Tag: covid-19
Italy: ALL workers must have a Covid vaccination or negative test
The Italian government has today made it obligatory for ALL workers either to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection.
The new rules will come into force on Oct 15 in the latest effort by Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad coalition to persuade people to get inoculated and blunt contagion in one of the countries worst-hit by the virus.
Any worker who fails to present a valid health certificate will be suspended on no pay, but cannot be sacked, according to a draft of the decree seen by Reuters. The full details are due to be published later in the day.
Sonia Battaglia dead: she went into a coma a few days after the AstraZeneca #coronavirus vaccine
WHO: the first substantial decline in global Covid cases in more than two months
With nearly 4 million new cases reported globally in the past week (6-12 September), this represents the first substantial decline in weekly cases in more than two months. All regions reported declines in new cases as compared to the previous week.
World Health Organisation report – Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 – 14 September 2021
At Coronaheadsup, our hunch is that the next Covidminimum for this wave (i.e. the trough of the current wave) should be on either 13th October 2021 or 11th November 2021, as outlined in this post:
This pattern only seems to work on a global scale by the way, and not on a national scale, although some countries have shown distinct wave peaks on or around either the full moon or new moon. We might look at those in another post in the future if this hunch pans out.
Does it matter?
Well, yes, it does. If we can predict the waves, we can learn to ride the waves.
** UPDATE **
The latest world Covid-19 cases chart is shown below. The last global Covid-19 wave peaked around the full moon of August 22nd 2021 rather than the later new moon of September 7th as shown above, so earlier than we thought, but perhaps giving a more consistent pattern of peaks at the full moon.
A peak at the full moon on 22nd August would bring forward the next Covidminimum to the first quarter moon on 13th October 2021 if the pattern repeats.
That could put the next Covidmaximum (the peak of the next wave) on or around the full moon of December 19th 2021.
If you look carefully at the chart below, the first global wave that peaked in early January 2021 looks like it may have been a broken wave, a wave whose crest was interrupted by the winter holidays and a lack of testing and recording of cases over that period. The full moon for that period was on 30th December 2020 which coincides exactly with the sharp dip you see in the crest of that wave.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Israel: 11% of children who recover from coronavirus suffer from Long Covid
Image by Cheryl Holt from Pixabay
Israel: 40% of new Covid cases are in children under 11yrs
The Israeli Health Ministry says 650 people currently hospitalized with Covid are in serious condition, 172 of them on ventilators. 40% of newly confirmed Covid cases are in children under the age of 11 and only 4% in the over 60 population.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Ireland: 54% of hospitalized Covid patients are fully vaccinated
About half of all Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals and intensive care units are fully vaccinated against the disease, new figures show. One-sixth of deaths of people with the virus since April have been categorised as breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated patients, according to Health Service Executive data.
More than one-quarter of ICU admissions since July were also breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated people.
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
The UK announces its winter Covid plans
The UK has announced its plans to keep Covid-19 at bay this coming winter.
Here is Plan A (it’s basically the status quo):
* Building our defences through pharmaceutical interventions: vaccines, antivirals and disease modifying therapeutics.
* Identifying and isolating positive cases to limit transmission: Test, Trace and Isolate.
* Supporting the NHS and social care: managing pressures and recovering services.
* Advising people on how to protect themselves and others: clear guidance and communications.
* Pursuing an international approach: helping to vaccinate the world and managing risks at the border.
If Plan A doesn’t work, there is a Plan B:
* Communicating clearly and urgently to the public that the level of risk has increased, and with it the need to behave more cautiously.
* Introducing mandatory vaccine-only COVID-status certification in certain settings.
* Legally mandating face coverings in certain settings.
* You may be asked to work from home
And if Plan B doesn’t keep the dragons at bay, there’s always Plan C. It’s not explicitly mentioned, but it’s another lockdown.
Well, it’s not quite what we had in mind, it’s detention material at best, but, let’s move on shall we?
Here’s the winter plan in full: UK.GOV: COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021
Mongolia: 7 beavers found infected with Delta variant Covid-19, 2 dead, in Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia’s National Center for Zoonotic Diseases (NCZD) said that at least seven beavers in the country have been found infected with Covid-19.
NCZD director Nyamdorj Sogbadrakh told local media that the staff at the Ulaanbaatar Breeding Center in the capital Ulaanbaatar’s environment department took the Covid test in August. After that, the delta variant was detected in seven beavers.
