# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758 "2020-02-11T01:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 308
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6167 "2020-12-20T05:06:06Z")
76,626,060 total cases 1,691,942 dead 53,751,059 recovered In the US: 18,077,768 total cases 323,401 dead 10,545,445 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 76,013,074 total cases > 1,681,249 dead > 53,281,606 recovered > > In the US: > > 17,888,353 total cases > 320,845 dead > 10,394,286 recovered ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6168 "2020-12-20T05:36:32Z")
A family got on a United flight from Orlando to LA on Monday. All filled out paperwork saying they’d tested negative for COVID and were experiencing no symptoms. The father stopped breathing two hours into the flight. The flight was diverted to New Orleans while medical personnel from the passengers tried to restart his heart with CR (no mouth-to-mouth). While he was being removed from the plane (yes, him dead), the wife was heard telling the EMTs that he had, in fact, tested positive for COVID, had been having trouble breathing, and had lost his sense of taste and smell. Bet they had a great time at Disney World. (Also, the passenger demanding compensation for everyone on the plane is an asshole.) > **[Passenger With Coronavirus Dies On United Flight](https://onemileatatime.com/passenger-coronavirus-dies-united-flight/)** > > A passenger who had allegedly tested positive for coronavirus ended up dying on a United Airlines flight on Monday. What happened? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6169 "2020-12-20T06:00:06Z")
It seems to me they should arrest the wife and give her 4 months in jail. And that the passengers should be suing her and her husband’s estate, not the airline, if any of them get sick. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6170 "2020-12-20T06:03:25Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > At the risk of stating the obvious, the only reason her punishment seems severe is because we’re constantly exposed to a significant proportion of our own fucking political leadership minimizing COVID every day. The injustice is not that it’s wrong for her to be in prison, it’s that half our leadership _should_ be. I, for one, am looking forward to the _Banged Up/Locked Up Abroad_ episode dedicated to her stupid stunt. > [@Morgyn](#): > > A family got on a United flight from Orlando to LA on Monday. All filled out paperwork saying they’d tested negative for COVID and were experiencing no symptoms. The father stopped breathing two hours into the flight. The flight was diverted to New Orleans while medical personnel from the passengers tried to restart his heart with CR (no mouth-to-mouth). While he was being removed from the plane (yes, him dead), the wife was heard telling the EMTs that he had, in fact, tested positive for COVID, had been having trouble breathing, and had lost his sense of taste and smell. The surviving family members can feature on _America’s Dumbest Criminals._ If there’s ever a show for _Darwin Award Winners & Runners-up_, the dead dumbass can be featured in the pilot. > [@Morgyn](#): > > (Also, the passenger demanding compensation for everyone on the plane is an asshole.) And damn near illiterate, to boot! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6171 "2020-12-20T08:31:09Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > The new British variant is extremely concerning because the mutation affects the spike protein, which is what the current vaccines target. I don’t think this is true. According to [a recent paper in _Nature_](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-020-00151-8), it’s only the majority of vaccines that target the spike protein. The remainder do indeed use other approaches: > The majority of vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials target the spike (S) protein and its variants as the primary antigen. However, candidates that target other or multiple antigens are progressing, including candidates that target N protein, attenuated vaccines, inactivated vaccines and peptide vaccines ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6172 "2020-12-20T09:45:54Z")
I’ve read that the “new” British strain has been known and tracked for months; the concern now is that it’s becoming the dominant strain. True? If so, current vaccines surely must take it into account. I’ve also read speculative fears that because of mutations and such, what could happen is that strains start avoiding current vaccines, we have 2020-level outbreaks and their attendant consequences and control methods, we have to create a new vaccine to counter these new strains, extant strains start avoiding those vaccines, and around and around in a circle for years. Likely or no? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6173 "2020-12-20T10:24:45Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’ve also read speculative fears Anything **could** happen, especially when you’re talking about speculative fears, but this mutation is similar to the last, and the vaccine is likely to work against it. It doesn’t seem like this particular occurrence would make the speculative fears any more likely. > [@](#): > > “There is no evidence it causes a more severe disease, causes more hospitalisation, causes more trouble than the other virus, it basically looks similar.” [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-strain-idUSKBN28T0TU](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-strain-idUSKBN28T0TU) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6174 "2020-12-20T15:58:59Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’ve read that the “new” British strain has been known and tracked for months; the concern now is that it’s becoming the dominant strain. True? IIRC it was