#coronavirus endemic

[gwarden123]

If anyone is worried about potentially getting COVID, getting vaccinated significantly lowers your chances of getting long COVID by nearly 70%. If you've had two or more doses of a COVID vaccine, you only have a 5% chance of getting long COVID, as opposed to someone who is unvaccinated, who has an 11% chance. So, not nothing, but it's also not an automatic sentence to permanent disability if you do happen to get COVID for any reason.

[recursive360]

⬇LINK⬇

☞ Covid isn’t over, but even the most cautious Americans are moving on...

--The Washington Post, 6/25/23

**😷 | Our Long National [Global] Nightmare. . .**

[suchananewsblog]

It's (Finally) Time to Stop Calling It a Pandemic: Experts

March 17, 2023 — It’s been 3 years since the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 emergency a pandemic. Now, with health systems no longer overwhelmed and more than a year of no surprise variants, many infectious disease experts are declaring a shift in the crisis from pandemic to endemic. Endemic, broadly, means the virus and its patterns are predictable and steady in…

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

Yes, those are basic, broad-spectrum definitions (which don’t exclude Covid as a pandemic, but I digress). Still, you’re missing some key information that makes Covid not yet endemic, though I do think it could be eventually as the mismanagement of the pandemic has allowed the virus to mutate around our protections and develop enough strains to remain in the population. Some experts do think Covid is moving into an endemic stage, and that could be true. But not all experts agree it is at endemicity, and, from the facts, it looks like it might not be there yet.

Firstly, Covid is continuing worldwide. It is crossing international boundaries, it is affecting people on a worldwide scale, and it continues to be incredibly infectious. By your definition (or someone else’s definition, but you have no source there), Covid is still a pandemic.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. This script from the CDC defines a pandemic as “a disease event in which there are more cases of a disease than expected spread over several countries or continents, usually involving person-to-person transmission and affecting a large number of people”. That’s what Covid’s doing. Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health describes it similarly, adding that the World Health Organization “declares a pandemic when a disease’s growth is exponential… and each day cases grow more than the day prior”, also mentioning that the main requirement is “a virus covers a wide area, affecting several countries and populations.” Again, that describes Covid. Exponential growth in cases still occurs, especially when we go through waves like we have recently. Plus, it certainly follows the range requirement.

As for endemicity, Covid is not restricted in one or a few specific areas (like malaria is, for example). The script I mention above includes that in its definition; “Endemic is when cases are generally constant and occur regularly and in a specific location”. Unless your “specific location" is the entire world, Covid doesn’t fit this definition. There is no regional limitation save perhaps Antarctica and the like.

In a 2021 interview with Dr. Yonatan Grad (Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health), he states that Covid becoming endemic “essentially means that… there will be less transmission and much less COVID-19-related hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate”. By that definition, endemicity does sound nice in comparison to a pandemic. The truth of the matter right now, though, is that we’ve been in a wave where CDC-reported Covid-related hospitalizations are only now starting to fall after weeks (and that doesn’t take into account false negatives, counties/regions not reporting data, or hospitalizations from people with Covid-caused complications who are past their infection and so don’t test positive). In addition, hundreds of deaths are still happening weekly. The most recent update, September 16th, reported a 12.5% increase in deaths from the 10th-16th. The corresponding most recent update to the tracker graph had 615 deaths. The lowest point I can find on said tracker graph (other than the very first week of the pandemic) is the week of July 8th of this year (2023), with 473 deaths that week. A controlled endemic disease does not consistently produce hundreds of deaths a week, every week, for over 3 years.

Not convinced? Let’s look at an actual endemic disease: the flu. Waves are predictable, and controlled pretty efficiently. Barring pandemic years which had low spread due to precautions (wow, look at that, protective measures do work against viruses), the CDC report of the 2019-2020 season had an estimated 25,000 deaths. 2018-2019 had an estimated 28,000. This is an example of an endemic disease. Herd immunity works because of relatively efficient vaccines and safe practices, and there’s no out of control mutation that renders those or exposure-gained-immunity meaningless. Deaths are significant, but not out of control. The season followed its patterns.

