Covid variant

9 min readFeb 3, 2021

https://zenodo.org/record/4498786#.YBrqIOgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498788#.YBrqIugzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498804#.YBru4-gzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498806#.YBru5egzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498841#.YBrxK-gzbDc

Covid cases remain lowest among younger children, even after schools reopened, study says
Covid cases remain lowest among younger children, even after schools reopened, study says
If you do have a history of immediate or severe allergic reactions to vaccines or other injections, try to have an EpiPen on hand, said Dr. Saju Mathew, an Atlanta-based primary care physician and public health specialist.
DON’T: Drive away before your 15- to 30-minute wait is up.
The CDC requires that everyone receiving a coronavirus vaccination wait

British scientists say the next dangerous Covid variant is likely already out there. We just don’t know it yet

Almost a month into a third nationwide lockdown, most of England seems to be in hibernation: stores are shuttered, high streets are deserted, and trains are almost empty. But in one small village in the countryside near Cambridge, in eastern England, there is a hive of activity.

Dressed in white lab coats and surgical masks, staff here scurry from machine to machine — robots and giant computers that are so heavy, they’re placed on solid steel plates to support their weight.
The staff at the Sanger Institute are much more than essential workers — right now, they’re doing some of the most important work on Earth: genetically sequencing the coronavirus. Internally, it’s called “Project Heron.”
The labor-intensive project, involving hundreds of people, is being done just down the road from the Cambridge pub that Francis Crick walked into in 1953 to declare he’d “found the secret of life” — the structure of DNA. Today that discovery is allowing scientists to spot dangerous mutations in the genetic code of coronavirus that could make the pandemic much worse than it already is.

https://zenodo.org/record/4498839#.YBrxLugzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498873#.YBryyegzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498871#.YBryzOgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498890#.YBr0uOgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498888#.YBr0vOgzbDc
Industrial-scale sequencing
Every day, vans arrive at the Sanger Institute carrying crates full of virus samples from around the UK. The green crates are loaded into an industrial-sized walk-in freezer, set up in the parking lot.
By this point, there are no more cotton swabs. The samples — both positive and negative — are in a solution of what’s left over after initial testing. The scientists don’t need much.
Inside the lab, a robot is programmed to pluck only the positive samples from a small, plastic muffin tin-like plate and consolidate them onto a separate tray which is sealed by hand. Hundreds of samples end up consolidated into a single vial. In another lab, chemicals are added, and shaken by a small machine, then pressed thin between two pieces of glass. The glass plate is put into one of the giant sequencers, a loudly humming machine that looks like a high-tech photocopier.

What to do, and not do, before and after your Covid vaccine shot

It’s an all-out sprint to get Americans vaccinated against the deadly novel coronavirus. As you prepare to get your shot, here are 10 actions experts suggest doing — and avoiding.

DO: Get your vaccine when it’s your turn.

https://zenodo.org/record/4498898#.YBr26OgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498896#.YBr26egzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498905#.YBr4eOgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498903#.YBr4e-gzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498911#.YBr6DOgzbDc
It's chaos as older people struggle to get a Covid-19 vaccine. Here is what you can do
It’s chaos as older people struggle to get a Covid-19 vaccine. Here is what you can do
You should be able to find out when it’s your turn to be vaccinated and how to register in your neighborhood by reaching out to your state or local health department. CNN has created a list of state websites, emails and phone numbers for all 50 states and territories. Check there for information on available vaccine registrations in your local area.

Sponsor content by Hitachi
Why social innovation might be key for rapidly developing Southeast Asian cities
More than 30 cities in Southeast Asia will have more than 1 million residents. Innovations with a social bent will be key to solving urbanization challenges.
DON’T: Let disinformation on vaccines cloud your judgment.
Social media is rife with disinformation about both Covid-19 and the vaccines that are available to prevent it.
Here's how some of the leading coronavirus vaccines work
Here’s how some of the leading coronavirus vaccines work
If you have doubts about the vaccine, get educated — the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is just one of many trusted organizations with vetted, science-based facts about the virus and available vaccines.
Pharmacist Preston Young administers a Moderna Covid-19 vaccination during a drive-thru clinic on January 13 in Santa Rosa, California.
Pharmacist Preston Young administers a Moderna Covid-19 vaccination during a drive-thru clinic on January 13 in Santa Rosa, California.
DO: Get vaccinated if you’ve already had Covid-19.
Reinfection with Covid-19 is definitively possible, the CDC says, so everyone needs to get a coronavirus vaccination, including those who have already had the illness.
Note: If you were given monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma while sick with Covid-19, you should wait 90 days after treatment before getting the vaccine, the CDC advises. Check with your doctor before scheduling the shot.
DON’T: Get a shot if you currently have Covid-19 or have been exposed.
If you have tested positive for Covid-19 or been exposed to someone who has the illness, you should not go to the vaccination site to get your shot until your symptoms and isolation period have passed, said Dr. Michael Ison, a professor in the division of infectious diseases and organ transplantation at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Don’t let your ongoing reactions keep you from getting the shot, said vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Redefining Covid-19: Months after infection, patients report breathing difficulty, excessive fatigue
Redefining Covid-19: Months after infection, patients report breathing difficulty, excessive fatigue

