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☆ The Covid–19 Crisis is Officially Over. Everything changed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Stephanie Stamm | Danny Dougherty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The alarms sounded in March 2020, and Americans cloistered at home, sheltering from a pandemic killing at times thousands a day. Many people free to work remotely left their big-city lives for suburbs and rural communities. Americans everywhere have settled into more homebound routines for meals and entertainment. Yet even with the deadly crisis fading, the U.S. has yet to recapture the level of happiness enjoyed before the virus SARS-CoV-2 transformed our world.

☆ The Covid–19 Crisis Is Officially Over. Everything Changed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Stephanie Stamm | Danny Dougherty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Opinion | Why Does Bad Science on Covid’s Origin Get Hyped?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

This pattern does not apply only to research purporting to show evidence of a natural origin. Perhaps, if you staked a lot on that initial raccoon-dog report, it does make sense to turn your dial a bit in the opposite direction. Across a pandemic in which the public was desperate for new information, we have probably gotten too used to treating hurriedly prepared reports as definitive science. “It is really important to try to understand the origin of Covid-19,” Bloom says. I think part of science, and part of critical thinking in general, is supposed to be a high level of comfort with uncertainty and unknowns.

☆ Monitoring Financial Institution Compliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +41 min

Compliance MonitorshipsA compliance monitor (also called an independent examiner or independent compliance consultant) is an impartial party appointed by the government to detect the root causes of the institution’s compliance failures. The purpose of a compliance monitor is not to address a particular compliance failure or punish the institution. Responded to compliance issues, in a timely manner and in a way that demonstrates that the institution takes compliance issues seriously. Compliance Department EmployeesThe monitor must evaluate the adequacy of compliance department employees, including the number of compliance employees, their experience, and their expertise. Assess the Compliance SystemsThe monitor typically engages compliance technology experts, who have specific knowledge of coding and compliance technology software, to test and evaluate the institution’s compliance systems.

☆ Scientist Revisits Data on Raccoon Dogs and Covid, Stressing the Unknowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Benjamin Mueller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“I don’t think the Bloom paper changes my thinking that much.”Chinese researchers wrote about the market data last year and then made the genetic sequences available this year, allowing a team of international scientists to study them. That team wrote in a report last month that based on the data, they could not conclusively identify an animal that had passed the virus to people. Many of the earliest Covid-19 patients also worked or shopped at the market. They said the genetic data also built on other evidence, including that two early lineages of the virus had been at the market. Dr. Bloom investigated whether the amount of genetic material from the virus correlated with the amount of genetic material from susceptible animal species in the samples.

☆ Opinion | Finding the Origin of a Pandemic Is Difficult. Preventing One Shouldn’t Be.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( W. Ian Lipkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Similarly, in 2008 my team investigated a hemorrhagic fever outbreak with an 80‌‌ percent case fatality rate in Zambia and South Africa. Finding the origin of a viral outbreak can be incredibly difficult, even with full government cooperation and the best available technologies. It’s important to try, because the insights into how a virus emerged may be useful in reducing the risk of future outbreaks. We cannot wait for answers that may never come before doing what must be done to prevent the next pandemic. And yet very little has been done in the wake of this pandemic to better either source of risk.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ FDA authorizes additional omicron Covid booster for seniors and people with weak immune systems
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized an additional dose of Pfizer and Moderna 's Covid-19 vaccines targeting the omicron variant for seniors and people with weak immune systems. People with weak immune systems can receive another omicron shot at least two months after their last dose and receive additional shots at the discretion of their doctor. Children 6 months through 5 years of age who are unvaccinated can now receive the full two-dose series of Moderna's omicron vaccine. The FDA first authorized the omicron BA.5 shots last August, but that subvariant has long since been displaced by a version of omicron called XBB.1.5. In June, the agency will likely update the variant that the Covid vaccines target, ahead of the fall respiratory virus season.

☆ Fact Check-New COVID sublineages identified since Fauci’s retirement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters reported on Jan. 5, 2023, (here) that the Omicron sublineage XBB.1.5, the most transmissible one to date, was already spreading rapidly in the U.S. in December 2022. PANGO’s website (here) shows multiple new lineages identified from virus samples deposited around the world, and given names, in 2023. These include: XBB.1.24 and XBB.1.22.2 first spotted on Feb. 2, XBB.2.3.1 first seen on Jan. 29 and XBB.2.3.2 first identified on Jan. 18. The claims allude to the theory that the COVID-19 virus or its variants were planned or fabricated by the government or by Fauci. More than one new Omicron sublineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been identified since Anthony Fauci’s retirement.

☆ China holds the key to understanding COVID-19 origins: WHO chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Without full access to the information that China has, you cannot say this or that," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to a question about the origin of the virus. That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this." Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database last month. The WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19, said the latest Chinese information offered some "clues" on origins but no answers. She added WHO still did not know whether some of the research required had been undertaken in China.

