More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some
Immunity to the coronavirus may last years, maybe even decades, according to a new study [NY Times]
Dr. Fauci: "I think that we’re going to have some degree of public health measures together with the vaccine for a considerable period of time. But we’ll start approaching normal — if the overwhelming majority of people take the vaccine — as we get into the third or fourth quarter [of 2021]." [NY Times]
“A STUDENT IN 6 MINUTES HAD 776 HEAD AND EYE MOVEMENTS” Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic.
Medical literature suggests vitamin D protects against respiratory infections. Humans exposed to sunlight produce vitamin D directly. A 10% increase in relative sunlight decreases fall influenza by 1.1 out of 10
Artificial intelligence model detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs [...] The researchers trained the model on tens of thousands of samples of coughs, as well as spoken words. When they fed the model new cough recordings, it accurately identified 98.5 percent of coughs from people who were confirmed to have Covid-19, including 100 percent of coughs from asymptomatics — who reported they did not have symptoms but had tested positive for the virus. The team is working on incorporating the model into a user-friendly app, which if FDA-approved and adopted on a large scale could potentially be a free, convenient, noninvasive prescreening tool to identify people who are likely to be asymptomatic for Covid-19. [Technology Review]
What makes some COVID patients so much sicker than others? [...] Advancing age and underlying medical problems explain only part of the phenomenon [...] In an international study in Science, 10% of nearly 1,000 COVID patients who developed life-threatening pneumonia had antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons. These antibodies — known as autoantibodies because they attack the body itself — were not found at all in 663 people with mild or asymptomatic COVID infections. Only four of 1,227 healthy individuals had the autoantibodies. In a second Science study by the same team, authors found that an additional 3.5% of critically ill patients had mutations in genes that control the interferons involved in fighting viruses. Given that the body has 500 to 600 of these genes, it’s possible researchers will find more mutations. [KHN]
55 people attended the Aug. 7 wedding reception. But one of those guests arrived with a coronavirus infection. Over the next 38 days, the virus spread to 176 other people. Seven of them died. None of the victims who lost their lives had attended the party. [LA Times]
Thanksgiving Dinner during COVID: Overview of Aerosol Transmission Risk Modeling
Now the autumn is here, and hospitalisations from Covid-19 are currently rising faster in Sweden than in any other country in Europe [...] The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 is doubling in Sweden every eight days currently, the fastest rate for any European country for which data is available. [Financial Times] + Deaths now tracking >40% USA equivalent
Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in saliva with Shrinky-Dink© electrodes
Steak-Umm Against COVID-19 Misinformation
Message to Coronavirus from the Tarzan of TikTok [Thanks Tim]