26251 replies to this topic

[amor de cosmos]

Hospitals across much of Ontario will start ramping down elective surgeries and non-urgent procedures Monday to ensure they have the capacity to treat more COVID-19 patients. Health Minister Christine Elliott said Friday that could increase intensive-care unit capacity in Ontario by up to 1,000 patient beds.
https://www.cbc.ca/n...-2021-1.5983678
 

KAIST researchers have developed a novel nanofiber production technique called ‘centrifugal multispinning’ that will open the door for the safe and cost-effective mass production of high-performance polymer nanofibers. This new technique, which has shown up to a 300 times higher nanofiber production rate per hour than that of the conventional electrospinning method, has many potential applications including the development of face mask filters for coronavirus protection.

Nanofibers make good face mask filters because their mechanical interactions with aerosol particles give them a greater ability to capture more than 90% of harmful particles such as fine dust and virus-containing droplets.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the growing demand in recent years for a better kind of face mask. A polymer nanofiber-based mask filter that can more effectively block harmful particles has also been in higher demand as the pandemic continues.

‘Electrospinning’ has been a common process used to prepare fine and uniform polymer nanofibers, but in terms of safety, cost-effectiveness, and mass production, it has several drawbacks. The electrospinning method requires a high-voltage electric field and electrically conductive target, and this hinders the safe and cost-effective mass production of polymer nanofibers.

In response to this shortcoming, ‘centrifugal spinning’ that utilizes centrifugal force instead of high voltage to produce polymer nanofibers has been suggested as a safer and more cost-effective alternative to the electrospinning. Easy scalability is another advantage, as this technology only requires a rotating spinneret and a collector.

https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/206796

Maduro says Venezuela will produce Cuban COVID-19 vaccine
https://www.channeln...accine-14605382

Small but quick: Bhutan vaccinates 93% of adults in 16 days
https://medicalxpres...tes-adults.html
 

Hindu tradition dictates that a holy dip in the Ganges absolves one of all sins, which is why so. many Indians have gathered on its shores, despite the pandemic.
 
Thousands of Naga Babas, the ash-smeared naked holy men – alongside seers and hundreds of thousands of others – took a collective ceremonial dip in the sacred Ganges river on Monday in India’s Haridwar city, despite social distancing regulations. 
 
For the Hindu “Kumbh Mela” festival, bathing in the river is an important ritual, which is why massive crowds gathered on its banks. The majority of people weren't wearing masks. 
 
Around 1.7 million people are estimated to have congregated to celebrate the festival as the COVID pandemic grips India.

https://sputniknews....covid-pandemic/

Saudi Arabia approves shortened 30-minute Taraweeh prayers as pilgrims prepare for Ramadan in Mecca, Medina
https://english.alar...or-mecca-medina

Как уточнил Хаитов, была показана высокая противовирусная активность препарата. «МИР-19» практически в 10 тыс. раз снижал репликацию вируса SARS-CoV-2 в культуре клеток», — сообщил специалист, добавив, что также была продемонстрирована безопасность «МИР-19», который отнесли к классу малотоксичных соединений.
As Khaitov specified, high antiviral activity of the drug was shown. MIR-19 reduced the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture by almost 10 thousand times, ”the specialist said, adding that the safety of MIR-19, which was classified as a low-toxic compound, was also demonstrated.
https://iz.ru/115023...navirusa-mir-19

«РФПИ подтверждает, что ожидает в ближайшее время получения рекомендации от экспертного комитета (SEC) Центрального управления по стандартизации и контролю лекарственных средств Индии (CDSCO) одобрить применение российской вакцины против коронавируса «Спутник V» на территории Индии», — указано в сообщении РФПИ.
"RDIF confirms that it expects to receive a recommendation from the expert committee (SEC) of the Central Directorate for Standardization and Control of Medicines of India (CDSCO) to approve the use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in India in the near future," the RDIF said in a statement.
https://iz.ru/115019...tnika-v-v-indii

Итальянский Национальный институт инфекционных заболеваний Lazzaro Spallanzani ("Спалланцани") и центр имени Гамалеи во вторник подпишут протокол о намерениях для проведения научных испытаний вакцины "Спутник V" в Риме, пишет столичная газета il Messaggero
The Italian National Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani ("Spallanzani") and the Gamalea Center on Tuesday will sign a letter of intent to conduct scientific trials of the Sputnik V vaccine in Rome, the capital's newspaper il Messaggero writes
https://ria.ru/20210...1727883415.html
 

As the US government pumps billions of dollars into projects aimed at curbing the pandemic, from vaccine development to genomic sequencing, officials claim they are being transparent about how money is being spent. But government contractors have a lot of leeway to hide things, as shown by a recent records request filed by MIT Technology Review.
 