The current severity of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is prompting hospitals to reinstate mask mandates to protect both staff and patients. Multiple hospitals in the U.S. and Canada have reinstated them in just the last two weeks. The U.S. government is still providing 4 free tests for households who order them. Studies increasingly show the harm a Covid infection does inside the body. This is a serious disease, we’re in a pandemic, and using overwhelmingly broad definitions instead of looking at the facts is neglecting science, your safety, and the safety of others. I hope you reconsider, but, even if you don’t even look at this, it’ll be worth it if even one person realises that the pandemic isn’t over.

“covid is back” my love, it never left. because we are still in a pandemic

[gumjrop]

You might be forgiven for thinking it’s been a very quiet few months for the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides the rollout of new boosters, the coronavirus has largely slipped out of the headlines. But the virus is on the move. Viral levels in wastewater are similar to what they were during the first two waves of the pandemic. Recent coverage of the so-called Pirola variant, which is acknowledged to have “an alarming number of mutations,” led with the headline “Yes, There’s a New Covid Variant. No, You Shouldn’t Panic.”

Even if you haven’t heard much about the new strain of the coronavirus, being told not to panic might induce déjà vu. In late 2021, as the Omicron variant was making its way to the United States, Anthony Fauci told the public that it was “nothing to panic about” and that “we should not be freaking out.” Ashish Jha, the Biden administration’s former Covid czar, also cautioned against undue alarm over Omicron BA.1, claiming that there was “absolutely no reason to panic.” This is a telling claim, given what was to follow—the six weeks of the Omicron BA.1 wave led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in a matter of weeks, a mortality event unprecedented in the history of the republic.

Indeed, experts have been offering the public advice about how to feel about Covid-19 since January 2020, when New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo opined, “Panic will hurt us far more than it’ll help.” That same week, Zeke Emanuel—a former health adviser to the Obama administration, latterly an adviser to the Biden administration—said Americans should “stop panicking and being hysterical.… We are having a little too much [sic] histrionics about this.”

This concern about public panic has been a leitmotif of the Covid-19 pandemic, even earning itself a name (“elite panic”) among some scholars. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned, three and a half years into the current crisis, it’s that—contrary to what the movies taught us—pandemics don’t automatically spawn terror-stricken stampedes in the streets. Media and public health coverage have a strong hand in shaping public response and can—under the wrong circumstances—promote indifference, incaution, and even apathy. A very visible example of this was the sharp drop in the number of people masking after the CDC revised its guidelines in 2021, recommending that masking was not necessary for the vaccinated (from 90 percent in May to 53 percent in September).

As that example suggests, emphasizing the message “don’t panic” puts the cart before the horse unless tangible measures are being taken to prevent panic-worthy outcomes. And indeed, these repeated assurances against panic have arguably also preempted a more vigorous and urgent public health response—as well as perversely increasing public acceptance of the risks posed by coronavirus infection and the unchecked transmission of the virus. This “moral calm”—a sort of manufactured consent—impedes risk mitigation by promoting the underestimation of a threat. Soothing public messaging during disasters can often lead to an increased death toll: Tragically, false reassurance contributed to mortality in both the attacks on the World Trade Center and the sinking of the Titanic.

But at a deeper level, this emphasis on public sentiment has contributed to confusion about the meaning of the term “pandemic.” A pandemic is an epidemiological term, and the meaning is quite specific—pandemics are global and unpredictable in their trajectory; endemic diseases are local and predictable. Despite the end of the Public Health Emergency in May, Covid-19 remains a pandemic, by definition. Yet some experts and public figures have uncritically advanced the idea that if the public appears to be tired, bored, or noncompliant with public health measures, then the pandemic must be over.

But pandemics are impervious to ratings; they cannot be canceled or publicly shamed. History is replete with examples of pandemics that blazed for decades, sometimes smoldering for years before flaring up again into catastrophe. The Black Death (1346–1353 AD), the Antonine Plague (165–180 AD), and the Plague of Justinian (541–549 AD), pandemics all, lacked the quick resolution of the 1918 influenza pandemic. A pandemic cannot tell when the news cycle has moved on.

Yet this misperception—that pandemics can be ended by human fiat—has had remarkable staying power during the current crisis. In November 2021, the former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem claimed that the pandemic response needed to be ended politically, with Americans getting “nudged into the recovery phase” by officials. It is fortunate that Kayyem’s words were not heeded—the Omicron wave arrived in the US just weeks after her article ran—but her basic premise has informed Biden’s pandemic policy ever since.

