WHO Team Member to New York Times: What We Learned in China

Peter Daszak is part of the World Health Organization’s 14-member team investigating the origins of the coronavirus. This weekend on Twitter he described “explaining key findings of our exhausting month-long work in China” to journalists — only to see team members “selectively misquoted to fit a narrative that was prescribed before the work began.” Daszak was responding to a New York…

WHO Investigators Now Believe Cornavirus was ‘Circulating Widely’ in Wuhan in December

“Investigators from the World Health Organization (WHO) looking into the origins of coronavirus in China have discovered signs the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan in December 2019 than previously thought,” reports CNN, “and are urgently seeking access to hundreds of thousands of blood samples from the city that China has not so far let them examine.” The lead investigator for…

WHO Investigators Now Believe Coronavirus was ‘Circulating Widely’ in Wuhan in December

“Investigators from the World Health Organization (WHO) looking into the origins of coronavirus in China have discovered signs the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan in December 2019 than previously thought,” reports CNN, “and are urgently seeking access to hundreds of thousands of blood samples from the city that China has not so far let them examine.” The lead investigator for…

The game-changing covid-19 treatments that helped slash the death rate

Faced with an unknown disease, doctors had to update best practices faster than ever before. Here’s what we now know about gold standard coronavirus treatments Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933210-800-the-game-changing-covid-19-treatments-that-helped-slash-the-death-rate/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

How is Alaska Leading the Nation in Vaccinating Residents? With Boats, Ferries, Planes and Snowmobiles.

Alaska, the state with the largest land mass in the nation, is leading the country in a critical coronavirus measure: per capita vaccinations per capita vaccinations. From a report: About 13 percent of the people who live in Alaska have already gotten a shot. That’s higher than states such as West Virginia, which has received a lot of attention for a…

Are Experts Underselling the Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines?

David Leonhardt won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2011. This week in a New York Times newsletter, he argues that early in the pandemic experts around the world mistakenly discouraged mask use because of “a concern that people would rush to buy high-grade medical masks, leaving too few for doctors and nurses. The experts were also [at the time] unsure…

Facebook Uses AI To Predict If COVID-19 Patients Will Need More Care

Facebook is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to help doctors predict whether they will need more resources, such as extra oxygen to care for COVID-19 patients in hospitals. CNET reports: The social network said Friday it developed two AI models, one based on a single chest X-ray, and another from a series X-rays, that could help forecast if a patient…

Among 2020’s Most Underreported Stories: Pharmaceutical Profiteering May Accelerate Superbugs

Since 1976 “Project Censored,” a U.S.-based nonprofit media watchdog organization, has been identifying “the news that didn’t make the news,” the most significant stories it believes are being systematically overlooked. Slashdot ran stories about its annual list of the year’s most censored news stories in 1999, 2003, 2004, and in 2007, when they’d presciently warned that the media was ignoring the…

Doctor’s diary: Inside the first covid-19 vaccine clinics

Coronavirus vaccinations have begun in the UK, but it will be a huge challenge to deliver the vaccine more widely through local practices, writes one doctor working on the front line Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2262603-doctors-diary-inside-the-first-covid-19-vaccine-clinics/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…