COVID-19

Taking a Road Trip? Here’s Your Checklist

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This article has not been edited and the article was originally published on The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/planning-a-road-trip-in-a-pandemic-11-tips-for-before-you-leave-on-the-road-and-when-you-arrive-149620

Planning a road trip in a pandemic? 11 tips for before you leave, on the road and when you arrive
November 26, 2020

Author – Thea van de Mortel
Professor, Nursing and Deputy Head (Learning & Teaching), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University

As restrictions ease around the country and the prospect of travel beckons, many of us will be planning road trips for the holiday season.

To ensure your trip is memorable in the best rather than the worst way, here are some things you and your fellow travellers can do to reduce the risk of becoming infected with, or spreading, COVID on your trip.

Before you go

  1. Check for any travel or other COVID-specific restrictions or rules in the areas you will be travelling through or to, before you go. These can change rapidly and may include restrictions on how far you can travel, how many people per square metre are allowed in public spaces, and whether you need border passes or to wear a mask. Each state or territory has its own health department or government COVID website you can check.
  2. Don’t take COVID with you. If anyone in your group has COVID-like symptoms, however mild, it is important to be tested and cleared for COVID before leaving. Common symptoms may include fever or chills, muscle aches, sore throat, cough, runny nose, difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell, and vomiting or diarrhoea.
  3. Pack masks, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitiser. The two most likely ways of catching COVID are inhaling viral particles an infected person sheds when they cough, sneeze, laugh, talk or breathe; and ingesting particles by touching contaminated objects and then touching your face or food. Masks (and social distancing) can help reduce the former risk, while avoiding touching your face, frequent hand hygiene and cleaning surfaces can reduce the latter. So pack masks, wipes and hand sanitiser. Hand sanitiser should contain at least 60% alcohol.
  4. Pack your own pillows and linen. We know people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, can shed virus onto linen and pillows (and other surfaces), even when asymptomatic. We also know respiratory viruses can penetrate pillow covers and get into the microfibre stuffing. So you might want to consider bringing your own pillows and linen.

On your trip

  1. Use disinfectant wipes to clean high-touch surfaces in your hire car. These would include door and window handles or buttons, light switches, seat adjuster controls, radio controls, the steering wheel, glove box button, gear/drive and handbrake levers, rear-view mirrors and mirror controls.
  2. How about singing in the car? The more vigorous the activity, the greater the opportunity to release droplets and aerosols and the further these will travel. So, laughing and singing will release more of these than talking, and talking will release more than breathing. However, if you are travelling in a family group, or with your housemates, then you have been in close contact with one another at home and the additional risk would be low.
  3. Maintain social distancing at service stations. Leave at least 1.5 metres between you and the next person while paying for fuel, ordering food and when using the bathroom. Make sure you wash or sanitise your hands after touching surfaces such as petrol pumps, door handles, bathroom taps, and before getting back in your car.
    Filling car up with petrol at service station
    Wash or sanitise your hands after using the petrol pump. Shutterstock
  4. Pay with cards rather than cash to avoid touching money. Many people can handle bills and coins over a long duration of time, providing many opportunities to transfer disease-causing microbes from one person to the next. Using contactless payment also helps maintain social distancing.
  5. It’s safer to eat outdoors than indoors if stopping for a snack or lunch. That’s because large volumes of air dilute the density of viral particles in the air. Evidence from a study of COVID clusters in Japan suggests the chance of transmitting COVID is more than 18 times higher inside than outside.

When you arrive

  1. Is your hotel or rented accommodation COVID-safe? Ask the accommodation provider what steps they have taken to make the place less conducive to spreading COVID. For example, have they introduced extra cleaning or disinfection?
  2. Use disinfectant wipes in rented accommodation to clean high-touch surfaces such as door handles, light switches, cupboard handles, taps and toilet flush buttons. You can also put dishes and cutlery through the dishwasher on a hot cycle. This is because the virus can remain viable (able to cause infection) on surfaces for many days.

Following these simple steps can help to keep your trip memorable in the best possible way. Happy holidays!

Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation US, Inc.