Perhaps even less responsibly, the physician Steven Phillips has called for “new courageous ‘accept exposure’ policies”—asserting that incautious behavior by Americans would be the true signal of the end of the pandemic. In an essay for Time this January, Phillips wrote: “Here’s my proposed definition: the country will not fully emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic until most people in our diverse nation accept the risk and consequences of exposure to a ubiquitous SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.”

This claim—that more disease risk and contagion means the end of a disease event—runs contrary to the science. Many have claimed that widespread SARS-CoV-2 infections will lead to increasingly mild disease that poses fewer concerns for an increasingly vaccinated (or previously infected) population. In fact, more disease spread means faster evolution for SARS-CoV-2, and greater risks for public health. As we (A.C. and collaborators) and others have pointed out, rapid evolution creates the risk of novel variants with unpredictable severity. It also threatens the means that we have to prevent and treat Covid-19: monoclonal antibody treatments no longer work, Paxlovid is showing signs of viral resistance, and booster strategy is complicated by viral evolution of resistance to vaccines.

But these efforts to manage and direct public feelings are not just more magical thinking; they are specifically intended to promote a return to pre-pandemic patterns of work and consumption. This motive was articulated explicitly in a McKinsey white paper from March 2022, which put forward the invented concept of “economic endemicity”—defined as occurring when “epidemiology substantially decouples from economic activity.” The “Urgency of Normal” movement similarly used an emotional message (that an “urgent return to fully normal life and schooling” is needed to “protect” children) to advocate for the near-total abandonment of disease containment measures. But in the absence of disease control measures, a rebound of economic activity can only lead to a rebound of disease. (This outcome was predicted by a team that was led by one of the authors [A.C.] in the spring of 2021.)

A pandemic is a public health crisis, not a public relations crisis. Conflating the spread of a disease with the way people feel about responding to that spread is deeply illogical—yet a great deal of the Biden administration’s management of Covid-19 has rested on this confusion. Joe Biden amplified this mistaken perspective last September when he noted that the pandemic was “over”—and then backed that claim by stating, “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.” The presence or absence of health behaviors reveals little about a threat to health itself, of course—and a decline in mask use has been shaped, in part, by the Biden administration’s waning support for masking.

Separately, long Covid poses an ongoing threat both at an individual and a public health level. If our increasingly relaxed attitude toward public health measures and the relatively unchecked spread of the virus continue, most people will get Covid at least once a year; one in five infections leads to long Covid. Although it’s not talked about a lot, anyone can get long Covid; vaccines reduce this risk, but only modestly. This math gets really ugly.

The situation we are in today was predictable. It was predictable that the virus would rapidly evolve to evade the immune system, that natural immunity would wane quickly and unevenly in the population, that a vaccine-only strategy would not be sufficient to control widespread Covid-19 transmission through herd immunity, and that reopening too quickly would lead to a variant-driven rebound. All of these unfortunate outcomes were predicted in peer-reviewed literature in 2020–21 by a team led by one of the authors (A.C.), even though the soothing public messaging at the time called it very differently.

As should now be very clear, we cannot manifest our way to a good outcome. Concrete interventions are required—including improvements in air quality and other measures aimed at limiting spread in public buildings, more research into vaccine boosting strategy, and investments in next-generation prophylactics and treatments. Rather than damping down panic, public health messaging needs to discuss risks honestly and focus on reducing spread. Despite messages to the contrary, our situation remains unstable, because the virus continues to evolve rapidly, and vaccines alone cannot slow this evolution.

In the early months of the pandemic, many in the media drew parallels between the public’s response to Covid-19 and the well-known “stages of grief”: denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance. The current situation with Covid-19 calls for solutions, not a grieving process that should be hustled along to the final stage of acceptance.

[theculturedmarxist]

There is a huge lobby for normalization of SARS Cov 2. Entire industries depend on the public’s return to normal consumer and working behaviors. As such, the rationalizations and reassurances to the public that SARS Cov 2 is a normal seasonal Coronavirus are relentless. These are constructed like homilies and catch-phrases, such as “we must learn to live with it,” and, “it’s endemic,” with the implication of its endemicity referring to the abandonment of efforts which acknowledge its existence, such as testing.

It is a complete misconception that introduction of a virus to the immune system makes subsequent infections like a common cold, and that virulence is due to novelty. If nerves, organs, and immune systems could speak, they would tell a tale of exceptional inflammation, aging, and death, which we must turn to science to hear. Professor Fuhrer would be taken aback to find there are efforts to examine specific mechanisms which tell another tale than his own.

