Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

[WislaHD]

I agree with Jasmine. We shouldn't want those blue states. They may lean towards some semblance of sanity in contrast to the red states on that map, but it's still very marginal at best.

There are probably more Republicans in California alone than there are Conservatives in Canada.

 

[Shining Tree]

Here you go:

If you captured all the Republican States, plus Alberta, my count says the death rate in the Red zone is 220 per Million, while in the Blue it's 470 per Million.
Someone can do a better count if they like.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

COVID-19 in Canada

An interactive visualization of the ongoing epidemic of COVID-19 in Canada

art-bd.shinyapps.io

 

[TrickyRicky]

Ford being wishy washy again on masks going on about how municipal Mayors are “welcome” to implement their own policies. Haven’t we already gone through this? COVID-19 feeds on wishy washy and ad hoc.

Tory also going on about this saying it’s “up to us” to do our part because “we can’t have an inspector on every corner”. Well asides from some better organized countries literally having an inspector on every corner, this thinking is backwards. We don’t eliminate blood alcohol limits because we can’t have a police check point set up on every street.

Furthermore, the obsession about special cases of people not being able to wear masks or potential conflict points etc. is also totally bogus. The point of masks is to reduce infection rates not to ensure 100% compliance. You create the rule that masks are required and show leniency to those not wearing them. You don’t say “you should really wear a mask” then not set the rule in consideration of special cases.

 

[Jonny5]

you dont want Penn state

Go out of Philly and Pittsburg the inside is like the deep south.

Its like trump land there.

'North West Virginia' they call it. Most of Illinois is really not a place you want either. On the other hand, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are slowly tilting our way because of long-term demographic shifts (and probably because we forced hockey on them). Also, I'd Take Louisiana for the food alone. It stops there though. You always want to maintain two states physical distance from Florida.

 

[AlbertC]

Ottawa hopes to enter stage 3 of the reopening plan by autumn, which may give us an indication of what to expect moving ahead:

Ottawa will enter Stage 3 of COVID-19 reopening plan 'hopefully' by fall: Dr. Etches

Speaking on CTV Morning Live, Dr. Vera Etches said the COVID-19 trends are positive in Ottawa, with the number of cases and hospitalizations decreasing.

ottawa.ctvnews.ca

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

'You always want to maintain two states physical distance from Florida.

There is a good chance there won’t be much of Florida left by the next century or two.

AoD

 

[W. K. Lis]

Alberta COVID-19 vaccine advancing to human testing

From link.

A COVID-19 vaccine developed in Edmonton is moving forward to human trials this summer.

Entos Pharmaceuticals, led by University of Alberta researcher Dr. John Lewis, has selected two promising vaccine prototypes to start testing in people.

“We have two really excellent candidates that produce a very strong neutralizing antibody immune response [in animals],” Lewis told Global News.

The Government of Canada has granted Lewis $4.2 million to take the project to the next step, part of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research rapid research funding competition, which awarded $109 million to 139 research teams across the country this month.

The Entos vaccine is DNA-based. Unlike a traditional vaccine which gives patients an inactive virus to teach the body to fight the real thing, a genetic vaccine supplies a DNA blueprint for battle.

“[The DNA vaccine] just delivers the instructions so that the patient can make the vaccine in their own cells,” explained Lewis.

The Entos CEO said the method, named Fusogenix, has several advantages: stronger defence, a more stable vaccine and the ability to make a lot of product quickly.

Entos will partner with the Canadian Center for Vaccinology and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia for Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.

“We’re looking roughly at about 70 to 75 [healthy volunteer] patients in that Phase 1 portion… We’ll be doing different dose levels, but also looking at different age population cohorts,” said Lewis.

“As we improve safety in those cohorts, we’ll move those into a Phase 2 setting, where we could use 600 to 800 patients.”

Phase 1 is expected to start in August in Halifax. Phase 2 could start in September, expanding across Canada and the U.S.

It is hoped Phase 3 can begin by the end of 2020. That portion would involve working with the World Health Organization to test the vaccine in regions of the world where there is active COVID-19 infection.

Lewis says his team is excited about the research, and Canadians seem enthusiastic too. There has been no shortage of volunteers.

 

[W. K. Lis]

COVID-19 vaccine may not work in older people, experts say

From link.

