[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread

[Mellotron]

Hope everyone's doing ok today.

Quick Worldometers update;

Yesterday's global deaths reported - 3,891 - is the lowest for 8 weeks. The 7 day rolling average of Global Deaths continues to fall, ever since peaking on Jul 22. Yes, we are seeing flare ups in specific countries/regions, but the global situation is improving.

New daily cases continue to go up, but the percentage of which that are Serious/Critical has fallen from around 66,000 a month ago to 61,000 now, and is pretty stable. This tells us we are finding more and more mild/asymptomatic cases.

 

[Mellotron]

Suggestions from this epidemiologist that we are probably at around R0.96-1 at the moment, after a time of R1.1-1.4. He doesn't believe we are seeing exponential growth.

[TWEET]1307705592656650241[/TWEET]

 

[Mellotron]

[TWEET]1307705582435151874[/TWEET]

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

[tweet]1308448821400293378[/tweet]

 

[atomised]

It's good to see good news today. It's sure been a tough one

 

[Uter]

Whilst the rising infection rate has understandably been disappointing news, paradoxically it could mean we know the results of vaccine clinical trials sooner and potentially accelerate their approval and distribution. Low levels of infection have been a headache for the phase III trials.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-22-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begin-phase-iiiii-human-trials


When will the results be available?

To assess whether the vaccine works to protect from COVID-19, the statisticians in our team will compare the number of infections in the control group with the number of infections in the vaccinated group. For this purpose, it is necessary for a small number of study participants to develop COVID-19. How quickly we reach the numbers required will depend on the levels of virus transmission in the community. If transmission remains high, we may get enough data in a couple of months to see if the vaccine works, but if transmission levels drop, this could take up to 6 months. Recruitment of those who have a higher chance of being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is being prioritised, such as frontline healthcare workers, frontline support staff and public-facing key workers, in an effort to capture the efficacy data as quickly as possible.

 

[Poojah]

Whilst the rising infection rate has understandably been disappointing news, paradoxically it could mean we know the results of vaccine clinical trials sooner and potentially accelerate their approval and distribution. Low levels of infection have been a headache for the phase III trials.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-22-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begin-phase-iiiii-human-trials


When will the results be available?

To assess whether the vaccine works to protect from COVID-19, the statisticians in our team will compare the number of infections in the control group with the number of infections in the vaccinated group. For this purpose, it is necessary for a small number of study participants to develop COVID-19. How quickly we reach the numbers required will depend on the levels of virus transmission in the community. If transmission remains high, we may get enough data in a couple of months to see if the vaccine works, but if transmission levels drop, this could take up to 6 months. Recruitment of those who have a higher chance of being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is being prioritised, such as frontline healthcare workers, frontline support staff and public-facing key workers, in an effort to capture the efficacy data as quickly as possible.

That’s a brilliant spin on recent events. The reality is we all just want this over and done with and resigned to history as soon as possible. The best solution in the short-term still appears to be a vaccine; quite possibly this one.

That article is 4 months old to the day, and quotes a window of between 2 and 6 months to firmly establish the vaccine’s efficacy, depending on the level of transmission. We could potentially be just a few weeks away from knowing that we have a vaccine which works, which would be phenomenally good news. Quite literally the best news this year (granted, it has limited competition).

Of course, going from knowing the vaccine works to being approved and subsequently produced for large scale immunisation is not an instantaneous process but the hope it would bring to so many people would be massive. What a relief it would be for us all to know that there was an exit on the horizon, that 2021 might be different in such a positive way.

Not to mention of course what a huge achievement in the great history of human science it would be, too.

 

[Uter]

Of course, going from knowing the vaccine works to being approved and subsequently produced for large scale immunisation is not an instantaneous process but the hope it would bring to so many people would be massive..

Preparation to produce this vaccine, and presumably others too, in sufficient scale to immunise hundreds of millions is being done in parallel. If and when approval is achieved mass production will quickly follow.

https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-c...-oxford-universitys-vaccine-at-no-profit.html

https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/az-taps-indian-pharma-wockhardt-for-u-k-shot-finishing

 

[LamieRobertson]

Thanks to those posting over the last couple of days...my mojo had been well and truly squashed

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Well, if nothing else, Boris tried to give us all a laugh this evening. I don't think I've ever heard a PM using the phrase "a stitch in time saves nine" in a broadcast to the nation.

