Coronavirus Tidbits #177 1/30/22
Announcements:
First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I'm getting.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don't be shy about that.
New post:
My latest: I'm excited about this new #saliva based #rapidtest for #Covid in part because it is #OpenAccess. No patent, inexpensive, free technology as "a gift to the world" fr @UCSB researchers
Smartphone And Spit: A Game-Changing Test For Covid And Flu
News
Omicron:
What to know about BA.2, the newest Covid omicron variant
(Thus far, no evidence that BA.2 is more severe. It is likely more infectious).
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(via ECDC, Europe's CDC) Denmark's Statens Serum Institute said yesterday that early calculations suggest BA.2 is 1.5 times more infectious than the original Omicron variant and that so far, there's no sign of a difference in hospitalizations.
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China’s zero-COVID strategy: what happens next?
With Omicron or Delta outbreaks already in multiple provinces, scientists say next week’s Winter Olympics will present a major test of China’s zero-tolerance approach.
Near-impossible to keep out
Researchers say that vaccines based on inactivated-virus technology — such as China’s widely used CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines — offer some protection against severe disease with Omicron, but will prevent few Omicron infections. “It is not the right time to reopen,” says Chen Tianmu, an epidemiologist at Xiamen University.
But other researchers argue that it will be near-impossible for China to keep the variant out. “You can’t stop the wind with your hand,” says Rafael Araos, a physician and epidemiologist at the University for Development in Santiago. The costs of shutting borders outweigh the benefits, now that vaccines can reduce hospitalizations and deaths, he says. “It is getting harder and harder to justify the zero-COVID approach.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00191-7
Other news:
Government watchdog says HHS is at ‘high risk’ of botching a future crisis
GAO criticizes the response to emergencies over four administrations, including coronavirus, Ebola and Zika, as well as extreme weather events. Investigators “found persistent deficiencies” in how the agency has led the response to the coronavirus pandemic and past public health emergencies dating to 2007, the Government Accountability Office concluded, citing continued problems coordinating among public health agencies, collecting infectious-disease surveillance data and securing appropriate testing and medical supplies, among areas it said are unresolved.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/27/gao-hhs-mismanaged-pandemic-response/
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New dangers? Computers uncover 100,000 novel viruses in old genetic data
World NewsEra Poultney Carducci January 26, 2022
It took just one virus to cripple the world’s economy and kill millions of people; yet virologists estimate that trillions of still-unknown viruses exist, many of which might be lethal or have the potential to spark the next pandemic. Now, they have a new—and very long—list of possible suspects to interrogate. By sifting through unprecedented amounts of existing genomic data, scientists have uncovered more than 100,000 novel viruses, including nine coronaviruses and more than 300 related to the hepatitis Delta virus, which can cause liver failure.
“It’s a foundational piece of work,” says J. Rodney Brister, a bioinformatician at the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s National Library of Medicine who was not involved in the new study. The work expands the number of known viruses that use RNA instead of DNA for their genes by an order of magnitude. It also “demonstrates our outrageous lack of knowledge about this group of organisms,” says disease ecologist Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research group in New York City that is raising money to launch a global survey of viruses. The work will also help launch so-called petabyte genomics—the analyses of previously unfathomable quantities of DNA and RNA data. (One petabyte is 1015 bytes.)
That wasn’t exactly what computational biologist Artem Babaian had in mind when he was in between jobs in early 2020. Instead, he was simply curious about how many coronaviruses—aside from the virus that had just launched the COVID-19 pandemic—could be found in sequences in existing genomic databases.
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Germany overtakes US as largest WHO donor
By EUOBSERVER January 25, 2022
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said Germany has become its largest donor, a position previously held by the United States. "As you all know, Germany has been an important friend and longstanding partner to WHO and in fact it is now WHO's largest donor," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
https://euobserver.com/tickers/154182?
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Opinion: Doctors were complicit in Holocaust atrocities. Current and future health care workers need to know that
It wasn't a few "bad apple" physicians who harmed thousands of people during the Holocaust. Health care workers need to know that history.
https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/27/doctors-complicit-holocaust-atrocities/?
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent lack of testing.
False Negatives Still Common With COVID PCR Testing
— Pathologist says one in five people get negative result even if they have COVID
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/96789?
Drugs and Vaccines:
Lost your Vax Card? Now what?
You could be lucky enough to live in one of the states that let people access their vaccination records from their smartphones. Those states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington.
