nivek
As Above So Below
Man Dies Mid-Flight After Reportedly Lying About Possible COVID Symptoms
United Airlines is helping the CDC contact passengers after health care professionals determined a man who died on a flight earlier this week could have died of a heart attack due to COVID-19 complications, The New York Times reports.
The plane, which was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Los Angeles, made an unscheduled landing in New Orleans after a man on the flight suffered a cardiac arrest. While first responders tended to the man, flight crew members overheard his wife telling the healthcare workers that her husband had been experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. However, she and her husband had not disclosed the symptoms — which included the loss of taste and smell — prior to boarding the flight, according to the Times report.
In a statement to Business Insider, a United spokesperson said the airline is not certain the man was infected as he was not tested, but does believe he withheld information about his symptoms before boarding the plane.
“The family confirmed the passenger suffered from pre-existing conditions, including high blood pressure, and upper respiratory issues, and was feeling sick leading up to the day of travel,” the spokesperson said. “We can confirm that at the time of check-in the passenger acknowledged on our ‘Ready-to-Fly’ checklist that he had not been diagnosed with COVID-19 and did not have COVID-related symptoms, which after receiving more information about the health of this passenger it is apparent the passenger wrongly acknowledged this requirement.”
“We implore passengers not travel if they have been diagnosed with Covid-19 or have Covid-related symptoms,” United Airlines said in a statement after reports of the event surfaced. “If in doubt, the best option is to get tested.”
The airline had been contacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after the in-flight incident, and has been complying with the organization’s request to provide passenger contact information for contact trcing, the Times reports. “We are sharing requested information with the agency so they can work with local health officials to conduct outreach to any customer the CDC. believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection,” the airline said.
United Airlines explained its actions following the emergency landing in a statement to the Times, saying, “The decision to continue on to Los Angeles was made after the medical professionals initially ruled the emergency as cardiac distress. A change in aircraft was not warranted. Instead, passengers were given the option to deplane and take a later flight or continue on to Los Angeles. All passengers opted to continue.”
News of the possible COVID-19 exposure to passengers spread on social media and some passengers suggested that he was returning to Los Angeles after a trip to Disney World based on the Disney bags his family brought onto the plane.
It remains unclear if the CDC was able to contact all of the passengers on the flight.
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United Airlines is helping the CDC contact passengers after health care professionals determined a man who died on a flight earlier this week could have died of a heart attack due to COVID-19 complications, The New York Times reports.
The plane, which was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Los Angeles, made an unscheduled landing in New Orleans after a man on the flight suffered a cardiac arrest. While first responders tended to the man, flight crew members overheard his wife telling the healthcare workers that her husband had been experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. However, she and her husband had not disclosed the symptoms — which included the loss of taste and smell — prior to boarding the flight, according to the Times report.
In a statement to Business Insider, a United spokesperson said the airline is not certain the man was infected as he was not tested, but does believe he withheld information about his symptoms before boarding the plane.
“The family confirmed the passenger suffered from pre-existing conditions, including high blood pressure, and upper respiratory issues, and was feeling sick leading up to the day of travel,” the spokesperson said. “We can confirm that at the time of check-in the passenger acknowledged on our ‘Ready-to-Fly’ checklist that he had not been diagnosed with COVID-19 and did not have COVID-related symptoms, which after receiving more information about the health of this passenger it is apparent the passenger wrongly acknowledged this requirement.”
“We implore passengers not travel if they have been diagnosed with Covid-19 or have Covid-related symptoms,” United Airlines said in a statement after reports of the event surfaced. “If in doubt, the best option is to get tested.”
The airline had been contacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after the in-flight incident, and has been complying with the organization’s request to provide passenger contact information for contact trcing, the Times reports. “We are sharing requested information with the agency so they can work with local health officials to conduct outreach to any customer the CDC. believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection,” the airline said.
United Airlines explained its actions following the emergency landing in a statement to the Times, saying, “The decision to continue on to Los Angeles was made after the medical professionals initially ruled the emergency as cardiac distress. A change in aircraft was not warranted. Instead, passengers were given the option to deplane and take a later flight or continue on to Los Angeles. All passengers opted to continue.”
News of the possible COVID-19 exposure to passengers spread on social media and some passengers suggested that he was returning to Los Angeles after a trip to Disney World based on the Disney bags his family brought onto the plane.
It remains unclear if the CDC was able to contact all of the passengers on the flight.
