Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Nation proves Omicron lockdowns don’t work
Neighbouring nations have fared little differently but have seen far fewer restrictions on daily life.
Residents of the Netherlands must now be wondering if all the pain of stay at home orders and cancelled or scaled back Christmas celebrations with the family were all worth it.
The lockdown was due to end this weekend. However with cases reaching 35,000 a day on Friday and the seven-day average marching ever upwards there are fears any relaxation of rules could result in an even steeper surge.
“The amount of infections is taking on British proportions,” epidemiologist Marino van Zelst told the website Politico.
That’s not entirely the case – Holland is still faring better on many metrics.
The UK has been recording daily cases around the 140,000 mark and its rate of infection for every million people stands at 2513 according to website Our World in Data.
The Netherlands has an average of 25,300 cases a day which is an infection rate of 1598 cases per million people.
But cases in the UK appear to be falling – or at least slowing – while in Holland they’re shooting on up.
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Most Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in New Jersey Admitted for Non-COVID Reasons: Officials
The majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey were actually admitted for reasons other than COVID-19, officials said on Jan. 10.
Of the 6,075 people with COVID-19 and hospitalized in the state, just 2,963 were admitted for COVID-19, New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said during a briefing.
“We have a fair number of what I’ve started to call COVID incidental, or incidental COVID, meaning you went in because you broke your leg, but everyone’s getting tested and it turns out you’ve got COVID. You didn’t even know it,” Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said. “My wife didn’t know it and still she’s not back in the in the game, but never had any symptoms, so there is a significant amount of that.”
Previously during the pandemic, states largely neglected to distinguish COVID-19 hospitalizations from incidental COVID-19.
However, after large numbers of people began testing positive after the emergence of the Omicron variant, including those who have been vaccinated—some of whom have required hospital care—a growing number of officials have started making clear that not all COVID-19 hospitalizations are the same.
New York state for the first time reported last week its hospitalizations with COVID-19 versus its hospitalizations for COVID-19. Almost half of the hospitalizations listed as COVID-19 were incidental, state officials said.
Massachusetts is among the other states planning to soon make such data public.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Jan. 9 that some hospitals that her agency has spoken to have up to four in 10 COVID-19 patients who are being admitted for other reasons. She didn’t know how many of the deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the nation were because of other reasons, and the agency hasn’t responded to a request for that information.
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Doctor’s Court Testimony: Ventilators ‘Causing Harm,’ Death in COVID Patients
The use of ventilators seem to push patients on to a path of death, says Dr. Eduardo Balbona, an independent Jacksonville doctor
“In New York, over 65 ICU ventilated patients [had] a mortality of 97 percent,” he testified before Judge Aho.
“I know in [Ascension’s] St. Vincent’s [Southside Hospital in Jacksvonille, in the] ICU, Delta last summer had a mortality of 93 percent. It’s very hard to get those kind of mortality levels from the virus itself. I believe the treatment we’re using is doing harm.”
Balbona was trained at the National Naval Medical Center and was an official doctor providing care for members Congress at the U.S. Capitol. Because he is not officially associated with Mayo Clinic, he cannot provide care to Pisano there.
His hope is that a judge will order Mayo Clinic doctors to provide the treatment he’s prescribed, allowing Pisano to be weaned from the ventilator and discharged. Only then would the Pisano family be free to follow his directives. His experience treating seriously ill patients leads him to believe Pisano could improve quickly, once started on the protocol he has recommended.
Mayo Clinic has refused to treat Pisano with the medications and supplements the family believes are his only chance to survive.
The organization’s attorneys submitted an affidavit from Dr. Pablo Moreno Franco that said, ‘“In general, it is difficult to know what the side effects would be for the medication [ivermectin] if administered at the requested level.”
More than 90 peer-reviewed studies have been published demonstrating the drug’s efficacy at treating patients suffering from COVID-19.
Since sharing his opinions about the case in interviews with news media, Balbona’s office has been flooded with calls from people angry that he wants to prescribe “horse medication.”
“I only want to do the right thing by my patients,” he told The Epoch Times. “I’m shocked others feel they must stop me. In my 30 years of practice, this has never happened.”
