Can touching a barbell in the gym get you sick with the coronavirus?

[Michael Scally MD]

Here’s the latest on the ones I’ve covered before and with new efforts added. There are now so many of these running that unless the program is especially noteworthy I’ll only touch on the ones that are in trials right now, or about to start soon. And I’m going to arrange them by vaccine class – the April 15 background post goes into some more detail on these, but I’ll start each group off with a short scientific summary. https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/15/coronavirus-vaccine-prospects

Neither the order in which these different mechanisms are presented nor the order in which companies are listed within them is meant to reflect any horserace handicapping on my part.

...

OK, sheesh. There’s the state of the business as of today. I hope to use this post as a standing reference point for a little while to come, so I will be coming back in to update it as more news shows up. Right now we’re at an awkward age for vaccine development against this pathogen. Not all of these approaches are going to work, or at least not well enough to be useful. And we don’t have enough data on any of them to even start to guess which those might be. We can’t even do Phase II data comparisons, and the crucial Phase III data don’t even exist yet. So we’re going to be hanging in this limbo of “lots of things going, not sure about any of them yet” for quite a while. It’s going to get exhausting – what’s that, you say it’s kind of exhausting already? Hah – just you wait. . .

 

[Michael Scally MD]

GOLDMAN: “We find a national [facemask] mandate could .. cut the daily growth rate of confirmed cases by 1.0pp to 0.6% .. [and] could potentially substitute for lockdowns that would otherwise subtract nearly 5% from GDP.” [Hatzius] https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1277918178291658759?s=20

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[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[movingiron88]

Haha BLM protests slowed the spread of Covid?? Now I've heard it all. The only virus I know that politically and economically targets specific groups and leaves others alone. You are delusional and in no way can you be a doctor. A quack but not a doctor.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

[OA] Dave DM, Friedson AI, Matsuzawa K, Sabia JJ, Safford S. Black Lives Matter Protests, Social Distancing, and COVID-19. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series 2020;No. 27408. http://www.nber.org/papers/w27408

Sparked by the killing of George Floyd in police custody, the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests have brought a new wave of attention to the issue of inequality within criminal justice. However, many public health officials have warned that mass protests could lead to a reduction in social distancing behavior, spurring a resurgence of COVID-19.

This study uses newly collected data on protests in 315 of the largest U.S. cities to estimate the impacts of mass protests on social distancing and COVID-19 case growth. Event-study analyses provide strong evidence that net stay-at-home behavior increased following protest onset, consistent with the hypothesis that non-protesters’ behavior was substantially affected by urban protests. This effect was not fully explained by the imposition of city curfews.

Estimated effects were generally larger for persistent protests and those accompanied by media reports of violence. Furthermore, we find no evidence that urban protests reignited COVID-19 case growth during the more than three weeks following protest onset. We conclude that predictions of broad negative public health consequences of Black Lives Matter protests were far too narrowly conceived.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[SteroidsBro]

Haha BLM protests slowed the spread of Covid?? Now I've heard it all. The only virus I know that politically and economically targets specific groups and leaves others alone. You are delusional and in no way can you be a doctor. A quack but not a doctor.

DrScally just ignores any reasonable and logical argument that goes against his opinion. Heavy mind control is working nicely across the world. I wonder why it doesn't work on me. Maybe taking gigantic shots of meth dissolves and busts off the fluoride-poisoning caps that attach to my pineal gland in my brain? Haha

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Below from January 24 … This shit how was so glaringly obvious to anyone with half a brain.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

FDA spells out guidelines for approving Covid-19 vaccines
FDA spells out guidelines for approving Covid-19 vaccines

The FDA on Tuesday released final guidance laying out its standards for approving coronavirus vaccines, requiring that any vaccine candidate be at least 50 percent more effective than a placebo. https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download

The agency also left open the possibility it would issue an emergency use authorization for a vaccine, but it said making that decision before the completion of large, randomized clinical trials could make it harder to determine a vaccine's effectiveness.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Pigs are intermediate hosts for the generation of pandemic influenza virus. Thus, systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is a key measure for prewarning the emergence of the next pandemic influenza.

Here, we identified a reassortant EA H1N1 virus possessing pdm/09 and TR-derived internal genes, termed as G4 genotype, which has become predominant in swine populations since 2016. Similar to pdm/09 virus, G4 viruses have all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.

Of concern is that swine workers show elevated seroprevalence for G4 virus. Controlling the prevailing G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and close monitoring in human populations, especially the workers in swine industry, should be urgently implemented.