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AD1184
Celestial
Other countries are banning flights from Britain over the new virus strain:
Covid: Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands ban flights from UK
Although they didn't bother with Denmark six weeks ago. This new strain has reportedly been discovered in Denmark, also.
Covid: Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands ban flights from UK
Although they didn't bother with Denmark six weeks ago. This new strain has reportedly been discovered in Denmark, also.
nivek
As Above So Below
More European countries are banning UK flights now but not banning flights from Denmark...I am beginning to wonder if the UK is getting singled out because of Brexit...
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AD1184
Celestial
The new strain is currently called VUI - 202012/01. VUI stands for variant under investigation.
VUI – 202012/01 - Wikipedia
Even if it does not directly affect the vaccination effectiveness in the average individual, there is a way in which it can affect vaccination that I have not seen mentioned in the media coverage: if it is true that it is 70% more transmissible, then it will increase the herd immunity threshold, requiring a larger proportion of the population to get vaccinated in order for a herd immunity effect to take hold, prolonging the pandemic. Given the rampant idiocy running amok on social media about imagined dangers of the vaccines, that will be no easy feat.
VUI – 202012/01 - Wikipedia
Even if it does not directly affect the vaccination effectiveness in the average individual, there is a way in which it can affect vaccination that I have not seen mentioned in the media coverage: if it is true that it is 70% more transmissible, then it will increase the herd immunity threshold, requiring a larger proportion of the population to get vaccinated in order for a herd immunity effect to take hold, prolonging the pandemic. Given the rampant idiocy running amok on social media about imagined dangers of the vaccines, that will be no easy feat.
AD1184
Celestial
Scenes at London railway stations and on the roads last night, as people rushed to get on trains to leave the capital ahead of the introduction of tier four restrictions:
We have seen this so many times in so many places since the pandemic began. The authorities announce the imposition of restrictions in areas ahead of time, and make no effort to close the intercity railway stations, giving people plenty of time to flee and take the virus with them. We first saw this, from what I remember, upon the announcement that parts of Italy would be put in lockdown back in February. The major London stations should already have been closed when the announcement of the restrictions was made.
Reports from passengers suggest that the trains were absolutely packed, with standing room only.
This BBC article
Coronavirus: UK R number back above one
was reporting that 1.5% of people in London were inferred from testing data to have Covid-19 in the last week, when it was published two days ago and that figure was rapidly increasing. The chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty has said today that 60% of new Covid-19 infections in London are now of the VUI-202012/01 strain, and that proportion is rising too. We can therefore expect that about 1.5% or more of those people you see in the pictures from the railway stations had Covid at that time, and at least 60% of those would be carrying the VUI-202012/01 strain. They probably infected a good number of their fellow passengers in the cramped carriages, and then took it to their destinations about the country, outside of the new tier four restrictions. Therefore, there is no hope that the new strain is contained in the tier four areas, and a new nation-wide national lockdown is likely on the way.
We have seen this so many times in so many places since the pandemic began. The authorities announce the imposition of restrictions in areas ahead of time, and make no effort to close the intercity railway stations, giving people plenty of time to flee and take the virus with them. We first saw this, from what I remember, upon the announcement that parts of Italy would be put in lockdown back in February. The major London stations should already have been closed when the announcement of the restrictions was made.
Reports from passengers suggest that the trains were absolutely packed, with standing room only.
This BBC article
Coronavirus: UK R number back above one
was reporting that 1.5% of people in London were inferred from testing data to have Covid-19 in the last week, when it was published two days ago and that figure was rapidly increasing. The chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty has said today that 60% of new Covid-19 infections in London are now of the VUI-202012/01 strain, and that proportion is rising too. We can therefore expect that about 1.5% or more of those people you see in the pictures from the railway stations had Covid at that time, and at least 60% of those would be carrying the VUI-202012/01 strain. They probably infected a good number of their fellow passengers in the cramped carriages, and then took it to their destinations about the country, outside of the new tier four restrictions. Therefore, there is no hope that the new strain is contained in the tier four areas, and a new nation-wide national lockdown is likely on the way.
nivek
As Above So Below
I've been doing some reading into Moderna's vaccine and comparing it to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and I think the Moderna vaccine is safer than the other...There are some odd things about the Moderna vaccine, it was designed in two days which is remarkable but also the fact it was created back in early January...Couldn't it have been fast-tracked back early in the year and produced in mass quantities for distribution?...To develop such a vaccine in two days when it normally takes years and to have made it back before the pandemic even got started is a bit questionable to me that my reading so far hasn't reconciled...