This is the first time that Covid-19 has been detected in animals in Mongolia, Xinhua news agency quoted Sogbdrakh as saying.
** Update 15th September 2021 ** Several news outlets are saying the infected animals are beavers and not otters. The Chinese source below also says two of the beavers have died of Covid.
“This is the first confirmed cases of animal deaths in the country due to COVID-19. The dead beavers were from the Beaver Breeding Center at the Environmental Department of the capital Ulan Bator, and another seven beavers of the center have tested positive for the virus, according to the country’s National Center for Zoonotic Diseases (NCZD).
Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay
Ethiopia: man survives triple coinfection of Covid-19, HIV, and tuberculosis
A 55-year-old male arrived at the hospital with HIV, Covid-19 and tuberculosis. On June 6, 2021, the patient recovered and was discharged after 10 days in hospital
This case report suggests, after 10 days of admission with triple infections, there is a good clinical prognosis and survival from COVID-19. On admission, further diagnosis and investigations of TB coinfection should be performed for all patients admitted with COVID-19 due to their similar and non-specific clinical manifestations.
Image by Fifaliana Joy from Pixabay
China: man tests positive after 3 weeks in quarantine and 9 negative Covid tests
A man who completed 21 days of mandatory quarantine upon returning to China from overseas has been identified as the likely source of a new Covid outbreak. The man underwent 14 days of compulsory hotel quarantine, another 7 days in centralized quarantine and then a further week of health monitoring. He had tested negative for the virus nine times during 21 days of quarantine, before testing positive 37 days after entering China.
Putian’s locally-transmitted epidemic mainly has two chains of transmission – the one relating to Putou Primary School and one relating to Xiesheng shoe-making factory. The total infections from the school increased to at least 15 and at least 10 other infections from the Xiesheng shoe-making factory as of press time.
Preliminary studies suggest the outbreak may be traced to father of a student at the school who recently returned to Putian from Singapore. The person surnamed Lin tested positive on September 10, 38 days after returning from Singapore on August 4, during which he took nine nucleic acid and serologic tests, which were all negative.
Photo by Nuno Alberto on Unsplash
Argentina: mandatory Covid vaccination law in parliament
A bill has been introduced in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies to mandate vaccination against Covid-19 for all residents of the country. Since it falls within the framework of Immunization Law 27.491, passed in 2018, it can even be “coercively” applied; authorities can demand a fine or jeopardize the implementation of basic procedures such as the renewal of identity cards, passports or driver’s licences, to which every citizen and resident is entitled.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Brazil: “Public Health Scotland has been manipulative in the way it has presented the number of Covid deaths”
The Rio Times: “80% of Covid deaths in Scotland during August were people who had been vaccinated. Despite official government reports being molded to try to show otherwise, brief scrutiny of those same numbers shows that, during the entire month of August, up to 80% of the people who supposedly died from Covid-19 in Scotland had been vaccinated against the disease.”
“Public Health Scotland report shows the number of deaths that have occurred and the vaccination status of the deceased. However, PHS has been manipulative in the way it has presented the number of deaths.“
Because instead of presenting them week by week as they have done with the number of cases and hospitalizations, they have changed the logic and included deaths since December 29.”
“This means that they are including deaths from the height of the supposed second wave of Covid-19, where only 9% of the population had received a dose and only 0.1% of the entire population was fully vaccinated. Because of that, PHS can give the impression that most Covid-19 deaths occur among the unvaccinated population.”
“The table above is taken from the report published by Public Health Scotland on August 18, 2021, and shows Covid deaths by vaccination status between December 29, 2020, and August 5, 2021. As you can see, anyone reading the report might get the impression that vaccines are doing a fantastic job of preventing Covid-19 deaths.”
“But fast forward to the most recent report, and you will find in Table 17 that there have been 3,102 deaths among the unvaccinated population, 279 deaths among the partially vaccinated population, and 298 deaths among the fully vaccinated population between December 29 and August 26, 2021.
