Covid-19 the second wave.

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I'm probably being very naive (and definitely not scientific, which pains me) but isn't there a decent chance the virus would mutate or naturally select to become less harmful over time? It's not in a virus's best interest to kill its host, so wouldn't less lethal infections tend to become more successful?

Again, give me science to contradict this by all means!
I believe it is a slower mutator but some believe it is getting weaker (again some scientists opinions and others think differently)

I know this is a small statisic but my wife/ex is a band 7 nurse at Rugby St Cross and sometimes she has the bleep so effiecitvely is the sister managing teh hopsital co-ordination.. she said they haven't had covid patients for ages in the whole hospital. For teh trust they tend to send them to the Larger super hospital in Coventry but still numbers are pretty low atm.

WIll have to see I think hope herd immunity and a vaccine if it ever comes will get us there.

I am quietly optomistic we will get there eventually.
 
Read some stuff from Catalonia about how cases are thought he roof but hospital admissions have stayed flat.

It could be that masks, distancing and an aware population are enough to reduce the viral load enough to avoid mass hospitalizations?

Perhaps that's the correct route towards something approaching herd immunity?
I'm probably being very naive (and definitely not scientific, which pains me) but isn't there a decent chance the virus would mutate or naturally select to become less harmful over time? It's not in a virus's best interest to kill its host, so wouldn't less lethal infections tend to become more successful?

Again, give me science to contradict this by all means!
Both very plausible explanations.

I'm thinking the increased rates of infection with not so many serious cases may well be down to the more vulnerable keeping well out of the way and infection rates high in younger fitter people who are not being careful but who can handle it better.

I don't think anyone really knows what's happening.

It's here and amongst us and it is not going to magically go away, I doubt there will be any vaccine anytime soon, I guess we're all going to take our turn with it sooner or later.
 
Trials of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will resume after it was paused due to a reported side effect in a patient in the UK.

On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said the studies were being paused while it investigated whether the reported side effect was connected with the vaccine.

But on Saturday, Oxford University said it had been deemed safe to continue.

The vaccine is seen as a strong contender among dozens being developed.

Oxford University said in a statement that it was "expected" that "some participants will become unwell" in large trials like this one.

The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, echoed this view, telling a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday what had happened in the Oxford trial was not unusual.

The university added that the studies could now resume following the recommendations of an independent safety review committee and the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Oxford University said it would not disclose information about the patient's illness due to confidentiality reasons, but the New York Times reported that a volunteer in the UK trial had been diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and can be caused by viral infections.

Hopes have been high that the vaccine might be one of the first to come on the market, following successful phase 1 and 2 testing.

Its move to Phase 3 testing in recent weeks has involved some 30,000 participants in the US as well as in the UK, Brazil and South Africa. Phase 3 trials in vaccines often involve thousands of participants and can last several years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says nearly 180 vaccine candidates are being tested around the world but none has yet completed clinical trials.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants a vaccine available in the US before 3 November's election, but his comments have raised fears that politics may be prioritised over safety in the rush for a vaccine.

But the WHO's chief scientist has said that countries must not start "cutting corners" in the race to develop a vaccine.

"Just because we talk about speed and scale doesn't mean we start compromising or cutting corners on what would normally be assessed," Dr Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday.

"The process still has to follow through rules of the game. For drugs and vaccines which are given to people, you have to test their safety, first and foremost," she said.

Full article - Oxford University to resume Covid-19 vaccine trial
 
Trials of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will resume after it was paused due to a reported side effect in a patient in the UK.

On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said the studies were being paused while it investigated whether the reported side effect was connected with the vaccine.

But on Saturday, Oxford University said it had been deemed safe to continue.

The vaccine is seen as a strong contender among dozens being developed.

Oxford University said in a statement that it was "expected" that "some participants will become unwell" in large trials like this one.

The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, echoed this view, telling a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday what had happened in the Oxford trial was not unusual.

The university added that the studies could now resume following the recommendations of an independent safety review committee and the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Oxford University said it would not disclose information about the patient's illness due to confidentiality reasons, but the New York Times reported that a volunteer in the UK trial had been diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and can be caused by viral infections.

Hopes have been high that the vaccine might be one of the first to come on the market, following successful phase 1 and 2 testing.

Its move to Phase 3 testing in recent weeks has involved some 30,000 participants in the US as well as in the UK, Brazil and South Africa. Phase 3 trials in vaccines often involve thousands of participants and can last several years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says nearly 180 vaccine candidates are being tested around the world but none has yet completed clinical trials.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants a vaccine available in the US before 3 November's election, but his comments have raised fears that politics may be prioritised over safety in the rush for a vaccine.

But the WHO's chief scientist has said that countries must not start "cutting corners" in the race to develop a vaccine.

"Just because we talk about speed and scale doesn't mean we start compromising or cutting corners on what would normally be assessed," Dr Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday.

"The process still has to follow through rules of the game. For drugs and vaccines which are given to people, you have to test their safety, first and foremost," she said.

