Tla'amin Nation COVID-19 survivor warns virus spreads easily and recovery is difficult
https://www.cbc.ca/n...vivor-1.5737550 Some First Nations already in lockdown as COVID-19 2nd wave ‘already underway’
https://www.aptnnews...ready-underway/Avoid all social gatherings as COVID-19 community transmissions rise, health minister urges Quebecers
Christian Dubé asks Quebecers to cancel Thanksgiving plans in order to have a shot at 'a nice Christmas'
https://www.cbc.ca/n...uebec-1.5737299 A mix of ultrapotent antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients has been shown to recognize and lock down the infection machinery of the pandemic coronavirus and keep it from entering cells. Each of the antibody types performs these overlapping tasks slightly differently.
Low doses of these antibodies, individually or as a cocktail, were also shown to protect hamsters from infection when exposed to the coronavirus by preventing it from replicating in their lungs.
An advantage of such cocktails is that they might also prevent the natural mutant forms of the virus that arose during this pandemic to escape treatment. As some variants in the infection machinery have already been discovered during the coronavirus pandemic, using a mix of antibodies allows for neutralization of a broad spectrum of such viral variants.
In addition to preventing virus entry into host cells, the presence of the antibodies also seems to set off the infection-fighting actions of other immune cells, which arrive to clear out the virus.
https://www.eurekale...h-uam092520.php More than 10 percent of young and healthy people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, new research shows. Another 3.5 percent, at least, carry a specific kind of genetic mutation.
In both groups, the upshot is basically the same: The patients lack type I interferon, a set of 17 proteins crucial for protecting cells and the body from viruses. Whether the proteins have been neutralized by so-called auto-antibodies, or were not produced in sufficient amounts in the first place due to a faulty gene, their missing-in-action appears to be a common theme among a subgroup of COVID-19 sufferers whose disease has thus far been a mystery.
Published in two papers in Science, the findings help explain why some people develop a disease much more severe than others in their age group--including, for example, individuals who required admission to the ICU despite being in their 20s and free of underlying conditions. They may also provide the first molecular explanation for why more men than women die from the disease.
"These findings provide compelling evidence that the disruption of type I interferon is often the cause of life-threatening COVID-19," says Jean-Laurent Casanova, head of the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases at The Rockefeller University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "And at least in theory, such interferon problems could be treated with existing medications and interventions."
https://www.eurekale...u-sts092420.phphttps://www.scienced...00924141529.htmStudy of UK key workers shows around half who had COVID-19 symptoms probably did not have the disease
https://www.eurekale...c-sou092420.phpStudy reveals higher COVID-19 mortality in men could be explained by differences in circulating proteins and immune system cells
https://www.eurekale...c-srh092420.phpThere is wide variation in the performance of commercial kits for detecting antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), according to a new study.
https://www.scienced...00924141549.htmA comprehensive search of genetic variation databases has revealed no significant differences across populations and ethnic groups in seven genes associated with viral entry of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.global.h...-and-mortality/https://www.scienced...00924114007.htm Several ongoing coronavirus-vaccine trials could announce game-changing results next month. But as anticipation grows, concerns are growing about whether the vaccines will clear safety trials, what they will achieve if they do and the risk that the approval process will be influenced by politics, or at least seem to be.
*snip*
These trial protocols include benchmarks for safety and success, and details that had not been made public before, including how soon the vaccines’ preliminary results could be reported. The documents also describe how the companies might stop trials early to get fast-tracked approval.
Here are three areas that scientists are watching closely.
Safety and transparency
*snip*
Role of politics
*snip*
Vaccine goals and efficacy
https://www.nature.c...586-020-02706-6umm... no ****?
In mid-April 2020, the national unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent – the highest since the Great Depression. Forty-one million American workers filed for unemployment between February and May of 2020.
Unprecedented unemployment rates don’t just have an impact on the unemployed, though. For people still employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, job insecurity and financial concern are associated with greater symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to findings from the UConn School of Nursing published recently in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, or JOEM.
“The impact the virus and the pandemic is having on the economy and employment is not surprisingly taking a big toll,” says Natalie J. Shook, a social psychologist, associate professor in the School of Nursing, and principal investigator for the study.