Other states have websites where vaccination information can be requested, usually as a PDF or email. Those states include Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/vaccine-card-replacement.html
CDC to pharmacies: Allow 4th dose for immunocompromised people
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reached out to major retail pharmacies on a conference call yesterday, reaffirming that immunocompromised patients are eligible for a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to Kaiser Health News.
The CDC currently recommends a fourth shot of COVID-19 vaccine for roughly 7 million Americans, including those with suppressed immune systems due to organ transplants, cancer treatments, or autoimmune diseases.
The recommendation has been in place since October, but yesterday Kaiser Health News published a story reporting that many patients were being turned away at commercial pharmacies.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
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COVID-19 Vaccine Before or After Infection? For Super Immunity, It Makes No Difference
January 26, 2022 Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
At this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, two years in, people have reached varying levels of immunity to SARS-CoV-2. And, they have taken different paths to get there. Whether the path includes vaccination, a natural infection, an infection after vaccination, or vice versa, many people are left wondering what their level of immunity is. Now, a new study finds that there are two routes to enhanced immune protection—breakthrough infections following vaccination or vaccination after natural infection—both of which provide roughly equal levels of enhanced immune protection.
This study is published in Science Immunology in the paper, “Vaccination before or after SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to robust humoral response and antibodies that effectively neutralize variants.”
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Mix-and-match trial finds additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine safe, immunogenic
In adults who had previously received a full regimen of any of three COVID-19 vaccines granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an additional booster dose of any of these vaccines was safe and prompted an immune response, according to preliminary clinical trial results reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-mix-and-match-trial-additional-dose-covid-.html?
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Africa CDC: Continent on course to vaccinate 70% this year
The African continent is on course to reach its target of vaccinating at least 70% of its population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters on Thursday.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-africa-cdc-continent-vaccinate-year.html?
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Evushield
Patchwork system for rationing a Covid drug sends immunocompromised patients on a ‘Hunger Games Hunt"
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Antivax profit
Five anti-vaccine writers are together making at least $2.5 million a year from their Substack newsletters. (The Guardian)
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Real-world data showed that COVID-19 boosters demonstrate about 95% vaccine effectiveness against death from Omicron for people ages 50 and up, the U.K. Health Security Agency announced.
Devices:
Free N95 masks are arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores. Here's how to get yours
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/25/1075640873/free-n95-masks-covid
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From Germany, where subtlety gets a low priority.
— Tuffs ASIA+AU+NZ COVID-19 = 144 Deaths Per Million (@TuffsNotEnuff) January 22, 2022
The more this gets copied around, the fewer people will die from COVID & flu.
And btw: east Asia is sitting at 150 deaths per million. Do the math. We're 16:1 stupider. pic.twitter.com/X2P3mQCWFW
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https://twitter.com/Dr_FarrisD/status/1486788332172492810?s=20&t=ug9Nro_tJUHMb3_O2tGzBw
Epidemiology/Infection control:
More than 1.1 million pediatric cases
According to the latest update from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), nearly 1,151,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported from Jan 13 to 20, a 17% increase over the previous week.
"Over 10.6 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic; Over 2 million of these cases have been added in the past 2 weeks," the AAP said in its report. This is the 24th week in a row with child cases totaling 100,000 or more.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
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Long-COVID symptoms less likely in vaccinated people, Israeli data say
People who’ve both been vaccinated and had COVID-19 are less likely to report fatigue and other health problems than unvaccinated people.
Nature Freda Kreier 25 January 2022
Data from people infected with SARS-CoV-2 early in the pandemic add to growing evidence suggesting that vaccination can help to reduce the risk of long COVID1.
Researchers in Israel report that people who have had both SARS-CoV-2 infection and doses of Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine were much less likely to report any of a range of common long-COVID symptoms than were people who were unvaccinated when infected. In fact, vaccinated people were no more likely to report symptoms than people who’d never caught SARS-CoV-2. The study has not yet been peer reviewed.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00177-5
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COVID-19: endemic doesn’t mean harmless
Rosy assumptions endanger public health — policymakers must act now to shape the years to come.
Nature Aris Katzourakis 24 January 2022
The word ‘endemic’ has become one of the most misused of the pandemic. And many of the errant assumptions made encourage a misplaced complacency. It doesn’t mean that COVID-19 will come to a natural end.
To an epidemiologist, an endemic infection is one in which overall rates are static — not rising, not falling. More precisely, it means that the proportion of people who can get sick balances out the ‘basic reproduction number’ of the virus, the number of individuals that an infected individual would infect, assuming a population in which everyone could get sick. Yes, common colds are endemic. So are Lassa fever, malaria and polio. So was smallpox, until vaccines stamped it out.
