26251 replies to this topic

[Barrrister]

Drove past the Penny farthing today and it was closed. I thinki it must be hard on this business at this point.

[Victoria Watcher]

[amor de cosmos]

CARBIS BAY, England: Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Sunday (Jun 13) vowed to start delivering 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines and to step up action on climate change, in a summit call to arms by a revived democratic alliance that also confronted China and Russia.
 
In a final communique issued at their first physical summit in nearly two years, the leaders of the elite club largely hewed to US President Joe Biden's push to regain the West's cohesion after the tumultuous era of his predecessor Donald Trump.
 
"We will harness the power of democracy, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights to answer the biggest questions and overcome the greatest challenges," the leaders said.
 
But the pledge on vaccines for poorer nations fell drastically short of the 11 billion doses that campaigners say are needed to end a pandemic that has claimed nearly 4 million lives and wrecked economies around the globe.
 
"I'm afraid there will be smiles (at the G7) but they are not solutions," former British prime minister Gordon Brown told Sky News, calling the summit "an unforgivable moral failure".
 
"Millions of people will go unvaccinated and thousands of people I'm afraid will die," said Brown, who helped coordinate international responses to the world's last major economic shock in 2008.

https://www.channeln...-china-15005514
 

In the final days of the Trump administration, the State Department was embroiled in a bitter dispute over China’s role in the origins of COVID-19 that’s now spilling into public view.
 
In an open letter posted on Medium on Thursday, Christopher Ford, former Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation, said he intervened to prevent the US government from “embarrassing and discrediting” itself by accusing China of having deliberately engineered the coronavirus — despite there being no evidence to make that case.

long
https://www.buzzfeed...-leak-bioweapon

[Dexter]

Vic pub co will be just fine…

Drove past the Penny farthing today and it was closed. I thinki it must be hard on this business at this point.

[grantpalin]

Drove past the Penny farthing today and it was closed. I thinki it must be hard on this business at this point.

There was a COVID exposure notice on that place just a day or two ago. The pub stated they would close temporarily for a deep clean.

[Dexter]

There is a cross over closure at the bent mast as well as one of the infected penny staff also worked there

Edited by Klapecki, 13 June 2021 - 12:41 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2021 - 03:25 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

deaths per million ( last column > > > > :

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2021 - 03:33 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

Young infants show strong immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, new research has found. In particular, compared with adults, young infants produce relatively high levels of antibodies and immune cells that can specifically protect against COVID-19.
https://medicalxpres...e-response.html
 

Half (52 percent) of those who said they would definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine when asked back in November/December 2020 have now done so, indicating that many people's hesitancy has disappeared since the UK's vaccine rollout began, according to a new study.
 
Among people who said they were not very or not at all likely to accept a vaccine when asked last year, an even greater share—84 percent—have since been vaccinated.
 
The research, by King's College London and the University of Bristol, is based on a survey of 4,896 UK adults aged 18 to 75 conducted between 1 and 16 April. It follows up a study in Nov/Dec 2020 and tracks 1,879 of the same individuals to see how their views have changed and why.
 
The analysis reveals that, overall, 94 percent of people who have been invited for a vaccine have taken up the offer—but despite this, there's a need to avoid complacency, as vaccine intentions and beliefs still vary among different groups, potentially undermining the very high levels of coverage needed to stay on track for a further easing of lockdown, and leaving some communities more exposed.

https://medicalxpres...nated-jabs.html
 

In 2012, researchers at the Rotterdam laboratory of virologist Ron Fouchier, PhD, noticed that an artificially created variant of the H5N1 avian flu virus began to spread among ferrets. H5N1 is a highly pathogenic virus that targets poultry but only rarely sickens people. Spread among ferrets was highly problematic because ferrets are a model for human-to-human flu transmission. Virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo observed a parallel occurrence. These findings ignited a worldwide debate about whether research that causes viruses to become more dangerous, known as gain-of-function research, should be openly published in scientific journals.
 
Some argue that gain-of-function research is crucial for those who seek to perfect surveillance methods for pandemic outbreaks and to develop defense strategies like novel vaccines. Others argue that this kind of research only increases the chance for deadly virus outbreaks by intentional bioterrorism or through unintended lab leaks. In both cases, the consequence would be the potential devastation of the human population.
 
