Covid 19 CRISIS

Will be interesting to see results for the next version/booster shots, when ever they appear.
 
vaccine updates are easy
This, x1000 for the mRNA stuff.
Let's go back in time: In January 2020 the virus genes were first sequenced. In April the first clinical trials with what is now known as Biontech/Pfizer/Comirnaty/Tozinameran vaccine were underway... that's three months. Changing a few lines of the vaccine programming (yes, it's a programmed vaccine that then gets printed... https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/) to adapt to a slightly different virus won't take as long, and the subsequent trials should be simpler too.
 
Will be interesting to see results for the next version/booster shots, when ever they appear.
Moderna results are available. Basically, even with an unmodified third shot, antibody levels go off the scale (a phenomenon know for example from the HPV vaccine, which also has a three shot schedule), and with a booster that is designed with the E484K mutation in mind, they work even better.

All this keeping in mind that data from Quatar says the mRNA vaccines hold up better(!) against the variants under real-world conditions than in pseudovirus antibody assays in a lab.
 
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The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill​

All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences.
 

Paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection – Building ventilation systems must get much better​




Scientists call for sweeping change in building design to reduce airborne diseases like COVID-19​



How the Coronavirus Spreads: Biggest Threats Are in Air, Not on Surfaces​

 
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What I find interesting is that many Europeans claim that the cold air from AC everywhere immediately would give them a cold when visiting the US.
I think the more realistic scenario lies in cold virus aerosoles being circulated like crazy, and Europeans probably don't have readily available antibodies to kick off the US strains.
 
What I find interesting is that many Europeans claim that the cold air from AC everywhere immediately would give them a cold when visiting the US.

I've heard this so many times about AC in cars too, back when it started to become a thing here in the mid 00's or so. Now the car is basically worth scrap value if the AC doesn't work. :p
 
What about having buildings that can let air in and increase its circulation by manually operating a simple mechanism to progressively adjust the postition of one or more metal-framed glass panels along the outer walls of the building itself?
 
What about having buildings that can let air in and increase its circulation by manually operating a simple mechanism to progressibely adjust the postition of one or more metal-framed glass panels along the outer walls of the building itself?

Compared to modern technology that makes sure the building stays at livable temperature all year round, your invention sounds very crude.
 
What about having buildings that can let air in and increase its circulation by manually operating a simple mechanism to progressively adjust the postition of one or more metal-framed glass panels along the outer walls of the building itself?
That might work as long as what’s outside isn’t worse than what is inside. I certainly wouldn’t want such a mechanism in Delhi during stubble burning season, for example.
 
Compared to modern technology that makes sure the building stays at livable temperature all year round, your invention sounds very crude.
Yeah, but for the most part of the year, at almost zero energy it allows to regulate the internal temperature, circulate the air, balance the amount of oxigen and CO2, clean the air of internal pollutant, balance the internal pressure with the outside one.

Granted, it is not advisable for it to be the only mean of air and temperature control in a building, but in case of necessity, it could ultimately work in that sense as well, even during power-outings.

How many sealed buildings can offer the same level of resiliency and reliability?

That might work as long as what’s outside isn’t worse than what is inside. I certainly wouldn’t want such a mechanism in Delhi during stubble burning season, for example.
I agree. Though I think that if you focus on smaller differences in air circulation systems for buildings rather than on the bigger problem of the ourside air, you are basically focusing on blowing out a match during a forest fire.
 
Yeah, but for the most part of the year, at almost zero energy it allows to regulate the internal temperature, circulate the air, balance the amount of oxigen and CO2, clean the air of internal pollutant, balance the internal pressure with the outside one.

Granted, it is not advisable for it to be the only mean of air and temperature control in a building, but in case of necessity, it could ultimately work in that sense as well, even during power-outings.

How many sealed buildings can offer the same level of resiliency and reliability?


I agree. Though I think that if you focus on smaller differences in air circulation systems for buildings rather than on the bigger problem of the ourside air, you are basically focusing on blowing out a match during a forest fire.

Sealed buildings probably a ventilation system of some sort.

Probably be more emphasis on filtration, air changes and more tailored air flows.
 
Yeah, but for the most part of the year, at almost zero energy it allows to regulate the internal temperature, circulate the air, balance the amount of oxigen and CO2, clean the air of internal pollutant, balance the internal pressure with the outside one.
Zero energy is far from reality in places where the outside is hot or cold. Venting air without a heat exchanger is a massive waste of energy, either for cooling or heating.
 
