buses, school buses and everything in between. There’s no reason why we can’t keep our schools open, in my view. And getting kids to school is an essential step, getting our economy back to normal. And we’re not quite there yet, but we also know that if people find they can afford child care, they get back to work as well.”
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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The omicron subvariant BA.2 will not likely change the overall course of the pandemic, but could prolong the current surge in many parts of the world, scientists told The New York Times.

Emerging research suggests the subvariant does not cause more severe illness or thwart vaccines, but does spread more rapidly. Danish researchers say BA.2 is 1.5 times more transmissible than the original omicron strain, according to CNBC.

"This may mean higher peak infections in places that have yet to peak, and a slowdown in the downward trends in places that have already experienced peak omicron," Thomas Peacock, PhD, a virologist at Imperial College London, told the Times.

Trevor Bedford, PhD, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, estimates that about 8 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases are BA.2 based on a recent analysis of viral sequences from COVID-19 test samples.

Nathan Grubaugh, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Yale University School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn., said he is "fairly certain" the subvariant will become dominant in the U.S., but is unclear on "what that would mean for the pandemic."

Dr. Grubaugh predicted that COVID-19 cases will continue to fall in the coming weeks, though it's not out of the realm of possibility for BA.2 to create a new surge or slow case declines. He said scientists are currently conducting more research that could help inform projections.

Two more forecasts to know:

1. Daily COVID-19 hospital admissions will likely fall over the next four weeks, with 4,900 to 27,800 new admissions likely reported on Feb. 18, according to ensemble forecasts the CDC published Jan. 24. For context, the seven-day hospitalization average for Jan. 19-25 was 19,315, an 8.8 percent decrease from the previous week's average.

2. CDC forecasting predicts U.S. COVID-19 deaths will remain stable or have an uncertain trend over the next month, with 4,900 to 25,600 deaths likely reported in the week ending Feb. 19. Current forecasts should be interpreted with caution, the CDC said, as they may not fully account for omicron's rapid spread.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/p ... casts.html

News reports are that the BA.2 subvariant is in 24 US states and spreading. Approximately 40% of the US population has had Omicron and BA.2 spreads faster. Some predict the current surge won't be as short as predicted.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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The next Covid-19 variant that will rise to world attention will be more contagious than omicron, but the real question scientists need to answer is whether or not it will be more deadly, World Health Organization officials said Tuesday.

Roughly 21 million Covid cases were reported to the WHO over the last week, setting a new global record for weekly cases from the rapidly spreading omicron variant, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said during a livestreamed Q&A across the group’s social media channels.

While omicron appears to be less virulent than previous strains of the virus, the sheer volume of cases is crushing hospital systems worldwide.

“The next variant of concern will be more fit, and what we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating,” Van Kerkhove said. “The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe.”

She warned against buying into theories that the virus will continue to mutate into milder strains that make people less sick than earlier variants.

“There is no guarantee of that. We hope that that is the case, but there is no guarantee of that and we can’t bank on it,” she said, noting that people should heed public safety measures in the meantime. What’s more, the next iteration of Covid may also evade vaccine protections even more, making the existing vaccines even less effective.
While omicron appears to have peaked in some countries, it’s gaining ground in others, WHO officials said. “You won’t have to wear a mask forever and you won’t have to physically distance, but for now, we need to keep doing this,” Van Kerkhove said.

The virus will continue to evolve before it settles into a pattern, said Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s director of emergency programs. He said it will hopefully settle into a low level of transmission with potentially occasional epidemics. It could become more seasonal or may only affect vulnerable groups, he said.

The problem, he said, is that Covid is unpredictable.

“The virus has proven to give us some nasty surprises,” Ryan said. World health officials need to continue tracking Covid as it evolves, he said, and be ready “if there’s a nasty surprise that we can at least put in place measures again that will stop this new variant doing any more damage.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/25/the-nex ... -says.html

South Africa identified Omicron in late November 2021, later sequencing showed it was already in Europe. The next variant is probably someplace, sequencing will eventually identify it.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Our daughter called last night about 9:30. She was freaking out that she'd slept since around 11 the night before! I told her to relax, sleep was probably just what she needed, go take a pee and drink a bunch of water. Here's hoping she feels better today. Omicron isn't a walk in the park, even for the young and boosted.

Walking an 18 year old through caring for their first solo ailment (and fucking Covid of all things) from afar isn't the easiest! Especially one prone to anxiety.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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featureless wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:40 am Our daughter called last night about 9:30. She was freaking out that she'd slept since around 11 the night before! I told her to relax, sleep was probably just what she needed, go take a pee and drink a bunch of water. Here's hoping she feels better today. Omicron isn't a walk in the park, even for the young and boosted.

Walking an 18 year old through caring for their first solo ailment (and fucking Covid of all things) from afar isn't the easiest! Especially one prone to anxiety.
Good luck to you and your wife, this is a different beastie that has everyone on edge. Sleep is the body's repair time.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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