*snip*
What would be the aftermath in a world where Chinese research actions were shown to be the source of the mistaken release of SARS-CoV-2? Negligence is defined as an action that departs from the standard practice and harm is the result. It seems likely that if SARS-CoV-2 was man-made, releasing it to the world was not part of the plan. Many in Wuhan and in China suffered and died. If the creation of SARS-CoV-2 was a conspiracy, the benefits of such a plan cannot be understood. Most likely, SARS-CoV-2 escaped through a mistake or a breach. These actions are negligent.
 
Consider as a round number that 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19. If SARS-CoV-2 was released through negligence, the families of these 1 million Americans could bring a class-action wrongful death claim against the laboratories in Wuhan and the Chinese government. As a round number, a wrongful death claim might pay $1 million per person. The total settlement value would therefore be $1 trillion dollars -- the entire amount of U.S. debt owed to China.
 
If a judgment were issued against China, the obvious problem would be how to collect the money. There is no international court of civil wrongs and China might simply object based on a lack of jurisdiction on the part of the court. On the other hand, the U.S. could decide that the most straightforward way to collect the debt from China would be to begin to seize Chinese assets. If a ship from China docked at a U.S. port, the court could send the bailiff to seize the ship. Chinese funds in U.S. banks could be frozen. The U.S. could request neighboring countries to seize Chinese assets on the basis of pre-existing collaboration agreements.
 
What would likely be China's reply, particularly given that it continues to claim that SARS-CoV-2 occurred naturally and not because of a lab leak?
 
*snip*
 
As the origin story of SARS-CoV-2 continues to unfold, based on the evidence, the likelihood of an accidental and negligent lab leak is increasingly taking hold. What is at stake in the search for causes of the COVID-19 outbreak? What do we hope to gain or what might we lose in the process? The extent of the damage done to humanity by this virus staggers the mind. These next weeks and months will be critical in determining the truth about the origin of COVID-19, and how the world responds to this information will very likely be nation changing.
 
The U.S. is not completely blameless, however. Our concern over the funding of gain-of-function research was brief. America did fund and collaborate on what was inarguably gain-of-function research on coronavirus. American scientists worked with Chinese counterparts and many such collaborations are easily accessible in the medical literature. The highly ironically named "Operation Warp Speed" told a false story that speedy vaccine development occurred because of super-human insight based on de novo hard work. Many scientists already knew this virus very well. Coronavirus gain-of-function research is another example of the insufferable hubris that infects morally careless scientists, and we are all the losers as a consequence.

etc
https://www.medpaget...-opinions/93065
 

With 3,000m² of lab space, the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the largest BSL4 lab in the world, though it will soon be overtaken by the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility at Kansas State University in the US. When it is complete, it will boast over 4,000m² of BSL4 lab space.

Most labs are significantly smaller, with half of the 44 labs where data is available being under 200m² – less than half the size of a professional basketball court or about three-quarters the size of a tennis court.

Around 60% of BSL4 labs are government-run public-health institutions, leaving 20% run by universities and 20% by biodefence agencies. These labs are either used to diagnose infections with highly lethal and transmissible pathogens, or they are used to research these pathogens to improve our scientific understanding of how they work and to develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics tests.

But far from all of these labs score well on safety and security. The Global Health Security Index, which measures whether countries have legislation, regulations, oversight agencies, policies and training on biosafety and biosecurity, is instructive. Led by the US-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, the index shows that only about one-quarter of countries with BSL4 labs received high scores for biosafety and biosecurity. This suggests plenty of room for improvement for countries to develop comprehensive systems of biorisk management.

Membership of the International Experts Group of Biosafety and Biosecurity Regulators, where national regulatory authorities share best practices in this field, is another indicator of national biosafety and biosecurity practices. Only 40% of countries with BSL4 labs are members of the forum: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US. And no lab has yet signed up to the voluntary biorisk management system (ISO 35001), introduced in 2019 to establish management processes to reduce biosafety and biosecurity risks.