The findings are part of a year-long examination of how behavior and social attitudes change, and what factors influence those changes, when people in the United States are faced with the threat of widespread disease. Supported by a National Science Foundation grant, the study is tracking the well-being, feelings, and behavioral practices of about 1,000 individuals across the United States, and more than 18 surveys of the participants have already been conducted since March.
https://today.uconn....searchers-find/https://www.scienced...00924135325.htm77 Oregon seafood plant workers test positive for COVID-19
http://www.ecns.cn/n...pz4254668.shtmlAmericans have lost $145 million to scams linked to Covid-19
https://www.cnbc.com...o-covid-19.html9 in 10 Americans Not Yet Immune to COVID, CDC Director Says
https://www.webmd.co...c-director-saystoday's "umm.... what" story
The ongoing pandemic has led many countries to mandate the wearing of face masks in an effort to stop the spread of the respiratory disease, with some accepting the protocols, and others railing against what they see as an attack on their civil liberties; still others, apparently, avail themselves to the opportunity to further their cause.
A councillor from a city in eastern Spain has sparked a response on social media after his minute-long speech in flawless, fluent English, devoid of any tell-tale Spanish accent, during Valencia’s bid to become the European Capital of Innovation 2020.
“Valencia and its people are very committed to European innovation and we are at your disposal,” Carlos Galiana told the European Commission at the end of his address on 24 September.
The Spanish official had been conveniently wearing a face mask throughout his address, with only the movements of his mouth visible. However, it transpired that Galiana’s voice was not his own, and his speech had been dubbed by a native English speaker.
https://sputniknews....awless-english/ While the U.S. and other countries in the Northern Hemisphere brace for a possible twindemic of COVID-19 and influenza toward the end of the year, south-of-the-Equator countries such as Australia, Argentina and South Africa offer a ray of hope: They just had one of their mildest flu seasons.
These charts from the Economist show that the Southern Hemisphere, where the winter flu season runs from May to October, has seen a steep decline in the number of influenza infections and deaths so far this year compared with the previous five years. The World Health Organization processed 200,000 influenza tests in the first two weeks of August; just 46 were positive this year, compared with almost 3,500 during a typical year.
And while about 86,000 Australians test positive for the flu on average between May and mid-August each year, with around 130 dying, the government only recorded 627 influenza cases and a single death during the same window this year.
Check out some of the charts below.
https://www.marketwa...emic-2020-09-24https://www.economis...-season-in-2020 LONDON: More than 80 per cent of people in Britain are not adhering to self-isolation guidelines when they have COVID-19 symptoms or had contact with someone who has tested positive, a study has found.
A majority were also unable to identify the symptoms of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The research raises major questions about the effectiveness of England's Test and Trace programme as Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks to keep a lid on rising infection numbers with new restrictions.
The research, led by King's College London, found that only 18.2 per cent of people who reported having symptoms of COVID-19 in the last seven days had not left home since the symptoms developed, and only 11.9 per cent requested a COVID-19 test.
It also found that only 10.9 per cent of people told by the NHS Test and Trace scheme to self-isolate after close contact with a COVID-19 case had done so for 14 days as required.
https://www.channeln...lation-13147478Iran Intends to Cooperate With Russia on COVID-19 Vaccine Production, Envoy Reveals
https://sputniknews....-envoy-reveals/Israel posts over 8,000 daily virus cases for first time
Health Ministry reports 8,178 people tested positive for COVID in past 24 hours, again breaking all-time-high and putting contagion rate at almost 13%
https://www.ynetnews...ticle/rkzKIWoBv Djibouti - More than 2,000 African migrants who have arrived from Yemen over the last three weeks are being assisted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in Djibouti, Horn of Africa.
The migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia including children as young as eight-years-old, returned to Djibouti after failing to reach the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to COVID-19 movement restrictions, border closures, and extreme danger along this migratory route.
They arrived hungry, tired and in need of medical assistance after making the treacherous boat journey back across the Gulf of Aden, and then walking to the town of Obock through the Djiboutian desert where temperatures reach 40C.
Many were forced to pay smugglers who often abandon them in the desert without food and water. Several of the migrants said they witnessed others die along the way due to dehydration.
IOM has helped and treated hundreds of migrants along the way over the last few months.
https://www.iom.int/...ed-iom-djibouti
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