Possible vaccines/treatment(s) for Coronavirus

[Aladdin]

Yes, of course, I meant 2020, I was thinking last year, and not awake enough to remember we're in 2020 now.

The link I posted to The Lancet did discus spread in the community.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30561-2/fulltext

We are now in 2021 cupid_stunt


And again...the research was only carried out in a limited location. Plus the researcher does admit that the virus could transmit from an infected person via them coughing onto or toucing a surface and another person shortly afterwards touching that surface
The research does not state there is absolutely no risk.
And they still advise to err on the side of caution. They also state clearly that this is their opinion based on two studies carried out in hospital sites..not community based.

And whilst they arrive at an opinion / not a conclusive one...that transmission risk is low, it is important to also read that the research was within the parameters of an already more sterile environment than a standard community environment.

I'll still be wiping down my shopping for another while.
It's not a big deal to do that and with a new more transmissable variant on the loose I think I will continue to follow thr WHO and local HSE advice.

 

[Aladdin]

I suppose my (slightly cynical) approach goes something like..."I can't know for certain that this handle/surface/object has been adequately cleaned, therefore I will treat it as contaminated, and clean myself after contact".

I was responsible for putting together a risk assessment and policy to allow a counselling centre to operate (despite my strong reservations about it doing so), and it very quickly became obvious that, in terms of cleaning and disinfection, it was asking a lot to expect people to do this adequately. Indeed, I had quite a row about a statement in the draft I was given that said "Practitioners are responsible for ensuring that clients have cleaned and disinfected toilet areas after use" - that just wasn't going to be able to be policed or guaranteed.

So I've generally taken the line that everything I touch outside is potentially contaminated, and I need to deal with what I am in control of, which boils down to handwashing or sanitising. I am considering resurrecting the surgical gloves for stuff where I'm likely to come into contact with possibly-contaminated surfaces and the opportunities to wash/sanitise are not there.

It sounds more paranoid than it is!

Not at all paranoid.

 

[existentialist]

Not at all paranoid.

I'm talking about the mindset, rather than the actions. I think a lot of people see the thing as a bit of a binary choice - either "be paranoid" or "keep calm and carry on". I reckon I can manage to do the "paranoid" things without actually being paranoid about it

 

[Aladdin]

I'm talking about the mindset, rather than the actions. I think a lot of people see the thing as a bit of a binary choice - either "be paranoid" or "keep calm and carry on". I reckon I can manage to do the "paranoid" things without actually being paranoid about it

Yes...that's exactly it.

 

[two sheds]

I've probably relaxed too much. I've got a large aluminium bin outside the front door which I used to put deliveries in and gave a couple of sprays of 80% alcohol. I think I'll start that again - it's about the only contact I have with people apart from when someone walks/runs/cycles/horserides past me at a safe distance.

 

[two sheds]

I'm talking about the mindset, rather than the actions. I think a lot of people see the thing as a bit of a binary choice - either "be paranoid" or "keep calm and carry on". I reckon I can manage to do the "paranoid" things without actually being paranoid about it

Yep I tried to set things up so I don't have to worry about them. Easy for me though being retired and living on my own.

 

[elbows]

I am never impressed when I hear that some people have inappropriately written off surface transmission as a vector in this pandemic.

SAGE certainly havent written it off. This is from a December 23rd document about the new variant:

It is essential to reinforce the core principles of a hierarchy of control measures to reduce physical transmission through the environment by all routes – close-range, airborne, and via surfaces, given the risks that transmission of the new variant may be higher for all these routes (medium confidence).

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948607/s0995-mitigations-to-reduce-transmission-of-the-new-variant.pdf

 

[teuchter]

I am never impressed when I hear that some people have inappropriately written off surface transmission as a vector in this pandemic.

I avoid stuff like touching handrails in public areas, and I generally wash my hands when I get home. But I don't wipe down shopping, or place items from outside in quarantine like I did for a bit at the beginning. It's hard to know what level of worry about surface transmission is "appropriate".

 

[elbows]

I avoid stuff like touching handrails in public areas, and I generally wash my hands when I get home. But I don't wipe down shopping, or place items from outside in quarantine like I did for a bit at the beginning. It's hard to know what level of worry about surface transmission is "appropriate".

