Lots of good news today

[Amethyst]

I remember an article from the last recession, which revealed that in Chicago (I think) schools, the donated food which kids were bringing home from school on weekends, was helping to keep the entire family from starving. Aunts and grandmas included. The adults depended on the schools to feed the kids during the week. Over the weekend, toward month's end, they would go hungry to ensure the kids had enough to eat.

I never forgot that, and food charities are my donation choice. Without the schools to distribute food, it is all falling on food pantries and churches, and even they are struggling.

. And in many households, the school lunch is their only nutritious meal in the day.

e.

 

[harllee]

Amethyst, I also donate to food charities. Most of my "stimulus" money went to a local organization that provides backpacks of food to children out of school, many of whom would otherwise go hungry.

 

[Montecfo]

German study finds low transmission in schools

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/14/schools-coronavirus-infection-rate-low-german-study-finds.html

 

[harllee]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/14/schools-coronavirus-infection-rate-low-german-study-finds.html

I hope that we find low transmission amoung school children when schools start here in the U.S. I note from the picture accompanying the Article that the children's desks are spaced far apart, the class size looks small and the children are following other safety precautions (don't want to use the "M" word).

 

[Amethyst]

These backpacks, as I mentioned, help to feed whole families when the food-stamp money runs out halfway through the month.

Amethyst, I also donate to food charities. Most of my "stimulus" money went to a local organization that provides backpacks of food to children out of school, many of whom would otherwise go hungry.

 

[mpeirce]

Fair enough. Are there any vaccines that work against corona viruses?

There's little money in vaccines for minor diseases. After SARS faded, no one cared about it.

Scientists were close to a coronavirus vaccine years ago. Then the money dried up.

HOUSTON — Dr. Peter Hotez says he made the pitch to anyone who would listen. After years of research, his team of scientists in Texas had helped develop a vaccine to protect against a deadly strain of coronavirus. Now they needed money to begin testing it in humans.

But this was 2016. More than a decade had passed since the viral disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, had spread through China, killing more than 770 people. That disease, an earlier coronavirus similar to the one now sweeping the globe, was a distant memory by the time Hotez and his team sought funding to test whether their vaccine would work in humans.

"We tried like heck to see if we could get investors or grants to move this into the clinic," said Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "But we just could not generate much interest."

 

[Montecfo]

I hope that we find low transmission amoung school children when schools start here in the U.S. I note from the picture accompanying the Article that the children's desks are spaced far apart, the class size looks small and the children are following other safety precautions (don't want to use the "M" word).

That picture was not of the study subjects. It was not related.

 

[Markola]

Have you considered a career as a politician? Or perhaps a product spokesman?

We would all like to have definitive answers to many questions, and solutions to many of these problems. Unfortunately, there are few quick, easy, and correct answers. But there is demand for folks to claim that they have the solutions, or to throw shade on folks that either don't have the solutions they want or those folks who simply say 'we don't know' or 'we were wrong'.

I sometimes wonder if humanity is just too stupid to survive this.

I don’t understand your comment but it sounds like you think I’m being unduly critical of vaccine development efforts. I admit to having heard a very knowledgeable science writer yesterday who was quite skeptical of the likelihood of a vaccine any time soon, which has colored my view. Scientists do seem to be making more progress on treatments that lessen mortality, which is welcomed. You are welcomed to parse the available information as you think best.

 

[explanade]

A vaccine is not a requirement. We need effective treatments that lessen severity and lethality. A vaccine would be icing on the cake.

I agree. That’s where we are with HIV after 30+ years and many billions of dollars. Treatment.

We need both treatments and vaccines.

It's going to be difficult even if we get a completely effective vaccine to produce billions of doses and vaccinate billions of people.

Even vaccinating a city or a state with a few million people will require armies.

Now compare that to if we only have treatments but no vaccines. Many of the monoclonal antibodies that they're developing may require IV delivery.

Remdesivir currently requires that, meaning you have to be hospitalized and the dosage is either 5 or 10 days. So you have to be in hospital and taking up a bed for at least 5 days.

If that's the case with the monoclonal antibodies think of what a huge bottleneck that is, for people to get hospitalized first in order to get these treatments.

It would be even more difficult than getting the vaccines out to all the pharmacies so that people can get vaccinated that way and never get infected in the first place, so that you don't use up hospital resources.

Without vaccines, a lot of vulnerable populations will be cautious and not fully participate in restoring the economy to normalcy.


Even if we get a vaccine, we may need one or more booster shots so the logistics are difficult as it is.

 

[audreyh1]

He said they were at the ladies house less then two hours , they were not wearing masks .

Two hours is plenty of time.

 

[brewer12345]

We need both treatments and vaccines.

It's going to be difficult even if we get a completely effective vaccine to produce billions of doses and vaccinate billions of people.

Even vaccinating a city or a state with a few million people will require armies.

Now compare that to if we only have treatments but no vaccines. Many of the monoclonal antibodies that they're developing may require IV delivery.

Remdesivir currently requires that, meaning you have to be hospitalized and the dosage is either 5 or 10 days. So you have to be in hospital and taking up a bed for at least 5 days.

If that's the case with the monoclonal antibodies think of what a huge bottleneck that is, for people to get hospitalized first in order to get these treatments.

It would be even more difficult than getting the vaccines out to all the pharmacies so that people can get vaccinated that way and never get infected in the first place, so that you don't use up hospital resources.

Without vaccines, a lot of vulnerable populations will be cautious and not fully participate in restoring the economy to normalcy.


Even if we get a vaccine, we may need one or more booster shots so the logistics are difficult as it is.

I am watching a tiny biotech company that has a promising drug that was developed for HIV, but seems to work for covid. They are close to having double blind study data. If it works and gets approval, it is hard to imagine them getting enough made to even make a dent in the wall of cases.

 

[RobbieB]

As long as the covid stays with us unlike the SARS and the MERS, there will be a ton of dough for both treatment and prevention.

Lots of dough has always been a strong motivator. And with streamlined FDA procedures I'm thinking it's going to be faster rather than slower.

 

[Clone]

I don’t understand your comment but it sounds like you think I’m being unduly critical of vaccine development efforts. I admit to having heard a very knowledgeable science writer yesterday who was quite skeptical of the likelihood of a vaccine any time soon, which has colored my view. Scientists do seem to be making more progress on treatments that lessen mortality, which is welcomed. You are welcomed to parse the available information as you think best.

I did not mean any ill intent or implication. Maybe eventually I will just learn to completely sterilize (and then discard) my comments.

I am commenting more on the news cycle and the demand for answers where we have no answers. In many cases, the people in the spotlight (on the news) are either politicians, school administrators, store owners, average joe on the street. The reporters, supposedly speaking on behalf of the general public, are demanding answers that we do not know (the royal we, human-kind in general). And they are demanding answers from people that are not the experts.

I would love to see a vaccine, but I think it will be a far down the road, remote possibility kind of thing. I think that we have many people demanding results in a short time frame that have no concept of what that means. We have folks with an optimistic viewpoint that would like to assure folks that the solution will happen, very soon.

I apologize for inferring anything negative (or at all, for that matter) about your comment about having medical training.

 

[Markola]

No worries and no apology necessary. It’s a crazy, unprecedented time. One thing I’m doing is trying to give myself and others around me, mostly my DW since we’re together 24/7, space to do what feels best just so we can maintain our sanity. We’re eating and drinking more than we should but s%*! it. We’re in a global pandemic.

 

[brewer12345]

No worries and no apology necessary. It’s a crazy, unprecedented time. One thing I’m doing is trying to give myself and others around me, mostly my DW since we’re together 24/7, space to do what feels best just so we can maintain our sanity. We’re eating and drinking more than we should but F it. We’re in a global pandemic.

Yeah. I have had a rough couple weeks. I have Friday free and should be doing chores, but I decided I am going to my secret spot in the forest without the kids to shoot the 58 caliber muzzleloader. Black powder aromatherapy.

