COVID-19

Meanwhile in Oklahoma – About That Mask Debate 11.13.20

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments
Oklahoma Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report 11/6-11/12 2020

In Oklahoma we don’t have a statewide mask mandate. Mask mandate decisions are at the city level. The last time I looked at these numbers I focused on the percent change from 8/1 to the present study date. Today my eyes focused on the Nov. 1 seven day average case numbers mask vs no mask. My small brain is trying to understand what I’m seeing. Under the assumption mask wearing is effective in helping stop the virus from spreading why is the gap narrowing?

Numbers notwithstanding, I’m still going to wear a mask.

Utah – What Up?

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https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/

And the people of Utah responded appropriately…

“He doesn’t have the authority to tell us what to do in our own lives, in our homes and what we wear,” said Ken Whetstone, who was protesting outside the governor’s mansion on Monday, according to the Deseret News.

Utah Mask Rule Spurs Protests; Colorado Extends Its Mandate — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/940838?src=rss

When the NBA season came to an abrupt stop in March it just happened to be one of the Utah Jazz athletes who tested positive.

That’s it. No other snarky comments at this time.

Pfizer and BioNTech Announce Vaccine Candidate Against COVID-19 Achieved Success in First Interim Analysis from Phase 3 Study

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Vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis

Analysis evaluated 94 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in trial participants

Study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42% having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed; Safety and additional efficacy data continue to be collected

Submission for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) planned for soon after the required safety milestone is achieved, which is currently expected to occur in the third week of November

Clinical trial to continue through to final analysis at 164 confirmed cases in order to collect further data and characterize the vaccine candidate’s performance against other study endpoints

Press Release — https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against

How Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine works: mRNA

“There was always a discussion: Is the spike protein the right target? Well, now we know it’s the right target,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told STAT on Monday. “So, it’s not only immediate good news, it really is optimistic about what’s going to roll out in the next several months with the other vaccines.”

Four reasons for encouragement based on Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine results — https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/09/four-reasons-for-encouragement-based-on-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-results/?utm_campaign=rss

Meanwhile in Oklahoma – 11.08.20 (exponential growth UPDATE)

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State Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said the following in a statement released Sunday: “Today’s individual case number, 4,507, is a corrected version of yesterday’s number with all duplicate cases removed. Today we will not be releasing a new daily case number, allowing our data reporting system to catch up and ensure duplications are removed from the daily number prior to release moving forward. Starting tomorrow, the daily number released will not include any duplicates. We are committed to giving the public and media accurate and transparent data, and this will ensure the daily number reflects the actual case count. We will continue to point to the 7-day average, percent positivity and hospitalizations in addition to the daily number to give a more complete picture of trends. We have no reason to believe our revised number is an anomaly, but instead shows community spread is occurring. We continue to urge all Oklahomans to take this highly-contagious virus seriously and act immediately to avoid large gatherings, wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance to others. Together we can bring these numbers down and protect our friends, family and neighbors.”

Source: https://kfor.com/news/health/coronavirus/osdh-releases-statement-regarding-corrected-covid-19-case-count-now-4507/

4507 NOT 4741!

My original post follows below. I’m glad we got this number fixed. Am I supposed to feel better now?

The headline came across my Twitter feed and my eyes just froze. Oklahoma reported 4,741 new coronavirus cases which obliterated the previous single-day record. I am still in a state of shock and tried to confirm the number at https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/. Unfortunately the state’s webpage has numbers are only updated to 11.06.20.

Source: Twitter

If today’s reported numbers turn out to be accurate it’s going to be a long, cold, nasty winter.

Update

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 4,741 new infections on Saturday, shattering the previous daily record of 2,101 that was set on Thursday, and moving Oklahoma’s 7-day average to near 2,000 new cases. There have been 136,492 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Oklahoma since the pandemic began.

Oklahoma officials place responsibility on state residents after huge surge in COVID cases — https://oklahoman.com/article/5675726/oklahoma-officials-place-responsibility-on-state-residents-after-huge-surge-in-covid-cases

The record number of new infections today is confirmed.

Tomorrow I go shopping to stock up the pantry.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma – 11.07.20 (exponential growth)

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

The headline came across my Twitter feed and my eyes just froze. Oklahoma reported 4,741 new coronavirus cases which obliterated the previous single-day record. I am still in a state of shock and tried to confirm the number at https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/. Unfortunately the state’s webpage has numbers are only updated to 11.06.20.

Source: Twitter

If today’s reported numbers turn out to be accurate it’s going to be a long, cold, nasty winter.

Update

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 4,741 new infections on Saturday, shattering the previous daily record of 2,101 that was set on Thursday, and moving Oklahoma’s 7-day average to near 2,000 new cases. There have been 136,492 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in Oklahoma since the pandemic began.

Oklahoma officials place responsibility on state residents after huge surge in COVID cases — https://oklahoman.com/article/5675726/oklahoma-officials-place-responsibility-on-state-residents-after-huge-surge-in-covid-cases

The record number of new infections today is confirmed.

Tomorrow I go shopping to stock up the pantry.