☆ Fact Check-Document mentioning cryogenic-electron microscopy does not prove Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine contains graphene oxide
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Graphene oxide is not an ingredient in the vaccine,” she said. When contacted by Reuters, a Pfizer spokesperson sent a link with the full list of ingredients of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (here, see page six). No graphene oxide is listed. “We confirm that graphene oxide is not used in the manufacture of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” the spokesperson said. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine does not contain graphene oxide.

International researchers published a pre-print report based on their interpretation of the data on Monday, after leaks of their findings in the media last week and a meeting with the World Health Organization involving both the Chinese and international scientists. The data comprised new sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and additional genomic data based on samples taken from the Huanan market in Wuhan in 2020, according to the international researchers who accessed it. "This adds to the body of evidence identifying the Huanan market as the spillover location of Sars-CoV-2 and the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic," said the report. As of March 11, it was no longer accessible on the database, where it was found by the international scientists, their report said. "Other raw sequencing data from environmental samples from the Huanan market exist and could contain further clues," Debarre told Reuters.

☆ WHO, advisors urge China to release all COVID-related data after new research
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Access to the information was subsequently restricted “apparently to allow further data updates” by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). WHO officials discussed the matter with Chinese colleagues, who explained that the new data were intended to be used to update a preprint study from 2022. "We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data, and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results," he said. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was shut down by Chinese authorities after the novel coronavirus emerged in the city in late 2019. The market has since been a focus of study of whether the virus had infected several other species before jumping to humans.

☆ Chinese Doctor Who Sounded the Alarm on SARS Dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Liyan Qi | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Military surgeon Jiang Yanyong, who challenged China’s official line about SARS, has died at age 91. Jiang Yanyong , a military surgeon who sounded the alarm on Chinese authorities’ efforts to cover up the extent of a 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, died over the weekend at age 91, according to people close to Dr. Jiang and his family. Unlike Li Wenliang , a Wuhan doctor who was initially punished for circulating an early warning about the spread of Covid-19 before his death from the disease in 2020, Dr. Jiang wasn’t penalized for drawing attention to the impact of SARS in 2003. Both doctors were eventually hailed as folk heroes in state media.

☆ Chinese doctor who blew the whistle on SARS dies at 91
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Laurie Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIJING, March 15 (Reuters) - A Chinese military doctor who exposed the full extent of the SARS epidemic when it ripped through Beijing in 2003 has died at the age of 91, according to his friends and local media reports. Jiang Yanyong accused the government of deliberately underreporting the spread of the respiratory disease in an open letter sent to state media in 2003. News of his death was not reported in Chinese state media, as is the norm with politically sensitive public figures. Some media including the South China Morning Post said he died on Saturday of pneumonia, citing sources. SARS infected 8,908 people worldwide after emerging in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, eventually killing 774, according to World Health Organisation data.

☆ U.S. FDA expands authorization of Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 shots in kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the company and its partner BioNTech SE's (22UAy.DE) bivalent COVID-19 vaccine as a single booster dose in certain children. The amended authorization is for children six months through four years of age who have completed their initial three-dose vaccination with Pfizer's original shot. In December, the U.S. health regulator had authorized Pfizer/BioNTech's updated shot as a third dose to those aged six months through four years, who have not completed their primary vaccination series or are yet to receive the third dose. Shots for youngest children in the United States were only approved in June last year, making them the last group to become eligible for vaccination. Reporting by Pratik Jain; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What Do We Actually Know About Covid-19? Not Enough
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sarah Toy | Brianna Abbott | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In the three years since Covid-19 surfaced in the U.S., most Americans have been infected and are largely back to their prepandemic routines and workaday lives. Scientists, still in the dark about what the virus will do in the long term, warn it is too early to sound the all clear. Despite the success of a global effort to decode the SARS-CoV-2 virus and create vaccines and treatments to combat it, there remains uncertainty about how the virus will behave, the path of its mutations and Covid-19’s long-term effects.

☆ Inside the germy, sneeze-filled meeting between Morgan Stanley's CEO and the Saudi crown prince at the onset of COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Liz Hoffman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, met with the Saudi crown prince at the onset of the pandemic. The young royal kept sneezing during the meeting — and Gorman's fear of a deadly pathogen began to grow. He was in the royal palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seated to the right of the country's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Given their recent experience with a deadly virus, Gorman took the caution of his Kuwaiti hosts as a sign that the West was underestimating the dangers of this one. And now, as Gorman chatted with the controversial 34-year-old crown prince about ways Saudi Arabia could diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil, the young royal kept sneezing.