Full article - Oxford University to resume Covid-19 vaccine trial
The really unusual thing with the COVID vaccines is that they get such huge amounts of press coverage. I remember reading that vaccine trials being stopped temporarily to investigate a potential side affect is actually incredible common, it’s just that normally no one outside the people running the trial actually know or care.

I actually find it reassuring that issues like this are coming up as it at least suggests that they truly are trying to run full and proper trials. I do admit that there is some concern that approval on a vaccine may be rushed through for political reasons, but on balance if a vaccine passes phase three trials I would be comfortable getting it.
 
Bill Gates is behind oxidised beer.... discuss
well someone is why not Bill? ;)

It says on my 'oxygen scavenging' caps sanitise before use - fair enough - but it also says that wetting the cap activates scavenging - sooooooo when I star san the cap its activated before I can cap the bottle - if I starsaned 60 caps would that remove so much oxygen from the air that I suffocate. This oxygen scavenging sounds dangerous to me ashock1
 
I'm thinking the increased rates of infection with not so many serious cases may well be down to the more vulnerable keeping well out of the way and infection rates high in younger fitter people who are not being careful but who can handle it better.

An Oxford epidemiologist thinks that we are dealing with a seasonal illness rather than a pandemic the difference being that the former infects the weaker or older people while the latter infects younger people first. This implies that whoever called for this to be a pandemic must carry the blame for everyone adopting completely the wrong protocol.
 
I'm probably being very naive (and definitely not scientific, which pains me) but isn't there a decent chance the virus would mutate or naturally select to become less harmful over time? It's not in a virus's best interest to kill its host, so wouldn't less lethal infections tend to become more successful?

Again, give me science to contradict this by all means!
The virus is not very deadly, barely more than flu, and any mutation to mutate for this reason would take a long time.
 
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54135551
 
A man has been fined £10,000 for hosting a large house party in Nottingham.

The 19-year-old was issued with the fixed penalty notice after he allowed more than 50 people into his home on Harlaxton Drive, in Lenton, on Friday.

Nottinghamshire Police said it used its full powers to deal with the "reckless" organiser who "deliberately flouted" the rules after an initial warning.

The new "rule of six" coronavirus restrictions come into force on Monday.

The tighter laws limit gatherings to six people indoors and outdoors in England.

People have been warned not to treat this weekend as a "party" after one scientist warned the UK was "on the edge of losing control" of the virus.

Nottinghamshire Police said officers attended the house party after Nottingham City Council officers were met with "hostility from the organiser" at 22:20 BST.

About 50 people were found at the address, who were all ordered to leave, and the host was issued with the fine, it added.

Ass Ch Con Steve Cooper said: "This party was a clear example of a householder who deliberately flouted the rules without a care for anyone else and as a result we have used the full powers we have to deal with this.

"Under current rules we can issue fines to anyone hosting gatherings of more than 30 people which can result in fines of up to £10,000. And now we are on the eve of rules becoming even tighter so there can be gatherings of no more than six."
 
JD Wetherspoon has said that 66 of its workers have tested positive for the coronavirus but maintains that visiting pubs is safe.

The company, which employs more than 41,000 people, said the vast majority of its pubs had recorded no positive tests for the virus.

There had been one or more cases among staff at 50 of its pubs.

Wetherspoon's boss Tim Martin dismissed claims by disease expert Professor Hugh Pennington that pubs are "dangerous".

He said: "The situation with regard to pubs has been widely misunderstood."

Aberdeen University's Prof Pennington said last month that pubs are "far, far more dangerous places to be" when discussing sending children back to school during the pandemic.

Since reopening on 4 July, the company said some 32 million people have visited its 861 open pubs

Forty of its pubs have reported one worker testing positive for the coronavirus and six have disclosed two.

In addition, two pubs reported three staff testing positive and another two said four workers had.

Wetherspoon said 28 of the affected employees had returned to work. A spokesman for the company said the workers, as well as those who worked in close proximity to them, self-isolated for 14 days and were paid in full.

The chain said signing up to the NHS track-and-trace system was mandatory in its premises.

Mr Martin said there was no list of the pubs that had been affected. "Whenever there has been a situation we have dealt with the local press, public health and the council," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54144130
 
I won't be going to a pub anytime soon, least of all a spoons. Got an email from my 5 a side football team last night about starting up again (asking for views on amongst other things inside or outside pitches). I'm desperate to start playing again but I don't think I will....
 
I've been following the discussion here for a while, haven't commented as I'm still weighing all the info. I would be interested to hear what folks make of this doctor's analysis of the situation (about 30 minutes long):

(Edit: he isn't a doctor, as was told to me, but a biochemical engineer who got into wholistic medicine after having liver problems)

 
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A boss at our firm got Covid and was off for weeks he still suffers symptoms but not as bad as the people in the BBC article below.


Coronavirus patient unable to work six months on -

A woman has said she is worried she will "never get back to my normal self" months after catching coronavirus.

Jade Townsend, 22, was active and sociable before spending just one night in hospital after contracting Covid-19.

