Coronavirus thread

[Karl Henning]

A Calif. elementary school teacher took off her mask for a read-aloud. Within days, half her class was positive for delta.

Tangential q: So we know from testing that delta is the specific culprit, and not the earlier strain?

[Mandryka]

A Calif. elementary school teacher took off her mask for a read-aloud. Within days, half her class was positive for delta.

Tangential q: So we know from testing that delta is the specific culprit, and not the earlier strain?

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!

[Gurn Blanston]

A Calif. elementary school teacher took off her mask for a read-aloud. Within days, half her class was positive for delta.

Tangential q: So we know from testing that delta is the specific culprit, and not the earlier strain?

Voilá ici:

But the various posts trying to cast doubt on the validity of the delta variant betray a lack of understanding of how variants are being identified and tracked. There is testing to identify delta and other variants, but it's more sophisticated than the routine clinical testing — often by polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests — used to simply determine whether someone has COVID-19.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, an associate professor of pathology and medicine at Stanford University, told us in a phone interview that it's worth first noting that "all the diagnostic tests are capable of detecting the delta variant — they just don't distinguish it from different lineages." In other words, the PCR tests do detect the delta variant as SARS-CoV-2. Identifying and tracking specific variants, however, requires additional analysis.

To do that, scientists use a process called genomic sequencing. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains, sequencing is a way to decode the genes of a virus to better understand factors such as its spread and evolution.

John Everett, who helps conducts such research at Penn Medicine to understand the virus' presence in the Delaware Valley, explained it this way: "Research institutions, including Penn, study samples collected from the community by sequencing viral genomes in those samples. We identify mutations in the genomes, compared to the original Wuhan strain, where groupings of specific mutations are used to define viral variants or lineages."

"We track the relative rise and fall of different lineages which we can break apart by zip code to build a picture of how the different lineages are spreading in our area," Everett, the bioinformatics director for the University of Pennsylvania lab group behind the research, told us by email.

The group's data show how the delta variant has rapidly become the main lineage identified in most samples tested from the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Some findings done through PCR tests can provide insights into the suspected lineage present. For example, the alpha variant — first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020 — caused PCR failures involving the virus' S gene, which codes for the surface spike protein, because of the variant's mutations.

&c &c &c...

Things that are beyond us as laymen are everyday fodder for people who have dedicated their lives to working with stuff like that.

[Karl Henning]

Voilá ici:
Things that are beyond us as laymen are everyday fodder for people who have dedicated their lives to working with stuff like that.

Thanks, and I do count on that (and on them).

[T. D.]

Probably can avoid paywall by access via Google:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-31/moderna-jab-spurs-double-pfizer-covid-antibody-levels-in-study

Interesting, but it's a letter to the JAMA, not a full-fledged reviewed study.
Damn, wouldn't you know I had the 2 Pfizer shots...

[Mirror Image]

Probably can avoid paywall by access via Google:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-31/moderna-jab-spurs-double-pfizer-covid-antibody-levels-in-study

Interesting, but it's a letter to the JAMA, not a full-fledged reviewed study.
Damn, wouldn't you know I had the 2 Pfizer shots...

I wouldn't feel bad for getting the Pfizer, T. D. It saved my sister's life. Remember she got COVID, had mild symptoms and then fully recovered. The important thing is you got the vaccine. I'll be getting the second dose of Pfizer this Friday.

[Karl Henning]

Missourians packed into a city council meeting to fight a mask mandate. One of the attendees now has COVID — 8:26 a.m.
By The Washington Post

Two weeks ago, dozens of maskless Independence, Mo., residents gathered at an indoor city council meeting to debate a proposed mask mandate. The majority of council members in the Kansas City suburb rejected the mandate.

Now, the city's health department is warning all attendees they were "likely exposed" to the coronavirus. In a statement Monday, department officials said they have learned at least one person who attended the meeting has tested positive for the virus.

====================

Louisiana grapples with oxygen shortages in Ida's aftermath; New data confirm COVID-19 vaccines still provide strong protection
By Globe staffUpdated August 31, 2021

[T. D.]

I wouldn't feel bad for getting the Pfizer, T. D. It saved my sister's life. Remember she got COVID, had mild symptoms and then fully recovered. The important thing is you got the vaccine. I'll be getting the second dose of Pfizer this Friday.