☆ Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a ‘broken’ Social Security disability process
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Morgan Stephens | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

And two Congressional bills addressing the long Covid crisis — The “Covid-19 Long Haulers Act,” which would’ve collected data on long Covid patients with the goal of creating better care and treatment, and “The Care For Long Covid Act” would’ve improved research, centralized data and resources for people with Long Covid — died without making it out of committee. Disabled by long Covid since March 2020, she lives with her spouse and their 7-year-old son in Portland, Ore. “We didn’t design our life to be a single-income household.”Other long Covid patients have rearranged their finances, too. His company’s private long-term disability insurance pays a smaller percentage of the monthly benefit payout when federal disability pays a portion. “They’re not only dealing with long Covid complications, but they’re dealing with financial complications,” she said of her clients.

☆ Infected in the first wave, they navigated long COVID without a roadmap
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Julie Steenhuysen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Three years later, at least 65 million people worldwide are estimated to have long COVID, according to an evidence review published last month in Nature Reviews Microbiology. An analysis of thousands of health records by the RECOVER trial found that non-Hispanic white women in wealthier areas were more likely than others to have a long COVID diagnosis. Researchers said that likely reflected disparities in access to healthcare, and suggests that many cases of long COVID among people of color are not being diagnosed. She has since been diagnosed with long COVID and can no longer work. Other infections such as Lyme disease can result in long-term symptoms, many of which overlap with long COVID.

☆ Fact Check-Moderna CEO did not say company made 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses before the pandemic started
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

At Davos 2023, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel spoke about how quickly the company was able to scale up vaccine production at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, not that Moderna had made 100,000 COVID vaccine doses before the pandemic began, as some are claiming online. The clip of Bancel responding to a question in January 2023 circulated in a tweet by the user @healthbyjames with the false caption, “URGENT — Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel Admits Company Produced 100,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses In 2019 Before The Pandemic Started” (here). Bancel responds by first recalling that, “when the pandemic happened, Moderna had made 100,000 dose in 2019 for the whole year. Moderna did not produce 100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2019, Ridley said. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel did not say in a 2023 panel discussion that the company produced 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines prior to the pandemic.

☆ Fungal infections are becoming more common. Why isn't there a vaccine?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Ritesh Shukla | Getty ImagesFungal infections are becoming more common in the United States, but unlike illnesses caused by bacteria or viruses, there's no vaccine to protect against a fungal threat. Fungi cause a wide range of illnesses in people, from irritating athlete's foot to life-threatening bloodstream infections. In the U.S., fungal infections are responsible for more than 75,000 hospitalizations and nearly 9 million outpatient visits each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the growing threat, there are currently no licensed vaccines — in the U.S. or abroad — to prevent fungal infections. Fatal fungal infectionsNorris said that the ultimate goal would be to develop a single vaccine that protects against all fungal infections.

☆ Nigerian rights panel, underfunded and overmatched, begins probe of powerful military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File PhotoFeb 7 (Reuters) - A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation Tuesday into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country’s army. Nigerian military leaders said the abortion program did not exist and that children were never targeted for killing. The U.S. defense and state departments, the United Nations Secretary-General, the German foreign minister, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all called for Nigeria to investigate the Reuters findings. In a 2002 paper, two Nigerian scholars called the body "a red herring” to distract from human rights violations. In 2013, the military allegedly killed as many as 200 civilians in the town of Baga, in northeastern Borno state.

☆ Fact Check-Chinese study made coronavirus antibodies in eggs by vaccinating hens
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A 2021 study in China investigated antibodies generated by immunizing hens with a specific protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and found that the antibodies extracted from yolks could neutralize some versions of the coronavirus tested in the lab. The results do not mean that all egg yolks contain coronavirus-neutralizing antibodies or that eating eggs would prevent COVID-19, as suggested in some widely shared posts online. Posts refer to a study originally published in November 2020 (here), which analyzed immunoglobulin Y (or lgY) antibodies generated in the yolks of eggs from laying hens that had been immunized with the “spike” protein from SARS-CoV-2. Not all eggs, however, contain the specific antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, Rodrigo Gallardo, professor in poultry medicine at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, told Reuters via email. A study in China immunized hens to generate antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in their eggs, it did not find that all eggs contain such antibodies or that eggs have any effect on COVID.

☆ Insurers Avoid Picking Up Businesses’ Covid-19 Pandemic Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

“If they assumed incorrectly, the mom-and-pop restaurants shouldn’t be penalized.”Federal appeals courts so far have rejected cases like Consolidated Restaurant’s. In January, the federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled against a range of businesses. With that decision, businesses had seen losses in 11 federal appeals courts, whose jurisdictions span nearly the entire country. Business interruption insurance policies are typically written to address harm to property: For instance, if a water-main break floods a sales floor, or a fire forces a business to close. In June, a Boston federal appeals court rejected a Covid insurance claim by a group of restaurants.

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