China wants to supply the world with its coronavirus vaccine

‘China plans to rapidly ramp up its capacity to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus (Covid-19), state media CCTV has announced. It plans to dominate vaccine supply domestically and globally, despite the fact Western nations are unlikely to acquire a Chinese vaccine. It will be pushed to the rest of the world instead. China's vaccine was developed in almost the same way as the "Oxford vaccine" in the UK, using virus enhancement techniques to create an inert but powerful antibody response, which if used with a second booster shot could offer several years of immunity, even against mutant strains, according to Chinese scientists.’

Read here (Asia Times, Oct 21, 2020)

NUS start-up develops 60-second breath test to detect Covid-19

‘Researchers in Singapore have developed a breath test to detect COVID-19 within a minute, said the National University of Singapore (NUS) on Tuesday (Oct 20). The test, which detects volatile organic compounds (VOC) in a person’s breath, achieved more than 90 per cent accuracy in a clinical trial involving 180 patients.’ 

Read here (Channel News Asia, Oct 20, 2020)

Vietnam is fighting Covid without pitting economic growth against public health

‘The motto for the first phase was that if we stay alive, the question of wealth and the economy can come later. Ordinary people did suffer, such as the gig economy workers: whenever I order a Grabcar (a south-east Asian version of Uber) these days, the vehicle that arrives is always newer and more expensive that what I’m used to; as a driver explained, those who used to pick me up in their cheaper cars have had to sell them to stay afloat, leaving only those with deeper pockets left in the market.

‘But now the government has shifted its anti-Covid strategy towards the economy. The tactics for the second wave are more sophisticated. Contact tracing is still prompt and aggressive but lockdown and isolation are more selective; international flights have been opened for foreign workers, such as engineers from South Korea’s LG, who are needed to keep the economy functioning.’

Read here (The Guardian, Oct 20, 2020)

World’s vaccine testing ground deems Chinese Covid candidate ‘the safest, most promising’

‘Brazil is one of the world’s top COVID-19 vaccine testing grounds. Now officials there say that CoronaVac, the experimental COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese developer Sinovac, is the safest of the coronavirus immunizations evaluated in the country so far.

“The first results of the clinical study conducted in Brazil prove that among all the vaccines tested in the country, CoronaVac is the safest, the one with the best and most promising rates,” São Paulo Gov. João Doria told reporters in Brazil on Monday.’

Read here (Fortune, Oct 20, 2020)

What fans of ‘herd immunity’ don’t tell you

‘First, it makes no mention of harm to infected people in low-risk groups, yet many people recover very slowly. More serious, a significant number, including those with no symptoms, suffer damage to their heart and lungs. One recent study of 100 recovered adults found that 78 of them showed signs of heart damage. We have no idea whether this damage will cut years from their lives or affect their quality of life...

‘Second, it says little about how to protect the vulnerable. One can keep a child from visiting a grandparent in another city easily enough, but what happens when the child and grandparent live in the same household? And how do you protect a 25-year-old diabetic, or cancer survivor, or obese person, or anyone else with a comorbidity who needs to go to work every day?...

‘Third, the declaration omits mention of how many people the policy would kill. It’s a lot...If these restrictions are simply eased — as opposed to eliminating them entirely, which would occur if herd immunity were pursued — deaths could rise to as many as 571,527. That’s just by Feb. 1. The model predicts daily deaths will still be increasing then.

‘Will we have achieved herd immunity then? No.’

Read here (New York Times, Oct 19, 2020)

Covid-19 has exposed the catastrophic impact of privatising vital services

‘The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the catastrophic fallout of decades of global privatisation and market competition. When the pandemic hit, we saw hospitals being overwhelmed, caregivers forced to work with virtually no protective equipment, nursing homes turned into morgues, long queues to access tests, and schools struggling to connect with children confined to their homes. People were being urged to stay at home when many had no decent roof over their heads, no access to water and sanitation, and no social protection. 

‘For many years, vital public goods and services have been steadily outsourced to private companies. This has often resulted in inefficiency, corruption, dwindling quality, increasing costs and subsequent household debt, further marginalising poorer people and undermining the social value of basic needs like housing and water. We need a radical change in direction.’

Read here (The Guardian, Oct 19, 2020)

Big Pharma is not willing to help us defeat Covid-19

‘For months, experts have repeatedly told us that no one is safe from coronavirus until we are all safe. If that is true, we should be going all out to ensure the world’s resources are used to bring treatments and vaccines to the whole world as soon as possible. Several initiatives have attempted just that, but efforts have been stymied by the self-interest of big business, and by the leaders of rich countries who are terrified of undermining rules designed to keep their countries at the top of the pecking order.

‘A recent ground-breaking proposal by India and South Africa could change all that. Those governments have lodged a proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend international patent laws for an extended period, allowing countries to share technology and produce their own versions of patented medicines, treatments and protective equipment without being held to ransom by the corporations which own those patents. It is a game-changer, which challenges one of the most shameful aspects of modern trade rules.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Oct 18, 2020)

Use emergency funds for Sabah’s Covid-19 fight as donations will be slower, doctors tell federal govt

‘The federal government should allow emergency funds to be used for resources and equipment to tackle Sabah’s Covid-19 situation, the Malaysian Medical Association said today. MMA president Professor Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy cautioned that waiting for donations for Sabah’s Covid-19 fight would not be time-effective when there is an urgent need for more medical resources in the state.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Oct 18, 2020)

Covid-19 virus survives on skin five times longer than flu virus: Study

‘The Covid-19 virus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours by comparison, said the study published this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 18, 2020)

‘No longer groping in the dark’: NCID doctors share how Covid-19 is being treated in Singapore

‘So far, 28 people have died of COVID-19 in Singapore - one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. In the US, where there have been about 8 million cases, more than 200,000 people have died. As of Saturday (Oct 17), 37 COVID-19 patients remain hospitalised in Singapore, with none in intensive care. More than 99 per cent of those infected have been discharged, while there are 41 in community care facilities.

‘But it wasn't always like this. Three National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) consultants told CNA how treatment of the novel coronavirus has evolved here and how NCID has kept the number of critical cases low.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Oct 18, 2020)

Frozen food package polluted by living coronavirus could cause infection: China’s CDC

‘China's disease control authority said on Saturday (Oct 17) that contact with frozen food packaging contaminated by living new coronavirus could cause infection. The conclusion came as the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected and isolated living coronavirus on the outer packaging of frozen cod during efforts to trace the virus in an outbreak reported last week in the city of Qingdao, the agency said on its website.

‘The finding, a world first, suggests it is possible for the virus to be conveyed over long distances via frozen goods, it said.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 17, 2020)

When will Covid-19 end? History suggests diseases fade but are never truly gone

‘Whether bacterial, viral or parasitic, virtually every disease pathogen that has affected people over the last several thousand years is still with us, because it is nearly impossible to fully eradicate them. The only disease that has been eradicated through vaccination is smallpox. Mass vaccination campaigns led by the World Health Organization in the 1960s and 1970s were successful, and in 1980, smallpox was declared the first – and still, the only – human disease to be fully eradicated. So success stories like smallpox are exceptional. It is rather the rule that diseases come to stay.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Oct 17, 2020)

The long shadow of the pandemic: 2024 and beyond

‘Even when the world returns to ‘normal,’ the legacy of Covid-19 will transform everything from wages and health care to political attitudes and global supply chains...

‘One impact of the Covid-19 pandemic may be that society will begin to take scientists and scientific information more seriously. In medieval times, the manifest inability of rulers, priests, doctors and others in positions of power to control the plague led to a wholesale loss of faith in corresponding political, religious and medical institutions, and a strong desire for new sources of authority.

‘It is possible that the inability of our political institutions to fight the virus will have similar implications. The public’s expectation of effective state action will likely rise in the immediate and intermediate periods, if deaths continue or accelerate. And if the response continues to be incompetent, confidence in existing political institutions will fall. The many failures of American government at every level in confronting the pandemic, especially when compared with other countries, may result in a shift in political preferences aimed at undoing the existing order.’

Read here (Wall Street Journal, Oct 16, 2020)

Civil society organisations call for strong support for TRIPS waiver to combat Covid-19

‘Nearly 380 civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged Members of the World Trade Organization to strongly support the adoption of a draft decision proposed by India and South Africa for a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement to combat the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

‘India and South Africa have submitted a proposal (IP/C/W/669) to the WTO TRIPS Council on a “Waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19”.

‘In their letter to the WTO Members, the CSOs said that in a global pandemic where every country is affected, a global solution is needed. According to the CSOs, adoption of a Waiver at the WTO level will suspend implementation, application and enforcement of the relevant provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.

‘It enables an expedited, open and automatic global solution to allow uninterrupted collaboration in development, production and supply, and to collectively address the global challenge facing all countries. “It’s time for governments to take collective responsibility and put people’s lives before corporate monopolies,” the CSOs emphasised.’