Thanks, it was mostly a joke. Believe me, I got the shots as soon as I possibly could. Became eligible on a Tuesday (mid-March), first dose Sunday. Second opportunity @ County site; first one (Wednesday) "sold out" before I could respond.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks, it was mostly a joke. Believe me, I got the shots as soon as I possibly could. Became eligible on a Tuesday (mid-March), first dose Sunday. Second opportunity @ County site; first one (Wednesday) "sold out" before I could respond.

Ah, I see. Well, looking back on it, I wish I had gotten my sooner rather than later. But I suppose getting them is the most important thing. There are still people out there that all government is evil and that they're looking to poison us all. Trust me, if they wanted to kill us with something, they could, but I think these anti-vaxxers are being not only foolish, but are simply ignoring the fact that they're the reason why other people who aren't vaccinated are dying left and right.

[Spotted Horses]

Probably can avoid paywall by access via Google:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-31/moderna-jab-spurs-double-pfizer-covid-antibody-levels-in-study

Interesting, but it's a letter to the JAMA, not a full-fledged reviewed study.
Damn, wouldn't you know I had the 2 Pfizer shots...

I haven't published in JAMA so I don't know by experience, but in other journals a "Letter" is reviewed by referees just like full length publications. The main criteria for a "Letter to Nature" or "Physical Review Letter" is that it is brief and of high interest. It is actually harder to get a "Letter" into most scientific journals because they are considered more high profile and prestigious.

[T. D.]

Thanks, I didn't realize that.
BTW, the story was updated today. Main change seems to be addition of skeptical commentary.

[71 dB]

Damn, wouldn't you know I had the 2 Pfizer shots...

I had them too, but in Finland we waited for 3 months between jabs which they claim produces more antibodies. 

[MusicTurner]

(...)

In spite of somewhat increasing hospitalizations here in DK, the weekly published R number today is now down to 0.9 . I guess we'll see it during the coming week, if that's measurably correct.

After a bit more than a week, the R number continues to be 0.9 here in DK, and the daily number of registered infections has been going down slightly. The number of hospitalizations is unstable, currently maybe 10% increased compared to early last week, but still very manageable (went down a good deal today, to 134).
The virus is flourishing mainly among non-vaccinated, including children.

The EU now has 70% of the adult population vaccinated, which is well done, and in DK, it's 86%, 90% being the target for September. For the total population including children it's 71% here.

They're still expecting a virus increase in the autumn, and also a lot of ordinary influenza, recommending children and the elderly to get flu vaccines too.

At a recent festival in the UK, Boardmasters in Cornwall, with maybe 75,000 participants, almost 5000 were infected, due to Delta variants.

[Karl Henning]

I Want my MTV!

[Mandryka]

After a bit more than a week, the R number continues to be 0.9 here in DK, and the daily number of registered infections has been going down slightly. The number of hospitalizations is unstable, currently maybe 10% increased compared to early last week, but still very manageable (went down a good deal today, to 134).
The virus is flourishing mainly among non-vaccinated, including children.

The EU now has 70% of the adult population vaccinated, which is well done, and in DK, it's 86%, 90% being the target for September. For the total population including children it's 71% here.

They're still expecting a virus increase in the autumn, and also a lot of ordinary influenza, recommending children and the elderly to get flu vaccines too.

At a recent festival in the UK, Boardmasters in Cornwall, with maybe 75,000 participants, almost 5000 were infected, due to Delta variants.

The elephant in the room is Israel. Vaccinated and transmission out of control.

[Karl Henning]

Oh, and about that "fetish?"

Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say

[MusicTurner]

Israel has currently vaccinated only 60.6 % of its total population,
whereas Denmark for example is at 72.5 %, and Iceland at 73.9 %.

Maybe there are some 'technical' details regarding Israel, for instance concerning the Palestinians etc..

[Mandryka]

Maybe there are some 'technical' details regarding Israel, for instance concerning the Palestinians etc..

There's a thought.

[T. D.]

Israel has currently vaccinated only 60.6 % of its total population,
whereas Denmark for example is at 72.5 %, and Iceland at 73.9 %.

Maybe there are some 'technical' details regarding Israel, for instance concerning the Palestinians etc..

My experience in the USA [NY state] is that Orthodox/Hasidic Jews are vaccination-averse. Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Orange County were hard-hit by COVID.
That could be an additional (besides Palestinian) factor in Israel, but it's just my speculation.

[Mandryka]

Oh, and about that "fetish?"

Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say

Do you have a link to this?

Obviously surgical masks limit spread. The essential questions is how much the actual face coverings people use, and the way they actually use them, reduce the numbers of people who catch the disease.