However, my favourite bit was when he said he wasn't going to lock up the elderly. I had visions of them discussing putting pensioners in prison - well, at least it would give them someone to speak to!

 

[AmexRuislip]

Thanks to those posting over the last couple of days...my mojo had been well and truly squashed

Do the new rules apply to you, about trimming ladies privets after 10pm

 

[LamieRobertson]

Do the new rules apply to you, about trimming ladies privets after 10pm

I can only do it if I visit their garden

 

[Mellotron]

This article doesn’t seem particularly well written but the content is definitely good news.

Interesting breakthrough from University of Bristol scientists could help stop spread of Coronavirus.

Scientists from Bristol have made what they have described as a ‘game-changing’ discovery in the fight against coronavirus.

They said that in the short-term, their discovery could lead to better treatment of Covid-19, and in the longer term, it could mean they are able to stop the virus being infectious altogether and ‘stop the virus in its tracks’.

The team at the University of Bristol have released their findings in the journal Science, and describe the study that they undertook as ‘ground-breaking’.

The team was headed by Prof Christiane Schaffitzel from Bristol’s School of Biochemistry, and Prof Imre Berger from the Max Planck Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology - effectively teaming up biochemists with another team that use powerful microscopes that freeze the virus and enable it to be looked at in tiny detail.

The team discovered that buried deep within the spikes that the SARS CoV-2 protein uses to latch onto the inside of people’s bodies was a small molecule called linoleic acid.

This fatty acid is what the virus uses to bind itself together and spread - and the team have described this discovery as important because it now means there is a way to disrupt that binding fat, and potentially render the virus not infectious.

The discovery of this fatty acid is described as a ‘druggable pocket’ by scientists - a way in for drugs to take on the virus and disarm it.

“Our discovery of a druggable pocket within the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein could lead to new anti-viral drugs to shut down and eliminate the virus before it entered human cells, stopping it firmly in its tracks,” she added.

The discovery of the 'druggable pockets' is the second major breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus Covid-19 involving the University of Bristol. Last month, a team from Bristol were part of a global study that proved the use of a cheap £5 drug cut death rates for Covid-19 patients by a fifth.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/...ronavirus-breakthrough-discovered-4537472.amp

 

[Poojah]

Thanks to those posting over the last couple of days...my mojo had been well and truly squashed

You and me both, mate. It's been a rough few days as far as headlines are concerned, but having given it some reflection I think it does need some perspective.

The period between late March and late May were incredibly difficult. Barely allowed out of the house, watching daily death figures close to the 1,000 mark, trying to balance work life with an increasingly bored family. There's no denying it, it was grim. Then, slowly but surely, we got our lives back a little bit at a time. Go and see your friends and family in the park. Visit them in their garden. Go shopping. Get your hair cut. Go out for a bite to eat. Get yerself down the f**king pub!

I think most of us always knew that this wasn't going to be some steady, linear path to the glorious life we had before (the one we took for granted). It wasn't really about recovery, it was about respite, about economic damage limitation. But I think it was easy for even the most realistic and objective of us to construe each renewed freedom as a step back on the journey home. The human mind prefers hope to the harshness that reality brings sometimes.

But in saying that I find the human mind an incredible thing. It finds ways to adapt, ways to cope. If we'd have been given foresight to the events of 2020 and what our lives this year would look like a year ago we'd have been absolutely horrified, mortified even. But what happened? We adapted, coped, we got through the worse of it. And we'll get through the rest of it.

This isn't one step forward, two steps back. It's more like ten steps forward, two steps back. This is not April. And let's not forget, this is being done now to prevent a repeat of those horrific death toll figures poluting the headlines in those dark days. We are immesurably better off now than we were in the Spring; in terms of freedom, in terms of insight as to what the virus is doing and how fast it's spreading, in terms of proximity to a solution (and I really believe that). Let's not get too depressed, and I'm speaking to myself as much as anyone when I say that.

Exiting lockdown was never the end-game, it was merely about treading water until the help we need arrives. Let's not overstate the news of the last few days. We're not home and dry yet, but we're not drowing either, and help is just around the corner...

