Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[derspiess]

USAA has thrown me a $32 bone a couple times, while straining their shoulders patting themselves on the back about it.

[Sheilbh]

Meanwhile in Britain the Prime Minister has, after 11 weeks of lockdown, decided to take control - from the Telegraph:

EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson is to take "direct control" of the Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis

I don't understand how anyone thought this would be a good headline for him

[Valmy]

What so he had delegated all authority in this crisis to the Minister for Sport?

Or maybe the Minister for Administrative Affairs?

[Syt]

When the acid kicks in ....



Austrian health minister during press conference advertising the contact tracing app and reminding people of keeping their distance of 1 meter or the length of a baby elephant (much ridiculed since March).

[DGuller]

How old is the reference baby elephant, just so that there is no confusion?

[Tamas]

Meanwhile in Britain the Prime Minister has, after 11 weeks of lockdown, decided to take control - from the Telegraph:

EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson is to take "direct control" of the Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis

I don't understand how anyone thought this would be a good headline for him

Thats nice of him, hopefully it won't inconvenience him too much.

[Syt]

How old is the reference baby elephant, just so that there is no confusion?

As old as it has to be tobe exactly 1 meter long.

[alfred russel]

So for those following the saga of Georgia climbing...climbing gyms were given permission to reopen April 24, but the first in Atlanta reopened May 1. My normal gym, which operates the other 3 of the 4 gyms in Atlanta, didn't reopen until June 1, but on June 1 it couldn't open because of the unrest. First day back was yesterday...and the place was mostly empty. They are requiring people to wear a mask while they climb, which seemed like a decent solution until I started climbing in a mask  .

Not sure why people are staying away: is it because of the mask requirement, fear of coronavirus, people have moved onto other things in life, not being able to find climbing partners responsibly in the era of coronavirus, or some combination?

[Sheilbh]

Interesting Twitter thread by Anthony Costello (public health professor and formerly of the WHO) and a new paper (one of several) on possible cross-immunity for covid from other coronaviruses (like the common cold):

Anthony Costello
@globalhlthtwit
This paper provides important information about the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Three key findings. (1)
A. 'Circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were identified in 70% and 100% of COVID-19 convalescent patients, respectively.'   (2)
B. 'The M, spike, and N proteins each accounted for 11%–27% of the total CD4+ response.' This suggests vaccine candidates should not simply focus on the spike protein. (3)
C. They found reactive CD4+ T cells in 40%–60% of unexposed individuals from blood taken a year or more ago. This suggests crossreactive T cell recognition between circulating ''common cold'' coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2. (4)
In regards to this last point, based on mouse models, they speculate that CD4+ T cells are of value in protective immunity. They also suggest 'the presence of cross-reactive T cells was found to correlate with less severe disease' in H1N1 flu(Sridhar, 2013; Wilkinson, 2012)(5)
'Any degree of cross-protective coronavirus immunity in the population could have a very substantial impact on the overall course of the pandemic, and the dynamics of the epidemiology for years to come' (Kissler et al., 2020). (6)
So just to provoke: could this cross-protective immunity be part of the 'dark matter' suggested by Karl Friston and implied by Sunetra Gupta? (7)
I have assumed that low antibody levels and a circulating virus means inevitable further outbreaks and a second winter surge. I'm sure we shall see outbreaks, as elsewhere, but do these cross-reactive T cells mean a second surge is less likely? Or is this over-speculation? (8)

It seems this is kind of the critical question at the minute and could even possibly partly explain the lack of second waves in Europe and the US when lockdown's been lifted.

[Josephus]

Not sure if this has been discussed yet (sorry I'm not following this thread by thread, ,although  it' s not as though I don't have the time. This is a report out of Sweden were apparently their top epidemologist says he got it wrong

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/top-epidemiologist-admits-he-got-swedens-covid-19-strategy-wrong?

[crazy canuck]

Not sure if this has been discussed yet (sorry I'm not following this thread by thread, ,although  it' s not as though I don't have the time. This is a report out of Sweden were apparently their top epidemologist says he got it wrong

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/top-epidemiologist-admits-he-got-swedens-covid-19-strategy-wrong?

It is an interesting admission to make at this particular time.  In the short term he is right to admit that Sweden's strategy resulted in more deaths.  But long term, we won't know for sure until after the second wave hits.  Will the countries who locked down and then opened up fare better in the long run still be better off? - hard to know for sure.

