CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 7/16/2020

July 16, 2020

NEW COVID CASES FROM AREA:Harrison County: 8Gregg County: 42Smith County: 69 (only one found on routine testing apparently–the rest are newly sick).
CURRENT COVID HOSPITAL CENSUS:

2020-07-09	2020-07-10	2020-07-11	2020-07-12	2020-07-13	2020-07-14	WEDNESDAY	TSA AREA
41	46	48	47	46	47	49	Amarillo
117	115	128	125	130	130	123	Lubbock
33	32	35	35	35	33	34	Wichita Falls
24	20	22	34	38	34	31	Abilene
1826	1872	1825	1895	1867	1834	1854	Dallas/Ft. Worth
58	66	74	69	70	64	64	Paris
151	162	159	220	187	197	206	Longview/Tyler
59	64	65	63	60	73	84	Lufkin
260	261	251	277	285	283	287	El Paso
101	106	114	113	113	121	130	Midland/Odessa
47	49	51	41	39	39	39	San Angelo
75	73	76	77	75	100	97	Belton/Killeen
45	45	54	58	65	70	76	Waco
63	58	58	58	54	62	70	Bryan/College Station
504	486	500	483	498	518	530	Austin
1442	1439	1529	1490	1535	1563	1549	San Antonio
2742	2826	2842	2863	2842	2914	2884	Houston
333	385	432	431	458	515	436	Galveston
114	140	136	161	153	155	136	Victoria
116	123	150	154	149	165	159	Laredo
322	341	337	360	355	348	333	Corpus Christi
1216	1293	1197	1356	1351	1304	1300	Lower Rio Grande Valley
9689	10002	10083	10410	10405	10569	10471	Statewide Total

FROM THE ASSOCIATED POST:

1. Health Data: Hospital data related to the coronavirus in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Trump administration says the move will speed up reporting, and the CDC director said that he’s fine with the change. But some public health leaders fear it will further sideline the agency.
(J. Harris: after a slow start, The Communicable Disease Center (CDC) has become a great source of COVID information and to the coordination of the myriad of agencies and companies and corporations who are fighting the pandemic. It is frightening to me to learn that the white house is redirecting hospital information to some new private firm. I prefer that this hospital information be daily available to the public and to me without non-medical people and politicians fiddling with it. Expletive deleted!).

2. Mask Mandate: Walmart will require customers to wear face coverings at all of its namesake and Sam’s Club stores, making it the largest U.S. retailer to introduce such a policy that has otherwise proven difficult to enforce without state and federal requirements.

COVID IN MEXICO — CURRENT
J Harris: I suspect the true number of cases and deaths is much higher.

An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report NEJM

J. Harris: Good news! …The mRNA-1273 vaccine was immunogenic, inducing robust binding antibody responses to both full-length S-2P and receptor-binding domain in all participants after the first vaccination in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. Commensurately high neutralizing antibody responses were also elicited in a dose-dependent fashion. Seroconversion was rapid for binding antibodies, occurring within 2 weeks after the first vaccination, but pseudovirus neutralizing activity was low before the second vaccination, which supports the need for a two-dose vaccination schedule. It is important to note that both binding and neutralizing antibody titers induced by the two-dose schedule were similar to those found in convalescent serum specimens. However, interpretation of the significance of those comparisons must account for the variability in Covid-19 convalescent antibody titers according to factors such as patient age, disease severity, and time since disease onset and for the number of samples in the panel.12,13

In this interim report of follow-up of participants through day 57, we were not able to assess the durability of the immune responses; however, participants will be followed for 1 year after the second vaccination with scheduled blood collections throughout that period to characterize the humoral and cellular immunologic responses. This longitudinal assessment is relevant given that natural history studies suggest that SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections, particularly mild illnesses, may not generate long-lived antibody responses.20-22

….Of the three doses evaluated, the 100-μg dose elicits high neutralization responses and Th1-skewed CD4 T cell responses, coupled with a reactogenicity profile that is more favorable than that of the higher dose. A phase 2 trial of mRNA-1273 in 600 healthy adults, evaluating doses of 50 μg and 100 μg, is ongoing (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04405076. opens in new tab). A large phase 3 efficacy trial, expected to evaluate a 100-μg dose, is anticipated to begin during the summer of 2020.

How does Moses make coffee? Hebrews it.

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