General Discussion/Q&A on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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A lot of evidence coming out that there is often a genetic reason in those developing severe covid or long covid.


Leading to an interesting article by a retired palliative care physician from Townsville on the role of infections in evolution and history.
 
And the Olympics are being held in Japan? Does that make sense?
 
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An interesting article here.. will we ever be able to rely on foreign immunisations - either faked or questionable efficiacy


Media clickbait. As mentioned half way through the article, it was always the case that vaccines would not necessarily prevent someone contracting the virus but would significantly reduce severity (to avoid hospitalisation and death).

There are multiple cases in the recent small clusters in Singapore where vaccinated people contracted and tested positive for Covid. No reason to doubt the veracity of vaccination claims or efficacy (if efficacy is about reducing symptoms).
 
Leads to .. continuing prevalence in partially vaccinated communities as carriers carry and deniers..deny….
 
Media clickbait. As mentioned half way through the article, it was always the case that vaccines would not necessarily prevent someone contracting the virus but would significantly reduce severity (to avoid hospitalisation and death).

There are multiple cases in the recent small clusters in Singapore where vaccinated people contracted and tested positive for Covid. No reason to doubt the veracity of vaccination claims or efficacy (if efficacy is about reducing symptoms).

While I agree with that, I think that what we are all also very interested in is how much it prevents transmission from someone who has been vaccinated but contacts Covid19. So far I believes that the signs are good.
 
Leads to .. continuing prevalence in partially vaccinated communities as carriers carry and deniers..deny….
And that was all known previously. Just need to get vaccinated to reduce severity and prevent deaths. Vaccinate the vulnerable. Socially distance. Keep up good hygiene. Covid isn’t going away. We have to learn to deal with it.
 
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The figures for Europe.
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Makes the UK look good.

Another treatment can reduce severity.

It is not just the obese who need to worry about weight.Now it is suggested that risk actually increases above a BMI of 23 especially in the young.

It has been found that there is a slight increase in heart failure diagnosis in those with Covid.Not surprising as there are a large number of viruses than can cause a cardiomyopathy.It can be so severe that a healthy 14 year old can need a heart transplant such as Australia's fourth transplant Fiona Coote.

And new research can identify sites on the spike protein that might be targets for new treatments.
 
Are the waves, except for India, less intense each time?
 
Sweden - whose approach to Covid appears to have been put your fingers in your ears and hum - has just ticked over 1,000,000 cases in a population of a little over 10,000,000. They have also had 14,173 deaths. Their next door neighbour Norway, who have been pretty active in fighting the epidemic, has had 117,000 cases and 767 deaths in a population of a tick over 5,000,000.
 
Sweden - whose approach to Covid appears to have been put your fingers in your ears and hum - has just ticked over 1,000,000 cases in a population of a little over 10,000,000. They have also had 14,173 deaths. Their next door neighbour Norway, who have been pretty active in fighting the epidemic, has had 117,000 cases and 767 deaths in a population of a tick over 5,000,000.
Though all is not as it seems.There was a letter in the MJA about 6 weeks ago from 2 Australian intensivists who worked in Swedish ICUs throughout 2020.They reported that the Swedish public followed general principles of social distancing,mask wearing and hand washing as well as those in lockdown cities.The measurement of mobility in Stockholm supported this feeling being much the same as European cities that were locked down.

The probable reason the figures are so different between Norway and Denmark V Sweden is that the former countries firmly closed their borders to all outsiders very early on.Sweden though continued to let people from all EU countries plus the UK come in.
When you compare Sweden to countries that did lock down and allow the same countries free admission such as Belgium,Holland,Spain and Italy there figures are comparable.
Sweden had the highest number of cases per 1 million population but only Holland had a lower death rate per million population.
 
Though all is not as it seems.There was a letter in the MJA about 6 weeks ago from 2 Australian intensivists who worked in Swedish ICUs throughout 2020.They reported that the Swedish public followed general principles of social distancing,mask wearing and hand washing as well as those in lockdown cities.The measurement of mobility in Stockholm supported this feeling being much the same as European cities that were locked down.

The probable reason the figures are so different between Norway and Denmark V Sweden is that the former countries firmly closed their borders to all outsiders very early on.Sweden though continued to let people from all EU countries plus the UK come in.
When you compare Sweden to countries that did lock down and allow the same countries free admission such as Belgium,Holland,Spain and Italy there figures are comparable.
Sweden had the highest number of cases per 1 million population but only Holland had a lower death rate per million population.

Yes, but -- there is also this letter in "The Lancet" of 1 May 2021 regarding the concerning spread of more infectious variants there and the authors view that the Govt. was taking insufficient steps to fight the rise in infections. It does appear that at least the vaccination rate there is now increasing pretty quickly.

 
That letter does not change the opinions I have posted.Those doctors wanted to have the Government enforce social distancing but those in Sweden suggest they were doing as well as neighbouring countries in social distancing but on a voluntary basis by the Swedish public.
Again Finland was another country that completely closed their border early on.That is the difference between them and not only Sweden but most countries in Europe.
 
Another treatment effective in reducing ICU admission and ventilation.


Another article on Neurological complications worsening outlook. This time encephalitis.

And QUT having their say on a different kind of ventilation.
 
And to a different discussion relevant to the pandemic - ethics.A couple more articles from Townsville.Firstly there are no guidelines for the triaging of patients for things such as ICU admission or ventilation.This is still not a theoretical discussion with covid as even in it's relative absence Australian hospitals and ICU units are stretched and these decicions are being made daily in Australia as a whole.

I certainly have been placed in an unenviable position in the last 6 years.Fortunately everything went as well as could be expected and both patients who needed ventilation when I was the only consultant available and no junior support.Some might not be surprised to know that this was in SA and why I will never work there again.

For those that want to read more on the subject an article discussing the differences in approach between the USA and Europe and the second article discussing some Canadian approaches.


 
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