In other words, a disease can be endemic and both widespread and deadly. Malaria killed more than 600,000 people in 2020. Ten million fell ill with tuberculosis that same year and 1.5 million died. Endemic certainly does not mean that evolution has somehow tamed a pathogen so that life simply returns to ‘normal’.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00155-x
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Hospital trick: patients admitted with covid in 10-12 days become post-covid & no longer counted as hospitalized covid patients. ICU is full of post-covid patients that are here for 30, 40, 50 & more days. Not counted in the official stats.
— Dr. Natalia (@SolNataMD) January 24, 2022
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Stunning data from @CDCgov: Unvaccinated people 65 & up are 52X more likely to be hospitalized from #covid19 compared to the vaccinated/boosted.
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) January 28, 2022
For 50-64 year olds, the difference is 46X.
Major difference in every age group, including 12-17 year olds.https://t.co/gX4j0lk9O7 pic.twitter.com/aF6M9yRFk7
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/1 Hi Lucy and your colleagues.
— Tyler Black, MD (@tylerblack32) January 25, 2022
Your advocacy toolkit contains poorly sourced, contexted, and biased information on mental health during the pandemic/schooling.
And I have receipts too!
(thread)#urgencyofnormalhttps://t.co/JeWKE0iGn1
Tips, general reading for public:
StayAtHome
Wash your hands.
Rinse and repeat.
Politics:
#FunFact: I watched the Holocaust miniseries when I was 8 years old (it aired during prime time!), read Maus & Diary of Anne Frank when I was around 12 and watched Shoah when I was 15.
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) January 27, 2022
When you're Jewish, you pretty much get the full Holocaust media experience out of the gate. https://t.co/BPZlEaJUd1
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There's only one kind of people who would vote to ban Maus, whatever they are calling themselves these days. https://t.co/fs1Jl62Qd8
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 26, 2022
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Wonder if those Maus-banning people know about this Berlin monument, The Empty Library, on the site where Nazis burned books in 1933. pic.twitter.com/LC3N0sCbhm
— Julie Buckner Armstrong (@civilrights_lit) January 27, 2022
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oh no, you say your child read a book with the word “damn” in it during the break between active shooter drills? is he ok
— Sarah Lazarus (@sarahclazarus) January 27, 2022
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Trump won 80% of the vote in the county that banned Maus for bad words. Just so we're clear on their commitment to propriety.
— Peter Manseau (@plmanseau) January 28, 2022
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https://twitter.com/tricoter/status/1487297528626393090?s=20&t=ug9Nro_tJUHMb3_O2tGzBw
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Trinity Library Photo by Dominic Moriarty
— Bob Moriarty (@BobMoriartyABQ) January 28, 2022
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” Oscar Wilde pic.twitter.com/ypQxDKnxxz
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In light of a Tennessee district banning MAUS, I'm sharing the greatest two pages ever written and drawn about the importance of children's literature and protecting children's access to books, starring Art Spiegelman and Maurice Sendak. From the New Yorker, September 27, 1997. pic.twitter.com/hC2jyHicPN
— andrewkarre (@andrewkarre) January 27, 2022
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America, in one screen shot. pic.twitter.com/t7e4ZMWZM1
— Dave Pell (@davepell) January 21, 2022
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This is an exceptionally bad idea. If you think COVID-19 is hard to control and disruptive, wait until you meet Measles. https://t.co/hhhq7hnD1K
— Amber Schmidtke, PhD (@AmberSchmidtke) January 24, 2022
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Genetic sequence data is the new pathogen sharing: there are real, tangible reasons why countries link access to genetic sequence data and benefits (eg vaccine) sharing https://t.co/KJyxccMfVK
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) January 25, 2022
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As the DeSantis administration rails against the FDA decision to limit use of monoclonal antibody treatments made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, worth noting both companies say they agree with the feds that these drugs aren’t effective against omicron.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 25, 2022
Regeneron left, Lilly right: https://t.co/3QWxqDC4zC pic.twitter.com/3vDj4ojWjm
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Many hospitals—including my own—stopped using Regeneron & Eli Lily monoclonal antibody treatments weeks ago because they don’t work against Omicron.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) January 26, 2022
This has nothing to do with Florida. Or FDA malfeasance. Or politics.
It’s just facts.