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T Cells From Common Colds Cross-Protect Against Infection With COVID-19: Study
A type of cells produced by the body when fighting common cold viruses cross-protects people against infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study.
T cells have been recognized as a measure of protection against severe COVID-19, and previous research indicated that recovery from common colds could provide some level of shielding against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Researchers with Imperial College London found in the new study that the presence of such cells can also prevent infection by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease.
The scientists assessed 52 contacts of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases to pinpoint when they were first exposed and determined that people who tested negative for COVID-19 had higher cross-reactive T cell levels. They also took blood samples from the participants within 6 days of exposure.
“Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection,” Dr. Rhia Kundu, the lead author, of Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, said in a statement.
Professor Ajit Lalvani, another author, said the study “provides the clearest evidence to date that T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” adding that “these T cells provide protection by attacking proteins within the virus, rather than the spike protein on its surface.”
The discovery could help scientists develop a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine, the researchers said.
“The spike protein is under intense immune pressure from vaccine-induced antibody which drives evolution of vaccine escape mutants. In contrast, the internal proteins targeted by the protective T cells we identified mutate much less. Consequently, they are highly conserved between the various SARS-CoV-2 variants, including omicron,” Lalvani said. “New vaccines that include these conserved, internal proteins would therefore induce broadly protective T cell responses that should protect against current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.”
They also urged people to get a COVID-19 vaccine instead of relying on the protection from cross-reactive T cells.
The currently available vaccines have proven less effective against the Omicron variant of the CCP virus, including against severe disease. While booster shots restore some of the lost protection, early data signals the boost quickly drops in effectiveness against infection after administration. Whether boosters last for longer periods of time remains unknown.
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Nasal spray could prevent Covid infection for up to eight hours and is believed to be effective against ALL variants of the virus
The treatment, under development by scientists at the University of Helsinki, in Finland, has shown an ability to block coronavirus infection for up to eight hours in lab studies.
It hasn't yet been tested in humans and the lab studies are not yet peer reviewed.
This nasal spray is intended for use by immunocompromised patients and others with severe vulnerabilities to Covid.
It works by blocking the virus from replicating in the nose and, in lab studies, has performed well against all variants - unlike popular monoclonal antibody treatments that are less effective against Omicron.
In addition to continued vaccinations, many researchers are now pursuing treatments specifically for immunocompromised and other high-risk people that can supplement vaccination.
For example, in December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a monoclonal antibody treatment made by AstraZeneca that's designed to prevent Covid infection in high-risk patients.
A new nasal spray treatment, under development by scientists at the University of Helsinki, may also become a useful option for these patients.
The treatment was described in a preprint posted in late December, which has not yet been peer reviewed.
'Its prophylactic use is meant to protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection,' Kalle Saksela, virologist at the University of Helsinki and lead author on the study, told Gizmodo in an email.
'However, it is not a vaccine, nor meant to be an alternative for vaccines,' Saksela said, 'but rather to complement vaccination for providing additional protection for successfully vaccinated individuals in high-risk situations, and especially for immunocompromised persons - for example, those receiving immunosuppressive therapy.'
The new drug builds on previous research showing that tissue inside the nose is a prime spot for the coronavirus to replicate.
After multiplying in the nose, the virus typically progresses through the respiratory tract to the lungs - where it causes more severe symptoms.
As a result, sending anti-Covid antibodies straight into the nose can stop the virus from replicating at the earliest possible stage of disease.
The researchers first tested their drug against pseudoviruses - lab-made viruses that mimic the coronavirus.
In this test, the drug was able to stop viral replication in the original Wuhan strain, as well as the Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants.
Next, the researchers tested the drug against human cells in cell culture. Once again, it was able to neutralize several different coronavirus variants.
Finally, the researchers tested the drug in mice - administering the nasal spray to lab mice, then following it up with nasal inoculations of the coronavirus.
Among the mice that didn't receive treatment, the coronavirus spread through their nasal cavities, respiratory tracts, and lungs.
Among the mice that did receive the nasal spray, the coronavirus didn't spread at all - these animals were 'entirely free of viral antigen' and didn't show symptoms, the researchers wrote.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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