CRD gives notice to staff, volunteers to get fully vaccinated by Dec. 13
https://www.timescol...c-13-1.24363790
Plenty of attention has been paid to rising job vacancy rates as provinces re-opened their restaurant and hospitality industries this summer. This is backed by plenty of anecdotal reports of restaurateurs’ inability to find workers.
Whenever I hear that “there is a worker shortage” I wait (in vain) for the critical proviso “at the wage I’m offering.”
This is a classic labour market problem: what do you do if you don’t get enough applicants for a job at the wage being offered? You increase the wage.
If firms are unwilling to raise wages to entice workers, it may also mean their business model is incompatible with the post-pandemic labour market.
Offered wage and whether people apply are related
Just prior to the pandemic, in the first quarter of 2020, the average wage for a new job posting in the restaurant and bar sector was $14.35 an hour. Fast forward to the second quarter of 2021 and the average new job in the sector is offering $14.75 an hour. If you adjust the difference for inflation, the real wage has actually fallen by 0.1% over the course of the pandemic.
To boot, restaurant jobs in the sector are harder now than they were pre-pandemic. Not only are you exposed to a deadly health risk, but you have to wear a mask all day, endure customer abuse while enforcing mask and vaccination rules, all while hoping new lockdowns don’t shut your job down for the fourth time.
A harder job for lower real pay does not make for a compelling case for workers.
Of course wages aren’t the only thing determining job vacancy rates. You also need to consider educational requirements, work location and job desirability. But it will come as no surprise that there has always been a negative relationship between the wages being offered for a new job and the vacancy rate in an industry (although this is often missing from articles on rising job vacancies).
If you are offering lower wages, you’re more likely to have job vacancies.
The food and accommodation industry has always had this problem, since they often offer at or near minimum wage, which is why they tend to lead the pack in job vacancies. This was just as true before the pandemic, before the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and before the recent rehiring boom.
etc (longish)
https://monitormag.c...r-paying-jobs-2
Ontario's new plan for lifting COVID-19 restrictions coming next week
Path for exiting Step 3 of 'Roadmap to Reopen' will be cautious, says senior official in Ford government
https://www.cbc.ca/n...age-3-1.6209162
People who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine may benefit from a booster dose of Pfizer or Moderna, preliminary results of a US study published Wednesday showed.
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was eagerly awaited in the United States because it looked at the possibility of "mixing" vaccines—using a different vaccine than the initial doses for the booster shot—which is not currently allowed in the country.
The study was conducted on 458 adults who had been vaccinated with one of three US-approved brands (Pfizer, Moderna or J&J) for at least 12 weeks.
These three groups were each divided into three new groups to receive one of the available vaccines as a booster. The nine groups consisted of about 50 people each.
Researchers then analyzed antibody levels 15 days after the booster shot.
For people originally inoculated with J&J, antibody levels were four times higher after a J&J booster, 35 times higher after a Pfizer booster and 76 times higher after a Moderna booster.
And antibody levels for those who had originally received Moderna shots were higher "irrespective of the booster vaccine administered," when compared with those who had initially received Pfizer or J&J, the study said.
https://medicalxpres...vaccinated.html
HERSHEY, Pa. — More than half of the 236 million people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide since December 2019 will experience post-COVID symptoms — more commonly known as “long COVID” — up to six months after recovering, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The research team said that governments, health care organizations and public health professionals should prepare for the large number of COVID-19 survivors who will need care for a variety of psychological and physical symptoms.
During their illnesses, many patients with COVID-19 experience symptoms, such as tiredness, difficulty breathing, chest pain, sore joints and loss of taste or smell.
Until recently, few studies have evaluated patients’ health after recovering from the coronavirus. To better understand the short- and long-term health effects of the virus, the researchers examined worldwide studies involving unvaccinated patients who recovered from COVID-19. According to the findings, adults, as well as children, can experience several adverse health issues for six months or longer after recovering from COVID-19.
*snip*
According to the findings, survivors experienced an array of residual health issues associated with COVID-19. Generally, these complications affected a patient’s general well-being, their mobility or organ systems. Overall, one in two survivors experienced long-term COVID manifestations. The rates remained largely constant from one month through six or more months after their initial illness.
The investigators noted several trends among survivors, such as:
- General well-being: More than half of all patients reported weight loss, fatigue, fever or pain.
- Mobility: Roughly one in five survivors experienced a decrease in mobility.