And ⬇️ is disinformation. https://t.co/kTHt9Mujw0
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Jen Psaki must've (accurately) learned in Communications School to preface anything you say about Florida (and especially about Gov. OmicRon DeSantis) with:
— Grant Stern is boosted! (@grantstern) January 25, 2022
"Let's just take a step back here and consider how crazy this is."
Our state government is NUTS.pic.twitter.com/UUcj9ZL43y
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https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1485776695680540672?s=20&t=ug9Nro_tJUHMb3_O2tGzBw
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Joni Mitchell: “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” https://t.co/aP3Ga1bKKM
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 29, 2022
Note, Joni Mitchell also had polio as a child.
"I always think that polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life," she said during her brief remarks. "I've had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I'm hobbling along but I'm doing all right."
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#NeilYoung almost died of polio as a kid. The vaccine didn’t exist when he was born. The illness affected his life for years. He doesn’t want others to similarly suffer due to misinformation. Media is missing that detail when discussing his protest of Spotify’s irresponsibility.
— Marc Luber (@JD_COT) January 26, 2022
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The Biden administration used billions in hospital Covid-19 funds to pay drugmakers
STAT By Rachel Cohrs Jan. 26, 2022
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration quietly took nearly $7 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and clinics affected by the pandemic and used it to buy Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics, according to a document obtained by STAT.
The move is similar to the Trump administration’s decision to divert $10 billion from the same fund to Operation Warp Speed, which STAT reported exclusively in March.
Now, the hospital money, known as the Provider Relief Fund, has run dry, and has no new money left to allocate, according to the agency that administers it. Providers have only been able to submit requests for expenses incurred through March 2021 — before both the Delta and Omicron surges battered the health care system.
With the new $7 billion shift, which has not been previously reported, the diversion to drugmakers totals nearly $17 billion, or roughly 10% of the overall money Congress allotted for the fund for hospitals and physician practices. Congress set aside that money to help health care providers pay for pandemic-related expenses including staffing, personal protective equipment, care for uninsured patients, and vaccine distribution.
The new details about the Biden administration’s spending decision come as hospitals across the country are struggling with a crushing surge of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths due to the Omicron variant. And their representatives in Washington are furious.
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Woah. Retiring GOP Texas Senator Kel Seliger has testified under oath that the gerrymandered maps drawn by his party blatantly violate the Voting Rights Act. https://t.co/i3WogEKHQi pic.twitter.com/ZI12P8VQJj
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) January 27, 2022
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Trump Created A Program To Privatize Medicare Without Patients' Consent. Biden Is Keeping It Going.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmcleod/medicare-biden-trump-progressives-privatization
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In one year, President Biden has nominated as many Black women to serve on the federal appeals courts as there were in all of U.S. history when he first took office.
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) January 24, 2022
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CNN: Fulton County, Georgia district attorney investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia will be allowed to seat a special grand jury beginning this spring.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 24, 2022
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On STEM, give Biden credit for his efforts to repair the national reputation that Trump trashed https://t.co/D68SVKqCef
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) January 25, 2022
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PA is voting on a *permanent anti-abortion constitutional amendment* that leapfrogs the governor & ensures future repro restrictions can't be challenged in court.
