Sensitive tests mean that many who test positive for covid barely carry any virus, making it hard to grasp true reach of disease

Helps you Build Genuine Relationships

We all have been so busy living the ‘life,’ many of us have lost those real, genuine moments we have with our loved ones. It could have been the busy schedules, running around to make ends meet, & rushing to be in urgent meetings.

Sure, maybe you were lucky enough to go for family vacations every now & then. But even then, didn’t you dread those pending files waiting at your workstation?

Now, the COVID-19 situation has positively impacted the way you emote and maintain relationships. You get to spend your time with your family and plan your work better. This actually helps you build a better future for both your work and family.

As life slowed down, we have found ways to stay connected with people, even if it’s virtually. Reconnect with your loved ones and retrospect.

It’s a sensitive issue

So how could this have happened? The answer has to do with the sensitivity of PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) tests for Covid, which it turns out can be ramped up according to the taste of the testing companies. Most testing companies have chosen the outrageously high sensitivity limit of 40 PCR cycles – meaning that the DNA in a sample is exponentially increased 40 times in order to amplify its signal.

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But using such a ridiculously sensitive test means that the faintest traces of a dead virus, or even leftovers from previous infections, can result in a positive. Professor Juliet Morrison, a University of California virologist, said that even a limit of 35 PCR cycles is too high, let alone 40. She said she was “shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive.” But apparently, pretty much everyone in the US Covid brain trust took exactly that on faith.

If a significant percentage of tests doesn’t tell us anything about the patient’s true Covid status, the real scale of the pandemic becomes impossible to estimate . For a seasoned ignorer of statistics that contain Covid ‘cases’, there are no surprises here. The truth is, there was never any reason to treat them as written in stone . The FDA, for instance, has only now been forced to concede that they have no idea how different testing companies determine which the positive and negative tests are: they just accept whatever data they are given.

But it should not have taken some journalist to ask the right question to discover this: a bit of common sense would have been enough. What is it going to take for these professional virologists to drop their assumptions and models, and just start acting based on the facts at hand?

Also on rt.com
We might have to wait forever for science to show the Covid threat is over, so let’s use our common sense & get back to normal

Understanding why COVID-positive people may travel

Neda Gould, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that the behavior is “problematic” since “the consequences can be so dire for others.”

Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, calls the behavior “truly reckless.” He tells Yahoo Life: “They know their diagnosis and they know the risk they pose and they’re choosing the behavior anyway. That’s very difficult to explain.”

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However, Gonsenhauser says it’s possible that people who are knowingly infected and travel anyway may be “making assumptions or rationalizations that are incorrect or misleading, which they ultimately think is OK.” Gonsenhauser notes that there has been “so much misinformation” surrounding the coronavirus, including some politicians who have downplayed the seriousness of the virus, despite the fact that more than 320,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. alone. Gonsenhauser says it’s possible that misleading information “led them to the conclusion that they’re not putting people around them at risk.”

Dr. Asim Shah, professor and executive vice chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that it may be selfishness or denial that causes people in these circumstances to travel and put others at risk.

“But more than that, what we are seeing is in our country, unfortunately, people tend to push back against authority,” Shah says. During the pandemic, that can mean people refusing to wear masks or gathering with groups of people outside of their household. “They tend to use the wording of ‘rights’ or ‘civil rights,”’ Shah says. “While all that is true — that is your right,” he says that people don’t have “the right to hurt somebody else.”

Shah continues: “If you’re the only one who will be affected, maybe that’s OK. But people tend to forget by not wearing a mask and traveling while positive, you’re hurting others,” which is “infringing on someone else’s rights.” Shah adds: “The sad part is people are not realizing they are risking others.”

Gonsenhauser notes that in the U.S., independence is a value Americans “cherish.” But he says that we can still be a nation that makes a collective effort to stay safe during the pandemic without losing our independence. In the past, “when we’ve been engaged in large-scale national conflicts, there is that coming together,” Gonsenhauser says, “and instead of that happening, this was used as an opportunity to drive us apart and make enemies of each other and that’s so unfortunate. It’s interesting that so many people who stand on a platform of patriotism are choosing to not bear the responsibility that their nation is asking of them.”

Another explanation is that, given we’re almost a year into the coronavirus pandemic, Gonsenhauser says that COVID fatigue is a “very real affliction” that may also be a factor. “People are struggling, and they’re feeling isolated and worn down,” he says.

However, Gonsenhauser adds that for anyone who has recently tested positive, “it’s extremely important you observe quarantine isolation,” saying, “You do put those around you at very high risk when you’re traveling.”

But Gould notes that the cases of COVID-positive people traveling seem to be “few and far between” and that the “good news is that the message has gotten through to most people since we’re not seeing these instances a lot.” In the case of the couple who were arrested and charged, Gould says that the arrests will likely further “get the message across,” adding: “It’s unfortunate it has to go to that extreme. If that’s not a warning, then I don’t know anything that would be.”