A vaccine against COVID-19 may not be as effective in older people who are most at risk of suffering complications and dying from the disease, according to U.K. researchers.

However, some experts say immunizing those around the elderly may help protect them.

Speaking at the House of Lords science and technology committee in London, U.K., researchers said targeting different groups in the population with vaccines should be more closely studied as the world races to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

"Sometimes it is possible to protect a vulnerable group by targeting another group and this, for example, is being done with influenza. In the past few years, the U.K. has been at the forefront of rolling out the live attenuated vaccine for children," Prof. Peter Openshaw from Imperial College London said at the committee hearing earlier this week.

Openshaw said administering the seasonal nasal spray flu vaccine to children who do not often get severe influenza helps protect their grandparents, for example.

The same could be said for COVID-19 vaccine, he added.

Dr. Eleanor Fish, an immunology professor at the University of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca that a coronavirus vaccine may not work on the elderly because their immune systems are "not as robust" as those of younger people.

"If you are immunocompromised or if there is any way your immune system is weaker than it should be, then your body might not have the ability to adequately respond to the vaccine," Fish explained in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

When considering the seasonal flu shot, Fish said the elderly are typically given a larger dose of the flu vaccine so their immune systems have a better chance of recognizing and responding to the vaccine.

However, she warns that there are still a lot of unknowns in regards to a COVID-19 vaccine.

"We don't know that if any of the vaccines being developed are going to be effective. We don't know whether... the key antibodies and the neutralizing antibodies are going to be effective against the virus," Fish said

"But if we assume that there is going to be an effective vaccine [for] healthy adults and presume that healthy adults take the vaccine, there is still the potential that the vaccine my not prompt a response in the elderly."

While some of the coronavirus vaccine candidates are showing promising results, U.K. scientists said more research needs to be done to understand what goes wrong with the immune system as people get older that makes them more susceptible to communicable diseases.

Arne Akbar, professor of immunology at University College London and president of the British Society of Immunology, said at the hearing that a better understand of an aging immune system is not just important for COVID-19, but for other diseases as well.

"One thing that’s apparent, even in healthy older people, is that there’s more inflammation all around the body. We need to understand where that inflammation is coming from," Akbar said. "And this baseline inflammation in older people is linked to frailty and many negative outcomes as we get older. And this seems to be exacerbated when you get a severe infection like COVID-19."

"But what is the source of the inflammation in the first place? That's something that we really need to get to grips with," he added.

Fish said in order for a COVID-19 vaccine to work in older people, they may need a higher dosage of the vaccine, require additional booster shots every couple months or have to use it in combination with another treatment.

It is unclear who will be the first to get the vaccines, but the ones most at risk of getting infected would likely be inoculated first, according to Kerry Bowman, a clinical ethicist at the University of Toronto.

Bowman said Wednesday that health-care workers, other first responders, and the elderly could be among the first.

However, given that older people's immune systems are weaker, Bowman said it may be more effective to vaccinate everyone who may come into contact with the elderly.

"What can be done is to immediately create a protective zone around older people… Make sure that people working in long-term care facilities are immediately vaccinated so that you're protecting those older people. And then families that have older people that they're caring for or visiting regularly," Bowman said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca.

While this could help protect the elderly, Fish said it will only be successful if the vaccine is effective.

"We have to be confident that we have a vaccine that's 100 per cent effective so you can build that wall of immunity," Fish said. "Until we know what's going on with the vaccine and how effective it is, we don’t know for sure how it will impact the elderly."

Bowman said of those vaccines that are moving towards human trials, none are using older people in their research because of the potential risks.

When Canada gets a vaccine, Bowman said the demand will be high and there will be ethical questions about who will get it first.

"If we get a vaccine, it'll be helpful but it may not be helpful for some of the most vulnerable people," Bowman said.

It is not yet known what level of immune response will be required to protect humans against COVID-19, but Fish said developing vaccines to fight the virus is still important.

"Imagine if we have one or two vaccines in the next 6 months? That will change the face of COVID-19 regardless of who takes it," Fish said.

 

[Northern Light]

A tangential to Covid offering about lineups.

As hours have begun to return to normal, supermarket lines have abated all together at some locations while being shorter and periodic at others.

But there are places where lineups continue to be a thing.

For the first time this year, I went down to Brickworks Farmer's Market, which opens @ 8am.

