All things CoronaVirus

[wgdsr]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

[jhu72]

More than 150 Houston Methodist Hospital employees were officially out of a job Tuesday, 10 days after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the hospital by employees who opposed a Covid-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment, a hospital spokesperson said.

The 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period that began June 8 or were terminated Tuesday, according to Gale Smith.

The hesitants quit or got canned.

... I assume that number is for the entire enterprise in the Houston Area, 8 full service Hospitals and something like 15 clinics. The 153 across the entire enterprise is a drop in the bucket.

I suspect those who refuse the shot also have the least invested in a career in healthcare.

[Bart]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

we are testing too much

[wgdsr]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

we are testing too much

i think it's that our contact tracing is so robust under the new administration. that was really overhauled. it's a core component of a robust nationwide data-driven disease surveillance system.
looking to provide 100,000 new jobs there was the right direction. someone can now take a week on every case to see where there's a possible contact point. we'll get this under control.

[youthathletics]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

we are testing too much

i think it's that our contact tracing is so robust under the new administration. that was really overhauled. it's a core component of a robust nationwide data-driven disease surveillance system.
looking to provide 100,000 new jobs there was the right direction. someone can now take a week on every case to see where there's a possible contact point. we'll get this under control.

[JoeMauer89]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

we are testing too much

i think it's that our contact tracing is so robust under the new administration. that was really overhauled. it's a core component of a robust nationwide data-driven disease surveillance system.
looking to provide 100,000 new jobs there was the right direction. someone can now take a week on every case to see where there's a possible contact point. we'll get this under control.

Joe

[jhu72]

The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review Edward Holmes, et. at.
Coronavirus almost certainly came from an animal, not a lab leak, top scientists argue (the Cliff Notes).

A number of the authors of this paper also signed the letter a few months ago calling for serious consideration of the lab leak theory, in a call for transparency.

[Typical Lax Dad]

because i feel some of the usual suspects have been slacking on here lately, the trends:
--u.s. covid cases up a grand to over 13.7k/day in the last week, and a week that crossed over the july 4 holiday. and 14% in the last 2 weeks from an even 12k per day.

--delta variant is now majority in u.s.

-- uk (~ 1/5 our size), fairly well vaccinated, is up from under 2k to over 26k cases per day. delta variant is 90%.

buckle up, covid fanlax posters!

we are testing too much

i think it's that our contact tracing is so robust under the new administration. that was really overhauled. it's a core component of a robust nationwide data-driven disease surveillance system.
looking to provide 100,000 new jobs there was the right direction. someone can now take a week on every case to see where there's a possible contact point. we'll get this under control.

Obviously there aren’t many jobs left….approximately 999,200 jobs have been filled….almost under control.

https://www.indeed.com/m/jobs?q=Contact+Tracing

And oh…

[MDlaxfan76]

More than 150 Houston Methodist Hospital employees were officially out of a job Tuesday, 10 days after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the hospital by employees who opposed a Covid-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment, a hospital spokesperson said.

The 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period that began June 8 or were terminated Tuesday, according to Gale Smith.

The hesitants quit or got canned.

... I assume that number is for the entire enterprise in the Houston Area, 8 full service Hospitals and something like 15 clinics. The 153 across the entire enterprise is a drop in the bucket.

I suspect those who refuse the shot also have the least invested in a career in healthcare.

Less than half of 1 percent, if I recall correctly.

[kramerica.inc]

More than 150 Houston Methodist Hospital employees were officially out of a job Tuesday, 10 days after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the hospital by employees who opposed a Covid-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment, a hospital spokesperson said.

The 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period that began June 8 or were terminated Tuesday, according to Gale Smith.

The hesitants quit or got canned.

... I assume that number is for the entire enterprise in the Houston Area, 8 full service Hospitals and something like 15 clinics. The 153 across the entire enterprise is a drop in the bucket.

I suspect those who refuse the shot also have the least invested in a career in healthcare.

Less than half of 1 percent, if I recall correctly.

A real Minuscule number?

Oddly, about the death rate for covid.

[MDlaxfan76]

More than 150 Houston Methodist Hospital employees were officially out of a job Tuesday, 10 days after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the hospital by employees who opposed a Covid-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment, a hospital spokesperson said.

The 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period that began June 8 or were terminated Tuesday, according to Gale Smith.

The hesitants quit or got canned.

... I assume that number is for the entire enterprise in the Houston Area, 8 full service Hospitals and something like 15 clinics. The 153 across the entire enterprise is a drop in the bucket.

I suspect those who refuse the shot also have the least invested in a career in healthcare.

Less than half of 1 percent, if I recall correctly.

A real Minuscule number?