Read here (InfoJustice, Oct 16, 2020)

Young and healthy? You may have to wait until 2022 for a Covid-19 vaccine, experts warn

‘Young and healthy people should be prepared to wait their turn for immunization, experts warned this week. The World Health Organization’s chief scientist suggested that the delay could last well over a year for some among the young and healthy. “People tend to think, ah, on the first of January or the first of April, I’m going to get a vaccine and then things will be back to normal,” Soumya Swaminathan said in an online WHO question-and-answer session on Wednesday. “It’s not going to work like that."

Read here (Washington Post, Oct 16, 2020)

WHO study says remdesivir did not cut hospital stay or mortality in Covid-19 patients. Same with hydroxychloroquine, anti-HIV drug combination lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon

‘Gilead Sciences Inc's GILD.O remdesivir had little or no effect on COVID-19 patients' length of hospital stay or chances of survival, a clinical trial by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found. The antiviral medication, among the first to be used as a treatment for COVID-19, was one of the drugs recently used to treat U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection.

‘The results are from WHO’s “Solidarity” trial, which evaluated the effects of four potential drug regimens, including remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, anti-HIV drug combination lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon, in 11,266 adult patients across more than 30 countries. The study found the regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the length of the in-hospital course among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the WHO said on Thursday.’

Read here (Reuters, Oct 16, 2020)

Singapore, Hong Kong agree to set up air travel bubble for leisure travel without need for quarantine: Ong Ye Kung

‘Singapore has announced its first two-way air travel bubble with Hong Kong, paving the way for leisure and other forms of travel between both places. This means that people will be able to travel between the two locations without the need to be quarantine, subject to conditions, including testing negative for Covid-19. Details are still being worked out, but people could be travelling between both places in several weeks.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 16, 2020)

Early tests mean Covid-19 patients detected at ‘more infectious’ phase: Noor Hisham

‘Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said swift action to detect Covid-19 cases may have led to patients being detected at an earlier, highly infectious phase of the disease. However, he does not rule out the possibility that the high level of infectivity may be due to the virus’ D614G mutation. He said this in response to a question from the media asking why patients’ samples from the current third wave have a lower cycle threshold value (Ct) when tested, compared to samples from the first two waves of the outbreak in Malaysia.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Oct 16, 2020)

Is this new CMCO really necessary? – P Gunasegaram

‘Is the re-imposition of the conditional movement control order (CMCO) really, really necessary, especially in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya? This is a fair question considering the government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah for political reasons by allowing unrestricted movement within Sabah and between there and the peninsula during the recent state election.

‘Is the latest decision to re-impose controls in the three areas related to political reasons, specifically to restrict movement during a time when a change in government is possible with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claiming he has a majority in Parliament? Let’s see...’

Read here (The Vibes, Oct 15, 2020)

China got better. We got sicker. Thanks, Trump

‘Public health expert Dr. David Katz argued in a New York Times op-ed and in an interview with me back in March that we needed a national plan that balanced saving the most lives and the most livelihoods at the same time. If we just focused on saving every life, we would create millions of deaths of despair from lost jobs, savings and businesses. If we just focused on saving every job, we would cruelly condemn to death fellow Americans who deserved no such fate.

‘Katz argued for a strategy of “total harm minimization” that would have protected the elderly and most vulnerable, while gradually feeding back into the work force the young and healthy most likely to experience the coronavirus either asymptomatically or mildly — and let them keep the economy humming and build up some natural herd immunity as we awaited a vaccine.

‘Unfortunately, we could never have a sane, sober discussion about such a strategy. From the right, said Katz, we got “contemptuous disdain” for doing even the simplest things, like wearing a mask and social distancing. The left was much more responsible, he added, but not immune from treating any discussion of economic trade-offs in a pandemic as immoral and “treating any policy allowing for any death as an act of sociopathy.”

Read here (New York Times via Salt Lake Tribune, Oct 15, 2020)

People with blood-group A more susceptible to severe Covid-19

‘Using a pragmatic approach with simplified inclusion criteria and a complementary team of clinicians at the European Covid-19 epicenters in Italy and Spain and scientists in the less-burdened countries of Germany and Norway, we performed a GWAS that included de novo genotyping for Covid-19 with respiratory failure in approximately 2 months. We detected a novel susceptibility locus at a chromosome 3p21.31 gene cluster and confirmed a potential involvement of the ABO blood-group system in Covid-19.’

Read here (New England Journal of Medicine, Oct 15, 2020) 

Covid-19 pandemic – Philosophical approaches: Abstract

‘The paper begins with a retrospective of the debates on the origin of life: the virus or the cell? The virus needs a cell for replication, instead the cell is a more evolved form on the evolutionary scale of life. In addition, the study of viruses raises pressing conceptual and philosophical questions about their nature, their classification, and their place in the biological world. 

‘The subject of pandemics is approached starting from the existentialism of Albert Camus and Sartre, the replacement of the exclusion ritual with the disciplinary mechanism of Michel Foucault, and about the Gaia hypothesis, developed by James Lovelock and supported in the current pandemic by Bruno Latour. The social dimensions of pandemics, their connection to global warming, which has led to an increase in infectious diseases, and the deforestation of large areas, which have caused viruses to migrate from their native area (their "reservoir") are highlighted below. The ethics of pandemics is approached from several philosophical points of view, of which the most important in a crisis of such global dimensions is utilitarianism which involves maximizing benefits for society in direct conflict with the usual (Kantian) view of respect for people as individuals. 

‘After a retrospective of the COVID-19 virus that caused the current pandemic, its life cycle and its history, with an emphasis on the philosophy of death, the concept of biopower initially developed by Foucault is discussed, with reference to the practice of modern states of control of the populations and the debate generated by Giorgio Agamben who states that what is manifested in this pandemic is the growing tendency to use the state of emergency as a normal paradigm of government. An interesting and much debated approach is the one generated by the works of Slavoj Žižek, who states that the current pandemic has led to the bankruptcy of the current "barbaric" capitalism, wondering if the path that humanity will take is a neo-communism.  Another important negative effect is desocialization, with the conclusion of some philosophers that we cannot exist independently of our relationships with others, that a person's humanity depends on the humanity of those around him. 

‘The last section is dedicated to forecasting what the world will look like after the pandemic, and there are already signs of a change of paradigm, including the sudden disappearance of the ideology of the "wall": a cough was enough to make it suddenly impossible to avoid the responsibility that every individual has towards all living beings for the simple fact that he is part of this world, and of the desire to be part of it. The whole is always involved in part, because everything is, in a sense, in everything, and in nature there are no autonomous regions that are an exception.

‘The COVID-19 pandemic seems to restore the supremacy that once belonged to politics. One of the virtues of the virus is its ability to generate a more sober idea of freedom: to be free means to do what needs to be done in a specific situation.’

Read here (Academia.edu, Oct 14, 2020)

YouTube bans coronavirus vaccine misinformation

‘Alphabet Inc’s YouTube said on Wednesday it would remove videos from YouTube containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, expanding its current rules against falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the pandemic.

‘The video platform said it would now ban any content with claims about COVID-19 vaccines that contradict consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organization. YouTube said in an email that this would include removing claims that the vaccine will kill people or cause infertility, or that microchips will be implanted in people who receive the vaccine...

‘Andy Pattison, manager of digital solutions at the World Health Organization, told Reuters that the WHO meets weekly with the policy team at YouTube to discuss content trends and potentially problematic videos. ‘

Read here (Reuters, Oct 14, 2020)

How anti-ageing drugs could boost Covid vaccines in older people

‘Unlike fine wine, the human body does not improve with age. Hearing fades, skin sags, joints give out. Even the body’s immune system loses some of its vigour. This phenomenon, known as immunosenescence, might explain why older age groups are so hard-hit by COVID-19. And there is another troubling implication: vaccines, which incite the immune system to fight off invaders, often perform poorly in older people. The best strategy for quelling the pandemic might fail in exactly the group that needs it most...

‘[Eric] Verdin [president and chief executive of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California] agrees that supporting the older immune system should be a priority. “I think the net result of all this will be renewed interest in understanding the defect in the immune response in the elderly.” That has implications not only for the coronavirus, but also for a host of other diseases, including other viral infections and even cancer. “COVID-19 has brought to the front something that a lot of people have ignored.”

Read here (Nature, Oct 14, 2020)

Europe, which thought it had the virus tamed, faces a resurgence: Averaged over 100,000 new cases per day last week

‘From France to Russia, from Britain to the Czech Republic, European leaders are confronting a surge in coronavirus cases that is rapidly filling hospital beds, driving up death tolls and raising the grim prospect of further lockdowns in countries already traumatized by the pandemic. The continent, which once compared favorably to the United States in its handling of the pandemic, is being engulfed by a second wave of infection. With an average of more than 100,000 new infections per day over the past week, Europe now accounts for about one-third of new cases reported worldwide.’

Read here (New York Times, Oct 14, 2020)

Covid reinfection: Man gets Covid twice and second hit 'more severe'

‘A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report. The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body. Reinfections remain rare and he has now recovered. But the study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus.’