After reporting on the struggles of the US’s $44 million vaccine management system, we requested documents related to the CDC’s no-bid contracts for the underlying software, awarded to consulting giant Deloitte. The records we got back had significant redactions—including the company’s costs, the identities of those who worked on the project, and even Deloitte’s explanation for why it was qualified to do the job.
 
The CDC paid Deloitte to build a system that would help doctors manage vaccine inventory and report shots, let eligible people schedule appointments, and send out second-shot reminders and proofs of vaccination.
 
Months after the contracted deadline, Deloitte delivered a customized version of a preexisting Salesforce product called Vaccine Cloud. It was so difficult to use that only a handful of states signed up, as we reported in January. 
 
But the documents released under the Freedom of Information Act deliberately blocked certain pieces of information from the public record, including what prior experience Deloitte had with building similar tools and how charges like travel expenses and labor were justified or broken down. They also redacted the names of everyone involved—even the communications person assigned to the project, who would likely be responsible for speaking to the media.

As part of our reporting, we requested several Deloitte contracts unrelated to the vaccine system from the US Food and Drug Administration. That agency also redacted similar information.

https://www.technolo...ction-deloitte/

[Victoria Watcher]

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

[Victoria Watcher]

B.C. ramps up COVID-19 vaccination schedule

Starting today, people aged 55 and older can book an appointment, according to Health Minister Adrian Dix.

By Wednesday people 50 and older will be eligible, while those 45 years and up can start booking on Friday.

Finally, anyone 40 and older will be able to get a shot starting April 19.

[sebberry]

That's getting more promising.  Phew.

[Greg]

I think that might be a little misleading? I think that is 55 and older can register to start the process for booking an appointment, as opposed to actually getting an appointment booked in short order. Excluding Astrazeneca, which is a separate process, I don't think anyone younger than about 65 has actually BOOKED an appointment yet.

 

Maybe I'm wrong.

[sukika]

I think that might be a little misleading? I think that is 55 and older can register to start the process for booking an appointment, as opposed to actually getting an appointment booked in short order. Excluding Astrazeneca, which is a separate process, I don't think anyone younger than about 65 has actually BOOKED an appointment yet.

 

Maybe I'm wrong.

 

You are correct, there is a lot of confusion because people are using the word registering and booking interchangeably.  I know people who tried to call and book when it opened up for their age group but were told to call back after received the text/email with booking #. 

 

My mom received her text on Saturday, and the earliest available date I could find in Victoria was April 25th.  

Edited by sukika, 12 April 2021 - 10:05 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

CORRECTED RELEASE:

B.C. ramps up COVID-19 vaccination schedule
Starting today, people aged 55 and older can register to book an appointment, according to Health Minister Adrian Dix. By Wednesday people 50 and older will be eligible, and those 45 years and up can register starting Friday. Starting April 19, registration will be open to those 40 and older.

Once you've registered, you'll be invited to book your appointment when it's your age cohort's turn to do so.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 April 2021 - 10:15 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

our update coming live at 3:10pm: 

 

HERE:  https://bc.ctvnews.c...cials-1.5383811

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 April 2021 - 02:06 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

New BC cases:

 

1288 friday

1036 saturday

979 sunday

 

 

167 new cases on the island over the weekend.

 

368 in hospital across bc.

121 in ICU.

18 new deaths.

 

 

 

 

Alberta recorded 1,136 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and five additional deaths from the disease.

 

https://globalnews.c...-april-12-2021/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 April 2021 - 02:35 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A new study performed by experts has confirmed that experts always know what they're talking about and never, ever just make stuff up to sound smart, experts confirmed today.

 

"Experts are always to be trusted and have never been wrong before," said the experts at the recent Expert Conference, Sponsored by Experts. "Experts are so smart. And also really good-looking and not socially awkward. You should be friends with experts, 'cause, uh, experts are really neato."

 

"All of this is to say, you really should trust the experts. Experts are way more accurate than the non-experts." The experts then pointed to a chart that had some lines and circles on it and nodded, looking to one another for confirmation. They all concurred the graphics confirmed their findings that they are smart. They then turned to another panel of experts, who also confirmed that they were smart, in exchange for the original panel of experts saying they are smart back.

https://babylonbee.c...experts-confirm

[Victoria Watcher]

 

[Rob Randall]

I think these Island charts are easier to read than the official BC Health ones:

 

https://www.chly.ca/...-by-the-numbers

 

Do you know of any other BC dashboards? I wish BC was on the Worldometer page, I prefer their charts.

[Victoria Watcher]

this is very problematic.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ident-1.5984874

so most of the residents are vaccinated. but only 50% of the staff has chosen to accept vaccine.

so now there is an indefinite lockdown of the facility and even 2-shot vaccinated people cannot leave.