Here, I will give you, the reader, clear enumerations where SARS Cov 2 is unlike a common cold.

SARS Cov 2 triggers a unique, long-lived inflammatory overreaction unseen in Sepsis and influenza. https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-023-01227-x

It caused cells of the immune system to react in a way to create further inflammation and activation of the immune system for an extended amount of time. For technical facets of this, please see the paper.

SARS Cov 2 sends T cells into the brain while lethal influenza does not.

SARS Cov 2 directly causes autoimmunity by reprogramming a special type of T cell called the T regulatory cell, which has never been observed before. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.589380/full

The human genetic line has not propagated any sarbecovirus elements therefore never has faced Sarbecovirus infection to the extent to evolutionarily adapt, except in the unlikely theoretical possibility of extremely negative selection (meaning infected humans did not create progeny.)

There are more exceptional facets but these are simple and digestible. There is also more to write about but I must make a confession. The status quo has morphed in such a way as to browbeat scientists into disavowing a harsh reality in order to acquiesce to corporate and business interests. As we see the average life expectancy decline, we have been left intellectually out in the cold. The truth tellers have been assaulted and crushed, and the individuals that comprise the public, in denial, will put off the realization of a below 70s life expectancy until each one approaches retirement in piecemeal, just as all the grains of sand in an hourglass do not fall at once.

[partisan-by-default]

A covid uptick is here. Good luck finding a free test.

The United States is experiencing abump in coronavirus transmission for the first time since the public health emergency ended in May, exposing the challenges of avoiding the virus when free testing is no longer widely accessible.

The Biden administration stopped mailing test kits to households in June. The ones Americans stockpiled over the last year and a half are expiring. Major insurers no longer payfor over-the-counter tests once the requirement to do so ended with the emergency declaration.

As a result, those who still factor covid into their daily lives are weighing whether it’s worth roughly $12 to test for every sniffle and scratchy throat and every visit to grandma. The costs quickly add up for larger families and for people who’ve contracted covid intent on protecting others by following federal guidelines to test repeatedly to end isolation and masking.

This new landscape for testing presents one of the starkest examples of living in a society that treats covid as any other endemic respiratory virus.In a nation with widespread immunity, most covid infections are mild with a greater danger to the elderly and severely immunocompromised.

[atlanticcanada]

Maritimers welcome lifting of COVID-19 as international emergency

The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 global health emergency is over and as the news spreads, those in the Maritimes are reacting with a feeling of relief and a sense of optimism.

"It reflects what we are seeing in our region and in our own provinces and the country, that we are moving in a period of transition towards a time when we are really managing COVID-19 long term," says Dr. Heather Morrison, the chief medical officer of health for Prince Edward Island.  "But it is one of the health issues that we will be dealing with, but it is no longer a health emergency in the same way as it was."

The transition out of the pandemic represents a significant milestone moment but is tempered by a sense of loss, at last count 1, 832 Maritimers died from the virus.

New Brunswick has reported 879 deaths due to COVID-19, while Nova Scotia has recorded 853 deaths and PEI has counted 100 deaths.

New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health said the province welcomes the WHO's declaration and calls it an important moment in the global response to the virus.

"We know this is an important moment in the global response to the novel coronavirus, and signifies another important step in the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Jennifer Russell.

"However, it’s important to remember that while the emergency may be over, COVID-19 is still circulating in our communities and is still a significant health risk to many New Brunswickers."

At one time, the Maritime region was the envy of other jurisdictions and celebrated both nationally and internationally as a leader in the handling of the pandemic, and limiting the spread of the virus.

The virus has impacted our daily lives and the economy greatly has great suffered but despite the virus no longer posing as a global emergency, the virus is still around and continues to spread.

Infections, hospitalization and deaths are still occurring from the virus but not at the same levels we once saw at the height on the pandemic.

"We are moving into a period of what we call endemic, meaning there will be a certain level of virus circulating, just as we see other viruses circulate in our community," said Morrison.

We have learned a lot over the last three years about the virus said Dr. Morrison and it's important to keep track of that and the lessons learned, to be prepared for the next health emergency.

Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said Nova Scotians have done what was needed to keep each other safe throughout the pandemic and reduce the impact of COVID-19.

