Merged Covid Megathread

[Cyclonepride]

Overall hospitalizations are at their lowest level since March 21st.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

gis.cdc.gov

 

[Angie]

Overall hospitalizations are at their lowest level since March 21st.
View attachment 77037

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

gis.cdc.gov

Whew. It's good they're not looking at Iowa:

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

gis.cdc.gov

 

[ArgentCy]

Whew. It's good they're not looking at Iowa:

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

gis.cdc.gov

View attachment 77040

Au contrair. They appear to have One Iowa hospital reporting directly or whatever that program monitors.

 

[cycloneG]

Overall hospitalizations are at their lowest level since March 21st.
View attachment 77037

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

gis.cdc.gov

COVID-NET hospitalization data are preliminary and subject to change as more data become available. In particular, case counts and rates for recent hospital admissions are subject to delay. As data are received each week, prior case counts and rates are updated accordingly.

 

[Angie]

Au contrair. They appear to have One Iowa hospital reporting directly or whatever that program monitors.

I don't know what you're trying to say there, but it's pretty well all over the media:

Iowa reaches another record high in COVID-19 hospitalizations Monday

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported yet another record high with 561 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 on Monday.

www.kcrg.com

 

[aeroclone]

All good points. I think something worth adding is the discussion around what the future looks like once it’s rolled out in 6-8 months. Below is a paraphrasing of what I’ve heard experts talks about.

Assume the vaccine is 50% effective (current belief off limited data, but could be up to 70%). If only 50% of the US gets it (currently under that in polls), that means 25% effective herd immunity via immunization. In order to get to a combination (aka effective) herd immunity from natural + unnatural methods, you’d need roughly 35-45% of the population infected by then.

Point is, social distancing and masks are probably here for at least a year if not longer to get immunity built up, vaccines deployed, public convinced they’re safe, etc.

Add in that you don’t know if the vaccines was effective on somebody until they do or don’t get sick at some point.

That’s why therapeutics, rapid testing, etc are still critical to develop and deploy.

Is there a link to this 50% vaccine effectiveness expectation? I have seen this thrown out on the board several times but never sourced. The only reference I have seen to 50% is that 50% is the minimum requirement for approval but most experts seemed to think it would perform better.

 

[madguy30]

Is there a link to this 50% vaccine effectiveness expectation? I have seen this thrown out on the board several times but never sourced. The only reference I have seen to 50% is that 50% is the minimum requirement for approval but most experts seemed to think it would perform better.

Yeah that's what I've seen as well.

And does 50% effective mean 50% for the individual, or only helps 50% of the population that gets it?

 

[CycloneDaddy]

Yeah that's what I've seen as well.

And does 50% effective mean 50% for the individual, or only helps 50% of the population that gets it?

If it is 50% effective wouldnt you just get it twice? 50% + 50% = 100%

<insert jimlad>

 

[kcbob79clone]

This is interesting, in a story posted on Reuters (and multiple sources) that a UK major hospital has been told to prepare for the vaccine next week. I'm not aware of any vaccine approval. Maybe this is one of the 6 vaccines approved for early or limited use.

UK hospital told to prepare for Oxford COVID vaccine in November - The Sun

Staff at a major London hospital trust have been told to be ready to receive the first batches of the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc, The Sun newspaper reported on Monday.

www.reuters.com

 

[simply1]

This is interesting, in a story posted on Reuters (and multiple sources) that a UK major hospital has been told to prepare for the vaccine next week. I'm not aware of any vaccine approval. Maybe this is one of the 6 vaccines approved for early or limited use.

UK hospital told to prepare for Oxford COVID vaccine in November - The Sun

Staff at a major London hospital trust have been told to be ready to receive the first batches of the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc, The Sun newspaper reported on Monday.

www.reuters.com

Are all sources from the Sun?

 

[kcbob79clone]

Fauci says vaccine could be available in November, but

Fauci says a Covid vaccine maybe ready by November but will take months to roll out

A return to “normality” in the United States should happen towards the middle and end of next year, infectious diseases expert tells BBC

www.independent.co.uk

 

[kcbob79clone]

New York City info

A new analysis published on October 22, 2020, shows that most of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was from within the New York community, as opposed to coming from people who had traveled. And, the COVID-19 pandemic started earlier in 2020 than previously thought in New York City and Long Island.

Genome Res | Mobile

 

[kcbob79clone]

Do Mask Matter in Kansas?

Not going to bury the lead, yes they do

Researchers at the University of Kansas in Topeka reported in a 6-minute video on October 26, 2020, that counties with mask mandates thwarted significant escalation in the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and Kansas counties operating without a face covering requirement reported steady infection rate increases.

Masks

mediahub.ku.edu

 

[kcbob79clone]

Seroprevalence of anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies in COVID‐19 patients and healthy volunteers up to six months post disease onset - translation: robust immunity at least 6 months

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eji.202048970

 

[kcbob79clone]

Good news on masks, National Geographic poll finds more Americans than ever think we should wear masks "92% of 2,200 polled Americans say they wear a face mask when leaving their home, with 74% saying they "always" do."

Poll finds more Americans than ever think we should wear masks – BY OLIVER WHANG AND KENNEDY ELLIOTT – PUBLISHED OCTOBER 5, 2020

American attitudes and their usage of masks have shifted broadly as President Trump has been hospitalized for COVID-19, a National Geographicand Morning Consult poll taken over the w…

lbfromlv.wordpress.com

 

[RoseClone]

Do Mask Matter in Kansas?

Not going to bury the lead, yes they do

Researchers at the University of Kansas in Topeka reported in a 6-minute video on October 26, 2020, that counties with mask mandates thwarted significant escalation in the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and Kansas counties operating without a face covering requirement reported steady infection rate increases.

Masks

mediahub.ku.edu

Wait for it.....

 

[kcbob79clone]

Our old friend, T-Cells, get a mention in this article. " A small number of people may not produce any antibodies to the coronavirus. But even in that unlikely event, they will have so-called cellular immunity, which includes T cells that learn to identify and destroy the virus. Virtually everyone infected with the coronavirus seems to develop T-cell responses, according to several recent studies."

Your Coronavirus Antibodies Are Disappearing. Should You Care? (Published 2020)

Declining antibody levels do not mean less immunity, experts say. Besides, two widely used tests may detect the wrong antibodies.

www.nytimes.com

 

[cycloneG]

Ha, Now I see why that was a video and not published. Their data does not show anything of the sort. An R2 of 0.24? Ha.

Que?

 

[ArgentCy]

This is interesting, in a story posted on Reuters (and multiple sources) that a UK major hospital has been told to prepare for the vaccine next week. I'm not aware of any vaccine approval. Maybe this is one of the 6 vaccines approved for early or limited use.

UK hospital told to prepare for Oxford COVID vaccine in November - The Sun

Staff at a major London hospital trust have been told to be ready to receive the first batches of the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc, The Sun newspaper reported on Monday.

www.reuters.com

Please explain Europe. They've gone full mask requirements, way more than Kansas, and are having just as big or bigger surge.

You guys/gals seem to love this one so I'll use it as well. Correlation is not causation. The exact same results could simply show the virus burned through the population centers first. Plus they add some rather random variables and the 21 day offset, how many other offsets did they try and why pick that one?

 

[ScottyP]

Do Mask Matter in Kansas?

Not going to bury the lead, yes they do

Researchers at the University of Kansas in Topeka reported in a 6-minute video on October 26, 2020, that counties with mask mandates thwarted significant escalation in the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and Kansas counties operating without a face covering requirement reported steady infection rate increases.

Masks

mediahub.ku.edu

Part of this is good news and part of this is disappointing. The good news is that mask mandates helped reduce surges of infections. The bad news is that even with mask mandates , there are still increases in infection rates. I think it goes to show that we can not mask our way out of this. It needs to be a comprehensive approach (mask, social distancing, hand washing, isolating if symptomatic) to reducing spread.