^ at some point government will have to rule thats a human rights violation.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2021 - 04:19 AM.

[Barrrister]

Maybe the US will send us their Johnson and Johnson vaccine now that they have stopped its usage because of stroke concerns. 

 

In Ontario ICU admissions for people 18 to 39 have doubled from 7.5% to 15% because of the variants. 

[amor de cosmos]

'The right thing to do:' Sobeys reinstates lockdown bonus for front-line workers
https://www.timescol...kers-1.24306161
 

Most tellingly, both the paper from Norway and the second paper, which looked at patients from Austria and Germany, found that blood clots were seen in people who had high levels of antibodies to platelet factor 4, the same types of antibodies reported, infrequently, after treatment with heparin. That doesn’t explain why a vaccine is causing the immune system to produce those antibodies, or whether other vaccines might do the same. But it provides a first step toward explaining the side effect, which experts say is extremely rare, and to looking into whether the same types of rare clots could occur with other shots.
 
“It’s now a recognized syndrome, a recognized disorder, and most importantly there is a combination of tests that can establish if a patient has this or not,” said Theodore Werkentin, a professor at McMaster University, a co-author of one of the papers and an expert on the rare clots that can be caused by heparin.
 
The new discovery still raises questions about what, exactly, is going on.
 
The challenge for public health officials is that these deadly clots occur without vaccines. It’s possible that some people who developed clots after being vaccinated would have developed them even without being vaccinated. So officials have to compare the vaccines against each other, and to try and model the normal rate of clots with low levels of platelets.
 
“If you look at those reports of blood clots with thrombocytopenia for those other vaccines and then compare them to the background rate we would expect to see, they are not raised,” Peter Arlett, the European Medicines Agency’s head of pharmacovigilance, said at an April 7 press conference.
 
*snip*
 
Speaking of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Juurlink said that for some patients the risk is outweighed by the benefits.
 
“Any port in a storm’ is a little bit trite to say, but if the only vaccine a 52-year-old who’s carrying a few extra pounds and maybe has diabetes can get is the AstraZeneca vaccine, I still think that that is the right call,” he said.

https://www.statnews...see-some-clues/
 
different story on same thing
https://medicalxpres...lood-clots.html
 

Mérida, April 12, 2021 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela has acquired 11.3 million additional Covid-19 vaccines through the United Nations’ COVAX program.
 
The US $128 million deal was reportedly made possible after Caracas was able to “liberate” funds which had been blocked by Washington’s unilateral coercive measures. Authorities have informed that an initial 50% downpayment was made to the Switzerland-based GAVI Vaccine Alliance on Saturday, while the remaining monies are “guaranteed.”
 
Speaking Sunday, President Nicolás Maduro, who has repeatedly denounced that frozen assets have hampered the country’s Covid-19 response, refused to offer details on the origin of the funds.
 
“When the time comes, we will explain where the money came from,” he said, going on to indicate that the initial downpayment came from “resources which had been kidnapped by the US government.”
 
Since 2019, Washington has frozen a range of US-based Venezuelan assets, including the CITGO oil subsidiary and a host of bank accounts. Some of the resources were placed under the control of Venezuela’s self-declared “Interim President” Juan Guaidó, who the US continues to recognize as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

https://venezuelanal....com/news/15172

Dutch face prospect of extended lockdown amidst rising COVID-19 infections
https://www.channeln...vid-19-14613740

Thailand reports record COVID-19 cases ahead of Songkran holiday

 

https://www.channeln...ngkran-14606222

Bangladesh to impose week-long air travel ban after COVID surge
All international and domestic flights to be banned for a week from Wednesday, coinciding with another lockdown amid spike in cases.
https://www.aljazeer...ter-covid-surge

COVID: India overtakes Brazil as world’s second worst-hit country
India reports a record 168,912 cases overnight, taking its overall tally to 13.53 million infections reported since the pandemic erupted.
https://www.aljazeer...rst-hit-country
 

The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) announced on Monday that it will launch a $100 million global vaccination initiative for more than three million vulnerable people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The humanitarian organisation said the drive will help vaccinate refugees, internally displaced peoples, and migrants in over 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East over a period of three years.
 
In an online press conference, the QRCS said the 'Leave no one behind' campaign is currently raising the $100 million needed. The vaccination programme will be implemented in partnership with the World Health Organization.

https://english.alar...ination-project
 

Residents who are eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, but choose not to, risk committing a sin, a top official has said.
 
Dr. Omar Habtoor Dheeb Al Darei, a member of the UAE Fatwa Council, explained that such residents might spread the disease to others and cause them harm. “This, despite the fact that they had the ability to prevent the spread of the disease (by taking the vaccine) or its effects.”