"Today’s news from the World Health Organization is very welcomed," said Dr. Strang. "While this is a historical moment, it doesn’t mean COVID-19 is gone. We need to continue to take the necessary measures to protect one another. The best thing you can do is stay up to date on your vaccines."

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/SWZv81t

[sleepysera]

12.11.22 Headlines

WORLD NEWS

Kosovo: Roads blocked as violence between Serb protesters and police continue (BBC)

“Serb protesters in northern Kosovo blocked roads for a second day on Sunday following an exchange of fire with police. Trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads leading to two border crossings with Serbia. Longstanding tensions between authorities and Kosovo's Serb minority have been rising in recent weeks.”

Russia: Putin says Russia could adopt US preemptive strike concept (AP)

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow could adopt what he described as a U.S. concept of using preemptive military strikes, noting it has the weapons to do the job, in a blunt statement amid rising Russia-NATO tensions over Ukraine.”

Peru: President asks Cabinet to take anti-corruption pledge (AP)

“Peru’s newest president, Dina Boluarte, swore in her Cabinet on Saturday just three days after becoming the country’s first female head of state and asked each minister to pledge not to be corrupt while in office. The 17 ministers picked by Boluarte, who on Wednesday was elevated from vice president to replace the ousted Pedro Castillo as the country’s leader, will be key to further inflaming or calming a South American country experiencing a seemingly endemic political crisis.”

US NEWS

Covid-19: Hospitalizations signal rising Covid-19 risk for US seniors (AP)

“Coronavirus-related hospital admissions are climbing again in the United States, with older adults a growing share of U.S. deaths and less than half of nursing home residents up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Hawaii: Scientists lower alert for Mauna Loa, say eruption could end (AP)

“Scientists lowered the alert level for the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island from a warning to a watch on Saturday and said the mountain’s first eruption in nearly 40 years may soon end.”

NASA: Orion capsule blazes home from test flight to moon (AP)

“NASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight that should clear the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby.”

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

You're right, we aren't "post covid." But we are post-pandemic. "Approaching 2020 levels" means it's actually dropping. Substantially. And while there have been some resurgences (July 31st saw a peak of around 706,000 cases), and none of this erases that there are still ~89,000 people suffering from it globally, that is a tiny fraction of ~44,240,000 who had it at its peak.

None of this is to say that we should be completely ignoring it, that there's no point getting the latest vaccines when they come out or wearing a mask if you feel sick. But those are things we should be doing anyways, even with things like the cold. Seasonal Influenza infects around a billion each year and leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths, far more than COVID has done this last year (though we haven't hit winter yet, and so can't give a full count for COVID this year).

It's unlikely COVID will ever go away. Even before the pandemic fully kicked off, virologists were predicting that it would become an endemic disease, one that comes and goes in waves much like the common cold does now. Anecdotally, this would likely be the case even if there were no anti-vaxxers. I got both my initial shots and the boosters, and have had COVID three times. The mutation rate of viruses makes them all but impossible to fully eliminate. So we will likely never have a post-COVID world. It's yet another issue we'll just have to deal with.

But "deal with" is a key phrase here. I'd hate to end on a hopeless note, and even if the frustration @brinnanza and thousands of others have expressed is missing some context, it is still a very useful resource for society to have. And infinitely better than sinking into the sea of "post-COVID" complacency. So, what can we do about it?

Honestly, the advice remains largely the same as it did during the pandemic, sans lockdowns and government mask mandates. If you're feeling sick, and have the option to stay at home, do so or wear a mask. If you notice that you're experiencing symptoms, get tested and report positive cases. Remind people that COVID isn't fully gone, and encourage friends and family to wear masks when they feel sick too! Even if it's not COVID, limiting the spread of any disease is a great goal. And wearing a mask is a small way of promoting a culture of conscientiousness, where we all pay a little more attention to how we effect others.

I should receive financial compensation every time someone says "post covid" we aren't post shit cases are ramping up so high we are approaching 2020 levels and people are becoming permanently disabled by long covid every goddamn day "post covid" you're about to experience post LIFE

[rikaklassen]

CW: discussion of the ongoing SARS-COV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Not happy about the CDC's decision to end any and all isolation guidelines. The recommendations are anti-science and anti-worker in the interests of the capitalist class. It's appalling business owners in the US (and Canada) rather chase profits of the next quarter rather than think about the long-term consequences of a labour force that is too disabled to work.

It's mind-blowing there haven't been a clean air revolution yet. Yes, we may not be able to do much about SARS-CoV-2 being endemic and constantly mutating; but there are some things we can do like better filtration, better air circulation, ceiling UV-C light disinfections, providing free or subsidized masks and respirators, paid sick leaves and so on. The working class deserves better and safer working conditions. And they should demand those.

While I may be Canadian and our recommendations are separate from American's, my best friend works in the service industry, more specifically, bars and restaurants, and many Americans cross the border for a myriad of reasons. And she is much closer to the border than I am.

I am really trying my best to make sure my friend is safe. She already has been reinfected a few times, and each time increases the risk of long COVID (eg. chronic fatigue, brain fog), cardiovascular disorders and other adverse health effects. I try to make sure she has the equipment she needs to mitigate reinfections, the safety net to take time off from work if necessary in the event of a reinfection. For her to attend and study at polytech acquiring a specialized skill so she could find a safer workplace.

Bestie deserves the world. It saddens me entitled customers, business owners, politicians, corporations and bureaucrats see her and many others as disposable. She deserves all the opportunities. Everything. The whole bakery.

I already send all of my paycheques and deposits to bestie. Every single penny I have. I shouldn't. She never asked; and she asked me to take care of myself first. But I gave her my words, and within my social circles, saying you will do something is taken very seriously and is seen as a promise. People will actually remind if you have said something and hold you to your words, even if you did not intend to make a promise in the first place.

I do give her everything I have anyway because my anxieties go away and I get peace of mind. Otherwise I just stay up all night ruminating.

People are tired of me constantly plugging PayPal, but here is her link: paypal.me/bglamours.

You're not obligated to donate. I will send anything I earned or received from families and the government to her regardless. But I have to try everything.

[12nb34]

📆 10 Nov 2021 📰 Pre-existing polymerase-specific T cells expand in abortive seronegative SARS-CoV-2

Individuals with potential exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) do not necessarily develop PCR or antibody positivity, suggesting that some individuals may clear subclinical infection before seroconversion. T cells can contribute to the rapid clearance of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus infections1,2,3. Here we hypothesize that pre-existing memory T cell responses, with cross-protective potential against SARS-CoV-2 (refs. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11), would expand in vivo to support rapid viral control, aborting infection.

We measured SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells, including those against the early transcribed replication–transcription complex (RTC)12,13, in intensively monitored healthcare workers (HCWs) who tested repeatedly negative according to PCR, antibody binding and neutralization assays (seronegative HCWs (SN-HCWs)). SN-HCWs had stronger, more multispecific memory T cells compared with a cohort of unexposed individuals from before the pandemic (prepandemic cohort), and these cells were more frequently directed against the RTC than the structural-protein-dominated responses observed after detectable infection (matched concurrent cohort).

SN-HCWs with the strongest RTC-specific T cells had an increase in IFI27, a robust early innate signature of SARS-CoV-2 (ref. 14), suggesting abortive infection. RNA polymerase within RTC was the largest region of high sequence conservation across human seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV) and SARS-CoV-2 clades. RNA polymerase was preferentially targeted (among the regions tested) by T cells from prepandemic cohorts and SN-HCWs. RTC-epitope-specific T cells that cross-recognized HCoV variants were identified in SN-HCWs. Enriched pre-existing RNA-polymerase-specific T cells expanded in vivo to preferentially accumulate in the memory response after putative abortive compared to overt SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our data highlight RTC-specific T cells as targets for vaccines against endemic and emerging Coronaviridae.

There is wide variability in the outcome of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, ranging from severe illness to asymptomatic infection, to those individuals who remain negative according to standard diagnostic tests. Recent studies have identified SARS-CoV-2 T cell reactivity in prepandemic samples5,6,7,8,9,10,11,15,16,17,18 and isolated cases of exposed individuals who have not seroconverted with single-time-point screening4,16,19,20,21,22. We studied an intensively monitored cohort of HCWs with potential exposure during the first UK pandemic wave (23 March 2020), comparing those with or without PCR and/or antibody evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

We postulated that, in HCWs for whom PCR and the most sensitive binding and neutralizing antibody tests remained repeatedly negative (SN-HCWs), T cell assays might distinguish a subset of SN-HCWs with a subclinical, rapidly terminated (abortive) infection. We hypothesized that these individuals would exhibit pre-existing memory T cells with cross-reactive potential, obviating the time required for de novo T cell priming and clonal expansion.

In SN-HCWs, and in an additionally recruited cohort of medical students and laboratory staff with stored prepandemic samples that remained seronegative after close contact with cases, we had the opportunity to compare SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells with those that were already present in the same individual before, or at the time of, potential exposure.

We included an analysis of the understudied T cells directed against the core RTC within open reading frame 1ab (ORF1ab) (RNA polymerase co-factor non-structural protein 7 (NSP7), RNA polymerase NSP12 and helicase NSP13, hereafter the RTC); these are putative targets for pre-existing responses with pan-Coronaviridae reactivity, because they are likely to be highly conserved due to their key early roles in the viral life cycle.

Consistent with this, in cases in which immunity against other viruses (including hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV and Japaneses encephalitis virus (JEV)) has been described in exposed seronegative individuals, T cells were more likely to target non-structural proteins, such as polymerase, compared with in individuals with a seropositive infection23,24,25,26,27.

[cakepursuedbyabear]

While, yes, the coronavirus could be considered endemic now, the pandemic isn’t actually over. The global health emergency associated with the disease ended, but the global spread and the continued emergence of new variants keep it classified as a pandemic.

Basically, the major regulatory agencies worldwide have decided that COVID is no longer an emergency but that there are still enough worldwide cases and uncertainty for it to be at the same epidemiological level as the flu.

this moderna commercial just went "the pandemic may be over, but covid 19 isnt going anywhere. covid is still among the top 5 leading causes of death"... wow... its almost like the pandemic isnt over.

[qocsuing]

Shanghai Residents Back to Work as China Limps Towards Living With COVID

Shanghai Residents Back to Work as China Limps Towards Living With COVID

Mask-wearing Beijing and Shanghai commuters crowded subway trains on Monday, with China's two biggest cities edging closer to living with COVID-19, as millions have been infected with the largely unchecked virus across the country.To get more news about citynews service, you can citynewsservice.cn official website.

After three years of ruthless anti-coronavirus curbs, President Xi Jinping scrapped the country's zero-COVID policy of lockdowns and relentless testing this month in the face of protests and a widening outbreak.

Health experts and residents worry that China's statistics, which show no new COVID deaths reported for the six days through Sunday, do not reflect the actual number of fatalities, and that the country's fragile health system is being overwhelmed.After the initial shock of the policy U-turn, and a few weeks in which people in Beijing and Shanghai stayed indoors, either dealing with the disease or trying to avoid it, there are signs that life is on track to returning closer to normal.

Subway trains in Beijing and Shanghai were packed, while some major traffic arteries in the two cities were jammed with slow-moving cars on Monday as residents commuted to work.

"I am prepared to live with the pandemic," said 25-year-old Shanghai resident Lin Zixin. "Lockdowns are not a long-term solution."

This year, in an effort to prevent infections from spiraling out of control across the country, the 25 million people in China's commercial hub endured two months of bitter isolation under a strict lockdown that lasted until June 1.

Shanghai's lively streets were a sharp contrast with the atmosphere in April and May, when hardly anyone could be seen outside.

An annual Christmas market held at the Bund, a commercial area in Shanghai, was popular with city residents over the weekend. Crowds thronged the winter festive season at Shanghai Disneyland and Beijing's Universal Studios on Sunday, queuing up for rides in Christmas-themed outfits. The number of trips to scenic spots in the southern city of Guangzhou this weekend increased by 132% from last weekend, local newspaper The 21st Century Business Herald reported.

"Now basically everyone has returned to a normal routine," said a 29-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Han. "The tense atmosphere has passed."

China is the last major country to move toward treating COVID as endemic. Its containment measures had slowed the $17-trillion economy to its lowest growth rate in nearly half a century, disrupting global supply chains and trade.

The world's second-largest economy is expected to suffer further in the short-term, as the COVID wave spreads toward manufacturing areas and workforces fall ill, before bouncing back next year, analysts say.

Tesla suspended production at its Shanghai plant on Saturday, bringing ahead a plan to pause most work at the plant in the last week of December. The company did not give a reason.

[chemdyestuffs]

Fluorescence Influence In The Pigments Industry

It is generally understood that fluorescent pigments are those pigments capable of absorbing electromagnetic waves and radiation of both visible and non-visible wavelengths. They can also emit that energy rapidly according to the expected or desired wavelengths. These pigments usually provide a shining in a highly specific color when the light of the expected wavelength is discharged on them.

To name a few, fluorescent pigments have been used in a variety of commercial applications, including paints, coatings, inks, and textiles. Commercially, fluorescent pigments can be segmented into two types; organic and inorganic, which can be synthesized from various sources.

Organic fluorescent pigments are often synthesized through natural and synthetic raw materials. On the contrary, inorganic fluorescent pigments are synthesized with the combination of different metal oxides. Both organic and inorganic fluorescent pigments are available in powder and dispersion form and can be tailor-made depending on the end-user industry needs.

The fluorescent pigments can withstand harsh environmental conditions, high temperatures, heat resistance, and different chemicals, thereby meeting the demands of the ever-growing and demanding applications. These kinds of attributes help the adoption of fluorescent pigments in a wide range of applications. These fluorescent pigments have also been adopted as a colorant for engineering plastics in the automotive industry. 

Impact of COVID-19 on This Market

As reported by a Fluorescent Pigments Market, the coronavirus outbreak broadly impacted the Fluorescent Pigments industry. COVID-19 has been endemic in nearly 180+ countries since December 2019 and has been classified as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Fluorescent Pigments market is widely affected by this pandemic in the past years 2020 and 2021. 

By the end of the global forecast period, fluorescent pigment is expected to help the market grow at a CAGR of 6% in 2023. Fluorescent pigments are specialty color pigments that can be used wherever there is a great demand for drawing attention to products. 

Global Fluorescent Pigment Market Analysis and Insights

Fluorescent Pigment is a material that is luminescent and produces fluorescent light without using any artificial energy. A fluorescent pigment is a combination of dyed organic polymers that are used as solvents to dissolve fluorescent dyes. The fluorescent glow arises from the fact that, as opposed to ordinary colors. Fluorescent colors emit light that combines with the light reflected by reflection.

DayGlo (RPM International), Radiant (RPM International), and UKSEUNG are some of the largest producers in this industry that accounted for 26.04%, 9.91%, and 7.86% of revenue later in 2019, respectively. The global Fluorescent Pigment market was estimated at $293.2 million in 2020 and is expected to grow by $559.7 million in 2027, growing a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period (2021-2027).

Global Fluorescent Pigment Market: Drivers and Restraint

With regards to the drivers, we can observe a growing demand for fluorescent pigments which is a key factor in enhancing the scope of growth. At the same time, we can observe significant challenges in handling and processing fluorescent pigments concerning some restraints and the emergence of cutting-edge technologies. 

Fluorescent Pigment Market Dynamics

There has been a noticeable growth in the fluorescent pigment industry in the past recent years and is expected to grow consistently this way in the next 8–10 years. In addition to the growing paint and coatings industry and the various applications it has in different end-use industries, the construction industry, textiles industry, plastics industry, and building materials industry are driving the fluorescent pigment market.

Moreover, manufacturers of fluorescent pigments around the world are increasing their use of functional pigments, colorants, and extenders to formulate pigments that can be adopted by a wide range of industries. And it is expected that the demand for fluorescent pigments will continue to expand in growing countries, like India and China.

The fluorescent pigments can also be used in the automotive segment with great strengths and durable properties. Especially in emerging countries such as India and China, the automotive industry and the coatings and plastics industry are prospering at a faster pace, which explains the reasons for the increasing consumption of fluorescent pigment in these countries.

However, fluorescent pigments can not be adopted globally due to their adverse & negative environmental effects.

Fluorescent Pigment Market: Segmentation

The fluorescent pigment market can be segmented on the basis of state:

Aqueous

Powder

The fluorescent pigment market can be segmented depending on the product type:

Organic

Inorganic

The fluorescent pigment market can be categorized further based on application:

Paint & coatings

Plastic

Construction

Textiles

Inks

Others

Taking Away

Thus, the demand for fluorescent pigments in the pigment industry will continue to grow in the upcoming years. It is no surprise that fluorescent pigment consumption will continue to expand in the automotive, coatings, and plastic industries in emerging economies like India and China. The research report shows a comprehensive market assessment and includes meaningful insights, facts, and market data validated by the industry. 

If you have any questions or need more information on the industry uses and benefits of fluorescent pigment, feel free to contact us. 

[thewitfire]

पैंडेमिक को एंडेमिक में बदलते समय में क्या होगा?

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