COVID-19 'Pandemic'

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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He is still acting like it (Pandemic) is not a big deal. Only a psychopath would have this degree of lack of humanity and empathy.

chances are very good the numbers will hit the stratosphere you speak of.

His neglect in dealing with this pandemic is akin to mass homicide.


More sad facts are coming to light! Some (I hope a small minority) are developing heart problems after contracting Covid. I don't care about the idiots but it would be a shame if it happens to unsuspecting people!
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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More sad facts are coming to light! Some (I hope a small minority) are developing heart problems after contracting Covid. I don't care about the idiots but it would be a shame if it happens to unsuspecting people!
Post thrombo issues. Same problems youd have from clots and cholesterol.
 

taxme

Time Out
Feb 11, 2020
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And just what are you doing to help decrease the number of infections, Einstein?


Nothing at all. I could careless. I am not living in a state of panic and fear and paranoia every day like you are. What have you ever done for all the diseases and seasonal flu's that have been coming around for centuries now? I will bet that you never gave much of a shit about any of it. Thousands of people are dying every day from some disease or flu virus and no one goes bonkers over it. Why have you gone bonkers over this virus? Over to you, oh wise one.
 

petros

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Nov 21, 2008
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In the heat of summer, it would be nice if people wiped their asses as often as their hands.

Then maybe Home Depot would smell like lumber.

If it has Subway it smells like a taxi with a yeast infection.
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
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Refreshing to read about ordinary Russians dealing with issues we all deal with-the lack of anti-Putin hysteria in this article is notable.

Temperature checks and no masks: School is back in Russia, but classes are much the same

Colourful ceremonies survive as administrators try to keep COVID-19 out of schools



As Russian children returned to school this week after a six-month break, there was little sign of masks or physical distancing but plenty of evidence of other measures to try to keep COVID-19 out of the country's classrooms.

"We're so glad that they are back to school in a more traditional format and not how it was in March and April," parent Sergei Yerofeev told CBC News as he waited proudly with his five-year-old son Sasha at the school in Balashikha, a bedroom community about 30 kilometres outside Moscow.

Like many other countries, Russia stopped classroom learning in March as coronavirus cases increased, leaving kids to take their classes long-distance.

CBC News asked to visit the school to survey the COVID-19 precautions brought in by Russia's government and administrators agreed.

The first day of class is known as Den Znanii or "Day of Knowledge" and is meant to be a celebration of education.

With the kids carrying plentiful flowers for their teachers and their desks decorated in balloons, parents voiced relief that even in the midst of a pandemic, some traditions and ceremonies had not been sacrificed in the battle against COVID-19.



"We're optimistic," said Yerofeev about having children back together again safely in a school setting. "I don't feel worried."

Even though many educators outside Russia are urging children to avoid touching or direct contact with one another, at the Balashikhan School, the new Grade 1 students held hands and walked in through the building's front doors together.

Whereas many Canadian provinces have opted for mask use, smaller groupings in classrooms and maximized physical distancing, Russia has stressed different priorities.



ts formula relies on the mass testing of school employees, daily temperature checks and intensive handwashing for everyone.

Start times for students have been staggered to avoid crowds at entrances and kids who usually rotate between classrooms will instead remain in one spot and have teachers come to them.

"Our authorities are taking all necessary precautions to avoid the spread of the virus in the school. I think it's quite safe," English teacher Elena Arkhipova told CBC.

Mass testing
Health authorities in Moscow say in the weeks leading up to the start of classes, they have tested more than 180,000 teachers and support staff who work in the city's vast school system , with roughly three per cent — or 5,500 —testing positive. Those who did were sent home.

Arkhipova said the numbers suggest students are at very low risk of contracting COVID-19 from teachers — and it also makes mask wearing unnecessary.

"It's quite uncomfortable for a teacher to wear a mask, and for the students. All the teachers have been tested and don't have the disease," said Arkhipova.



The Balashikha school has installed sophisticated temperature screening devices near the front door, much like what many airports now use to check passengers. As the children walk inside, cameras take their pictures and a thermometer scans their temperature. The results are displayed on a monitor for security staff.

A team of support workers also keeps handheld devices as a backup.

Russia's state TV Channel One reported that schools will have to closely monitor how the new system is working and report back on any problems.

"Schools will enter into the database data on how children feel," said a posting on the channel's website. "This will allow you to get a real picture and track the dynamics of the spread of viral diseases."

Parents and students who were seeing the new measures for the first time this week appeared to be generally supportive.

"I think [COVID-19] will just bypass us," said parent Victoria Veprentsev.

"If there is a second wave, then we'll put the masks back on," said Miron Yurin, who's starting Grade 9. "But right now everything is OK."

Russia officially passed one million coronavirus cases earlier this week — the fourth-largest tally in the world. However, official government numbers suggest the rate of infections is about half of what it was at its peak in the late spring.



Still, roughly 5,000 people a day continue to test positive, according to the national health agency. Many Western observers question the Russian statistics, however, noting the country's death count of 17,400 is substantially lower than most European countries.

Putin's lesson
President Vladimir Putin kicked off the learning on Tuesday in a teleconference call where he made only a passing reference to the educational challenges posed by COVID-19.

"These restrictions are necessary to protect your health and the health of others around you — your grandparents, parents and everybody at school and at home," said a transcript of Putin's remarks provided by the Kremlin.



He then went on to speak at length about the need to learn about Russian victories in the Second War War, or what Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War.

Controversial vaccine
Russia's government is also counting on its much-hyped coronavirus vaccine — dubbed Sputnik V — to ensure classrooms around the vast country remain open.

