#Coronavirus Outbreak News

[newbussinessideas]

CVS beats on earnings and revenue but lowers profit outlook

CVS Health on Wednesday reported first-quarter results that beat earnings and revenue expectations, but the company lowered its full-year profit guidance due to costs related to recent acquisitions. The company’s shares fell more than 2% on Wednesday. Here’s what CVS reported compared with Wall Street’s expectations, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv: Earnings per share: $2.20 adjusted,…

[srilanka1234]

China says restrictions on its travellers abroad discriminatory: Warns countermeasures

[newscast1]

Taiwan offers support to China to deal with deadly Covid outbreak

Taiwan offers support to China to deal with deadly Covid outbreak

Taiwan has announced its decision to offer support to China to deal with the deadly Covid outbreak. Taiwan and China have repeatedly sparred over their respective measures to control the spread of Covid. New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 1, 2023 11:50 IST A patient with Covid rests in a wheelchair in a hallway at Tangshan Gongren Hospital in China’s northeastern city of Tangshan. (Photo: AFP) By India…

[asikomecom]

Omicron boosters are 84% effective at keeping seniors from being hospitalized with Covid, CDC says - CNBC

Omicron boosters are 84% effective at keeping seniors from being hospitalized with Covid, CDC says – CNBC

The latest omicron boosters are 84% effective at keeping seniors 65 and older from being hospitalized with Covid-19 compared with the unvaccinated, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday. And seniors who received the omicron booster had 73% more protection against hospitalization than those who only received two or more doses of the… Read more

[reportwire]

China scraps virus tracking app as country braces for Covid impact | CNN

China scraps virus tracking app as country braces for Covid impact | CNN

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here. Beijing CNN  —  China is bracing for an unprecendented wave of Covid-19 cases as it dismantles large parts of its repressive zero-Covid policy, with a leading expert warning…

[entertainmentusanewstoday]

As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead | CNN

As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead | CNN

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here. Hong Kong CNN  —  China’s zero-Covid policy, which stalled the world’s second-largest economy and sparked a wave of unprecedented protests, is now being dismantled…

[usaitbari]

CDC will test sewage for polio outside New York to see if it's circulating elsewhere in nation

CDC will test sewage for polio outside New York to see if it’s circulating elsewhere in nation

The U.S. will expand polio wastewater surveillance to communities with low vaccination rates outside the New York City metro area, after an outbreak over the summer left an unvaccinated adult paralyzed and raised questions about how widely the virus may be circulating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a statement Wednesday, said it will initially work with health officials in…

[amreshsakolkar18-blog]

As flu hospitalizations surge in the U.S., the Southeast is the hardest hit

As flu hospitalizations surge in the U.S., the Southeast is the hardest hit

Enbal Sabag, a Nurse Practitioner, prepares a flu vaccination for a patient at the CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic on September 03, 2020 in Key Biscayne, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Flu hospitalizations have surged to a decade high in the U.S. with the Southeast the hardest region right now. Five out every 100,000 people in the U.S. were hospitalized with the flu during the week ending Nov.…

[tomorrowusa]

Four years ago today (March 13th), then President Donald Trump got around to declaring a national state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration had been downplaying the danger to the United States for 51 days since the first US infection was confirmed on January 22nd.

From an ABC News article dated 25 February 2020...

CDC warns Americans of 'significant disruption' from coronavirus

Until now, health officials said they'd hoped to prevent community spread in the United States. But following community transmissions in Italy, Iran and South Korea, health officials believe the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a "significant disruption." This comes in contrast to statements from the Trump administration. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday the threat to the United States from coronavirus "remains low," despite the White House seeking $1.25 billion in emergency funding to combat the virus. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC’s Kelly Evans on “The Exchange” Tuesday evening, "We have contained the virus very well here in the U.S." [ ... ] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request "long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency." She also accused President Trump of leaving "critical positions in charge of managing pandemics at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security vacant." "The president's most recent budget called for slashing funding for the Centers for Disease Control, which is on the front lines of this emergency. And now, he is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check," Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Our state and local governments need serious funding to be ready to respond effectively to any outbreak in the United States. The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities." She added that lawmakers in the House of Representatives "will swiftly advance a strong, strategic funding package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called the Trump administration's request "too little too late." "That President Trump is trying to steal funds dedicated to fight Ebola -- which is still considered an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- is indicative of his towering incompetence and further proof that he and his administration aren't taking the coronavirus crisis as seriously as they need to be," Schumer said in a statement.