Sun H, Xiao Y, Liu J, et al. Prevalent Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic viral genes facilitating human infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2020:201921186. Prevalent Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic viral genes facilitating human infection

 

[Michael Scally MD]

[OA] Suppression of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in the Italian municipality of Vo’

On the 21st of February 2020 a resident of the municipality of Vo’, a small town near Padua, died of pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection1. This was the first COVID-19 death detected in Italy since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province2.

In response, the regional authorities imposed the lockdown of the whole municipality for 14 days3. We collected information on the demography, clinical presentation, hospitalization, contact network and presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in nasopharyngeal swabs for 85.9% and 71.5% of the population of Vo’ at two consecutive time points.

On the first survey, which was conducted around the time the town lockdown started, we found a prevalence of infection of 2.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1-3.3%). On the second survey, which was conducted at the end of the lockdown, we found a prevalence of 1.2% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.8-1.8%).

Notably, 42.5% (95% CI 31.5-54.6%) of the confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections detected across the two surveys were asymptomatic (i.e. did not have symptoms at the time of swab testing and did not develop symptoms afterwards). The mean serial interval was 7.2 days (95% CI 5.9-9.6).

We found no statistically significant difference in the viral load of symptomatic versus asymptomatic infections (p-values 0.62 and 0.74 for E and RdRp genes, respectively, Exact Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test).

This study sheds new light on the frequency of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, their infectivity (as measured by the viral load) and provides new insights into its transmission dynamics and the efficacy of the implemented control measures.

Lavezzo, E., Franchin, E., Ciavarella, C. et al. Suppression of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in the Italian municipality of Vo’. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2488-1

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Dr JIM]

I’m still confused as to why people are scared of this virus. It’s a virus, people will die, and this is life. Who’s willing to bet some money on the hype disappearing after November? Any takers......

A virus this transmissible will only disappear once herd immunity is reached thru either passive or active immunity, or a combination of both.

But if you are willing to roll the dice like many young folk, find someone with the disease and aerosolize each other for a few hours but I’m willing to bet you won’t embrace the results once infected.

Yet before joining the cavalier crowds at taverns, protests, restaurants and at some recreational centers a forewarning seems appropriate, immunity from mild disease remains UNPROVEN.

And should you become infected remain isolated for no less than 14days as many others will pass on unknowingly acquiring your germs.

JIM

 

[ickyrica]

Massachusetts just had it's first day with zero deaths in months. We have had a strong response as a state and a slow drip of reopening businesses. I'm curious to see how we pan out long term comparatively.

 

[4Figgy]

A virus this transmissible will only disappear once herd immunity is reached thru either passive or active immunity, or a combination of both.

But if you are willing to roll the dice like many young folk, find someone with the disease and aerosolize each other for a few hours but I’m willing to bet you won’t embrace the results once infected.

Yet before joining the cavalier crowds at taverns, protests, restaurants and at some recreational centers a forewarning seems appropriate, immunity from mild disease remains UNPROVEN.

And should you become infected remain isolated for no less than 14days as many others will pass on unknowingly acquiring your germs.

JIM

Already had it back in January. It was worse than the flu, but still just being sick. With a .1% higher death rate than the flu the big government response is nothing more than politics at this point.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

[OA] An Insight into the Sex Differences in COVID-19 Patients: What are the Possible Causes?

Studies have reported a sex bias in case fatalities of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, it is observed that men have a higher risk of developing a severe form of the disease compared to women, highlighting the importance of disaggregated data of male and female COVID-19 patients.

On the other hand, other factors (eg, hormonal levels and immune functions) also need to be addressed due to the effects of sex differences on the outcomes of COVID-19 patients.

An insight into the underlying causes of sex differences in COVID-19 patients may provide an opportunity for better care of the patients or prevention of the disease. The current study reviews the reports concerning with the sex differences in COVID-19 patients.

It is explained how sex can affect angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), that is a key component for the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and summarized the gender differences in immune responses and how sex hormones are involved in immune processes.

Furthermore, the available data about the impact of sex hormones on the immune functions of COVID-19 cases are looked into.

Maleki Dana P, Sadoughi F, Hallajzadeh J, et al. An Insight into the Sex Differences in COVID-19 Patients: What are the Possible Causes? [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 18]. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2020;1-4. doi:10.1017/S1049023X20000837 An Insight into the Sex Differences in COVID-19 Patients: What are the Possible Causes?