The first batch of mass inoculations involving up to 40,000 people will start later this month as part a Phase 3 trial, according to Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, even as immunologists outside the country openly question whether the vaccine will actually work.

So far, it's only been tested on a few dozen patients and the Gamaleya Research Institute, which is developing the vaccine, has yet to publish its findings in-peer reviewed publications.



Dmitry Belousov, the director of the Balashikha school, acknowledged some teachers have concerns about the vaccine but he expects most will take the injection in the end. The government insists taking the vaccine is voluntary but some teachers groups aren't convinced of that.

"We conducted a survey of employees — it was an informal conversation and I saw that there are doubts," Belousov told CBC.

"If you take the risk of taking the a vaccine or staying alive, it is better to insure yourself. I believe that this is a certain kind of insurance."

Parents appeared equally conflicted.

"Well, to be honest of course it's scary," said Alexander Ryzhkov, who has a daughter in Grade 7. "We don't know what kind of vaccine this really is."
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
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we answer all of the questions of the West that were diligently asked over the past three weeks, frankly with the clear goal of tarnishing the Russian vaccine

Results of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine produced antibody response: The Lancet

MOSCOW- Russia’s “Sputnik-V” COVID-19 vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published on Friday by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics.

The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed 100% of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.

Russia licensed the two-shot jab for domestic use in August, the first country to do so and before any data had been published or a large-scale trial begun.

“The two 42-day trials – including 38 healthy adults each – did not find any serious adverse effects among participants, and confirmed that the vaccine candidates elicit an antibody response,” The Lancet said.

“Large, long-term trials including a placebo comparison, and further monitoring are needed to establish the long-term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine for preventing COVID-19 infection,” it said.

The vaccine is named Sputnik-V in homage to the world’s first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. Some Western experts have warned against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken.

But with the results now published for the first time in an international peer-reviewed journal, and with a 40,000-strong later-stage trial launched last week, a senior Russian official said Moscow had faced down its critics abroad.

“With this (publication) we answer all of the questions of the West that were diligently asked over the past three weeks, frankly with the clear goal of tarnishing the Russian vaccine,” said Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has backed the vaccine.

“All of the boxes are checked,” he told Reuters. “Now... we will start asking questions of some of the Western vaccines.”

Dmitriev said at least 3,000 people had already been recruited for the large-scale trial of the Sputnik-V vaccine launched last week, and initial results were expected in October or November this year.

Commenting on the results of the early-stage trials, lead author Dr Naor Bar-Zeev of the International Vaccine Access Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA said the studies were “encouraging but small”.

Bar-Zeev, who was not involved in the study, said “clinical efficacy for any COVID-19 vaccine has not yet been shown.”

RACE TO DEVELOP VACCINE
Governments and big pharmaceutical firms are racing to develop a vaccine to end the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 850,000 people globally and infected around 26 million.

More than half a dozen drugmakers are already conducting advanced clinical trials, each with tens of thousands of participants and several, including Britain’s AstraZeneca and U.S. drugmakers Moderna and Pfizer expect to know if their COVID-19 vaccines work and are safe by the end of this year.

The Lancet said the early-stage trials suggested the Sputnik-V vaccine produced a response in a component of the immune system known as T cells.

Scientists have been scrutinising the role played by T cells in battling coronavirus infection, with recent findings showing these cells may provide longer-term protection than antibodies.

The vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, is administered in two doses, with each based on a different vector that normally causes the common cold: human adenoviruses Ad5 and Ad26.

Some experts have said that using this delivery mechanism could make a COVID-19 vaccine less effective, since many people have already been exposed to the Ad5 adenovirus and developed immunity to it.

In China and the United States, about 40% of people have high levels of antibodies from prior Ad5 exposure. In Africa, it could be has high as 80%, experts have said.

Denis Logunov, one of the vaccine’s developers at the Gamaleya Institute, told Reuters the vaccine uses a strong enough dose of Ad5 to overcome any earlier immunity, without compromising safety.

The booster dose, based on the rarer Ad26 adenovirus, provides further support because the likelihood of widespread immunity to both types in the population is minimal, he said.

Russia has said it expects to produce between 1.5 million and 2 million doses per month of its potential COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year, gradually increasing production to 6 million doses a month.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Nothing at all. I could careless. I am not living in a state of panic and fear and paranoia every day like you are. What have you ever done for all the diseases and seasonal flu's that have been coming around for centuries now? I will bet that you never gave much of a shit about any of it. Thousands of people are dying every day from some disease or flu virus and no one goes bonkers over it. Why have you gone bonkers over this virus? Over to you, oh wise one.


Since "you could care less" you must be quite worried! :)
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Canada is on the verge of a second wave. Numbers have been rising for the past 2-3 weeks, and are approaching 600 new cases/day, which is double what the country was reporting a month ago. This is on par with many Europeans countries like France and Spain, who are reporting their highest case count since April.

It is only going to get worse in the fall.


Depends a lot on how sensible people decide to be!
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Canada is on the verge of a second wave. Numbers have been rising for the past 2-3 weeks, and are approaching 600 new cases/day, which is double what the country was reporting a month ago. This is on par with many Europeans countries like France and Spain, who are reporting their highest case count since April.
It is only going to get worse in the fall.
10 in SK...
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Vernon, B.C.
I think it's going to be inevitable at this point. We can only do so much in winter, when most of the population is working indoors.


Well then, I'd say mask wearing should be mandated at work. You gotta do what you gotta do!