Read here (BBC, Oct 13, 2020)

WHO head calls herd immunity approach ‘immoral’

‘The head of the World Health Organization has ruled out a herd immunity response to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease through vaccinations or through the mass spread of a disease. Some have argued that coronavirus should be allowed to spread naturally in the absence of a vaccine. But WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said such an approach was "scientifically and ethically problematic".’

Read here (BBC, Oct 13, 2020)

NIH: 80% of Malaysia’s 157 coronavirus fatalities had at least one underlying medical condition; 72 per cent male; those aged 60-69 the largest group at 30.6 per cent

NIH: 80% of Malaysia’s 157 coronavirus fatalities had at least one underlying medical condition; 72 per cent male; those aged 60-69 the largest group at 30.6 per cent

‘More than 80 per cent of Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia reportedly had at least one underlying medical condition, said ICR. ICR also found that significantly more men in Malaysia succumbed to Covid-19 at 72 per cent, compared to women at 28 per cent.

‘More than 65 per cent of Malaysia’s coronavirus deaths were aged 60 years and above. Those aged 60 to 69 years formed the largest age group among Malaysia’s Covid-19 fatalities at 30.6 per cent, followed by people aged 70 to 79 years at 21 per cent, and those aged 50 to 59 years at 19.1 per cent. Adults aged 80 years and above comprised 14 per cent of coronavirus deaths in Malaysia.’

Read here (Code Blue, Oct 13, 2020)

Fact check: Does the WHO now agree with Donald Trump on ending lockdowns?

‘The president's tweet followed news reports in recent days that David Nabarro, a special envoy for the WHO director-general, had spoken out against lockdowns. Some news outlets reported remarks by Nabarro in an interview with Spectator TV on Thursday to suggest the WHO itself had reversed a pro-lockdown stance. But that is not the case.

‘As was reported by various outlets, Nabarro did tell Spectator TV: "We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus" and "we really do appeal to world leaders, stop using lockdown as your primary control method."... Nabarro said a number of approaches are needed to ensure there is a robust defence to quickly suppress outbreaks if there is an uptick in cases. The "backbone to controlling this kind of thing is always testing, contact tracing and isolation," at a local level, he said. The second is dealing with small spikes locally, and ensuring the public is on side and practicing disease prevention measures such as physical distancing.’

Read here (Newsweek, Oct 13, 2020)

The Covid-19 pandemic and the $16 trillion virus

‘The estimated cumulative financial costs of the COVID-19 pandemic related to the lost output and health reduction are shown in the Table [in the story]. The total cost is estimated at more than $16 trillion, or approximately 90% of the annual gross domestic product of the US. For a family of 4, the estimated loss would be nearly $200 000. Approximately half of this amount is the lost income from the COVID-19–induced recession; the remainder is the economic effects of shorter and less healthy life.’

Read here (JAMA Network, Oct 12, 2020)

Indonesia aims to start administering coronavirus vaccines in early November

‘Indonesia is aiming to start administering coronavirus vaccines in early November by relying on supply from Chinese drugmakers, as the world's fourth most populous country fights a health crisis that may result in its first recession in more than two decades. The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs on Monday (Oct 12) said 100,000 doses will be supplied by CanSino Biologics, the first Chinese company to test a Covid-19 vaccine on humans, in November.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 12, 2020)

China's Qingdao orders citywide Covid-19 testing following new infections

‘China's Qingdao city said on Monday (Oct 12) it will conduct Covid-19 tests for the entire population of more than 9 million people over five days after new cases appeared linked to a hospital treating imported infections. The city reported six new Covid-19 cases and six asymptomatic cases as of late Oct 11. Most of the cases were linked to the Qingdao Chest Hospital.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 12, 2020)

Health DG responds to open letter to PM from ‘MOH specialist’

Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah responds to the open letter of Dr Tachdjian to the prime minister "Covid-19: Wake up, enough talk, take action". ‘Even though it is not directed to me, but as the director-general of Health, I have to understand what this "Health Ministry (MOH) staffer" is trying to relay, regardless of the person's rank, grade, or profession. It occurred to me when it was said that the doctor was an "MOH specialist" it would surely attract everyone's attention to read it...’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Oct 12, 2020)

Sabah's serious Covid-19 situation: Bridget Welsh

‘Beyond case numbers and widespread infection, there are other indicators of the growing intensity of Covid-19 in Sabah. Foremost is the stark number of unlinked cases, cases that show no clear tie to another infected patient. An estimate by Dr Amar-Singh places the most recent unlinked cases as high as 91 percent. This indicates that the virus is in the community and being spread untraceably in the community.

‘Second, the strain of the virus reported in Sabah is among one of the most infectious, contributing to higher rates of transmission. Third, even more troubling is the fact that more people are dying – a toddler last week, more women (who disproportionately are less mobile within Sabah and should be less at risk) and those without underlying health conditions...

‘The time for a “normal” response has passed. The normal response has repeatedly disadvantaged Sabahans as federal authorities lack adequate appreciation of the realities on the ground. It is important to understand those federal failures surrounding Covid-19 add to the deep resentments and divisions that already exist.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Oct 11, 2020)

Wake up, enough talk, take action: An open letter to the PM from ‘MOH specialist’

‘Wake up dear Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin – you are a self-proclaimed “abah” (father) that wishes to “rotan” (cane) his rakyat for misbehaving and not following standard operating procedure (SOP). You fail to realise that the saddening facts of this Covid-19 wave listed down above are not due to Covid-19, but rather the failure of your administration to prioritise the health of the rakyat above all else...’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Oct 11, 2020) 

The anti-lockdown scientists’ cause would be more persuasive if it weren’t so half-baked

‘The [Great Barrington] declaration, which calls for an immediate resumption of “life as normal” for everyone except the “vulnerable”, is written by three science professors from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, giving it the sheen of academic respectability. But there is much to set alarm bells ringing. It makes claims about herd immunity – the idea that letting the virus rip among less vulnerable groups will allow a degree of population-level immunity to build up which will eventually protect the more vulnerable – that are unsupported by existing scientific evidence... And what are scientists doing fronting a campaign whose back office is run by a thinktank that flirts with climate change denial?’

Read here (The Guardian, Oct 11, 2020)

Coronavirus may stay for weeks on banknotes and touchscreens

‘The new coronavirus may remain infectious for weeks on banknotes, glass and other common surfaces, according to research by Australia’s top biosecurity laboratory that highlights risks from paper currency, touchscreen devices and grab handles and rails.

‘Scientists at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness showed SARS-CoV-2 is “extremely robust,” surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes at room temperature, or 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). That compares with 17 days survival for the flu virus.’

Read here (Bloomberg, Oct 11, 2020)

Anthony Fauci calls White House event ‘superspreader’, tempers presidential praise of an experimental drug

‘The US government's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has said the event held at the White House Rose Garden on September 26 was a "superspreader" event that led to multiple people, including President Donald Trump, being infected. "I think the data speak for themselves. We had a superspreader event in the White House," Fauci told CBS News Radio. "And it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks," he added.

‘Asked about the president's praise for an experimental COVID-19 treatment he received as "a cure," Fauci said calling it such would be misleading as it still hasn't been proven. "We don't have any indication – I think you really have to depend on what you mean by a cure because that's the word that leads to a lot of confusion," he said.’

Read here (DW, Oct 10, 2020)

How Singapore helped with US President Trump's Covid-19 treatment

 ‘When it comes to fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore has been punching above its weight. Blood samples from three patients here were used to develop the experimental antibody cocktail used to treat US President Donald Trump after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

‘The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) had responded to a collaboration request from US biotechnology firm Regeneron - the company which developed that antibody cocktail - with no claim of intellectual property right over the treatment.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 10, 2020)

Covid-19 death rates are lower worldwide, but no one is sure whether that’s a blip or a trend

‘The mortality rate of the coronavirus has been a moving target since the outbreak began. Early reports out of China put it as high as 7 percent. But that was based mostly on hospitalized patients, and by the time the wave hit the United States, epidemiologists believed it was closer to 2 to 3 percent. Now, factoring in asymptomatic infections, as well as mild cases that might not be part of official tallies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the mortality rate at 0.65 percent.

‘Public health officials cite multiple reasons for the lower death rates: They note a shift in the demographics of who is being stricken with the virus, with younger people making up the bulk of new infections. More widespread testing is capturing a more diverse range of people and illness, and improved treatment strategies that include antivirals and steroids are saving more lives. But some researchers speculate there may be more to the story...’

This story is behind a paywall.

