Coronavirus News (208)

America Could Control the Pandemic by October. Let’s Get to It. The solutions to combating the coronavirus are no mystery. It’s time to do this right. .........  Six to eight weeks. That’s how long some of the nation’s leading public health experts say it would take to finally get the United States’ coronavirus epidemic under control. If the country were to take the right steps, many thousands of people could be spared from the ravages of Covid-19. The economy could finally begin to repair itself, and Americans could start to enjoy something more like normal life. Six to eight weeks. For proof, look at Germany. Or Thailand. Or France. Or nearly any other country in the world. ..........  even clear victories over the virus, in places like New York and Massachusetts, feel imperiled........ As the national death toll climbs above 160,000, mask wearing is still not universal. ............  The Trump administration’s response has been disjointed and often contradictory, indifferent to science, suffused with politics and eager to hand off responsibility to state leaders. Among the states, the response has also been wildly uneven. .............  Unless something changes quickly, millions more people will be sickened by the virus, and well over a million may ultimately die from it. The economy will contract further as new surges of viral spread overwhelm hospitals and force further shutdowns and compound suffering, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. The path to avoiding those outcomes is as clear as the failures of the past several months. ...................  airborne transmission is a far greater risk than contaminated surfaces, that the virus spreads through singing and shouting as much as through coughing, and that while any infected person is a potential vector, superspreading events — as in nursing homes, meatpacking plants, churches and bars — are major drivers of the pandemic. ...............   Masks are essential and will be required in all public places. Social distancing is a civic responsibility. The virus is not going away anytime soon, but we can get it under control quickly if we work together. ..............  The United States has a glut of data and a dearth of information. ..........  Testing, Tracing, Isolation and Quarantine ............   Testing delays make contact tracing — not to mention isolation and quarantine — impossible to execute. ............  The causes of America’s great pandemic failure run deep, exacerbated by innumerable longstanding problems, from a weak public health infrastructure to institutional racism to systemic inequality in health care, housing and employment.    

Russia Approves Coronavirus Vaccine Before Completing Tests The country became the first in the world to approve a possible vaccine against the virus, despite warnings from the global authorities against cutting corners. .........   The major powers are locked in a global race for a vaccine that President Trump, Mr. Putin and China’s president, Xi Jinping, are treating as a proxy war for their personal leadership and competing national systems. .............  Russia is trying to snatch a victory by cutting corners. .............  Russia’s vaccine sped through early monkey and human trials with apparent success. ..........  their vaccine is based on a design developed years ago by Russian scientists to counter the Ebola virus. ........... Currently, eight vaccines have entered the final phase of mass human testing, including ones produced by Moderna in the United States, Oxford University and AstraZeneca in Britain and several Chinese companies. .............  The Russian scientific body that developed the vaccine, the Gamaleya Institute, has yet to conduct Phase 3 trials. ....... The Russian vaccine uses two strains of adenovirus that typically cause mild colds in humans. Scientists genetically modified them to cause infected cells to make proteins from the spike of the new coronavirus ................  The approach is similar to the one used in a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca that is now undergoing Phase III tests in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. .............  The Gamaleya Institute developed the Russian vaccine using a human cell line first cultured in 1973 — the same line used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. ........  Russia relied on a formidable legacy of research into viruses and vaccines in the Soviet Union, and had focused on established technologies, like the approach already used for the Ebola vaccine. ...........  Russia has already received orders for 1 billion doses from 20 countries and plans to manufacture the vaccine in Brazil, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Cuba .  

‘A Smoking Gun’: Infectious Coronavirus Retrieved From Hospital Air Airborne virus plays a significant role in community transmission, many experts believe. A new study fills in the missing piece: Floating virus can infect cells. ............  Aerosols are minute by definition, measuring only up to five micrometers across; evaporation can make them even smaller. .............  Scientists found airborne virus at a distance much farther than the recommended six feet.... ............   Indoor spaces without good ventilation — such as schools — might accumulate much more airborne virus  ...........  indoors, those distance rules don’t matter anymore .............  It takes about five minutes for small aerosols to traverse the room even in still air .......  The six-foot minimum is “misleading, because people think they are protected indoors and they’re really not” ............   The more distance people can maintain, the better .......  The findings should also push people to heed precautions for airborne transmission like improved ventilation