https://nypost.com/2020/09/21/cdc-removes-guidance-saying-covid-19-can-travel-beyond-six-feet/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push-notification&utm_campaign=cdc-removes-guidance-saying-covid-19-can-travel-beyond-six-feet
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pulled its updated guidance that the coronavirus is airborne and can travel distances beyond 6 feet – saying a draft version was posted in error on its website.
“It is possible that COVID-19 may spread through the droplets and airborne particles that are formed when a person who has COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes,” the CDC said in the previous update.
But on Monday, the agency back-tracked and restored its earlier guidelines that the deadly pathogen is spread via large droplets, according to the Wall Street Journal.
https://nypost.com/2020/09/19/france-uncovers-mutant-fast-moving-covid-19-strains/
"Mutant strains of COVID-19 that are more contagious, but less serious, have turned up in France, possibly explaining why Europe is reporting a spike in confirmed cases.
The chief of a leading French research hospital revealed the discovery to French lawmakers last week, the Sunday Times of London reported.
Microbiologist Didier Raoult, who heads IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseilles, told senators that the hospital’s infectious disease experts found seven coronavirus mutations during an analysis of COVID-19 tests over the summer.
Several scientists are disputing Raoult’s claim because of his endorsement of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 cure after President Trump touted the anti-malaria drug. He has been roundly criticized for insisting that his small trial of hydroxychloroquine proved its effectiveness.
Still, Raoult’s team sorted out the strains from mountains of mass testing that the research hospital put in place after France confirmed the first cases of the virus in February."
metmike: Once somebody reports positive results on HCQ, based on actual observations and science, we can't believe them anymore about anything (-:
The Web site “We Rate COVID Dashboards’’ — founded by researchers including from Yale and Harvard universities — has been issuing “report cards’’ based on whether colleges have COVID-19 information dashboards, how frequently they report related data and how detailed the information may be, such as breakdowns between students and staffers.
Fordham, Long Island University, Yeshiva, Princeton and Johns Hopkins flunked for not having an adequate or even existing dashboard, the site said.
On the plus side, New York state’s Stony Brook University earned an A, as did Colgate, Vassar, Cornell, Brown, Harvard, Yale and Tulane.
The entire State University of New York system received a B+ for creating a central dashboard for its entire 64 campuses. The dashboard also provides links to results at each campus, including Stony Brook.
Meanwhile, Columbia University earned a B+, while New York University obtained a B grade.
One head-scratcher is Johns Hopkins University, which has a renowned Coronavirus Resource Center that tracks infections globally and nationally, with state-by-state breakdowns. It does not appear to have a dashboard for COVID-19 cases at its Baltimore campus, earning it an F from the rating group.
“We’re rating schools on transparency, the quality of the data and how they convey the information,” said Dr. Howard Forman, a Yale professor of health policy and radiology who co-founded the rating site, to The Post.
Ayotomiwa Ojo, a Harvard University medical student and chief researcher for “We Rate COVID Dashboards,” added, “It’s important these institutions are held accountable.
“Students, parents, college employees and local communities have a stake in information about COVID-19. Thousands of campus students are coming into their communities.”
But Fordham spokesman Bob Howe slammed the site’s “F’’ grade for the Bronx-based college, saying his school’s dashboard was significant and that the Web site’s “research could use a little work.’’
Fordham’s COVID-19 Web site dashboard provides results at its Bronx Rose Hill and Manhattan Lincoln Center campuses on a 14-day rolling average and is shared on social media including Twitter. The figures show it has had 12 positive cases out of 3,649 students and staff tested, for an infection rate of 0.33.
Ojo said positive cases and infection rates should be updated every 48 hours.
LIU, Yeshiva and Princeton did not immediately respond to e-mail inquiries from The Post.
LIU does not appear to have a dashboard on its Web site but did provide a Sept. 15 update on COVID-19.