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nivek
As Above So Below
The Surgeon General spoke about the new strain of covid earlier today, he was kind of downplaying its severity in my opinion but thats expected...Just because there's no evidence yet of it being more resistant to the vaccines doesn't mean it isn't...These so-called experts should choose their words more wisely, they borderline talk a bit deceptive sometimes but I think they don't want to admit that they don't know yet, which is closer to the truth...
The Surgeon General Just Warned Americans About New COVID Strain
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The Surgeon General Just Warned Americans About New COVID Strain
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AD1184
Celestial
It is the testing of the vaccines which takes a long time. I am not surprised that they were able to design, with modern technology, the vaccine within two days of knowing the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The technology which enables that took a long time to develop.
AD1184
Celestial
Italy has now detected a case of VUI-202012/01 in a returning traveller from England:
Italy has patient with new strain of virus found in Britain
Not sure what his business was in travelling internationally at this time. Despite what is going on, there are a surprising number of people who are travelling backwards and forwards across the globe, spreading novel strains of the virus.
There are likely many others that have not been detected, all over Europe and even further abroad.
We will have to see how this is going to impact the global pandemic.
Italy has patient with new strain of virus found in Britain
Not sure what his business was in travelling internationally at this time. Despite what is going on, there are a surprising number of people who are travelling backwards and forwards across the globe, spreading novel strains of the virus.
There are likely many others that have not been detected, all over Europe and even further abroad.
We will have to see how this is going to impact the global pandemic.
AD1184
Celestial
France is now preventing freight traffic arriving via French ports from Britain.
Covid-19: Dover port halts traffic to France for 48 hours
This is going to have serious impacts. France is allowing freight traffic the other way, but given that any lorry driver boarding the ferry in France is likely to get stuck in quarantine here, few are likely to come. Freight has effectively been stopped both ways.
Covid-19: Dover port halts traffic to France for 48 hours
This is going to have serious impacts. France is allowing freight traffic the other way, but given that any lorry driver boarding the ferry in France is likely to get stuck in quarantine here, few are likely to come. Freight has effectively been stopped both ways.
nivek
As Above So Below
I would get the Moderna vaccinations, I have little issue with the way they designed it, that is of course if it works on this new strain...Every country needs to adopt quick measures to minimize travel between countries until we get a handle on things, if this new strain spreads as quickly as they claim it may be in 10 or 20 countries by now, if not more...
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The shadow
The shadow knows!
nivek
As Above So Below
WHO Europe urges stronger action to contain new virus strain
(Excerpt)
Outside Britain, nine cases of the new strain have been reported in Denmark, as well as one case in the Netherlands and another in Australia, according to the WHO.
“Across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble their control and prevention approaches,” a spokeswoman for WHO Europe told AFP.
The UN agency urged its members worldwide to “increase the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viruses where possible and sharing of sequence data internationally, in particular, to report if the same mutations of concern are found,” she said.
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(Excerpt)
Outside Britain, nine cases of the new strain have been reported in Denmark, as well as one case in the Netherlands and another in Australia, according to the WHO.
“Across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble their control and prevention approaches,” a spokeswoman for WHO Europe told AFP.
The UN agency urged its members worldwide to “increase the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viruses where possible and sharing of sequence data internationally, in particular, to report if the same mutations of concern are found,” she said.
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nivek
As Above So Below
This was detected in Australia last month...
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New Covid-19 mutant strain is detected in Australia
(Excerpt)
A mutant strain of Covid-19 ravaging the United Kingdom has already been detected in a case in Australia, according to international health officials.
A European Centre for Disease Control briefing released on Sunday said the variant, SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01, was detected in an Australian sample last month.
'Three sequences from Denmark and one from Australia, from samples collected in November 2020, cluster with the UK variant,' the document said. '(That is) most likely indicating that international spread has occurred, although the extent remains unknown.'
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New Covid-19 mutant strain is detected in Australia
(Excerpt)
A mutant strain of Covid-19 ravaging the United Kingdom has already been detected in a case in Australia, according to international health officials.
A European Centre for Disease Control briefing released on Sunday said the variant, SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01, was detected in an Australian sample last month.
'Three sequences from Denmark and one from Australia, from samples collected in November 2020, cluster with the UK variant,' the document said. '(That is) most likely indicating that international spread has occurred, although the extent remains unknown.'
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nivek
As Above So Below
There's always fewer reporting numbers on Sunday, some labs do not operate on Sunday either...
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Standingstones
Celestial
My nephew, who is a doctor, got his first vaccine shot this past week. So far so good.