Scary Charts San Francisco Edition – Nov. 2020

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There were 2,532 homes listed for sale in San Francisco at the end of October, up 77% from the same week a year ago, according to data from Redfin. About two-thirds were condos. According to data from Compass, inventory of condos for sale was up 85% year-over-year. Inventory of single-family houses was up 25%:

Condo Prices Drop 9% in San Francisco, All-Time Record Inventory Glut Piles Up — https://wolfstreet.com/2020/11/05/condo-prices-drop-9-in-san-francisco-all-time-record-inventory-glut-piles-up/

Meanwhile in Aspen…

In 2019 throughout the entire year, 27 residential properties sold for a price over $10 million. So far this year, a record 48 properties have sold for prices over $10 million, of which 39 have sold since April. This is twice the volume of 2019 and we still have almost four months remaining in the year.At the beginning of 2019, the median price per square foot of a residential property in Aspen was about $1,350. At the end of August, that median square-foot price had risen roughly 15% to about $1,550. In the Snowmass market at the beginning of 2019, the median price per square foot for a residential property was about $680. At the end of August, that median price had risen to about $760, a roughly 12% increase.

Small: The pandemic and rising real estate values locally — https://www.aspendailynews.com/opinion/small-the-pandemic-and-rising-real-estate-values-locally/article_3d9ffcfc-fbaa-11ea-8b7b-379359f41398.html

And since I have your attention down here near the end of the post about that mask debate in Oklahoma…

https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/ Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report
…the needs of the few

The Mink Link – Science Chronicle

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Since June, 214 people in Denmark have been reported to have been infected with a variant of the novel coronavirus — cluster 5 — associated with farmed minks. This includes 12 cases reported on November 5, eight of whom had a link with mink farming while four cases were from the community. Preliminary findings indicate […]

No evidence to suggest cluster 5 variant increases coronavirus transmissibility, disease severity — Science Chronicle

A good article to read when you think of the mink link and Covid-19.

Science Daily Covid-19 Links – 11.06.20

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “COVID-19 ‘super-spreading’ events play out-sized role in overall disease transmission: Mathematical analysis suggests that preventing large gatherings could significantly reduce COVID-19 infection rates.” ScienceDaily, 2 November 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201102173232.htm.

Journal Reference: Felix Wong, James J. Collins. Evidence that coronavirus superspreading is fat-tailed. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020; 202018490 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018490117

University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. “Review finds almost 20 percent of COVID-19 patients only show gastrointestinal symptoms: Radiologists encouraged to remain watchful for signs of the virus.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 November 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201103104734.htm.

Journal Reference: Kevin Lui, Mitchell P. Wilson, Gavin Low. Abdominal imaging findings in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a scoping review. Abdominal Radiology, 2020; DOI: 10.1007/s00261-020-02739-5

Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Study uncovers subset of COVID-19 patients who recover quickly and sustain antibodies: Researchers identify patients who cleared the disease faster and had a persistent antibody response, with important implications for immunity.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 November 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201103121044.htm.

Journal Reference: Yuezhou Chen, Adam Zuiani, Stephanie Fischinger, Jyotsna Mullur, Caroline Atyeo, Meghan Travers, Felipe J.N. Lelis, Krista M. Pullen, Hannah Martin, Pei Tong, Avneesh Gautam, Shaghayegh Habibi, Jillian Bensko, Deborah Gakpo, Jared Feldman, Blake M. Hauser, Timothy M. Caradonna, Yongfei Cai, John S. Burke, Junrui Lin, James A. Lederer, Evan Christopher Lam, Christy L. Lavine, Michael S. Seaman, Bing Chen, Aaron G. Schmidt, Alejandro Benjamin Balazs, Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Galit Alter, Duane R. Wesemann. Quick COVID-19 Healers Sustain Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Production. Cell, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.051

Texas A&M University. “Four major predictors of COVID-19 emerge in new study: Researchers identified socioeconomic predictors that could inform future pandemic response.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 November 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201104114724.htm>.

Journal Reference: Richard S. Whittle, Ana Diaz-Artiles. An ecological study of socioeconomic predictors in detection of COVID-19 cases across neighborhoods in New York City. BMC Medicine, 2020; 18 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12916-020-01731-6

Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Rapid changes in biomarker of inflammation may be a key predictor of COVID-19 outcomes: Results provide insight into underlying mechanisms of inflammation that may help anticipate clinical trajectories of COVID-19 patients.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 November 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201105112947.htm.

Journal Reference: Alisa A. Mueller, Tomoyoshi Tamura, Conor P. Crowley, Jeremy R. DeGrado, Hibah Haider, Julia L. Jezmir, Gregory Keras, Erin H. Penn, Anthony F. Massaro, Edy Y. Kim. Inflammatory Biomarker Trends Predict Respiratory Decline in COVID-19 Patients. Cell Reports Medicine, 2020; 100144 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2020.100144

Executive Summary

  • Super spreading events are real so avoid large crowds when possible and wear a mask.
  • I had the worst stomach bug in my entire life back in February. I ate only to keep my strength up but no foods were appealing. The thought of alcohol made me cringe. It lasted a week and I lost five pounds. Covid?
  • Did I develop and sustain antibodies?
  • The socioeconomic predictors of Covid-19 are pretty much what they have been for many years. The virus has merely put a spotlight on existing economic and other inequalities in the world.
  • C-Reactive Protein (CRP).

Lockdown sceptics vs zero-Covid: who’s got it right? — Tim Harford

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Covid in the UK hasn’t been quite as polarised as Brexit or the political landscape of the United States. But it is polarised enough. At one extreme are the zero-Covid advocates; at the other, the lockdown sceptics. Who is right? Some lockdown sceptics have advanced a variety of dishonest or deluded views over the course…

Lockdown sceptics vs zero-Covid: who’s got it right? — Tim Harford