Personality Traits Linked to Toilet Paper Stockpiling

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The most robust predictor of toilet paper stockpiling was the perceived threat posed by the pandemic; people who felt more threatened tended to stockpile more toilet paper. Around 20 percent of this effect was also based on the personality factor of emotionality — people who generally tend to worry a lot and feel anxious are most likely to feel threatened and stockpile toilet paper. The personality domain of conscientiousness — which includes traits of organization, diligence, perfectionism and prudence — was also a predictor of stockpiling.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “Personality traits linked to toilet paper stockpiling: High levels of emotionality and conscientiousness are indicators for stockpiling behavior.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200612172227.htm (accessed November 25, 2020).

In case you haven’t noticed it’s happening again. Where’s the toilet paper?

Why Lockdowns Worked in March and Why Lockdowns No Longer Work

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The researchers found that after one day of total isolation, the sight of people having fun together activates the same brain region that lights up when someone who hasn’t eaten all day sees a picture of a plate of cheesy pasta.

“People who are forced to be isolated crave social interactions similarly to the way a hungry person craves food. Our finding fits the intuitive idea that positive social interactions are a basic human need, and acute loneliness is an aversive state that motivates people to repair what is lacking, similar to hunger,” says Rebecca Saxe, the John W. Jarve Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the senior author of the study.

The research team collected the data for this study in 2018 and 2019, long before the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns. Their new findings, described today in Nature Neuroscience, are part of a larger research program focusing on how social stress affects people’s behavior and motivation.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “A hunger for social contact: Neuroscientists find that isolation provokes brain activity similar to that seen during hunger cravings.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201123120724.htm (accessed November 23, 2020).

Oxford vaccine shows 90% efficacy in Phase-3 trial — Science Chronicle

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Interim data analysis of Phase-3 trial of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 candidate vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019) showed different efficacies in preventing COVID-19 disease. In the case of the regimen where a halved dose was used as a prime (first dose) followed by a standard dose of booster, the efficacy was 90%. However, when full doses (standard doses) were […]

Oxford vaccine shows 90% efficacy in Phase-3 trial — Science Chronicle

College Presidents Fail to Protect Students from Covid-19 – College Clusterfuck Update 11.22.20

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In fact, university Presidents — leaders, let us remember — did not mobilize to protect students from Covid. Frankly, I never thought they did, because I do try to pay attention to these things, but to prove it to myself, I went through 33 pages of headlines for the Coronavirus tag in the Chronicle of Higher Education, all the way back to the first entry on February 24 (“Coronavirus-Themed Party at Albany Draws Criticism“)…

As it turns out, protecting students from Covid was never a top priority for University Presidents. The American Council on Education (“a membership organization that mobilizes [ha] the higher education community to shape effective public policy and foster innovative, high-quality practice”) has published periodic surveys on what University Presidents consider pressing issues.

College Presidents Fail to Mobilize to Protect Students from Covid-19 — https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/11/university-administrators-fail-to-mobilize-protect-students-covid-19.html

The author of this article doesn’t attempt to hide his bias or contempt for the so-called leaders of our colleges and universities. I’ve made no attempt to hide my disdain either (sharp eyed readers will note my title above deletes two words from the original article title). The college clusterfuck has been one of my recurring themes:

Colleges’ Opening Fueled 3,000 COVID Cases a Day (College Clusterfuck Update)

“I slept on the floor, and woke up to ants crawling on my bed.”

College Clusterfuck 2.0 – “It’s a Dystopian Hell” – Updated

College Town Clusterfuck

The full article contains some pretty sorrid stuff. Enjoy!

Online education will become the standard operating model for higher education. Thousands of colleges and universities will go belly up. Professor Galloway at NYU says it’s simple math. See Galloway’s comments here: Post Pandemic Changes in Consumer Behavior

MMR Vaccine Study Shows Possible Protection Against Covid-19

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More research is needed but if this study findings hold up we have a game changer.

“We found a statistically significant inverse correlation between mumps titer levels and COVID-19 severity in people under age 42 who have had MMR II vaccinations,” said lead study author Jeffrey E. Gold, president of World Organization, in Watkinsville, Georgia. “This adds to other associations demonstrating that the MMR vaccine may be protective against COVID-19. It also may explain why children have a much lower COVID-19 case rate than adults, as well as a much lower death rate. The majority of children get their first MMR vaccination around 12 to 15 months of age and a second one from 4 to 6 years of age.”