Yeah. I never nuked my shopping at any stage, I just use the hand washing and not touching face stuff for that aspect too, eg if I am preparing food I insert some additional hand washing into the routine after touching packaging etc.

 

[2hats]

A brief derail from vaccines...

Fomites are an accepted mode of transmission; infectious viral samples have been recovered from surfaces (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69286-3 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.05.009).

Infection severity: aerosol > droplet > fomite (DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.28.424565) which appears, not entirely unsurprisingly, to be related to depth of deposition in the respiratory tract.

A detailed review of transmission dynamics DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c08484.

Practically: I wash my hands whenever I return home from outside. Storing non-perishable shopping for a few days is going to greatly reduce risk of fomite transmission from such. I have always washed all perishable uncooked food items (vegetables, fruit, herbs) anyway.

Hand washing is still important as it also reduces the risks associated with other infections (influenza, colds, etc) and thus the complications thereof including the risk of requiring medical help for those infections, for myself or those I might infect, which in turn will inevitably raise the risk of subsequent exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or other nosocomial infection.

 

[StoneRoad]

I'm going to carry on with the hand washing / sanitising and wiping down or spraying items when they arrive here, and mask wearing where appropriate outside the house.

It does look like formite transmission is a somewhat smaller vector than the aerosols, but I still don't think the risk is small enough to ignore (Locally, we've quite a spike in cases, probably the new variant(s) are largely responsible).

 

[Aladdin]

I do wipe down my shopping and I quarantine certain things for 4 days.
But...then again I am balancing my own known extremely high risk scenario with all of this.

 

[platinumsage]

I wipe our grocery deliveries. It's for peace of mind, so I can e.g. get something out of my own freezer to read the cooking instructions or whatever, without worrying whether the delivery driver sneezed on it and consequently washing my hands after put it back in the freezer, and then cleaning the freezer door handle etc. It's good for my own mental health to make the house a certified COVID-free zone to my own satisfaction.

 

[elbows]

Sounds like my local hospital is on a list of the first to get the Oxford vaccine.

George Eliot hospital one of the first to deliver Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

The roll-out starts tomorrow

www.coventrytelegraph.net

Tomorrow (January 4) the Eliot will begin what has been described by NHS England as delivering the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for 'surveillance purposes' ahead of the fulll roll-out to hundreds of GP-led services later in the week.

The Eliot is one of just six chosen to start the huge roll-out of the vaccine alongside the Royal Free Hospital London NHS Foundation Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

NHS England say it is 'standard practice' for the vaccination to be rolled-out for surveillance purposes before the bulk of supplies are sent out more widely.

 

[2hats]

On the importance of continued mitigations and a proactive policy of 'zero COVID' to support a successful vaccination programme...

Vaccine escape: "the longer SARS-CoV-2 is in circulation, and the greater the number of people infected, the more of a chance escape mutants will have to form, and imperil the unprecedented efforts put into vaccine development".


In particular, with just 3 mutations, SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated, in vitro, escape from neutralisation by multiple antibodies (DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.28.424451).

 

[existentialist]

On the importance of continued mitigations and a proactive policy of 'zero COVID' to support a successful vaccination programme...

Vaccine escape: "the longer SARS-CoV-2 is in circulation, and the greater the number of people infected, the more of a chance escape mutants will have to form, and imperil the unprecedented efforts put into vaccine development".


In particular, with just 3 mutations, SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated, in vitro, escape from neutralisation by multiple antibodies (DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.28.424451).

Fuck.

 

[scifisam]

I avoid stuff like touching handrails in public areas, and I generally wash my hands when I get home. But I don't wipe down shopping, or place items from outside in quarantine like I did for a bit at the beginning. It's hard to know what level of worry about surface transmission is "appropriate".

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same. The research says the risk is negligible, like I said, but being a bit more careful won't do any harm. There's no need to panic about cleaning stuff to radiation standards - that's not a binary issue, either.

I don't really understand the anger at the news that this mode of transmission is much less dangerous than was thought - surely that's a good thing?

