"WW C"- COVID-19, GLOBAL CASES SURPASS 676 MILLION...CASES 676,609,955 DEATHS 6,881,955 US CASES 103,804,263 US DEATHS 1,123,836 8:30pm 1/28/24

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
U.K. COVID Variant Doubles Every 10 Days in the U.S.


Feb. 8, 2021 -- The coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom is rapidly becoming the dominant strain in several countries and is doubling every 10 days in the United States, according to new data.

The findings by Nicole L. Washington, PhD, associate director of research at the genomics company Helix, and colleagues were posted Sunday on the preprint server medRxiv. The paper hasn't been peer-reviewed in a scientific journal.

The researchers also found that the transmission rate in the United States of the variant, labeled B.1.1.7, is 30% to 40% higher than that of more common lineages.

The findings lend credence to modelling predictions the CDC released in January. The agency said at the time that the new strain could cause more than half of new infections in this country by March, even as the U.S. races to deploy vaccines.

In the new study, while clinical outcomes initially were thought to be similar to those of other coronavirus variants, early reports suggest that infection with the B.1.1.7 variant may increase death risk by about 30%.

A coauthor of the current work, Kristian Andersen, told The New York Times, "Nothing in this paper is surprising, but people need to see it."

Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, said, “We should probably prepare for this being the predominant lineage in most places in the United States by March."

"Our study shows that the US is on a similar trajectory as other countries where B.1.1.7 rapidly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant, requiring immediate and decisive action to minimize COVID-19 morbidity and mortality," the researchers write.
The authors point out that the B.1.1.7 variant became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the United Kingdom within a couple of months of its detection.
"Since then, the variant has been increasingly observed across many European countries, including Portugal and Ireland, which, like the UK, observed devastating waves of COVID-19 after B.1.1.7 became dominant," the authors write.
The B.1.1.7 variant has likely been spreading between US states since at least December 2020, they write.
As of Sunday, there were 690 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the US in 33 states, according to the CDC. But, the true number of cases is certainly higher. Normal coronavirus tests do not detect if an infection comes from one of the variants. Only genomic sequencing can do that, and the U.S. has only recently begun to ramp up that type of testing.
Washington and colleagues examined more than 500,000 coronavirus test samples from cases across the United States that were tested at San Mateo, CA-based Helix facilities since July 2020.
In the study, they findings of the variant varied across states. By the last week in January, the researchers estimated the proportion of B.1.1.7 in the U.S. population to be about 2.1% of all COVID-19 cases, though they found it made up about 2% of all COVID-19 cases in California and about 4.5% of cases in Florida. The authors acknowledge that their data is less robust outside of those two states.
While those percentages are still low, "our estimates show that its growth rate is at least 35-45% increased and doubling every week and a half," the authors write.
"Because laboratories in the US are only sequencing a small subset of SARS-CoV-2 samples, the true sequence diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in this country is still unknown," they note.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the U.S. is facing a "Category 5" storm with the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant as well as the variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil.
"We are going to see something like we have not seen yet in this country," Osterholm said recently on NBC's Meet the Press.



U.K. COVID Variant Doubles Every 10 Days in the U.S. (webmd.com)
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
With AstraZeneca rollout suspended, South Africa scrambles for a vaccine plan — a ‘preview’ of new fight against variants

c1_2064503.jpg
South African law enforcement block traffic in Johannesburg to clear a path for refrigerated trucks carrying doses of the coronavirus vaccine by AstraZeneca on Feb. 1

When a plane loaded with 1 million doses of vaccine produced by AstraZeneca landed in South Africa on Feb. 1, a hopeful country watched with rapt attention.
Exactly a week later came the blow: A study, however limited and not yet peer-reviewed, said the vaccine provided only “minimal protection” against contracting mild to moderate infections of a new coronavirus variant that is widespread in South Africa, where it was first detected. The variant has since been found in at least 30 countries.

The news was a blow not only to South Africans but to billions of people whose governments are relying on the vaccine developed at Oxford University and made by AstraZeneca. If further studies confirm the finding about the effectiveness of the vaccine, dozens of countries around the world may need to adjust their vaccine rollout plans. South Africa, however, has the unwelcome role of going first.

For now, its government has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is trying to expedite its procurement of Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — though only the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been studied in South Africa during the new variant’s predominance. In a much larger study than the AstraZeneca vaccine study, it was also found to be less effective against the variant but able to prevent severe cases and death almost totally. South Africa expects its first delivery in mid-February and hopes to use it to vaccinate a first phase of health workers, but it is still negotiating the size of the first batch.
South Africa has also ordered 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, the country’s health minister told the Sunday Times newspaper on Jan. 29, but delivery dates had not been set.
“It’s a preview of what other places in the world will see. We are learning that vaccine rollouts will require continuous recalibration,” said Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinology at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and chief investigator in the trial. “It can’t be a generic approach.”