 

[Markola]

Yeah. I have had a rough couple weeks. I have Friday free and should be doing chores, but I decided I am going to my secret spot in the forest without the kids to shoot the 58 caliber muzzleloader. Black powder aromatherapy.

Whatever it takes, man. Enjoy.

 

[brewer12345]

Whatever it takes, man. Enjoy.

Heh, when you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

 

[Gumby]

I remember an article from the last recession, which revealed that in Chicago (I think) schools, the donated food which kids were bringing home from school on weekends, was helping to keep the entire family from starving. Aunts and grandmas included. The adults depended on the schools to feed the kids during the week. Over the weekend, toward month's end, they would go hungry to ensure the kids had enough to eat.

I never forgot that, and food charities are my donation choice. Without the schools to distribute food, it is all falling on food pantries and churches, and even they are struggling.

My church started up a program called Food 2 Kids to address the fact that kids were going hungry over the weekend.. Students in this situation are identified by the guidance counselors in our local schools. Our program buys kid friendly food at wholesale, which can be eaten without the need for cooking beyond getting it hot. Things like Chef Boyardee pasta meals in a can, shelf stable milk and fruit cups. Every Thursday, a group of volunteers packs bags with enough food for a child for the weekend. We deliver it to the school guidance counselor and they give it to the kids. We are currently providing weekend meals for several hundred school children in my town of 50,000 people. Fortunately, the community at large has really taken a shine to the program and we get substantial monetary donations from local businesses and individuals. Until the recent pandemic, it was also a team building thing for local businesses to supply the Thursday food packing crew from their employees.

My occasional role is to go to the food warehouse with a small group of other men from the church. We pick up the boxes of food from the pallets, load them in our vans, SUVs and pickups and bring them to the church, so the packers can do their thing. It's all lifting and toting, so I'm well suited for the job.

 

[Montecfo]

My church started up a program called Food 2 Kids to address the fact that kids were going hungry over the weekend.. Students in this situation are identified by the guidance counselors in our local schools. Our program buys kid friendly food at wholesale, which can be eaten without the need for cooking beyond getting it hot. Things like Chef Boyardee pasta meals in a can, shelf stable milk and fruit cups. Every Thursday, a group of volunteers packs bags with enough food for a child for the weekend. We deliver it to the school guidance counselor and they give it to the kids. We are currently providing weekend meals for several hundred school children in my town of 50,000 people. Fortunately, the community at large has really taken a shine to the program and we get substantial monetary donations from local businesses and individuals. Until the recent pandemic, it was also a team building thing for local businesses to supply the Thursday food packing crew from their employees.

My occasional role is to go to the food warehouse with a small group of other men from the church. We pick up the boxes of food from the pallets, load them in our vans, SUVs and pickups and bring them to the church, so the packers can do their thing. It's all lifting and toting, so I'm well suited for the job.

That's a fantastic way to serve them!

 

[Dtail]

Heh, when you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

Are you sending that slogan to Hallmark?

 

[brewer12345]

Are you sending that slogan to Hallmark?

Might be kind of a niche product.

 

[Montecfo]

Retail sales up

Retail sales grew 7.5%in June, beating analysts' expectations for 5% growth.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/16/retail-sales-june-2020.html

 

[mickj]

Moderna reporting 'good news' on their vaccine.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/202...-induces-strong-response/6841594789496/?ur3=1

I would think testing with 30,000 people in in a double blind study should let us know if it works.

 

[unclemick]

Yeah. I have had a rough couple weeks. I have Friday free and should be doing chores, but I decided I am going to my secret spot in the forest without the kids to shoot the 58 caliber muzzleloader. Black powder aromatherapy.

Memories. Katrina got my 58 cal non re-enactment approved 1863 along with 1860 old army and 36 cal navy pistols. Fun but a bugger to clean.

heh heh heh -

 

[flyingaway]

I have a question about the testing and reporting. If a person is tested several times, will this person be included in the reporting several times.

For example, a person is tested positive is likely to get more several tests later until is tested negative, will this person be reported in several tests as (maybe different) positive persons? thus counted several times?