Coronavirus good Uplifting and hopeful news only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County was in the orange (high) and now it's in the yellow (medium)! This happened yesterday.

https://covidactnow.org/us/md/county/montgomery_county/?s=699115

DC and Fairfax County are also in the yellow. Alexandria City is basically green (low).

[Anonymous]

https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/uh-researchers-develop-coronavirus-killing-air-filter/285-d0783dd4-d32e-4c82-9bd7-a5153cb1a9cc

This is a promising innovation !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/uh-researchers-develop-coronavirus-killing-air-filter/285-d0783dd4-d32e-4c82-9bd7-a5153cb1a9cc

This is a promising innovation !

Wow. That would be a huge game changer if it works, is affordable, and can be quickly rolled out. Actually - even just if it works - the other two elements could fall in line quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great news from the Oxford vaccine team - their vaccine is producing both an antibody and a T-cell immune response!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/15/coronavirus-vaccine-breakthrough-oxford-scientists-discover/

This is wonderful! Thank you.

Can you give us the details? Paywall.

Basically -

- There are promising therapeutics being developed with antibodies - can prevent the virus from replicating in the body when given early - this could be key for high risk populations like health care workers

- Vaccine development is going well

- We know that masks work and more people are on board with wearing them

- There is some evidence that a percent of the population is immune to this virus based on exposure to other coronaviruses in their liftetime. This is great news.

[Anonymous]

I think it's good news that we are seeing a large increase in number of cases NOW as opposed to during the fall. There is a decent chance that deaths won't materialize. Right now people are paying attention to the news about the high number of cases. However, they will eventually tire of this especially if they know few people or no one who is critically ill/dying. There are a large number of asymptomatic carriers.

[Anonymous]

Masks work.

[Anonymous]

More good news about the vaccine being developed by the Oxford team: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/oxford-vaccine-early-trials-suggest-double-protection-from-coronavirus/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's good news that we are seeing a large increase in number of cases NOW as opposed to during the fall. There is a decent chance that deaths won't materialize. Right now people are paying attention to the news about the high number of cases. However, they will eventually tire of this especially if they know few people or no one who is critically ill/dying. There are a large number of asymptomatic carriers.

I'm not coming here to be a Debbie Downer because that is not the point of the thread but please don't spread this idea. Deaths are increasing quite a bit, not decreasing, and they will continue to increase. Hospitalizations are also increasing. Will it be as bad as NYC at the peak? Hopefully not, especially now that we know more about the virus. But there will absolutely be increasing deaths over the next couple of months. It's wishful thinking to think otherwise.

I will, however, share this interesting post from Science about T-Cell response that looks incredibly promising for immunity:

"T-cell driven immunity is perhaps the way to reconcile the apparent paradox between (1) antibody responses that seem to be dropping week by week in convalescent patients but (2) few (if any) reliable reports of actual re-infection. That would be good news indeed."

and

"...here has been past zoonotic coronavirus transmission in humans, unknown viruses that apparently did not lead to serious disease, which have provided some people with a level of T-cell based protection to the current pandemic. This could potentially help to resolve another gap in our knowledge, as mentioned in that recent post: when antibody surveys come back saying that (say) 95% of a given population does not appear to have been exposed to the current virus, does that mean that all 95% of them are vulnerable – or not? I’ll reiterate the point of that post here: antibody profiling (while very important) is not the whole story, and we need to know what we’re missing."

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/07/15/new-data-on-t-cells-and-the-coronavirus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's good news that we are seeing a large increase in number of cases NOW as opposed to during the fall. There is a decent chance that deaths won't materialize. Right now people are paying attention to the news about the high number of cases. However, they will eventually tire of this especially if they know few people or no one who is critically ill/dying. There are a large number of asymptomatic carriers.

I'm not coming here to be a Debbie Downer because that is not the point of the thread but please don't spread this idea. Deaths are increasing quite a bit, not decreasing, and they will continue to increase. Hospitalizations are also increasing. Will it be as bad as NYC at the peak? Hopefully not, especially now that we know more about the virus. But there will absolutely be increasing deaths over the next couple of months. It's wishful thinking to think otherwise.

I will, however, share this interesting post from Science about T-Cell response that looks incredibly promising for immunity:

"T-cell driven immunity is perhaps the way to reconcile the apparent paradox between (1) antibody responses that seem to be dropping week by week in convalescent patients but (2) few (if any) reliable reports of actual re-infection. That would be good news indeed."

and

"...here has been past zoonotic coronavirus transmission in humans, unknown viruses that apparently did not lead to serious disease, which have provided some people with a level of T-cell based protection to the current pandemic. This could potentially help to resolve another gap in our knowledge, as mentioned in that recent post: when antibody surveys come back saying that (say) 95% of a given population does not appear to have been exposed to the current virus, does that mean that all 95% of them are vulnerable – or not? I’ll reiterate the point of that post here: antibody profiling (while very important) is not the whole story, and we need to know what we’re missing."

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/07/15/new-data-on-t-cells-and-the-coronavirus

PP here. I didn't mean there won't be an increase in deaths. Instead, I meant that the increase in deaths won't be the same percentage as the increase in cases. From watching the news, it's very "sky is falling" for states like Arizona and Florida. My hope is that these states don't experience what NY did in regards to deaths.

[Anonymous]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/early-covid-19-vaccine-results-look-really-encouraging-says-nih-boss-dr-francis-collins/ar-BB16PTJl?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

In a conversation this week with TIME national health correspondent Alice Park (as part of the TIME 100 Talks: Finding Hope), Collins said he shares Fauci’s “cautious optimism” that a vaccine could be available by the end of the year. “The Phase I data…looks really encouraging that these are vaccines that generate strong antibody responses,” he said, referring to the first of what are typically three trials in vaccine development, wherein a small number of people receive a trial treatment.

[Anonymous]

Here's a silver lining I just thought of: the spikes in case rates means that all the potential vaccines and therepeutic drugs have a MUCH bigger pool for clinical trials. I remember that Gilead had trouble doing its Remdesivir trials in China in the spring because case loads had plummeted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a silver lining I just thought of: the spikes in case rates means that all the potential vaccines and therepeutic drugs have a MUCH bigger pool for clinical trials. I remember that Gilead had trouble doing its Remdesivir trials in China in the spring because case loads had plummeted.

The same was in the U.K. right?

PP I like how you found a positive in this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a silver lining I just thought of: the spikes in case rates means that all the potential vaccines and therepeutic drugs have a MUCH bigger pool for clinical trials. I remember that Gilead had trouble doing its Remdesivir trials in China in the spring because case loads had plummeted.

You're right! That was mentioned on Doctor Radio last night.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/14/need-some-good-news-about-covid-19-here-are-six-reasons-optimism/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0_z-VFj30FN84u_tZkHujEQ447T30hxZriB73xo6m5ml7vIceqb4WKvM8

"Need some good news about covid-19? Here are six reasons for optimism."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/14/need-some-good-news-about-covid-19-here-are-six-reasons-optimism/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0_z-VFj30FN84u_tZkHujEQ447T30hxZriB73xo6m5ml7vIceqb4WKvM8

"Need some good news about covid-19? Here are six reasons for optimism."

Rapid, low-cost saliva tests are also coming, and, as my colleague Michael Mina and Laurence J. Kotlikoff recently pointed out, they are a game-changer. Why? These are like home pregnancy tests but for covid-19. Imagine a test you could take at home every day, that gives you an answer in a few minutes after spitting into a vial and costs only $1 to $5.