#US Coronavirus News

[covidsafecosplay]

(CNN) - It may be time to dust off the face masks and air purifiers. The US is in the midst of a significant Covid-19 wave, with viral activity levels in wastewater the highest they’ve been for a summer surge since July 2022, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s wastewater dashboard. The CDC’s measure of national Covid viral activity in wastewater rose to 8.82 on August 10 – falling shy of a peak of 9.56 in July 2022. The CDC says the most recent data is incomplete and may change. Before it started rising again in May, it was at 1.36. “Currently, the COVID-19 wastewater viral activity level is very high nationally, with the highest levels in the Western US region,” Dr. Jonathan Yoder, deputy director of the CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance Program, said in an email. “This year’s COVID-19 wave is coming earlier than last year, which occurred in late August/early September.” Emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths are also ticking up, although not to the same extent as infections, according to the CDC’s Covid dashboard. As of the end of July, the CDC’s dashboard shows about 4are being hospitalized for Covid for every 100,000 people in a given area, up from a low in May of about one Covid hospitalization for every 100,000 people – the lowest level since the pandemic began. The CDC’s wastewater data closely aligns with what they’re seeing at the nationwide WastewaterSCAN network, too. “This is a very significant surge. The levels are very high. They’re the highest we’ve ever seen during a summer wave,” said Dr. Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health and public health at Emory University and a program director for WastewaterSCAN. “We’re detecting SARS-CoV-2 in 100 percent of our samples across the country right now.”

[destielmemenews]

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[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Two Idaho lawmakers have introduced a bill to charge those who administer mRNA vaccines with a misdemeanor.

Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, sponsored HB 154. It was introduced in the House Health & Welfare Committee on Feb. 15 by Nichols. According to the bill text, "A person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state."

That person would then be charged with a misdemeanor.

Nichols said during her presentation to the committee, "We have issues this was fast tracked."

Nichols said there is no liability, informed consent or data on mRNA vaccines. She later clarified she was referring to the two COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna.

"I think there is a lot of information that comes out with concerns to blood clots and heart issues," Nichols said.

Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, questioned Nichols' statement that the vaccines were fast-tracked. She said her understanding was that the vaccines were approved and survived the testing, later approved by the FDA.

Nichols said she is finding it "may not have been done like we thought it should've been done."

"There are other shots we could utilize that don't have mRNA in it," Nichols said.

MRNA is a molecule that assists in making proteins. The COVID-19 vaccines, which are known as mRNA vaccines, help your body make proteins that mimic the COVID virus to help bodies fight off the infection, according to John Hopkins Medicine. MRNA was discovered in the early 1960's, John Hopkins states. Some were used to fight the Ebola virus. Researchers are also currently working to use mRNA to prevent other respiratory viruses.

The bill requires a future vote in the committee to pass onto the House floor for debate.

[madamepestilence]

H5N1: What to know before fear spreads

What is H5N1?

H5N1 is a 1996 strain of the Spanish or Avian Flu first detected in Chinese birds before spreading globally across various avian species. H5N1 is similar to H1N1, but spreads slower and has a much higher mortality rate.

H5N1 may also be referred to as Influenza A. The American Association of Bovine Practitioners has seen fit to rename H5N1 to Bovine Influenza A Virus, or BIAV, and are encouraging others to use the same terminology.

I would not be surprised if the colloquial name among the public becomes Bovine Flu or American Flu in the coming months, and may be referred to as the Chinese Flu by the same folks who took the spark of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic as an excuse to be publicly racist to East Asian people without social repercussions.

BIAV is a virus, meaning that it is a (probably) non-living packet of self-replicating infectious material with a high rate of mutation. BIAV is structured similarly to SARS-CoV-2, having a packet of infectious material encased in a spherical shell with a corona, or crown, of proteins that can latch to living cells to inject RNA.

Image source with interactive model: ViralZone - H5N1 subtype

What is the history of BIAV?

In 1996 and 1997, an outbreak of BIAV occurred among poultry and infected 18 people in Hong Kong, 6 of which died. This seemingly isolated incident then infected ~860 people with a >50% death rate.