Read here (Washington Post, Oct 9, 2020)

How a bizarre claim about masks has lived on for months

‘The “masks make you sicker” idea underscores how online misinformation is like an ocean liner: Once it’s headed in one direction, it’s difficult to turn around. The advice on masks changed seven months ago, but some people have stuck with what experts were saying in the confusing early days. One doctor’s criticisms of masks—which he now recants—live on in Twitter threads. And as people find new ways to share incorrect information, through posts, photos, and videos, social-media platforms are struggling to catch and remove all the hokum. Before long, the conspiracy theories break free of Facebook and infect reality.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Oct 9, 2020)

What strength really means when you’re sick

‘The metaphors that Trump and others use when talking about COVID-19 are making the pandemic worse... Equating disease with warfare, and recovery with strength, means that death and disability are linked to failure and weakness. That “does such a disservice to all of the families who have lost loved ones, or who are facing long-term consequences,” says Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University. Like so much else about the pandemic, the strength-centered rhetoric confuses more than it clarifies, and reveals more about America’s values than the disease currently plaguing it.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Oct 9, 2020)

Uncertainty is hope

‘As her husband continued to fail, with his odds of survival lessening and his end drawing near, she realized, “When things are overwhelmingly hard and scary, and the prognosis is generally not good, sometimes hope lies in the unknown,” she told me. It took me a few minutes to grasp what she meant as she continued, “Uncertainty and unpredictability — suddenly and surprisingly — are where there’s an opening for hope.” She summed up her hard-earned wisdom this way: “Uncertainty is hope.” Uncertainty can be hope. I might add that uncertainty can also be possibility, which I needed all those years ago, as much as we do right now.’

Read here (New York Times, Oct 8, 2020)

New test detects coronavirus in just 5 minutes

‘Researchers have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to come up with a test that detects the pandemic coronavirus in just 5 minutes. The diagnostic doesn’t require expensive lab equipment to run and could potentially be deployed at doctor’s offices, schools, and office buildings. “It looks like they have a really rock-solid test,” says Max Wilson, a molecular biologist at the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara. “It’s really quite elegant.”

Read here (Science, Oct 8, 2020)

Go ahead, laugh at their expense: The mad king and his courtiers learned a lot about Covid-19

‘The Rose Garden event may come to be regarded as the most unscientific, and unethical, experiment in the world. If all of these people bounce back, maybe COVID-19 isn’t such a big deal. If several of them don’t fare well, then the liberal inclination to take it more seriously is justified. Either way, it would be an experiment of zero statistical value, but this event has captured the attention of the nation, and these outcomes will count for more than they should—more, for some, than the evidence of 210,000 dead.

‘But the Rose Garden wasn’t the only place where people were infected. During four days of debate prep (the worst debate prep in history, but that’s another matter), Chris Christie got it. Will the man ever learn? When has his relationship with Trump ever brought him anything but misery? Some people are drawn to bullies. They have a need to endlessly repeat the suffering of their childhood, always hoping for a different outcome. To see a healthy and chipper George Stephanopoulos, sitting in his neon bright Good Morning America studio interviewing a pale and clearly anxious Christie, quarantined in Jersey, was heartbreaking. “No one was wearing masks,” he said of the four days he had spent with the president, and you weren’t sure whether he was angry about it or maybe a little bit proud of it; at last he’d been given a seat at the cool kids’ table.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Oct 8, 2020)

Decentralise to manage increasing cases of Covid-19 — MMA

‘Now is the time to decentralise communication channels, ensure that each state take ownership of the exploding pandemic and are able to act independently with speed in their own jurisdictions’. MMA (Malaysian Medical Association) suggests the following:

1. State Crisis Command Centres to coordinate all activities and ensure needs of the state are met on all fronts.
2. NGOs and public are coordinated to assist the state efforts.
3. All relevant data including equipment, manpower, bed strength, testing capacity etc are displayed on the State Command centre dashboard for stakeholders to coordinate, in particular to include data on shortages and needs.
4. Private sector hospitals, clinics and doctors are engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
5. For federal government to channel all support urgently including funds, resources and manpower.

Read here (Malay Mail, Oct 8, 2020)

Dying in a leadership vacuum: NEJM editorial

‘Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.

‘The magnitude of this failure is astonishing. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering,1 the United States leads the world in Covid-19 cases and in deaths due to the disease, far exceeding the numbers in much larger countries, such as China. The death rate in this country is more than double that of Canada, exceeds that of Japan, a country with a vulnerable and elderly population, by a factor of almost 50, and even dwarfs the rates in lower-middle-income countries, such as Vietnam, by a factor of almost 2000. Covid-19 is an overwhelming challenge, and many factors contribute to its severity. But the one we can control is how we behave. And in the United States we have consistently behaved poorly.’

Read here (New England Journal of Medicine, Oct 8, 2020)

How Trump damaged science — and why it could take decades to recover

‘As he seeks re-election on 3 November, Trump’s actions in the face of COVID-19 are just one example of the damage he has inflicted on science and its institutions over the past four years, with repercussions for lives and livelihoods. The president and his appointees have also back-pedalled on efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, weakened rules limiting pollution and diminished the role of science at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Across many agencies, his administration has undermined scientific integrity by suppressing or distorting evidence to support political decisions, say policy experts. “I’ve never seen such an orchestrated war on the environment or science,” says Christine Todd Whitman, who headed the EPA under former Republican president George W. Bush.

‘Trump has also eroded America’s position on the global stage through isolationist policies and rhetoric. By closing the nation’s doors to many visitors and non-European immigrants, he has made the United States less inviting to foreign students and researchers. And by demonizing international associations such as the World Health Organization, Trump has weakened America’s ability to respond to global crises and isolated the country’s science.’

Read here (Nature magazine, Oct 7, 2020)

‘It is a slaughter’: Public health champion asks CDC director to expose White House, orchestrate his own firing

‘A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health titan who led the eradication of smallpox asked the embattled, current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference. William Foege, a renowned epidemiologist who served under Democratic and Republican presidents, detailed in a private letter he sent last month to CDC Director Robert Redfield his alarm over how the agency has fallen in stature while the pandemic raged across America.

“You could upfront, acknowledge the tragedy of responding poorly, apologize for what has happened and your role in acquiescing,” Foege wrote to Redfield. He said simply resigning without coming clean would be insufficient. “Don’t shy away from the fact this has been an unacceptable toll on our country. It is a slaughter and not just a political dispute.”

Read here (USA Today, Oct 7, 2020)

Covid-19: Protecting our children ― Amar-Singh HSS

‘This recent infant death will have alarmed parents and those of us working with children. We want to know how we can protect our children better. The clear message is that we cannot protect our children without controlling the pandemic in the community; these two are intricately linked. I would like to offer some suggestions of what we can do in the face of the extensive community spread that is currently occurring in the country.’

• Improve SOPs at schools, taskas, child care facilities
• Strengthen our contact tracing with data transparency
• Advocate for health support to be ramped up with regards to (1) testing (2) use of rapid antigen detection tests (3) boost of manpower at MOH (4) injection of funds at MOH for equipment, PPEs, etc
• Stop poor leadership by example that hampers population compliance

Read here (Malay Mail, Oct 7, 2020)

White House contact tracing questioned as Covid-19 spreads in Washington

‘The White House contact tracing programme is too haphazard to pinpoint or halt a COVID-19 outbreak that was rapidly spreading in the US capital city, health experts and city officials said on Tuesday (Oct 6). Washington reported 105 new cases of the coronavirus for Oct 5, the mayor's office said, the highest figure since June...

‘A White House event on Sep 26 for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was suspected of spreading infections, as was an Air Force One flight that evening with Trump. But several staff members, guests and journalists at the event or on the flight told Reuters they have not been contacted by the White House medical team.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Oct 7, 2020)

The pandemic’s complex cocktail

‘Over the past few years, investors have tended to be richly rewarded for setting aside traditional determinants of market value and focusing on just one thing: plentiful and predictable liquidity injections into the marketplace. But the next few months will likely be a bigger test for this wager. Wall Street has decoupled from Main Street in a way that few expected. It would be a mistake to keep extrapolating into the future without stopping to ask about the mounting collateral damage and unintended consequences.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, Oct 6, 2020)

White House blocking strict guidelines for vaccine approval

‘The White House has blocked new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines that would have likely prevented a vaccine from being approved before next month's presidential election, the New York Times and the Associated Press reported, citing Trump administration officials.

‘The FDA had proposed stricter guidelines for the emergency approval and release of a coronavirus vaccine. One such requirement involved following vaccine trial candidates for two months to ensure there were no side effects and that the vaccines provided lasting protection from the virus. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn has previously said that scientists, not politicians, will decide whether the vaccines work and are safe.’

Read here (DW, Oct 6, 2020)

Dr Noor Hisham: Controlling large scale community transmission is top priority. At R0 of 2.2, 4,500 cases daily by Oct 31

"Controlling the large scale community transmission is our top priority. We need strong solidarity and unity, together we can better fight this common enemy," he said on his Twitter post on Tuesday (Oct 6). 

‘Separately, Dr Noor Hisham also posted a graph projecting the course of Covid-19 cases with an infectivity rate (R0 value) of 0.3, 1.5, and 2.2. With the R0 value of 0.3, it is estimated that cases will taper down to below 500 cases by Oct 31. However, with an R0 of 1.5 and 2.2, it is projected that the number of cases will rise to more than 1,000 and 4,500 cases, respectively, by Oct 31.’

