COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[worsleyweb]

The PM is working hard. Chapeau to the PM. Who'd have thunk it? The PM being grilled about the single biggest event to have happened in our lifetime? Every single night the main news stations ask for government Ministers to answer their questions. And every single night, without fail, the government say nobody is available. Spare me the faux outrage that the Prime Minister is being asked some tough questions. He's a journalist, he'll be fine.

faux outrage? Seriously?? The questions from the likes of Preston have been a joke for months and recognised by many as pathetic.

 

[shemnel]

Ok, got a Christmas zoom with the family anti-vaxxer this week and I quite liked this passage from New scientist. However, can someone really dumb this stuff down? To primary level? And what else does the vaccine contain? Mercury is her usual go to.

"The active ingredient is messenger RNA that carries instructions for making the virus’s spike protein, which it uses to gain entry to cells. The mRNA is synthetic, not extracted from actual viruses. It is delivered in a tiny sphere of inert fatty material called a lipid nanoparticle.

The RNA-bearing nanoparticles are suspended in saline solution and injected into muscle tissue in the upper arm. The mRNA is then taken up by specialist immune cells, which follow its instructions to make the spike protein, just as they would do if they had become infected with the actual virus.

The spike protein is recognised as foreign by the immune system, which mounts an attack against it. Antibodies, B cells and T cells are activated, according to Uğur Şahin, the chief executive of the small German company BioNTech that co-developed the vaccine with US drug giant Pfizer. An immune memory is also laid down, he says, which means the immune system has learned how to defeat the pathogen and is primed to mount a swift response if it encounters the coronavirus again."



Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/articl...izer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine/#ixzz6hIXQ3uJK

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Which hasn't and won't happen. We can make doomsday hypotheses all we want but 9 months in and they wear thin. Vulnerable people know they've got a vaccine lined up and should stay out of the firing line.

Except it has and it will.

Either we put in place more restrictions, or the virus gets out of control.

The sooner restrictions are put in place the fewer people die.

Every time we've dithered over this, the same thing has happened.

It is *impossible* to "stay out of the firing line". Not a single country in the world has managed what you suggest, and something like 20 million people would need to be hermetically sealed to achieve it.

It's not a plan, it's wishful thinking.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Mrs mum making her feel bad for Xmas and trying to organise a big bash for the family. Pissed me right off.

 

[bluem@n]

Sounds impressive until you realise those 500,000 people still have to go back for their second jab.

Seriously mate, this roll out will still be insufficient numbers by next Winter.

NHS managed to give 15 million people flu jab last year with no fuss in a fairly small time frame. There were no long queues, no large halls or community venues to do it in and no extra resources being given by the government.

So if the logistics are well organised the vaccination programme should roll out fairly painlessly (although Johnson and Co still have the opportunity to make a bollocks of it)

 

[Healdplace]

GM Scoreboard:

Cases 813 - up from 732. 36% of the NW total of 2270. Down 2%.

3 wks v 2 wks v last wk v TODAY:- 361 v 481 v 442 v 813 TODAY.

This is the first real danger sign of cases rising steeply Fear it will not be the last sadly.



Pop Score is cases across whole pandemic v 100,000 people - rises daily but lower the better.

Weekly Pop is same measure across last 7 days only. Can rise or fall depending on if more cases or less occur today v the same day last week,

Either way Up is bad, down is good.



Manchester 203 – up big from 133. Highest from the city in over 4 weeks. Total cases 34, 018. Weekly 1027. Back over the 1000 sadly. Pop score up 37 to 6153. Biggest rise in GM today. Weekly Pop up 20 to 186. Biggest rise in some while.

Wigan 98 - up from 59. Total cases 18, 211. Weekly 508. Pop score up 30 to 5541. Weekly Pop up 16 to 155. Not a good day for Wigan. Highest numbers in 10 days.

Salford 86 - up from 78. Total cases 14, 539. Weekly 442. Pop score up 33 to 5617. Weekly Pop up 14 to 171. Lots of big rises today. GM Pops going in wrong direction now.

Rochdale 77 - up from 64. Total cases 14, 002. Weekly 438. Pop score up 35 to 6296. Weekly Pop up 13 to 197. Almost over 200 here.

Trafford 72 – down from 75. Total cases 9565. Weekly 399. Highest weekly in ages. Pop score up 31 to 4030. Leaves Stockport alone in the 3000 club. Though not for long. Weekly Pop up 20 to 168. Huge rise again. Weekly Pop up from 108 to 168 in a week.

Stockport 70 – up from 65. Total cases 11, 560. Weekly 390. Pop score up 24 to 3940. Lead over Trafford for best overall Pop score rises again to 90. Only good news as like most in GM Pops are rising. Weekly Pop up 14 to 133. Highest in 3 weeks.