The vast majority of countries with maximum containment labs do not regulate dual-use research, which refers to experiments that are conducted for peaceful purposes but can be adapted to cause harm; or gain-of-function research, which is focused on increasing the ability of a pathogen to cause disease.

Three of the 23 countries with BSL4 labs (Australia, Canada and the US) have national policies for oversight of dual-use research. At least three other countries (Germany, Switzerland and the UK) have some form of dual-use oversight, where, for instance, funding bodies require their grant recipients to review their research for dual-use implications.

https://theconversat...n-safety-161777
 

Congestion at container shipping ports in southern China is worsening as authorities step up disinfection measures amid a flare-up in COVID-19 cases, causing the biggest backlog since at least 2019.
 
More than 150 coronavirus cases have been reported in Guangdong province, a key manufacturing and exporting hub in southern China, since the latest wave of cases struck in late May, triggering local governments to step up prevention and control efforts that have curbed port processing capacity. read more
 
Ports in Guangdong, including Yantian, Shekou, Chiwan and Nansha, have issued notices this week suspending vessels from entering ports without advance reservations and will only accept bookings for export-bound containers within three to seven days prior to the arrival of vessels.
 
Major shipping companies have warned clients of vessel delays, changes to port call schedules, and the possibility of skipping some ports altogether.
 
Ocean Network Express (ONE) said in a notice on Wednesday that Yantian International Container Terminal continues to operate below capacity because of COVID-related work restrictions while congestion at container terminals at Shekou and Chiwan has surged to over 90% of capacity.
 
The world's leading container line Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Thursday increased the duration of expected delays at Yantian to 16 days from 14 days previously. read more
 
As of Friday, more than 50 container vessels are waiting to dock in the Outer Pearl River Delta, where the ports are located, according to Refinitiv data.
 
That compares to around 20 vessels in the same period last year and more than in February 2020 when ports were paralysed because of China's initial COVID-19 outbreak.

https://www.reuters....res-2021-06-11/

[Victoria Watcher]

Quebec reports 123 new COVID-19 cases, 1 more death as province goes yellow, green

https://montreal.ctv...green-1.5469343

 

 

 

 

Ontario reports 447 new COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths

https://globalnews.c...-cases-june-14/

 

 

 

 

BC Reopening Step 2 plans announced today
The province will make an announcement at 10:30am. Tomorrow is the earliest that Step 2 was eligible to begin. The thresholds for progression to Step 2 are 65% of BC residents aged 18+ dosed once, plus declining cases and hospitalizations. As of Friday, 75% of adults are first-dosed while case, hospital, and ICU numbers are about half what they were when Step 1 began on May 25.

Activities allowed by Step 2 include:

• Outdoor gatherings of up to 50 for birthdays, BBQs, etc.
• Indoor seated gatherings of up to 50 (with safety plan)
• Non-essential travel within BC
• Liquor service until midnight
• Small in-person workplace meetings

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2021 - 07:29 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Canada is poised to receive around 9.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this week thanks to a massive infusion of shots from Moderna.

The federal government says the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm will deliver a total of 7.1 million jabs in two separate shipments this week.

The first shipment of 2.9 million doses is scheduled to arrive and be sent to provinces in the middle of the week. The remaining 4.2 million will arrive later in the week, but won't be sent to provinces and territories until next week.

[Mike K.]

I swear, if I read the word "jabs" one more time...

[Rob Randall]

They should invest in the way of purchase a reputable thesaurus. I employ it recurrently.

[Victoria Watcher]

only 115 cases in Alberta today.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ne-14-1.6064866

and they are doing a $3 million lottery.

[todd]

I swear, if I read the word "jabs" one more time...

I’d rather not be shot. I think jab is more a British thing?

Edited by todd, 14 June 2021 - 03:20 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

On Monday, B.C. health officials announced 277 new cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths over the last three days, hours after they held a press conference to tell British Columbians the province is on track for the second step of its reopening plan.

That's an average of 92 new cases a day confirmed this weekend, marking a continued and significant downward trend in B.C.'s caseload. A total of 68 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours — the lowest one-day total since Sept. 26.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...une14-1.6065301

Remarkable.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2021 - 03:10 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Manitoba public health officials announced 124 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Monday.