Read here (The Star, Oct 6, 2020)

China in talks with WHO over assessing its Covid-19 vaccines for global use

‘China is in talks to have its locally-produced COVID-19 vaccines assessed by the World Health Organization, as a step toward making them available for international use, a WHO official said on Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of essential workers and other groups considered at high risk in China have been given locally-developed vaccines even as clinical trials had not been fully completed, raising safety concerns among experts.’

Read here (Reuters, Oct 5, 2020)

Will the economic and psychological costs of covid-19 increase suicides? It is too early to say, but the signs are ominous

‘When America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) carried out a survey this summer, it found that one in ten of the 5,400 respondents had seriously considered suicide in the previous month—about twice as many who had thought of taking their lives in 2018. For young adults, aged 18 to 24, the proportion was an astonishing one in four.

‘The survey, published in August, was one of a growing number of warnings about the toll that the pandemic is taking on the mental health of people. For legions, the coronavirus has upended or outright eliminated work, schooling and religious services. On top of that, lockdowns and other types of social distancing have aggravated loneliness and depression for many.’

Read here (The Economist, Oct 5, 2020)

Will Covid-19 change the global balance of power?

‘Populist parties, which have already used this growing disillusionment [with national and global institutions] to increase their influence and to take power in many countries, are likely to grow stronger. A critical consequence will be that the isolationism seen in the past decade or so will increase with slogans such as “America First”, “Make Britain Great Again” and “Prima gli Italiani” gaining traction.

‘These factors are all pointing to a very different world from what we have been seeing. The traditional powers of the west are neither as strong economically, nor as confident of their social and organizational superiority. China, along with developing countries in Asia and Africa that have better weathered COVID storm, will likely increase their global footprint at a much faster rate that they have been doing in the past decades.’

Read here (IPS News, Oct 5, 2020)

Is the coronavirus a threat to democracy?

‘Researchers say the pandemic has been used to roll back democracy and human rights in 80 countries. The coronavirus pandemic is causing a worldwide crisis for democracy, according to Freedom House, a United States-based research group. In a new report, Freedom House identified 80 nations where democracy or human rights have been curtailed since the virus emerged at the end of last year.’

Watch panel discussion here (Aljazeera, Oct 4, 2020)

How the coronavirus pandemic exposed the dark side of Western democracy

‘A Lowy Institute report reviewing such trends [the systematic dismantling of science, expertise and rule of law] concluded that “the concept of a rules-based international order has been stripped of meaning, while liberalism faces its greatest crisis in decades”. If these writers and many more are correct that Western “democracies” have trashed core components of democracy, it is only fair to ask what Western statesmen mean when they castigate others for failing to adopt democracy...’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Oct 4, 2020)

Donald Trump’s oxygen levels dropped and he has been treated with steroids, doctors say

‘US President Donald Trump remained in a military hospital on Sunday for a third day amid ­conflicting reports about his ­condition even as doctors reported steady progress adding that he could be released as soon as Monday... Doctors added that Trump was on the second day of a planned five-day course of Remdesivir, an antiviral medicine, and is being treated with the powerful steroid dexamethasone amid indications that his lungs may have suffered some damage.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Oct 4, 2020)

Pope says capitalism failed humanity during coronavirus pandemic

“The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom... It is imperative to have a proactive economic policy directed at ‘promoting an economy that favors productive diversity and business creativity’ and makes it possible for jobs to be created, not cut.” The pope also restated the past calls for the redistribution of wealth, saying those with much should “administer it for the good of all.” But he clarified that he was “not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism.”

Read here (DW, Oct 4, 2020)

India's new paper Covid-19 test could be a ‘game changer’

‘A team of scientists in India has developed an inexpensive paper-based test for coronavirus that could give fast results similar to a pregnancy test. The test, named after a famous Indian fictional detective, is based on a gene-editing technology called Crispr. Scientists estimate that the kit - called Feluda - would return results in under an hour and cost 500 rupees (about $6.75; £5.25). Feluda will be made by a leading Indian conglomerate, Tata, and could be the world's first paper-based Covid-19 test available in the market.

‘Researchers at the Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), where Feluda was developed, as well as private labs, tried out the test on samples from about 2,000 patients, including ones who had already tested positive for the coronavirus. They found that the new test had 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity...’

Read here (BBC, Oct 4, 2020)

How superspreading is fueling the pandemic — and how we can stop it

‘We now know that, on average, most people with the novel coronavirus pass the virus to just one other person, or to no one else at all. But some go on to infect many, many more, often before they even experience symptoms. Many of these transmission chains begin with “superspreading” events, where one person (usually in a crowded indoor space) passes the virus to dozens of others. Early contact tracing studies suggest these events have been a large driver of transmission around the world. By some estimates, 10 percent of people have been causing 80 percent of new infections.

This article tries to answer the following:

• Why is the coronavirus so good at superspreading?
• Are certain people more likely to be superspreaders?
• Why superspreading is more common at concerts than in libraries
• What should we be doing to limit superspreading?

Read here (Vox, Oct 3, 2020)

What is the risk to Donald Trump's health?

‘Donald Trump has clear risk factors - including his age, weight and being male - that all raise the chances of a severe coronavirus infection. He is 74 and has a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30, which is the clinical definition of obesity. So now he has tested positive for the virus, what does it mean?’

Read here (BBC, Oct 2, 2020)

Capitalism after the pandemic: Getting the recovery right

‘Governments also need to consider how to use the returns on their investments to promote a more equitable distribution of income. This is not about socialism; it is about understanding the source of capitalistic profits. The current crisis has led to renewed discussions about a universal basic income, whereby all citizens receive an equal regular payment from the government, regardless of whether they work. The idea behind this policy is a good one, but the narrative would be problematic. Since a universal basic income is seen as a handout, it perpetuates the false notion that the private sector is the sole creator, not a co-creator, of wealth in the economy and that the public sector is merely a toll collector, siphoning off profits and distributing them as charity.

‘A better alternative is a citizen’s dividend. Under this policy, the government takes a percentage of the wealth created with government investments, puts that money in a fund, and then shares the proceeds with the people. The idea is to directly reward citizens with a share of the wealth they have created...

‘A citizen’s dividend allows the proceeds of co-created wealth to be shared with the larger community—whether that wealth comes from natural resources that are part of the common good or from a process, such as public investments in medicines or digital technologies, that has involved a collective effort. Such a policy should not serve as a substitute for getting the tax system to work right. Nor should the state use the lack of such funds as an excuse to not finance key public goods. But a public fund can change the narrative by explicitly recognizing the public contribution to wealth creation—key in the political power play between forces.’

Read here (Foreign Affairs, Oct 2, 2020) 

China is winning the virus-economy recovery race

‘The countries that best controlled the coronavirus pandemic haven’t necessarily been rewarded with economic benefits. But one economic giant has, and its success is likely to resonate for years. That’s China.

‘Among members of the Group of 20, the global club of leading economies, only China rebounded from a Covid-19 contraction as early as the second quarter of 2020, and its growth shows no signs of abating. In the U.S. and Europe, by contrast, where the virus arrived later, recoveries were slower and now face stiff headwinds.’

Read here (Bloomberg, Oct 2, 2020) 

Covid-19, Belt and Road Initiative and the Health Silk Road: Implications for Southeast Asia

• Similar to the Belt and Road Initiative, the Health Silk Road is not precisely defined, covering a wide scope of activities, including bilateral and multilateral health policy meetings and networks, capacity building and talent training, mechanisms to control and prevent cross-border infectious diseases, health aid, traditional medicine, and healthcare industry.
• The Health Silk Road is tied to the domestic program of Health China 2030 and builds on existing practices of China’s health diplomacy.
• COVID-19 highlights the need for public health infrastructure for many countries, especially developing countries. The Health Silk Road provides the policy frame for China to strengthen and reform its foreign medical aid system, increase its influence in regional and global health governance, direct BRI investment to basic public health investment, and enlarge China’s role in the supplies of medical products and services.
• Southeast Asia will be an important region where China promotes the HSR. Concrete health cooperation projects will be negotiated bilaterally. Multilaterally (ASEAN) and at the sub-regional level (Mekong region and East ASEAN area), China will engage for the purposes of policy consensus and coordination. Economically, different Southeast Asian countries will have different kinds of investment and trade relationship with China, depending on their level of economic development.

Download PDF here (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Oct 2020)

The pandemic's digital shadow

‘The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating a dramatic decline in global internet freedom. For the 10th consecutive year, users have experienced an overall deterioration in their rights, and the phenomenon is contributing to a broader crisis for democracy worldwide. Three notable trends punctuated an especially dismal year for internet freedom... First, political leaders used the pandemic as a pretext to limit access to information... Second, authorities cited COVID-19 to justify expanded surveillance powers and the deployment of new technologies that were once seen as too intrusive... The third trend has been the transformation of a slow-motion “splintering” of the internet into an all-out race toward “cyber sovereignty,” with each government imposing its own internet regulations in a manner that restricts the flow of information across national borders...

