Delta Airlines CEO Announces Company Will Ditch COVID Vaccine Mandate – The Citizen Media

https://thecitizenmedia.com/2021/10/16/delta-airlines-ceo-announces-company-will-ditch-covid-vaccine-mandate/
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said that the company will be dropping its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, making it the only U.S. airline that will not require employees to receive their shots. Bastin said during a Thursday appearance on Fox Business’ “The Claman …

How many people get ‘long COVID?’ More than half, study. – Scientific Inquirer

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/10/16/how-many-people-get-long-covid-more-than-half-researchers-find/

…

The researchers conducted a systematic review of 57 reports that included data from 250,351 unvaccinated adults and children who were diagnosed with COVID-19 from December 2019 through March 2021. Among those studied, 79% were hospitalized, and most patients (79%) lived in high-income countries. Patients’ median age was 54, and the majority of individuals (56%) were male.

The researchers analyzed patients’ health post-COVID during three intervals at one month (short-term), two to five months (intermediate-term) and six or more months (long-term).

According to the findings, survivors experienced an array of residual health issues associated with COVID-19. Generally, these complications affected a patient’s general well-being, their mobility or organ systems. Overall, one in two survivors experienced long-term COVID manifestations. The rates remained largely constant from one month through six or more months after their initial illness.

The investigators nconst…:

• General well-being: …
• Mobility: …
• Neurologic concerns: …
• Mental health disorders: …
• Lung abnormalities: Six in ten survivors had chest imaging abnormality and more than a quarter of patients had difficulty breathing.
• Cardiovascular issues: Chest pain and palpitations were among the commonly reported conditions.
• Skin conditions: Nearly one in five patients experienced hair loss or rashes.
• Digestive issues: Stomach pain, lack of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting were among the commonly reported conditions.

“… adverse health effects from COVID-19 can linger,” said co-lead investigator Vernon Chinchilli, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. “… this study examined a larger population, including people in high-, middle- and low-income countries, and examined many more symptoms. Therefore, we believe our findings are quite robust given the available data.”…

German state allows ALL businesses to ban unvaxxed customers, even for groceries & other essentials — RT World News

https://www.rt.com/news/537644-hesse-bans-unvaxxed-supermarkets/

16 Oct, 2021 02:15 / Updated 3 hours ago

The German state of Hesse has become the first to allow
businesses to deny the unvaccinated access even to basic necessities,
setting a troubling precedent as its neighbors wrestle with protests
against vaccination mandates.

Hessian supermarkets have
been granted permission to deny the unvaccinated the right to buy food
and other essentials, the state chancellery confirmed to German magazine
BILD on Friday. Under the new policy, stores can decide whether to
implement the ‘2G rule’, which means allowing entry only to the
vaccinated and recovered (‘geimpft’ and ‘genesen’ in German) or the more
lax ‘3G rule’, encompassing those who have tested negative for the
virus (getestet).

Also on rt.com
‘It’s about fairness’: Germany scraps Covid quarantine compensation for unvaccinated workers

Minister-President Volker Bouffier somewhat bafflingly told BILD
he hoped the new rule wouldn’t be widely implemented, explaining: “We
expect that this option will only be used on some days and that
businesses which cater to everyday needs will not make use of it.”

“The greatest protection is provided by vaccination. And still it is uncomplicated, unbureaucratic and free to get,” he boasted,
noting that masking and social distancing requirements would remain in
place for businesses that failed to adopt the more exclusionary 2G Rule.
In exchange for admitting only vaccinated or recovered people, 2G
businesses are allowed to forgo social distancing and mask mandates –
perhaps a tempting tradeoff after 18 months of burdensome face
coverings.

In addition to the new 2G option,
hospital staff who remain unvaccinated must be tested for Covid-19 twice
a week, and students are still required to mask up while seated in
class.

While at least eight other German states
have opened up the 2G option for certain businesses like bars,
restaurants, gyms, cinemas and brothels, Hesse is the first to allow the
rule at grocery stores and other retail shops.

Though
other European nations like Italy and France have implemented strict
vaccine requirements forbidding the unvaxxed from working (Italy) or
eating at cafes (France), most leaders have stopped short of directly
mandating jabs for their citizens. However, concerns about vaccine
passports have sent hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to
protest, even while countries like the US begin to reopen for travel –
to the vaccinated only, of course.