- Neurologic concerns: Nearly one in four survivors experienced difficulty concentrating.
- Mental health disorders: Nearly one in three patients were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.
- Lung abnormalities: Six in ten survivors had chest imaging abnormality and more than a quarter of patients had difficulty breathing.
- Cardiovascular issues: Chest pain and palpitations were among the commonly reported conditions.
- Skin conditions: Nearly one in five patients experienced hair loss or rashes.
- Digestive issues: Stomach pain, lack of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting were among the commonly reported conditions.
“These findings confirm what many health care workers and COVID-19 survivors have been claiming, namely, that adverse health effects from COVID-19 can linger,” said co-lead investigator Vernon Chinchilli, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. "Although previous studies have examined the prevalence of long COVID symptoms among patients, this study examined a larger population, including people in high-, middle- and low-income countries, and examined many more symptoms. Therefore, we believe our findings are quite robust given the available data.”
“The burden of poor health in COVID-19 survivors is overwhelming,” said co-lead investigator Dr. Paddy Ssentongo, assistant professor at the Penn State Center for Neural Engineering. “Among these are the mental health disorders. One's battle with COVID doesn’t end with recovery from the acute infection. Vaccination is our best ally to prevent getting sick from COVID-19 and to reduce the chance of long-COVID even in the presence of a breakthrough infection.”
https://news.psu.edu...esearchers-find
https://www.scienced...11013114112.htm
Estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV), a readily available marker of aortic stiffening, has been shown to be an effective addition in identifying patients at risk of death in hospital due to the virus.
https://www.ncl.ac.u...ctsseverecovid/
https://www.scienced...11013114101.htm
study/survey of the week
Some high-profile examples of harassment have been well documented. Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was assigned personal security guards after he and his family received death threats; UK chief medical adviser Chris Whitty was grabbed and shoved in the street; and German virologist Christian Drosten received a parcel with a vial of liquid labelled ‘positive’ and a note telling him to drink it. In one extraordinary case, Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst and his family were placed in a safe house when a military sniper went on the run after leaving a note outlining his intentions to target virologists.
These examples are extreme. But in Nature’s survey, more than two-thirds of researchers reported negative experiences as a result of their media appearances or their social media comments, and 22% had received threats of physical or sexual violence. Some scientists said that their employer had received complaints about them, or that their home address had been revealed online. Six scientists said they were physically attacked (see Supplementary information for survey data tables).
Coordinated social-media campaigns and threatening e-mails or phone calls to scientists are not new: topics such as climate change, vaccination and the effects of gun violence have drawn similar attacks in the past. But even scientists who had a high profile before COVID-19 told Nature that the abuse was a new and unwelcome phenomenon tied to the pandemic. Many wanted the extent of the problem discussed more openly. “I believe national governments, funding agencies and scientific societies have not done enough to publicly defend scientists,” one researcher wrote in their survey response.
*snip*
Some aspects of COVID-19 science have become so politicized that it is hard to mention them without attracting a storm of abuse. Epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz at the University of Wollongong in Australia, who has gained a following on Twitter for his detailed dissection of research papers, says that two major triggers are vaccines and the anti-parasite drug ivermectin — controversially promoted as a potential COVID-19 treatment without evidence it was effective. “Any time you write about vaccines — anyone in the vaccine world can tell you the same story — you get vague death threats, or even sometimes more specific death threats and endless hatred,” he says. But he’s found the passionate defence of ivermectin surprising. “I think I’ve received more death threats due to ivermectin, in fact, than anything I’ve done before,” he says. “It’s anonymous people e-mailing me from weird accounts saying ‘I hope you die’ or ‘if you were near me I would shoot you’.”
Andrew Hill, a pharmacologist at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Translational Medicine, received vitriolic abuse after he and his colleagues published a meta-analysis in July. It suggested ivermectin showed a benefit, but Hill and his co-authors then decided to retract and revise the analysis when one of the largest studies they included was withdrawn because of ethical concerns about its data (A. Hill et al. Open Forum Inf. Dis. 8, ofab394; 2021). After that, Hill was besieged with images of hanged people and coffins, with attackers saying he would be subject to ‘Nuremberg trials’, and that he and his children would ‘burn in hell’. He has since closed his Twitter account.
etc
https://www.nature.c...586-021-02741-x
Fewer patients sought treatment for kidney failure in early months of COVID-19 pandemic
https://medicalxpres...ey-failure.html
МОСКВА, 14 окт — РИА Новости. Исследование немецких ученых показало, что коронавирус SARS-CoV-2 проникает в глаза и инфицирует фоторецепторы и ганглиозные клетки сетчатки. Авторы отмечают, что это может быть одной из причин, почему некоторые пациенты с постковидным синдромом жалуются на проблемы с глазами. Статья
опубликована на сервере препринтов bioRxiv.org.
