The new variant is not going to be called the Nu…
Instead the World Health Organization designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern and labels it “Omicron”.:
Developing..
Category: COVID-19
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SUPER-COVID WORRIES ON THANKSGIVING DAY
The Drudge Report blared with a red fonted headline: The WHO is spooked over a new COVID mutation..
While the turkey is in the American oven, the WHO is meeting about this new variant of much more epic concern than previous.. The new discovery, called B.1.1529 until a Greek letter is assigned.. but at this point it was discovered in South Africa..
“Here is a mutation variant of serious concern,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at the same media event. “We were hopeful that we might have a longer break in between waves — possibly that it would hold off to late December or even next year January.”
MORE..
The new variant is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said in a statement published by the Science Media Centre…
Virologists have detected almost 100 cases linked to the variant in the South Africa to date.
Other nations across the world, Europe, and even the United States are joining South Africa in a surge of cases…
WHY THE FEAR?
From the UK GUARDIAN, much more extensive reporting:
The variant was first spotted in Botswana, where three cases have now been sequenced. Six more have been confirmed in South Africa, and one in Hong Kong in a traveller returning from South Africa. Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, posted details of the new variant on a genome-sharing website, noting that the “incredibly high amount of spike mutations suggest this could be of real concern”. In a series of tweets, Peacock said it “very, very much should be monitored due to that horrific spike profile”, but added that it may turn out to be an “odd cluster” that is not very transmissible. “I hope that’s the case,” he wrote. -
Euro nightmare: COVID
Tens of thousands of protesters, many from far-right groups, marched through Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain skyrocketing coronavirus infections.
Demonstrations against virus restrictions also took place in Switzerland, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands on Saturday, a day after Dutch police opened fire on protesters and seven people were injured in rioting that erupted in Rotterdam. Protesters rallied against coronavirus restrictions and mandatory COVID-19 passes needed in many European countries to enter restaurants, Christmas markets or sports events, as well as mandatory vaccinations.
Few news outlets covered any of the developments..
Drudge Report stood out as one exception..
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8 Dead, Dozens Infected With COVID-19 Due to Nursing Home Outbreak
It started in the beginning of October with only 3 cases.. it has bloomed into a disaster ..
Now, eight residents have died, and 67 residents and 22 staff members caught COVID-19 sometime in the past month and a half. Nursing home officials said 48 residents and 21 staff members have recovered from the virus.
The state Department of Public Health said they’re monitoring and providing on-site consultation at this facility.
— Read on www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/coronavirus/8-dead-dozens-infected-with-covid-19-due-to-outbreak-at-connecticut-nursing-home/2652161/Reports indicate that those who are sick or died were fully vaccinated ..
Developing. Unfortunately ..
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New COVID variant found in France
A new COVID variant identified in a handful of European countries is raising concerns among some health professionals because there are changes to the coronavirus spike protein that have never been seen before.
The variant, known either as B.1.X or B.1.640, was first reported by the French paper Le Telegramme after it infected 24 people at a French school in the Brittany region last month. When the variant was discovered in France, the school at which the outbreak occurred was forced to close half of its classes, Le Telegramme reported.
— Read on m.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/new-covid-variant-found-in-france-reason-for-panic-or-not-quite-yet-684878 -
Federal appeals court halts Biden administration’s vaccine requirement, delivering policy a major blow
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, helmed by one judge who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and two others who were appointed by President Donald Trump, issued the ruling Friday, after temporarily halting the mandate last weekend in response to lawsuits filed by Republican-aligned businesses and legal groups.
Calling the requirement a “mandate,” the court said the rule, instituted through the Labor Department, “grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority,” according to the opinion, written by Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt and joined by Judges Edith H. Jones and Stuart Kyle Duncan.
“Rather than a delicately handled scalpel, the Mandate is a one-size fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces (and workers) that have more than a little bearing on
— Read on www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/federal-appeals-court-halts-biden-administrations-vaccine-requirement-delivering-policy-a-major-blow/ar-AAQE2DhDeveloping
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Israel Holds ‘War Games’ to Prepare for More Lethal Covid Strain
“While the situation of coronavirus in the world is deteriorating, Israel is safe and protected,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement. “In order to maintain this, and to safeguard the continuity of normal life, we must continue to closely monitor the situation and prepare for any scenario.”
The number of seriously ill Israelis suffering from Covid-19 dropped from around 700 at the end of August to 149 on Nov. 10, while the number of daily new infections fell from around 10,000 a day to just under 500.
— Read on www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-holds-e2-80-98war-games-e2-80-99-to-prepare-for-more-lethal-covid-strain/ar-AAQzQDK -
Psaki Halloween Covid scare
But the White House press secretary said she was not near Biden..
Developing..
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NPR reports that hospital emergency rooms across the nation are suddenly filled with sicker people than ever before who don’t have COVID-19
Except for initial hot spots like New York City, many ERs across the U.S. were often eerily empty in the spring of 2020. Terrified of contracting COVID-19, people who were sick with other things did their best to stay away from hospitals. Visits to emergency departments dropped to half their normal levels, according to the Epic Health Research Network, and didn’t fully rebound until the summer of 2021.
But now, they’re too full. Even in parts of the country where COVID-19 isn’t overwhelming the health system, patients are showing up to the ER sicker than they were before the pandemic, their diseases more advanced and in need of more complicated care.
— Read on www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/26/1046432435/ers-are-now-swamped-with-seriously-ill-patients-but-most-dont-even-have-covid -
In Major Shift, NIH Admits Funding Risky Virus Research in Wuhan; Vanity Fair reports
On Wednesday, the NIH sent a letter to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that acknowledged two facts. One was that EcoHealth Alliance, a New York City–based nonprofit that partners with far-flung laboratories to research and prevent the outbreak of emerging diseases, did indeed enhance a bat coronavirus to become potentially more infectious to humans, which the NIH letter described as an “unexpected result” of the research it funded that was carried out in partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The second was that EcoHealth Alliance violated the terms of its grant conditions stipulating that it had to report if its research increased the viral growth of a pathogen by tenfold.
— Read on www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/nih-admits-funding-risky-virus-research-in-wuhan