D&D and the rising pandemic

[Dannyalcatraz]

Bad news from the vaccine front:

A public health nightmare: Mutated coronavirus strain could hit vaccine hopes

It was the news virologists had been dreading. Ever since the Chinese authorities released the full genetic code of SARS-CoV-2 in January, scientists have closely monitored any hint that the virus was mutating. This is because a genetically stable virus presents a stationary target at which the...

www.yahoo.com

Vir Biotechnology Publishes New Research Characterizing Variation in the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Virulence of a Prevalent Immune Evasion Variant, N439K

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) today announced the publication of new research demonstrating that the immunodominant SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding motif (RBM) is the least conserved region in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, allowing for the occurrence of mutations without disrupting human ACE2…

www.biospace.com

TL;DR- the first article describes that the Danish mutation has several key changes that could make finding a vaccine to it more difficult. The second article describes yet another mutation (N439K) discovered by the University of Glasgow present in several countries- including the USA- provokes the creation of antibodies that are not as long lasting as those from other strains.

 

[Garthanos]

Although, thinking about it, coughing on your phone is one way germs get spread. People need to observe good phone hygiene.

my wife uses my phone occasionally but honestly if any of the people who touch my phone are infected ... it wont be by phone that we transfer.

 

[Eltab]

Although, thinking about it, coughing on your phone is one way germs get spread. People need to observe good phone hygiene.

My phone is attached to the wall by a cord, so it cannot get out where anybody else could cough on it. Olde-school tech FTW !

 

[Hussar]

My phone is attached to the wall by a cord, so it cannot get out where anybody else could cough on it. Olde-school tech FTW !

Might be a little tricky to put an app on that phone though.

 

[Eltab]

Might be a little tricky to put an app on that phone though.

The app can go on the other end of the connection. Data is data. I may have to pay for the doctor with his analysis program to get a "translate from unusual format" subroutine though...

 

[Umbran]

The app can go on the other end of the connection. Data is data. I may have to pay for the doctor with his analysis program to get a "translate from unusual format" subroutine though...

Or the just set up a tablet with the app and an external mike on it that tests you at the office - if it comes back positive, you're now there for covid-testing, and the staff knows to be on point with the precautions with you.

 

[Hussar]

The app can go on the other end of the connection. Data is data. I may have to pay for the doctor with his analysis program to get a "translate from unusual format" subroutine though...

That might be a bit trickier though, depending on how good your phone and your phone line is. There's no way it's going to have the quality that directly inputting will. I don't know how sensitive the detection has to be. One would think that the clearer the sound, the more accurate the determination though.

 

[Eltab]

That might be a bit trickier though, depending on how good your phone and your phone line is. There's no way it's going to have the quality that directly inputting will. I don't know how sensitive the detection has to be. One would think that the clearer the sound, the more accurate the determination though.

Yah, the first problem to work out is "how is Corona cough different from flu cough different from "I have allergies" cough different from ... ?

I was raking leaves in my yard and got some of the 'leaf dust' up my nose. If the test program could hear me and misdiagnoses the racket I was making, do I get an ambulance pulling up to my house?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or the just set up a tablet with the app and an external mike on it that tests you at the office - if it comes back positive, you're now there for covid-testing, and the staff knows to be on point with the precautions with you.

I was thinking at the doors to bars, restaurants, gyms and the like.

 

[Hussar]

Well, they already have cameras that tell your temperature, so, yeah, I could see that. I can't enter the kindergarten I teach at without standing in front of that sensor every time. Maybe not the most effective thing, but, it does seem to be working here. Japan has gotten around the worst of things.

News from near my hometown though just makes me shake my head:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/2-000-people-march-through-aylmer-ont-to-protest-covid-19-health-measures-1.5794265

Sigh.