WHEN WERE OUR WORST COVID DAYS IN THE LAST 482 DAYS?
In numbers of hospitalized Covid Patients in G and TX
FROM HOPKINS
1. Moderna Says its COVID-19 Shot 93% Effective Six Months After Second Dose (Reuters) Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) said on Thursday its COVID-19 shot was about 93% effective through six months after the second dose, showing hardly any change from the 94% efficacy reported in its original clinical trial. However, it said it still expects booster shots to be necessary ahead of the winter season as antibody levels are expected to wane. It and rival Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) have been advocating a third shot to maintain a high level of protection against COVID-19.
2. Beijing Canceling Large Exhibitions, Events for Rest of Month as Delta Variant Spreads (The Hill): Beijing is canceling large exhibitions and events for the rest of August due to a rise in delta variant coronavirus cases. China’s National Health Commission announced Wednesday there were 62 new nationwide coronavirus cases, with three cases confirmed to be the delta variant. “Prevention and control of the epidemic is currently the most important priority for the entire city of Beijing, top to bottom,” the Chinese capital’s COVID-19 response team said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. The decision comes a day after a mass coronavirus testing order was announced in Wuhan due to an outbreak of the delta variant.
(J. Harris: So we have more Delta cases in Marshall than all of China? Sure.)
A NUANCED GUIDE TO DELTA
by Ed Yong of The Atlantic
(Mr. Yong is one the very best writers about Covid that I have encountered. I’ll try to attach a PDF of this )
1. Vaccinated people are not fully safe … but they’re much safer than unvaccinated people.
2. Breakthrough infections are relatively rare … but won’t feel rare.
3. Vaccinated people are unlikely to transmit Delta as easily as unvaccinated people … but they can probably still spread it.
4.We are not back to square one … but we’re not out of the woods..
”…Vaccines might not be able to control the spread of Delta on their own, but they remain our best tool for managing the pandemic. And even though unvaccinated people are still in severe danger, vaccinated people are significantly safer than they were at this time last year. The U.S. isn’t back to the carefree summer of 2019, but it’s not at the devastating winter of 2020 either.”
MORE ON VARIANT DEVELOPMENT”
VACCINE-RESISTANT VARIANT RISK With the number of new COVID-19 cases rising in much of the world, scientists are warning that continued transmission provides an opportunity for the evolution of new, and potentially more harmful, SARS-CoV-2 variants. The current increase in cases is being fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant as well as the loosening and inconsistent use of public health prevention measures, increased social mobility, and inequitable vaccine access, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus said on July 30, warning that health systems in many countries are overwhelmed and that more variants will emerge as long as the virus continues to spread. US CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky cautioned that a new variant could potentially evade vaccines but added the vaccines authorized in the US continue to protect people from severe disease and death.
In a modeling study published in Nature Scientific Reports on July 30, researchers with the Austria Institute of Science and Technology examined the impact of the rate of vaccination and the strength of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the probability of the emergence and establishment of a vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 strain. The researchers’ model identified three factors that could lead to the establishment of a vaccine-resistant strain: the high probability of a resistant strain’s initial emergence, a high number of infected individuals, and a low rate of vaccination. The researchers’ analysis showed that the highest risk of vaccine-resistant strain establishment occurs when a large proportion of the population is vaccinated but viral transmission is high, underlining the importance of controlling transmission through public health interventions while continuing vaccination campaigns. Nevertheless, the researchers conclude “the emergence of a partially or fully vaccine-resistant strain and its eventual establishment appears inevitable.” The UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) published an updated theoretical and non-peer-reviewed paper on July 30 essentially coming to the same conclusion, that a vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variant almost certainly will emerge and public health authorities must continue efforts to reduce transmission as much as possible.
FROM BECKERS:
Florida hospitals struggling to get oxygen
” has 11,515 hospitalized COVID-19 patients as of Aug. 3, and 84 percent of the state’s inpatient hospital beds are being used,…”
With delta ‘picking off’ Houston’s unvaccinated, Hotez and other experts say 3 things can stem tide
”…With the traditional coronavirus, if someone is infected, on average they’re infectious starting two-and-a-half days after infection and show symptoms at five days,…with delta, a key difference is that the time between exposure and being infectious is shorter by a day…it’s also time for vaccinated people to have conversations with the unvaccinated people in their lives…the most influential factor in changing someone’s mind about vaccinations …It’s not what they hear from some expert in an ivory tower. It’s what they hear from family and friends.”
(J. Harris: And vaccinated or not, when out and about wear your mask and avoid crowds. )
AND LAST BUT NOT LEASED:
I NEVER SAID IT WAS YOUR FAULT.
I SAID I WAS BLAMING YOU.
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