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References

1. Coronavirus australia live news: global covid-19 cases pass 50 million, more victorian businesses open

   Grady D. The pandemic’s hidden victims: sick or dying, but not from the virus. New York Times. 20 April 2020. www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/health/treatment-delays-coronavirus.html.

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3. Bharath D. Suicide, help hotline calls soar in Southern California over coronavirus anxieties. Orange County Register. 19 April 2020. www.ocregister.com/2020/04/19/suicide-help-hotline-calls-soar-in-southern-california-over-coronavirus-anxieties.

4. Dazio S, Briceno F, Tarm M. Crime drops around the world as covid-19 keeps people inside. Associated Press. 11 April 2020. https://apnews.com/bbb7adc88d3fa067c5c1b5c72a1a8aa6.

5. NASA. Airborne nitrogen dioxide plummets over China. 2 March 2020. www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146362/airborne-nitrogen-dioxide-plummets-over-china.

6. Burke M. Covid-19 reduces economic activity, which reduces pollution, which saves lives. G-FEED.org. 8 March 2020. www.g-feed.com/2020/03/covid-19-reduces-economic-activity.html.

7. Shilling F, Waetjen D. Special report (update): impact of covid-19 mitigation on numbers and costs of California traffic crashes. 15 April 2020. https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_415.pdf.

Background

Serologic assays for SARS-CoV-2, now broadly available, can play an important role in understanding the virus’s epidemiology in the general population and identifying groups at higher risk for infection. Unlike direct detection methods such as viral nucleic acid amplification or antigen detection tests that can detect acutely infected persons, antibody tests help determine whether the individual being tested was previously infected—even if that person never showed symptoms. Serologic tests detect resolving or past SARS-CoV-2 virus infection indirectly by measuring the person’s humoral immune response to the virus. Therefore, serologic assays do not typically replace direct detection methods as the primary tool for diagnosing an active SARS-CoV-2 infection, but they do have several important applications in monitoring and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although serologic tests should not be used at this time to determine if an individual is immune, these tests can help determine the proportion of a population previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and provide information about populations that may be immune and potentially protected. Thus, demographic and geographic patterns of serologic test results can help determine which communities may have experienced a higher infection rate and therefore may have a higher proportion of the population with some degree of immunity, at least temporarily. In some instances, serologic test results may assist with identifying persons potentially infected with SARS-CoV-2 and determining who may qualify to donate blood that can be used to manufacture convalescent plasmaexternal icon as a possible treatment for those who are seriously ill from COVID-19.

Remote Working Turning Mainstream

From Zapier to Aha to Invision, many companies, now, work remotely, with 100% of the workforce functioning virtually- with little to zero physical offices at all. Even we, at SurveySparrow, has undergone the transition and built a remote team. With cities locked down, organizations across the globe had to make this obligatory shift towards this realm of working remotely.

A partially remote environment sometimes hinders you from reaping all the benefits of remote working. The quarantines have made all businesses go 100% remote. This has also helped the teams to trust each other. Companies are getting into the culture where they trust the integrity of their employees & that they will loyally work even when there’s no one to look over their shoulders every now and then. Well, then, the future of work after COVID-19 definitely looks good!

A New Wave of Tools & Software

Companies are in need of online tools & software that can help you make this shift to digital classrooms & virtual office spaces seamless.

From Zoho coming up with their Remotely suite to SurveySparrow giving out a self-help portal for employees to stay connected in these difficult times, organizations are coming forward with new/updated product ranges.

From self-diagnosis bots to automated emergency protocols, this trend has also paved the way to touchless biometric attendance systems, time tracking, or other collaborative tools that can essentially step in and be an alternative to your existing workflow to run your business virtually. Workaround tools are no longer stay just enhancements; they are going mainstream!

A major line of tools & software that can help you survive another pandemic or one that can help you work around your established workflows are going to be welcomed. These major lockdowns have ushered organizations & factories to take a step towards the robotic era as a thoughtful move to defend such a pandemic halting the manufacturing industries a second time.

