Lunchtime pandemic reading.
Standard disclaimer: this is a roundup of informative pieces I've read that interest me on the severity of the crisis and how to manage it. I am not a qualified medical expert in ANY sense; at best I am reasonably well-read laity. ALWAYS prioritize advice from qualified healthcare experts over some person on Facebook.
This is also available as an email newsletter at https://lunchtimepandemic.substack.com if you prefer the update in your inbox.
You are welcome to share this.
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There will be no newsletter tomorrow (19-May-2021) because I'll be taking the day off to celebrate my 20th anniversary.
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What would help vaccination efforts? Paid time off to do it. "Despite experiencing higher rates of illness and death from COVID-19, Hispanic and Black people have been less likely than their White counterparts to receive COVID-19 vaccinations so far. With racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations persisting despite broadened eligibility for the vaccine across states, there are opportunities to close these gaps in vaccination by making it as easy as possible for people to get a vaccine and addressing their specific concerns. KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor findings show that one particular concern among unvaccinated Hispanic and Black adults is having to miss work due to side effects. Providing employees with paid time off to get the vaccine and recover from side effects could help boost vaccination rates among these groups and narrow racial gaps in vaccination, as could other employer actions such as making the vaccines available at work and providing a financial incentive to get vaccinated.
Hispanic and Black adults are more likely than their White counterparts to report concerns about missing work to get or recover from the COVID-19 vaccine. KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor data from April 2021 show that nearly two-thirds (64%) of unvaccinated Hispanic adults and over half of Black adults (55%) are concerned that they might miss work due to side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to roughly four in ten unvaccinated White adults (41%) (Figure 1). The shares concerned about missing work due to side effects rise to nearly three-quarters among unvaccinated Hispanic adults who are potentially undocumented immigrants (73%) and nonelderly uninsured adults (74%). Further, three in ten (30%) Hispanic adults and about a quarter (23%) of Black adults are concerned that they might need to take time off work to get the COVID vaccine, compared to 16% of White adults. These increased concerns reflect that Hispanic and Black adults are more likely than their White counterparts to be employed in low-wage positions that are less likely to have access to paid leave. As such, they have less flexibility to take time off work and, if they do miss work, they often face lost wages that may leave them in a difficult financial situation due to more limited incomes.
The American Rescue Plan, which has been enacted into law, newly makes tax credits available to employers to cover the costs of providing paid leave to employees to receive and recover from COVID-19 vaccinations. Small and midsize employers and certain governmental employers are eligible to claim refundable tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to their employees due to COVID-19, including leave taken by employees to receive or recover from COVID-19 vaccinations. Eligible employers include any business, including tax-exempt organizations, with fewer than 500 employees as well as certain governmental employers. Self-employed individuals are eligible for similar tax credits. The paid leave tax credits are tax credits against the employer’s share of the Medicare tax and are refundable, meaning that the employer is entitled to payment of the full amount of the credits if it exceeds the employer’s share of the Medicare tax. The tax credit for paid sick leave is equal to the sick leave wages paid for up to two weeks, limited to $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate, at 100% of the employee’s regular rate of pay. The tax credit for paid family leave is equal to wages paid for up to twelve weeks, limited to $200 per day and $12,000 in the aggregate, at 2/3rds of the employee’s regular rate of pay. Employer may claim these tax credits for wages paid for leave from April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021."
Source: https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/how-employer-actions-could-facilitate-equity-in-covid-19-vaccinations/
Commentary: A reminder for American businesses that if employees have taken time off for COVID-19 vaccinations, the COMPANY may take tax credits for it. So there's a net benefit to companies in two ways - tax credits, and a healthier workforce.
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COVID-19 infects and damages insulin-producing cells. "Emerging evidence points towards an intricate relationship between the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and diabetes. While pre-existing diabetes is associated with severe COVID-19, it is unclear if COVID-19 severity is a cause or consequence of diabetes. To mechanistically link COVID-19 to diabetes, we tested whether insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 and cause β-cell depletion. We found that the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, ACE2 and related entry factors (TMPRSS2, NRP1, TRFC) are expressed in β-cells, with selectively high expression of NRP1. We discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects human pancreatic β-cells in patients who succumbed to COVID-19 and selectively infects human islet β-cells in vitro. We demonstrated SARS-CoV-2 infection attenuates pancreatic insulin levels and secretion, and induces β-cell apoptosis, each rescued by NRP1 inhibition. Phosphoproteomic pathway analysis of infected islets indicates apoptotic β-cell signaling, similar to that observed in Type 1 diabetes (T1D). In summary, our study shows SARS-CoV-2 can directly induce β-cell killing."
Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00230-8
Commentary: Do we get just how nasty this little bug is yet? Whether or not it kills you, it causes multiple organ damage that may make your survival really unpleasant, causing significant and potentially long-term or lifelong disability. Don't catch COVID-19. Get vaccinated as soon as you can.
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Tools we'll need for suppressing COVID-19 going forward. "Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and inactivated virus was achieved using disposable and biofunctionalized functional strips, which can be connected externally to a reusable printed circuit board for signal amplification with an embedded metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). A series of chemical reactions was performed to immobilize both a monoclonal antibody and a polyclonal antibody onto the Au-plated electrode used as the sensing surface. An important step in the biofunctionalization, namely, the formation of Au-plated clusters on the sensor strips, was verified by scanning electron microscopy, as well as electrical measurements, to confirm successful binding of thiol groups on this Au surface. The functionalized sensor was externally connected to the gate electrode of the MOSFET, and synchronous pulses were applied to both the sensing strip and the drain contact of the MOSFET. The resulting changes in the dynamics of drain waveforms were converted into analog voltages and digital readouts, which correlate with the concentration of proteins and virus present in the tested solution. A broad range of protein concentrations from 1 fg/ml to 10 μg/ml and virus concentrations from 100 to 2500 PFU/ml were detectable for the sensor functionalized with both antibodies. The results show the potential of this approach for the development of a portable, low-cost, and disposable cartridge sensor system for point-of-care detection of viral diseases."
Source: https://avs.scitation.org/doi/10.1116/6.0001060
Commentary: This is a simple, accurate, and very fast COVID-19 test that tests your saliva. Spit into a sensor tube, get a result quickly and painlessly. These are the kinds of tools and platforms we will need to keep a lid on COVID-19, and people will be much more likely to get tested if the test is easy and painless.
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A reminder of the simple daily habits we should all be taking.
1. Always wear the best mask available to you when out of your home and you'll be around other people, even after you've been vaccinated. Respirators are back in stock at online retailers, too. Wear an N95/FFP2/KN95 that's NIOSH-approved or better mask if you can obtain it. If you can't get an N95 mask, wear a surgical mask with a cloth mask over it.
2. Get vaccinated as soon as you're able to, and fulfill the full vaccine regimen.
3. Wash/sanitize your hands every time you are in or out of your home for any reason.
4. Stay home as much as possible. Minimize your contact with others and maintain physical distance of at LEAST 6 feet / 2 meters, preferably more. Avoid indoor places as much as you can; indoor spaces spread the disease through aerosols and distance is less effective at mitigating your risks.
5. Get your personal finances in order now. Cut all unnecessary costs.
6. Replenish your supplies as you use them. Avoid reducing your stores to pre-pandemic levels in case an outbreak causes unexpected supply chain disruptions.
7. Ventilate your home as frequently as weather and circumstances permit, except when you share close airspaces with other residences (like a window less than a meter away from a neighboring window).
8. Masks must fit properly to work. Here's how to properly fit a mask:
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Common misinformation debunked!
There is no basis in fact that COVID-19 vaccines can shed or otherwise harm people around you.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-covid19vaccine-reproductivepro-idUSL1N2MG256
There is no mercury or other heavy metals in the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.
Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/09/1013538/what-are-the-ingredients-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine/
There is no basis in fact that COVID-19 vaccines pose additional risks to pregnant women.
Source: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2104983
There is no genomic evidence at all that COVID-19 arrived before 2020 in the United States and therefore no hidden herd immunity:
Source:
There is no evidence SARS-CoV-2 was engineered, nor that it escaped a lab somewhere.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/29/experts-debunk-fringe-theory-linking-chinas-coronavirus-weapons-research/
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd/
There is no evidence a flu shot increases your COVID-19 risk.
Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/no-evidence-that-flu-shot-increases-risk-of-covid-19/
Source: https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa626/5842161
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Disclosures and Disclaimers
To be clear, I declare no competing interests on anything I share related to COVID-19. I am employed by and am a co-owner in TrustInsights.ai, an analytics and management consulting firm. I have no clients and no business interests in anything related to COVID-19, nor do I financially benefit in any way from sharing information about COVID-19.
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A common request I'm asked is who I follow. Here's a public Twitter list of many of the sources I read.
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1260956929205112834
This list is biased by design. It is limited to authors who predominantly post in the English language. It is heavily biased towards individual researchers and away from institutions. It is biased towards those who publish or share research, data, papers, etc. I have made an attempt to follow researchers from different countries, and also to make the list reasonably gender-balanced, because multiple, diverse perspectives on research data are essential.
This is also available as an email newsletter at https://lunchtimepandemic.substack.com if you prefer the update in your inbox.