Tagged: COVID-19

A new study suggests coronavirus antibodies fade over time – but how concerned should we be? - COVID-19

Guest Author • Oct 28, 2020 •

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• immunity,
• Vaccine

Sheena Cruickshank, University of Manchester Newly released research suggests that levels of antibodies against the coronavirus have declined across the UK population since testing began. Having randomly sampled 365,000 people across the country, the React2 study – which is yet to be peer-reviewed – estimates that 6% of the UK population had antibodies against the virus … Read More

How to Systematically Reduce the Border Failure Risk for COVID-19 in Aotearoa/NZ - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Oct 28, 2020 •

• border control,
• COVID-19,
• managed isolation and quarantine facilities,
• mask use,
• risk assessment

Prof Nick Wilson*, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker With the 2020 election over and with a newly elected government, it is an excellent time for a systematic review by NZ health authorities to identify optimal methods for reducing the risk of future COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa/NZ. The persisting occurrence of cross-border incursions of the pandemic virus … Read More

COVID-19: backing our front row - Code for life

Grant Jacobs • Oct 23, 2020 •

• border,
• COVID-19,
• Hygiene,
• New Zealand,
• QR code

New Zealand has been called out as an outstanding player in managing COVID-19. We’ve done well,[1] but we’re far from perfect. We could do a lot better at backing our front row. Epidemiologists advise nations not to play “wait and see”. If By the time they do see, it’s all over them. “She’ll be right”… until it isn’t. We’re less … Read More

WHO reform: a call for an early-warning protocol for infectious diseases - Guest Work

Guest Author • Oct 21, 2020 •

• COVID-19,
• Infectious Diseases,
• WHO

Peter Gluckman and Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato The World Health Organization (WHO) has come in for its share of criticism for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some faults are the responsibility of the WHO, others were caused by member states, which did not always act as quickly as they should have. In our opinion, … Read More

Don’t fall for the Covid contrarians - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 20, 2020 •

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• Great Barrington Declaration,
• John Snow Memorandum,
• lockdown

As life in Aotearoa gets back to some kind of normal after our latest Covid-19 outbreak, cases in the northern hemisphere are on the rise again and that puts us all at risk. Because no one is safe until we are all safe. This is a tricky virus. We now know that it spreads well through droplets and aerosols and … Read More

Covid-19: A planetary disease - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Oct 14, 2020 •

• COVID-19,
• environmental health,
• international health regulations,
• zoonotic diseases

Louise Delany* This blog focuses on the underlying environmental causes of Covid-19 (Covid) and the role of international law in tackling both Covid and other planetary crises. I argue that major changes to our relationship with our planet and its creatures are needed and these changes must be supported by new international law.   What caused Covid? Covid-19 is a … Read More

Treating an infected president - Ariadne

Robert Hickson • Oct 04, 2020 •

• clinical trials,
• COVID-19,
• experimental drugs,
• medical,
• Pandemic,
• politics,
• President of the United States

News reports indicate that a range of therapies are being tried on the President of the United States to treat his SARS-CoV-2 infection. Two of these involve treatments that have not yet completed clinical trials. One was a cocktail of two neutralising antibodies. The second is an anti-viral drug.   Monoclonal antibodies The president was initially given a single treatment … Read More

Where in the world will the next epidemic start? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 27, 2020 •

• animal hosts,
• COVID-19,
• epidemic,
• Pandemic,
• virus transmission

Naomi Forrester-Soto, Keele University Viruses jumping from animals to humans have been the starting point of numerous outbreaks, from Ebola to Zika. Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to coronaviruses found in bats, this probably marked the beginning of COVID-19 too. We know that viruses have passed from animals to humans throughout history, and will continue to do so. Read More

Coronavirus: the road to vaccine roll-out is always bumpy, as 20th-century pandemics show - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 26, 2020 •

• COVID-19,
• Pandemic,
• polio,
• Vaccine

Samantha Vanderslott, University of Oxford If you have been following the media coverage of the new vaccines in development for COVID-19, it will be clear that the stakes are high. Very few vaccine trials in history have attracted so much attention, perhaps since polio in the mid-20th century. A now largely forgotten chapter, summer polio outbreaks invoked terror in parents. Read More

The long-term health burden of COVID-19: further justification for NZ’s elimination strategy - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Sep 24, 2020 •

• COVID-19,
• elimination,
• long-COVID,
• Pandemic

Prof John D. Potter* This blog briefly surveys the emerging scientific evidence on the longer-term burden of symptoms and disease in survivors of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these symptoms point to damage in the brain and heart. These long-term harms add to the wide range of other reasons for Aotearoa/New Zealand to persist with its successful COVID-19 elimination strategy. Read More