That's the lowest number of daily cases since April 19, when there were 108 new cases.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ne-14-1.6064759

[Victoria Watcher]

i know it's a monday so numbers are a bit depressed.

 

but 20 US states will record zero deaths today.  only 6 will have double-digit deaths.

[Victoria Watcher]

great day for canada today.  we usually see a bit of a blip as BC records their 3 days today but it was so low today it's not really making a mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amor de cosmos]

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday revealed it had hit a setback in trials of a treatment for COVID-19 symptoms.

The drug, made from a combination of two antibodies, failed its main goal to treat symptoms in exposed patients, the company said in a statement.
 
The treatment has been undergoing phase 3 or final-stage clinical trials to assess its safety and efficacy.
 
AstraZeneca said that 1,121 unvaccinated adults had been exposed to an infected person as part of the trial.
 
Treatment AZD7442 reduced the risk of developing symptoms by only 33 percent—which was "not statistically significant", it added.
 
The company is nevertheless continuing trials to assess whether the drug can prevent COVID or treat more severe symptoms.

https://medicalxpres...covid-drug.html
 

Scientists have identified how and why some Covid-19 patients can develop life-threatening clots, which could lead to targeted therapies that prevent this from happening.

The work, led by researchers from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, is published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Previous research has established that blood clotting is a significant cause of death in patients with Covid-19. To understand why that clotting happens, the researchers analysed blood samples that were taken from patients with Covid-19 in the Beaumont Hospital Intensive Care Unit in Dublin.

They found that the balance between a molecule that causes clotting, called von Willebrand Factor (VWF), and its regulator, called ADAMTS13, is severely disrupted in patients with severe Covid-19.

When compared to control groups, the blood of Covid-19 patients had higher levels of the pro-clotting VWF molecules and lower levels of the anti-clotting ADAMTS13. Furthermore, the researchers identified other changes in proteins that caused the reduction of ADAMTS13.

“Our research helps provide insights into the mechanisms that cause severe blood clots in patients with Covid-19, which is critical to developing more effective treatments,” said Dr Jamie O’Sullivan, the study’s corresponding author and research lecturer within the Irish Centre for Vascular Biology at RCSI.

https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/209389
 

Countries that made the greatest strides to ensure that women remained attached to the labour market during the pandemic will be the ones best equipped to post a durable post-crisis economic recovery.
 
The world’s labour participation rate (labour force divided by total working-age population), has been on a decline over the last few decades. That, of course, is not surprising amid an aging population. But some economies have been more successful than others in managing those demographic changes by integrating more women into the workforce. High-income countries — defined by the World Bank as economies in which 2019 Gross National Income per capita was $12,536 or more — have been particularly successful on that score, registering an increase in female labour force participation and a corresponding decline in the gender gap. That contrasts sharply with middle income or low-income countries, which have struggled to integrate women in the workforce, hampered either by cultural norms or inadequate government policies.

https://financialpos...-rebound-faster
 

 

But what really helped in some ways was a very good public health system that focused on prevention, not costly medical cures. Vietnam’s public health system had years of experience in coping with SARS, avian influenzas, and other zoonotic viruses, and public health leadership had put in place effective institutions and procedures, rigorous quarantines, and contact tracing.

 

The Vietnamese leadership had much to be proud of in their pragmatic, non-politicized response, and clearly gained public legitimacy from their successes.

 

Today, however, Vietnam is sending text message requests for donations for a vaccine fund, and has a vaccination rate that trails both impoverished Laos and Myanmar, the latter of which is in the midst of mass civil unrest and civil war. At the current rate of vaccinations, Vietnam will not reach heard immunity for a decade.

 

What caused this reversal? No doubt Vietnam has been a victim of its own success. With such low rates of infection, it simply did not pursue vaccines with any urgency. It did contract for supplies of vaccines, but did so relatively late to the game, and far back in the queue.

etc

https://thediplomat....d-19-struggles/

 

“I would try to reach out to fellow musicians and sometimes I just don’t hear from them anymore,” Clapton said. “My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails any more. It’s quite noticeable.”

https://www.avclub.c...-pro-1847097548