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Promising vaccine developments:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/moderna-says-initial-covid-19-vaccine-results-are-positive-11589805115?mod=hp_lead_pos2


 

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Drugmaker Moderna Inc. said Monday that its experimental coronavirus vaccine induced immune responses in some of the healthy volunteers who were vaccinated in a clinical study, and the shots were generally safe and well-tolerated.

The study results—the first for the first vaccine against the new coronavirus to enter human testing—provide a positive sign about its capabilities to protect people against the new coronavirus.

Yet the results are preliminary and only for a portion of the study participants. Many vaccines fail to pass muster, even after showing positive signs in early testing.

The data suggest the vaccine, code-named mRNA-1273, “has a high probability to provide protection from Covid-19 disease in humans,” Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said on a conference call Monday.

The company’s vaccine could be ready for emergency use as early as the fall, if it proves to work safely in subsequent testing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently gave Moderna permission to begin the second stage of testing.

For some participants ages 18 to 55, varying doses of the vaccine increased immune responses, including boosting certain antibodies to levels at or above those seen in blood samples from people who have recovered from Covid-19, Moderna said.

The responses included both binding antibodies, which attach to viruses but don’t prevent infection, as well as neutralizing antibodies, which do block infection.

 

 

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The following well-sourced (and fairly short) blog post is by far the best thing I've read on COVID-19. https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

Useful, clearly written info. on what's safe and what's not so safe as we re-open. Imagine that. It had to come from a professor of biology specializing in immunology at U-Mass Dartmouth. He makes a point to say he is not an expert in the disease or in epidemiology but is trying to translate the expertise of others into information for the lay person.

Please read this blog! To summarize, outdoors is very safe, within reason. It makes me think differently about the folks on beaches. Many indoor spaces and situations are also reasonably safe, like going grocery shopping. Time + exposure is an important concept. The places to really avoid: crowded indoor spaces with limited air exchange, especially where human behavior is dispersing the virus (talking, shouting, singing, not to mention the obvious coughing and sneezing).

Importantly, in these situations social distancing can't save us. This comes at a time when we think the safety issue for restaurants and bars is solved by spreading out the patrons. It won't help you much if the virus is in the air and you're breathing it in for an hour. This is why sporting events probably won't have fans until there's a vaccine. Same with concerts, rallies and the like.

Some info. that might give hockey pause:

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Indoor sports: While this may be uniquely Canadian, a super spreading event occurred during a curling event in Canada. A curling event with 72 attendees became another hotspot for transmission. Curling brings contestants and teammates in close contact in a cool indoor environment, with heavy breathing for an extended period. This tournament resulted in 24 of the 72 people becoming infected.

More:

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Indoor spaces, with limited air exchange or recycled air and lots of people, are concerning from a transmission standpoint. We know that 60 people in a volleyball court-sized room (choir) results in massive infections. Same situation with the restaurant and the call center. Social distancing guidelines don't hold in indoor spaces where you spend a lot of time, as people on the opposite side of the room were infected.

The principle is viral exposure over an extended period of time. In all these cases, people were exposed to the virus in the air for a prolonged period (hours). Even if they were 50 feet away (choir or call center), even a low dose of the virus in the air reaching them, over a sustained period, was enough to cause infection and in some cases, death.

Social distancing rules are really to protect you with brief exposures or outdoor exposures. In these situations there is not enough time to achieve the infectious viral load when you are standing 6 feet apart or where wind and the infinite outdoor space for viral dilution reduces viral load. The effects of sunlight, heat, and humidity on viral survival, all serve to minimize the risk to everyone when outside.

 

Edited by PASabreFan
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5 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Don't have a link & no details, but apparently at the press conference announcing WNY can enter phase 1 tomorrow Gov. Cuomo said as long as there are no fans in the stands, sports teams can start playing again.

Yeah, Phase 1 is go, which looks like good news for people in construction and retail. 

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4 hours ago, Taro T said:

And with the presumably revised data, they are still going down.

GDPH Webiste

The numbers are showing cases and deaths both down.  And the site was updated this morning.

Wait, isn't that the website that was wrong last week?

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Don't have a link & no details, but apparently at the press conference announcing WNY can enter phase 1 tomorrow Gov. Cuomo said as long as there are no fans in the stands, sports teams can start playing again.

Good.

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So my wife, my daughter and I went to a local clinic in upstate NY this afternoon to get antibody tests.  It was pretty simple and well-run -- we didn't need an appointment, we were able to check in and provide insurance info on our phones while waiting in the car, and they called us into the building when they were ready for us.  We should have the results in the next couple of days. 

(We've been out of NYC for about 10 weeks, and haven't had any symptoms other than ordinary-course sniffles now and then, and the incidence of the virus is quite low where we are, but we still would like to know our antibody status, as sooner or later we'll need to return to NYC, the kids want to see their friends, etc.)

Here's the kicker:  the doctor who examined us immediately before the blood tests was wearing his mask pulled down below his nose!  WTF?!

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29 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

So my wife, my daughter and I went to a local clinic in upstate NY this afternoon to get antibody tests.  It was pretty simple and well-run -- we didn't need an appointment, we were able to check in and provide insurance info on our phones while waiting in the car, and they called us into the building when they were ready for us.  We should have the results in the next couple of days. 

(We've been out of NYC for about 10 weeks, and haven't had any symptoms other than ordinary-course sniffles now and then, and the incidence of the virus is quite low where we are, but we still would like to know our antibody status, as sooner or later we'll need to return to NYC, the kids want to see their friends, etc.)

Here's the kicker:  the doctor who examined us immediately before the blood tests was wearing his mask pulled down below his nose!  WTF?!

Yup. 

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2 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

They took tests, I didn’t have the antibodies sadly

My family and I didn't have the antibodies either.  Might be for the best, as there is still much unknown.

In any case I'm glad you were able to get tested.

Has anyone else tried to get tested but been unable to do so?

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9 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

My family and I didn't have the antibodies either.  Might be for the best, as there is still much unknown.

In any case I'm glad you were able to get tested.

Has anyone else tried to get tested but been unable to do so?

I go back to the office in 2 weeks.  Seriously tempted to get tested before I go back.

Then again, it doesn't really change anything either way.

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3 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Serious question:  has anyone here tried to get a virus or antibodies test in the last couple of weeks but not been able to do so?

For me, technically, yes. Starting in very late April, healthcare workers and first responders were tested for antibodies. I should have been offered a test, and asked about getting one, but I think I just fell through the cracks because I'm on leave. I didn't make a stink. Now, antibody testing is available to the entire community with a lab slip from a doctor. I'll be having my test tomorrow. My doctor told me a very low percentage of positive tests have come back so far, which matches the low number of positive cases in my county of 40-some thousand people — so far only eight, with several probable cases (symptoms and contact with someone who's positive, but no testing was done). One death, though.

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