[Syt]

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/sex-face-mask-coronavirus-how-to-safely-harvard-illegal-uk-a9545741.html

COUPLES SHOULD HAVE SEX 'WEARING A MASK' TO REDUCE RISK OF TRANSMITTING CORONAVIRUS, STUDY SUGGESTS

Couples should have sex while wearing face masks to reduce the risk of transmitting Covid-19 to one another, a new study suggests.

On 8 May, researchers at Harvard University published a study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine on the safest ways to have sex during the coronavirus outbreak.

On Monday, new laws were implemented in England that made it illegal for couples who live in different homes to have sex indoors and stay overnight.

Guidance in place in the rest of the UK also prevents people from having sex with anyone outside of their household.

Despite it being against guidelines to socialise with different households in many US states, the Harvard scientists have ranked different sexual scenarios on the basis of how likely it is that you would catch coronavirus while doing them.

At the top end, and therefore identified as the lowest risk, is abstinence. "Low risk for infection, though not feasible for many," the researchers say.

Next is masturbation, which the study states is "low risk" and then in third place is sexual activity on digital platforms.

"Patients should be counselled on the risks for screenshots of conversations or videos and sexual extortion," the researchers say, adding that minors should be counselled about the risks of online sexual predation, which the study notes has increased since the pandemic began.

Following on after that is having sex with people within your household. This, the study notes, comes with a high risk of infection given that one or both partners might have caught the virus from outside of the home.

In the last place, and deemed the highest risk, is having sex with people outside of our household.

In such instances, the study states that patients should be counseled about risk reduction techniques, such as: "minimising the number of sexual partners, avoiding sex partners with symptoms consistent with SARS-CoV-2, avoiding kissing and sexual behaviours with a risk for fecal-oral transmission or that involve semen or urine, wearing a mask, showering before and after sexual intercourse, and cleaning of the physical space with soap or alcohol wipes."

Dr Jack Turban, the study's lead researcher, said: "For some patients, complete abstinence from in-person sexual activity is not an achievable goal. In these situations, having sex with persons with whom they are self-quarantining is the safest approach."

According to the NHS, the main symptoms of Covid-19 are a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.

"Guidance in place in the rest of the UK also prevents people from having sex with anyone outside of their household."

[Valmy]

LOLZ.

[Sheilbh]

Although:

On Monday, new laws were implemented in England that made it illegal for couples who live in different homes to have sex indoors and stay overnight.

That was always the case in lockdown? You couldn't go to someone elses house  etc

[celedhring]

Interesting Twitter thread by Anthony Costello (public health professor and formerly of the WHO) and a new paper (one of several) on possible cross-immunity for covid from other coronaviruses (like the common cold):

Anthony Costello
@globalhlthtwit
This paper provides important information about the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Three key findings. (1)
A. 'Circulating SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were identified in 70% and 100% of COVID-19 convalescent patients, respectively.'   (2)
B. 'The M, spike, and N proteins each accounted for 11%–27% of the total CD4+ response.' This suggests vaccine candidates should not simply focus on the spike protein. (3)
C. They found reactive CD4+ T cells in 40%–60% of unexposed individuals from blood taken a year or more ago. This suggests crossreactive T cell recognition between circulating ''common cold'' coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2. (4)
In regards to this last point, based on mouse models, they speculate that CD4+ T cells are of value in protective immunity. They also suggest 'the presence of cross-reactive T cells was found to correlate with less severe disease' in H1N1 flu(Sridhar, 2013; Wilkinson, 2012)(5)
'Any degree of cross-protective coronavirus immunity in the population could have a very substantial impact on the overall course of the pandemic, and the dynamics of the epidemiology for years to come' (Kissler et al., 2020). (6)
So just to provoke: could this cross-protective immunity be part of the 'dark matter' suggested by Karl Friston and implied by Sunetra Gupta? (7)
I have assumed that low antibody levels and a circulating virus means inevitable further outbreaks and a second winter surge. I'm sure we shall see outbreaks, as elsewhere, but do these cross-reactive T cells mean a second surge is less likely? Or is this over-speculation? (8)

It seems this is kind of the critical question at the minute and could even possibly partly explain the lack of second waves in Europe and the US when lockdown's been lifted.

I'm surprised at the lack of apparent outbreaks in Spain after the lockdown was lifted, too, although I was attributing it to heat/sun. This study makes sense, in theory.

Given the amount of colds I catch every season I should probably donate my plasma to mankind.