Limitations of Serologic Tests

At present, the immunologic correlates of immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infection are not well defined. Representatives from BARDA, CDC, FDA, NIH, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Department of Defense (DoD), and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are working with members of academia and the medical community to determine whether positive serologic tests are indicative of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2. This work includes assessing the level of antibodies required for protection from reinfection, the duration of that protection, and the factors associated with development of a protective antibody response. The kinetics of antibody response, longevity of antibodies, the ability of antibodies to protect from repeat infection, the protective titer of neutralizing antibody, and the correlation of binding antibody titers to neutralization ability are yet to be determined. Although animal challenge studies demonstrate protection in the short run, demonstration of long-term protection in humans will require future study. Hence, pending additional data, the presence of antibodies cannot be equated with an individual’s immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Some tests may exhibit cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses, such as those that cause the common cold. This could result in false-positive test results. Some persons may not develop detectable antibodies after coronavirus infection. In others, it is possible that antibody levels could wane over time to undetectable levels. IgM and IgG antibodies may take 1 to 3 weeks to develop after infection. Thus, serologic test results do not indicate with certainty the presence or absence of current or previous infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Blue-chip Stocks Becoming the Safe Bet to Invest

Investing in blue-chip stocks does have a reputation for being plain boring, stodgy, and is sometimes considered a little outdated. It isn’t an accident that they are overwhelmingly popular amidst the wealthy investors and almost every rock-solid financial institution.

The current trend suggests that the blue-chip stocks have minted money in store for owners who are prudent enough to hang on to them with tenacity through thick & thin. Economists predict that you might be able to double your money in just two years. The reason blue chips stocks are considered relatively safe is that the dividend-paying stocks tend to fall less in bear markets.

The economic impact of COVID-19, as we know, is severe; like the blow of a sledgehammer. Even if the economy comes to a standstill, blue-chip stocks become somewhat a relatively safe harbor. Wise investments are one of the ways to ride the COVID-19 economic crisis, safely.

Not fit for purpose?

It would be difficult to argue that the US Covid testing is fit for purpose in its current state. The experts seem to base every decision now on case numbers or derivatives thereof, despite the apparent lack of association between fluctuating case numbers and hospital admissions and deaths; the latter two of which have been relatively negligible for months – even when taking into account recent rises in parts of the world — compared to the springtime peaks. But they keep ringing that bell: ever more testing, they toot, will somehow lead us into their ‘new normal’.

It’s a virus so deadly, you need a test to tell whether you have it or not. So goes the refrain of many lockdown skeptics, Covidiots and anti-maskers, of whom I am an indignant supporter. Something has gone… not just wrong, but totally haywire… when the might of the world’s scientific establishment is trained with the zeal of a Witchfinder General on one particular microscopic particle. Not even one that’s most likely to kill you; the  show it is the eighth most common cause of death in England, and it doesn’t make the top ten in Wales.

Meanwhile, in Wuhan, the original source of this disease, the pool parties are in full swing. They don’t seem to be too worried about PCR tests or contact tracing, or even the virus itself. The Chinese government says that their supreme lockdown was so awesome that they now have zero Covid: probably a biological impossibility. Maybe they just stopped testing, and decided to get on with their lives. A turn of events we are unlikely to see if the US or Europe any time soon, for better or worse.

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Education becomes digitized & affordable

The pandemic had posed a threat to the whole education system. Schools, universities, and colleges have been shut down. Yes, it is saddening but have you looked at the brighter side yet? Educational Institutions have found a way to overcome this immensely challenging series of events. Classes have begun again, thanks to technology.

Online classes have become the new norm for educational institutions and it has come with a few benefits too. Institutions can now save on the infrastructural costs and as a result, the students needn’t bear the brunt of the costs, making it more affordable. Moreover, parents will get first-hand knowledge about how classes are taught and can directly understand how their child perceives concepts. As the online education system grows, we can expect an increase in the reach and accessibility of education within every section of the society.

Every coin has two faces. With bad comes the good, and these are some of the predictions that I think would stick and become the norm. Countries everywhere are still fighting this pandemic, and we sure are going to overcome this.

We’re a race of survivors, and we’re going to win this too. I agree the battle is hard & long. But let’s look forward and focus on the brighter side for all we have through these difficult times are these & nothing else.

I would love to hear your take on this and please share the trends that you think are going to emerge to welcome this new world?

Stay physically distant but socially connected. Please take care & be safe.

Vipin Thomas

Director of Revenue Operations at SurveySparrow

A versatilist Customer Success professional zealous about driving predictable B2B SaaS Growth, Retention and Advocacy.

Affordable Real Estate in Tier 1 Cities

Running businesses remotely is no longer something that we think is impossible & can also bring about this massive wave of change in Real estate, especially in the tier 1 cities. With businesses realizing they no longer need a fancy, large physical space in the city center to run their business as smoothly as ever, the demand for ‘hot’ places is going to come down.

The ones who do need physical spaces are going to stick with smaller spaces and it wouldn’t matter where they reside. Distances are no longer a challenge; companies get to hire talents beyond zip codes as long as there are enough resources.

When the need for physical buildings drops, naturally, the demand for it does as well, which dips the prices. Thus, it becomes affordable to all.

Emergency Department Visits

These charts show people who visited the emergency department with clinical
signs and
symptoms consistent with COVID-19 illness (including flu-like illnesses and
pneumonia) during the past three months, and those who were then admitted to the
hospital. While some of these people did not have a positive molecular or
antigen test, these charts can be an
early warning sign for community
transmission of COVID-19.