Also on rt.com
Hundreds blockade Italian ports as mandatory Covid-19 passes come into effect for all workers (VIDEOS)

When breezy, wear masks outdoors to prevent coronavirus exposure – Scientific Inquirer

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/10/15/when-breezy-wear-masks-outdoors-to-prevent-coronavirus-exposure/

WASHINGTON, October 12, 2021 — As the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend even the vaccinated wear masks indoors to prevent exposure and transmission.

However, it is less clear what people should do when outside.

In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay found when a person coughs outdoors, wind flowing in the same direction can propagate the virus faster over longer distances than in calm conditions.

“The study is significant in that it points to the increased infection risk that coughing in the same direction as the wind could bring about,” co-author Amit Agrawal said. “Based on the results, we recommend wearing masks outdoors, particularly in breezy conditions.”

Other guidelines,…

Vitamin D and Covid 19: Big Pharma’s worst nightmare – La Vie en Yoga

https://lavieenyoga.blog/2020/12/07/vitamin-d-and-covid-19-big-pharmas-worst-nightmare/

…

As far back as May, Joanne. E. Manson, Prof. of Medicine at Harvard Medical School described the evidence as being “quite compelling” that Vitamin D offers protection against infection and complications from Covid 19, ”particularly against the severe reaction cytokine storm.” Rose Anne Kenney, from Trinity College Dublin called the evidence, “very strong.” And in his letter to the British Medical Journal on October 5, Australian GP, Peter J. Lewis echoed these and other voices, when he referred to the evidence from research studies as “overwhelming”.

Large scale controlled clinical trials require serious funding, organization and human resources, which is why, especially when there is no drug company behind the intervention, they more often require governmental support. For the past several months, doctors, scientists and healthcare professionals have been calling for such trials to be conducted into Vitamin D and Covid-19 on the strength of the results of the numerous observational studies. This issue has been raised in several BMJ Rapid Responses and can be read in the conclusions of many of the researchers themselves, often in quite urgent terms.

Thankfully, (although apparently unbeknownst to the Health Secretary or the BBC) we now have two, albeit quite small, controlled clinical studies on Vitamin D and Vitamin D analogues in the treatment of Covid-19. The most recent was carried out in India and was published in Nature on 19 November 2020. This study concluded that Vitamin D deficiency not only markedly increases the chance of having severe disease after infection with SARS Cov-2, but that Vitamin D deficiency translates to increased mortality.

The first randomized clinical trial in the world on Vitamin D and Covid-19 was conducted at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Spain and the results were published August 29 in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The results were clear. Vitamin D supplementation improved outcomes for Covid-19 patients, reduced the chances for ending up in intensive care, and reduced mortality. The researchers are now extending the study throughout hospitals in Spain.

These two clinical studies support a number of the findings of the other 40 or so observational studies on Covid-19 and Vitamin D:

• There is a greater incidence of Covid-19 in Vitamin D deficient patients and Vitamin D deficient people are more likely to test positive for the virus.
• Covid-19 patients with low Vitamin D levels are more likely to be hospitalized.

• Vitamin D supplementation reduces the likelihood of a Covid-19 patient going to intensive care.

• Vitamin D offers a protective effect both in terms of symptoms and survival in those who take it as a regular supplement before contracting the virus.

• Supplementing with Vitamin D, or exposure to UVB radiation that forms Vitamin D through the skin, reduces Covid-19 fatalities.

• The most gains are experienced in patients who are more severely Vitamin D deficient.
• Moderate doses are more effective than high doses.

You can read all the studies here with a helpful summary here.

…

Covid-19 in Brazil: ‘My mum was used as a guinea pig’ – BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58891004

… Days later, Ms Castilho’s mother, too, began to show symptoms of the disease. [her mother],… had access to a private healthcare

provider, Prevent Senior,…

The Castilho family … were sent a so-called “Covid Kit”, which included hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and ivermectin, despite there being no scientific evidence that those drugs are

beneficial in the treatment of the virus.

…The company is under investigation by federal prosecutors, the police, and a separate inquiry by São Paulo state lawmakers…

Covid: New WHO group may be last chance to find virus origins – BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58905945

… the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, later said the

investigation had been hampered by a lack of data and transparency from
China.

