COVID-19 Up

2021-02-22 22:14:10 People Who Wear Glasses Are Up to Three Times Less Likely to Catch SARS-CoV-2, Study Suggests

@COVID19Up: People who wear glasses could be up to three times less likely to be infected by SARS-CoV-2, a study from India has suggested.

One way the virus can enter the body is by people touching their eyes, nose or mouth after coming into contact with it. However, researchers in India say people who wear glasses rub their eyes less and are therefore at less risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2.

In a non-peer reviewed study published on the website medRxiv, the researchers studied 304 people (223 male and 81 female) at a hospital in northern India over two weeks last summer. The patients were aged between 10 and 80 and had all reported COVID-19 symptoms. Of those, 19% said they wore glasses most of the time.

The researchers found participants touched their face up to 23 times each hour on average and their eyes an average of three times per hour. They found the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 was two to three times lower among those who wear glasses.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-21 14:21:50 WHO's Tedros Says He Still Has No Details From Tanzania on Its COVID-19 Response

@COVID19Up: The WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Sunday the organization has yet to receive any information from Tanzania on what measures it is taking to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

“This situation remains very concerning. I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases and share data,” Tedros said in a statement on WHO’s website.

Tedros said that in late January he had joined Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa head, in urging Tanzania to scale public health measures against COVID-19 and prepare to distribute vaccines. “I also encouraged the sharing of data in light of reports of COVID-19 cases among travellers,” he said.

The government stopped reporting data on new coronavirus infections and deaths in May last year when it had registered 509 cases and 21 fatalities.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-21 04:24:50 Israeli-Made Nasal Spray Reduced SARS-CoV-2 Infection at Mass Gathering

@COVID19Up: A nasal spray may have reduced coronavirus infection rates at a mass gathering during Rosh Hashanah in the highly endemic community of Bnei Brak, according to new, preliminary research.

Some 83 members of an ultra-Orthodox synagogue in Bnei Brak used the nasal spray 'Traffix' during Rosh Hashanah services, and after two weeks, 2.4% of Traffix users were infected with the coronavirus while 10% of non-users were infected with the coronavirus.

The odds ratio for coronavirus infection in Traffix users was reduced by 78%.

The results led the researchers to recommend the use of Traffix in addition to other precautionary measures. No side effects were reported among users.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-21 03:56:49 Greater Toronto Hospitals Warn Parents: Mild Symptoms Mean a Strong Likelihood of COVID-19

@COVID19Up: Doctors at hospitals in Greater Toronto are warning parents that a child with a single symptom, including a fever or runny nose, should be tested for SARS-CoV-2 and stay home while awaiting results, even if the symptom resolves quickly.

With few common viruses circulating this winter, doctors say parents need to consider that any symptom—including those that are mild and only linger a day—could be COVID-19.

“Parents need to be vigilant about getting their children tested,” said Dr. Jane Healey, a pediatrician at Trillium Health Partners.

“Because we are seeing far fewer of the usual viruses that cause symptoms in children … you have to assume that it’s COVID until you can prove it isn’t. And the only way to that is to get your child tested.”
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-21 03:42:01 Skateboarding Superstar Charged With Hosting COVID-19 Party in L.A.

@COVID19Up: A skateboarding superstar is among five people Los Angeles prosecutors have charged with organizing parties that were possible superspreader events at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nyjah Huston, a four-time world skateboarding champion, and Edward Essa, the owner of a home in the Fairfax District where authorities say parties have been repeatedly shut down by police since last fall, are among those charged.

After the latest party last month, Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered the L.A. Department of Water and Power to cut off electric service to the home in the 800 block of North Curson Avenue. Huston and Essa are both charged with creating a nuisance, a misdemeanor.

Three other people face similar charges in unrelated cases, allegedly involving a secret New Year’s Eve banquet in downtown L.A. and frequent gatherings behind covered windows at another Fairfax nightspot.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-20 05:34:51 U.S. Extends Travel Restrictions at Land Borders With Canada, Mexico Through March 21

@COVID19Up: U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least March 21, the one-year anniversary of the restrictions to address SARS-CoV-2 transmission concerns, the U.S. government said Friday.

The new 30-day extension is the first announced under President Joe Biden and comes as the White House has been holding meetings about potentially tightening requirements for crossing at U.S. land borders in North America, officials said.

Canada has shown little interest in lifting the restrictions and recently imposed new SARS-CoV-2 testing requirements for some Canadians returning by land crossings.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-20 04:54:51 Johns Hopkins Doctor Predicts COVID-19 "Will Be Mostly Gone by April"

@COVID19Up: A Johns Hopkins doctor believes that COVID-19 will be “mostly gone” two months from now.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Dr. Marty Makary—a surgeon and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health—argues that there are actually many more than the 28 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., possibly as much as 6.5 times more than that number. Between that group, and the roughly 15% of the country which has already received one dose of the vaccine, Makary argues that much of the nation is already protected from the virus.

“There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of infection,” Makary wrote. “As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected. At the current trajectory, I expect Covid will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.”
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-20 04:24:51 Angela Merkel: COVID-19 Pandemic Won't End Until Every Person in the World is Vaccinated

@COVID19Up: Germany and other wealthy countries may need to give some of their own stock of vaccines to developing countries in addition to money, since only vaccinating the whole world will end the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.

Speaking after a video conference of leaders of the G7 group of large developed economies, Merkel said they had not discussed specific percentages of their vaccine stocks that should be given to poorer countries.

But she told journalists: “I stressed in my intervention that the pandemic is not over until all people in the world have been vaccinated.”
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-20 03:39:51 Experts: Yes, You Should Still Wear a Mask After COVID-19 Vaccination

@COVID19Up: Experts don’t yet know if COVID-19 vaccines prevent the virus’ spread—and it may take months to find out.

In the meantime, health experts recommend vaccinated people continue to adhere to current mask and social distancing practices.

“You’re self-protected, but you still could be a danger to other people, especially if you start using behavioral disinhibition, saying, ‘I'm vaccinated, I'm invulnerable’,” said Larry Corey, co-director of the COVID-19 Prevention Network. “You could acquire Covid and it will be silent, and then you can infect a bunch of people who are not as lucky as you to be vaccinated at this point in time.”
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-20 03:06:38 AstraZeneca/Oxford Vaccine More Effective With Longer Dose Gap, Study Claims

@COVID19Up: AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine is more effective when its second dose is given three months after the first, instead of six weeks, a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet medical journal showed on Friday.

The study confirmed the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s findings from earlier this month that showed the vaccine had 76% efficacy against symptomatic coronavirus infection for three months after the first dose.

Efficacy was found to be at 81% with the longer interval of 12 weeks between the first and second dose, compared with 55% efficacy up to the six-week gap, according to the Lancet study, which backs British and WHO recommendations for longer intervals.
SOURCE | TIP

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