A reminder that Trump had been leaving many positions vacant – part of a Republican strategy to undermine the federal government.

Here's a picture from that ABC piece from a nearly empty restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. The screen displays a Trump tweet still downplaying COVID-19 with him seeming more concerned about the effect of the Dow Jones on his re-election bid.

People were not buying Trump's claims but they were buying PPE.

I took this picture at CVS on February 26th that year.

The stock market which Trump in his February tweet claimed looked "very good" was tanking on March 12th – the day before his state of emergency declaration.

Trump succeeded in sending the US economy into recession much faster than George W. Bush did at the end of his term – quite a feat!. (As an aside, every recession in the US since 1981 has been triggered by Republican presidents.)

Of course Trump never stopped trying to downplay the pandemic nor did he ever take responsibility for it. The US ended up with the highest per capita death rate of any technologically advanced country.

Precious time was lost while Trump dawdled. Orange on this map indicates COVID infections while red indicates COVID deaths. At the time Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus had already spread to 49 states.

The United States could have done far better and it certainly had the tools to do so.

The Obama administration had limited the number of US cases of Ebola to under one dozen during that pandemic in the 2010s. Based on their success, they compiled a guide on how the federal government could limit future pandemics.

Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm

Of course Trump ignored it.

Unlike those boxes of nuclear secrets in Trump's bathroom, the Obama pandemic limitation document is not classified. Anybody can read it – even if Trump didn't. This copy comes from the Stanford University Libraries.

TOWARDS EPIDEMIC PREDICTION: FEDERAL EFFORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUTBREAK MODELING

Feel free to share this post with anybody who still feels nostalgic about the Trump White House years!

[covid-safer-hotties]

They develop a mask that lights up when it detects the Coronavirus. It would signify great progress in case detection - Published Aug 5, 2024

Scientists at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are trying to apply the technology that worked to fight other diseases to this pandemic.

This invention could help stop the spread of COVID-19. A team of scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) develop a mask that glows when contaminated by the new coronavirus. It would greatly help in the fight against this global pandemic.

According to Business Insider, in 2014, the MIT bioengineering laboratory began to develop sensors to detect the Ebola virus when it underwent lyophilization (a dehydration process) on a piece of paper. This same technology was adapted to address the Zika virus outbreak.

Again, as part of their work on this subject, they’re conducting research to be able to help in the COVID-19 pandemic. In this case, they hope to create a mask that can produce a fluorescent color to identify the coronavirus. If successful, it would help complement current virus detection methods.

“As we open up our transit system, you could envision it being used in airports as we go through security, as we wait to get on a plane,” said Jim Collins, head of the MIT lab, in conversation with Business Insider.

“You or I could use it on the way to and from work. Hospitals could use it for patients as they come in or wait in the waiting room as a pre-screen of who’s infected” he added.

This could greatly facilitate the work of doctors in the midst of this pandemic. One of the peculiarities of this coronavirus, unlike previous outbreaks, is the lack of symptoms in patients that test positive, making contagion easier for those who think they’re healthy when in reality they’re just asymptomatic. Also, it would make the detection of cases much quicker.

For now, it’s just in the first phase – although expectations are very high. They hope to develop the detector’s design in a way in which the sensors can be embedded into any mask.

They hope to show in the coming weeks that this method works. “Once we’re in that stage, then it would be a matter setting up trials with individuals expected to be infected to see if it would work in a real-world setting,” Collins said.

