Covid Shots

Fujifilm is known in Japan for making a medicine called Avigan, which is believed to have some effect on COVID-19.

But, read this article on the the subject, it seems like Avigan is put on hold.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Pharmaceuticals/Fujifilm-s-Avigan-hopes-hit-after-Japan-puts-COVID-drug-on-hold

Best to defer, get more data and come back fighting than make it into a propaganda exercise though. If it works, the data will show it with some more trial time. We're not near the end of this pandemic by any means. We still have people to treat and we still need an actual cure! Right now, the immunogen's being used to target the spike proteins can be evolved out of the virus. Work has started on something that will actually kill it in its tracks. Until then, people will continue to get sick from it.

A popular misconception about viruses, like this pandemic or like the fictional movie Outbreak, is that they can be "cured". We treat viruses, we don't cure them. Take something like the much touted double-stranded RNA activated caspase oligomerizer (DRACO). When it first broke in the media you might have seen headlines something like "Cure for all Viral Diseases Found!" Now, beyond being way over-stated, it's called a cure. Is cure the right word when you have a population of cells, some infected with a virus and some not, and you administer a drug that just kills all the infected cells? That's along the lines of saying you've "cured" the population by simply murdering the infected.

Viruses are just a whole different animal (and I'm aware of the irony using that expression on something that's not even alive), the usual way of thinking about illness doesn't always hold up. If you have a bacterial infection we cure it with an antibiotic that just straight up kills that bacteria. If you have a viral infection we either keep you alive and comfortable long enough that you mount a sufficient immune response on your own, or we pump you full of an "anti-viral" that tires to keep your cells from replicating the virus long enough to get it back to a level your immune response can cope with.

I'm explaining this all really badly, but virology is just super neat and I've read way to much about it! Next time you're bored look up sentinel chickens, it's wild!

I spoke... imprecisely, what I'm saying is that there is work underway to crate something that goes beyond the spike protein and offers a more permanent solution. A cure is needed in so far as long covid and other infection symptoms.

I’m going nuts waiting to get like ten years out so I can read all the books. The mRNA stuff is wicked cool, really excited to see what it leads to.

While we are at it I want to send red hot stream of hatred towards politicians who push for distancing even when using masks, for some reason like to impose restrictions on being outdoors and I did any country promoted ventilation quality by the way? Not protecting business who are prohibited to work from the landlords (not just "you can pay all of that later" ) is the cherry on the top.

Edited by Alt Bass 2021-02-25 11:33 PM

The science doesn't support the argument that wearing masks means social distancing is unnecessary.

- Many people don't wear masks correctly; too loose and slipping (put a twist in the loop over your ears so that there is a figure 8 in the elastic), not over their nose (facepalm), incorrect size for face type or just refusing to wear them in the first place.

- Many more people don't wear the correct type of mask or have made something and are deluding themselves that it counts*

- Many people believe that the point of wearing masks is to stop you catching it. This is utterly, utterly untrue. The point of wearing a face mask is to stop you spreading it. The point is that when you exhale, cough or sneeze it doesn't spew as a particle stream into the environment.


On the not allowed outside front. I can't speak for anywhere other than the UK, but we're allowed out. You're just not allowed to travel stupid distances to do so (i.e. to have a day trip or a holiday) and there are limits to how many people you can be frequenting with while out with the main ambition here to minimise cross-household contact such that when face masks aren't being worn, there is restricted circulation of any infection. The NHS is also issuing guidelines on space ventilation. HVAC is very uncommon in the UK in residential properties though, so residential advice is basically open doors and windows



* the number of people I see wearing a scarf or a bandana over their face is utterly absurd. If you want to know if your mask even has the smallest chance of helping rather then being a placebo. Light a match and try to blow it out with the mask on, give it a really good, firm blow too. A basic medical mask will prevent it from being extinguished.

The science does not support the argument that if you tell people to distance they will do it either.

Sure, but that's personal choice, rather than empirical science. If people had actually stuck to the distancing rules, then lockdowns probably wouldn't have been necessary (or at least for as long). Yet psychology is a funny business. One with a healthy dose of art over science.

Do you know of any comparison between airborne and surface transmission?

Covid social

I agree as much with C:Amie as with the other members.
Let me offer my two cents regarding the situation in Malaysia. Back in February when the pandemic broke loose, we were having a political rift, where politicians in the ruling party got fragmented, everyone was busy contemplating taking sides to snatch power from allies with differing opinions, we lost the golden window for rejecting international tourists, especially those from Wuhan (they have an eight-hour freeflow out of China before the city lockdown.
Patient zero entered Malaysia via Singapore after attending a religious forum which sparked a 100-strong cluster there. Adding salt to the wound were another religious group from Indonesia (They love to perform rituals like kissing each others hands, holding hands and then putting their hands to their face) That group contributed a 200-strong first cluster..

As our politicians were still engrossed in their power-sharing and power-snatching monopoly, there was nobody to issue the adequate precautionary measures.
The covid had a gala time holidaying our shores for more than 3 weeks, before the King step in to finalise the PM select, then only the relevant authorities put up their fences. Lockdown was imposed on the 18th of March. In my terms, too late.

We actually had a chance in lowering the statistics in April 2020 (less than 10 cases daily), but the Chinese suddenly sent 8 "experts" to "assist" Malaysia "tackle" this pandemic. AND, WE DID NOTHING TO STOP THEM; NOT EVEN GETTING THEM QUARANTINED FOR 14 DAYS BEFORE ALLOWING THEM TO THRONG OUR STREETS.

We have many stubborn malls- and cafes-patronisers who couldn't stay put at home, not even with an MYR1000 penalty during the lockdown. There are people who act like covid-defying heroes crowding every event premise, ignoring the distancing rules. Where it was prohibited to have two persons traveling in one car, we have cases like 13 in one van. Where you cannot have two persons at a restaurant table, we have 7. Where you have alternate seating marked 'X' for distancing, we have people who thought 'X' is where you should sit.

We also have people who removed their masks to take wefies (to post on FB).
A year has lapsed, with these circumstances occuring time and again, the government hiked the offence penalty to MYR10,000 but I doubt the numbers are slowing down anytime now. It took the covid eight months to infect 20000 people and claim 300 lives, but statistics soared close to 300000 cases and 1100 deaths within the last two months.

Seem to be plenty of paper on the subject on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=covid+airborne+surface&btnG=

However, don't forget that they are one and the same thing. Airborne transmission falls and becomes surface transmission. It was originally slated to last up to 9 days on surface, the UK Government are advising on 72 hours on surfaces. I don't know what the best-practice scientific advice is at the moment on this subject, however 72 hours would correlate with Influenza's ability to function in a dormant state outside of a host. So doesn't seem line an unreasonable median-value.

I was originally doing a 9 day quarantine on things as much as was practical, but stopped that. I am however still Dettol wiping physical objects that comes into the house though; shopping, post, deliveries etc (it is amazing, and disgusting how mucky supermarket products get). Most people that I know say that they are too.