Lunchtime pandemic reading.
Standard disclaimer: this is a roundup of informative pieces I've read that interest me on the severity of the crises and how to manage them. I am not a qualified medical expert in ANY sense; at best I am reasonably well-read laity. ALWAYS prioritize advice from a qualified healthcare provider who knows your specific medical situation over advice from people on the Internet.
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Commentary: The only way you can determine how COVID is in your community that's reliable now is through wastewater tracking. Even Johns Hopkins recently had to shut down its main COVID tracker because of insufficient testing data. If your community doesn't have wastewater tracking, you may want to petition your government for it. Having that tracking infrastructure in place will also help your community pivot to new threats as they emerge.
Actual evidence of COVID's origins from newly-discovered data. "Our analysis of these data found that genetic evidence of multiple animal species was present in locations of the market where SARS-CoV-2 positive environmental samples had been collected. This includes raccoon dogs, which are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and shed sufficient virus to transmit to other species. However, this also included other mammalian species that require consideration as possible intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2. Although live mammals had previously been observed at Huanan market in late 2019, their exact locations were not conclusively known, and some of the animal species we identify in the report below were not included in the list of live or dead animals tested at the Huanan market, as reported in the 2021 WHO-China joint report on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results show that they were present. In some cases, the amount of animal genetic material was greater than the amount of human genetic material, consistent with the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in these samples being due to animal infections."
Source: https://zenodo.org/record/7754299#.ZBkjBCI0Bug.twitter
Commentary: This highly unusual report got buried in the news with everything else going on in the world, but if there ever were a "smoking gun" for the origins of COVID, this report would be close to it. This strongly suggests animal origins of COVID (so, not from a "lab leak"), and furthermore shows that the data released by the Chinese government at the time of investigation in 2021 was woefully incomplete and/or omitted key pieces of information. There absolutely was a cover-up - just not of a lab leak.
COVID has natural origins.
Long COVID likely has viral reservoirs. "Very excited that our PaxLC clinical trial on #longCOVID patients is now open, led by @hmkyale! This is a phase 2, 1:1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled research study in 100 non-hospitalized highly symptomatic long COVID. (1/)
We will be providing paxlovid or placebo pills in long haulers for 15 days. The primary outcome will be measured by asking the patients to fill out some questionnaires pre & post treatment. We will find out whether their health changes with paxlovid vs. placebo. (2/)
Before, during, and after treatment, we will do a deep dive immune profiling to see if any changes are detected due to Paxlovid. We will apply a similar strategy that we used in our study with @PutrinoLab to understand the immune and viral signatures (3/)
We suspect that a subset of #longCOVID patients have viral reservoirs. The reason we use a 15-day trx (not a 5-day used for acute infection) is to allow the drug to eliminate the virus that is causing chronic infection and to remove such reservoirs. (4/)
A large number of publications demonstrate viral antigens and/or RNA in multiple organs months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. We don’t know how frequently this happens and whether this causes long COVID, but our trial will tell us if there’s any link... (5/)
…between replicating virus and symptoms, and whether paxlovid makes a difference. So even if only a handful of long haulers benefit, we can find biomarkers of responsiveness and classification for this endotype of LC. (6/)
It is also possible that viral RNA and antigens seen months post-COVID in various organs do not represent replication-competent viruses. A great review by Prof. Diane Griffin summarizes how viral RNA can persist for years after acute infection. (7/)
If viral RNA persists in the absence of replication, Paxlovid will not be able to get rid of it. We will need alternative approaches. Even if we can’t get rid of vRNA, we can interfere with the downstream inflammatory consequences of vRNA by blocking host signals. (8/)
I want to also highlight similar trials to test Paxlovid in people with long COVID. Collectively, we will learn a lot from these trials and improve upon future approaches. (9/)
We are so grateful and excited to get started. The study will recruit participants through the Yale LISTEN study, and conducted at @YaleCII and @YaleCORE. More information about the enrollment will be coming online soon. medicine.yale.edu/cii/research/p… (end)"
Source:
Commentary: This is an important study being undertaken. Solving Long COVID is vitally important because so many people have been infected by COVID and governments around the world have basically abandoned any attempt to mitigate it, simply accepting it as part of daily life. The sooner we can resolve it or at least understand how it works, the better.
A reminder of the simple daily habits we should all be taking.
Wear the best mask available to you when you'll be around people you don't live with, even after you've been vaccinated. P100 respirators are back in stock at online retailers, too and start around US$40 for a reusable respirator. 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.
Verify your mask's NIOSH certification here: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/usernotices/counterfeitResp.html
Get vaccinated as soon as you're eligible to, and fulfill the full vaccine regimen, including boosters. Remember that you are not vaccinated until everyone you live with is vaccinated. For COVID, if you received an adenovirus vaccine (J&J/AstraZeneca), consider getting an mRNA single shot booster (Pfizer/Moderna) if available. If it's available, choose Moderna as your first choice for both vaccine and booster, Pfizer as your second choice. However, remember that any vaccine is better than no vaccine.
Wash/sanitize your hands every time you are in or out of your home. Sanitize the bottom of your shoes with a simple peroxide spray using ordinary drugstore/supermarket peroxide in a spray bottle. If you've come in close contact with others (rubbing or brushing up against them, hugging, etc.) consider showering and washing your clothes as well.
Stay out of indoor spaces that aren't your home and away from people you don't live with as much as practical. Minimize your contact with others and avoid indoor places as much as you can; indoor spaces spread disease through aerosols and distance is less effective at mitigating your risks.
Aim to have 3-6 months of living expenses on hand in case the pandemics give another crazy plot twist to the economy, or you know, a global war breaks out.
Replenish your supplies as you use them. Avoid reducing your stores to pre-pandemic levels in case an outbreak causes unexpected supply chain disruptions.
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).
Masks must fit properly to work. Here's how to properly fit a mask:
If you think you may have been exposed to COVID-19, purchase several rapid antigen tests and/or acquire them from your healthcare provider or government. This will detect COVID-19 only when you're contagious, so follow the directions clearly. https://amzn.to/3fLAoor
If you think you may have been exposed to monkeypox, contact your healthcare provider about available testing.
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/
Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/are-we-ignoring-the-hard-truths-about-the-most-likely-cause-of-covid-19-20210601-p57x4r.html
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
Disclosures and Disclaimers
I declare no competing interests on anything I share related to COVID-19 or monkeypox. 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 or monkeypox, nor do I financially benefit in any way from sharing information about COVID-19 or monkeypox.
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
if you prefer the update in your inbox.