Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Avian Flu Diary: Denmark SSI: Assessment of Protection Against Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2

Based on 4 million Danes who received multiple PRC tests in 2020, researchers at Denmark’s SSI (Statens Serum Institut) have calculated the average person is about 80% protected – at in the short term – against reinfection with COVID-19.

Among those aged 65 and over, however, that protection is estimated to be only 47%.

This protection is assumed to last at least 6 months.  Once again, these results are based on the older, `wild type’ COVID, not the recently emerged variants carrying the E484K mutation, and so these numbers may not hold going forward.   Source: Avian Flu Diary: Denmark SSI: Assessment of Protection Against Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2

Katherine Tai confirmed as 1st Asian American, woman of color to lead USTR (U.S. Trade Representative)

The Senate on Wednesday approved trade expert Katherine Tai to lead the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, making her the first Asian American and first woman of color to serve in the post.

Katherine Tai. (Getty/Kyodo)

Source: Katherine Tai confirmed as 1st Asian American, woman of color to lead USTR

Tokai nuclear plant ordered to halt for lack of evacuation plans

A Japanese court ordered Thursday the suspension of the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant, located northeast of Tokyo, citing a lack of evacuation plans despite persisting safety concerns over nuclear power generation 10 years after the Fukushima Daiichi accident. Source: Tokai nuclear plant ordered to halt for lack of evacuation plans

A Terra não é uma mercadoria e todos nós somos parte da Natureza — Barbara Crane Navarro

Entrevista | O escritor e líder indígena acredita que a Terra é um organismo vivo e que, se a humanidade continuar no ritmo predatório que vive, entrará na lista de espécies em extinção. Foto: Neto Gonçalves/Companhia das Letras “Estamos experienciando a febre do planeta.” É o que Ailton Krenak afirma e que, aparentemente, uma parcela […]

A Terra não é uma mercadoria e todos nós somos parte da Natureza — Barbara Crane Navarro

COVID: Vaccines and Symptomless Transmission

Be careful…

CRAIN'S COMMENTS

The Mayo Clinic offers findings from new research that people who receive the two-dose mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) reduce the chance of carrying and transmitting the coronavirus to others by between 75% and 90% versus people who remain unvaccinated.

That’s a big deal. The major spreaders of the virus have been people with no symptoms — who never knew they had it. As we say in the post yesterday, that’s a big number. At this point, about 10% of the US population has been confirmed through testing as having the virus. Blood tests taken for other purposes indicate that another 10% had the virus without ever knowing it.

Think about it. You go to a restaurant, beach or game. Look at the 10 people closest to you. Two of them have had the virus, and may still have it. One knows it and is probably wearing a mask. The…

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Experts urge caution as 15 states see uptick in COVID-19 infections

Even with the race to vaccinate as many Americans as possible accelerating, some experts are warning that if Americans don’t also follow proper safety and mitigation measures the U.S. could see a COVID-19 resurgence.

Although the country’s national daily case average continues to fall — about 32.5% over the last month — nearly a third of all states have seen their average number of cases rise at least 10%.

Those 15 states are: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia, according to an ABC News analysis of state data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several states — Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia — have seen their case averages increase by at least 25% in the last week.

“Minnesota, I think, is really a harbinger of things to come. We’re loosening up all the restrictions we’ve had, and in some ways creating a perfect storm moment for virus transmission, whether it’s a variant or not,” Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and head of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told ABC News’ “World News Tonight” on Wednesday.

Source: Experts urge caution as 15 states see uptick in COVID-19 infections

A Search Engine for Finding Free, Public Domain Images from World-Class Museums | Open Culture

Imagine you need images to illustrate an essay about, say, travel. Punch that word into Museo (or a related one like “journey”) and out come a variety of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, books, maps, housewares, and other items found in museums. Here we have Adolph Menzel’s In a Railway Carriage (After a Night’s Journey) from 1851, Katsushika Hokusai’s The Eastern Journey of the Celebrated Poet Ariwara no Narihira from 1806, Aelbert Cuyp’s River Landscape with Riders from the mid-1650s, Seth Eastman’s Indians Travelling from 1850, and Richard Newton’s On a Journey to a Courtship in Wales from 1795. Source: A Search Engine for Finding Free, Public Domain Images from World-Class Museums | Open Culture

Urgent lessons from COVID 19: why the world needs a standing, coordinated system and sustainable financing for global research and development – The Lancet

2020 will long be remembered as the year of COVID-19, not only for its devastating health, social, and economic consequences around the world, but for forcing the world to consider the implications of the pandemic for solidarity and equity. It will be remembered as a year that exposed the fragility of our global system of preparedness and response to pandemics, and the fragmentation of our research and development (R&D) ecosystem. But it will also be remembered as a time of unprecedented innovation and scientific collaboration, in which the global R&D components came together and produced novel technologies and analytic tools, assessed treatments, and developed safe and effective vaccines in record time.

Yet, even with these achievements, R&D collaboration across the ecosystem fumbled and millions more could die before the essential products, such as new therapeutics or vaccines that are the fruits of the research and product development enterprise, become widely available everywhere. The successes have ignited a debate about global fairness and solidarity, and whether aspects of the R&D enterprise and its resultant products should be treated as global public goods, available and affordable in an equitable manner.  Source: Urgent lessons from COVID 19: why the world needs a standing, coordinated system and sustainable financing for global research and development – The Lancet