COVID-19

WeToddDid2 · Sep 7, 2021

gwb-trading said:
Did Eric Clapton Once Unleash a Racist Rant Onstage?
In late 2020, internet users highlighted a shocking episode from the legendary blues guitarist's past.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-clapton-racist-rant/

At a concert in 1976, Eric Clapton went on a racist rant, using deeply offensive racial slurs and calling for the deportation of non-whites from Britain.

TRUE

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@Cuddles
Stupid ass libtard tactic.

Biden has unleashed many racist rants. So, are you also disregarding everything racist Biden has to say?

WeToddDid2 · Sep 7, 2021

Great fucking job Biden!

https://news.yahoo.com/daily-us-covid-cases-more-170000206.html

Daily US COVID cases up more than 300% from Labor Day last year

gwb-trading · Sep 8, 2021

gwb-trading said:
Progress on the technology front for air filtration for schools...

COVID-19 spurred investment in air filtration for schools—but it’s not an instant fix
A simple ‘plug-and-play’ approach will not address the complicated reality of aerosol exposures in densely occupied classrooms.
https://www.fastcompany.com/9067188...ration-for-schools-but-its-not-an-instant-fix

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought increased attention to indoor air quality and the effect that ventilation has on reducing disease transmission in indoor spaces. A recent infrastructure survey reported that of the nearly 100,000 operating public school buildings across the U.S., more than a third have an immediate need for upgrades to the ventilation systems that help control indoor air quality and the spread of “aerosols.”

Aerosol is the term used to describe the millions of microscopic particles that float in air – both indoors and out. People constantly inhale and exhale aerosols, some of which include allergens, particles from automobile exhaust, wildfire ash and microbes.

Our University of Colorado environmental engineering team has been studying the microbiological components of indoor air, called “bioaerosols,” for more than 25 years. We have surveyed the ventilation systems of hundreds of K-12 classrooms, health care facilities, and restaurants. And we have provided facilities managers with affordable plans to improve indoor air quality.

Our own work as well as others’ has found that many classrooms are unfortunately poorly ventilated, and that better ventilation can reduce student absences due to illness – both during a pandemic and more normal times.

After surveying the installation of air filtration systems over the past year, we found that they can significantly improve air quality in classrooms by lowering aerosol levels, which in turn lowers COVID-19 transmission risk. But effective installation is key.

A new age of filtration
As the pandemic continues to highlight the need for better ventilation and indoor air quality, many academic institutions, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and professional building science societies have been promoting better building-management practices to improve school ventilation.

Some building scientists have called for bringing the ventilation conditions in schools up to the levels prescribed for medical clinics. Unfortunately, the infrastructure investments required for that level of upgrade are well out of practical reach for many public buildings: Between 2008 and 2017 alone, state capital funding for schools was cut by $20 billion, or 31%.

In the absence of funding for major building upgrades, simple in-room filtration technologies have been installed in some schools to improve ventilation in classrooms where many students spend their days in close quarters. However, these filters have only been deployed in a small fraction of public schools across the country.

This technology, called high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration, was born in the aerospace industry more than 50 years ago. HEPA filtration has been proved to efficiently remove microscopic airborne particles – including respiratory viruses – from air in higher occupancy spaces like classrooms.

Over the past few years, a new generation of HEPA filters has emerged from the U.S. commercial sector. These filters are more compatible with educational settings and less intrusive than their research-grade counterparts that are commonly used in the aerospace and pharmaceutical sectors, where “clean rooms” are needed. These latest models include improvements like multidirectional intake, reduced noise, lower power requirements, better durability and relatively small footprints.

HEPA filters have also become more widely used over the past couple of decades in homes in response to the recognition of rising asthma rates among children. But until the COVID-19 pandemic, they were rarely used in public school settings.

Bringing fresher air to classrooms
Over the 2021 spring academic semester, our team installed hundreds of new HEPA filters in public elementary classrooms in Denver, Colorado, the largest metropolitan school district in the Mountain West. These upgrades were possible due to a recent industry-university cooperative effort between the University of Colorado, the Intel foundation and the Carrier Corporation, a multinational ventilation equipment company. Together, these organizations contributed more than $500,000 for large-scale ventilation assessments, HEPA filter installations and other air quality improvements for Denver-area schools.

A yet-unpublished poll of teachers in many of those classrooms overwhelmingly reported that this new generation of HEPA filters were welcome and easy to accommodate in their classrooms.

But like all engineering solutions, air filter effectiveness depends on proper installation. Our team’s field studies demonstrate that a simple “plug-and-play” approach will not address the complicated reality of aerosol exposures in densely occupied classrooms. In many situations, we have found HEPA filters that were undersized and placed inappropriately – such as facing a wall or in a remote corner – and sometimes not even turned on.

Networks of HEPA filters need to be thoughtfully installed, and the process must take into consideration other factors such as existing ventilation system performance, ceiling height, desk layouts and the presence or absence of ceiling fans. HEPA filters can only work up to their full potential if schools have the right number of them, they are the appropriate size and are placed in optimal positions.

The best HEPA filter installations consider details like student seating charts, high traffic areas and other variables based on student behaviors. Fortunately, building facility managers and custodial staff can be trained, with modest time investment, to install, operate and maintain HEPA filters in classrooms, with minimal distraction to teachers.