Zero energy is far from reality in places where the outside is hot or cold. Venting air without a heat exchanger is a massive waste of energy, either for cooling or heating.

And you'd be fooling yourself if you thought companies who have money would do this in manufacturing. Instead, they will have all of the exhaust fans in the world with no means of air replacement. So you put the building under a vacuum which wreaks havoc on any fuel combustion equipment. When the exhaust for the machine is to the outside atmosphere, you're now fighting against air that wants to come in through your building penetration, the exhaust stack. What do you think happens when this particular opening to the outside has no resistence? It's a problem I find across the country in companies big and small, nobody gets it or actually, wants to spend the money to fix it. Especially people in the North because that means you're heating it for half the year or keeping the make up air flaps shut for the winter ruining the whole point.
 
And you'd be fooling yourself if you thought companies who have money would do this in manufacturing. Instead, they will have all of the exhaust fans in the world with no means of air replacement. So you put the building under a vacuum which wreaks havoc on any fuel combustion equipment. When the exhaust for the machine is to the outside atmosphere, you're now fighting against air that wants to come in through your building penetration, the exhaust stack. What do you think happens when this particular opening to the outside has no resistence? It's a problem I find across the country in companies big and small, nobody gets it or actually, wants to spend the money to fix it. Especially people in the North because that means you're heating it for half the year or keeping the make up air flaps shut for the winter ruining the whole point.


I hate to be the one to break this to you, but burning stuff will be going away. There is also a way to overcome the ignorance, hire someone that knows what they are doing.
 
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but burning stuff will be going away. There is also a way to overcome the ignorance, hire someone that knows what they are doing.

Good fucking luck.

more off topic funness, I’ve actually been trying for a good 8 years to convince a guy I regularly visit at a place on the west side of Chicago to replace this broken down oven he’s had from a defunct Austrian company. Nope, he still has it because we can fix some of the problems as they’re mostly related to my equipment. You’re not supposed to hose down electronics, but they do. He even has two electric ovens in storage. He won’t take the time to replace them.
 
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More data!
Nature said:
For their experiments, Suthar and his team used B.1.617.1 itself, making their assay a ‘gold standard’ test for vaccine efficacy. The researchers combined the virus with antibody-laden blood serum from people who had received either the Pfizer vaccine or that made by Moderna of Cambridge, Massachusetts, both based on mRNA. This allowed the team to study how well antibodies induced by vaccination could ‘neutralize’ the virus, or block it from infecting cells.

The team’s data show that antibodies generated by vaccination are seven times less effective at blocking B.1.617.1 than at neutralizing the coronavirus strain that circulated early in the pandemic. But antibodies from all 25 vaccinated people were able to neutralize B.1.617.1 to some extent.
While "seven times less effective" sounds like a lot, it's less of an impact than with the South African variant.

It is also important to keep in mind that the variant wreaking havoc in England currently is B.1.617.2, which does not have any immune escape mutations, but is "only" more transmissible.

EDIT: I also like how the Brits don't give a damn about confidentiality or privacy and report that the 17 people hospitalized with Indian covid not only were unvaccinated, but refused to get a shot when offered.
 
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We got another stern warning from a GP's spokesperson that come June, there will be "even less vaccine available for first shots than before".
At the same time, delivery to GPs will rise from 1.5 Million a week to 4 Million. Which means that there should be vaccine left for 2.5 million first shots a week, a million more than before.

So, is he flat out lying in the evening news?

Yes and no!

This is another case of German interest group lobbying. In addition to GPs who bill to universal healthcare (who he speaks for), private practices and company medics will join the vaccination effort from June onwards. As you can imagine, giving 50K vaccine doses to German Rail or VW company doctors to mass process the staff of whole plants is an incredible efficient way to vaccinate the workforce quickly.
But it also means 2.5 million doses per week are shared across more vaccination sites than the 1.5 million doses before, taking hundreds of thousands of doses away from GPs, so each individual GP may end up with less first shots than in May, when only GPs were vaccinating. And at 20€ billed per shot, that's lot of lost revenue - so the PR machine goes in fear and doom mode.

EDIT: A doctor working in a vaccination center makes 70€ per hours, so 560€ in an eight-hour shift. While this sounds like a quite good daily rate, my GP administered 42 vaccine doses within 90 minutes last week. That's roughly 560€ an hour.
 
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