Visits
Admissions

About the Data: All of the data on these
pages were collected by the NYC Health Department. Data
will
be updated daily but are preliminary and subject to change.

Reporting Lag: Our data are published with a
three-day
lag, meaning that the most recent
data in today’s update are from three days before.

This lag is due to the standard delays (up to several days) in reporting to
the
Health Department a new test,
case,
hospitalization or death. Given the delay, our counts of what has happened
in
the most recent few days are
artificially
small. We delay publishing these data until more reports have come in and
the
data are more complete.

Health Inequities in Data: Differences in health outcomes
among
racial and ethnic groups are due to long-term structural racism, not
biological
or personal traits.

Structural racism — centuries of racist policies and discriminatory
practices across institutions, including government agencies, and society
— prevents communities of color from accessing vital resources (such
as
health care, housing and food) and opportunities (such as employment and
education), and negatively affects overall health and well-being. The
disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on New Yorkers of color highlights how
these
inequities negatively influence health outcomes.

Review
how we are working to address inequities during this public health
emergency (PDF).

Innovations to Stay Connected & Help Each Other

This quarantine welcomes ideas, hacks, tips, & tricks to beat the lockdowns & help our communities. Companies across the world have started thinking about coming up with product & service ranges that enable you to be as connected as you are with your teams and also your loved ones. Finding creative ways to not let the boredom of four walls get you is the newest trend and rightfully so!

This has opened a new way of thought. Organizations cannot just stop functioning altogether, and each is coming up with the ultimate ideas to attract & sustain both their customers & employees.

This may as well lead to breakthroughs & innovations. You see, innovation happens for nothing, but when the environment demands it! And let’s wait for the coolest ideas that can take the world by a storm.

By coolest ideas.. we mean to act right. The wise thing to do now is to remain calm and healthy while looking after each other. One way to further prevent the spread is to conduct surveys and collect valuable information from people. Here’s a Covid survey created using SurveySparrow to check on people’s health and well-being.

To create similar Covid-related survey and other online surveys, you can

Fewer cars, blue skies

With covid-19 shutting down economic activity in most parts of the world and people staying closer to home, street crimes like assault and robbery are down significantly, though domestic violence has increased. Traffic has plummeted as well. As a result, NASA satellites have documented significant reductions in air pollution—20-30% in many cases—in major cities around the world. Based on those declines, Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University, predicted in a blog post that two months’ worth of improved air quality in China alone might save the lives of 4000 children under the age of 5 and 73 000 adults over the age of 70 (a more conservative calculation estimated about 50 000 saved lives).

Although baseline pollution levels in the US are lower, Burke said a similar 20-30% reduction in pollution would still likely yield significant health benefits. “A pandemic is a terrible way to improve environmental health,” he emphasised. It may, however, provide an unexpected vantage to help understand how environmental health can be altered. “It may help bring into focus the effect of business as usual on health outcomes that we care about,” he told The BMJ. “In some sense, it helps us imagine the future.” Getting there, he says, could instead come through better regulation and technology.

A separate report coauthored by Fraser Shilling, director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California at Davis, found that highway accidents—including those involving an injury or fatality—fell by half after the state’s shelter-in-place order on 19 March. “The reduction in traffic accidents is unparalleled,” and yielded an estimated $40m (£32m; €37m) in public savings every day, the report asserted.

Whereas average traffic speeds increased by only a few miles per hour, traffic volume fell by 55%. Hospitals in the Sacramento region reported fewer trauma related admissions while other reports indicated fewer car collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

In Washington, collisions on state highways fell even further—by 62%—in the month after the state’s stay-at-home order went into effect on 23 March, compared with the previous year, according to the Washington State Patrol. The question, Shilling said, is whether researchers can learn from the information to design safer transportation patterns. “We’re not going to be guessing anymore about what happens when you take half the cars away,” he said.

Reassessing priorities

If the pandemic has prompted risky behaviour for some, it has encouraged others to embrace preventive measures. Randy Mayer, chief of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis at the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the public has become more responsive to calls from the department’s partner services, which perform contact tracing for people who test positive for HIV, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. “People are really interested in calling us back and finding out what information we have for them,” he said. That increased cooperation, Mayer said, may be a benefit of people associating public health departments with trying to keep them safe from covid-19.

Even so, he worries that a noticeable reduction in the number of new HIV diagnoses may partially reflect a reduction in available testing with many clinics open for limited hours, if not completely closed. But growing evidence suggests that more people are also heeding recent pleas by public health officials and even dating apps to reduce the risk of covid-19 infection by avoiding casual sex with new partners. Researchers in Portugal and the UK told The BMJ that they were beginning to see shifts in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections but were still collecting data to support their observations.