DenisCOVIDinfoguy

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 29 days ago to auscovid19

Johanna Köb, the head of responsible investment at Zurich Insurance Company, announced her resignation due to long COVID.

#LongCOVID #PandemicIsNotOver @auscovid19

Source: https://citywire.com/ch/news/zurich-insurance-s-responsible-investment-head-resigns-because-of-long-covid/a2440979

According to LinkedIn, Köb has been head of responsible investment at the company since 2017 and implemented a responsible investment strategy for the company’s $200bn (CHF 182.1bn) portfolio of assets. Brassel, who is based in Zurich, will be responsible for further developing and steering the firm’s responsible investment strategy. She reports to Christian Jochum, head of investment management strategy development at Zurich Insurance Group. Köb joined Zurich Insurance Company in 2013 as a responsible investment analyst following a year interning at Robeco. She also sat on the board of Impact Principles and was co-chair of the steering committee for the green and social bond principles at the International Capital Markets Association. Brassel, who was previously a responsible investment director, has been working at the company since 2018. She spent the previous two as a research analyst at Responsibility Investments. From 2012 until 2015 she was vice president at Aeris Capital and has also worked at HSBC Investment Banking, Credit Suisse and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In her announcement, Köb also thanked her colleagues for their support during her ongoing illness and took the opportunity to raise awareness about her condition. ‘Four years into the pandemic and despite millions missing, there is still no curative treatment for long Covid,’ she wrote.

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 29 days ago to auscovid19

The meerkat mask mandate you didn’t know about. By Mandy Squires

"Both Melbourne and Werribee zoos have strict mask rules in place to protect the curious creatures from catching COVID from members of the public during “meerkat experience” sessions."

#COVID19 #meerkat #maskmandate @auscovid19

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/why-antimaskers-wont-get-near-melbourne-zoos-meerkats-and-the-zoo-animal-covid-vax/news-story/6ce70cf1f2d7155476e14a1420a375c7

Both Melbourne and Werribee zoos have strict mask rules in place to protect the curious creatures from catching Covid from members of the public during “meerkat experience” sessions. “Fitted face masks are to be worn on all experiences, behind the scenes, tours and in some animal habitats, which will be signed,” Melbourne Zoo informs potential visitors on its website. The zoo’s terms and conditions state that anyone who refuses to mask-up as directed can be refused entry or ordered to leave the zoo. Masks are also required to be worn by visitors participating in Werribee Zoo’s African cat experience, that allows humans to get close to servals. A spokeswoman for Zoos Victoria said precautionary measures were taken “to carefully manage health risks through animal care practices, such as wearing masks whenever there are animal and keeper interactions with primates, meerkats and our feline species”. It comes as the number of Victorians hospitalised with Covid each day surges again, after the state enjoyed a brief respite. An average of 116 people a day were hospitalised with the virus last week, up from 95 the week before. Covid deaths have also risen to 80 in the most recent 28-day reporting period of March 6 to April 2 — more than in the previous period of February 7 to March 5, with the latest metropolitan and regional wastewater testing revealing “increasing prevalence of Covid-19 infections in the community”.
A Covid vaccine for Australian zoo animals has been made. The Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) and Adelaide biotech company Vaxine developed the vaccine, called SpikeVet, based on technology used in the COVAX-19 human vaccine. “We explored a range of options to vaccinate our zoo animals and this option was selected considering both safety and potential effectiveness,” co-convener of the ZAA Veterinary Advisory Group, Dr David McLelland, said. “While Covid-19 vaccines for animals have also been developed overseas, it is more feasible to use a locally made vaccine, particularly one that has already been shown to be safe and effective in a broad range of animal species.” ZAA said the SpikeVet vaccine had an optimised formulation appropriate for animals of very different sizes and was designed to protect against all the major Covid variants, including the Omicron variants.

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

Does diabetes increase the risk of long COVID?

