By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - General Discussion - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

It looks like the UK was counting on 10 million AZ doses from India that aren't coming next month, so that's potentially a greater issue than the EU vaccine ban. On the other hand, they are still on track to vaccinate all groups accounting for 99% of mortality (and 33% of the remaining population has had the disease) so eh, the most important work is done.

Also this is interesting, a test made with hamsters (which have a respiratory system very like ours) and the AZ vaccine vs. the British / South African variants:

The vaccinated hamsters had 100% protection against lung infection (notice the difference in tissue pathology score comparing the control group vs. the vaccinated one) despite a ~9.5 times decrease in neutralizing antibody activity against the South African variant. One of the vaccinated hamsters didn't even detectable antibodies against the SA variant beforehand. That's cellular immunity at work for you.

Last edited by haxxiy - on 17 March 2021

 

 

 

 

 

Around the Network

Looks like my luck has ran out, and I have to get tested tomorrow.



Weekly update, 3rd wave is underway. For some the second, others the fourth, cases are up across the board.


In total 3.28 million new cases were reported last week (up from 2.94 million) bringing the total to 122,880,037
Another 61,962 people lost their lives (up from 59,597) brining the death toll to 2,712,861

Europe continues to climb, the USA also started to increase again. Deaths are still down in the USA, starting to go up in Europe.

The continents

Europe reported 1.24 million new cases (up from 1.10 million) and 21,189 more deaths (slightly up from 20,895)
Asia reported 733K new cases (up from 594K) and 6,256 more deaths (up from 5,660)
South America reported 718K new cases (up from 680K) and 19,537 more deaths (up from 16,074)
North America reported 519K new cases (up from 491K) and 12,699 more deaths (down from 14,933)
Africa reported 71.9K new cases (up from 72.2K) and 2,266 more deaths (up from 2,029)
Oceania reported 1,167 new cases (up from 676) and 15 deaths (6 last week)

Corners of the world

Brazil reported 509K new cases (up from 496K) and 15,249 more deaths (up from 12,328)
USA reported 432K new cases (up from 400K) and 8,560 more deaths (down from 9,981)
India reported 221K new cases (up from 142K) and 1,111 more deaths (up from 790)
Iran reported 54.7 new cases (down from 58.1K) and 580 deaths (557 last week)
Canada reported 23.8K new cases (slightly down from 24.8K) and 213 deaths (253 last week)
South Africa reported 8,550 new cases (up from 7,894) and 856 deaths (613 last week)
Japan reported 8,413 new cases (up from 7,561) and 307 deaths (332 last week)
South Korea reported 3,071 new cases (3,048 last week) and 28 deaths (35 last week)
Australia reported 79 new cases (81 last week) no deaths

India looks particularly concerning, rising sharply. Brazil is on top with the biggest increase in reported deaths as well.

Although Canada is down a bit over all, my province is now pulling all the weight :/ We've gone from 1000 cases a day to 1600 cases a day and our local county will be back in the red zone on Monday. (More restrictions) Vaccinations are underway and currently everyone 75 and older is up, yet meanwhile our county is already tracking 23 variants, it all came in anyway. (Border now closed for over a year and still remaining closed with apparently too many exceptions)


Europe in detail

Germany, Poland and the Ukraine are rising the fastest. Spain and France did not provide any numbers yesterday, the data for Europe is not complete this week.
All countries are up across the board except Italy reaching a the top of a new plateau while the UK is flattening out at the bottom of its curve.
Norway might have peaked as well, going down a day before the usual Friday peak.




It's been a good week! I got my $1,400 stimulus check on Wednesday and my first shot of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. I'm only 38, but I'm what's considered to be an "essential worker" since I'm employed at a grocery store, so I think that helped move me up the list a bit for vaccination.

The toughest part about getting the shot for me was finding a parking space in the parking garage. After that, they had you go down a set of stairs into a conference center and walk through a long line, at the end of which was your shot. They kept the line moving pretty quickly, as they were staffed not only by their own personnel, but also by people at the fire department and police. You had to have a consent form of course because you had to show two stamps on it -- one red and one orange -- before getting into the room where the shots were administered. One staffer gave you the first stamp after making sure the top part of your form was filled out and another further down the line gave you the second stamp after confirming your ID and the rest of the form. That process kept the line moving.

Once you got into the actual conference room, the staffer who confirms your stamps assigned you a table and there's somebody there waiting to give you your shot. You just answered standard questions about your health and get your shot. Then they gave me a card with a date on which they would text me with info concerning my second dose (April 9th for me) and had you go to the other side of the conference room where a bunch of spaced chairs were set up. You sat in one of the chairs for a designated amount of time to make sure you didn't experience a reaction to the shot, then you left, putting a sticker the shot guy gave you with your allotted leave time (mine was 12 minutes after the point of injection) on the chair as you left so they'd know which chair to clean. And that was it. Smooth as glass. There were a lot of people there, so vaccinations appear to be picking up steam. I would note though that it looked like I was among the youngest people there, at 38.