The proposed members of the Sago group include six experts who visited China as part of the previous team…

In a joint editorial in the journal Science, Dr Tedros and other WHO officials said “a lab accident cannot be ruled out”…

Vietnam: Owners heartbroken after 12 dogs killed over Covid – BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58894320

As Covid infections spike, a Vietnamese couple left Long An province on a motorbike along with their pack of pet dogs.

They later tested positive for Covid-19. From their hospital beds, they found out 12 of their pets had been killed by authorities over fears the
animals could spread the virus.

…The killings were “unethical” and “ridiculous” because there are no
guidelines dictating pets must be killed if owners are infected, said Nguyen Hong Vu, a staff scientist of the City of Hope National Medical
Centre in the US…

AstraZeneca Covid antibody injection effective at reducing risk of severe illness or death from the virus, trial says — RT World News

https://www.rt.com/news/537179-astrazeneca-covid-antibody-injection-trial/

…

AstraZeneca has released new data from phase-three trials of its Covid-19 antibody injection, AZD7442, showing it reduces the risk of
developing severe illness or death from the coronavirus in vulnerable people.

The pharmaceutical giant’s
Covid treatment has been touted by the company as a potential alternative for those unable to receive a coronavirus vaccine due to
health conditions that put them at risk of adverse side-effects.

The TACKLE Phase III trial found the injection reduced the risk of developing severe symptoms or dying from Covid-19 in non-hospitalized patients by between 50% and 67%, protecting vulnerable individuals and reducing pressure on health services, AstraZeneca said on Monday.

“With continued cases of
serious Covid-19 infections across the globe, there is a significant need for new therapies like AZD7442 that can be used to protect
vulnerable populations from getting Covid and can also help prevent progression to severe disease,” said Hugh Montgomery, professor of intensive care medicine at University College London and the trial’s principal investigator.

Executive VP at AstraZeneca’s biopharmaceuticals research and development, Mene
Pangalos, said the trial showed the antibody treatment has the potential
to act as an “early intervention” option that can halt the “progression to severe disease.”

Also on rt.com
Covid-19 pandemic will be over in a year, Moderna chief executive says

The company’s study will be submitted to a peer-reviewed medical journal shortly.

The latest trial data backs up an earlier study of 5,000 people, released in August, that found no fatalities or severe symptoms of Covid in
people who had received the treatment.

Earlier this month,
AstraZeneca submitted an emergency use authorization request to the US
Food and Drug Administration for the treatment.

Indian drugs regulator backs home-grown Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 for kids aged 2 and above — RT World News

https://www.rt.com/news/537246-india-covaxin-vaccine-covid19-kids/

The Indian drugs regulator has recommended the use of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 shot for emergency use in children aged between two
and 18 years old. It will become the first shot to be used on under-12s
in India.

On Tuesday, the Central
Drugs Standard Control Organisation and Subject Expert Committee said
that the Covaxin shot, produced by Indian firm Bharat Biotech could be
administered to children between the ages of two and 18.

Clinical-trial data from Bharat Biotech “has
been thoroughly reviewed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and Subject Expert Committee and [they] have provided their
positive recommendations,” the vaccine maker told Reuters in a statement.

The firm is yet to publicly share its data from trials involving children.
The vaccine is now the second to be recommended for use on recipients
under the age of 18, after Zydus Cadila’s DNA vaccine. Although the Zydus shot is only authorized for use in those above the age of 12.

Covaxin is similar to China’s CoronaVac (the Chinese vaccine developed by
Sinovac), using an inactivated coronavirus paired with the adjuvant
Alhydroxiquim-II to boost immune response. The shot is taken as part of a
two-dose regimen, recommended to be taken 28 days apart.

Also on rt.com
India wants Russia to be major importer of Darjeeling tea, like it was back in the USSR

Some 110 million doses of the vaccine have been administered to date. The firm hopes to receive emergency-use listing from the World Health Organization later this month.

India has now administered
960 million vaccines in the fight against Covid-19, with the British-developed AstraZeneca vaccine at the heart of the effort. The
inoculation campaign is increasingly focusing on children, with many
adults already vaccinated.