 

[nyxx]

When I think back to what my covid risk mitigation methods were back in March-April, there’s a few things that I’ve dialled back a bit as new data has emerged. I’m still washing my hands a lot more than pre covid, but I don’t carry a hook shaped thing around to open things, and I don’t quarantine shopping for 3 days before using it.

Interest in hand cream skyrocketed amongst some of my friends back in April - cracked sore hands from extra washing with soaps and coating with sanitizer was a common problem & there was lots of swapping ideas for treatments.

The one thing the government was really pushing at that point was washing hands. I remember being perturbed at the toilets on a train I had to get, being out of soap and only a tiny dribble of water, when all that was being pumped out was “wash your hands” and it was becoming increasingly clear that a lock down was overdue.

Edited to add: I understand that the info as to fomite transmission was something along the lines of it’s nothing like as much of a factor as previously thought - but since it’s still a possibility, and because it helps stop spread other diseases, the messaging on it is staying the same. (Might be wrong on this, it’s an agglomeration of stuff from too many different places over the past months.)

 

[Wilf]

I have no issue with wearing masks or anything like that, I've barely left the house since March last year in fact - I am just a bit stressed about all the time and steriwipes that I wasted swabbing down my fucking groceries (based on best information at the time) if that is now irrelvant.

I've been vaguely aware that the risks of transmission from groceries and deliveries has been downgraded over the months, maybe from reading an article, but more likely from on here. But then it's an anxiety thing even if part of your brain accepts the science. I still find myself waiting 24 hours before opening the post on my more twitchy days (and also because I'm a disorganised mess )

 

[Wilf]

I only wiped my groceries down once or twice at the beginning. I stopped because a) I read that although it was scientifical possible, it was highly unlikely that you would catch covid from touching things, b) I lived (past tense!) in a low Covid area, and c) I'm lazy.

Now my ritual is that I always sanitise my hands at the entrance to the supermarket, again once I am back in the car (and before I take my mask off and scratch my nose), and then I wash my hands after I have unpacked my groceries. This is enough for me.

ONe of the problems of using sanitisers at the entrance to buildings, which I do use, is that occasionally you squeeze away at them only to find they are empty. Fuck me, you've then been sharing the last person's surface rubbing without benefit of absolution!

 

[platinumsage]

Can't say I'm super thrilled seeing the lack of social distancing going on during vaccinations.

Surely it can't be too hard to explain the second appointment from two metres away:

 

[Sunray]

What’s important now is how the country scales from one to millions.
I’d like to hope it’s going to be quick. There are 4 million doses of the Oxford vaccine available. Produced in the UK, lots more being made as we speak.

Can the nation do what’s needed?

 

[platinumsage]

What’s important now is how the country scales from one to millions.
I’d like to hope it’s going to be quick. There are 4 million doses of the Oxford vaccine available. Produced in the UK, lots more being made as we speak.

Can the nation do what’s needed?

According to Whitty and Hancock, the rate of vaccination is only limited by the supply of it - if the manufacturers supply more the rate of administration will increase accordingly.

 

[Supine]

 

[magneze]

Why did he refuse the MoD help? Are we about to be invaded or something? All hands I'd have thought.

Incredibly serious pandemic, killing thousands, health service overwhelmed.

Would you like some extra help administering the vaccines?

How is the answer to that question 'no thank you'?

 

[teuchter]

I guess it's going to be pretty interesting to keep an eye on Israel's Covid stats over the next couple of months.

 

[magneze]

.

 

[Artaxerxes]

View attachment 247017

I guess it's going to be pretty interesting to keep an eye on Israel's Covid stats over the next couple of months.

Even funnier watching the Labour party explode over them.

 

[Sunray]

According to Whitty and Hancock, the rate of vaccination is only limited by the supply of it - if the manufacturers supply more the rate of administration will increase accordingly.

Can't be bothered to listen to them any more. Do they say anything that anyone believes?

 

[existentialist]

Why did he refuse the MoD help? Are we about to be invaded or something? All hands I'd have thought.

Incredibly serious pandemic, killing thousands, health service overwhelmed.

Would you like some extra help administering the vaccines?

How is the answer to that question 'no thank you'?

I expect he was worried about the "optics" (horrible expression)