MOSCOW, October 14 - RIA Novosti. A study by German scientists showed that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus enters the eyes and infects the photoreceptors and ganglion cells of the retina. The authors note that this may be one of the reasons why some post-COVID-19 patients complain of eye problems. The article was published on the bioRxiv.org preprint server.
https://ria.ru/20211...1754586603.html
more of the usual
Ivermectin is an over 30-year-old wonder drug that treats life- and sight-threatening parasitic infections. Its lasting influence on global health has been so profound that two of the key researchers in its discovery and development won the Nobel Prize in 2015.
I’ve been an infectious disease pharmacist for over 25 years. I’ve also managed patients who delayed proper treatment for their severe COVID-19 infections because they thought ivermectin could cure them.
Although ivermectin has been a game-changer for people with certain infectious diseases, it isn’t going to save patients from COVID-19 infection. In fact, it could cost them their lives.
Let me tell you a short story about the history of ivermectin.
*snip*
Not every attempt at repurposing a drug works as hoped, however.
At the start of the pandemic, scientists and doctors tried to find inexpensive medications to repurpose for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were two of those drugs. They were chosen because of possible antiviral effects documented in laboratory studies and limited anecdotal case reports from the first COVID-19 outbreaks in China. However, large clinical studies of these drugs to treat COVID-19 did not translate to any meaningful benefits. This was partly due to the serious toxic effects patients experienced before the drugs reached a high enough dose to inhibit or kill the virus.
Unfortunately, lessons from these failed attempts have not been applied to ivermectin. The false hope around using ivermectin to treat COVID-19 originated from an April 2020 laboratory study in Australia. Although the results from this study were widely circulated, I immediately had serious doubts. The concentration of ivermectin they tested was 20 to 2,000 times higher than the standard dosages used to treat human parasitic infections. Indeed, many other pharmaceutical experts confirmed my initial concerns within a month of the paper’s publication. Such high concentrations of the drug could be significantly toxic.
*snip*
At the time of this writing, two large randomized clinical trials both showed no significant benefit from the use of ivermectin for COVID-19. Reputable national and international health care organizations, including the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, unanimously recommend against the use of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 unless in the context of a clinical trial.
*snip*
Ivermectin, when used correctly, has prevented millions of potentially fatal and debilitating infectious diseases. It’s meant to be prescribed only to treat infections caused by parasites. It’s not meant to be prescribed by parasites looking to extract money from desperate people during a pandemic. It’s my sincere hope that this unfortunate and tragic chapter in the otherwise incredible story of a lifesaving medication will come to a quick end.
https://theconversat...covid-19-168449
Even though all medications have a potential for side effects, the risks of taking a parasite-killing drug may be higher than others, said Dr. Waleed Javaid, epidemiologist and director of Infection Prevention and Control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York.
“These drugs are not nontoxic,” he said. “Parasites are big organisms, they are not microscopic. You can see them — they are big worms in the belly — so just thinking about them, the drugs that affect them have to be more toxic than drugs that affect bacteria and viruses, which are much smaller. The bigger the organism you want to kill, usually you need to escalate the dose and the toxicity.”
Any drug taken at the incorrect dose or formulation can be ineffective or even dangerous. That’s why taking ivermectin intended for farm animals — like cattle, which can weigh 1,500 pounds or more — can be especially harmful.
According to the CDC, at least one person has tried to prevent COVID by drinking a type of ivermectin meant to be injected into cattle. They ended up with confusion, hallucinations, shortness of breath, tremors, and drowsiness.
“The patient recovered after being hospitalized for nine days,” the CDC reported.
Another person who already had COVID took ivermectin tablets they bought on the internet and had an “altered mental status” and couldn’t really answer questions or follow commands. They improved after they were hospitalized and stopped taking ivermectin, according to the CDC.
When taken at the low doses and for conditions that are known to respond to the drug, there may be relatively few or mild side effects, like nausea, rash, or itchy skin, said Khabbaza.
However at high doses, side effects “can get really profound,” he said.
