COVID-19

[NDBoiler]

CureVac is developing a mRNA vaccine whose advantage over the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is that it can be stored in a refrigerator at 41 degrees. They are in Phase 2 and are partnering with Tesla.

The company would make 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and hoped to gain approval some time in 2021. CureVac has collaborated with Elon Musk’s company Tesla on creating mRNA “micro-factories,” which could potentially be deployed around the world to make billions of doses of the vaccine.

The EU is signing deals with all the major vaccine makers. For CureVac's the EU has signed for 400 million doses. CureVac is German company. Their vaccine is also stable at room temperature for 24 hours.

CureVac's COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Shows Positive Results in Phase I
Nov 10, 2020

Excerpt:


CureVac intends to make billions of doses from their "bioreactors" throughout the world.

Moderna’s vaccine can be stored at regular refrigeration temps between 36-46 deg F for up to a month.

 

[ulukinatme]

Thought this was cool. Dolly donated $1 million for the Covid vaccine research. Wonder how many other celebrities put in that kind of dough.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fact-checking this was worth it just to see <a href="https://twitter.com/DollyParton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DollyParton</a> in the acknowledgments of a <a href="https://twitter.com/NEJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NEJM</a> article. And I thought I couldn’t love her more. <a href="https://t.co/S3njHEFcGT">https://t.co/S3njHEFcGT</a> <a href="https://t.co/WcrFIrHp67">pic.twitter.com/WcrFIrHp67</a></p>— Dr. Meade Krosby (@MeadeKrosby) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeadeKrosby/status/1328545952685121537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Couple that with the fact she's humble and made no mention of it, from what I can tell, and she stays out of politics...smart cookie, businesswoman, and so giving. She gives to so many other charitable organizations too. I remember my kids getting free books through her foundation from the time they were infants till 6.

 

[Irish#1]

Thought this was cool. Dolly donated $1 million for the Covid vaccine research. Wonder how many other celebrities put in that kind of dough.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fact-checking this was worth it just to see <a href="https://twitter.com/DollyParton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DollyParton</a> in the acknowledgments of a <a href="https://twitter.com/NEJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NEJM</a> article. And I thought I couldn’t love her more. <a href="https://t.co/S3njHEFcGT">https://t.co/S3njHEFcGT</a> <a href="https://t.co/WcrFIrHp67">pic.twitter.com/WcrFIrHp67</a></p>— Dr. Meade Krosby (@MeadeKrosby) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeadeKrosby/status/1328545952685121537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Couple that with the fact she's humble and made no mention of it, from what I can tell, and she stays out of politics...smart cookie, businesswoman, and so giving. She gives to so many other charitable organizations too. I remember my kids getting free books through her foundation from the time they were infants till 6.

Definitely not the typical "dumb blonde".

 

[philipm31]

Definitely not the typical "dumb blonde".

Dolly, is without a doubt, one of the best things to come out of TN, maybe ever. She is a treasure.

 

[NorthDakota]

Dolly, is without a doubt, one of the best things to come out of TN, maybe ever. She is a treasure.

"AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WILLLLL ALWAYYYYYS LOOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU"

What a jam

 

[philipm31]

"AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WILLLLL ALWAYYYYYS LOOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU"

What a jam

Indeed.

 

[Sea Turtle]

This kind of sums up this whole Covid thing for everybody.

https://youtu.be/tWqKiqTfXuA

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">North Dakota hits COVID milestone: <br><br>1 out of every 1,000 residents dead</p>— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1328735052302331906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...d-ravages-south-dakota?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, tells a story about the first time she met Donald Trump. He welcomed her to the Oval Office, and after they shook hands she returned the compliment by inviting him to visit her back in her home state.

“We have Mount Rushmore,” she said, hoping he would be tempted by a trip to the famous rock sculpture depicting four of his presidential predecessors. Trump replied: “Do you know, it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?”

“I started laughing,” Noem recalls. “He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.”

Noem, 48, is savvy enough to know when to humor a potential patron. In July, Trump did make the trip to Mount Rushmore on 4 July for an Independence Day fireworks display. To mark the occasion, she presented him with a four-foot model of the granite monument complete with the addition of a fifth president – Trump.

Having lost to Joe Biden in the election, Donald Trump has as much chance of being carved next to Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore as Donald Duck. But since Trump’s defeat, Noem has still clung to the president and to his policies as though her political life depends on it.