first detected in September. As a rule of thumb, it is now the dominant strain in (most of) Wales, plus those parts of England placed in Tier 4. Handy repost, scroll down to the maps: > **[Covid-19: Christmas rules tightened for England, Scotland and Wales](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55379220)** > > Family mixing at Christmas will be much reduced and scrapped completely for parts of the South East. These are the areas where infection rates are escalating most rapidly - the reason for the raid escalation being (it is postulated/presumed) that the new strain _is_ the dominant strain in these areas. j ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6175 "2020-12-20T17:59:25Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I don’t think this is true. According to [a recent paper in _Nature_](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-020-00151-8), it’s only the majority of vaccines that target the spike protein. The remainder do indeed use other approaches: By “current” I meant the ones that are entering use now. Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca. They all prime the immune system to respond to the spike protein. The US and AIUI, Europe, don’t have any other vaccines that close to implementing. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6176 "2020-12-20T18:06:30Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’ve also read speculative fears that because of mutations and such, what could happen is that strains start avoiding current vaccines, we have 2020-level outbreaks and their attendant consequences and control methods, we have to create a new vaccine to counter these new strains, extant strains start avoiding those vaccines, and around and around in a circle for years. Likely or no? There’s a good reason that the spike protein is used as antigen for many candidate vaccines. Spike has evolved a specific shape to bind receptors on our cell surface, to get the virus into cells. If an antibody binds spike, it is therefore quite likely to prevent this, to be neutralizing. In order for a mutant spike to evade a vaccine, it must change shape enough to avoid the neutralizing antibodies, but retain the right shape to bind the cell surface receptors. That’s not impossible, but it’s difficult. It’s especially difficult if there are multiple clones of antibodies that bind different epitopes on spike, something that’s quite likely when the whole spike protein is used as antigen in these vaccines. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6177 "2020-12-20T19:11:37Z")
The other part of why it’s hard for a pathogen to evolve to evade the vaccines is that they don’t just give us neutralizing antibodies. With mRNA and DNA vaccines in particular, which induce the host cell to manufacture spike protein inside the cell, there is likely also a strong response from the adaptive **cell-mediated** immune system. This is the coolest part of the immune system, because your cells effectively _encrypt_ the antigens they encounter, and induce an adaptive T-cell response to anything that looks wrong (non-self) in the _encrypted_ form. And the encryption key varies very widely among humans. So if spike mutates to evade one human’s cell-mediated immunity, that evasion strategy may not work for any of the next 10 humans it encounters. I dug up an old post I wrote about this here. > [@How do antibodies work?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-antibodies-work/773945/7): > > There’s another really cool part of the story: antigen “encryption” by the immune system. In addition to the antibodies produced by B-cells, part of the adaptive immune response is mediated by T-cells that recognize antigens through receptors on their surface. These T-cell receptors have the same range of random diversity in antigen specificity (generated by V(D)J recombination) as antibodies. However, T-cell receptors do not recognize “raw” antigen. They recognize carefully processed ant… ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6178 "2020-12-20T20:53:03Z")
This isn’t really breaking news, but as it pertains to a current hot topic I’ll drop it in here. A new website that allows you to model the spread of COVID across the UK. [Explanatory piece](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/203333/covid-19-hotspots-projected-with-website/) from Imperial College, London\* (with a link to the website). [Website itself.](https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/covid19local/) j (\*) - just typing that, I’m thinking: _there’s a name it’s time to change_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6179 "2020-12-20T22:57:04Z")
New list of states with the highest ever (for the state) highest daily COVID count (seven-day average) occurring on December 18 or 19 Maine Massachusetts New York California West Virginia South Carolina North Carolina Arkansas Oklahoma Mississippi Alabama Georgia Florida (finally breaking the earlier high in July) Texas and Puerto Rico, as well. Fourteen states and one territory, and its shooting up rapidly in several of those. THat’s a big change over a couple of days ago. The overall cases recorded in the US, after going down tantalizingly over recent weeks, is now higher than it has ever been. > **[New COVID-19 Cases Worldwide - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases)** > > Have countries flattened the curve? Daily confirmed new COVID-19 cases for the most affected countries over time. And we’re not even to Christmas yet. These vaccines could not have come soon enough. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6180 "2020-12-21T00:25:00Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > The other part of why it’s hard for a pathogen to evolve to evade the vaccines is that they don’t just give us neutralizing antibodies. With mRNA and DNA vaccines in particular, which induce the host cell to manufacture spike protein inside the cell, there is likely also a strong response from the adaptive **cell-mediated** immune system. This is the coolest part of the immune system, because your cells effectively _encrypt_ the antigens they encounter, and induce an adaptive T-cell response to anything that looks wrong (non-self) in the _encrypted_ form. And the encryption key varies very widely among humans. So if spike mutates to evade one human’s cell-mediated immunity, that evasion strategy may not work for any of the next 10 humans it encounters. I dug up an old post I wrote about this here. > > > [@](#): > > > > There’s another really cool part of the story: antigen “encryption” by the immune system. In addition to the antibodies produced by B-cells, part of the adaptive immune response is mediated by T-cells that recognize antigens through receptors on their surface. These T-cell receptors have the same range of random diversity in antigen specificity (generated by V(D)J recombination) as antibodies. However, T-cell receptors do not recognize “raw” antigen. They recognize carefully processed ant… 👍 I like how you described this as “encryption”. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6181 "2020-12-21T03:32:02Z")
…and Ontario is apparently going into lockdown, [provincewide](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-19-update-december-20-1.5849274). On Christmas Eve. In Southern Ontario, for 28 days; in Northern Ontario, for 14 days. > The Ontario government is poised to impose a provincewide lockdown starting Christmas Eve, sources confirmed Sunday, as the province logs more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the sixth consecutive day. > > A 28-day lockdown for the southern portions of the province, south of Sudbury, Ont., will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, sources confirmed. No official announcement yet. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6182 "2020-12-21T05:34:57Z")
77,172,237 total cases 1,699,644 dead 54,089,577 recovered In the US: 18,267,579 total cases 324,869 dead 10,622,082 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 76,626,060 total cases > 1,691,942 dead > 53,751,059 recovered > > In the US: > > 18,077,768 total cases > 323,401 dead > 10,545,445 recovered ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6183 "2020-12-21T12:42:47Z")
Bloomberg has a [vaccine tracker](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/). So far 1.8M people vaccinated worldwide with 556K in the US. Some of the state totals are really low. That might indicate the snafu with distribution in the beginning or it might just be the timing of the reporting. The rollout of the Moderna vaccine should bump up those numbers along with straightening out the distribution problems with the Pfizer vaccine. As of Dec. 20, 2020 > [@](#): > > The first Covid-19 shots have been given to more than 1.8 million people in five countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg > . . . > Vaccinations in the U.S. began Dec. 14 with health-care workers, and so far 556,208 doses have been administered, according to a nationwide tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those numbers are expected to surge in coming days with the distribution of a second vaccine by Moderna Inc. Bloomberg is also tracking doses at the state and territory level to give a picture of how the rollout is going nationwide. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6184 "2020-12-21T14:54:12Z")
New Reported Highest cases on December 20: New York West Virginia South Carolina North Carolina Arkansas Oklahoma Alabama and Puerto Rico Seven states and a territory Six other states experienced highs over the rest of the weekend ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6185 "2020-12-21T21:28:23Z")
Biden was vaccinated on TV. (Pence was a few days ago.) The EU approved the Pfizer vaccine and plans to start distributing it soon. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/6186 "2020-12-21T22:18:23Z")
> **[NIH devising study on rare allergic reactions to coronavirus vaccine](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-vaccine-allergic-reactions-study/2020/12/21/e01001d2-431a-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html)** > > Researchers face a challenging task to identify the culprit implicated in several incidents involving health-care workers. Looks like roughly 1 anaphylactic reaction per 100k right now. They are recruiting volunteers for a study, but as the article notes, it might be difficult to find many. Also, I know a past article mentioned something along the lines of .63 percent incidence of an allergic reaction in the vaccine group and .51 percent incidence in the control group for Pfizer’s study but it’s worth noting that the only incident of anaphylactic reaction was in the vaccine group. (One out of 18,801 who received the vaccine). This article backs all of that up. > **[Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine and Allergies: How Concerned Should You Be? (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/health/Covid-Pfizer-vaccine-allergies.html)** > > British health officials recommended that people with severe allergy reactions not be given the vaccine. Such reactions to vaccines are rare, even in people who have allergies to food or bee stings. One of the healthcare workers in Alaska had to be hospitalized in the ICU because she continued reacting when the epinephrine would wear off. She had to be placed on an epinephrine drip, and closely monitored until she could be weaned off the drip. (I’m not clear on how many days she was hospitalized, but it was at least one full day.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=307) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=309)