‘Global internet freedom has declined for the 10th consecutive year: 26 countries’ scores worsened during this year’s coverage period, while 22 countries registered net gains. The largest declines occurred in Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan, followed by India, Ecuador, and Nigeria. A record number of countries featured deliberate disruptions to internet service. On the positive side, Sudan and Ukraine experienced the largest improvements, followed by Zimbabwe. A raft of court rulings shored up human rights online in countries ranked Free, Partly Free, and Not Free alike. The United States ranked seventh overall, while Iceland was once again the top performer. For the sixth consecutive year, China was found to have the worst conditions for internet freedom.

‘Freedom on the Net assesses internet freedom in 65 countries around the globe, accounting for 87 percent of the world’s internet users. This report, the 10th in its series, covers developments between June 2019 and May 2020. More than 70 analysts contributed to this year’s report, using a standard methodology to determine each country’s internet freedom score on a 100-point scale, based on 21 indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. Freedom on the Net also identifies global trends related to the impact of information and communication technologies on democracy. The data underpinning this year’s trends, in-depth reports on each of the countries surveyed, and the full methodology can be found here.’

Read here (Freedom House, October 2020)

How three prior pandemics triggered massive societal shifts

‘None of this is to argue that the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will have similarly earth-shattering outcomes. The mortality rate of COVID-19 is nothing like that of the plagues discussed above, and therefore the consequences may not be as seismic. But there are some indications that they could be... 

‘Will the bumbling efforts of the open societies of the West to come to grips with the virus shattering already-wavering faith in liberal democracy, creating a space for other ideologies to evolve and metastasize? In a similar fashion, COVID-19 may be accelerating an already ongoing geopolitical shift in the balance of power between the U.S. and China... Finally, COVID-19 seems to be accelerating the unraveling of long-established patterns and practices of work, with repercussions that could affect the future of office towers, big cities and mass transit, to name just a few. The implications of this and related economic developments may prove as profoundly transformative as those triggered by the Black Death in 1347.’

Read here (The Conversation, Oct 1, 2020)

Why we need to keep using the patient made term “Long Covid”

“Long Covid” was first used by Elisa Perego as a Twitter hashtag in May to describe her own experience of a multiphasic, cyclical condition that differed in time course and symptomatology from the bi-phasic pathway discussed in early scientific papers, which focused on hospitalized patients. Just three months later, following intense advocacy by patients across the world, this patient made term has been taken up by powerful actors, including the World Health Organization. Politicians have used it too: Matt Hancock, UK health secretary, recently explained to a parliamentary committee that “the impact of long covid can be really debilitating for a long period of time.”...

‘As patients and professionals, we see “Long Covid” as better able to navigate the socio-political, as well as clinical and public health challenges, posed by the pandemic in the coming months, for a number of reasons: (1) Long Covid acknowledges that cause and disease course are as yet unknown (2) Long Covid makes clear that “mild” covid-19 is not necessarily mild (3) Long Covid avoids “chronic,” “post” and “syndrome” (4)Long Covid draws attention to morbidity (5) Long Covid centres disabled people.

Read here (BMJ Opinion, Oct 1, 2020) 

Study finds ‘single largest driver’ of Coronavirus misinformation: Donald Trump

‘Of the flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and falsehoods seeding the internet on the coronavirus, one common thread stands out: President Trump. That is the conclusion of researchers at Cornell University who analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-language media around the world. Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic” — falsehoods involving the pandemic.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 30, 2020)

In a pandemic we learn again what Sartre meant by being free

‘The pandemic also teaches us about freedom in ways that go beyond Sartre’s discussion of the individual. Politically, using Isaiah Berlin’s distinction, we talk of the ‘negative liberty’ to go about our business without restraint, and the ‘positive liberty’ to do the things that give us the possibility to flourish and maximise our potential. For example, a society where there is no compulsory schooling gives parents the negative liberty to educate their children as they wish. But, generally speaking, this doesn’t give the child the positive liberty to have a decent education.

‘Over recent decades in the West, negative liberty has been in the ascendancy and positive liberty has been tarred with the brush of the nanny state. What we should have learned in 2020 is that without health services, effective regulation and sometimes strict rules, our negative freedom is useless and even sometimes destructive. Without state ‘interference’, many more lives would have been lost, jobs destroyed and businesses ruined. We now have an opportunity to reset the balance between negative and positive liberty...’

Read here (Psyche, Sept 30, 2020)

Germans embrace fresh air to ward off coronavirus

‘Ventilating rooms has been added to the German government’s formula for tackling coronavirus, in refreshing news for the country’s air hygiene experts who have been calling for it to become official for months. The custom is something of a national obsession, with many Germans habitually opening windows twice a day, even in winter. Often the requirement is included as a legally binding clause in rental agreements, mainly to protect against mould and bad smells. But while some people may dismiss the method as primitive, “it may be one of the cheapest and most effective ways” of containing the spread of the virus, Angela Merkel insisted on Tuesday.’

Read here (The Guardian, Sept 30, 2020) 

In a pandemic we learn again what Sartre meant by being free

‘One of the most powerful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, after its terrible toll on human life, has been on our liberty. Around the world, people’s movements have been severely curtailed, tracked and monitored. This has had an impact on our abilities to earn a living, study and even be with loved ones at the end of their lives. Freedom, it seems, is one of this virus’s biggest casualties.

‘But an article by Jean-Paul Sartre for The Atlantic in 1944 makes me question whether this is a straightforward tale of loss. The French philosopher summed up his thesis in the line: ‘Never were we freer than under the German occupation.’ Sartre’s core insight was that it is only when we are physically stopped from acting that we fully realise the true extent and nature of our freedom. If he is right, then the pandemic is an opportunity to relearn what it means to be free.

‘Of course, our situation is not nearly as extreme as it was for the French under occupation, who, as Sartre said, ‘had lost all our rights, beginning with the right to talk’. Still, like most of us, I have at times found myself unable to do almost everything I had taken for granted. During the strictest lockdown period, nights out at theatres, concert halls and cinemas were cancelled. I couldn’t go for a walk in the countryside, relax in a bar or restaurant, sit on a park bench, visit anyone, even leave my home more than once a day.’

Read here (Aeon, Sept 30, 2020)

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh study: (1) 8% of the detected Covid-19 cases accounted for 60% of the transmission (2) Transmission among individuals of approximately the same age was highest among children under 15 years old and adults 65 years and older

‘A study published in Science analyzed surveillance and contact tracing data from two South Indian states, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, collected through August 1. This is one of the few studies that captures the epidemiology of COVID-19 in low- or middle-income countries on a large scale. Together, these states account for approximately 10% (127.8 million) of India’s national population, and they contain the most robust healthcare workforces and public health infrastructure in the country. The study provides a detailed look at the timeline and growth of the COVID-19 epidemics in these states, including incidence and mortality.

‘The researchers found that the majority of cases (71%) did not result in secondary transmission to any of their contacts identified through contact tracing efforts. Based on data collected from more than 600,000 cases and contacts, the researchers estimate that 8% of the detected COVID-19 cases accounted for 60% of the transmission, providing further evidence that super-spreading events play a major role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers also identified that transmission among individuals of approximately the same age was highest among children under 15 years old and adults 65 years and older. While the researchers were not able to determine the degree of transmission from children to adults, the study results support that pediatric cases do play a role in the ongoing pandemic. Overall, the case fatality ratio was 2.06%, and generally increased with age; however, unlike the US, mortality tended to plateau rather than increase in individuals 75 years and older. The reasons for this trend are uncertain. Additionally, the median hospital admission time before death was 6 days.’

Read here (John Hopkins Newsletter, Science, Sept 30, 2020)

The US excess mortality rate from COVID-19 is substantially worse than Europe’s

‘The US has 4% of the world’s population but 21% of the global COVID-19-attributed infections and deaths. This column shows that when comparing excess mortality rates, a more robust way of reporting on pandemic deaths, Europe’s cumulative excess mortality rate from March to July is 28% lower than the US rate, contradicting the Trump administration’s claim that Europe’s rate is 33% higher. The US Northeast – the region most comparable with individual European countries – has experienced substantially worse excess mortality than Europe’s worst-affected countries. Had the US kept its excess mortality rate down to the level in Europe, around 57,800 American lives would have been saved.’

Read here (Vox EU, Sept 29, 2020)

The world after Coronavirus: A Pardee Center video series

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis of unprecedented scale, with aftershocks that will be felt in virtually every aspect of life for years or decades to come. The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at the Pardee School of Global Studies is pleased to present “The World After Coronavirus,” a video series featuring more than 100 interviews with leading experts and practitioners from Boston University and across the world, exploring the challenges and opportunities we will face in our post-coronavirus future.

The series is hosted by Prof. Adil Najam, the Inaugural Dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies and former Director of the Pardee Center. Each episode is around five minutes long, and is an edited version of a slightly longer conversation between Dean Najam and our featured guest.

The entire series is curated on the Pardee Center’s YouTube channel.

