littlemissmartypants
littlemissmartypants's JournalThe Coronavirus Hunter Is Racing for Answers in a Locked-Down Lab
The Coronavirus Hunter Is Racing for Answers in a Locked-Down Lab
A University of North Carolina scientist who has been chasing viruses for decades may hold the key to a cure
By Robert Langreth
March 4, 2020, 7:00 AM EST
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-04/this-coronavirus-hunter-is-racing-for-answers-in-a-locked-down-lab
The deadly coronavirus arrived by courier on February 6, delivered to a windowless air-locked laboratory in a secret location on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. It came sealed in two 500-microliter vials, wrapped inside plastic pouches, placed inside a third sealed plastic container, all packed with dry ice.
A team of scientists — protected head-to-toe by Tyvek body suits with battery-powered respirators — opened the vials, got down to work and haven’t stopped since. Members of an elite lab of virologists at the university’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, their mission is to come up with a drug to treat the pathogen that has already infected over 90,000 people and killed more than 3,000.
For veteran researcher and lab leader Ralph Baric, it’s the moment he has both long feared and expected. As early as the 1990s, Baric’s work was raising red flags: Coronaviruses — so named for the crown-like spikes that help them invade cells — had an extraordinarily high ability to mutate and adapt. That suggested new coronaviruses might spread into humans in the future. In one study, he showed coronaviruses that infected mice could rapidly adapt to invade hamster cells.
Ralph Baric at a University of North Carolina labPhotographer: Christopher Janaro/Bloomberg
“It was not that difficult to evolve strains that could jump between species,” Baric says.
Almost 30 years later, that’s exactly what’s occured with the deadly new coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2. Scientists believe it began in a cave somewhere in China, with bats flying off to spread the virus to other animals in the wild. Some of those animals eventually wound up in one of China’s open-air, or so-called wet, markets where live animals are caged in close proximity — a perfect setting for transmitting viruses to humans.
Until two months ago, Baric was little known outside academic circles. When he began his career, coronaviruses were understood as causing little more than a common cold in people. But his work has suddenly taken on new urgency with the appearance of the new coronavirus.
Lots more at the link.
Covid 19, Update 2
NC's second coronavirus case originated in Italy; Chatham man now isolated at home
Posted 10:25 a.m. today
Updated 44 minutes ago
By Matthew Burns, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor, & Sarah Krueger, WRAL Durham reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — State health officials said Friday that a second North Carolina person has tested positive for a new strain of coronavirus and is believed to have contracted the COVID-19 illness.
The test results need to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
A Chatham County man traveled in late February to an area in Italy that now has a COVID-19 outbreak, officials said. He reported having two days of mild, flu-like symptoms while in Italy. His fever resolved and symptoms were improving, and he flew back to the United States the following day.
The man also was in contact with someone from Georgia who contracted COVID-19, so the Georgia Department of Health alerted North Carolina health officials, who then tested him Thursday.
He is now in isolation at home, and his wife is quarantined there, although she's not showing any symptoms of the illness, officials said.
The Chatham County Public Health Department is working to identify his close contacts to monitor their symptoms. Also, because he had been symptomatic before traveling, the CDC will identify close contacts on the flight who could be at risk for the virus and notify the appropriate public health agencies, officials said.
"I was really surprised because Chatham County is a small county out of all of North Carolina. So, I was thinking, how can this be the second case in the state?" said Shanna Person, who lives and works in the county.
"I would suspect that, sooner or later, it’s going to be everywhere. There’s just no way, with the travel today, there’s just no way you’re going to be able to stop it from moving all over the place," said Vince Walker, a retired nurse who lives in Chatham County. "It’s something you have to watch out for."
State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Tilson said officials are still trying to determine the timeline of when the man arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and his subsequent movements.
"I get that, understanding people's concerns – Was I at risk? Was I exposed?" Tilson said during a Friday afternoon news conference.
Close household contacts are considered at high risk for virus transmission, she said, while are people who are in "sustained and close proximity contact," defined as being less than 6 feet away for more than 10 to 20 minutes, are considered at moderate risk.
"If you are just walking through a public setting – you're walking through the airport, you're walking through the grocery store, you're walking through the library and by this person – that is not considered a risk," Tilson said.
"I think that it’s a little frightening," said Sara Garner, who noted that she and Person are both bank tellers in Pittsboro and have to handle a lot of cash that others have touched.
Video at the link.
https://www.wral.com/nc-s-second-coronavirus-case-originated-in-italy-chatham-man-now-isolated-at-home/18996626/
ETA: Ted Talk
❤lmsp
Covid-19, Update 1
NC has reported first case is in Wake County. The North Carolina person from Wake County traveled to the state of Washington and was exposed at a long-term care facility where there is currently a COVID-19 outbreak.
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/03/03/first-person-tests-positive-coronavirus-north-carolina-health-officials-say/
Additionally, we now have a way to test cases in the state. It is at the NC State Laboratory of Public Health.
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/03/03/nc-now-has-laboratory-test-patients-coronavirus/
I will do my best to keep the group informed as we watch this health threat unfold.
❤ lmsp
China plan to destroy paper currency...
Link: https://www.thedailybeast.com/china-to-destroy-paper-currency-from-hardest-hit-coronavirus-regions
❤
Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, site updates
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Map of where cases have been confirmed across the country
U.S. health officials are closely monitoring for cases in the United States.
Jan. 28, 2020, 11:03 AM EST / Updated Feb. 29, 2020, 5:37 PM EST
By Sara G. Miller and Jiachuan Wu
U.S. health officials are closely monitoring for coronavirus cases in the United States.
This map will be updated as more cases in the U.S. are confirmed. As of Feb. 29, there were at least 69 cases confirmed in the U.S. Several of the cases have been tested by state or local labs and will be confirmed by additional testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Twenty-two of the cases were diagnosed in the U.S., and 47 cases are in individuals evacuated from either Wuhan, China or the Diamond Princess cruise ship. One person, a man in his 50s in Washington state, has died.
There has been one U.S. death, in Washington. NBC News has confirmed at least nine patients have recovered: Four in California, two in Illinois, one in Washington, one in Arizona and one in Wisconsin.
Notes
Data as of Feb. 29, 5:00 p.m. ET.
Cases in California, Washington, Texas and Nebraska include individuals repatriated from Wuhan, China and the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News
Map:
Link to article:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-u-s-map-where-virus-has-been-confirmed-across-n1124546
Trump's CDC is telling California labs they will not be allowed to test for Coronavirus
https://twitter.com/psychdr100/status/1233186312561123329?s=19Trump's CDC is telling California labs they will not be allowed to test for Coronavirus (except 2 labs in the state).
Is this part of Trump's plan to cover up the extent of the pandemic? Lawmakers out here are outraged by Trump's red tape preventing more testing.
Check out Dr. Robert Fortuna (@psychdr100): https://twitter.com/psychdr100?s=09
The Cost of Child Poverty with Lenette Azzi-Lessing
Story in the Public Square
For generations, American politicians have promised reducing—or even eliminating—poverty as one of their goals. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson went so far as to declare an “unconditional war” on poverty. Lenette Azzi-Lessing warns, however, that the rhetoric of fighting poverty has become a war on the poor with devastating consequences for America’s most vulnerable children.
Azzi-Lessing is Clinical Professor of Social Work at Boston University and author of “Behind from the Start: How America’s War on the Poor is Harming Our Most Vulnerable Children.” She founded the nationally recognized Rhode Island Center for Children At-Risk, now named Children’s Friend, in 1989 to address the social service and behavioral health needs of highly vulnerable young children and their families. Azzi-Lessing is a member of the Child Welfare League of America’s National Joint Commission, she has co-chaired the League’s Committee on Prevention, Protection, and Family Preservation, and has been an expert witness in federal court on behalf of children abused and neglected in the child protective system. In 2017, Azzi-Lessing was named a Fulbright Specialist focused on higher education and training in nations across the globe. She also helped develop Graduate Certificate Programs in Early Childhood Development and Family Support in South Africa with colleagues from the University of Fort Hare, East London, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
https://omny.fm/shows/story-in-the-public-square/the-cost-of-child-poverty-with-lenette-azzi-lessin
Story in the Public Square
“Story in the Public Square” is a year-round initiative to study and celebrate public storytelling. It features an annual conference, lectures, awards and student contests, as well as original scholarship about public storytelling and how those stories can affect the public debate.
Snip...
More at the link.
https://omny.fm/shows/story-in-the-public-square
The expert on this is Kathleen Belew. Here her views here:
PUBLIC THINKER: KATHLEEN BELEW ON THE RISE OF “WHITE POWER”
Thinking in public demands knowledge, eloquence, and courage. In this interview series, we hear from public scholars about how they found their path and how they communicate to a wide audience.
4.19.2019
BY MONICA MUÑOZ MARTINEZ
Kathleen Belew is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago and an international authority on the white-power movement. Drawing on an expansive collection of archives, Belew wrote the field-defining book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (2018). She developed research methods for tracking a network of anti-government extremists from a collection of disparate sources and a narrative practice that exemplifies an ethical approach to writing histories of violence. Since the publication of Bring the War Home, Belew has made public appearances on Fresh Air, Weekend Edition, and CBS, and has written for the New York Times. The book has received rave reviews in The Nation and the Los Angeles Review of Books and was named a 2018 Best Book of the Year by the Guardian.
Belew is an award-winning teacher who centers her courses on the broad themes of race, gender, violence, identity, and the meaning of war. Since the publication of her book, she has generously moved well beyond the classroom to share urgent historical lessons with public audiences. In her public writing and media appearances, Belew is shaping how the public understands the white-power movement. She simultaneously teaches the history she uncovered and helps journalists and the public interpret white-power terrorist acts today. In this interview, conducted last fall, Belew discusses the term white power and her research methods; she offers advice for future researchers; and shares some of the urgent lessons of history that we must heed for today. She is a pivotal and unwavering intellectual and public voice for our time.
Interview at the link.
https://www.publicbooks.org/public-thinker-kathleen-belew-on-the-rise-of-white-power/
Her website: https://www.kathleenbelew.com/
...snip...
Belew is at work on two new projects, one focusing on processes of militarization in the domestic United States and the other on ideas of the apocalypse in American history and culture. Her award-winning teaching centers on the broad themes of race, gender, violence, identity, and the meaning of war.
I think it's going to rain today, Nina Simone
I think it's going to rain today
Nina Simone
Lyrics
Broken windows and empty hallways
A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's gonna rain today
Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles
With frozen faces to keep love away
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's gonna rain today
Lonely, lonely
Tin can at my feet
I think I'll kick it down the street
Tin can at my feet
I think I'll kick it down the street
Why not?
That's the way to treat a friend
Bright before me the signs implore me
Help the needy and show them the way
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's gonna rain today
I hope it's gonna rain today, yeah
I hope it's gonna rain today, yeah
I think it's gonna rain today, yeah
I think it's gonna rain today
Writer: Randy Newman
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/ninasimone/ithinkitsgoingtoraintoday.html
Snip...
Other cover versions
The song was covered numerous times by a variety of artists, especially during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Cover versions include Judy Collins for her 1966 US album In My Life, Bobby Darin for his 1967 album Inside Out, Dusty Springfield for her 1968 UK album Dusty... Definitely, Claudine Longet for her 1968 US album Colours, Peggy Lee for her 1969 album A Natural Woman, Nina Simone for her 1969 album Nina Simone and Piano, Mama Cass (Cass Elliot)[9] for her self-titled 1972 solo album, and Joe Cocker for his 1975 album Jamaica Say You Will. It was also covered in 1971 by Neil Diamond on his album Stones and by Françoise Hardy on her album If You Listen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Think_It%27s_Going_to_Rain_Today
How's this for a New Year song?
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Tue Aug 28, 2012, 07:58 PM
Number of posts: 22,880
