covid TheModerateTankie • 4w ago • 100%

Two doses of Chinese Nasal Vaccine shows effective mucosal immunity

They tested people to check for evidence of asymptomatic infection and found that people who had two doses of the nasal vaccine showed no signs of infection after three months. >CONCLUSION. A 2-dose intranasal vaccination regimen using NB2155 was safe, was well tolerated, and could dramatically induce broad-spectrum spike-specific sIgA in the nasal passage. Preliminary data suggested that the intranasal vaccination may establish an effective mucosal immune barrier against infection and warranted further clinical studies. https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/180784 >"At least 86.2% participants who completed 2 [nasal vaccine] doses maintained uninfected status, likely without even asymptomatic infection, for at least 3 months. https://xcancel.com/EricTopol/status/1838937705977110991#m Seems like we are getting closer to better vaccines being approved.

covid TheModerateTankie • 1mo ago • 100%

How to Stay Safe(r) at Home (Lola Germs)

This is a pretty succinct overview of what your options are if you live with people who had their empathy circuits fried by the pandemic and can't be bothered to care about disease transmission anymore. Aside from masking: Setting up air filters is probably the lowest effort for biggest return on safety. All these tips will help against actual regular colds and flus, too, since we are coming up on that time of year. Also a reminder that [it's never healthy to be infected by virus.](https://www.okdoomer.io/how-your-immune-system-actually-works/)

covid TheModerateTankie • 1mo ago • 98%

What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain (bloomberg.com)

It's 2024, and we get to relearn the same thing we've learned every year since the pandemic started: Covid causes brain damage! Be aware that in most news articles about covid and brain damage, like this one, the authors usually measure the cognitive impacts in terms of IQ points, which is a bad way to measure it but it's what most people understand, I guess. >**How Covid Harms the Brain** >The effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection on the brain are the focus of intense research and remain only partially understood. Studies suggest that during acute infection, the virus may damage nerves, particularly in the olfactory bulb — which houses the nerves that transmit smell impulses to the brain — leading to problems that can persist for years. **In some cases, the virus may infect the brain through this pathway, altering the organ’s structure and resulting in impaired cognition and fatigue.** >Persistent viral remnants or the initial infection itself may trigger neuroinflammation and disrupt the immune system, causing antibodies and T cells to mistakenly attack healthy brain cells, damage blood vessels, and harm the blood-brain barrier. Additional research points to blood clots that may drive immune activation, restricting the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain, and altered levels of key hormones cortisol and dopamine that may be linked to changes in gut health.  New vaccines are available, and I just got mine, but If you don't have insurance it will be expensive because our bloodthirsty capitalist oligarchs hate you. A lot of countries are just relying on constant covid infections to build up "herd immunity" which doesn't work with the common cold or flu, and those are far less infectious and don't mutate as quickly.

the_dunk_tank TheModerateTankie • 2mo ago • 100%

youtube: I see you are interested in marxism, but have you considered...

Lol. I'm not watching this shit. Fuck off. "HARRIS VP PICK IS BASED"  1 hour 30 minute replies to 15min videos. I don't know if I could handle that much fact and reason.

covid TheModerateTankie • 2mo ago • 100%

U.S. COVID update (August 25): Second week with more than 1,000 new deaths - BNO News

bnonews.com

>At least 174,455 new cases were reported between August 19 and August 25, up from 169,217 the week before (+3%) and the highest since March 3. Those figures were collected from state health departments and, where necessary, estimated based on hospital admissions. >**Actual case numbers are higher because many hospitals and states are no longer reporting detailed COVID data. Laboratory testing is also low as most people and doctors are using at-home tests which are not included in official statistics.**  >1,075 new COVID deaths were reported during the week, the second week in a row with more than 1,000 new deaths. It’s also the seventh week in a row with more than 500 new deaths and the 232nd week with more than 400 new deaths. >So far this year, nearly 4.8 million COVID cases have been reported across the U.S., causing at least 340,153 hospitalizations (limited data) and 37,301 deaths, according to BNO’s COVID data tracker.  We couldn't even normalize mask use while sick.

covid TheModerateTankie • 2mo ago • 98%

Long COVID Is Taking Big Toll on U.S. Workforce

www.healthday.com

>Key Takeaways >Millions of Americans might be out of work due to Long COVID >About 14% of working-age people with Long COVID hadn’t returned to their jobs within three months >People with five or more symptoms were more than twice as likely to be out of work So cool that covid is just being treated as an unstoppable force we just have to live with, and demands of universal healthcare have been shit canned among mainstream discourse because what's called "the left" in the Burger Reich wanted to go back to brunch.

games TheModerateTankie • 2mo ago • 95%

What the fuck is up with Black Myth: Wukong discourse?