"the current study highlighted that individuals with T2D develop long COVID at a higher rate. Thus, more research is needed to identify the different factors that increase the risk of developing long COVID"

#diabetes #longCOVID #PandemicIsNotOver @auscovid19

Source: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240422/Does-diabetes-increase-the-risk-of-long-COVID.aspx

Study: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00186-X/fulltext

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

🇳🇿New Zealand COVID weekly update: 15 Apr to 21 Apr

🔹New cases: 2,383 (-8.9%)
🔹Reinfections: 1490 (62.53%)
🔹Deaths: 21 (+162.5%)
🔹Hospital: 167 (+9.8%)
🔹ICU: n/a

🔸62.53% were reinfections

Sadly, 11 deaths being reported today.

🔸COVID-attributed deaths: 21
🔸Not COVID: 11
🔸Not available: -21

2 were in their 20s
3 were in their 50s
2 were in their 60s
1 was in their 70s
3 were aged over 90

#COVID19NZ @auscovid19

Source: https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/data-and-statistics/covid-19-data/covid-19-current-cases/

image/png

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

Cases of flu rising in NSW compared to last year.

"We don’t want to see a repeat this year, so we are reminding families to book their children aged under 5 years in for their free flu vaccine now." - NSW health minister, Ryan Park

@NSWHealth @RyanPark_Keira @NSWCHO @auscovid19

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/apr/23/australia-news-live-albanese-future-made-wakeley-bondi-stabbing-esafety-twitter-elon-musk-supermarkets-png-papua-kokoda

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

🇬🇧UK virtually ends free vaccines as COVID-19 continues to spread.

"The refusal to offer free vaccinations, and the resulting increase in infections will have devastating consequences for those who develop Long Covid."

#COVID19UK #PandemicIsNotOver @auscovid19

Source: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/21/awnl-a21.html

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

🇺🇸US weekly COVID update: 64,000 new cases and sadly 757 deaths.

🔹So far this year, more than 3 million cases of COVID have been reported in the U.S., causing 265,966 hospitalizations and 26,836 deaths.

#COVID19US #PandemicIsNotOver @auscovid19

Source: https://twitter.com/BNOFeed/status/1782177558471098373

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to Argentina

🇦🇷Argentina: Mystery flu 'similar to COVID' leaves dozens critically ill as doctors on high alert.

"An alert about the mystery virus circulated via international public health surveillance system ProMed as 60 people were reported with the sickness in Argentina."

#MysteryFlu #Argentina @auscovid19

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/mystery-flu-similar-covid-leaves-32619076

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to thailand

🇹🇭Thailand: COVID-19 surges during [Thai New Year] Songkran festival.

🔹1,004 people were admitted for treatment of COVID-19 infections between April 14th and 20th

#COVID19 #Thailand #ThaiNewYear #Songkranfestival @auscovid19

Source: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/covid-19-surges-during-songkran-festival/

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

A BRAZILIAN bodybuilder and fitness influencer has tragically died aged 29 after being rushed to hospital with Covid.

Jonas Filho, known as Jonas Big, was rushed to Sao Jose Hospital in the Ceara state capital Fortaleza in the early hours of April 15.

#COVID19 #BRAZILIANbodybuilder #JonasFilho @auscovid19

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/27437839/bodybuilder-fitness-influencer-jonas-filho-dies/

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to uk

🇬🇧UK: 5.4 million Brits could be on health-related benefits by 2029.

"the recent rise has been far sharper among younger people."

"a 20-year-old today is as likely to claim health-related benefits as a 39-year-old was in 2019."

#UK #healthrelatedbenefits @auscovid19

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13328497/UK-Covid-sick-Brits-health-related-benefits-surge-young-people-mental.html

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to italy

🇮🇹Italy: 538 new cases and 9 deaths reported in the last week.

From 11 April and 17 April:

🔹New cases: 538 (-16.7%)
🔹Reinfections: n/a
🔹Deaths: 9 (-40%)
🔹Positivity rate: 0.5% (unchanged)

🔸Hospitalised: 700 (-3.7%)
🔸ICU: 22 (+4.7%)

#COVID19 #Italy @auscovid19

Source: https://www.adnkronos.com/cronaca/covid-oggi-italia-dati-bollettino-19-aprile_3nkC5ZrDWYzPdN7MHIcGS0

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

COVID patient’s infection lasts record 613 days and spawns new mutations | bloomberg.com

"A Covid-19 patient with a weakened immune system incubated a highly mutated novel strain over 613 days before succumbing to an underlying illness, researchers in the Netherlands found."

