NEW: There is a new strain of COVID in England that is far more infectious. What it means and what it doesn’t mean.

Doing a Sat morning roundup with a few scientists and will report here shortly. Follow if interested. 1/
Here is a pasted article while I finish gathering info.

google.com/amp/s/www.bloo…
I have some responses and am gathering others but the met effect is this is not a game changer but all the more reason to limit your interactions as much as possible. 3/
There are several dozen subs-trains of COVID-19 already— so another strain should not in any way cause people to consider this a game changer. Still I will answer the questions I expect most people have the best I can. 4/
1. The bad news first. If a new strain is more contagious, that increases the Rt. That means that in whatever community it is in makes it more likely to spread. 5/
It means that all of the respiratory precautions— masks, distance, ventilation, avoiding crowds, reducing indoor gatherings— are even more important to keep you safe & to keep you from spreading it. 6/
2. Is it more deadly? The clinical manifestations appear exactly the same. So in one sense, no. That is relieving news on a number of fronts. 7/
But this strain would be worse if it spread in nursing homes for example and other congregate settings. That adds responsibility to people in the community not to spread it because evidence shows it is not possible to keep out of nursing homes. 8/
Of course nursing homes is just an example. (Twitter habits require this level of specificity.) 9/
3. Will the new strain respond to the vaccine? Almost definitely per everyone I’ve talked to. Let me explain the details as I understand them as to why that is. 10/
According to something Dr. Fauci told me, as long as the body is capable of amounting an immune response, we know vaccines will work since what a vaccine does is simply trigger that response. 11/
There are viruses that don’t trigger an immune response and thankfully SARS-CoV-2 is NOT one of them.

Sorry for the double negative. This virus does trigger an immune response. All strains of it. 12/
Furthermore if the spike protein were to become so modified that it the spike protein changes, it won’t bind to ACE2 in human cells so won’t affect us anyway.

There may be scientists who disagree that I haven’t spoken to, but that has not been a concern of anyone. 13/
4. Is it in the US? Not as far as we know. But we have samples of all of the tests of course so we will be able to see. The importance of containment & quarantine procedures are real. 14/
In a country that refuses to comply with anything, including things that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, our best bet is to keep it out. It’s the last thing our hospitals need right now. 15/
So we might as well act like we have a contagious virus in the country right now. You know, just in case we do. 16/
Sum: big picture, don’t let it rock you. Day to day, if we aren’t being very careful already well, this adds to the reasons.

As I get more from more scientists that is additive or slightly different, I will of course post it here. 17/ (end for now)
For the intrepid. Here is some speculation on how these things happen....

British strain may have a lot of variation,
perhaps it arose due to the use of something like reassortment to evolve quickly
e.g. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassortm…

Book:
amazon.com/Evolution-Infe… 18/endish

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More from @ASlavitt

20 Dec
Morning update on COVID news.

Vaccine rollout
Senate package
New strain in UK
More data/California 1/
Vaccine rollout.

Trump Administration have problems counting how many Pfizer vaccines they have & where & when they go. Will fail to send committed amounts on time to states. 2/
Governors are annoyed & trying to be patient. Delay will be weeks not months from what I hear.

This sounds sloppy. But kinks are to be expected. Moderna vaccine begins to ship. 3/
Read 12 tweets
19 Dec
COVID Update December 18: We got here not just because Trump did nothing but also because he asked nothing.

Biden plans to change that. 1/
Trump had no concerns letting us get to a place where thousands of day are dying. He had no understanding, no interest, and desire to prevent the pandemic from overwhelming the country. 2/
But doing nothing is not his only crime. Before there was a vaccine, and even now, our best medicine is how we communicate, how much we can unite, and our willingness to sacrifice a little to save a lot. 3/
Read 20 tweets
18 Dec
COVID Update December 17: This is my worst thread. I hate writing it. But I have to write it. 1/
This is what happened yesterday in California. 61,000 new cases in a single day.

But it’s not the cases. It’s the trajectory. 35,000 prior peak. 2/
This is what happened in Minnesota. It’s not the decline to still historically high numbers. It’s that the governor was forced to majorly let up on restrictions yesterday at the first sign— a sure fire sign they are coming back. 3/
Read 26 tweets
17 Dec
2020 highlights in review: Who said it & when. No Google searches, just guesses.

“I think we are going to be in two, three, four weeks, by the tune we next speak, I think we’re going to be in very good shape.”
Question 2: “We now know, thanks to widespread blood testing, that the virus isn’t that deadly...The death toll is a tiny fraction of what we were told it would be.”

Who and when?
“Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything.”

Who and when.
Read 9 tweets
17 Dec
COVID Update December 16: Why you won’t hear me use the phrase “anti-vaxxer.” 1/
First let me tell you my opinion of vaccines. If they hadn’t been invented we would be so much worse off as a planet.

It’s probably a more important invention than Tik Tok. 2/
And the story of the first people who took vaccines is a story of “you’re serious. You’re going to put that in my body. GTFO.”

But the story with small pox goes (more or less) the first does went to the vaccine makers kid & when it worked all the next went to the king’s kids. 3/
Read 23 tweets
16 Dec
January 6, I will be watching the Republicans in the House who plan to try to overturn the Electoral College and when they fail, will completely support those Congressional districts succeeding from the union as they threaten.

Best of luck.
It’s tough starting a new country under any circumstance. Having Mo Brooks instead of Thomas Jefferson and a handful of proud boys instead of Washington’s Army will add to the challenge.
(This is a rant, not a spelling bee.)

Secede, succeed.
Read 10 tweets

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