Coronavirus ~ COVID-19

Gemme · 12-22-2020, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMa'am

I'm in Phase 1B also. However, I have Covid right now. (I finally went and had the test yesterday, it came back positive this morning.) I wonder if that means I'm immune for awhile, or if I should have the vaccine anyway? And if so, should I wait for my symptoms to be gone? I have an appointment with my health care provider's special Covid Respiratory Acute Care Center, due to my suspicion that I also have pneumonia, so I will ask them.

Found this online: If someone currently has active symptoms of COVID-19, the CDC recommends they wait to get vaccinated until they've recovered and met the criteria for ending isolation.

Stone-Butch · 12-23-2020, 04:57 AM

National Geographic:

I was watching a program today and research is being done on bats in Turkey. Apparently they carry a virus (name eludes me but it is a 4 letter word, no joke), that has been passed to a camel. They are saying this could be a gateway to many virus being transmitted from animals to humans that have not even showed themselves except this one that they think could be even more deadly than the covid. They are collecting scat from these bats and testing them for the virus and hope they can nip it in the bud before it becomes another reality. They made the talk concerning the passing of animal diseases to humans such as swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, rabies, and largest of all aids. These people think the worst is yet to come from some hidden pathenogens that are not known as yet.

Kätzchen · 12-24-2020, 07:17 PM

Deaths are projected to reach 567,000 by April

More than 1 million people have received their first shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, but an influential coronavirus model projects the US death toll will climb well over a half million, topping 567,000 by April 1.

LINK: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/us...day/index.html

Medscape has a vital information covering every aspect known about Covid19, so here is the link for that page too. https://www.medscape.com/resource/coronavirus

Orema · 12-26-2020, 08:05 AM

What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
By Debra Furr-Holden, Associate Dean for Public Health Integration, Michigan State University

Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020. Scott Olson via Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci and other national health leaders have said that African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine to protect their health. What Fauci and others have not stated is that if African Americans don’t take the vaccine, the nation as whole will never get to herd immunity.

The concept of herd immunity, also referred to as community immunity, is fairly simple. When a significant proportion of the population, or the herd, becomes immune from the virus, the entire population will have some acceptable degree of protection. Immunity can occur through natural immunity from personal infection and recovery, or through vaccination. Once a population reaches herd immunity, the likelihood of person-to-person spread becomes very low.

The big lie is one of omission. Yes, it is true that African Americans will benefit from the COVID vaccine, but the full truth is that the country needs African Americans and other population subgroups with lower reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptability rates to take the vaccine. Without increased vaccine acceptability, we stand little to no chance of communitywide protection.

I am an epidemiologist and health equity scholar who has been conducting research in the African American community for 20 years. Much of my work focuses on strategies to increase community engagement in research. I see a significant opportunity to improve COVID vaccine acceptance in the African American community.

If up to 60% of African Americans don’t take the vaccine, reaching herd immunity will be difficult. Noam Galai via Getty Images

Doing the coronavirus math

About 70% of people in the U.S. need to take the vaccine for the population to reach herd immunity. Whites make up about 60% of the U.S. population. So, if every white person got the vaccine, the U.S. would still fall short of herd immunity. A recent study suggested that 68% of white people would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. If these estimates hold up, that would get us to 42%.

African Americans make up more than 13% of the American population. But if up to 60% of African Americans refuse to take the vaccine, as a recent study suggests, it will be difficult to reach that 70% threshold likely needed to reach herd immunity.

Latinos make up just over 18% percent of the population. A study suggests that 32% percent of Latinos could reject a COVID vaccine. Add the 40% to 50% rejection rates among other population subgroups and herd immunity becomes mathematically impossible.

Further exacerbating the problem is that mass vaccination alone won’t achieve herd immunity, as the effect of COVID vaccines on preventing virus transmission remains unclear. Ongoing preventive measures will likely still be needed to stop community spread. As the resistance to facts and science continues to grow, the need for credible information dissemination and trust-building related to vaccines becomes more important.

My research offers some possible explanations for lower vaccination rates among Blacks. Historical wrongs, like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, which ended in 1972, have played a major role in contributing to Black mistrust of the health care system. In another case, the “immortal” cells of Henrietta Lacks were shared without her consent and have been used in medical research for more than 70 years. The most recent application includes COVID vaccine research, yet her family has received no financial benefit.

A study led by Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith at the University of North Carolina identified distrust of the medical community as a prominent barrier to African American participation in clinical research. Another of Corbie-Smith’s peer-reviewed studies found that distrust in medical research is significantly higher among African Americans than whites.

African Americans also disproportionately experience unequal treatment in the modern-day health care system. These experiences of bias and discrimination fuel the problem of vaccine hesitancy and mistrust. Lower prioritization for hospital admissions and lifesaving care for COVID-19-related illness among African Americans was reported in Massachusetts in April 2020. Massachusetts subsequently changed its guidelines, yet across the U.S. there is a lack of data and transparent reporting on this phenomenon.

The current messaging of vaccine importance may seem tone-deaf to those in a community who wonder why their health is so important now, at the vaccine stage. Black health didn’t appear to be a priority during the pandemic’s first wave, when race disparities in COVID emerged.

Questioning the scientific process

Perhaps even Operation Warp Speed has had the unintended consequence of decreasing vaccine acceptance in the African American community. Some ask why wasn’t such speed applied to vaccine development for HIV, which still has no FDA-approved vaccine? As of 2018, AIDS-related illness has killed an estimated 35 million people globally. It continues to disproportionately affect people of color and other socially vulnerable populations.

If African Americans were honored and acknowledged in these COVID vaccine conversations and told “we need you” instead of “you need us,” perhaps more Blacks would trust the vaccine. I encourage our nation’s leaders to consider a radical shift in their approach. They must do more than pointing to the few Black scientists involved in COVID vaccine development, or making a spectacle of prominent African Americans receiving the vaccine.

These acts alone will likely be insufficient to garner the trust needed to increase vaccine acceptance. Instead, I believe our leaders should adopt the core values of equity and reconciliation. I’d argue that truth-telling will need to be at the forefront of this new narrative.

There are also multiple leverage points along the supply and distribution chains, as well as in vaccine administration, that could increase diversity, equity and inclusion. I’d recommend giving minority- and women-owned businesses fair, mandated access to contracts to get the vaccine to communities. This includes procurement and purchasing contracts for freezers needed to store the vaccine.

Minority health care workers should be equitably called back to work to support vaccine administration. These issues, not publicly discussed, could be transformative for building trust and increasing vaccine acceptance.

Without a radical shift in the conversation of true COVID equity, African Americans and many others who could benefit from the vaccine will instead get sick. Some will die. The rest will remain marginalized by a system and a society that hasn’t equally valued, protected, or prioritized their lives. I believe it’s time to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

https://theconversation.com/whats-no...vaccine-152323

PlatinumPearl · 12-26-2020, 03:59 PM

New Coronavirus Strain Detected In More Countries

Spain is the latest country to confirm cases of a new coronavirus strain first detected in the U.K.
that early studies suggest is far more contagious, sparking worries that it could worsen the pandemic.

Four people in Madrid who recently arrived from the U.K. were infected with the new coronavirus variation, the region’s deputy health chief Antonio
Zapatero announced Saturday, but said “there is no need for alarm,” according to Al Jazeera, adding that none of the patients are seriously ill.

To read the full article click here.

PlatinumPearl · 12-27-2020, 10:37 AM

Covid: Free Vitamin D Pills for 2.5 Million Vulnerable in England

Vitamin D supplements help keep bones and muscles healthy, particularly during the winter.

More than 2.5 million vulnerable people in England will be offered free Vitamin D supplements this winter.

The vitamin, which helps to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy, will be delivered to people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and care homes.

Skin makes Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight - but the elderly and those with dark skin need topping up.

The coronavirus pandemic means many more people than normal have spent time indoors.