Game looks cool. Watched a couple of reviews. Now youtube is recommending me rage-baiting gaming weirdos whining about DEI and attacking a reviewer for saying it isn't diverse enough. And then the developers have this clause reviewers have to agree to get a review copy of the game: [>Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization and other content that instigates negative discourse](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/08/18/the-black-myth-wukong-no-feminist-propaganda-no-covid-19-discussion-email-is-real/) So chuds are championing the game now for being anti-woke? But not all people had to agree to the clause, just some people? And it's from a marketing partner working with the developer? And the developer may or may not be run by sexist creeps according to internet rumors? ::: spoiler suggestive recruitment ads ran by the devs  Google translate text: **Don't mess with colleagues** In addition to sex partners, we found that many of the previous benefits only looked good. But here, we have more thoughtful services that will make you cry, whether it is meal allowance, car allowance, unlimited taxi reimbursement, or unlimited ZESPRI kiwifruit or KIRKLAND nuts. **Forced self-pleasure** You can easily say "play your own games more" and then turn around to play five-player mid, and you may also make money. But here, we require you to experience the products you develop seriously, and there is no room for compromise. **Fat man die** Reminding employees to pay attention to their health and providing free physical examinations still cannot prevent colleagues from dying from overwork. But here, We can go to the gym, run or swim during working hours without anyone's approval, and all expenses are borne by the company. **Must work overtime** We have never concealed the fact that overtime is a cancer in our industry, but here, 1. We can sleep until we wake up naturally, have lunch and then come to work; 2. After the project is launched, we will have transparent project profit-sharing bonuses every month. :::    <-- this but unironically I know none of this matters, and I spent way more mental energy writing this stupid post than any of this deserves. I was expecting dumb backlash to the game just because it's from China, but this is far stupider than I expected. Fuck youtube for giving the most awful reactionary gamergate losers a career and promoting them every fucking chance they get. Whenever they attach themselves to a cultural object this bullshit starts popping up like a flea infestation. Fucking gamers.

labour TheModerateTankie • 2mo ago • 97%

I'm helping organize my workplace, any experience with UFCW?

The core organizing group is deciding who to organize with, and the main consideration is UFCW. Good or no? Any other unions we should consider? We're an independent retail store All managers are bastards. Fuckers are causing injuries with malicious management tactics.

music TheModerateTankie • 3mo ago • 100%

Mission to the Sun - "Needle of Deceit"

https://missiontothesun.bandcamp.com/

covid TheModerateTankie • 3mo ago • 98%

The Indomitable Covid Virus

erictopol.substack.com

>It’s a major wave now, with an estimated new 900,000 infections per day, as my friend Jay Weiland estimated based on the 2 sources of US wastewater data (definitely worth following him at X or Threads). The slope of rise of SARS-CoV-2 levels is still steep, so we haven’t yet reached the plateau. It’s already towered beyond 4 prior waves of the US pandemic. >**State-of-the-Wave** >It’s related to the variants KP.3 and KP.3.1.1, which together now account for more than half of new cases in the US. And KP.3.1.1 is on the move, overtaking KP.3 as shown by the new CDC data below. A big jump in the past 2 weeks.   >Fortunately, the rise in levels of the virus, still going up in all 4 major US regions (most recent CDC data below) has not been linked with as much severe Covid (absolute increase) as was seen in prior waves, **but compared to last week there was a relative increase of 25% of deaths and 12% increase in emergency room visits due to Covid.** No matter how you look at it, this is not a benign wave, folks. God's plan I guess. It's brunch time.

covid TheModerateTankie • 3mo ago • 100%

Covid wastewater trends for the US.

