Damnit, why Florida, why?!?! Don’t you know the new more infectious #B117 variant is spreading the fastest already in Florida? Doubling every 9 days there. #COVID19
2) The new #B117 will become dominant by March 8th if not sooner... doubling every 9 days.
📍Outbreak of #B117 despite full vaccinations at a nursing home. 14 residents at a 🇩🇪 nursing home have tested positive for 🇬🇧 B117 variant, despite all having 2 doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer #COVID19 vaccine—last shot on Jan 25. All mild.
2) This situation highlights the needs to continue to wear masks. Transmission vs protection against severe disease clearly are two different things.
Anyone refusing to mask because they say they have vaccine —remind them they still need to mask until pandemic is over! #COVID19
3) Granted, it takes 2 weeks to develop immunity, but they already had 1 dose with that lag time. And though it’s <2 weeks after 2nd dose, this highlights that protection is not complete, and even then it’s only 95% not 100%.
NEW—Austria 🇦🇹’s alarming #B1351 variant outbreak is growing. Not only 293 cases of 🇿🇦-origin variant identified in Tyrol—9 suspected cases of B1351 are currently suspected in 2 kindergartens in Salzburg, plus 9 more in 🇦🇹 military. #B1351TyrolSub#COVID19derstandard.at/story/20001239…
FROZEN FOODS—"We know that the virus can persist & survive in conditions that are found in these cold and frozen environments.” More work needs to be done to understand "the possible role of the cold chain, frozen products in the introduction of the virus”, says WHO Peter Embarek
2) Previously, frozen seafood exposure was shown it could possibly lead to infection. #COVID19
WORLD’s SECOND SINGLE DOSE #COVID19 vaccine—an Ad5-nCoV vaccine by CanSino, showed 91% efficacy rate in preventing severe disease, & effective to prevent 65.7% of symptomatic diseases in P3 trial. Comparable to J&J’s 66% efficacy, with no freezing needed. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
2) single-shot vaccines offer some advantages over the cutting-edge mRNA inoculations from Pfizer and Moderna. The mRNA two-dose shots require deep-freeze storage and risk spoiling if thawed too quickly. CanSino and J&J’s candidates are easier to store...
3) and don’t require people to return at a set time for the second jab -- something that’s hard to guarantee especially in developing countries. “The single-shot is an important factor—when you ask people to show up for a 2nd shot 3 weeks later, people will forget or not care.”
OUTBREAK OF #B1351 VARIANT IN AUSTRIA 🇦🇹—B1351 🇿🇦 variant now identified in 293 cases in western Austria state of Tyrol—at least 140 active cases. Germany🇩🇪 is considering closing the border to Tyrol. Austria govt has issued urgent travel warning. #COVID19 tagesschau.de/ausland/europa…
2) “Experts rated the South African mutation as more dangerous than the British one. "The course of the disease should be more severe and the resilience to vaccinations should be higher. This mutation would set us back a long way."
3) Folks, Tyrol is a very popular Alpine tourism region of Austria that is bordered by Germany 🇩🇪 to the north, Switzerland 🇨🇭& Liechtenstein 🇱🇮 to the west, and Italy 🇮🇹 to the immediate south. If it’s in Tyrol, it’s likely all over Central Europe. And that what is worrisome.
Immunocompromised 45 year old suffered from #COVID19 for 155 days before he died. The virus was changing very quickly inside the man's body—it acquired a big cluster of >20 mutations—resembled the same ones seen in #B117 & #B1351. (NPR audio Part 1 of 2)🧵 npr.org/sections/goats…
2) NPR report audio part 2 of 2:
Dr. Li couldn't believe what they found. "I was shocked," he says. "When I saw the virus sequences, I knew that we were dealing with something completely different and potentially very important."
3) “Toward the very end of his life, he was treated with monoclonal antibodies, from Regeneron," Li says. "And shortly thereafter, we saw evidence that suggested the virus was developing resistance or escaping from these antibodies as well."