Coronavirus Special Coverage

A collection of news posted throughout the week for those that want signal, not noise.

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Key developments for Thursday, September 24, 2020

The world has over 32.3 million cases.  The world has added 2 million cases since last Thursday and cases have been growing at this rate for weeks. There have been over 986,000 deaths. The US has almost 7.2 million cases and has had over 207,000 deaths. Over 800 Americans have died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. The US has gained over 40,000 new cases since yesterday. India is first in the world for daily case growth, with over 85,000 new cases.

Due to resurgence, England has once again rolled out social distancing restrictions:

We’ve known for a time that the virus impacts megakaryocytes in the bone marrow, sometimes forcing them into circulation and even into thrombi in various organs in those with severe disease. We’ve also found the virus taking a ride on the surface of platelets, and this may be related to megakaryocyte involvement as platelets are produced from the shedding of materials from megakaryocytes. This paper shows that monocytes produced by bone marrow show altered function during COVID-19 infection (during infection the bone marrow is forced to produce too many myeloid cells too fast and the cells don’t function optimally).

China’s failure to address the outbreak in Wuhan with transparency turned an outbreak into a pandemic. The WHO also purportedly ignored warnings from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control that could have helped prevent the extent of global spread, per a scathing report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Global hunger was rising before the pandemic, but the restrictions, economic woes, and supply chain issues caused by the pandemic could worsen hunger risk:

Cases are rising again in Canada.

Face shields don’t work on their own, and computer simulations give some insight into why this is the case. Aerosolized particles go right around the shield and can be inhaled. If you use a face shield, be sure to wear a mask with it.

The FDA has planned more stringent new standards for COVID-19 vaccine Emergency Use Authorizations, some of which can only be cleared by waiting for months (60 day follow up after a second dose, for example).  This means that vaccine approvals occurring in 2020 are much less likely to happen.

COVID-19 monies went to make body armor. 1 billion dollars of Cares Act funds meant to fight the pandemic were frittered away in unrelated projects. Meanwhile, we still haven’t put together the funds for vaccine distribution at scale when vaccines become available.

More cases of reinfections confirmed by genomics have come to light:


  • 1 Comment

    • Hardened

      Re-infection, oh my.

      7 |