Friday, July 19, 2024

Some More News About COVID-19

Yes, it's still out there. President Biden isn't the only one to catch it recently; I personally know three people who've caught it in the last couple of months.

  •  Long Covid Research Roundup. "What have we learned in the first half of 2024?" An update from Your Local Epidemiologist
  • A Summer Covid-19 Wave. "Covid-19 levels in wastewater—one of the best (only?) metrics of community spread these days—have reached the “high” category. This means that if you’re sick today, it’s likely Covid-19. This also means it’s time to get that indoor air moving and to wear a mask if you don’t want to get sick." 
  • Ontario can’t make COVID-19 disappear by pretending it doesn’t exist (archive.ph link). "Being in the midst of a pandemic isn’t when governments should be cutting funding to trackers, advisory boards and surveillance systems." Fatigue, hope and wishful thinking cannot end a pandemic." Ontario is cancelling its wastewater surveillance program in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and a potential H5N1 crisis. The excuse is to save a few million dollars a year. My mind boggles. 
  • The histamine receptor H1 acts as an alternative receptor for SARS-CoV-2. "Multiple inhibition assays revealed that antihistamine drugs broadly inhibited the infection of various SARS-CoV-2 mutants with an average IC50 of 2.4 µM. The prophylactic function of these drugs was further confirmed by authentic SARS-CoV-2 infection assays and humanized mouse challenge experiments, demonstrating the therapeutic potential of antihistamine drugs for combating coronavirus disease 19." This is encouraging. 

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