At the time, BIAV was known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, and killed nearly 100% of chickens within a 48 hour period.

From 2003 to 2005, continual outbreaks occurred in China and other East Asian countries, before spreading to Cambodia, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

From 2014 to 2016, it began being detected in American fowl, as well as mutating the H5N6 (lethal in birds, no human to human transmission) and H5N8 (largely spread through turkeys, ducks had immunity) viruses.

BIAV has since evolved into a clade known as 2.3.4.4b, and was first detected in 2021 in wild American birds. This then caused outbreaks in 2022 among wild and domesticated birds (such as chickens) alike, but was largely being overshadowed by the pressing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at the time.

From 2022 to 2023, it was observed to be spreading among various mammals, including humans. Now, in 2024, we're having the most concerning rapid outbreak of BIAV since 2003.

BIAV is known to spread from mammal to mammal, particularly between cows and humans. BIAV may also be spread from cow to cow (highly likely, but not confirmed - this is likely the reason the virus has spread to Idaho from Texan cattle), and is known to be lethal to domestic cats and birds within 48 hours.

How does BIAV spread?

BIAV spreads through fomites - direct contact with infected animals or infected surfaces and then touching parts of your face or other orifices - as well as through airborne particulates, which may be inhaled and enter the sinuses and lungs.

BIAV is known to spread through:

Asymptomatic Ducks, geese, swans, various shorebirds

Symptomatic, may be lethal Foxes, bears, seals, sea lions, polar bears, domestic cats, dogs, minks, goats, cows, (potentially human to human, but unconfirmed - there have only been 8 potential human to human cases in 2024).

How can I protect against BIAV?

As BIAV is a type of Influenza A, existing protocols should do fine.

Current recommendations are to wash your hands vigorously after interacting with birds (I would also recommend doing this with mammals), avoid touching your face or other open orifices, and wear N95 masks.

Avoid sick or dead animals entirely - I would also recommend reporting them to your local Animal Control or veterinary centre and warning them about the infection risk. People who work with animals are recommended to also wear full PPE such as N95 masks, eye protection, gloves, and partake in vigorous hand washing.

If you suspect you've caught BIAV, seek medical attention immediately. Existing medications such as oseltamivir phosphate, zanamivir, peramivir, and baloxavir marboxil can reduce BIAV's ability to replicate.

Standard flu shots will not protect against BIAV. Remember - symptoms of BIAV may not manifest for between 2 to 8 days, and potentially infected people should be monitored for at least 10 days.

How far has BIAV spread?

BIAV is currently a global virus, though the current infection location of note is the United States.

Image Key: Dark red - Countries with humans, poultry and wild birds killed by H5N1 Deep red - Countries with poultry or wild birds killed by H5N1 and has reported human cases of H5N1 Light red - Countries with poultry or wild birds killed by H5N1

Image source: Wikipedia - Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 - File: Global spread of H5N1 map

Image source: Metro.co.uk - Map shows where bird flu is spreading in US amid new warning - File: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s H5N1 bird flu detections map across the United States

Should I be afraid?

You needn't be afraid, just prepared. BIAV has a concerningly high lethality, but this ironically culls its spread somewhat.

In the event human to human transmission of BIAV is confirmed, this will likely mainly affect marginalized communities, poor people, and homeless people, who are likely to have less access to medical care, and a higher likelihood of working in jobs that require frequent close human contact, such as fast food or retail jobs.

Given the response to SARS-CoV-2, corporations - and probably the government - may shove a proper response under the rug and refuse to participate in a full quarantine, which may leave people forced to go to work in dangerous conditions.

If this does spread into an epidemic or pandemic, given our extensive knowledge about Influenza, and the US having a backup vaccine for a prior strain of H5N1, a vaccine should be able to be developed relatively quickly and would hopefully be deployed freely without charge - we won't have to worry about a situation like The Stand.