— Tara Murtha (@taramurtha) January 25, 2022
It'll likely also restrict miscarriage management & IVF. #SB956 https://t.co/hAUlZzkSog
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Biden wasn’t wrong & neither was McCain. https://t.co/WlGrotVkhm
— JJ from LA (@fauxpoesfoe) January 24, 2022
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BREAKING: Jan. 6 committee subpoenas the lead participants in scheme to send fake Trump slates of electors to Congress
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) January 28, 2022
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https://twitter.com/HuffmanForNC/status/1484890966720921603?s=20&t=ug9Nro_tJUHMb3_O2tGzBw
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https://t.co/AbvotV7qZk pic.twitter.com/P7zCnqQLpe
— Matt Davies (@MatttDavies) January 28, 2022
Feel good du jour:
Incredible. Botswana reaches critical @WHO milestone in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV: <1% transmission rate. W/ @USAID & @PEPFAR support, 93% of those living with HIV are aware of their status; 98% of those aware are receiving treatment. https://t.co/nfERg9C67f
— Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) January 13, 2022
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This man was forced to give his dog to Humane Society due to lengthy hospital stay. This nurse went to the shelter and adopted his dog. She brings him to visit daily & will return him as soon as the man is released! Be the light in this world, even through the dark times ❤️ pic.twitter.com/hM3ANvBJ6G
— Lydia Cornell (@LydiaCornell) January 23, 2022
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Mind-blowing Mantis. #Biodiversity will save us. May we be worthy stewards. #SaveTheBees https://t.co/EXYpmd66QC https://t.co/zMpvAPLaPR
— Dr. Jack Brown (@DrGJackBrown) January 26, 2022
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This beautiful sculpture was built by the Irish people in their own country to honor the American Choctaw Indian tribe. They were grateful because in 1847 the Choctaw people sent money to Ireland when they learned that Irish people were starving due to the potato famine. pic.twitter.com/eT6JfUZ9cH
— Chris Mason (@mason4922) January 28, 2022
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Read and give thanks. https://t.co/yAssd20Cau
— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) January 26, 2022
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GOOD NEWS: The Xerces Society's report is out! Nearly 250,000 monarch butterflies were observed during the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count at overwintering groves in CA & AZ — a major increase from last year's total of less than 2,000 monarchs. (1/2)
— USFWS News (@USFWSNews) January 25, 2022
📷Joanna Gilkeson/USFWS pic.twitter.com/GC5vRjozse
Comic relief:
At the end of a Biden photo op, when reporters shouted Q's hoping he'd respond, Fox's Peter Doocy asked, "Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?" Biden deadpanned: "It's a great asset—more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch." pic.twitter.com/Tt4ZVz5Ynj
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 24, 2022
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File under excellent bookstore names. pic.twitter.com/ITHQnrnT5I
— Gal Beckerman (@galbeckerman) January 22, 2022
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I’ll take the nighttime feedings, he said. How hard can it be, he thought.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 25, 2022
Broken.
*Hank, trolling me at 3am. pic.twitter.com/ncd1kynUCP
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CRISPR is amazing pic.twitter.com/MJV4PIaz1p
— Björn Schumacher (@schumacherbj) January 25, 2022
Perspective/Poem
10 years ago, former Justice Souter made a prediction that keeps me up at night. It is spot on. pic.twitter.com/bAPOpsnmSd
— Stephen Spaulding (@SteveESpaulding) January 23, 2022
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PLEASE, PLEASE WATCH THIS.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 25, 2022
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.
WE KNOW HOW IT BEGINS.
IT'S UP TO US HOW IT ENDS. https://t.co/V7XGgZipWW
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Inflation and Food Prices
This time last year, the cheapest pasta in my local supermarket (one of the Big Four), was 29p for 500g. Today it’s 70p. That’s a 141% price increase as it hits the poorest and most vulnerable households.
— Jack Monroe (@BootstrapCook) January 19, 2022
This time last year, the cheapest rice at the same supermarket was 45p for a kilogram bag. Today it’s £1 for 500g. That’s a 344% price increase as it hits the poorest and most vulnerable households.
Baked beans: were 22p, now 32p. A 45% price increase year on year.
Canned spaghetti. Was 13p, now 35p. A price increase of 169%.
Bread. Was 45p, now 58p. A price increase of 29%.
Curry sauce. Was 30p, now 89p. A price increase of 196%.
A bag of small apples. Was 59p, now 89p (and the apples are even smaller!) A price increase of 51%.
Mushrooms were 59p for 400g. They’re now 57p for 250g. A price increase of 56%. (This practise, of making products smaller while keeping them the same price, is known in the retail industry as ‘shrinkflation’ and its insidious as hell because it’s harder to immediately spot.)
Peanut butter. Was 62p, now £1.50. A price increase of 142%.
These are just the ones that I know off the top of my head - there will be many many more examples! When I started writing my recipe blog ten years ago, I could feed myself and my son on £10 a week. (I’ll find the original shopping list later and price it up for today’s prices.)
The system by which we measure the impact of inflation is fundamentally flawed - it completely ignores the reality and the REAL price rises for people on minimum wages, zero hour contracts, food bank clients, and millions more.
Entire thread at https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1483778776697909252.html
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Nature does open access pic.twitter.com/j6kL1G3ZRX
— Dr. Glaucomflecken (@DGlaucomflecken) January 22, 2022
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https://twitter.com/midwestjak/status/1484401660625567750?s=20&t=ug9Nro_tJUHMb3_O2tGzBw
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When they invite you to the party
— Dr. Han VanderHart (they/she) (@hmvanderhart) January 24, 2022
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Naomi Shihab Nye #NewYearSlowRead pic.twitter.com/RlDmMFQfuL
Bits of beauty:
