COVID-19 'Pandemic'
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Yes. Oz
Doctors’ association concerned about COVID-19 vaccines, wants debate | Canberra Weekly
The fifth COVID booster shot became available this week – but some doctors are sceptical of the COVID-19 vaccine, and urge caution.
canberraweekly.com.au
Double down. Always works on the blackjack tables . Until it doesn’t.Yes. Oz
Doctors’ association concerned about COVID-19 vaccines, wants debate | Canberra Weekly
The fifth COVID booster shot became available this week – but some doctors are sceptical of the COVID-19 vaccine, and urge caution.
Feds end rapid COVID-19 test shipments as millions set to expire within year
On top of the federal stockpile, provincial health authorities said they have millions of tests.
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Kelly Geraldine Malone
Published Mar 02, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
The federal government has stopped shipping rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces as millions are set to expire within the year, and experts say the once-essential tool has lost its importance in the pandemic.
There are 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, Health Canada said in an email. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years.
“Canada has robust inventories and is well prepared for COVID response,” Anne Genier, with Health Canada, said in an email.
Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million rapid tests since the beginning of the pandemic with a price tag of about $5 billion. About 680 million of those went to provinces and territories.
As the fourth wave of the pandemic gripped the country near the end of 2021, every region was trying to get as many of the tests as possible. Hospitals were overwhelmed in many provinces and the rapid antigen tests became a critical part of the response.
Mahesh Nagarajan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, said it’s a different situation two years later.
“I don’t think we should be buying any more of them right now,” Nagarajan, whose focus area is on supply chains, said in a recent interview.
Nagarajan said Canada now has several qualified and dependable suppliers for the tests. The government has established standing offers with the companies for the supply and delivery on an as-needed basis
Health Canada said the decision to end shipments at the end of January was made in collaboration with provinces and territories, as the regions have enough supply.
On top of the federal stockpile, provincial health authorities said they have millions of tests.
British Columbia has 28 million tests, with more than four million to expire within six months.
Quebec has 63 million tests, Alberta has 47.5 million, Saskatchewan has 6.4 million, Manitoba has 11 million, Nova Scotia has about 8 million and Newfoundland has about 2.5 million.
Nearly every region said they have so far not destroyed or repurposed their rapid antigen tests, because Health Canada extended the expiration date for many brands. They did not explain an expected cost or strategy if the tests expire before being used.
The time frame left for the tests differs depending on the brand,but Health Canada has approved 19 extensions of shelf life ranging from six months to two years.
The chemical components in the tests degrade over time, Nagarajan said, so he has concerns.
“Rapid antigen tests to begin with are not the most accurate,” Nagarajan said. “Now you are extending their lifespan?”
Nagarajan said every country has stockpiles, but it’s important Canada learn from the pandemic procurement process.
A lack of co-ordinated policies across the country made it hard to estimate how many tests would be needed. It was a “recipe for high inventories,” Nagarajan said.
Nazeem Muhajarine, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, said he estimates that for every five tests given out by provinces and territories during the pandemic there are two tests sitting in a warehouse.
He said Canada needed to procure as many tests as it could when they were available.
“We have to have a plan — that’s key.”
Muhajarine said it is difficult to know how important the rapid antigen tests will continue to be, because there is very little communication now about COVID-19, let alone government plans to address challenges the pandemic may still bring.
“That communication has really fallen off precipitously,” he said. “Nobody is talking about COVID, certainly not talking about where to get tests if they need one.”
Having large stockpiles of rapid antigen tests may not be useful, especially if the virus shifts and becomes less detectable on the devices, said Dr. Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
“Even at the best of times there are limitations on the testing,” she said.
What is important is the ability to quickly produce or procure them, she added.
Banerji said, in her opinion, people are using rapid antigen tests less because there is no longer a public health strategy to deal with COVID-19. She said people aren’t wearing masks and, in most instances, there is no isolation policy if someone actually tests positive.
If you know you have COVID-19 and don’t do anything about it, there’s no point, she said.
“Right now, there is no strategy. We are not looking at numbers. We don’t know how much COVID is out there,” she said.
“What difference is (testing) making now?”
torontosun.com
On top of the federal stockpile, provincial health authorities said they have millions of tests.
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Kelly Geraldine Malone
Published Mar 02, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
The federal government has stopped shipping rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces as millions are set to expire within the year, and experts say the once-essential tool has lost its importance in the pandemic.
There are 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, Health Canada said in an email. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years.
“Canada has robust inventories and is well prepared for COVID response,” Anne Genier, with Health Canada, said in an email.
Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million rapid tests since the beginning of the pandemic with a price tag of about $5 billion. About 680 million of those went to provinces and territories.
As the fourth wave of the pandemic gripped the country near the end of 2021, every region was trying to get as many of the tests as possible. Hospitals were overwhelmed in many provinces and the rapid antigen tests became a critical part of the response.
Mahesh Nagarajan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, said it’s a different situation two years later.
“I don’t think we should be buying any more of them right now,” Nagarajan, whose focus area is on supply chains, said in a recent interview.
Nagarajan said Canada now has several qualified and dependable suppliers for the tests. The government has established standing offers with the companies for the supply and delivery on an as-needed basis
Health Canada said the decision to end shipments at the end of January was made in collaboration with provinces and territories, as the regions have enough supply.
On top of the federal stockpile, provincial health authorities said they have millions of tests.
British Columbia has 28 million tests, with more than four million to expire within six months.
Quebec has 63 million tests, Alberta has 47.5 million, Saskatchewan has 6.4 million, Manitoba has 11 million, Nova Scotia has about 8 million and Newfoundland has about 2.5 million.
Nearly every region said they have so far not destroyed or repurposed their rapid antigen tests, because Health Canada extended the expiration date for many brands. They did not explain an expected cost or strategy if the tests expire before being used.
The time frame left for the tests differs depending on the brand,but Health Canada has approved 19 extensions of shelf life ranging from six months to two years.
The chemical components in the tests degrade over time, Nagarajan said, so he has concerns.
“Rapid antigen tests to begin with are not the most accurate,” Nagarajan said. “Now you are extending their lifespan?”
Nagarajan said every country has stockpiles, but it’s important Canada learn from the pandemic procurement process.
A lack of co-ordinated policies across the country made it hard to estimate how many tests would be needed. It was a “recipe for high inventories,” Nagarajan said.
Nazeem Muhajarine, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, said he estimates that for every five tests given out by provinces and territories during the pandemic there are two tests sitting in a warehouse.
He said Canada needed to procure as many tests as it could when they were available.
“We have to have a plan — that’s key.”
Muhajarine said it is difficult to know how important the rapid antigen tests will continue to be, because there is very little communication now about COVID-19, let alone government plans to address challenges the pandemic may still bring.
“That communication has really fallen off precipitously,” he said. “Nobody is talking about COVID, certainly not talking about where to get tests if they need one.”
Having large stockpiles of rapid antigen tests may not be useful, especially if the virus shifts and becomes less detectable on the devices, said Dr. Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
“Even at the best of times there are limitations on the testing,” she said.
What is important is the ability to quickly produce or procure them, she added.
Banerji said, in her opinion, people are using rapid antigen tests less because there is no longer a public health strategy to deal with COVID-19. She said people aren’t wearing masks and, in most instances, there is no isolation policy if someone actually tests positive.
If you know you have COVID-19 and don’t do anything about it, there’s no point, she said.
“Right now, there is no strategy. We are not looking at numbers. We don’t know how much COVID is out there,” she said.
“What difference is (testing) making now?”
Feds end rapid COVID-19 test shipments as millions set to expire within year
Of the 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, about 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months
We don't need them anymore. If you feel sick you stay home. Nothing gained by knowing if its covid or not. With vaccines if you do get it, it will most likely be mild symptoms. If you get more severe, they will test you when you go to the hospital anyways.
Woman funded lavish lifestyle with stolen COVID funds
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Mar 06, 2023 • 1 minute read
BOSTON — A Florida woman — who authorities say chartered a private jet to fly her cross-country with some of the more than $1 million in federal coronavirus relief funds that she fraudulently obtained by using stolen identities — pleaded guilty Monday, federal prosecutors said.
Danielle Miller, 32, of Miami, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
Miller used the identities of more than 10 people and used fake business names to apply for and receive more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and related unemployment benefits from July 2020 to May 2021, prosecutors said.
Miller possessed counterfeit driver’s licenses in the victims’ names but bearing her photograph. In one case, she accessed a victim’s online Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles records and used the personal identifying information to open a bank account in that person’s name, prosecutors said.
Miller used a counterfeit driver’s license in August 2020 to arrange a Gulfstream private jet charter flight from Florida to California, where she stayed at a luxury hotel under the same victim’s name, prosecutors said.
In another case, prosecutors said she used someone else’s identity to rent a luxury apartment in Florida.
Miller boasted about her extravagant lifestyle on her Instagram account, where she had more than 34,000 followers, authorities said, posting about her purchases of luxury items and her stays at opulent hotels in California, which she paid for using the bank account of one of her victims.
Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27. She was arrested in May 2021.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Mar 06, 2023 • 1 minute read
BOSTON — A Florida woman — who authorities say chartered a private jet to fly her cross-country with some of the more than $1 million in federal coronavirus relief funds that she fraudulently obtained by using stolen identities — pleaded guilty Monday, federal prosecutors said.
Danielle Miller, 32, of Miami, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
Miller used the identities of more than 10 people and used fake business names to apply for and receive more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and related unemployment benefits from July 2020 to May 2021, prosecutors said.
Miller possessed counterfeit driver’s licenses in the victims’ names but bearing her photograph. In one case, she accessed a victim’s online Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles records and used the personal identifying information to open a bank account in that person’s name, prosecutors said.
Miller used a counterfeit driver’s license in August 2020 to arrange a Gulfstream private jet charter flight from Florida to California, where she stayed at a luxury hotel under the same victim’s name, prosecutors said.
In another case, prosecutors said she used someone else’s identity to rent a luxury apartment in Florida.
Miller boasted about her extravagant lifestyle on her Instagram account, where she had more than 34,000 followers, authorities said, posting about her purchases of luxury items and her stays at opulent hotels in California, which she paid for using the bank account of one of her victims.
Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27. She was arrested in May 2021.
Woman funded lavish lifestyle with stolen COVID funds
BOSTON — A Florida woman — who authorities say chartered a private jet to fly her cross-country with some of the more than $1 million in federal coronavirus relief …
If she'd only salted it away in convertible debentures, tax-free municipals, and a sound portfolio of blue chips, she'd be fine. Take a lesson.
It's been three years since COVID sent us down a path to insanity
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Mar 11, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
It was three years ago that the world began to lose its mind over COVID-19.
We’d known that the virus was there but for those of us in North America and parts of the Western world, March 11, 2020 marked the turning point.
Tom Hanks had COVID!
The revelation that the Oscar winner and his wife had contracted the virus was quickly followed by the NBA cancelling one game and then suspending the season. At the time, British Columbia had just 46 confirmed cases, Ontario 42, Alberta 19 and Quebec 8.
Just days later, we began shutting our borders and our lives in response to the threat of the pandemic. The panic that set in over those days, perhaps understandably at the time, stayed with us for far too long.
There isn’t enough room here to relitigate the pandemic but suffice to say, one of the major problems we faced, perhaps the biggest, is that we threw the idea of risk assessment out the window in dealing with COVID.
This came to mind earlier this week when looking over the latest booster shot recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
No longer is NACI telling every Canadian to get their booster shot as soon as possible regardless of age or health situation. Now, NACI is telling people to consider their own risk from COVID when deciding when and where to get a shot.
NACI now recommends boosters for those 80 years of age and over as well as those “65 to 79 years of age, particularly if they do not have a known history of SARS-CoV-2 infection.” In addition, they recommend shots for people living in long-term care homes and those who are “who are moderately to severely immunocompromised due to an underlying condition or treatment.”
“Age is a very important risk factor for severe disease. The risk of hospitalization and intensive care admission increases with age,” the NACI statement said.
This is the kind of common sense, risk-based advice we should have received more of during the pandemic. Instead, we shut schools on the false premise that everyone was at risk.
Even after vaccines were available and widely distributed, we saw governments pursue policies that ignored the evidence. Policies like vaccine mandates for air travel and vaccine passports for entering gyms or restaurants all came in after the majority of the population was protected from COVID-19 by vaccination, infection or a combination thereof.
There were some voices asking for a different approach, but they were too often shouted down, dismissed as COVID deniers or wanting people to die. The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, all infectious disease specialists, called for a response that balanced the risks and benefits of any measures.
“Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19,” the declaration said.
The declaration was dismissed.
“I’ve never argued that COVID isn’t real, of course it’s real and it’s caused tremendous suffering, harm, and death. What we were arguing for was a better strategy for managing this risk rather than these blanket lockdowns,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors told me in a recent episode of the Full Comment podcast.
We never took that advice until it was much too late in the pandemic. After too many days had been lost at school, too many jobs lost, too many people were suffering the mental health impact, that’s when we finally listened.
Even at the start of the last school year in September, there were people arguing that students were not safe to return or that masking needed to be mandatory. Several post-secondary institutions continued to enforce vaccine mandates or masking.
Science was not on their side, and they clearly were not performing risk analysis.
So, it’s good to see some sanity coming back into our lives, through things like NACI’s recommendations, even if it took longer than it should have.
blilley@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Mar 11, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
It was three years ago that the world began to lose its mind over COVID-19.
We’d known that the virus was there but for those of us in North America and parts of the Western world, March 11, 2020 marked the turning point.
Tom Hanks had COVID!
The revelation that the Oscar winner and his wife had contracted the virus was quickly followed by the NBA cancelling one game and then suspending the season. At the time, British Columbia had just 46 confirmed cases, Ontario 42, Alberta 19 and Quebec 8.
Just days later, we began shutting our borders and our lives in response to the threat of the pandemic. The panic that set in over those days, perhaps understandably at the time, stayed with us for far too long.
There isn’t enough room here to relitigate the pandemic but suffice to say, one of the major problems we faced, perhaps the biggest, is that we threw the idea of risk assessment out the window in dealing with COVID.
This came to mind earlier this week when looking over the latest booster shot recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
No longer is NACI telling every Canadian to get their booster shot as soon as possible regardless of age or health situation. Now, NACI is telling people to consider their own risk from COVID when deciding when and where to get a shot.
NACI now recommends boosters for those 80 years of age and over as well as those “65 to 79 years of age, particularly if they do not have a known history of SARS-CoV-2 infection.” In addition, they recommend shots for people living in long-term care homes and those who are “who are moderately to severely immunocompromised due to an underlying condition or treatment.”
“Age is a very important risk factor for severe disease. The risk of hospitalization and intensive care admission increases with age,” the NACI statement said.
This is the kind of common sense, risk-based advice we should have received more of during the pandemic. Instead, we shut schools on the false premise that everyone was at risk.
Even after vaccines were available and widely distributed, we saw governments pursue policies that ignored the evidence. Policies like vaccine mandates for air travel and vaccine passports for entering gyms or restaurants all came in after the majority of the population was protected from COVID-19 by vaccination, infection or a combination thereof.
There were some voices asking for a different approach, but they were too often shouted down, dismissed as COVID deniers or wanting people to die. The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, all infectious disease specialists, called for a response that balanced the risks and benefits of any measures.
“Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19,” the declaration said.
The declaration was dismissed.
“I’ve never argued that COVID isn’t real, of course it’s real and it’s caused tremendous suffering, harm, and death. What we were arguing for was a better strategy for managing this risk rather than these blanket lockdowns,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors told me in a recent episode of the Full Comment podcast.
We never took that advice until it was much too late in the pandemic. After too many days had been lost at school, too many jobs lost, too many people were suffering the mental health impact, that’s when we finally listened.
Even at the start of the last school year in September, there were people arguing that students were not safe to return or that masking needed to be mandatory. Several post-secondary institutions continued to enforce vaccine mandates or masking.
Science was not on their side, and they clearly were not performing risk analysis.
So, it’s good to see some sanity coming back into our lives, through things like NACI’s recommendations, even if it took longer than it should have.
blilley@postmedia.com
LILLEY: It's been three years since COVID sent us down a path to insanity
It was three years ago that the world began to lose its mind over COVID-19.
Chinese firm invents lockdown-inspired kissing machine for remote lovers
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Mar 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device "Long Lost Touch," as he demonstrates for camera how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device "Long Lost Touch," as he demonstrates for camera how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. PHOTO BY TINGSHU WANG /REUTERS
SHANGHAI — A Chinese start-up inspired by lockdown isolation has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.
The MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based Siweifushe.
Users can even download kissing data submitted via an accompanying app by other users.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device “Long Lost Touch,” as he demonstrates how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device “Long Lost Touch,” as he demonstrates how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. PHOTO BY TINGSHU WANG
The idea was borne out of China’s frequent, lengthy and widespread lockdown measures during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic that, at their most severe, saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end.
“I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn’t meet my girlfriend due to lockdowns,” said inventor Zhao Jianbo.
Then a student at the Beijing Film Academy, he focused his graduate project on the lack of physical intimacy in video calls. He later set up Siweifushe which released MUA, its first product, on Jan. 22 priced around 260 yuan ($51.97).
In the two weeks after its release, the firm sold over 3,000 kissing machines and received about 20,000 orders, he said.
The MUA resembles a mobile stand with realistic pursed lips protruding from the front. To use it, lovers must download an app onto their smartphones and pair their kissing machines, which they plug into the phone charging port. They activate the device using the app, then when they kiss it, it kisses back.
The device is available in several colours though with the same unisex lips. It has received mixed reviews, with some users saying it was intriguing whereas others said it made them feel uncomfortable. Among the top complaints was its lack of tongue.
Some commentators on social media site Weibo also expressed concern that the device could be used for online erotic content, which is strictly regulated in China.
Zhao said his company complies with regulations, but that “there’s little we can do as for how people use the device.”
MUA is not the first remote kissing device. Researchers at Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications invented a “kiss transmission machine” in 2011, and Malaysia’s Imagineering Institute made a similar gadget called the “Kissinger” in 2016.
![CHINA-KISSING-DEVICE_-scaled-e1679579023454[1].jpg](https://forums.canadiancontent.net/data/attachments/15/15990-ec899a90311d9cd92e3ac70326295a94.jpg "CHINA-KISSING-DEVICE_-scaled-e1679579023454[1].jpg")
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Mar 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device "Long Lost Touch," as he demonstrates for camera how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device "Long Lost Touch," as he demonstrates for camera how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. PHOTO BY TINGSHU WANG /REUTERS
SHANGHAI — A Chinese start-up inspired by lockdown isolation has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.
The MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based Siweifushe.
Users can even download kissing data submitted via an accompanying app by other users.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device “Long Lost Touch,” as he demonstrates how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023.
Jing Zhiyuan uses a remote kissing device “Long Lost Touch,” as he demonstrates how to use it during an interview with Reuters, at his home in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. PHOTO BY TINGSHU WANG
The idea was borne out of China’s frequent, lengthy and widespread lockdown measures during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic that, at their most severe, saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end.
“I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn’t meet my girlfriend due to lockdowns,” said inventor Zhao Jianbo.
Then a student at the Beijing Film Academy, he focused his graduate project on the lack of physical intimacy in video calls. He later set up Siweifushe which released MUA, its first product, on Jan. 22 priced around 260 yuan ($51.97).
In the two weeks after its release, the firm sold over 3,000 kissing machines and received about 20,000 orders, he said.
The MUA resembles a mobile stand with realistic pursed lips protruding from the front. To use it, lovers must download an app onto their smartphones and pair their kissing machines, which they plug into the phone charging port. They activate the device using the app, then when they kiss it, it kisses back.
The device is available in several colours though with the same unisex lips. It has received mixed reviews, with some users saying it was intriguing whereas others said it made them feel uncomfortable. Among the top complaints was its lack of tongue.
Some commentators on social media site Weibo also expressed concern that the device could be used for online erotic content, which is strictly regulated in China.
Zhao said his company complies with regulations, but that “there’s little we can do as for how people use the device.”
MUA is not the first remote kissing device. Researchers at Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications invented a “kiss transmission machine” in 2011, and Malaysia’s Imagineering Institute made a similar gadget called the “Kissinger” in 2016.
Chinese firm invents lockdown-inspired kissing machine for remote lovers
A Chinese start-up inspired by lockdown isolation has invented a long-distance kissing machine.
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![CHINA-KISSING-DEVICE_-1-scaled[1].jpg](/data/attachments/15/15989-702ab019b132bc2ccb27daec6e5d19b5.jpg)
CHINA-KISSING-DEVICE_-1-scaled[1].jpg
My dick is famous. It was in the Guiness Book of World Records.....until the librarian made me take it out.
Women, overweight people and those above age 40 more at long COVID risk: Study
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Ilena Peng
Published Mar 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
(Bloomberg) — Women, overweight people and those above age 40 are among the groups that have a greater risk of developing long Covid, according to a report published Thursday that makes the case for better pandemic treatment and support.
Researchers also found that patients with preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes and even anxiety or depression were more likely to develop long-lasting Covid-19 symptoms. Those who were previously hospitalized or admitted to intensive care for Covid also were at higher risk.
Identifying risk factors “is important because it would allow for early and appropriate clinical support,” the authors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine publication. The report is based on the findings of researchers in the UK who analyzed 41 studies involving more than 860,000 patients.
Long Covid, also known as post-Covid condition, occurs when symptoms continue or develop three months after an initial infection, according to the World Health Organization.
The report found that people with two vaccinations had a 40% lower risk of developing long Covid. Discussions of Covid-19 have increasingly focused on long-term effects as clinicians and companies look to prevent severe illness.
Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid, for example, has been shown to reduce the risk of lingering symptoms, leading to fewer cases of long Covid. Last week, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee supported full approval of Paxlovid to treat Covid-19 in adults at risk of developing severe illness. The drug is already permitted for emergency use.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Ilena Peng
Published Mar 23, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
(Bloomberg) — Women, overweight people and those above age 40 are among the groups that have a greater risk of developing long Covid, according to a report published Thursday that makes the case for better pandemic treatment and support.
Researchers also found that patients with preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes and even anxiety or depression were more likely to develop long-lasting Covid-19 symptoms. Those who were previously hospitalized or admitted to intensive care for Covid also were at higher risk.
Identifying risk factors “is important because it would allow for early and appropriate clinical support,” the authors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine publication. The report is based on the findings of researchers in the UK who analyzed 41 studies involving more than 860,000 patients.
Long Covid, also known as post-Covid condition, occurs when symptoms continue or develop three months after an initial infection, according to the World Health Organization.
The report found that people with two vaccinations had a 40% lower risk of developing long Covid. Discussions of Covid-19 have increasingly focused on long-term effects as clinicians and companies look to prevent severe illness.
Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid, for example, has been shown to reduce the risk of lingering symptoms, leading to fewer cases of long Covid. Last week, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee supported full approval of Paxlovid to treat Covid-19 in adults at risk of developing severe illness. The drug is already permitted for emergency use.
Women, overweight people and those above age 40 more at long COVID risk: Study
(Bloomberg) — Women, overweight people and those above age 40 are among the groups that have a greater risk of developing long Covid, according to a report publishe…
U.K. bats found to harbour COVID-like viral material
Author of the article:Liz Braun
Published Mar 24, 2023 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read
Bats in the United Kingdom have been discovered to harbour a virus capable of infecting the surface of human cells.
The Daily Mail reports that scientists have found a COVID-like virus in these bats that could pose a threat to humans with only a few adaptations.
The pathogen, called RhGB07, is one of two new viruses found by bat-studying scientists; the second virus did not show signs of being able to infect humans.
Thus far, the risk posed by RhGB07 is said to be small.
The ongoing risk of zoonotic diseases, however, is not small and gets worse as people (and climate change) continue to encroach on wild animal habitats.
Scientists continue to test animals as part of ongoing research into zoonotic diseases and potential pandemics.
The team of researchers did not specify where in the U.K. the bats were located, but three places where bat species tend to mix were specified: Bristol, Birmingham and Brighton.
Scientists conducted the testing using bat droppings from 16 bats living in the U.K. The fecal matter was screened for viruses; nine viruses were discovered.
Two of them were previously unknown and were found in samples from the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
The viruses were designated RhGB07 and RfGB02 and hail from the same family of pathogens as SARS-CoV-2.
Further testing showed only RhGB07 had the potential to “infect” human cells, and not much potential at that.
However, even a single mutation to the RhGB07 spike protein could change the scenario, and not in a good way.
The involved scientists were quick to reassure the public that no “gain of function” research was involved and no live virus was used.
The scientists involved in the study reiterated the importance of preventing habitat loss, writing, “Recent studies have shown that human-associated stressors such as habitat loss and changes in land-use can be important drivers of zoonotic spillover from wildlife, and that bat culls are ineffective in minimizing cross-species transmission.
“As such, it is vitally important that an integrated ecological conservation approach is taken that includes maintaining legal protection, rather than destruction of wildlife and its habitat, in future approaches to mitigate zoonotic risk.”
Bats and their resting sites are protected by law in the U.K.
dailymail.co.uk
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Liz Braun
Published Mar 24, 2023 • Last updated 20 hours ago • 2 minute read
Bats in the United Kingdom have been discovered to harbour a virus capable of infecting the surface of human cells.
The Daily Mail reports that scientists have found a COVID-like virus in these bats that could pose a threat to humans with only a few adaptations.
The pathogen, called RhGB07, is one of two new viruses found by bat-studying scientists; the second virus did not show signs of being able to infect humans.
Thus far, the risk posed by RhGB07 is said to be small.
The ongoing risk of zoonotic diseases, however, is not small and gets worse as people (and climate change) continue to encroach on wild animal habitats.
Scientists continue to test animals as part of ongoing research into zoonotic diseases and potential pandemics.
The team of researchers did not specify where in the U.K. the bats were located, but three places where bat species tend to mix were specified: Bristol, Birmingham and Brighton.
Scientists conducted the testing using bat droppings from 16 bats living in the U.K. The fecal matter was screened for viruses; nine viruses were discovered.
Two of them were previously unknown and were found in samples from the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
The viruses were designated RhGB07 and RfGB02 and hail from the same family of pathogens as SARS-CoV-2.
Further testing showed only RhGB07 had the potential to “infect” human cells, and not much potential at that.
However, even a single mutation to the RhGB07 spike protein could change the scenario, and not in a good way.
The involved scientists were quick to reassure the public that no “gain of function” research was involved and no live virus was used.
The scientists involved in the study reiterated the importance of preventing habitat loss, writing, “Recent studies have shown that human-associated stressors such as habitat loss and changes in land-use can be important drivers of zoonotic spillover from wildlife, and that bat culls are ineffective in minimizing cross-species transmission.
“As such, it is vitally important that an integrated ecological conservation approach is taken that includes maintaining legal protection, rather than destruction of wildlife and its habitat, in future approaches to mitigate zoonotic risk.”
Bats and their resting sites are protected by law in the U.K.
British bats found with Covid-like virus that could infect humans
British scientists say they have found a new virus in UK bats with the potential to go to infect humans. And lab analysis of the pathogen found it was only a 'few adaptations' away from doing so.
U.K. bats found to harbour COVID-like viral material
Bats in the United Kingdom have been discovered to harbour a virus capable of infecting the surface of human cells.