The suspension announced by the South African government Sunday night was partly explained as a timesaving measure while researchers get better data about the AstraZeneca vaccine — particularly on how effective it is at preventing severe cases. The study, produced by researchers from the universities of Witwatersrand and Oxford, involved only 2,000 participants, half of whom got the vaccine while the other half got a placebo, and its median age was 31, meaning little could be gleaned about the vaccine’s efficacy against severe cases of the new variant or about how well it protects the elderly, who are the most likely to be hospitalized or die.
People should not conclude “that this vaccine doesn’t work at all,” Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said of AstraZeneca’s vaccine at a news conference Monday. “What we’ve seen is data from a small study. It’s indicative. It is telling us we need to collect more data, we need to study it more.”
At the same briefing, Seth Berkley, a top official administering the WHO-led effort to ensure vaccine supply to low-income countries, said the new research would not stop it from distributing more than 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in a first round of deliveries beginning later this month.

On Sunday, however, South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, said that more recalibration of the country’s response would be inevitable.
“Our scientists must get together and quickly figure out what approach we’re going to use,” he said. A spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa did not respond to requests for comment.
The new variant, known as B.1.351, drove a monster second wave in South Africa that subsided only after another round of lockdowns and other restrictions. More than 90 percent of new cases since December have been of the new variant, and studies showed tens of thousands of excess deaths during that period that experts said were largely attributable to it.

CONTINUED:
South Africa scrambles for vaccine plan after suspending AstraZeneca rollout, a 'preview' of new fight against coronavirus variants - The Washington Post
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
Coronavirus Vaccine Updates: Biden Administration secures 200M more doses for use by summer

NEW YORK (WABC) -- President Biden saying the country is on track to deliver 100 million vaccine doses one month earlier than expected.

The administration has now secured 200 million additional doses from Pfizer and Moderna to be delivered this summer.

Looking ahead, Dr. Anthony Fauci says anyone who wants a vaccine should be able to get one by spring.

"I would imagine by the time we get to April, that would be what I call for better wording, open season," Dr. Fauci said.

Fauci also says that he thinks children as young as first grade could be authorized to get the shots by September.





COVID Vaccine Updates: Biden Administration secures 200M more doses for use by summer - ABC7 New York (abc7ny.com)
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
Wasted: Plexiglass Boondoggle At SC Elementary School... $5M fuck up


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. —
Elementary teacher Teresa Holmes has several questions for school board leaders after seeing the plexiglass set up in her classroom.

Teresa Holmes recorded a video of her classroom which has 28 desks now armed with plexiglass shields.

She originally posted the video to social media, but the Horry County School District allegedly asked her to remove it.

Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
 

xfactor

Rising Star
BGOL Investor


Dozens of people develop rare blood disorder after taking coronavirus vaccines – reports
10 Feb, 2021 14:42


At least 36 recipients of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines in the US have developed a rare immune disorder that attacks the blood, according to reports. One patient is dead, and doctors can’t rule out blaming the vaccine.
Dr. Gregory Michael – a 56-year-old obstetrician-gynecologist who ran his own practice at Miami Beach’s Mount Sinai Medical Center for more than a decade – died in January of a brain hemorrhage. He had received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine two weeks earlier, and immediately developed immune thrombocytopenia, a rare and sometimes fatal blood disorder.


Michael is one of at least 36 people to have developed the condition after receiving either Pfizer’s or Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines, according to a New York Times report published on Monday. The cases were self-reported to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) before the end of January, meaning more people could have developed the condition since then.

Immune thrombocytopenia is a rare condition affecting an estimated 50,000 people in the US. The condition is caused by the body’s own immune system attacking the platelets that are the component of the blood responsible for clotting. With their blood unable to clot, patients often develop internal or external bruising, which may look like a rash. In several cases like Michael’s, the condition has caused massive hemorrhages or strokes.