Therefore, the actual number of deaths by vaccination status between August 5 and August 26, 2021, is as follows:
Unvaccinated population – 25 deaths
Partially vaccinated population – 6 deaths
Fully vaccinated population – 92 deaths”
** Finally, someone else wakes up to this smoke and mirrors magic show **
Scotland: 70% of Covid deaths and 58% of hospitalizations are fully vaccinated
Robert Peston: Infections higher among doubled vaccinated aged 40 to 79 than for the unvaccinated
ITV journalist Robert Peston is getting a roasting on social media today for pointing out the fully vaccinated over-40’s are far more likely to become infected with Covid-19 than unvaccinated over-40’s .
Peston posted the chart below from the latest Public Health England Covid-19 vaccine surveillance report for Week 36. It clearly shows that those aged over 40 who have had both vaccine jabs are far more likely to become infected than those that are unvaccinated.
Official information about vaccine breakthroughs has been available from around the globe for months Robert. Why hasn’t any of the mainstream media looked at it? Are there any investigative journalists left, or are amateur internet investigators supposed to do the hard work whilst paid journalists simply reprint government press releases that are emailed to them without checking the facts first?
Public Health England vaccine surveillance report week 36
Drastic Research into the origins of Sars-CoV-2
Public Health England releases detailed vaccine breakthrough information
Preprint: MU B.1.621 the most resistant variant to convalescent and vaccinated sera to date
Here, we demonstrate that the Mu variant is highly resistant to sera from COVID-19 convalescents and BNT162b2-vaccinated individuals. Direct comparison of different SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins revealed that Mu spike is more resistant to serum-mediated neutralization than all other currently recognized variants of interest (VOI) and concern (VOC). This includes the Beta variant (B.1.351) that has been suggested to represent the most resistant variant to convalescent and vaccinated sera to date.
Biorxiv Preprint: Ineffective neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Mu variant by convalescent and vaccine sera
Image by Sofia Cristina Córdova Valladares from Pixabay
USA: All Federal employees must be vaccinated
“I have determined that to promote the health and safety of the Federal workforce and the efficiency of the civil service, it is necessary to require COVID-19 vaccination for all Federal employees, subject to such exceptions as required by law.” Joe Biden, 9th September 2021
Executive Order on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees
September 09, 2021
• Presidential Actions
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 3301, 3302, and 7301 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration to halt the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, by relying on the best available data and science-based public health measures. The Delta variant, currently the predominant variant of the virus in the United States, is highly contagious and has led to a rapid rise in cases and hospitalizations. The nationwide public health emergency, first declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on January 31, 2020, remains in effect, as does the National Emergency Concerning the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) declared pursuant to the National Emergencies Act in Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human Services has determined that the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to prevent infection by the Delta variant or other variants is to be vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccines are widely available in the United States. They protect people from getting infected and severely ill, and they significantly reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death. As of the date of this order, one of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, also known as Comirnaty, has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and two others, the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine, have been authorized by the FDA for emergency use. The FDA has determined that all three vaccines meet its rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality.
The health and safety of the Federal workforce, and the health and safety of members of the public with whom they interact, are foundational to the efficiency of the civil service. I have determined that ensuring the health and safety of the Federal workforce and the efficiency of the civil service requires immediate action to protect the Federal workforce and individuals interacting with the Federal workforce. It is essential that Federal employees take all available steps to protect themselves and avoid spreading COVID-19 to their co-workers and members of the public. The CDC has found that the best way to do so is to be vaccinated.
The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force), established by Executive Order 13991 of January 20, 2021 (Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing), has issued important guidance to protect the Federal workforce and individuals interacting with the Federal workforce. Agencies have also taken important actions, including in some cases requiring COVID-19 vaccination for members of their workforce.
Accordingly, building on these actions, and in light of the public health guidance regarding the most effective and necessary defenses against COVID-19, I have determined that to promote the health and safety of the Federal workforce and the efficiency of the civil service, it is necessary to require COVID-19 vaccination for all Federal employees, subject to such exceptions as required by law.
Sec. 2. Mandatory Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Each agency shall implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require COVID-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law. The Task Force shall issue guidance within 7 days of the date of this order on agency implementation of this requirement for all agencies covered by this order.
Sec. 3. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:
(a) The term “agency” means an Executive agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105 (excluding the Government Accountability Office).
(b) The term “employee” means an employee as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2105 (including an employee paid from nonappropriated funds as referenced in 5 U.S.C. 2105(c)).
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of any of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 9 2021
Image by YOONHEECHO from Pixabay