• Ban Ki-moon on The Future of the United Nations
• Leon E. Panetta on The Future of Public Service
• Richard N. Haass on The Future of ‘The World’
• Lawrence Lessig on The Future of Expertise
• Fred Swaniker on The Future of Education in Africa
• Nicol Turner Lee on The Future of Technology and Work
• Paul Webster Hare on The Future of Diplomacy
• Michelle A. Williams on The Future of Public Health
• Kara Lavender Law on The Future of the Oceans
• Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz on The Future of the WTO
• Alanna Shaikh on The Future of Global Health
• Barry Hughes on The Future of Disruptions
• Mariette DiChristina on The Future of Science Journalism
• James J. Collins on The Future of Synthetic Biology
• Sharon Goldberg on The Future of Cybersecurity
• Jeffrey D. Sachs on The Future of Global Sustainable Development
• Guy Kawasaki on The Future of Digital Marketing
• Ian Bremmer on The Future of Geopolitics
• Umar Saif on The Future of E-Commerce in the Developing World
• Janine Ferretti on The Future of Environmental Performance
• Judith Butler on The Future of Gender and Identity
• Richard Florida on The Future of Cities
• Martin Rees on The Future of the Future
• Julia Kim on The Future of Happiness
• Jeremy Corbyn on The Future of Politics (and Part 2)
• Ian Goldin on The Future of Globalization
• Judith Butler on The Future of Hope
• Robin Murphy on The Future of Robots
• Thomas Lovejoy on The Future of Nature
• Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve on The Future of the Green Economy
• Mary Evelyn Tucker on The Future of Religion and Ecology
• Mark C. Storella on The Future of Health Diplomacy
• Paul R. Ehrlich on The Future of Population and Extinction
• Adela Pineda on The Future of Literature
• Peter Gleick on The Future of Water
• Ricardo Hausmann on The Future of Tax Policy in Developing Countries
• Ramachandra Guha on The Future of Globalism
• Ann Marie Lipinski on The Future of Journalism
• Peter Frankopan on The Future of the Silk Roads
• Ha-Joon Chang on The Future of Developing Economies
• Alice Ruhweza on The Future of the Food System in Africa
• Elizabeth Economy on The Future of U.S.-China Relations
• Ibram X. Kendi on The Future of Racism
• Peter Maurer on The Future of Humanitarianism
• Jessica Stern on The Future of Extremism
• Angus Deaton on The Future of Despair
• Danielle Citron on The Future of Cyber Civil Rights
• Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on The Future of Human Rights
• Elizabeth M. Mrema on The Future of Biodiversity
• Dani Rodrik on The Future of Global Trade
• Nahid Bhadelia on The Future of Infectious Disease
• Vali Nasr on The Future of the Middle East
• Graham T. Allison on The Future of Thucydides
• Rachel Kyte on The Future of Renewable Energy
• David Miliband on The Future of Refugees
• Vala Afshar on The Future of Digital Business
• Kevin P. Gallagher on The Future of Economic Multilateralism
• Karen H. Antman on The Future of Medicine
• Adm. James G. Stavridis on The Future of the Military
• Thomas Piketty on The Future of Inequality
• Jomo Kwame Sundaram on The Future of Food Security
• Kevin Outterson on The Future of Health Law
• Bill McKibben on The Future of Environmentalism
• Laurie Garrett on The Future of Pandemics
• Malik Dahlan on The Future of Muslim Societies
• Sandro Galea on The Future of Mental Health
• Michael Barber on The Future of Government
• Peter Singer on The Future of Meat
• Phil Baty on The Future of Global Higher Education
• Sunita Narain on The Future of Global Cooperation
• Adil Haider on The Future of Emergency Medicine
• Michael Woldemariam on The Future of Africa
• Lucy Hutyra on The Future of CO2
• David Chard on The Future of Education
• Sakiko Fukuda-Parr on The Future of the SDGs
• Francis Fukuyama on The Future of Democracy
• Mark Blyth on The Future of Growth
• Claudia Juech on The Future of Data Governance
• Tom Tugendhat on The Future of the Nation State
• Rachel Nolan on The Future of Immigration
• Achim Steiner on The Future of International Development
• Michael Kugelman on The Future of South Asia
• Enrico Letta on The Future of the E.U.
• Marcia McNutt on The Future of Science
• Jorge Heine on The Future of Latin America
• Harvey Young on The Future of the Fine Arts
• Kishore Mahbubani on The Future of Asia
• Yolanda Kakabadse on The Future of Sustainable Development
• Atif Mian on The Future of Debt
• Parag Khanna on The Future of Supply Chains
• Noam Chomsky on The Future of Neoliberalism (and Part 2)
• Neta Crawford on The Future of War
• Perry Mehrling on The Future of Money
• Larry Susskind on The Future of Problem Solving in Crises
• Ellen Ruppel Shell on The Future of Work
• Kishore Mahbubani on The Future of World Order & Global Governance
• Saleemul Huq on The Future of Global Climate Policy
• Andrew J. Bacevich on The Future of National Security
• Muhammad Hamid Zaman on The Future of Humanitarian Relief
• Vivien Schmidt on The Future of Europe
• Jon Hutton on The Future of Conservation

Read here (Pardee School of Global Studies, Sept 29, 2020) 

Pandemic to keep Asia's growth at lowest since 1967, warns World Bank

‘The coronavirus pandemic is expected to lead to the slowest growth in more than 50 years in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China, while up to 38 million people are set to be pushed back into poverty, the World Bank said in an economic update on Monday. The bank said the region this year is projected to grow by only 0.9%, the lowest rate since 1967.

‘Growth in China was expected to come in at 2% this year, boosted by government spending, strong exports and a low rate of new coronavirus infections since March, but held back by slow domestic consumption. The rest of the East Asia and Pacific region was projected to see a 3.5% contraction, the World Bank said.’

Read here (Reuters, Sept 29, 2020)

On the futility of contact tracing (in badly-affected countries like the US)

‘Is contact tracing now futile for the COVID-19 epidemic in most of the world? Probably yes. The infection is already too widespread for disease eradication to be feasible in most places. It might be useful in slowing the spread of the epidemic in areas where hospital resources are at risk of congestion. This benefit will come, however, at considerable costs to the privacy rights and civil liberties of traced individuals, often with no public health benefit because of testing errors. Some may argue that these costs are worth paying temporarily if contact tracing really can help slow the spread of the epidemic. But contact tracing creates incentives to avoid testing and may make the epidemic worse. Studies involving contact tracing can provide useful information to help us better understand transmission dynamics—one fascinating study involving contact tracing has clarified the very limited role that children play in disease spread. Apart from this ancillary benefit, contact tracing does not deserve the central place it has received in the tool kit public health authorities use to control COVID-19.’

Read here (Inference, Sept 28, 2020)

Coronavirus deaths pass one million worldwide

‘More than HIV. More than dysentery. More than malaria, influenza, cholera and measles — combined. In the 10 months since a mysterious pneumonia began striking residents of Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide as of Monday — an agonizing toll compiled from official counts, yet one that far understates how many have really died. It may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and unlike all the other contenders, it is still growing fast.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 28, 2020)

Knowing Covid-19 was at their door, family of 8 planned strategy to fight it

‘When Aman Gwjwn, 17, developed a persistent cough and cold in July while on holiday at her grandmother's home in Bangalore, her family of eight went to war, preparing themselves for Covid-19 to sweep through their home. Everyone from a 14-year-old eighth-grade student to a near-octogenarian would go on to be infected. But the Chinese-Indian family slowly won their battle against the disease over the next 1½ months, armed with discipline, composure and logistical planning.

"Our approach was: We'll all surely get it, but we'll all survive it as a family. We just made sure everyone didn't fall sick together, so that some people were healthy enough to take care of the others," said Ms Jennifer Liang, 48, Aman's mother and a social worker in Assam who flew to Bangalore immediately. The Liangs formed what they called "a war council" of decision makers, which included Jennifer's husband Sunil Kaul, a doctor and public health activist in Assam. As Aman isolated herself in her uncle's house nearby, the family set up a WhatsApp group called Covid Planning.’

Read here (Straits Times, Sept 26, 2020) 

Offline: Covid-19 is not a pandemic -- It is a syndemic: Richard Horton

‘The most important consequence of seeing COVID-19 as a syndemic is to underline its social origins. The vulnerability of older citizens; Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities; and key workers who are commonly poorly paid with fewer welfare protections points to a truth so far barely acknowledged—namely, that no matter how effective a treatment or protective a vaccine, the pursuit of a purely biomedical solution to COVID-19 will fail. Unless governments devise policies and programmes to reverse profound disparities, our societies will never be truly COVID-19 secure. 

‘As Singer and colleagues wrote in 2017, “A syndemic approach provides a very different orientation to clinical medicine and public health by showing how an integrated approach to understanding and treating diseases can be far more successful than simply controlling epidemic disease or treating individual patients.” I would add one further advantage. Our societies need hope. The economic crisis that is advancing towards us will not be solved by a drug or a vaccine. Nothing less than national revival is needed. Approaching COVID-19 as a syndemic will invite a larger vision, one encompassing education, employment, housing, food, and environment. Viewing COVID-19 only as a pandemic excludes such a broader but necessary prospectus.’