The actual lives of many South Dakotans could depend, in turn, upon that decision given the terrifying surge of Covid-19 cases that is battering the state under Noem’s contentious leadership. South Dakota has been listed by Forbes as one of the 10 most dangerous states in the Union, all of them in the Midwest.

Coronavirus in South Dakota is running at an intensity only surpassed in the US by its neighbor North Dakota. The state has an alarming positivity rate of almost 60% – nearly six out of 10 people who take a Covid test are infected – second only to another neighbor, Wyoming.

Viewed through the lens of cases and deaths, South Dakota is also at the top of the league table. More than 66,000 South Dakotans have contracted the disease and at least 644 have died, a number likely to rise as hospitals reach breaking point.

Amid this devastating contagion, Noem is rigidly sticking to the strategy she has adopted since the pandemic began. It consists of a refusal to accept mask mandates and repeated denial of the science around the efficacy of wearing masks; resistance to imposing any restrictions on bars and restaurants; no limits on gatherings in churches or other places of worship; and no orders to stay at home.

While the statistics are clear – the virus is running wild in South Dakota – Noem has turned a public health emergency into an issue of “freedom” and “liberty”, consistently lying about the trajectory of the disease under her watch. “We’re doing really good in South Dakota. We’re managing Covid-19,” she has said.

She has also embraced the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid, even after it was proven to be ineffective and potentially dangerous.

If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Since the start of the pandemic, Noem has consciously adopted the posture of a mini-Trump, following the president’s every move in the handling of the health crisis.

“From the get-go, her approach was mirroring the Trump administration,” said Lisa Hager, a political scientist at South Dakota State University. “She’s been adamant about people making their own choices and that it’s not the government’s role to step in – and it has played very well for her in her political career.”

The more Noem championed the Trump line – downplaying the virus, turning her back on the science, failing to put in place even basic public health measures to contain the disease – the higher her star rose within the Republican firmament. One of her first acts as governor was to install a TV studio in her office for use in live interviews, a smart move given her frequent appearances in recent months on Fox News.

Her growing stature in Trump World attracted the attention last year of Corey Lewandowski, the pugnacious former campaign manager of Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016. Lewandowski took Noem under his wing and spirited her away on a whirlwind tour of Trump campaign events this year, introducing her to Maga supporters across the country.

“Lewandowski has been coaching her on how to foment conflict to get attention,” said Cory Allen Heidelberger, who writes the liberal blog Dakota Free Press. “He tells her, conflict is attention, attention is influence – so just create conflict wherever you can.”

Noem can certainly claim to be an A-grade student when it comes to generating conflict. The 4 July Mount Rushmore event was one of two huge public gatherings that she blessed against the advice of health experts.

The other was the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which Noem actively welcomed. The gathering attracted almost 500,000 people over 10 days and is now widely thought to have been the mother of all super-spreader events that helped trigger the Covid disaster that the midwest is now suffering.

Even as the crisis has exploded around her, she has stuck to her guns and led by her maskless example. Last week she attended a high school football championship in an indoor sports dome in which masks were required for everyone present – she violated the rule and went ostentatiously bare-faced.

There are two possible reasons why Noem continues to stick to Trump’s Covid playbook, even after he was relegated into the position of a lame-duck president. Unlike other parts of the country, Trump’s backing in South Dakota has remained steadfast since 2016 at 62% of the electorate, forcing her to remain on good terms with Trump supporters should she want to run for a second term as governor in two years’ time.

A more likely explanation though lies with her growing national platform. Apart from cultivating her profile on Fox News and at Trump rallies around the country, Noem has surrounded herself with a coterie of staffers drawn from Beltway strategists and lobbyists.

“The reason you do that has nothing to do with governing South Dakota,” Heidelberger said. “She’s completely focused on the national scene.”

Trump himself will be turfed out of the White House – quite possibly, kicking and screaming – on 20 January. But Trumpism will remain alive and well in its redoubt in South Dakota, while the pandemic rages furiously around its governor’s serene and maskless head.

 

[NDBoiler]

I get the point of the seriousness of the situation that is trying to be conveyed, but that tweet is (intentionally?) misleading. The 1/1000 deaths is based on positive cases, not the entire population of the state, which is what is implied. Clearly many read it that way based on the responses to the tweet. If you want to report accurately, don’t do that crap. You have an opportunity to provide objective information but damage your credibility in the process by trying to be snarky and cute. An approach like this is the reason we have “fake news” in our lexicon.