One patient contacted by the Times suffered heavy vaginal bleeding two weeks after receiving Moderna’s vaccine and required platelet transfusions and steroid treatment to survive. Another woman was hospitalized with bruising and bleeding blisters in her mouth just a day after receiving the same shot. Her condition deteriorated to the point where doctors concerned that a slight knock would trigger fatal bleeding were afraid to move her from the hospital bed.
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor

WOW...... and all the BGOL doctors/COVID experts creating threads..... and running up in here talking bout how good they feel and how they aren't worried about catching the Rona, how they take vitamin C...... every time I here that fool ass dentist talking bout how gargling with mouthwash will help fight spread of COVID cause it has alcohol in it..... COVID is in your lungs and is expelled with breathing...... so unless you're walking around with mouthwash in a sippy cup.... it ain't doing shit..... WBLS plays that ignant brother's spot all the fucking time..... I feel like slapping the shit out of him and stick to dentistry..... it's like hearing that dumb fuck Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, trying to tell Faucci about his job.... he's so far out of his wheelhouse it's pathetic... :hmm:
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
Memphis surgeon dies of COVID-related illness weeks after receiving second COVID vaccine

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A Mid-South doctor has died of a COVID-related illness. However, he never knew he had the virus and he’d been vaccinated.

Dr. J Barton Williams, called a student of medicine and science, went from doctor to patient when he fell ill weeks ago. Dr. Stephen Threlkeld helped treat him at Baptist Hospital.

Threlkeld says the disease quickly went from diagnosis to death.

“It was matter of days,” Threlkeld said. “Just a tragedy.”

Williams, an Orthopedic Surgeon for OrthoSouth, died Feb. 8 of multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS, a condition usually affecting children and attacking the immune system.

“The immune system attacks the body in many ways and causes multi-organ system failure,” Threlkeld said. “It affects the heart, the gastrointestinal tract and other places.”

Threlkeld says Williams tested positive for COVID antibodies, meaning he had COVID at one time, but he never knew it. And he had gotten his second COVID vaccine just weeks before his death.

After rumors that the vaccine contributed to his death, Williams’s family allowed those who treated him to do the unprecedented: speak out about his condition.

“The family has been incredibly generous and courageous in allowing the details of his case to be put out there for those of us who took care of him, just to try and make sure the facts were out there true,” Threlkeld said.

They want to dispel rumors this was a new variant of COVID. Threlkeld says they never found an active virus in Williams body.

“It does seem to be in every case we have seen so far to be related to the virus itself,” Threlked said. “It’s a post-viral, sometimes a few weeks later, a post-viral effect. Not during the first part of it.”

We asked if the vaccine could not be a protector against this because Williams had already been predisposed to the COVID virus.

“It’s a very important question. All preliminary,” Threlkeld said. “We are working with the CDC to see how vaccines can play in all directions. We don’t have any data to suggest the vaccine has any affect in either direction.”

Health officials are meeting daily to study Williams’s rare case. But they’re still spreading the message that everyone should be vaccinated.

“The way to avoid this rare, albeit terrible, illness is to get the vaccine,” Threlkeld said. “The way to avoid it is to prevent the infection in the first place.”

He says it’s something Williams would want.

“He would want this out there and the facts. he would want the true facts out there and to have an effect to save other people,” Threlkeld said. “And you certainly hear his voice in this by saying get your vaccine.”

We’re told the exact cause of Williams’s death has not been determined and an autopsy is pending.





Memphis surgeon dies of COVID-related illness weeks after receiving second COVID vaccine | WATE 6 On Your Side
 

easy_b

Look into my eyes you are getting sleepy!!!
BGOL Investor
Memphis surgeon dies of COVID-related illness weeks after receiving second COVID vaccine

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A Mid-South doctor has died of a COVID-related illness. However, he never knew he had the virus and he’d been vaccinated.

Dr. J Barton Williams, called a student of medicine and science, went from doctor to patient when he fell ill weeks ago. Dr. Stephen Threlkeld helped treat him at Baptist Hospital.

Threlkeld says the disease quickly went from diagnosis to death.

“It was matter of days,” Threlkeld said. “Just a tragedy.”

Williams, an Orthopedic Surgeon for OrthoSouth, died Feb. 8 of multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS, a condition usually affecting children and attacking the immune system.

“The immune system attacks the body in many ways and causes multi-organ system failure,” Threlkeld said. “It affects the heart, the gastrointestinal tract and other places.”

Threlkeld says Williams tested positive for COVID antibodies, meaning he had COVID at one time, but he never knew it. And he had gotten his second COVID vaccine just weeks before his death.

After rumors that the vaccine contributed to his death, Williams’s family allowed those who treated him to do the unprecedented: speak out about his condition.

“The family has been incredibly generous and courageous in allowing the details of his case to be put out there for those of us who took care of him, just to try and make sure the facts were out there true,” Threlkeld said.