https://zenodo.org/record/4498913#.YBr6D-gzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498917#.YBr75-gzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498919#.YBr8NugzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498945#.YBr-rOgzbDc
https://zenodo.org/record/4498943#.YBr-r-gzbDc
“We think long-haul symptoms are not due to active virus infection, but to prolonged inflammatory responses to the virus,” Hotez said.
DON’T: Get another type of vaccine within 14 days of the Covid-19 shot.
Wait at least 14 days before or after getting another vaccine, including a flu or shingles shot, to get a Covid-19 vaccination, the CDC says.
However, if you inadvertently did get another vaccine within that two-week time frame, you should complete the Covid-19 series on schedule. As more information on how vaccines interact becomes available, the CDC says it may update this guidance.
DO: Tell vaccine staff about any allergies or past allergic reactions.
It’s rare, but a few people have had moderate-to-severe allergic reactions after being given the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines, so be sure to tell the nurse at the vaccination site about any past allergic reactions.
15 minutes in their car before driving away. If you have a history of severe allergic reactions, you’ll be required to wait 30 minutes in your car to be sure you’re safe to drive. Both are a minor inconvenience, experts say, compared to the dangers of an adverse reaction of dizziness or worse while driving.
California officials say providers can resume administering Moderna vaccine from a specific lot after pause
California officials say providers can resume administering Moderna vaccine from a specific lot after pause
If you have a serious reaction after leaving the vaccination site call 911, the CDC suggests. All reactions can be reported
One of the temporary freezers that have been hurriedly set up in the parking lot of the Sanger Institute to store the thousands of Covid-19 test samples that make it here from across the UK every week.
One of the temporary freezers that have been hurriedly set up in the parking lot of the Sanger Institute to store the thousands of Covid-19 test samples that make it here from across the UK every week.
Fifteen hours later, the computer spits out so much genetic data that entire server farms have been built off-site to house it. From start to finish, the process takes about five days. Around 10,000 samples are sequenced each week in this lab alone — around a quarter of the total number sequenced globally.

https://www.guest-articles.com/news/next-dangerous-covid-variant-03-02-2021
https://www.guest-articles.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-is-89-effective-03-02-2021
https://www.guest-articles.com/news/german-officials-astrazeneca-vaccine-03-02-2021
https://www.guest-articles.com/news/the-face-mask-end-the-pandemic-03-02-2021
https://gumroad.com/hamada33
https://muckrack.com/hmido-hamada/bio
https://steemit.com/news/@ijmro3uiqoe/what-to-do-covid-vaccine-shot
Then comes the hard part: Combing through all that data.
“We’re looking for mutations that may allow the virus to either be more transmissible or to cause more severe disease, and particularly now that vaccines are beginning to be rolled out globally, we’re looking potentially for mutations that we think might affect the ability of the vaccines to protect people,” said Ewan Harrison, a microbiologist who is helping coordinate the network of scientists working on the Covid-19 genomics operation in the UK.
A scientist at the Sanger Institute prepares the Covid-19 samples for sequencing. More than 700 positive samples are sequenced in a single run of one machine, which takes around five days.
A scientist at the Sanger Institute prepares the Covid-19 samples for sequencing. More than 700 positive samples are sequenced in a single run of one machine, which takes around five days.
Harrison explains that if you sequence enough of the population you can see how the virus has moved through the community and where there have been groups of infections — including super-spreader events. “That’s really powerful … that’s really at the heart of what viral sequencing is for,” he said.
Harrison has played a leading role in the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) a team of hundreds of scientists at universities and labs across the country that sprang up at the start of the pandemic, working in unison to create and make sense of the genetic data being sequenced.
Finding the UK variant
Less than two months ago, that network of scientists and Britain’s growing mountain of genetic data helped to identify and trace the spread of the variant that has now become dominant in the UK. It was first spotted in Kent, a rural county that also has some of the most deprived communities in southeast England.
“People in Kent weren’t all having house parties and going to the same supermarket,” Public Health England spokesperson Ruairidh Villar told CNN. His scientist colleagues quickly ruled out bad behavior.
New coronavirus variants keep popping up. Here's what we know about them
New coronavirus variants keep popping up. Here’s what we know about them
And yet, daily case counts continued to climb across the county, even while they were falling in most other parts of the UK, which was under national lockdown.
They found the culprit in the UK’s genomic database, which at the time covered about one in every 10 positive Covid-19 samples in the country.
The rogue strain of the virus, called B.1.1.7, had been circulating in Kent since at least September. It spreads 30–70% more easily than the original virus, according to Britain’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance.
It didn’t take long for B.1.1.7 to be detected in the capital, and throughout the country. It has now been spotted in at least 70 countries, and most US states. The CDC says it could become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the US by March.
Cambridge University Professor Ravi Gupta said that, based on how quickly it spread in the UK, “It’s probable that the same thing will happen in the US.”
Inside his lab, Gupta showed CNN a “phylogenetic family tree” — the equivalent of ancestry.com for Covid-19. On this tree, B.1.1.7 looks like a second cousin, twice removed, from the original coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China. The genetic difference is 23 mutations, but the real oddity is that B.1.1.7 has so few close “relatives.”

https://www.thewyco.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-03-02-2021
https://www.thewyco.com/news/does-covid-19-impact-male-fertility-03-02-2021
https://www.thewyco.com/news/vaccine-is-89-effective-03-02-2021
https://www.thewyco.com/news/astrazeneca-vaccine-03-02-2021
https://www.thewyco.com/news/planets-around-a-star-200-03-02-2021
https://www.thewyco.com/news/positive-covid-19-89-effective-03-02-2021
https://note.com/hamadarivaloo/n/n7251862f993b
“We found very few — virtually no sequences that are highly related to the B.1.1.7 variant. In other words, it popped out of nowhere,” said Gupta.
Professor Ravindra Gupta, along with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, was one of the first to spot the UK Covid variant.
Professor Ravindra Gupta, along with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, was one of the first to spot the UK Covid variant.

Covid variant

Written by Hmido Hamada J