There’s a push to stop calling these things after their place of origin for many reasons (including that we almost never know what the true point of origin is). Unfortunately it’s tough the resist the temptation to just informally call it the South African variant or whatever.
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US detects first known cases of South African variant
Health officials in the state of South Carolina have identified the first two US cases of the Covid variant initially seen in South Africa.
The duo have no connection to each other and no history of travel to countries where the variant has been seen, indicating there has likely already been local spread of the strain within the US.
It means the US has now identified three coronavirus variants from abroad.
Back in December, a member of the US Army in Colorado tested positive for the UK strain of the virus.
On Monday, a Minnesota resident who had recently traveled to Brazil tested positive for the version of the virus believed to originate there.
In addition, researchers in California say large outbreaks in the state may be attributable to a homegrown strain that is spreading rapidly.
All four variants are considered to be more contagious, but there is not yet any evidence that any of them cause more severe illness.
Link to above…
What’s all this about anal swabbing in China?
You might have seen reports earlier this week about China rolling out anal swabs to test people for Covid-19.
So what’s it all about? It’s currently not a widespread trend; it’s only evident that this has been carried out within a small group of people in the south of the capital, Beijing.
A school in the Daxing district “conducted a variety of tests including serum antibody tests, nasal, throat, and even anal swabs for all its staff and students”, the national Global Times newspaper reported.
An infectious disease expert in the city explained the tests were being conducted following studies showing “the coronavirus survives longer in the anus or excrement” than in the upper body tracts. So such tests are more accurate at detecting “silent carriers”.
State media say these tests have been “controversial among experts”, and that they are far less efficient than tests in the upper respiratory tracts. The existing tests are preferred, as they believe most people contract the virus orally.
Anal swabbing has been a major talking point on Chinese social media this week. As national broadcaster CCTV publicised these tests, and they were carried out in the Chinese capital, people have been voicing their hopes that these tests won’t become nationwide.
It’s been effective in discouraging some Chinese from travelling during the largest annual migration for Spring Festival and the Chinese New Year. Negative Covid-19 tests are a requirement this year for all travellers within seven days of their journey, and some people don’t want to take the risk!
Why the fuck didn’t J&J do some 2x trials as well?
Why was Nova’s trial so damn tiny?
Thanks CN. Chruchill I guess I’ll let your not fully deleted statement speak for itself.
Curious to see how UP’s experience with the pandemic compares to the world at large. Please take a couple seconds to answer these two questions.
Have you been vaccinated?
- Yes, with two shots
- Yes, with one shot
- No
0 voters
Have you had COVID?
- Yes, with confirmed test
- Probably, but didn’t take a test
- No, but I know someone who has
- No, and I don’t know anyone who has
0 voters
Only health workers and over 70/75’s getting the vaccination other than in US - just something that you may wanna take into account when calculating your comparison (min 10% UP posters IMO) if non-US citizens, like me vote in your poll
Indeed, many countries haven’t given any vaccinations yet
I don’t think anybody here will be surprised by this story. The good news is that even in this less-than-optimal environment they say no vaccine doses were wasted.
During a chaotic vaccine rollout, this might have been one of the wildest scenes yet: After a freezer failed at a nearby medical center, nurses, firefighters and volunteers scurried throughout the hospital in a mad-dash scramble to use as many doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as possible before they expired.
[ … ]
At UW Medical Center — Northwest, word had spread on social media and in text chains like wildfire, bringing a throng of people, mostly too young and healthy to qualify in normal circumstances, to the clinic’s doors. Brackett said the hospital was doing its best to vaccinate those eligible in the state’s phased vaccine rollout, but that the main objective was to get it into arms and avoid waste.
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Curious to see how UP’s experience with the pandemic compares to the US at large
Like this post if you’re non-us and have had a jab
Got tested today. Shockingly easy process compared to what I had read about the process many months ago. Basically signed up online yesterday, got an appointment for a drive through test today. Drove up and handed them my drivers license, they handed me a tissue and told me to blow my nose. 30 seconds later a nurse came out and swabbed my nostrils with a q-tip. (My poor daughter got the super long probe 3 times the other day.)
I’m supposed to have the results tomorrow or Monday.
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I agree that whichever you can get first is the best play.
Fauci presumably had a choice and he went Moderna.
I suppose in a hypothetical world where I had a choice of getting either one equally quickly, that’s what I’d choose.
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Thats weird because Moderna takes longer, 28 days vs 21 between shots, and 14 days vs 7 post 2nd shot for immunity, plus it only protects people over 65 at 86% vs 94% for Pfizer. Wonder why he went with Moderna.
The sample sizes one these are small enough that using more than about 1 significant figure on the effectiveness is dubious. The error bars on the 86 vs 94 are large and overlapping. Right now, statistically it’s hard to tell the difference between Moderna and Pfizer.
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Which variant as all 4 have now been idenitfied in the US?
Will vaccines still work?
Studies are underway to check this and some early results suggest the Pfizer vaccine protects against the new variants.
Data on two new coronavirus vaccines that could be approved soon - one from Novavax and another from Janssen - appear to offer some protection against the variant.
Current vaccines were designed around earlier versions of coronavirus, but scientists believe they should still work against the new ones, although perhaps not quite as well.
Early results from Moderna suggest its vaccine is still effective against the South Africa variant.
Vaccines train the body to attack several parts of the virus, not just these sections of the spike protein.
Variants could emerge in the future that are more different again.
Even in the worst case scenario, vaccines could be redesigned and tweaked to be a better match - in a matter or weeks or months, if necessary, say experts.
Your own source is saying it’s inconclusive at this point.
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Just got jab #1 with the Moderna vaccine. Painless and quick. I’ll echo what the above poster said about being aware how fortunate we are getting it this early and it’s a perfect example of privilege. There is a certain irony about having to to travel to a super small town filled with poor whites that refuse to get it which leads to excess for situations like me.
Edit- this county voted like 90/10 for Trump.
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