I arrived for 7:45am thinking this would be quite reasonable.

But with capacity restrictions in effect...........it was a 25 minute wait to get into the market.

From my personal POV, not really worth it either; I love Farmer's Markets and Brickworks is among the best.

But many regular vendors are absent.

Also the produce selection was thinner than I expected, limited to about 5 of the vendors and mostly Strawberries, Salad Greens, Garlic Scapes, a tiny bit of Asparagus and some mushrooms.

I did get Salicornia (Sea Asparagus).....

Maybe worth the wait in mid to late July, but not yet.

Do note, if you wish to go, that masks are mandatory; though they are selling them at the entrance for $2.50 a pop for single-use masks; and they also have 'artisinal' masks for more $$)

Edit to add: I'm fascinated by what has line-ups and what does not. Canadian Tire is mostly rid of them except at peak times, same with Marks; but Best Buy has fairly substantial lines at times.

My favourite butcher rarely has anyone waiting to get in, but my favourite patisserie has a 25 min line on Saturday at 9am.

 

[Johnny Au]

'North West Virginia' they call it. Most of Illinois is really not a place you want either. On the other hand, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are slowly tilting our way because of long-term demographic shifts (and probably because we forced hockey on them). Also, I'd Take Louisiana for the food alone. It stops there though. You always want to maintain two states physical distance from Florida.

...oh, and Fulton and DeKalb counties in Georgia (Atlanta is in both counties) are also on our side.

Fulton and DeKalb counties are very socially progressive, despite being in a deep red state.

 

[gabe]

Packed airplanes are back in the US and Canada! Profits over people.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276901222990127104

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276922166550896647

 

[MisterF]

Only 172 new cases in Canada yesterday, the lowest number since March. The numbers basically dropped in half in a day - I wonder if that's because Quebec stopped reporting daily numbers. Thankfully the public let them have it on that.

Build a wall on the canada border

And the Americans will pay for it.

Meh, I don't think the health care system really was a big factor. More of just a systemic breakdown in the US gov't in responding to the pandemic. Not to say Canada (Ontario/Quebec especially) did much better - I mean, look at post 3616 above and what Quebec is planning to do. Idiocracy.

I've said it before, but considering what we went through with SARS, I really did expect us to handle Covid-19 much better.

US politics is so hyper partisan that routine, everyday things are split down party lines. Even wearing a mask gets split down party lines for god's sake. Meanwhile in Canada, while there were certain politicians who initially downplayed the virus, pretty much all of them agreed on how the virus needed to be fought. And then we got on with it. The fact that the population was willing to play ball didn't hurt.

The second wave concerns me. The first lock-down was during crappy weather. How do you rein things in during the middle of summer? Among many there seems to be view that there was lock-down and back to normal, with no middle ground. Images from Toronto's own parks and beaches and what is occurring in cottage country are not encouraging. And if it is a little delayed and impacts schools resuming and/or tightening down daycares, again, folks will go nuts.

COVID-19 is apparently less contagious outdoors, and indoor gatherings are where it really thrives. If that's true, it would explain why there wasn't a spike in Toronto after that infamous weekend in Trinity Bellwoods Park, and the recent spikes in the US don't seem to be related to the mass protests. A second wave would seem more likely to happen in the fall.

You sure won't find me on a packed flight anytime soon.

 

[W. K. Lis]

https://www.facebook.com/enrique.g.murillo/posts/10157534635509506

 

[Bayer]

...oh, and Fulton and DeKalb counties in Georgia (Atlanta is in both counties) are also on our side.

Fulton and DeKalb counties are very socially progressive, despite being in a deep red state.

Well my American husband, who is from Atlanta and is now a Canadian citizen, wouldn't want to see a single U.S. state joining us. I spent enough time there to know we have much less in common than people generally think. Additionally, as a French Canadian, you can guess what I think about this idea.

 

[W. K. Lis]

If these 30s only get mild Covid19 it will only embolden those who want to open up. But I suspect in about two weeks the death and ICU numbers will jump.

Packed airplanes are back in the US and Canada! Profits over people.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276901222990127104

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276922166550896647

A lot different for airlines during the Spanish Flu. The problem back then was from passengers using the ocean ships.

From link.

On August 25, 1919, the first regular international passenger air service took place between London and Paris.

From link.