The groups most at risk are residents in care homes, and people with serious health conditions which mean they have spent extended periods shielding from the virus - a total of 2.7 million people.

Should I start taking Vitamin D?

Health officials say that even in a normal winter, everyone should take 10 micrograms of Vitamin D a day between October and March - and it's particularly important this year because of coronavirus.

Scottish and Welsh governments, and Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency issued similar advice during lockdown.

But there is limited evidence that vitamin D protects against or treats Covid-19, although health officials have been asked to go back over the existing research.

Millions of people have spent extended periods indoors this year because of Covid-19.

All care homes in England will receive enough supplements for their residents, the government says.

People on the clinically extremely vulnerable list will get a letter inviting them to opt in for a supply of Vitamin D tablets to be delivered to their homes.

Deliveries will start in January. They'll provide four months' worth of free supplements.

"Vitamin D is important for our bone and muscle health," says Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England.

"We advise that everyone, particularly the elderly, those who don't get outside and those with dark skin, take a Vitamin D supplement containing 10 micrograms (400IU) every day.

"This year, the advice is more important than ever with more people spending more time inside, which is why the government will be helping the clinically extremely vulnerable to get Vitamin D."

GP Sarah Jarvis told BBC Breakfast that those who cover up for religious reasons, pale-skinned people and those who are generally unwell are also at higher risk.

"All of those are either going to get less vitamin D or in the case of people of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) origin may make less of it," she said.

People who are able to buy a Vitamin D supplement and start taking them now, ahead of a free delivery, are advised to do so.

Source: bbc.com
Website: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-5510...20in%20January.
Date: November 28, 2020

12-23-2020, 04:57 AM	#2
Stone-Butch Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Stonebutch Preferred Pronoun?: she Relationship Status: single Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Canada Posts: 3,701 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 13,338 Thanked 9,398 Times in 3,064 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	C Virus National Geographic: I was watching a program today and research is being done on bats in Turkey. Apparently they carry a virus (name eludes me but it is a 4 letter word, no joke), that has been passed to a camel. They are saying this could be a gateway to many virus being transmitted from animals to humans that have not even showed themselves except this one that they think could be even more deadly than the covid. They are collecting scat from these bats and testing them for the virus and hope they can nip it in the bud before it becomes another reality. They made the talk concerning the passing of animal diseases to humans such as swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, rabies, and largest of all aids. These people think the worst is yet to come from some hidden pathenogens that are not known as yet.

12-24-2020, 07:17 PM	#3
Kätzchen Member How Do You Identify?: As a very feminine woman. Relationship Status: No thanks, I am not available. Join Date: May 2010 Location: Near smoke signals in the sky. Posts: 16,202 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,460 Thanked 33,608 Times in 10,706 Posts Rep Power: 21474868	CNN Deaths are projected to reach 567,000 by April More than 1 million people have received their first shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, but an influential coronavirus model projects the US death toll will climb well over a half million, topping 567,000 by April 1. LINK: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/us...day/index.html Medscape has a vital information covering every aspect known about Covid19, so here is the link for that page too. https://www.medscape.com/resource/coronavirus __________________ “The way someone treats you is not a reflection of your worth: It’s a reflection of their emotional capacity,” — Jillian Turecki. “The smartest people are clearly the best listeners,” — Audible. I’m doing my part, as an American citizen, who is concerned about losing our Democracy: I boycott agencies and businesses and service providers who do not support the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Support Democracy: Vote Blue Last edited by Kätzchen; 12-24-2020 at 07:22 PM.

12-26-2020, 08:05 AM	#4
Orema Superlative Soul Sister How Do You Identify?: Lesbian stone femme Preferred Pronoun?: She, her Relationship Status: Moving in a single file and sometimes a sinner. Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Cottage of Content Posts: 13,675 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 41,471 Thanked 34,732 Times in 8,961 Posts Rep Power: 21474861	What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine. By Debra Furr-Holden, Associate Dean for Public Health Integration, Michigan State University Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020. Scott Olson via Getty Images Dr. Anthony Fauci and other national health leaders have said that African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine to protect their health. What Fauci and others have not stated is that if African Americans don’t take the vaccine, the nation as whole will never get to herd immunity. The concept of herd immunity, also referred to as community immunity, is fairly simple. When a significant proportion of the population, or the herd, becomes immune from the virus, the entire population will have some acceptable degree of protection. Immunity can occur through natural immunity from personal infection and recovery, or through vaccination. Once a population reaches herd immunity, the likelihood of person-to-person spread becomes very low. The big lie is one of omission. Yes, it is true that African Americans will benefit from the COVID vaccine, but the full truth is that the country needs African Americans and other population subgroups with lower reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptability rates to take the vaccine. Without increased vaccine acceptability, we stand little to no chance of communitywide protection. I am an epidemiologist and health equity scholar who has been conducting research in the African American community for 20 years. Much of my work focuses on strategies to increase community engagement in research. I see a significant opportunity to improve COVID vaccine acceptance in the African American community. If up to 60% of African Americans don’t take the vaccine, reaching herd immunity will be difficult. Noam Galai via Getty Images Doing the coronavirus math About 70% of people in the U.S. need to take the vaccine for the population to reach herd immunity. Whites make up about 60% of the U.S. population. So, if every white person got the vaccine, the U.S. would still fall short of herd immunity. A recent study suggested that 68% of white people would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. If these estimates hold up, that would get us to 42%. African Americans make up more than 13% of the American population. But if up to 60% of African Americans refuse to take the vaccine, as a recent study suggests, it will be difficult to reach that 70% threshold likely needed to reach herd immunity. Latinos make up just over 18% percent of the population. A study suggests that 32% percent of Latinos could reject a COVID vaccine. Add the 40% to 50% rejection rates among other population subgroups and herd immunity becomes mathematically impossible. Further exacerbating the problem is that mass vaccination alone won’t achieve herd immunity, as the effect of COVID vaccines on preventing virus transmission remains unclear. Ongoing preventive measures will likely still be needed to stop community spread. As the resistance to facts and science continues to grow, the need for credible information dissemination and trust-building related to vaccines becomes more important. My research offers some possible explanations for lower vaccination rates among Blacks. Historical wrongs, like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, which ended in 1972, have played a major role in contributing to Black mistrust of the health care system. In another case, the “immortal” cells of Henrietta Lacks were shared without her consent and have been used in medical research for more than 70 years. The most recent application includes COVID vaccine research, yet her family has received no financial benefit. A study led by Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith at the University of North Carolina identified distrust of the medical community as a prominent barrier to African American participation in clinical research. Another of Corbie-Smith’s peer-reviewed studies found that distrust in medical research is significantly higher among African Americans than whites. African Americans also disproportionately experience unequal treatment in the modern-day health care system. These experiences of bias and discrimination fuel the problem of vaccine hesitancy and mistrust. Lower prioritization for hospital admissions and lifesaving care for COVID-19-related illness among African Americans was reported in Massachusetts in April 2020. Massachusetts subsequently changed its guidelines, yet across the U.S. there is a lack of data and transparent reporting on this phenomenon. The current messaging of vaccine importance may seem tone-deaf to those in a community who wonder why their health is so important now, at the vaccine stage. Black health didn’t appear to be a priority during the pandemic’s first wave, when race disparities in COVID emerged. Questioning the scientific process Perhaps even Operation Warp Speed has had the unintended consequence of decreasing vaccine acceptance in the African American community. Some ask why wasn’t such speed applied to vaccine development for HIV, which still has no FDA-approved vaccine? As of 2018, AIDS-related illness has killed an estimated 35 million people globally. It continues to disproportionately affect people of color and other socially vulnerable populations. If African Americans were honored and acknowledged in these COVID vaccine conversations and told “we need you” instead of “you need us,” perhaps more Blacks would trust the vaccine. I encourage our nation’s leaders to consider a radical shift in their approach. They must do more than pointing to the few Black scientists involved in COVID vaccine development, or making a spectacle of prominent African Americans receiving the vaccine. These acts alone will likely be insufficient to garner the trust needed to increase vaccine acceptance. Instead, I believe our leaders should adopt the core values of equity and reconciliation. I’d argue that truth-telling will need to be at the forefront of this new narrative. There are also multiple leverage points along the supply and distribution chains, as well as in vaccine administration, that could increase diversity, equity and inclusion. I’d recommend giving minority- and women-owned businesses fair, mandated access to contracts to get the vaccine to communities. This includes procurement and purchasing contracts for freezers needed to store the vaccine. Minority health care workers should be equitably called back to work to support vaccine administration. These issues, not publicly discussed, could be transformative for building trust and increasing vaccine acceptance. Without a radical shift in the conversation of true COVID equity, African Americans and many others who could benefit from the vaccine will instead get sick. Some will die. The rest will remain marginalized by a system and a society that hasn’t equally valued, protected, or prioritized their lives. I believe it’s time to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. https://theconversation.com/whats-no...vaccine-152323

12-26-2020, 03:59 PM	#5
PlatinumPearl Member How Do You Identify?: Femme, Human Preferred Pronoun?: She, Her Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Canada Posts: 1,150 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 966 Thanked 2,419 Times in 890 Posts Rep Power: 21474846	Forbes.com, Dec. 26, 2020 New Coronavirus Strain Detected In More Countries Spain is the latest country to confirm cases of a new coronavirus strain first detected in the U.K. that early studies suggest is far more contagious, sparking worries that it could worsen the pandemic. Four people in Madrid who recently arrived from the U.K. were infected with the new coronavirus variation, the region’s deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero announced Saturday, but said “there is no need for alarm,” according to Al Jazeera, adding that none of the patients are seriously ill. To read the full article click here.

12-27-2020, 10:37 AM	#6
PlatinumPearl Member How Do You Identify?: Femme, Human Preferred Pronoun?: She, Her Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Canada Posts: 1,150 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 966 Thanked 2,419 Times in 890 Posts Rep Power: 21474846	Vitamin D Covid: Free Vitamin D Pills for 2.5 Million Vulnerable in England Vitamin D supplements help keep bones and muscles healthy, particularly during the winter. More than 2.5 million vulnerable people in England will be offered free Vitamin D supplements this winter. The vitamin, which helps to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy, will be delivered to people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and care homes. Skin makes Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight - but the elderly and those with dark skin need topping up. The coronavirus pandemic means many more people than normal have spent time indoors. The groups most at risk are residents in care homes, and people with serious health conditions which mean they have spent extended periods shielding from the virus - a total of 2.7 million people. Should I start taking Vitamin D? Health officials say that even in a normal winter, everyone should take 10 micrograms of Vitamin D a day between October and March - and it's particularly important this year because of coronavirus. Scottish and Welsh governments, and Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency issued similar advice during lockdown. But there is limited evidence that vitamin D protects against or treats Covid-19, although health officials have been asked to go back over the existing research. Millions of people have spent extended periods indoors this year because of Covid-19. All care homes in England will receive enough supplements for their residents, the government says. People on the clinically extremely vulnerable list will get a letter inviting them to opt in for a supply of Vitamin D tablets to be delivered to their homes. Deliveries will start in January. They'll provide four months' worth of free supplements. "Vitamin D is important for our bone and muscle health," says Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England. "We advise that everyone, particularly the elderly, those who don't get outside and those with dark skin, take a Vitamin D supplement containing 10 micrograms (400IU) every day. "This year, the advice is more important than ever with more people spending more time inside, which is why the government will be helping the clinically extremely vulnerable to get Vitamin D." GP Sarah Jarvis told BBC Breakfast that those who cover up for religious reasons, pale-skinned people and those who are generally unwell are also at higher risk. "All of those are either going to get less vitamin D or in the case of people of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) origin may make less of it," she said. People who are able to buy a Vitamin D supplement and start taking them now, ahead of a free delivery, are advised to do so. Source: bbc.com Website: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-5510...20in%20January. Date: November 28, 2020