“We emphasize the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections.”

#COVID19 #immunocompromised #mutations @auscovid19

Source: https://archive.md/hZOg9

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

Fighting an invisible illness: The curse of Long COVID. By Milanda Rout

"Exhaustion, erratic heartbeat, brain fog, pain: women aged 31 to 45 are contracting Long COVID in greater numbers than any other part of the population. Why?"

#LongCOVID @auscovid19

https://archive.md/Nvcej#selection-339.10-343.23

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

New Australian-made test checks for 14 respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, RSV and influenza. By Sue Dunlevy

"Aussie scientists have developed a test that can identify 14 different respiratory viruses, telling you if your symptoms are just a sniffle or something more serious. Watch how it works."

@auscovid19

Source: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/health/new-australianmade-test-checks-for-14-respiratory-viruses-including-covid19-rsv-and-influenza/news-story/723d5fe51eaf0ee86671f7e24df19591

It will also allow doctors to tell whether small children have a simple cold or a potentially-deadly infection – an enterovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) could land them in hospital. As of last week the PlexPlus test, developed by Aussie company SpeeDx, was available to be validated by major pathology labs so it can be used in this year’s flu season. SpeeDx will then seek marketing approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration. There are already Medicare rebates available for respiratory testing. “Our cost per assay will allow even the most cost-conscious labs to implement expanded viral detection within current financial conditions,” the company said. Patients will be able to get the test from their GP and, like the Covid PCR test, it uses a nasal swab to collect genetic material that is sent off for testing in a pathology lab. The results should be available within 24 hours, which is crucial because antiviral medications need to be started early in an infection to work.
Immunisation Coalition spokesman Dr Rod Pearce said “we’ve spent 20 years telling people look, if you get a virus, don’t do anything but the important message is that changed five years ago”. “It is actually worth testing for these viruses because now you’ve actually got options, we can tell you if you have you got a treatable virus,” he said. SpeeDx was co-founded by two female scientists, Adjunct Professor Alison Todd and Dr Elisa Mokany. They won the PM’s Science prize for innovation in 2022 for developing molecular diagnostic tests now used in 19 countries. These prize-winning tests were for conditions including cancers, sexually transmitted infections, respiratory infections, SARS-CoV-2 and fungal skin infections. Their latest invention relies on the instruments already used in large mass testing pathology laboratories to deliver more information from a single test, relying on a panel of 14 targets. “It doubles the capacity of existing testing instruments,” Adj Prof Todd said. “What we have done is we have developed temperature specific probes that only light up at specific temperatures,” she said. The company’s panel includes tests for influenza A and B, Covid, RSV, adenoviruses B and C, human para-influenza viruses 1, 2, 3 and 4, human metapneumovirus, rhinovirus and human enterovirus. “Enterovirus can cause significant problems in younger children and this is can be quite a serious illness with breathing problems or it can lead to death,” Adj Professor Todd said.
image/png

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

Surprising age groups COVID is hospitalising and killing, as virus surges across Vic again. By Mandy Squires

#PandemicIsNotOver #COVIDisNotOver @VicGovDH @MaryAnneThomas @VictorianCHO @mandy_squires @auscovid19

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/new-covid-data-reveals-posh-and-poor-victorians-being-struck-down/news-story/e4922fe8a4a08ee686ad0db40cf61fe7