1 in 26 people have covid on the west coast. 1 in 29 in the South. The rest of the country soon to follow. There is also a new variant appearing (KP.3.1.1), which has a significant mutation which allows it to escape immunity gained from previous variants. It's expected to add to and extend the current waves. It's less deadly than before, thankfully, and new variants haven't seemed to cause as much of a problem as the first few waves, but the new normal is still several times worse than the worst flu season, if only because it's around and spreading significantly most of the year. It's pretty neat how we are living in a time where we can watch society get significantly worse in real time on multiple fronts, including the spread of disease! And by "pretty neat" I mean:  Good thing brandon ended the pandemic by getting rid of testing, otherwise it might look bad right now!

covid TheModerateTankie • 3mo ago • 100%

As of June 2023, there have been nearly 100,000 excess deaths in England involving CVD since the beginning of the pandemic.

www.bhf.org.uk

>On average, there have been over 500 additional deaths a week involving CVD since the pandemic began. >While deaths from Covid-19 have fallen year-on-year since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of deaths involving CVD have remained high above expected levels. >Excess deaths involving CVD outnumber those involving all other individual disease areas since the beginning of the pandemic in England. >No doubt, the reasons for continuingly high numbers of excess deaths related to CVD in England are complicated. However, along with deaths caused by Covid-19 among people with heart and circulatory diseases, we think the following factors have played a role: >The longer-term impact of Covid-19 infection on the heart and circulatory system. >Extreme and continued disruption to GP and heart care services. This fucking sucks.

covid TheModerateTankie • 4mo ago • 100%

COVID-19 can surge throughout the year - CDC

I guess the CDC updated their page. https://www.cdc.gov/ncird/whats-new/covid-19-can-surge-throughout-the-year.html >Many respiratory virus illnesses peak during the winter due to environmental conditions and human behaviors. COVID-19 has peaks in the winter and also at other times of the year, including the summer, driven by new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations. You can protect yourself from serious illness by staying up to date with vaccinations, getting treated if you have medical conditions that make you more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, and using other strategies outlined in CDC's respiratory virus guidance. 

covid TheModerateTankie • 4mo ago • 100%

Yes, Everyone Really Is Sick a Lot More Often After Covid (Bloomberg.com)

If only we had a way to slow down or stop the spread of disease.  Someday, far onto the future, scientists will figure it out! >Around the world, a post-Covid reality is beginning to sink in: Everyone, everywhere, really is sick a lot more often. >At least 13 communicable diseases, from the common cold to measles and tuberculosis, are surging past their pre-pandemic levels in many regions, and often by significant margins, according to analysis by Bloomberg News and London-based disease forecasting firm Airfinity Ltd. >The resulting research, based on data collected from more than 60 organizations and public health agencies, shows that 44 countries and territories have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s at least ten times worse than the pre-pandemic baseline. >The post-Covid global surge of illnesses — viral and bacterial, common and historically rare — **is a mystery that researchers and scientists are still trying to definitively explain.** The way Covid lockdowns shifted baseline immunities is a piece of the puzzle, as is the pandemic’s hit to overall vaccine administration and compliance. Climate change, rising social inequality and wrung-out health-care services are contributing in ways that are hard to measure. We can explain it, covid takes a toll on our immune system, and we are constantly exposed to it and can catch it multiple times a year. No one in public office wants to acknowledge it because that would mean putting money and effort into infection control.

covid TheModerateTankie • 5mo ago • 100%

‘If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any’

 Feb 2022 is when they started transitioning from pcr's for everyone to home tests. May 2023 is when they declared an "end to the public emergency" and ended the emergency and stopped requiring hospitals to test people. This year they stopped requiring hospitals to report much of anything. I guess this is just how it's going to be from now on, and we'll have to figure out what damage it's doing by analyzing [excess death rates](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-analysis-reveals-excess-deaths-attributed.html) BTW many parts of the US (Hawaii and SF, and my little town apparently) and world are experiencing a pretty sizeable covid surge at the moment. Most likely from the [FLiRT variant](https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/a-mayo-clinic-virologist-explains-flirt-and-why-you-may-need-a-new-covid-19-vaccination/), and there is also a different variant coming up called kp.3, so that's fun. 

covid TheModerateTankie • 5mo ago • 100%

Progress in Heart Failure Deaths Reversed Over Past Decade

jamanetwork.com

>Although heart failure mortality rates fell between 1999 and 2012, the proportion of people dying from the condition in the US has increased in recent years, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology. By 2021, the heart failure mortality rate was higher than in 1999, signaling that earlier improvements have been “entirely undone” over the past 10 years, the researchers wrote. The findings were based on death certificate data collected by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. >**The accelerated increase in heart failure mortality rates during 2020 and 2021 suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to current trends. **Changes in how heart failure is diagnosed and coded as well as improved survival for patients with conditions such as ischemic heart disease, which predispose them to heart failure, might also have contributed to the uptick in heart failure mortality rates, the researchers wrote. It's just a super infectious and rapidly mutating virus that can cause heart disease, nbd. BTW, Rates of covid are increasing rapidly in many parts of the world, including my town. It was low for about two months, and now wastewater levels are spiking again.