Air quality improvements are an investment in health and education
A 2020 review on indoor air quality strategies estimates that an individual HEPA filter, sized for elementary school classrooms with average energy use, costs about $361. This is consistent with our team’s experience in the Denver Public Schools system, where we typically installed at least two units per classroom at a cost of less than $800 per room. We estimate that this is roughly equal to the cost of one extra textbook per student over an academic year. In our opinion, that is well worth the potential improvement in indoor air quality in classrooms.

In-room HEPA filtration is a long-term investment that supplements existing ventilation systems. And though COVID-19 was the impetus for the installation of many HEPA filters, they are effective for far more than just reducing exposures to airborne viruses. Well-maintained and properly functioning filtration systems also reduce exposure to wildfire ash that can penetrate buildings, as well as allergens and other unwanted particles like automobile exhaust, tire detritus and construction dust.

But even the best indoor HEPA filtration cannot guarantee protection from airborne respiratory threats in schools. HEPA filters are effective only as part of an integrated approach. Ultimately, masks, distancing and reducing the number of students packed into tight spaces will determine how well students are protected from COVID-19.

HEPA filters are the modern analogy of “seat-belts” for indoor air quality in the age of COVID-19. If fitted correctly, they can only help lower the exposures to COVID-19 and other aerosols that students experience during their school days.

Mark Thomas Hernandez, S. J. Archuleta Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Another interesting article about ventilation...

The Plan to Stop Every Respiratory Virus at Once
The benefits of ventilation reach far beyond the coronavirus. What if we stop taking colds and flus for granted, too?
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/...s-pandemic-ventilation-rethinking-air/620000/

gwb-trading · Sep 9, 2021

Bring in the dogs...

Miami International Airport boasting world's first COVID-detecting dogs
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-international-airport-boasting-worlds-first-covid-detecting-dogs/

Cuddles · Sep 16, 2021

gwb-trading · Sep 20, 2021

See? We told you it was just like the flu.

COVID has killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 flu
https://apnews.com/article/science-...rus-pandemic-c15d5c6dd7ece88d0832993f11279fbb

gwb-trading · Sep 22, 2021

Is The Worst Over? Modelers Predict A Steady Decline In COVID Cases Through March
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...a-steady-decline-in-covid-cases-through-march

userque · Sep 22, 2021

gwb-trading said:
Is The Worst Over? Modelers Predict A Steady Decline In COVID Cases Through March
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...a-steady-decline-in-covid-cases-through-march
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Remember to also highlight the obvious for certain folks:

"We have to be cautious because the virus has shown us time and time again that new variants or people loosening up on how careful they're being can lead things to come roaring back," Lessler warns.

gwb-trading · Sep 23, 2021

Study shows remdesivir significantly reduces risk of hospitalization among high-risk Covid-19 patients
https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-new...t-09-22-21/h_a5c5e93568c67075af2d9ef510747e15

Gilead Sciences said Wednesday that its late-stage trial of a three-day intravenous course of the antiviral remdesivir significantly reduced the risk of non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients becoming sicker and dying.

In this trial, remdesivir, also known by its brand name, Veklury, was tested on 562 people considered high-risk for severe Covid-19 based on their health conditions and age. Half received the drug and the other half received a placebo.

The group that got the drug saw an 87% reduction in risk of hospitalization by day 28, and an 81% reduced risk of dying compared with the group that got a placebo.

The company had stopped enrolling people in the trial in April, it said, “reflecting the evolution of the Covid-19 landscape and changing patient needs.” At that time, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had decided to start giving remdesivir to patients who had been receiving standard care, since NIAID found that the drug had showed a small effect against Covid-19. The company said it continued to collect data on the patients in its trial so that it was able to produce the results of this latest trial.

The data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, and Gilead said it will be presented at the IDWeek 2021 virtual conference.

“Antiviral medications provide maximal benefit when used early in the disease course. Last summer, data from clinical trials demonstrated the benefit of remdesivir in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, even when not yet requiring oxygen. These latest data show remdesivir’s potential to help high-risk patients recover before they get sicker and stay out of the hospital altogether,” Dr. Robert L. Gottlieb, a cardiologist and principal Investigator at Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, said in a company news release. “We are seeing very high numbers of hospitalized patients as new COVID-19 infections surge, placing increased demands on already over-burdened healthcare systems. Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, is an effective antiviral for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and an essential tool to help reduce disease progression.”

What's next: Gilead said it plans to continue to study how safe the drug is and how well it works in patients who are hospitalized. In November, the World Health Organization had updated its ongoing guidance on medication to advise against using the antiviral drug to treat hospitalized patients. However, it is approved for temporary use in 50 countries and has been provided to 127 middle and low income countries.

In October, the antiviral was the first drug to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat Covid-19; it’s approved for treatment of hospitalized adult and pediatric patients age 12 and older, and has emergency use authorization for treatment of younger children. It is approved for use only in a hospital or health care setting and needs to be administered by IV over 30 to 120 minutes.

gwb-trading · Sep 24, 2021

Fauci says "dark winter" can be avoided if more are vaccinated
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-fauci-dark-winter/