Wash your hands, keep clean, avoid large social gatherings where possible, wear an N95 mask if you can afford them (Remember: Cloth masks are the least protective, but are better than nothing. If you can't afford N95 masks, I recommend wearing a well-fitted cloth mask with a disposable face mask over it to prevent pneumonia from moisture buildup in the disposable mask), support the disabled, poor, and homeless, and stay educated.

We can do better this time.

Further things to check out:

YouTube: MedCram - H5N1 Cattle Outbreak: Background and Currently Known Facts (ft. Roger Seheult, M.D.)

Wikipedia - Influenza A virus subtype H5N1

Maine.gov - Avian Influenza and People

CDC.gov - Technical Report: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses

Wikipedia - H5N1 genetic structure

realagriculture - Influenza infection in cattle gets new name: Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV)

[covid-safer-hotties]

Second gentleman Emhoff tests positive for COVID - Published July 7, 2024

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4758716-doug-emhoff-covid-positive/mlite/

I hate covering celebrity news, but this seems a bit important given that Biden just reiterated his claim that he "beat the pandemic."

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for COVD-19, the vice president’s office announced Sunday.

His office said Emhoff had experienced mild symptoms before being tested Saturday, and is now asymptomatic. He is fully vaccinated, the office said.

Vice President Harris was also tested for COVD-19 and tested negative, her office said.

Emhoff will continue to work from home, isolated from others.

Emhoff previously tested positive for COVID in March of 2022, and Harris tested positive for the virus a month later.

Harris is scheduled to campaign for President Biden in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Find more news, science, and resources on our covid archive:

[politijohn]

Disgusting

[rebelwheelssoapbox]

There's been an increase in COVID cases, and yet New York (editedGovernor Kathy Hochul wants to ban masks? #NoNYMaskBan TAKE ACTION: https://covidadvocacyny.org/stopmaskbanny @covidadvocacyny [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: (edited to fit twitter image description character limit) horizontal rectangle artsy protest graphic. Background. blues whites reds & a light pink. Floral illustration. white petals blue stems & blue and red center. There's a light pink & white horizontal zigzag pattern in the white petals. On top left to center, a photo of a man with medium brown skin who is contemplating. wearing a colorful shirt. Pinks, white, orange, yellows, rainbows, blues & a light purple. he's wearing a covid mask that matches shirt. short black hair. there's a golden yellow thick outline around him. 3 diagonal light green stripes go from his head & upward. There's text. thin modern white font. each word/phrase has a black rectangle behind it. Text arranged in artsy fashion. Some words are semi-diagonal & as if each rectangle was cut out and placed individually. text reads “protecting myself and my community against COVID shouldn't be illegal.” The words COVID and illegal and protecting are larger than the other text.]

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[1rakus]

i thought the media literacy problem was an online only thing but i keep replaying a conversation i recently had where someone asked me why i didnt like atla (after id said i didnt want to talk about it) and i said the very standard "two white men wrote a fantasy story where they made up fake asian countries and words and names and apparently made a parallel to an irl slaughter of a bunch of buddhist monks" and they spent altogether too long explaining to me the plot of atla and its morals then sat there staring at me as if they'd answered a question i had or something and somehow the two white men writing about fake asian countries had been sainted

[itsbansheebitch]

How Personal Life Experience Changes How you think

My grandpa is a conservative. He watches Fox News everyday and I have to listen to that shit from my room unless I can find some music to drown out the nonsense.

He's what you'd expect from a conservative with some key exceptions. He doesn't get the whole "transgender" thing, but he thinks vaccines should be mandatory.

Why would he think that? How did that happen? Well it turns out he lived through Polio and his brother had to be put in an iron lung

This is an iron lung. You get put in it when you get REALLY sick and the machine compresses your lungs at different intervals to help you breathe. My great uncle had to be in one of these because they didn't have the vaccine yet.

My grandpa might not be perfect, or even that great a guy, but he sees vaccines as a miracle. Get your vaccine.