The following side effects and drug interactions that can occur with ivermectin are signs of ivermectin toxicity, according to the CDC:
- Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Low blood pressure
- Tachycardia (an abnormally fast heart rate)
- Headache
- Blurred vision and visual hallucinations
- Confusion
- Tremors and loss of coordination and balance
- Seizures
- Central nervous system depression, decreased alertness, and coma
Ivermectin can also be dangerous when mixed with drugs that also can suppress the central nervous system, like benzodiazepines and barbiturates. It can sometimes increase the risk of side effects in people taking the blood-thinning drug warfarin.
The CDC recommends calling the poison control hotline (1-800-222-1222) and seeking immediate medical treatment if you have taken ivermectin and are experiencing symptoms.
https://www.buzzfeed...id-side-effects
Duterte's Quip About Vaccinating People in Their Sleep Was a Joke, Spokesman Says
https://sputniknews....1089918385.html
Куба смягчит санитарные требования для въезжающих иностранцев с 15 ноября
Cuba will ease sanitary requirements for entering foreigners from 15 November
https://iz.ru/123557...v-s-15-noiabria
Mexico hopes for early approval of Russian Sputnik V jab by WHO, says top diplomat
https://tass.com/society/1349549
A 41-year-old patient at the ICC Casalpalocco COVID hospital, who gave his name as Francesco, said he was opposed to the vaccine but that if he could go back, he would get jabbed.
"The vaccine doesn't inspire confidence but unfortunately we've got to do it, because in any case it's the only thing that can help at this precise stage of the pandemic," he told AFP.
At the hospital, there are currently 19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) for coronavirus, of whom 17 are unvaccinated, according to medical director Roberto Mezzanotte.
"Almost 90 to 95 percent in our ICU are non-vaccinated," he told AFP.
*snip*
Breathing oxygen through a mask, another patient, Salvatore, said he was a big supporter of vaccines but had not yet had his coronavirus jab before he felt gravely ill.
"In the space of a few hours, I went from being a person full of vitality to an empty sack, deprived of force," the 55-year-old said.
He said he had little patience for violent protesters who took to the streets of Rome last weekend against Italy's coronavirus health pass.
"When I see these demonstrations against the Green Pass, they don't understand, they don't realise," said Salvatore.
*snip*
Mezzanotte said the reasons vary for why the patients chose not to be vaccinated, but primary among them is "fear that the vaccine is harmful".
"It's strange... they're not scared of COVID but they're scared of the vaccine," he said.
Other Italian hospitals are seeing the same high percentages of non-vaccinated COVID patients, he said.
"Currently we have only one instrument to prohibit the pandemic from continuing and it's vaccination."
https://medicalxpres...oronavirus.html
Sputnik Light may serve as universal booster for most COVID jabs, says RDIF chief
According to the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, the one-shot Sputnik Light jab has shown 70% efficacy against the Delta variant for three months after vaccination
https://tass.com/science/1349289
В РФ впервые за время пандемии заболели более 31 тысячи человек
In the Russian Federation, for the first time during a pandemic, more than 31 thousand people fell ill
https://ria.ru/20211...1754562135.html
Pentagon Report Shows More US Military Died of Suicide in Q2 of 2021 Than From COVID-19 Pandemic
https://sputniknews....1089911287.html
Cuban joined The Ringer’s Kyle Brandt on his Spotify podcast “10 Questions,” and he responded to people who — as Brandt put it — want him to “shut the hell up about the vaccine.”
He said that getting vaccinated is certainly a personal choice, but “there’s consequences that come with that.”
If you work for me, I require my employees to be vaccinated, unless there’s a doctor’s reason where they can’t be. Like you, I don’t want my kids to be at risk. So the consequences of you not being vaccinated is I’m not gonna shut the **** up. I’m gonna be in your mother****ing ear driving you mother****ing crazy.
The Mavs are requiring fans to either show proof of vaccination or a negative covid-19 test within 48 hours of the game in order to attend.
Cuban partly defended his position by talking about the need to protect immunocompromised individuals, including cancer survivors.
“We’ve had cancer patients that are lifelong Mavs fans as well come to us and say, ‘Oh my God, this is the only place I feel as safe as I can be,'” he said. “There are 16.9 million cancer survivors in this country. And there are 75 percent of people who have gotten at least one vaccination shot. We have to give consideration to them as well.”
“I’d rather feel good knowing that someone who’s immunocompromised or a cancer survivor is going to feel as safe as we can possibly make it coming to a game.”
https://www.mediaite...therfcking-ear/