COVID-19 stats and research news - until Nov. 15, 2021

[Campgottagopee]

Unreal. At least he wears one. Please refrain from dragging politics into this thread. It has damaged others and is not constructive. Don’t ruin it for the members seeking good information.

Concur

 

[G.ski]

I am on voluntary hiatus from another ski site due to the incessant injection of politics and partisanship into every conversation about this topic. Another vote to keep that out of Marz's fact based thread.

 

[MarzNC]

One of the more unexpected ways to try to get a sense of community spread is testing waste water aka sewage. The first I heard of the idea was back in 2020 when stored samples in Italy were analyzed to see when COVID-19 first arrived. Turned out to be long before the first case was detected in someone who was sick. I think there were samples in Dec 2019 with fragments of SARS-CoV-2. Also read about it being used in Australia. Since they had so few cases until Delta arrived, it was a pretty good indicator of an undetected outbreak.

The CDC set up a webpage all about waste water surveillance a while ago. It's designed for folks who run sewage processing plants. Doesn't cost that much to add a COVID-19 test to routine testing. The idea is to create a national database of the test results. In the same way that states send COVID-19 statistics to CDC to allow analysis on a national level. The field of "wastewater epidemiology" has existed for a while. Needless to say, usually nobody cares who doesn't work in public health related to infectious diseases.

A lot of universities are actively involved in testing waste water. In some cases, it's for research purposes. But it was also being used to spot outbreaks on campus earlier during the 2020-21 school year than was possible without mass testing on a routine basis. Clarkson has an on-going research project. I learned about it when I was at North Country School in August. NCS is one of the test sites.

Oct. 12, 2020, Clarkson College
Clarkson professor launches waste water surveillance program to detect coronavirus

Clarkson professor launches wastewater surveillance program to detect coronavirus

Nasal tests are the leading way health officials are finding and containing coronavirus cases before they spread. But there’s another way to catch the virus early. It shows up in people’s poop. A new initiative by researchers at...

www.northcountrypublicradio.org

Detecting COVID-19: Can Wastewater Provide Early Warning Signs? | Clarkson University

www.clarkson.edu

May 5, 2021

From the Wastewater Drain, Solid Pandemic Data (Published 2021)

The coronavirus could turn sewage surveillance into a mainstream public health practice.

www.nytimes.com

COVIDPoops19 Dashboard | covid19wbec.org

www.covid19wbec.org

 

[Harvey]

Yea I'm going to have about zero tolerance in this thread for political BS.

If you find the REPLY button gone, you stepped over the line.

 

[sibhusky]

There's KN95's and FFP2's, essentially equivalents to the US N95 standard, that have been available for use this whole time. The European airlines are now requiring FFP2's, as are most indoor places in Austria. I certainly don't like them, especially if I'm exerting myself, but the US is not in good shape at the moment and part of it could be people using bandannas and thinking that will do the trick. Since I'm vaccinated, I use a two layer fabric plus a filter layer and figure if I watch out where I'm going, that's good enough, but I was not so sanguine before I was vaccinated.

 

[MarzNC]

There's KN95's and FFP2's, essentially equivalents to the US N95 standard, that have been available for use this whole time. The European airlines are now requiring FFP2's, as are most indoor places in Austria. I certainly don't like them, especially if I'm exerting myself, but the US is not in good shape at the moment and part of it could be people using bandannas and thinking that will do the trick. Since I'm vaccinated, I use a two layer fabric plus a filter layer and figure if I watch out where I'm going, that's good enough, but I was not so sanguine before I was vaccinated.

Personally, I've been quite happy with a Primal 2.0 mask for times when I know I'll be masked for more than 15-20 min. The frame approach keeps it in shape and off my mouth. Stays in place if I'm talking. I only put in the filter that comes with it for flights. Just bought a few more since Primal has some of the older versions on sale. The current version is Primal 3.0.

Being retired, it was pretty straightforward in 2020 to only go shopping around home at times when the stores were relatively empty. Even though my neighborhood and places I go on a regular day-to-day basis have high vax rates, I'm doing about the same as I was a year ago. Never did wear a mask outdoors. For shopping I use a cloth mask as a supplement to keeping my distance and staying situationally aware.

 

[MarzNC]

When considering what to do in terms of being indoors with strangers, ventilation is a big factor. One reason going to a local supermarket hasn't been an issue for me from the start is that where I go are relatively new buildings with high ceilings. Meaning they were built since 1990 and in many cases after 2010. The area within a few miles of my house is a growth area that used to be farmland and has turned into suburbia in the last couple decades. Very different than small grocery stores in Manhattan.

Apparently in Japan and Taiwan, there is a requirement for certain types of public places to have a CO2 monitor and a display of the current CO2 level. When I went looking for info about CO2, I found that Prof. Lindsay Marr had helped her gym in northern VA to do a re-design so they could keep their clients safe last winter. Meaning without always leaving the doors open.

Nov. 19, 2021, CNN
A gym trainer exposed 50 athletes to Covid-19, but no one else got sick because of a ventilation redesign

A gym trainer exposed 50 athletes to Covid-19, but no one else got sick because of a ventilation redesign | CNN

A Virginia gym owner thought she had a nightmare scenario on her hands when she learned that 50 athletes were potentially exposed to Covid-19 particles by one of the gym's coaches. But not a single member ended up contracting the virus, thanks to the extra safety precautions and ventilation...

www.cnn.com

Feb. 18, 2021, The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Tech scientist thinks measuring CO2 is key to safely reopening schools, businesses

Virginia Tech scientist thinks measuring CO2 is key to safely reopening schools, businesses

When she goes out and about, Linsey Marr often carries with her a small sensor that monitors carbon dioxide in the air around her. When she sees the reading of parts per million rise, such as in a …

www.pilotonline.com

 

[Campgottagopee]

local supermarket

I do our grocery shopping 5AM on Sundays. Nobody but me and maybe 3 other people in the entire store.

 

[tirolski]

Yea I'm going to have about zero tolerance in this thread for political BS.

Attaboy.

Talkin bout testin poo = good.
Talkin bout political BS = bad.

What about testin politician poo?

Just gotta let everybody know the rules.

 

[tirolski]

Here’s the recent FDA meeting for discussing approval of Cormirnaty booster.
It’s long and discusses other topics.