 

[ab2cmiller]

I get the point of the seriousness of the situation that is trying to be conveyed, but that tweet is (intentionally?) misleading. The 1/1000 deaths is based on positive cases, not the entire population of the state, which is what is implied. Clearly many read it that way based on the responses to the tweet. If you want to report accurately, don’t do that crap. You have an opportunity to provide objective information but damage your credibility in the process by trying to be snarky and cute. An approach like this is the reason we have “fake news” in our lexicon.

Deaths per 1M population is listed at 1,043. That works out to 1 in 1,000. Unless I'm missing something, the tweet was not misleading.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

 

[NDBoiler]

Deaths per 1M population is listed at 1,043. That works out to 1 in 1,000. Unless I'm missing something, the tweet was not misleading.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I see that now, I got confused between North and South stats. The tweet mentioned North, but the article quoted below mentioned stats for South. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[notredomer23]

Deaths per 1M population is listed at 1,043. That works out to 1 in 1,000. Unless I'm missing something, the tweet was not misleading.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

It is a little misleading because it makes it out IMO that they are the first state to reach that. If every 1 in 1000 North Dakota residents died, that would mean 1 in roughly every 600 NY/NJ residents died.

 

[ab2cmiller]

It is a little misleading because it makes it out IMO that they are the first state to reach that. If every 1 in 1000 North Dakota residents died, that would mean 1 in roughly every 600 NY/NJ residents died.

LOL, how can a simple statement of fact be a little misleading? The tweet mentioned no other states. I agree with you that North Dakota is by far from the worst as there are 7 others that have worse rates. They aren't terribly far off the average for the US.

 

[Legacy]

As one indication of how post-Covid healthcare may be, here's a good article on many physicians closing their practices or retiring.

Doctors Are Calling It Quits Under Stress of the Pandemic
Thousands of medical practices are closing, as doctors and nurses decide to retire early or shift to less intense jobs. (NYT)

The Comment section of the article was reposted in Reddit which reflects how many nurses and doctors have been cut back, laid off, etc. by HC systems and cannot find jobs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronaviru...ors_are_calling_it_quits_under_stress_of_the/

 

[notredomer23]

LOL, how can a simple statement of fact be a little misleading? The tweet mentioned no other states. I agree with you that North Dakota is by far from the worst as there are 7 others that have worse rates. They aren't terribly far off the average for the US.

It's misleading because everyday we hear "US reaches new COVID milestone" whether it is about cases, hospitalizations, or deaths. The wording is my only point, not disagreeing with the overall tweet. To me, the tweet reads as if North Dakota is the first to reach that mark, when in reality, there's 7 other states that did that first and by the end many others will have as well.

 

[NorthDakota]

It is a little misleading because it makes it out IMO that they are the first state to reach that. If every 1 in 1000 North Dakota residents died, that would mean 1 in roughly every 600 NY/NJ residents died.

Yeah I was gonna say the math is correct, but misleading. North Dakota would need to continue at the same general rate for like 2 more months to reach New Jersey/New York levels i think. Last I saw they were at like 1300 deaths/million or something.

I'm pretty sure the models have ND experiencing a big drop over the next month whether people comply with the mandates (they wont) or not.

It is rather rich though that the media is more than happy to dump on states with...a specific party occupying the governor's mansion while absolved other state leaders of any sort of responsibility.

FWIW, our governor here is far from a MAGA republican. He's more blue dog democrat than he is a Republican. On the bright side, he has for the most part appeared to understand what people will cooperate with.

The focus on SD...I suspect its maybe 1/3 genuine concern and 2/3 media hating Noem. Its the only rational position to take considering the pass they have given any and all governors of the other party.

 

[dublinirish]

https://247sports.com/college/notre...l-coach-notre-dame-south-carolina--155035340/

Legendary retired college football coach Lou Holtz has tested positive for COVID-19, it was revealed on Thursday. According to Mike Gillespie of ABC Columbia, Holtz said that he's currently recovering from the virus, but does "not (have) a lot of energy."

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The same day Franklin County is elevated to a Purple/Level 4 for “severe” spread of COVID-19, Republicans in the Ohio House vote to keep their masks off at work.<br><br>No leadership. They are putting Ohioans’ lives at risk and they don’t even care. <a href="https://t.co/tT994h9oIt">https://t.co/tT994h9oIt</a></p>— Ohio Matters (@Ohio_Matters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ohio_Matters/status/1329511305695297536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[philipm31]

Deaths per 1M population is listed at 1,043. That works out to 1 in 1,000. Unless I'm missing something, the tweet was not misleading.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

It is THE highest MORTALITY RATE in the WORLD. And accurate. Super scary situation in ND.