Bury 68 - up from 60. Total cases 10, 932. Weekly 389. Pop score up 36 to 5724. Weekly Pop up 23 to 204. A few days undid the good work to get below 200.

Bolton 54 down from 78. Total cases 16, 418. Weekly 424. Pop score up 19 to 5710. Weekly Pop stays at 148. From one of the worst to one of the best in GM now.

Oldham 47- down from 71. Total cases 16, 029. Weekly 447. Pop score up 20 to 6760. Blackburn rose by 46 to reach 7207 – highest Pop in the UK and only one in the 7000s. Increasing gap Oldham every day now. Oldham Weekly Pop down 1 to 188.

Tameside 38 – down from 49 . Top spot regained. Total cases 11, 172. Weekly 285. Still lowest in GM but increasing daily. Pop score up 17 to 4933. Lowest rise in GM today. Weekly Pop up 9 to 126. This is a much higher 'low' score than we had just a week ago. When three boroughs were below it. But best in GM by 7 from Stockport. Just that best is gett8ing worse day by day which means cases are rising up here now.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Except it has and it will.

Either we put in place more restrictions, or the virus gets out of control.

The sooner restrictions are put in place the fewer people die.

Every time we've dithered over this, the same thing has happened.

It is *impossible* to "stay out of the firing line". Not a single country in the world has managed what you suggest, and something like 20 million people would need to be hermetically sealed to achieve it.

It's not a plan, it's wishful thinking.

Except it hasn't, and won't.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Ok, got a Christmas zoom with the family anti-vaxxer this week and I quite liked this passage from New scientist. However, can someone really dumb this stuff down? To primary level? And what else does the vaccine contain? Mercury is her usual go to.

"The active ingredient is messenger RNA that carries instructions for making the virus’s spike protein, which it uses to gain entry to cells. The mRNA is synthetic, not extracted from actual viruses. It is delivered in a tiny sphere of inert fatty material called a lipid nanoparticle.

The active ingredient is a small part of the virus's genetic code, RNA, made synthetically not extracted from live virus. It's held in tiny fat particles similar to the cream in homogenised milk. Because it's just a small part of the virus code, there's no risk of any infection from actual virus.

The RNA-bearing nanoparticles are suspended in saline solution and injected into muscle tissue in the upper arm. The mRNA is then taken up by specialist immune cells, which follow its instructions to make the spike protein, just as they would do if they had become infected with the actual virus.

The fat particles transport the code into our cells where it is released. The cells respond by making the small part of the virus the code tells them to. Our own immune system reacts to that part, and because our immune system has a memory, it's ready primed to go if it ever sees the real virus.

The RNA code itself does not last long in the body, so the cells soon stop their production, and there are no residues left.

The spike protein is recognised as foreign by the immune system, which mounts an attack against it. Antibodies, B cells and T cells are activated, according to Uğur Şahin, the chief executive of the small German company BioNTech that co-developed the vaccine with US drug giant Pfizer. An immune memory is also laid down, he says, which means the immune system has learned how to defeat the pathogen and is primed to mount a swift response if it encounters the coronavirus again."

If the real virus infects you, the head start your immune system has means it recognises the part of the virus the vaccine coded for. Your own immune system attacks it, so the virus never takes hold, and you either get no infection at all, or a mild version.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/articl...izer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine/#ixzz6hIXQ3uJK

Any good?

There's no Mercury in it. Ingredients in section 3 here, but essentially just RNA, fat and emulisfier to form the nanoparticles, plus a buffer to control the pH.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAJegQIDxAC&usg=AOvVaw17K8dPe5ujIcu5KA9iDjdi

[/URL]

 

[The Black Shed]

Mrs Shed was contacted last Friday by the Zoe track and trace app, asking if our family would like a test as part of their studies, probably because our kids are school age and she is a teacher. Went to the walk-in centre, a large white marquee tent, erected on the bare tarmac of the car park, rain running along the floor. It reminded me of those white mash tents you see on tv reports from ebola striken Africa. Anyway, the kids (and us) had to take the samples individually, we were forbidden to do them for the kids due to possible cross contamination and they coped really well. It's not easy sticking a cotton bud right up your hooter close to the blood sac and onto your tonsils which activates your gag reflex. Noice! Anyway one of the signs told everyone to self-isolate until test results have been issued, but because we had no symptoms and were invited to take a test, we haven't had to do that. And as of now, we're still waiting to hear the results, the turnaround isn't as quick as they say.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Except it hasn't, and won't.

Right. I imagined a first wave doubling every 3-4 days, only peaking at 1000 deaths a day which only stopped with a lock down.

I'm imagining a situation right now where there are ~20,000 pts in hospital, and 2000 *a day* being admitted.

500 people a day aren't dying.

Tell me, what effect will exponential growth have on this as a new variant, doubling in prevalence every 6 days under current restrictions takes hold?