American Society for Microbiology. “MMR vaccine could protect against COVID-19, study shows.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201120091157.htm (accessed November 22, 2020).

Meanwhile in Oklahoma – Follow the Science

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With a mask mandate in place since spring, free drive-through testing, hospitals well-stocked with PPE, and a small army of public health officers fully supported by their chief, the Cherokee Nation has been able to curtail its Covid-19 case and death rates even as those numbers surge in surrounding Oklahoma, where the White House coronavirus task force says spread is unyielding.

The Cherokee Nation, with about 140,000 citizens on its reservation in northeastern Oklahoma, has reported just over 4,000 cases and 33 deaths.

“It’s dire, but what in the world would it look like if we weren’t doing this work?’” said Lisa Pivec, senior director of public health for Cherokee Nation Health Services. Pivec leads a team that jumped into action in late February, holding coronavirus task force meetings twice a day, instituting procedures to screen thousands of employees, stockpiling PPE, protecting elders, ensuring food security, and educating residents in both English and Cherokee language. With no guidance on contact tracing available from the CDC early in the pandemic, Pivec researched the World Health Organization’s Ebola response to set up tracing protocols; after the first case appeared on the reservation March 24, she made many of the contact tracing calls herself.

‘They’ve been following the science’: How the Covid-19 pandemic has been curtailed in Cherokee Nation — https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/17/how-covid19-has-been-curtailed-in-cherokee-nation/

Take a few minutes and read the full article. You will be impressed as I was.

Oxford vaccine found safe and immunogenic in Phase 2 Trial Results— Science Chronicle

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Results of the Phase-2 trial of the Oxford vaccine show that the vaccine is safe across age groups — younger (18-55 years age) and older adults (over 56 years age). In fact, older adults better tolerated the vaccine than younger adults, the results show. The vaccine also induced T cell immune responses and neutralising antibodies […]

Oxford vaccine found safe and immunogenic even in older adults — Science Chronicle

ATTENTION Anti-Vaxxers — (you probably don’t want this vaccine either)

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The 30,000-person trial included 11,000 volunteers from communities of color, making up 37% of the total study population. It also included more than 7,000 volunteers over the age of 65 and more than 5,000 people under 65 who have high-risk medical conditions that put them at high risk of suffering from a severe infection, should they contract Covid, things like diabetes, severe obesity and heart disease. 

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is strongly effective, early look at data show – https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/16/modernas-covid-19-vaccine-is-strongly-effective-early-look-at-data-show/?utm_campaign=rss

Refrigeration Requirements

The mRNA-1273 vaccine can be shipped and stored for up to 6 months at –20° C (about –4° F), a temperature maintained in most home or medical freezers, according to Moderna. The company expects that after the product thaws, it will remain stable at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2° to 8° C (36° to 46° F) for up to 30 days within the 6-month shelf life.

Because the mRNA-1273 vaccine is stable at these refrigerator temperatures, it can be stored at most physicians’ offices, pharmacies, and hospitals, the company notes. In contrast, the similar Pfizer BTN162b2 vaccine ― early results for which showed a 90% efficacy rate, as reported by Medscape Medical News ― requires shipment and storage at “deep freeze” conditions of –70° C or –80° C, which is more challenging from a logistic point of view.

Moderna’s mRNA-1273 can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours after removal from a refrigerator for patient administration. The vaccine will not require dilution prior to use.

Moderna: Interim Data Show 94.5% Efficacy for COVID-19 Vaccine, Will Seek FDA EUA — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/941023?src=rss

Game changer!

COVID-19: Study Suggests Durable Immune Response After SARS-CoV-2 Infection

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Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 might last for years, according to a study posted on the preprint server bioRxiv.

Some 185 adults who recovered from COVID-19 (most had mildly symptomatic disease) provided blood samples for analysis. The majority provided a single sample, but roughly 20% provided multiple samples over several months.

The researchers found that levels of spike-specific memory B cells (which make antibodies as needed) increased with time — and were higher at 4–6 months than at earlier time points in most participants who gave multiple samples. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG titers were generally stable, showing only modest declines at 6–8 months.

COVID-19: Study Suggests Durable Immune Response After SARS-CoV-2 Infection — https://www.jwatch.org/fw117245/2020/11/17/covid-19-study-suggests-durable-immune-response-after

I hope these findings are replicated in other studies.