The shot itself was nothing. It was quick and it hurt a lot less than even like my annual blood tests do. 30 minutes later though, my left started feeling pretty sore, and I mean beyond just the injection site itself. After an hour or so though, most of the soreness went away. I've had no side effects other than that, if you can even count that. The particular muscle where I had the shot is actually still sore now, almost two days later, which is unusual for me when it comes to shots. It kicks ass that way. The amount of soreness though is minor and only noticeable when I raise my left arm above my head or try to do push-ups or something.

As to the stimulus check, you don't know how helpful it is for someone in my financial position to have that. After last month's power grid failure here in Texas, I, along with tons of other people, got slapped with an unusually high electric bill right afterward (because capitalism), which was devastating for me because I make so little money to begin with. I would've been in serious financial trouble without help of some kind. Now I can not only make my bills for this month easily, but furthermore I was finally able to order a PlayStation 5 in addition!

The U.S. appears to currently have the fourth or fifth-highest COVID vaccination rate on Earth, with about 24% of the population having received at least one vaccine dose as of yesterday. It's an absolute sea change from the first month after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were given emergency authorization when the virus itself was generally spreading faster than the pace of shots. One tries to avoid inserting too much in the way of politics into this thread, but it just seems like having a different administration has made a tremendous difference.

Last edited by Jaicee - on 27 March 2021

Just scheduled an appointment to finally get my first shot of the Moderna vaccine this Tuesday. Which means my second shot would have to take place around April 27th.

I still plan on wearing a mask though. All the vaccine does is make sure that YOU can't get it. That still doesn't mean you can't carry it and spread it to others who still haven't gotten it.



Around the Network

Just now received my 2nd injection of the Moderna. Will go out for my steak dinner 8 days from now.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

Good, bad and worse news.

The good, my parents in law received their first shot today, all went well, we'll see how it goes.
The bad, they've been cancelling follow up shots all around here, so who knows if they'll get the second dose
The worst, They don't think my wife (at high risk) should take the Moderna nor Pfizer vaccine, too many possible complications and her combined risk factors all work against each other with the possible side effects from the shots.

So what now, keep waiting...



It looks like the effects of getting a single dose of the vaccine (Pfizer, in this study, but likely others) are gigantic.

Look at these levels of protection among who were infected + vaccinated. It exceeds the immune response of those who were merely vaccinated by orders of magnitude! In fact they are so high that cross-immunity against the original SARS virus, which is separated by centuries of genetic drift from SARS-CoV-2, is higher than the neutralization elicited from infection against the original strain.



 

 

 

 

 

Weekly update, getting worse over all, India continues to rise sharply


In total 3.81 million new cases were reported last week (up from 3.28 million) bringing the world total to 126,693,653
Another 66,240 deaths were reported as well (up from 61,962) for a total of 2,779,101 casualties so far

Reported deaths are still declining in the USA, cases as well, but only slightly.
Europe is rising in both cases and deaths.

The continents

Europe reported 1.46 million new cases (up from 1.24 million) and 24,621 more deaths (up from 21,189)
Asia reported 958K new cases (up from 733K) and 7,306 more deaths (up from 6,256)
South America reported 786K new cases (up from 718K) and 20,887 more deaths (up from 19,537)
North America reported 522K new cases (slightly up from 519K) and 11,325 more deaths (down from 12,699)
Africa reported 80.4K new cases (up from 71.9K) and 2,094 more deaths (down from 2,266)
Oceania reported 2,198 new cases (up from 1,167) and 7 deaths (15 last week)

Corners of the world

Brazil reported 530K new cases (up from 509K) and 16,801 more deaths (up from 15,249)
USA reported 427K new cases (slightly down from 432K) and 7,038 more deaths (down from 8,560)
India reported 353K new cases (up from 221K) and 1,681 more deaths (up from 1,111)
Iran reported 52.5K new cases (slightly down from 54.7K) and 574 deaths (580 last week)
Canada reported 29.6K new cases (up from 23.8K) and 209 deaths (213 last week)
Japan reported 10.1K new cases (up from 8,413) and 209 deaths (307 last week)
South Africa reported 7,656 new cases (down from 8,550) and 567 deaths (856 last week)
South Korea reported 3,013 new cases (3,071 last week) and 26 deaths (28 last week)
Australia reported 57 new cases (79 last week) no deaths

Europe in detail

Same as last week. Poland is rising the fastest and might even take the top spot next week.

Reported cases in Israel are dropping like flies, the vaccines are working well at least.



Gibraltar is fully vaccinated now and hasn't had a new case in 2 days.



Nov 2016 - NES outsells PS1 (JP)

Don't Play Stationary 4 ever. Switch!