If you're scared of getting your vaccine, ask your doctor questions. They want to help you, they can find the information for you. If you want to know what's in it and what the ingredients do, please ask. If you want to know how vaccines work in general (they all follow a similar formula because diseases work in a similar way, fundamentally speaking), please ask. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Please don't keep yourself in the dark because your worried about government conspiracies. Just ask questions.

Let this be a reminder that the average American is not blue or red alone. We are all varying shades of purple, even if the people meant to represent us don't see us that way. People learn, people grow. You just have to be patient.

[covidsafecosplay]

Article date: September 22, 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting this month, Americans will be able to order free COVID-19 test kits that will be mailed to their homes.

U.S. households will be able to order as many as four nasal swab tests at COVIDTests.gov when the federal program reopens. The U.S. Health and Human Services agency overseeing the program has not yet given an exact date when ordering can begin.

An agency spokesperson has said the tests will detect current virus strains and can be ordered ahead of the holiday season, when families and friends gather for celebrations.

U.S. regulators last month approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, hopefully, forthcoming winter ones, as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already has recommended this fall’s shot for everyone age 6 months and older.

While most Americans have some degree of immunity from prior infections or vaccinations or both, that protection wanes. Last fall’s shots targeted a different part of the coronavirus family tree, a strain that’s no longer circulating.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) has signed a bill that bans state and local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for workers after a similar ban expired last month.

The legislation signed Thursday is aimed at defending citizens’ “individual liberty,” Sanders said at a press conference prior to its signing.

The legislation also prohibits COVID-19 vaccinations from being required as a condition of education, or for obtaining a service or licensure, permit or certificate of some kind. Any potential risks and harms associated with the shots must also be recorded and published by the state.

The bill is different from the state’s prior ban on vaccine mandates, which first went into effect in 2021, in that it covers vaccines or immunizations for any subvariants of the coronavirus, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The latest COVID-19 vaccine, which was federally authorized for use this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, is specially designed to reduce major illness and illness from omicron virus variants that are currently circulating.

In total, Sanders signed 11 bills on Thursday.

A separate bill she signed restricts the public release of her travel and security records. That bill, which went into immediate effect, shields details about the security that the Governor and other constitutional officers receive.

These details include who travels on the State Police airplane and the cost of individual trips. Sanders argued that it was needed for her and her family’s safety, though some critics said it eliminates government transparency.

State Sen. Bart Hester (R), who co-sponsored the bill, said at Thursday’s press conference that all of the state’s elected government leaders are still able to see the travel receipts through audit. The law also requires the state to file a quarterly report listing the monthly costs of protecting the Governor.

[nando161mando]

List of the past 6 months or so of #COVID and #LongCovid research.

Definitely underscores the need to not get infected or to not get reinfected if you already have been.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/

https://www.sorryantivaxxer.com/

https://www.antivaxattacks.com/

[meandmybigmouth]

IT’S THAT NEW, WHACKY  RIGHT WING “FAD” SWEEPING AMERICA! “SUICIDE BY COVID” 

[rebelwheelssoapbox]

DID YOU KNOW: The proposed NY mask ban would make it illegal to wear even a COVID mask at a protest #NoNYMaskBan TAKE ACTION: https://covidadvocacyny.org/stopmaskbanny and check out: @covidadvocacyny [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: (EDITED TO FIT ON TWITTER) Protest collage. Background. Various vintage floral illustrations. Warm colors. Yellow orange greens yellow green pink & red. On top left is an image of a beautiful woman. light medium brown skin. Purple with red flowers top matches her covid mask which also has yellow orange flowers. braids that are semi tied back. her head (turned) & is looking at you. From top of head, various vertical diagonal rectangles, displayed like a fan. Each one represents a cause. a globe, new pride flag, black lives matter symbol, mask symbol, a fist with text my body my choice, anti-fascist symbol. Main text to right of her reads: the NY mask band is like telling marginalized people choose one: protect yourself from covid or protest your oppression but you can't do both at the same time. Each of nine lines of text, black horizontal rectangle behind. Font white bold modern. Outlining right side of her, slightly faded sunflower petals.]