He also noted that taking the Covid-19 jab while fasting is permissible and does not invalidate or break one’s fast.

Over 7,550 Imams and other mosque workers in the UAE have been vaccinated against Covid-19, another official said. This is more than 78 per cent of the mosque staff.

https://www.khaleejt...g-covid-vaccine

It will take 2 months to make vaccine against new coronavirus mutations, expert says
Alexander Gorelov stressed that the existing Covid-19 vaccines in the world are capable of protecting against the virus mutations and noted the efficacy of Russian vaccines
https://tass.com/society/1277031

27 Chinese airports report passenger throughput over 10 mln in 2020
http://www.ecns.cn/n...vi4580757.shtml

U.S. recommends 'pause' for Johnson & Johnson vaccine over clot reports
https://www.cbc.ca/n...pause-1.5985110

U.S. Oil Production Still 2 Million Bpd Under Pre-Pandemic Levels
https://oilprice.com...mic-Levels.html
 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ® is lashing out at YouTube after the company took down a video of a panel discussion he participated in criticizing lockdowns and other public health measures during the coronavirus pandemic.
 
DeSantis argued that the tech giant's removal of the video from its platform constitutes a suppression of speech. His comments underscore broader allegations by Republicans that large technology companies are trying to stifle conservative speech and are more sympathetic to Democratic ideas and statements.
 
“Google/YouTube has not been throughout this pandemic repositories of truth and scientific inquiry, but have instead acted [as] enforcers of a narrative, a big tech council of censors in service of the ruling elite,” DeSantis said during a news conference this week according to The Associated Press.

https://thehill.com/...-pandemic-video
 

Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has joined Big Ass Fans, lending his scientific credibility to a company division that says its ion-generating technology kills the coronavirus. The company charges $9,450 for a fan with technology that academic air quality experts question.
 
As strategic health and safety adviser, he follows Dr. Deborah Birx, former White House coronavirus response coordinator, into the booming air purifying industry. Last month, she signed on with ActivePure, a company that also makes a pitch about virus-destroying technology, but markets some devices that run afoul of California indoor air quality rules, according to a KHN investigation.
 
The two bring name recognition to companies selling products that are advertised to make it safer for people to gather maskless inside schools, offices, gyms, and retail stores. The companies market 99.9 percent kill rates of the coronavirus.
 
Academic indoor air quality experts who criticize certain claims about COVID-killing technology say the industry-funded studies often focus on results of tests run in a space ranging in size from a shoebox to a cabinet that do not reflect the conditions in a large room. Studies backed by the industry rarely make it clear whether the touted “virus-killing” ions or molecules are doing the work, experts say, or if improvements come from a fan or filter on a device.
 
“There’s no other way to say it—it’s completely unproven whether these devices would work in a real-world setting,” said Timothy Bertram about devices that claim to attack molecules in midair. He is a chemistry professor who studies aerosol particles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

https://www.thedaily...ling-technology

[Victoria Watcher]

873 new cases in BC

 

also down in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec today.

 

maybe we have crested.  (?)

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2021 - 03:37 PM.

[spanky123]

873 new cases in BC

 

also down in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec today.

 

maybe we have crested.  (?)

 

Todays results are from Sunday's tests. Monday and Tuesday #'s are always lower. Probably why Horgan wants to wait to Thursday before he decides on new restrictions.

[Victoria Watcher]

A Kelowna martial arts academy that has banned the membership of vaccinated people and mask-wearers has previously been issued a ticket for violating COVID-19 provincial health orders.

 

Flow Academy is not accepting membership applications from anybody who has received a dose of the vaccine, according to a now-password-protected membership application form on its website. The Sutherland Avenue gym came to the decision after consultation with “health, wellness, and fitness-related facilities across Canada … as well as liability insurance companies.”

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....inated-patrons/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2021 - 05:25 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

news 1130:

 

 

Indoor dining restrictions to be extended across B.C.

 

According to the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association, restrictions on indoor dining could last up to May long weekend. Ian Tostenson with the BCRFA says he and other industry stakeholders met with Dr. Bonnie Henry Tuesday, where she confirmed the restrictions set to expire on April 19 will be extended.

 

Read More

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2021 - 05:30 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been approved for use in Canada, are expected to be shipped here later this month.

 

With 10 million on order, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian officials are closely monitoring the decision by U.S. health authorities. "We can assure everyone that Health Canada will, every step of the way, put the health of Canadians first and foremost around any decisions we make around the distribution of the vaccine," Trudeau said.

 

A suspension of the vaccine in Canada would strike a blow to the country's vaccination campaign as it contends with a third wave, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician and member of Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine task force.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ccine-1.5986097

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2021 - 05:35 PM.