 

[LamieRobertson]

This article doesn’t seem particularly well written but the content is definitely good news.

Interesting breakthrough from University of Bristol scientists could help stop spread of Coronavirus.

Has that been reported elsewhere?

 

[dazzer6666]

Has that been reported elsewhere?

Been picked up by quite a few outlets - particularly good article in Forbes earlier today.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle...onavirus-aided-by-cloud-imaging/#424ad58ff16f

 

[LamieRobertson]

You and me both, mate. It's been a rough few days as far as headlines are concerned, but having given it some reflection I think it does need some perspective.

The period between late March and late May were incredibly difficult. Barely allowed out of the house, watching daily death figures close to the 1,000 mark, trying to balance work life with an increasingly bored family. There's no denying it, it was grim. Then, slowly but surely, we got our lives back a little bit at a time. Go and see your friends and family in the park. Visit them in their garden. Go shopping. Get your hair cut. Go out for a bite to eat. Get yerself down the f**king pub!

I think most of us always knew that this wasn't going to be some steady, linear path to the glorious life we had before (the one we took for granted). It wasn't really about recovery, it was about respite, about economic damage limitation. But I think it was easy for even the most realistic and objective of us to construe each renewed freedom as a step back on the journey home. The human mind prefers hope to the harshness that reality brings sometimes.

But in saying that I find the human mind an incredible thing. It finds ways to adapt, ways to cope. If we'd have been given foresight to the events of 2020 and what our lives this year would look like a year ago we'd have been absolutely horrified, mortified even. But what happened? We adapted, coped, we got through the worse of it. And we'll get through the rest of it.

This isn't one step forward, two steps back. It's more like ten steps forward, two steps back. This is not April. And let's not forget, this is being done now to prevent a repeat of those horrific death toll figures poluting the headlines in those dark days. We are immesurably better off now than we were in the Spring; in terms of freedom, in terms of insight as to what the virus is doing and how fast it's spreading, in terms of proximity to a solution (and I really believe that). Let's not get too depressed, and I'm speaking to myself as much as anyone when I say that.

Exiting lockdown was never the end-game, it was merely about treading water until the help we need arrives. Let's not overstate the news of the last few days. We're not home and dry yet, but we're not drowing either, and help is just around the corner...

Thanks for taking the time to type that ..it’s appreciated by me and I’m sure by others.

I agree in general terms with the mind adapting ...unfortunately there are some that aren’t coping ...sad..mild depression to full blown suicidal thoughts and those are some of the people that I really feel for. I’m not able to see my father at the mo...he’s in hospital and they’ve closed the ward to visitors for two weeks because of COVID and I’m worried about his mental (and obviously physical) health ..but then I was chatting to someone today who’s mum is in a care home and they’ve gone months without seeing her...puts it into perspective

 

[Sheebo]

Thanks for taking the time to type that ..it’s appreciated by me and I’m sure by others.

I agree in general terms with the mind adapting ...unfortunately there are some that aren’t coping ...sad..mild depression to full blown suicidal thoughts and those are some of the people that I really feel for. I’m not able to see my father at the mo...he’s in hospital and they’ve closed the ward to visitors for two weeks because of COVID and I’m worried about his mental (and obviously physical) health ..but then I was chatting to someone today who’s mum is in a care home and they’ve gone months without seeing her...puts it into perspective

It puts it into perspective in terms of others have had it tougher, but don’t let that dilute your feelings or angst you’re going through mate. Yours is still a shit and hard situation - no need to compare to others’. Fingers crossed for you and him that you’re able to see him soon

 

[dingodan]

This article doesn’t seem particularly well written but the content is definitely good news.

Interesting breakthrough from University of Bristol scientists could help stop spread of Coronavirus.

That sounds really promising!

 

[Mellotron]

Johnson & Johnson start Phase III trials

The more vaccine candidates the better, of course, but there are particular positives for this one;

1. Requires one dose, not two.
2. Can be kept refrigerated, not frozen (unlike a number of the other vaccines)
3. Johnson & Johnson apparently have huge upscaling potential, should it be approved.

They are enrolling 60,000 people into the Phase III trial (biggest trial of any COVID vaccine yet), and hoping for results by the end of 2020/early 2021.