Featured Headlines
Where We Are and What More We Need to Do | A Conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci – Milken Institute
“You can’t just give people more data and expect them to act differently” – MIT Tech Report
Having vaccines on the horizon doesn’t mean we should abandon other ways to manage the spread of covid-19. On the contrary, according to Rajeev Venkayya, who served as the White House’s biodefense advisor under George W. Bush and was responsible for that administration’s national strategy for pandemic preparedness.
The Month the Pandemic Started to End – The Atlantic
The pandemic is unfolding as if on a split screen. The winter looks bleak, but Americans can now give themselves permission to hope for a speedy vaccine rollout.
In July, the U.S. government announced a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech, creators of a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, to purchase 100 million doses of the vaccine. But that’s only enough to vaccinate about 50 million people with two doses each, which amounts to only around 15% of America’s population. The deal also included an option for the government to purchase an additional 500 million doses, but sources close to Health and Human Services have told Forbes that the government hasn’t yet purchased them.
The Swiss Cheese Model of Pandemic Defense – New York Times
The metaphor is easy enough to grasp: Multiple layers of protection, imagined as cheese slices, block the spread of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. No one layer is perfect; each has holes, and when the holes align, the risk of infection increases. But several layers combined — social distancing, plus masks, plus hand-washing, plus testing and tracing, plus ventilation, plus government messaging — significantly reduce the overall risk. Vaccination will add one more protective layer.
Death of a Fur Industry Exposes Covid’s Enduring Threat – Bloomberg
A scandal in Denmark over the government’s handling of a mink cull is a cautionary tale for the world. Early last month, Denmark’s government told all mink farmers to kill their stock because of concern that a mutated form of the virus was spreading more quickly than previously thought. Vest and his family carefully started the eradication of 23,000 animals, while opposition political parties rounded on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Clinical Considerations
A Stanford Medicine study reports that the coronavirus likely infects upper airway cells through receptors that are unaffected by hypertension drugs. The finding supports the use of masks and nasally administered therapies to reduce viral spread.
Sickle Cell Disease Tied to Worse COVID-19 Outcomes – MedPageToday
Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) may be at higher risk for some COVID-19 complications and COVID-19-related death, researchers reported.
Viral Load Peaks in First Week of COVID-19 Symptom Onset – MedPageToday
Findings from systematic review and meta-analysis highlight need to diagnose and isolate cases early.
Official Reporting for December 8, 2020
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update December 7, 2020
Confirmed Cases: 66 422 058
Deaths: 1 532 418
ECDC
Confirmed Cases: 66 872 117
Deaths: 1 536 855
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 67,559,804
Deaths: 1,543,803
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 14,636,914 (+174,387 New Cases)
Total deaths: 281,253 (+1,118 New Deaths)
Surveillance Headlines
UNITED STATES
California: Coronavirus Surge Prompts California To Implement Strict Measures – NPR
CANADA
Justin Trudeau says Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is coming to Canada before the end of month –
EUROPE
UK gears up for huge vaccination plan watched by the world – AP
Sweden: Long a Holdout From Covid-19 Restrictions, Sweden Ends Its Pandemic Experiment – Wall Street Journal
ASIA
South Korea: Grappling With 3rd Wave Of Coronavirus Infections – NPR
Science and Tech
Diagnostics
FDA Authorizes First COVID-19 and Flu Combination Test for use with home-collected samples – FDA
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first diagnostic test for at home collection of patient samples to detect both COVID-19 and influenza A and B (flu). The FDA authorized Quest Diagnostics RC COVID-19 +Flu RT-PCR Test for prescription use with the Quest Diagnostics Self-Collection Kit for COVID-19 +Flu by individuals who are suspected of respiratory viral infection consistent with COVID-19 when home collection is determined to be appropriate by an individual’s healthcare provider. Under a health care provider’s order, patients can collect a sample at home and ship it to a Quest Diagnostics laboratory for analysis following the instructions included with the self-collection kit.
Vaccine
How the US, UK, and China are planning to roll out vaccines – MIT Tech Report
Many countries are making important decisions about who gets vaccinated and when—but the answers vary from nation to nation.We Had the Vaccine the Whole Time – The Intelligencer
You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. This was just two days after the genetic sequence had been made public in an act of scientific and humanitarian generosity that resulted in China’s Yong-Zhen Zhang’s being temporarily forced out of his lab.
HHS Chief Sees Vaccine for All Americans by Second Quarter – Bloomberg
All Americans who want to get a Covid-19 vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of next year, Health and Human Services Alex Azar said.
The Kremlin Is Offering Russians Free Vaccines, but Will They Take Them? – NYT
Distrust of the government is so widespread that 59 percent of Russians say they have no intention of getting a shot.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
The way we express grief for strangers is changing – MIT Tech Report
Online memorials are just one of the ways people are trying to comprehend the scale of our loss during the pandemic.
Nearly a third of workers don’t want to ever return to the office – Fortune
The vaccines are on their way. So far, they appear so effective that Dr. Anthony Fauci even thinks we may have packed stadiums return in the summer of 2021.
The Vaccines Are Coming. It’s Time to Call Your Mom – Wired
The next, crucial step in beating the pandemic? Having conversations with our vaccine-shy loved ones.
The Surprising Mental Toll of COVID – Scientific American
The rise in depression and anxiety is even worse than expected, especially among young adults
Published Research
None today
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
8 facts about the coronavirus to combat common misinformation – Washington Post
Faced with a deluge of claims about the coronavirus and the illness it causes, covid-19, you may be wondering whether gargling with saltwater is a cure or if the pathogen was man-made in a Chinese laboratory. (Spoiler: Saltwater doesn’t work, and scientists believe the virus occurs in nature.)
Coping in 2020
‘Fauci Effect’ Drives Record Number Of Medical School Applications – NPR
3 min audio at the link – When COVID-19 restrictions reduced his work schedule at the National Institutes of Health, Sam Smith decided to turn to another time-consuming job: applying to medical school.