It would just be a matter of adapting the sensors to this new coronavirus, since in 2018 this technology was able to detect the viruses that cause SARS, measles, influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile, in addition to other diseases.

“We initially did this on paper to create inexpensive paper-based diagnostics,” Collins said. “We’ve shown it can work on plastic, quartz, as well as cloth.”

The COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be part of a long process, which is still far from over. However, this mask could help lower the rate of contagion around the world.

[newscast1]

China censors report on this city seeing half a million Covid cases a day

China censors report on this city seeing half a million Covid cases a day

Amid the reports of crematoriums being flooded with bodies and hospitals running out of space, a Chinese health official claimed that half a million people in Qingdao city are being infected with Covid every day. New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 24, 2022 12:16 IST Patients lie on their beds at Central Hospital in Zhuozhou city in northern China’s Hebei province on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. Nearly three…

[good-old-gossip]

“I never imagined I would give birth to my first child away from home and surrounded by air strikes,” Israa, a young mother in Gaza told Middle East Eye. Soon after giving birth, Israa said, her family was forced to share a small room with over 17 people, which led to Israa catching the coronavirus, which was then passed on to her newborn. “Instead of embracing my little child, I had to leave him in the incubator, looking at him far from the window for almost two weeks. Those were the worst days in my whole life.” Displaced Palestinians are also being squeezed into ever-tighter areas of the tiny coastal enclave, prompting outbreaks of illness and disease, to which malnourished children are particularly vulnerable. With Palestinians enduring increasingly dire conditions, the most basic of acts for new parents, such as changing a child’s nappy, have become a luxury, with many mothers and carers resorting to using cloth diapers. Safe pregnancies and births have become entirely unfeasible in Gaza due to incessant Israeli bombing. In December, just three months into the conflict, the International Rescue Committee said there were at least 155,000 pregnant or breast-feeding mothers in Gaza who were at high risk of malnutrition.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Middle East Eye (@middleeasteye)

[reportwire]

As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead | CNN

As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead | CNN

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here. Hong Kong CNN  —  China’s zero-Covid policy, which stalled the world’s second-largest economy and sparked a wave of unprecedented protests, is now being dismantled…

[turtlesandfrogs]

Hopeful covid news for once!

"In total, the team obtained six antibodies that could neutralize multiple coronaviruses, including COVID-19, its variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron, the original SARS virus, along with multiple other animal coronaviruses transmitted from bats and pangolins...

The researchers found that the most powerful antibody, named E7, was able to neutralize both SARS and COVID-19, animal sarbecoviruses, as well as new COVID-19 variants, such as Omicron XBB.1.16.

E7 was shown to target a region of the coronavirus’ spike protein and blocked the shape-shifting process the virus requires to infect cells and cause illness, the study notes.

“The (neutralizing) potency and breadth of the E7 antibody exceeded any other SARS-related coronavirus antibodies we’ve come across,” said Chia.

“It maintained activity against even the newest Omicron subvariants, while most other antibodies lose effectiveness.”The researchers found that the most powerful antibody, named E7, was able to neutralize both SARS and COVID-19, animal sarbecoviruses, as well as new COVID-19 variants, such as Omicron XBB.1.16.

E7 was shown to target a region of the coronavirus’ spike protein and blocked the shape-shifting process the virus requires to infect cells and cause illness, the study notes.

“The (neutralizing) potency and breadth of the E7 antibody exceeded any other SARS-related coronavirus antibodies we’ve come across,” said Chia.

“It maintained activity against even the newest Omicron subvariants, while most other antibodies lose effectiveness.”

[usaitbari]

Fauci says China has done a bad job of vaccinating the elderly and their shots are not very effective against Covid

Fauci says China has done a bad job of vaccinating the elderly and their shots are not very effective against Covid

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing to discuss President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget request for the National Institute of Health on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 17, 2022. Anna Rose Layden | Pool | Reuters Dr.…