Coronavirus

[GeddyWrox]

China is locking down again in the Shulan region after reports of new COVID cases, and we're all like "Virus is over, party on Wayne! Party on, Garth!"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... r-lockdown

[tlombard]

I was bad Monday and caved. I went to the bar and while I'm back to staying in again after getting it out of my system and I don't completely regret doing it. It was what I needed to get a little sense of normality but I'm not proud of caving either.

I just went to my normal bar and there were a few friends there that it was really good to see again. The bar took the time while they were closed to repaint and completely scrub everything. They added new TVs. They also did a complete overhaul on their smaller location which I am excited to see in a few weeks. It was WAAAY overdue there. I was happy to see that people were not sitting right next to each other like nothing happened and the bartender was constantly sanitizing the bar (whether you were sitting there or not) and also the bar stools any time somebody got up including the ones right by the one people had been using. I actually came back to a damp bar stool once but I appreciated the fact that while they are open, they are at least taking it seriously with sanitizing and wearing masks.

Other than taking the time to do some updates, there was one extremely fortunate effect of being closed. We would have lost one of our friends and others would have ended up in the hospital if the bar was open three weeks ago when a young girl without a driver's license drove through the back of the patio bar. It is a complete loss and the bartender would have been crushed and killed without a doubt looking at the damage. The brick back bar was pushed all the way against the brick front of the bar and broke the brick front bar too. The friend who would have had that patio shift would not have survived and anybody sitting at the bar out there would have been blasted by broken glass, wood and brick. I don't know how long it is going to take but I was talking to the owner and he already has the plans figured out and is taking the opportunity to expand the patio bar and upgrade it so that it can be used year round going forward.

[heyzeus]

Yikes. Well, that's like a scene out of one of those movies. What are they called? Final Destination, that's what I'm thinking of. A silver lining to the shutdown, for sure.

[mikechamp]

Sounds like there is progress on a vaccine, though it is clearly still months away.

Coronavirus vaccine: First evidence jab can train immune system

The first hints that a vaccine can train people's immune system to fight coronavirus have been reported by a company in the US. Moderna said neutralizing antibodies were found in the first eight people who took part in their safety trials. It also said the immune response was similar to that in people infected with the actual virus.

The vaccine trials, run by the US government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, showed the vaccine led to the production of antibodies which can neutralize the coronavirus. However, testing for these neutralizing antibodies has only taken place on the first eight, out of 45, people on the trial.

Moderna said it was hoping to start a large-scale trial in July, and that it was already investigating how to manufacture the vaccine at scale.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52677203

Whoever came up with the headline for this one... well played!

(When you go to the link below, the article I cited is down the page a little.)

Curbing Moderna’s enthusiasm

Moderna (MRNA) has been under the spotlight this week, after announcing its experimental vaccine had produced positive results in a Phase 1 trial. The market has been largely underpinned by the results, but investors took a breather after a STAT report highlighted reasons to be cautious, as some health experts have articulated.

The actual data has not yet been released — which according to Craig Garthwaite, director of the program on healthcare at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, is the crux of the problem. “It was a discussion of [just] a portion of a set of Phase 1 clinical trial results,” Garthwaite said.

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-upda ... 36218.html

[mikechamp]

This article addresses more than church settings. It even hits on rural situations where there are no cases. It's like they knew Leroy would be reading this or something...

Infectious disease expert and seminary student warns about resuming religious services too soon: 'Church is not a building'

As states begin the slow process of reopening, the question of when to allow religious services remains complicated. Although some states are making religious exceptions for social distancing and beginning to allow small gatherings, others are firmly opposed to congregating. In a report released this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that holding off for longer may be best.

Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic — who, coincidentally, is also midway through seminary school — agrees. “People have a hard time understanding this, but while there is community transmission, asymptomatic people will spread it,” says Poland. “It only needs an opportunity to do so.”

The CDC’s report bolsters this concept. Published in the organization’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, it details a series of gatherings at an Arkansas church from March 6 to 11 that led to a “high COVID-19 attack rate” both among the congregation and beyond. Out of the 92 attendees, nearly 40 percent (35 people) ultimately tested positive for COVID-19; three of them died. Another 26 cases of the virus, and an additional fatality, were traced back to the church from the community.

Poland says it’s important to note that this isn’t just occurring in religious services. “This is not unique to a church or choir practice,” he says. “I could show you a birthday party, I could show you the Italian-American family that had 12 people at a dinner and [four] are now dead. It's nothing peculiar about the environment or setting.”

The CDC advises in its newest report that states explore “modifying” their activities; Poland says this can vary by region. “If you’re in rural Kansas and there are no community cases, then fine, have church, have a birthday party, have a meal at a restaurant,” says Poland. “But when you’re in a community where transmission is still occurring, this is the norm.” He says individuals can ask themselves a simple question: “Is there evidence of community transmission? If there is, I don’t think you should be crowding together.”

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/infecti ... 57198.html

[tlombard]

Yikes. Well, that's like a scene out of one of those movies. What are they called? Final Destination, that's what I'm thinking of. A silver lining to the shutdown, for sure.

You're right, I haven't seen any of those since the first Final Destination but that is exactly the type of way somebody would get killed!

I'm excited now for them to get started on the expansion of the patio. They've been wanting to do something with it and have gone as far as having plans drawn up before but could just never really justify it financially. Now they have to do something and insurance is going to cover a lot of it I assume. The patio bar was always one of my favorite things about the bar. It wasn't big (only six bar stools and two or three tables inside the bar area (with more tables outside between the main bar and patio bar) but it was a great place to sit on a nice evening or afternoon and watch a ballgame with the regulars and other characters who tend to show up there. And let me tell you, there are some interesting characters that have shown up there randomly.

[Leroy]

Either I'm wayyy to hungry or that Coronavirus microscopic picture on CNN looks just like a pepperoni pizza.

Maybe both I guess.

[Leroy]

So Fauci doesn't want to call the race to get a vaccine warp speed. I suppose he's one of those hyperdrive jerks.

[Radbird]

[mikechamp]

Seems like you can always count on A-B for some classy, timely ads.