Some think the US is gearing up for a strike on Iran. Meanwhile, the US Military is on heightened alert in the Middle East:
Military officials to POLITICO have said that the U.S. military is on heightened alert in the Middle East due to a potential Iranian attack.
— Global: MilitaryInfo (@Global_Mil_Info) December 10, 2020
And Iran is moving military assets around:
Per CNN, #Iran has begun moving defensive military systems to coastal areas, and has increased military readiness. Iran has also sent some ships to sea, including ships used for mine laying, into the Strait of Hormuz. All since the Fakhrizadeh assassination. (ht @Global_Mil_Info)
— Doge (@IntelDoge) December 11, 2020
The world has over 70.6 million cases. The world has added over 5.1 million cases since last Thursday. There have been over 1.5 million deaths in total. The US has over 16 million cases. The US has added over 1.5 million cases since last Thursday. Nearly 300,000 Americans have died. The US has gained over 200,000 new cases since yesterday. The US still leads the world in case growth by far. There have been over 3000 deaths per day in the US for multiple days running:
BREAKING: U.S. reports more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths for second day in a row
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) December 10, 2020
There have been more new COVID cases in Los Angeles County than in all of Italy today:
LA County just broke a record, with more new cases of the coronavirus announced today than ever before in a single day. There were 12,819 new cases announced today.
— Soumya (@skarlamangla) December 11, 2020
Italy reported 12,755 cases, lowest since the recent peak. Its daily death tolls have also dropped one quarter from the peak. Veneto is Italy's current epicenter, and the only province reporting 3k+. pic.twitter.com/XzQf5byMXU
— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) December 11, 2020
Canada approved the Pfizer COVID vaccine yesterday. The FDA has voted favorably on the Pfizer COVID vaccine. Emergency Use Authorization should be granted soon. This is big:
BREAKING: FDA panel recommends approval for the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. – AP
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) December 10, 2020
People with severe enough allergies to need an EpiPen may need to talk with their docs before getting an mRNA vaccine. Two vaccine trial participants with severe allergies had anaphalactoid reactions in the UK after getting the vaccine.
Moderna has begin testing its vaccine on children. This is critical, because it’s going to be many months before we have a vaccine approved for the young:
NEW: Moderna started vaccinating the first children in its COVID-19 vaccine trial
— Norbert Elekes (@NorbertElekes) December 10, 2020
Pandemic-induced financial ruin is resulting in an increase in the shoplifting of food.
China’s Sinopharm vaccine is 86% effective in interim results. It’s the first indication of efficacy numbers on protein based COVID vaccines. It uses inactivated, whole virus. Although it’s not as effective as Pfizer or Moderna it’s still good enough to drive down R and help get the pandemic under control. Hopefully final results will be as good as these interim results.
There are more COVID outbreaks in meat processing plants and more purported attempts at suppression of the information:
Amid a new wave of panic-buying, 3 Foster Farms poultry processing plants in California are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks. The company's PR VP said to "ignore" journalist @chalexhall's questions. 9 workers died + nearly 400 were infected in a prior Foster Farms outbreak. https://t.co/RJphe2Docl
— Garance Burke (@garanceburke) December 10, 2020
We’re still hoping for hundreds of millions to be vaccinated in the US by mid-year 2021, but to get there, we’re going to need the Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines on board as well as the mRNA vaccines.
Metformin is associated with a 21% lower COVID death rate in women. It has the potential for broad use, but it has some unpleasant GI side effects. I know I’d rather have the runs than die on a ventilator, and most would probably agree. Although the mechanism of action isn’t entirely clear, it’s possible that it’s because it has anti-inflammatory effects.