They want to dispel rumors this was a new variant of COVID. Threlkeld says they never found an active virus in Williams body.

“It does seem to be in every case we have seen so far to be related to the virus itself,” Threlked said. “It’s a post-viral, sometimes a few weeks later, a post-viral effect. Not during the first part of it.”

We asked if the vaccine could not be a protector against this because Williams had already been predisposed to the COVID virus.

“It’s a very important question. All preliminary,” Threlkeld said. “We are working with the CDC to see how vaccines can play in all directions. We don’t have any data to suggest the vaccine has any affect in either direction.”

Health officials are meeting daily to study Williams’s rare case. But they’re still spreading the message that everyone should be vaccinated.

“The way to avoid this rare, albeit terrible, illness is to get the vaccine,” Threlkeld said. “The way to avoid it is to prevent the infection in the first place.”

He says it’s something Williams would want.

“He would want this out there and the facts. he would want the true facts out there and to have an effect to save other people,” Threlkeld said. “And you certainly hear his voice in this by saying get your vaccine.”

We’re told the exact cause of Williams’s death has not been determined and an autopsy is pending.





Memphis surgeon dies of COVID-related illness weeks after receiving second COVID vaccine | WATE 6 On Your Side
I’ll beginning to hear a lot about this with some people on Twitter this is why I don’t want nothing to do with the vaccine I’m not going to stop anyone from getting the vaccine but I am not going to touch it right now
 

Helico-pterFunk

Rising Star
BGOL Legend








 

BrownTurd

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
I’ll beginning to hear a lot about this with some people on Twitter this is why I don’t want nothing to do with the vaccine I’m not going to stop anyone from getting the vaccine but I am not going to touch it right now
This has nothing to do with the vaccine and Doctors still don’t know why some people suffer from MIS once the virus enters the body.

It is seen more in kids but a few adults have came down with it. It is essentially an allergic reaction to the Covid virus.

This has nothing to do with the vaccine and the vaccine can’t prevent MIS
 

Helico-pterFunk

Rising Star
BGOL Legend


 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19.

It typically takes a few weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19.

That means it is possible a person could still get COVID-19 just after vaccination. This is because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection.

 

mangobob79

Rising Star
BGOL Investor


"Dozens of Black doctors have taken it upon themselves to dispel Coronavirus misinformation on Clubhouse. Some have been harassed and bullied for doing so:"

they tried that on bgol too! thank goodness for the various bruhs on here who join in on these convos b4 these bgol streets turn to disinfo networks 4chan & rightwing light conspiracy cesspool
 

Helico-pterFunk

Rising Star
BGOL Legend



 

mangobob79

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Black Doctors Work Overtime to Combat Clubhouse Covid Myths

Black Doctors Work Overtime to Combat Clubhouse Covid Myths

By
William Turton
February 11, 2021, 6:00 AM EST Updated on February 11, 2021, 2:07 PM EST
  • Conspiracies flourish on app including about vaccines and 5G
  • ‘Hey, I was skeptical too, but here’s where I am now’
LISTEN TO ARTICLE
6:37
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sha...k-overtime-to-combat-clubhouse-covid-19-myths
For the last year, Dr. Daniel Fagbuyi said he has worked 12- to 14-hour shifts as an emergency room physician treating patients who have been struck by Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Fagbuyi recently picked up a side gig, one that isn’t paying him anything.

“I do my shift, wash my face, change my clothes and then get on the app,
said Fagbuyi, from Washington D.C. That app is Clubhouse, a relatively new, invitation-only social app that hosts interactive audio-only chat rooms. It has exploded in popularity in recent months, the result of people seeking community and conversation amid lockdowns and a publicity push by its main backer, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Illustration: Joseph P Kelly
Fagbuyi is just one of dozens of Black doctors and medical professionals who have taken it upon themselves to counter Covid-19 misinformation, which has proliferated on the app alongside the surge in new users. Unlike Facebook, Twitter or Youtube, where the companies have tried to impose rules on objectionable content, Clubhouse leaves the moderation to the app’s users, who control who gets to speak in certain rooms.

Medical professionals of many backgrounds are on Clubhouse too. Some of them, like Fagbuyi, are racing to dispel disinformation. But the effort has taken on added urgency among Black medical professionals, according to several of the participants and researchers. They said Clubhouse has become so popular and influential in the Black community that false claims about Covid-19 and its vaccines can’t be ignored.

“Black people are acting as first responders in the disinformation crisis,” said Erin Shields, a national field organizer at MediaJustice, a social justice non-profit. Some of the medical professionals said they have been bullied and harassed for their efforts.
Clubhouse declined to comment.