Read here (The Lancet, Sept 26, 2020)

Countries should meet these five criteria before easing lockdowns, study says. Many aren't even close

‘Countries should not ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions until they meet five criteria -- and many nations are not even close, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet medical journal. The research, published Thursday, said that the prerequisites for easing Covid-19 measures are: knowledge of infection status, community engagement, adequate public health capacity, adequate health system capacity and border controls.

‘The authors looked at nine high-income countries and territories that have started to relax restrictions -- Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK. They found that many governments had failed to meet the criteria necessary to avoid new waves of infection, as seen in Spain, Germany and the UK.’

Read here (CNN, Sept 25, 2020)

Rapid, cheap home tests: Companies attempt to make coronavirus tests widely available

‘Nearly two months after federal regulators unveiled rules for at-home coronavirus tests, no company has federal approval to sell these fast and cheap tests even though the technology is ready.

‘Molecular PCR tests processed at medical labs remain the standard of accurate testing, but they are more expensive and results can take days to process. Antigen tests are less expensive, plentiful and deliver results in minutes. Three companies gained Food and Drug Administration authorization to sell antigen testing instruments to labs or clinics. A fourth company, Abbott Laboratories, won approval to market a $5 rapid, credit card-sized test administered by a health care professional.

‘But no company has been cleared to sell tests directly to consumers for widespread screening – a step some believe is necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, as more than 200,000 Americans have died and people worry about safely returning to work, school, travel or sporting events. “The way to get this under control is if people find out as early as possible they are infected and then quarantine from others,” said Dr. Yukari Manabe, a Johns Hopkins University professor of medicine.’

Read here (USA Today, Sept 25, 2020)

Dogs used to detect coronavirus in pilot project at Helsinki airport

‘Dogs trained to detect the novel coronavirus began sniffing passenger samples at Finland’s Helsinki-Vantaa airport this week, authorities said, in a pilot project running alongside more usual testing at the airport. The dogs’ efficiency has not been proven in comparative scientific studies so passengers who volunteer to be tested and are suspected as carrying the virus are instructed to also take a swab to confirm the result.’

Read here (Reuters, Sept 24, 2020)

Dozens of COVID-19 vaccines are in development. Here are the ones to follow

‘Though it’s too soon to say which candidates will ultimately be successful, here’s a look at the prospects that have reached phase three and beyond—including a quick primer on how they work and where they stand.’

Read here (National Geographic, Sept 24, 2020)

Covid-19 may have a hidden impact on the heart, including that of healthy athletes

‘Last month, several college conferences, the Big Ten and the Pac 12 among them, postponed their sports seasons, including football, citing the risks posed to athletes by the coronavirus. A major factor in those decisions, according to some physicians, was the uncertain implications of a July paper in JAMA Cardiology. In this study of 100 people who had Covid-19, M.R.I.’s showed at least some signs of myocarditis in 60 of them, meaning they had inflammation in the heart muscle, which can weaken the organ and, on rare occasions, lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Another study, published this month in the same journal, looked at 26 Ohio State athletes who experienced Covid-19 with mild or no symptoms and detected evidence of possible myocarditis in five of them and lesser abnormalities in nine more. The condition poses a heightened risk to those whose physical activity puts stress on the heart: Even before the pandemic, myocarditis was a leading cause of death in young, otherwise healthy athletes.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 23, 2020)

UK mulling vaccine trials that deliberately expose volunteers to Covid-19

‘The British government is exploring the possibility of clinical trials in which volunteers are deliberately exposed to coronavirus to test the effectiveness of vaccine candidates, the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) revealed Wednesday in a statement... In so-called "challenge trials," researchers give study subjects an experimental vaccine and then intentionally expose them to coronavirus to see if the vaccine works. Such trials were used in early research with smallpox, yellow fever and malaria.’

Read here (CNN, Sept 23, 2020)

Philippines’ President Duterte extends coronavirus state of calamity for another year

‘Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he has extended a state of calamity in the entire Philippines by a year to allow the government to draw emergency funds faster to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and harness the police and military to maintain law and order. Duterte first placed the country under a state of calamity in March when the number of confirmed infections was approaching 200 with about a dozen deaths. The country now has more than 290,000 confirmed cases, the highest in Southeast Asia, with nearly 5,000 deaths.

‘State of calamity allows officials to draw emergency funds quickly anywhere in the country, and to control the prices of basic commodities like rice and cooking oil. President Duterte also signalled that the country remains at the mercy of a vaccine, which is unlikely to be developed and distributed until the second quarter of 2021.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Sept 22, 2020)

Indonesia: Can Jakarta get its raging Covid-19 outbreak under control?

‘Seven months after Indonesia reported its first cases, the country is struggling with mounting infections. It reported 4,071 new cases on Tuesday, bringing its total to 252,923, with 9,837 fatalities – the highest death toll in Southeast Asia.

‘While other countries have managed to slow the spread of infections with partial lockdowns – only to see a resurgence in cases when they reopened – Indonesia has not yet passed the peak of the first wave, according to Mahesa Paranadipa Maikel, the chairperson of the Indonesia Health Law Society, an industry body of medical workers and legal experts.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Sept 22, 2020)

Can European countries avoid a second lockdown?

"Catastrophic," "disastrous," and "devastating" — the words European leaders are using to describe the consequences of a second lockdown are more than clear. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the spring of this year, public life across Europe was brought almost completely to a halt. In the summer, many places relaxed those restrictions. For weeks now, however, infection rates have been rising in almost every European country. According to the World Health Organization, Europe is registering between 40,000 and 50,000 new coronavirus cases each day. That increase is down to more than just more widespread testing. The numbers from September "should serve as a wake-up call for all of us," said the WHO's regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge. The weekly infection numbers have even exceeded those reported in the first phases of the peak in March, the WHO says.’

Read here (DW, Sept 21, 2020)

Experts warn coronavirus may cause 'wave' of neurological conditions including Parkinson's disease

‘COVID-19 can cause worrying neurological symptoms like a loss of smell and taste, but Australian scientists are warning the damage the virus causes to the brain may also lead to more serious conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

‘It has happened before... Five years after the Spanish flu pandemic in the early 1900s, there was up to a three-fold increase in the incidence of Parkinson's disease. Kevin Barnham from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health said he believed a similar "silent wave" of neurological illness would follow this pandemic. "Parkinson's disease is a complex illness, but one of the causes is inflammation, and the virus helps to drive that inflammation," he said.’

Read here (ABC News, Sept 23, 2020)

Bill Gates: The pandemic has erased years of progress

‘The US had a lot of assets going into this. We weren’t ground zero, so the US had more time to get ready. The US has more PCR [polymerase chain reaction] machines than all other countries per capita. We are very blessed with an expensive medical infrastructure. And we have groups like the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and BARDA [the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority]. So the US had done more to get ready than other countries had in advance...

‘Certainly humility is called for because the damage—whether it’s economic, educational, mental health—is so large. Other than a world war, this is the worst thing that’s happened in over a century. And so we should all say, “Wow, we didn’t understand about masks; we didn’t understand about asymptomatics.” Even the medical profession. We haven’t taken understanding these different respiratory diseases quite as seriously as we should. So everyone has lessons here.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Sept 21, 2020)

The core lesson of the Covid-19 heart debate

‘Autopsies have found traces of the coronavirus’s genetic material in the heart, and actual viral particles within the heart’s muscle cells. Experiments have found that SARS-CoV-2 can destroy lab-grown versions of those cells. Several studies have now shown that roughly 10 to 30 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had high levels of troponin—a protein released into the blood when the heart’s muscle cells are damaged. Such patients are more likely to die than others with no signs of heart injury.

‘This is worrying for people with severe symptoms, but more recently, a few studies suggested that COVID-19 can cause heart inflammation, or myocarditis, even in people who showed mild symptoms, or had recovered. These results were controversial but concerning. Myocarditis is frequently caused by viruses, and resolves on its own in many cases. But it can progress to more severe heart problems, and is one of the leading causes of sudden death in young adults. These studies contributed to decisions by two college football conferences—the Big Ten and the Pac-12—to cancel their fall season. (The Big Ten has since reversed its call, and the Pac-12 is considering doing the same)’

Read here (The Atlantic, Sept 21, 2020)

A Covid-19 vaccine for children may not arrive before Fall 2021

‘The pandemic has many parents asking two burning questions. First, when can I get a vaccine? And second, when can my kids get it? It may come as a surprise that the answers are not the same. Adults may be able to get a vaccine by next summer. But their kids will have to wait longer. Perhaps a lot longer.

‘Thanks to the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed and other programs, a number of Covid-19 vaccines for adults are already in advanced clinical trials. But no trials have yet begun in the United States to determine whether these vaccines are safe and effective for children.’

Read here (New York Times, Sept 21, 2020)