covid TheModerateTankie • 5mo ago • 100%

COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy

www.who.int

>The latest edition of the World Health Statistics released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic reversed the trend of steady gain in life expectancy at birth and healthy life expectancy at birth (HALE). >The pandemic wiped out nearly a decade of progress in improving life expectancy within just two years. Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years (back to the level of 2012). Similarly, global healthy life expectancy dropped by 1.5 years to 61.9 years in 2021 (back to the level of 2012). >The 2024 report also highlights how the effects have been felt unequally across the world. The WHO regions for the Americas and South-East Asia were hit hardest, with life expectancy dropping by approximately 3 years and healthy life expectancy by 2.5 years between 2019 and 2021. In contrast, the Western Pacific Region was minimally affected during the first two years of the pandemic, with losses of less than 0.1 years in life expectancy and 0.2 years in healthy life expectancy. 

covid TheModerateTankie • 5mo ago • 100%

Does COVID Cause Cancer? [SciShow]

www.youtube.com

Short answer: Yes, covid increases your risk of cancer, but it's not a huge risk. Longer answer: Covid, like HPV, messes with our cells ability to make the [p53 gene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P53), which among other things, helps our bodies destroy cancerous cells. In mild infections low p53 levels lasted 16-24 weeks before returning to normal. In severe infections low p53 levels lasted past 24 weeks and may not return to normal. It took a long time to measure the impact of the HPV vaccine, and it will take a long time to meaure the impact of covid and vaccines. The video compares it to the risk of getting HPV and the Epstien-Barr virus. However I don't think either of those viruses mutate the way covid does, or have the potential to reinfect you with a different variant every several months the way covid does. Also, all three viruses have shown the ability to persist in people's bodies, which increases the risk of cancers and other long term health effects.

covid TheModerateTankie • 6mo ago • 100%

Neosporin applied to the nose offers protection from viruses

>In a nutshell, we showed that over-the-counter cheap generic antibiotic neomycin can be repurposed in nasal formulation to prevent & treat infection, block transmission, and reduce disease burden against a wide array of viruses. Since this is a host-directed strategy and virus-agnostic, it holds promise as a prophylactic strategy against any viral threat. The advice in the screencapped thread was to apply a little with a q-tip to the inside of the nostrils. There is no info on any dangers of doing this very often, but if you can't avoid a high-risk environment it's worth trying. Here's a thread about the study. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1782535781338222960.html here's the study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5918160/

covid TheModerateTankie • 8mo ago • 100%

A Spike in Heart Disease Deaths Since Covid Is Puzzling Scientists (bloomberg)

>**Mortality data of the past four years show a wave of deadly cardiovascular and metabolic illness.** >From 2020 to 2022, a quarter of a million more Americans over 35 years old succumbed to cardiovascular disease than predicted based on historical trends, according to Bloomberg analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2023, age-adjusted stroke mortality was almost 5% above pre-pandemic levels, according to preliminary data, while rates from deaths related to hypertensive heart disease, rhythm abnormalities, blood clots, diabetes and kidney failure were 15-28% higher. Covid had a muted impact on other common causes of death such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the data show. >“The cardiometabolic aftereffects of SARS-CoV-2 have been profound, persistent, and peculiar — really peculiar,” said cardiologist Susan Cheng, director of public health research at Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles.  vaxxed? >Greater immunity and the emergence of less severe variants have since lowered the incidence of deadly complications, but the problem hasn’t gone away. Each coronavirus infection a person experiences, no matter how mild, might be acting like its own cardiovascular risk factor, she said. The longer-term effects are even more mysterious. Doctors in the article are puzzled about if the cause is because Americans are too fat, or "the lockdowns" (not the hospitals being flooded with sick people for months at a time) caused people to avoid doctors, while noting that the healthcare system itself broke down and has made it harder for people to find care in the first place ever since. Could it be that these "less severe" variants are still causing heart problems? Gosh, maybe, but it's just a big ol' puzzle and no one can be sure of anything yet.  threads on this article are full of people describing the new heart conditions they developed after getting covid.