Fagbuyi, a former biodefense and public health expert at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said friends urged him to start using the app to counter the false claims. Clubhouse users were spreading conspiracy theories about 5G technology being linked to the virus and about the safety of the vaccine, they told him.
“They were like ‘This is bad, we need you out here,” Fagbuyi said. So, in November, Fagbuyi bought an iPhone and began working as an unpaid moderator on the app. (Clubhouse, which allows users to participate in audio chat rooms, is only available on iPhones.)
Since then, Fagbuyi said he’s worked to identify areas of Clubhouse where he can reach people who are willing to listen. But some audiences are tougher than others. The creators of certain Clubhouse rooms aren’t interested in engaging in a discussion, but rather set up to promote conspiracy theories and discredit doctors, he said.
Fagbuyi said some users have accused him of being secretly paid by the government to promote the vaccine.
“There’s a learning curve to using the app,” he said. “Going in on a suicide mission is not necessary.”

A Clubhouse room where Black doctors answer questions about Covid-19.

Covid-19 has disproportionately affected Black people, who are 3.7 times times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid-19 than White, non-Hispanics, and 2.8 times more likely to die from the disease, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Coronavirus misinformation being spread in the Black community takes on heightened importance because of decades of discrimination and mistreatment by the medical community. An oft cited example is the Tuskegee syphilis study, where U.S. government doctors studied the effects of the disease on Black men, who weren’t told the truth about the research and were denied access to penicillin once it was identified as a treatment. The study, which began in 1932, went on for 40 years.

The day's biggest stories

Get caught up with the Evening Briefing.

“As African Americans, we have a legitimate reason to not trust the pharmaceutical companies and various health-care industries,” said Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, founder of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, which seeks to correct misinformation within the Black community. “But we have to make room for truth, and it’s not an excuse for platforms to just let disinformation flow so easily.”
Clubhouse, which launched last March, is live and ephemeral, making it unlike the majority of content on other social networks. But it also makes it difficult to moderate and track. The app has been downloaded almost 5 million times, with 3.7 million of those downloads happening in the last 30 days, according to the app analytics firm Apptopia.

“The experience is like talk radio meets chat room, and while there’s counter-speech, there’s also a vague moderation policy,” said Renee DiResta, research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. “But as the experiences of these doctors show, counter-speech can be powerful.”
While describing Clubhouse as “the new frontier” on social media, Aiwuyor said the app isn’t “really monitoring their service.”
“Anyone can pop up and host a Covid-19 conversation with little to no expert analysis, and then experts are often bashed or bullied,” she said. The harassment often spills over onto other platforms, such as Twitter, Aiwuyor said.
Some Clubhouse rooms are set up to pit doctors and scientists against anti-vaxxers in order to generate arguments and controversy, said Azza Gadir, an immunologist in Los Angeles, who has been using the app since August.
“If the rooms are badly moderated, then forget about it,” Gadir said. “It will descend into hell within 30 minutes. Sometimes it does feel like it’s for entertainment.”

Even though conversations on Clubhouse can devolve into unproductive arguments, doctors and other medical professionals said they’ve been able to have constructive conversations and even change people’s mind.
Fagbuyi said he believes his work on the app has been effective in part because hearing a person’s voice can make a conversation feel less confrontational than communicating by text on other social networks.
“It’s something about the voice, you can hear if someone is genuine or bullshitting you,” he said.

Gadir said it’s been worth it for her too. “I get messages from people who said they weren’t going to vaccinate, and then they vaccinated,” she said.
One of those people is Patrice Withers-Stephens, 38, of Dallas, Texas. At first, Withers-Stephens said she was skeptical of the vaccine and the speed at which it was developed. “I couldn’t wrap my mind around -- how do you push something through so fast?” Withers-Stephens said. She had even heard rumors about a chip inside of the vaccine, which she said made her uneasy.
But a conversation with Gadir on Clubhouse changed all of that. “She truly literally changed my mind. She helped me understand clinical trials and what the ingredients were in the vaccine,” Withers-Stephens said.


Patrice Withers-Stephens receiving her first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine.
Source: Patrice Withers-Stephens
Being a black woman, I wanted to hear from Black doctors,” she said. “Clubhouse allowed me to ask questions rather than just listen in.”
Withers-Stephens said she got her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine last week.
“I’ve been telling people, ‘Hey, I was skeptical too, but here’s where I am now,’
” she said.
— With assistance by Ellen Huet
 
Top