Wednesday, 7th October, 2020

Well as I awoke this morning, I was cheered, and excited by the news that there are, due to tax concessions made between April and June this year, MORE and MUCH MUCH RICHER Billionaires out there than ever before (25% richer actually than 6 months earlier)! First Prize goes to, unfortunately not my friend and benefactor, Mr Jeffrey Bezos. His net worth has now reached 200 BILLION DOLLARS! Whilst all of us were stuck at home buying unnecessary items on Amazon, the Stock Markets were going Ape-Poo and on one day in July 2020 alone, Jeff added $13 Billion. Congratulations I say, and could I have a 5% discount on that Alexa Dot thing I seem to have to buy please?

MEANWHILE, let’s all cheer for the UK’s World Beating Track and Trace system. Last week they lost details of over 15,000 positive Covid-19 testees because the Private Labs involved sent them to some Private IT consultants (all managed by Baroness Dido Harding who is well known for losing data), who were using 2007 Microsoft Excel Software, which isn’t intended for large amounts of data. The 15,000 plus data therefore couldn’t be transferred as they’d run out of columns. “NHS” Track and Trace (which is run by Private Companies, including Serco, with an equally fabulous reputation) is now desperately trying to locate the contacts of all those people infected, but whose data has been lost.

Oh dear.

MEANWHILE, in the USA, the current President apparently caught Covid-19’s virus (as did his wife), after a major non-mask wearing fund-raising event, and where as of this morning, 27 members of Trump’s inner circle of advisers and staff have now become Covid Positive. He was released after a few days of incredibly intense treatment from Walter Reed Military Hospital in Maryland, where he was constantly videoed for his campaign, saying he was “better than ever”, given FIVE courses of the antiviral drug reported here months ago Remdesivir, dosed with Dexamethasone (the steroid reported here too, useful for calming the body’s immune system so as not to produce an over reaction of antibodies etc), and finally given the experimental drug cocktail REGN-COV2 which has first been given in tests in Oxford and the North of England to 500 or so patients in experimental trials. It is a “monoclonal antibody therapy” made by the company Regeneron, and looks like it’s showing a lot of promise in these early tests.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-coronavirus-drug-antibody-treatment-regn-cov2-b754707.html

ANYHOW the President was released, after first endangering his security staff during a “Drive-By” for his fans outside the hospital, then arrived back at the White House, still infectious, where he waved to the adoring crowds having removed his mask, and tweeted 20 times including “don’t be afraid of Covid, don’t let it dominate your life” etc etc…who knows if he’ll make a speedy recovery. Will we able to tell anyway? Two more Presidential Shouting Matches are planned. Will report back on them…Election Day is less than 30 days away. Over 210,000 people have died in the USA of Covid-19. Just saying.

Trump’s personal physician (love the word) Dr Sean Conley said it was touch and go, and that there’s still “some way to go” before the President is fit again.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201004/trump-could-be-released-from-hospital-monday

In UK regional news, the usual latest disasters continue. Apart from the underperforming hugely destructive privatised Test/Trace system, now with added Google-Apple app (finally), Medical supplier and Pharmaceutical Company Roche (they of the Test manufacture) announced this morning that there will be at least two weeks of major Swab and Reagent shortage in the UK due to a “relocation and automation of a factory”. Great. The promised 15-30 minute saliva tests for “currently having Covid” STILL haven’t happened. The reliable antibody tests are STILL only available privately unless you’re a frontline health worker (you can get one for £50, ask for the Abbott or Roche test). HOWEVER, there are a few companies as of October 2020 in the UK who offer home test kits which are more reliable than the earlier ones, and which cover antibody tests and PCR Covid (antigen) tests. One such company is https://www.testingforall.org/individuals/ which charges £39 for an antibody test, all the tests are the certified Roche tests, but details are on the website.

In an additional silly and evil development, tens of thousands of people infected with coronavirus were incorrectly given the all-clear by England’s Lighthouse laboratories, a High Court trial has been told. Court documents seen by The Independent show that the labs are accused of selecting software that was found in a test to have produced a significant number of errors and false negatives for samples that should have been classed as positive or needing to be retaken.

The two companies behind the PRIVATE Lighthouse Labs in England – Medicines Discovery Catapult Ltd and UK Biocentre Ltd – are accused of treating British company Diagnostics.ai unfairly and giving preferential treatment to Belgian company UgenTec, despite the British firm’s software performing better in the test. The case also includes a judicial review brought against the health secretary, Matt Hancock, over the procurement decision – one of the first court hearings over the procurement processes followed by the government since the start of the pandemic.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-testing-lighthouse-laboratories-high-court-trial-b595328.html

This government has already shown a frightening amount of croneyism but its desire to use dodgy firms who can’t do the job is just so, so, so er…GRAYLING.

With the UK reporting over 14,000 new infections daily, and the rest of Europe and the Americas having ever increasing numbers, it seems pretty vital over the course of the Pre-Vaccine stage of Covid-19 that isolation via testing and tracing wherever you are is the only remaining method available to attempt to control virus spread. Parts of major cities across Europe have gone into second lockdown including Madrid and Paris, even though the virus has still not been regarded as entering a “Second Wave”. What does this mean? The first wave hasn’t been controlled properly in here territories.

In India for example, there are the most new cases per day with nearly 1000 deaths daily. They are desperately trying to increase the level of testing across the whole of a rather large country. This week, they have announced a “Paper test”, which is called a Feluda Test. This is very cheap, like a pregnancy test, and costs about £5. These will be crucial, because the standard PCR swab test and the cheaper but not so accurate antigen tests are in relatively short supply in India. The Feluda test will be nearly as accurate as the PCR test! Hurray. Can we have some please?

In the UK, the capacity of standard testing via PCR (swab) will never get to the promised 500,000/day because the seven “Lighthouse Labs” which process the public “community” tests will never have that capacity, and the current results time is anything up to 10 days, where tests have to be taken up to 100 miles from the testee’s home. This is why the newer technology covid test methods are essential. Now. We’ll report when they’re starting to become available. They’re late.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30445-8/fulltext

Schools and Universities going back are in big big trouble as more and more students are testing positive, and are having to be locked down in Halls of Residence and Student Houses. This is another reason why effective strategies are flipping important to avoid a self-created Second Wave pre-Vaccine. Merry Christmas everyone! My day trip to Brighton (my 2020 vacation) eased my mental heath a very small amount. I’m hoping some more trips out to the seaside in the cold months to come will prevent total insanity setting in before, before…ah! Before That Vaccine Arrives! Despite the warnings last week that Europe in particular France and the UK will have problems delivering vaccines due to a massive shortage of infrastructure and glass vials to contain the stuff, there WILL be the odd vaccine soon. Ish. So where are we on that?

The Guardian Vaccine Tracker gives us this today:

This means that there are TEN vaccines in Final Phase three trials (light blue) which involve tens of thousands of people being tested. There are also several major but smaller trials going where people are deliberately infected with Covid (all younger folks) and vaccines administered right away!

All of the above could be ready if they pass the trials 90% successfully or more by January 2021. Fingers Crossed.

Comment below if desired please. Keep as sane as you fancy. Christof