But she said she can no longer work and suffers chronic fatigue, fevers, nausea and a fluctuating fast heart rate.

Researchers studying long-term effects of the virus said they hoped to prevent a "cycle of illness where the symptoms continue".

Many coronavirus patients have reported debilitating symptoms continuing months after falling ill, which can include breathlessness, chronic fatigue and brain fog.

Dr Rachael Evans, from the University of Leicester, has worked on a UK-wide investigation into the long-term effects of Covid-19 for patients admitted to hospital.

"I've been a qualified doctor in the NHS for 23 years and I've not seen anything like it in respiratory medicine," she said.

"At the moment it is just so unknown... we're still very much at the point where we're learning what the after-effects are."

Dr Evans said understanding "long Covid" should ease future strains on healthcare services and wider society.

"If people are left to deal with it themselves there can often become a real cycle of illness where the symptoms continue," she added.

Five weeks after catching the illness in mid-March, Ms Townsend, from Witney in Oxfordshire, was taken to hospital with a high fever and difficulties breathing.

Five months later, she has had to give up her job at a nursery and said she "can't imagine" resuming her social life.

"I'm now nearly needing more hours of sleep than time awake," said Ms Townsend.
"It worries me at 22 I'll be stuck with some of these symptoms and I won't ever be able to get back to my normal self."

Dr Evans's study aims to recruit 10,000 people to assess their physical function and mental health, also taking samples to analyse their genes and immune system.
 
I've been following the discussion here for a while, haven't commented as I'm still weighing all the info. I would be interested to hear what folks make of this doctor's analysis of the situation (about 30 minutes long):

He has some good points but, he cherry pics data to much.
Where hes wrong:
Lockdowns do have an effect, if something spreads from person to person limiting person to person contact will reduce it. If lockdowns were needed everywhere is debatable but he doesn't mention anything about hospitals being overwhelmed in Italy or Spain.
In many cases he says there is no evidence X helps then claims it definitely doesn't when evidence may be inconclusive, so he may not be wrong but claims non evidence to make the reverse a fact.
Where I agree:
Sweden is looking more and more like it got its approach right and though the UK is far to different to have done the same Ireland and parts of the UK could have..
I was going to write more but need to get a few things done, thanks for sharing.
 
Circuit break.

You'll be sick of hearing that by the end of the day.

The death rate is doubling every seven days so circuit breaks are to be put in place.


BBC News.

New England-wide measures which could see hospitality businesses forced to shut are being considered by the UK government to try to slow a second surge of coronavirus cases.

A short period of national rules - a "circuit break" of a few weeks - could be announced in the next week, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said.

Schools and most workplaces would be kept open during those weeks.

But no final decisions have yet been reached on the next course of action.

At a meeting on Wednesday night, the government's chief scientific adviser and medical officer predicted another serious outbreak of the disease.

They forecast that there would be a significant number of deaths by the end of October if there were no further interventions.

The possible measures being discussed include asking some hospitality businesses to close, or limiting the opening hours of some pubs and restaurants nationwide.

The virus is now understood to be doubling every seven to eight days, with more than 3,300 new cases reported on Thursday.
 
he doesn't mention anything about hospitals being overwhelmed in Italy or Spain.
In Italy, hospitals only were under pressure in a very limited geographic area. Not really a pandemic. In places further south eg Rome total deaths actually fell, although, the thesis that epidemics develop differently in warmer and cooler regions would explain the way it is spreading in Italy.


In many cases he says there is no evidence X helps then claims it definitely doesn't when evidence may be inconclusive, so he may not be wrong but claims non evidence to make the reverse a fact.
That is not a non sequitur. Do masks help? The only reason we adopted them was because this disease supposedly came from China and the Chinese have been going around in masks for decades because of pollution.

Sweden is looking more and more like it got its approach right and though the UK is far to different to have done the same Ireland and parts of the UK could have..

Not entirely. As a seasonal illness they should have protected the vulnerable but didn't.
 
I received a letter on Friday, inviting me to take part in a Covid antibody study, run by NHS & UCL. I had a bug last christmas, which just gave me a cough for a couple of weeks, but didn't feel like a normal cold. I doubt it could have been Covid, but would be interested to find out for sure.
I received my test kit earlier this week and conducted it that day. It consisted of a plastic block, where you put a drop of blood in one hole and a couple of drops of solvent in another. You wait 10 minutes for a line to change colour and observe whether any of two other lines appear, indicating the presence of the shortlived IgM antibodies, ot the longer lasting IgG ones. Mine came up as negative, I had to fill in an online survey, on health, lifestyle etc. and attach a photo of the test, about 15 minutes in total.
 
Me and the Mrs had to drive down to Haverfordwest on Tuesday for the drive through test. Day 3 today and still waiting for the results. Have to say I could have done without the 40 mile round trip - totally wiped me out.
Only got some of the symptoms but the Mrs is a care worker - started getting ill while she was doing an overnighter with a 95 year old...

Just got the results back. Both negative.
 
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