 

[philipm31]

Yeah I was gonna say the math is correct, but misleading. North Dakota would need to continue at the same general rate for like 2 more months to reach New Jersey/New York levels i think. Last I saw they were at like 1300 deaths/million or something.

I'm pretty sure the models have ND experiencing a big drop over the next month whether people comply with the mandates (they wont) or not.

It is rather rich though that the media is more than happy to dump on states with...a specific party occupying the governor's mansion while absolved other state leaders of any sort of responsibility.

FWIW, our governor here is far from a MAGA republican. He's more blue dog democrat than he is a Republican. On the bright side, he has for the most part appeared to understand what people will cooperate with. If Shelby County were to reach the raw numbers of NY, then the city of Memphis would cease to exist.

The focus on SD...I suspect its maybe 1/3 genuine concern and 2/3 media hating Noem. Its the only rational position to take considering the pass they have given any and all governors of the other party.

Noem is from North Dakota, I believe. And she has been like this for a good year. I hate the idea that people think this is partisan. Far too many people have died for this to devolve into partisanship any longer imo. I think that is the point here. Partisanship needs to die in the face of a global pandemic, so that actual people can stop dying. Yet, Noem is indifferent to the suffering of her own state.

The idea that they need to be NY or NJ numbers in order to be worrisome is far more misleading imo bc they do not have nearly the population of NY or NJ. I am not sure there are many states with as sparse a population as the Dakotas, so the rate is the important thing here.

For example, the raw numbers in Shelby Country where I live are the worst in TN, yet, there are other counties in the state that may be much higher because their rate of infection is proportionately higher based on a smaller population. If Memphis ever reached the rate of infection that NY and Jersey had at their highest peaks, then the city might cease to exist since it is 1/13th the size of just NYC.

 

[NorthDakota]

Noem is from North Dakota, I believe. And she has been like this for a good year. I hate the idea that people think this is partisan. Far too many people have died for this to devolve into partisanship any longer imo. I think that is the point here. Partisanship needs to die in the face of a global pandemic, so that actual people can stop dying. Yet, Noem is indifferent to the suffering of her own state.

The idea that they need to be NY or NJ numbers in order to be worrisome is far more misleading imo bc they do not have nearly the population of NY or NJ. I am not sure there are many states with as sparse a population as the Dakotas, so the rate is the important thing here.

For example, the raw numbers in Shelby Country where I live are the worst in TN, yet, there are other counties in the state that may be much higher because their rate of infection is proportionately higher based on a smaller population. If Memphis ever reached the rate of infection that NY and Jersey had at their highest peaks, then the city might cease to exist since it is 1/13th the size of just NYC.

Lol she is not the governor of North Dakota unless she moonlights as a white middle aged man who is a former tech executive.

Now that I think about it...I've never seen them photographed together.....

The point is, the media wants to portray the Dakota's as some unprecedented thing. North Dakota is 7th in deaths per capita. South Dakota is like 15th or 16th.

New York (even without counting NYC) has a higher death stat than SD. Also pretty trashy to say she is indifferent to suffering when you don't even know what state she governs lol.

I've explained this before, but I'll do it again. At least as far as ND, and I'm gonna assume SD as well since we have so much in common...people here aren't going to respond to government mandates the way they do in some other areas. Its not even a partisan thing here. My "bleeding heart" friends are just as likely to to to the bars/not mask up as anyone else. Some cities and towns will take some limited actions, but most won't. And the state does not have any mechanism to enforce it. About all they can do probably is cancel certain events or not let fans go to high school sporting events.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Lou Holtz, 83, has tested positive for Covid-19. He seems to being OK so far, but says he doesn't have much energy.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nc...sitive-for-covid-19/ar-BB1bbgoE?ocid=msedgntp

 

[PerthDomer]

North Dakota and South Dakota are going to have some gaudy death rates in a few weeks. South Dakota will likely surpass ND as their hospitalization rate is currently higher and their governor is just special.

 

[ryno 24]

What makes you certain their death rates will be high. The case load could be high in young people which would mean it would be a lower death rate. Also we have more medicine now than 9 months ago. Lets let the numbers play out.

 

[Irishize]

North Dakota and South Dakota are going to have some gaudy death rates in a few weeks. South Dakota will likely surpass ND as their hospitalization rate is currently higher and their governor is just special.

Did they even experience a first wave? The states that seemed to have a “milder” first wave in the Spring seem to be experiencing it this Fall. Just curious.