Oddly, about the death rate for covid.

oddly?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/us/maryl ... index.html

[kramerica.inc]

Was trying to figure if the number was a small percentage or not.

If you die of Covid and are non-vax do you deserve any sympathy?

[wgdsr]

Was trying to figure if the number was a small percentage or not.

If you die of Covid and are non-vax do you deserve any sympathy?

i mean, not much from me. i thought we established a quorum on that.

also think we should move on, at least after youngins all get their shot at the vaxx. looks like by maryland's numbers, delta's gonna have to have some kids or grandkids to change that calculus.

[wgdsr]

pandemic must be over. tried to go to the shop hq network for the 1 hour 3 layer face mask special. on is dr. sevinor wrinkle solution smoothing serum.

i feel lost and bewildered.

[SCLaxAttack]

pandemic must be over. tried to go to the shop hq network for the 1 hour 3 layer face mask special. on is dr. sevinor wrinkle solution smoothing serum.

i feel lost and bewildered.

Yep. QVC knows their customers. Those vaccinated don’t really need them, those not vaccinated are too engrossed in demonstrating their freedom to buy them.

[wgdsr]

[CU88]

Anndddd there's another variant of interest

Katelyn Jetelina
Jul 8


Officially it’s called Lambda

It’s been around for a while, as it was first discovered in Peru during the summer of 2020. Lambda started gaining speed in December 2020 and now represents 71% of cases in Peru. It’s been blamed for the recent case loads in South America.


Lambda has also been detected in 27 other countries, including, most recently, the UK and Canada. It has been detected in the United States, but it’s circulating at very low levels for now.

Variant of Interest

On June 15, the World Health Organization named Lambda a Variant of Interest (VOI). They’ve been monitoring it for quite a while, but not until recently has it met official criteria: Lambda is starting to pick up speed and spread quickly across the globe.

A “Variant of Interest” is a less severe classification than “Variant of Concern”. But this doesn’t mean that the WHO isn’t keeping a close on eye on it. If scientists start seeing increased transmissibility or disease severity on a global scale, the WHO will bump up the classification. The escalation of classification is exactly what happened with Delta.

Mutations

There are a number of mutations on Lambda, including 6 changes on the spike protein. We pay attention to spike mutations because the spike is the key to our cells. If the virus is changing the key, we need to know about it.

We are familiar with some of these spike mutations already:

One of the mutations (called T859N) is also on the variant first detected in New York (called Iota; also a Variant of Interest).

Lambda also has a mutation called D614G which is now on almost all the variants. It’s been shown to cause increased transmissibility.

In addition, Lambda has two new mutations that we’ve never seen before: L452Q and F490S. The L452Q change is similar to a mutation on Delta, so we hypothesize that Lambda has increase transmissibility too. Given the novel mutations, laboratory and “real world” studies are desperately needed to see how well our vaccines react to the new changes.

Should we be worried?

In the short-term, probably not, but we are still gathering evidence.

Preliminary evidence showed the possibility of Lambda escaping immunity. Also, on July 1, scientists published a preprint (i.e. not peer reviewed yet) study that found Lambda’s “increased infectivity and immune escape from neutralizing antibodies elicited by CoronaVac”. Basically they found that Lambda could escape the CoronaVac vaccine (a vaccine commonly distributed in Asia).

On the other hand, a study on July 3 reported a relatively minor (3-fold) decrease in neutralizing antibodies when Lambda was introduced to the mRNA vaccines. This means that Pfizer and Moderna’s efficacy is probably decreased “a little but not a lot” and will still offer protection against severe disease. The authors said they’re testing J&J and will have results soon.

There continues to be concern in the long-term, though. One underlying theme throughout all the studies was that this is not a good sign; this virus continues to mutate in a dangerous way and we continue to play with fire. As the authors in the mRNA study stated:

“The results do not preclude the possibility that novel variants will emerge that are more resistant to current vaccines. The findings highlight the importance of wide-spread adoption of vaccination which will protect individuals from disease, decrease virus spread and slow the emergence of novel variants.”

Bottom Line

Pay attention to the broader landscape. High transmission and mutations in Peru directly impacts us. This is, after all, a global pandemic. But I wouldn’t worry about the Lambda headlines just yet. Delta is a far more dangerous, immediate threat to the United States.

Love, YLE

[SCLaxAttack]

Absolutely! The Ad Council would do better with adverts like that.

[jhu72]

Vaccinated individuals produce less dangerous variants than the unvaccinated, it is claimed.

MedRxiv paper.

This is a socially dangerous idea. Scientific evidence for stigmatizing the unvaccinated. This (if confirmed) will strengthen the call for COVID passports and mandatory vaccinations.

[Typical Lax Dad]

4/185 = 2.16%