 

[Irishize]

Noem is from North Dakota, I believe. And she has been like this for a good year. I hate the idea that people think this is partisan. Far too many people have died for this to devolve into partisanship any longer imo. I think that is the point here. Partisanship needs to die in the face of a global pandemic, so that actual people can stop dying. Yet, Noem is indifferent to the suffering of her own state.

The idea that they need to be NY or NJ numbers in order to be worrisome is far more misleading imo bc they do not have nearly the population of NY or NJ. I am not sure there are many states with as sparse a population as the Dakotas, so the rate is the important thing here.

For example, the raw numbers in Shelby Country where I live are the worst in TN, yet, there are other counties in the state that may be much higher because their rate of infection is proportionately higher based on a smaller population. If Memphis ever reached the rate of infection that NY and Jersey had at their highest peaks, then the city might cease to exist since it is 1/13th the size of just NYC.

No, she’s the governor of South Dakota. Burgum is the governor of ND but he doesn’t have the name/face recognition on a national level that Noem does, so folks just assume it’s her.

 

[NorthDakota]

Did they even experience a first wave? The states that seemed to have a “milder” first wave in the Spring seem to be experiencing it this Fall. Just curious.

No. We had next to nothing here.

 

[notredomer23]

No. We had next to nothing here.

Well ND and SD will give the world a decent idea if herd immunity is actually possible without a vaccine. If testing 1 in 5 cases (probably a very conservative estimate), that would put them combined around 700K cases. With a combined population of roughly 1.5MM, that would mean about 45% are already infected. Cases have plateaued and hospitalizations have begun declining.

 

[Legacy]

A younger family member in Wyoming got symtoms, tested positive and is recovering. The family went into quarantine but it's past five days and no one else has it. In Wyoming, the Gov there (Mark Gordon) declared a. state of emergency on March 13 by executive order, directed the Wyoming Department of Health and the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to take actions to respond to the virus. As the virus surges there also, third nationally only to the Dakotas, the Wyo GOP governing body four days ago passed resolution opposing state of emergency. Counties can petition public health for mask mandates that require people to wear masks or face coverings while inside retail and commercial businesses, local government buildings or while waiting in line. Other locations where masks are now required include healthcare facilities, like a clinic or a veterinary office, and in public transportation or taxi and car services. Twelve of them have been approved and are in place. At this time, two-thirds of Wyo pop is under those mandates. Two more counties have submitted requests.

Health officers in all of the counties that have passed or requested mask mandates were among the 21 who recently signed a letter calling on the state to enact a face mask mandate for all of Wyoming.

The letter, dated Nov. 12, acknowledged local authority to pass community measures but added, “We feel that a statewide mandate sends a more powerful and effective message in a more timely manner.”

Stats there
https://covidactnow.org/us/wyoming-wy?s=1353339

In Wyoming, a Covid-19 surge, a struggling energy economy and a thriving haven for the rich
As the state becomes the superrich's go-to, residents are out of work and dealing with a massive spike in case numbers. (Nov 15)

In hard-hit New York City, about 1 in 32 residents contracted Covid-19. In Albany County, Wyoming, home to Laramie, it's about 1 in 18. The state doesn't have a mask mandate, but Albany County put one in place early this month, only a few days after a state representative who had tested positive for the coronavirus died and the governor announced that he had had to isolate after having been exposed to the virus during a meeting that included the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx.

In Converse County, public health nurse manager Darcey Cowardin and her team are working to flatten the curve of their own case surge. The frontier county of a little over 13,500 people has recorded 396 cases, and as of Friday it had 118 active cases. Those are astronomical numbers for such a small community.

"Our hospital is getting hit pretty hard," Cowardin said. The contact tracer is overwhelmed, the virus is finding its way into schools, and masking is a nightmare to enforce. Most of the spread is coming from family gatherings, bars and local events.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Everyone here at my retirement community just had a test for COVID. This is not because we've had COVID positives (that happened a few weeks ago with some "outside" employees and then three residents.) This all-person test is "just" the next stage of what the administration of the community wants to do.

I personally have felt like crap for a while now, but the cause seems to be an old age manifestation of reduced air flow to the lungs. (I have a deviated septum and now, apparently a narrowing or inflexibility of the esophageal/stomach sphincter --- causes gas-trapped bloat which stresses lungs by pushing on them.) Doctor's appointment in a week. Carry-around oxygen probably on the agenda --- but who knows? The new tests will tell us if we have COVID as well --- there are residents who play loose with our bubble, so I could get that too. Lovely times to be having "golden years."