Groundbreaking research from Sydney’s UNSW in collaboration with the Kirby Institute and St Vincent’s Hospital — released on Thursday — shows it can take two years for immune abnormalities in long Covid patients to improve. The globally significant study, that followed people who had contracted Covid during the country’s first wave, found the biomarkers for long Covid had “largely resolved by 24 months, providing optimism that long Covid can resolve over time”. The ADAPT study is one of only a handful of its type in the world. However, Kirby Institute director Professor Anthony Kelleher cautioned that while the finding was encouraging, it was important to remember the study was based on just one group of people who experienced an early strain of Covid, “and it is a group in which the initial Covid-19 infection was generally considered mild or moderate”. “Immunology is a complex science, and it is impossible to say for certain that outcomes in our unvaccinated clinical cohort will be true for vaccinated people or for people who may have been infected with a different strain of Covid-19,” he said. “What we do know is that for most people with long Covid, both their symptoms and their biomarkers improve significantly over time, and this is a cause for optimism. “Importantly, we will continue to undertake research to understand more about why some people don’t improve, and what can be done for those people.”
The pensions are income support payments for people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairments who are unable to work for 15 or more hours per week, for at least two years. Surprising age groups Covid is killing, as it surges again The number of Victorians hospitalised with Covid each day is surging again, after the state enjoyed a brief respite. An average of 116 people a day were hospitalised with the virus this week, up from 95 last week and 98 in early April. Covid deaths have also risen to 80 in the most recent 28-day reporting period of March 6 to April 2 — more than in the previous period of February 7 to March 5.
Hospitalisation and death rates dropped in March, but surveillance data released by the Victorian Department of Health on Friday morning shows the respite was short-lived and the virus is again surging across the state, with the latest metropolitan and regional wastewater testing revealing “increasing prevalence of Covid-19 infections in the community”. The JN. 1 variant — a sublineage of BA. 2.86 — remains the dominant variant in Victorian wastewater samples, at about 97 per cent. Other data in the department’s most recent report reveals younger Victorians are also succumbing to Covid, with a greater proportion of deaths in the under 50 and 50-to-64 age brackets in February this year than in February 2022. Most deaths remain in the over 80-years-old group, however. The data also shows Covid does not discriminate, with Victorians from all postcodes — from the most advantaged to poorest — being hospitalised with Covid.

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

ACT weekly COVID update: 12 Apr to 18 Apr

🔹New PCR cases only: 52 (-12)
🔹Deaths: 0 (-1)
🔹Total deaths: 308 (+0)
🔹Hospital: 12 (+6)
🔹ICU: 0 (-1)
🔹Vent: 0 (+0)

🔸Cases numbers ⬇️Down 18.7% compared to the previous week.

#COVID19ACT @ACTHealth @auscovid19

Source: https://covid19.act.gov.au/updates/act-covid-19-statistics

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

Has COVID set us up for a major heart disease epidemic? It’s happened before | newatlas.com

"Around 20 years ago a pair of epidemiologists presented a controversial new hypothesis to explain this weird phenomenon: the 1918 influenza pandemic triggered a wave of heart damage in millions of people and primed them for later-life heart disease."

"SARS-CoV-2 is a very different virus to influenza. In many ways it is much more problematic. It can infect a far wider assortment of human organs and tissues than influenza and it is mutating in ways very different to H1N1."

"The COVID pandemic has not waned and dissipated in the same way the 1918 pandemic did. Instead, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is frantically changing its form from month to month leading people to experience relatively frequent reinfections."

#COVID19 #heartdiseaseepidemic @auscovid19

Source: https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/covid-flu-heart-disease-epidemic/

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

SA weekly COVID update: 10 Apr to 16 Apr

🔹PCR cases only: 908 (🔺 +2%)
🔹Deaths: NR (monthly)
🔹Total deaths: 1,760 (+0)
🔹Hospital: NR
🔹ICU: NR

NR = Not Reported

@SAHealth @PictonChris @auscovid19

Source: https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/Public+Content/SA+Health+Internet/Conditions/Infectious+diseases/COVID-19/COVID-19+dashboard

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

(1/4) NSW respiratory surveillance reports: Week ending 13 April 2024

⚠️COVID-19 activity low. Influenza activity is low. RSV activity is high⚠️

🔸COVID PCR test positivity rate: 4.6% (-0.8%)

🔹COVID: 1,452 (+5.5%)
🔹Influenza: 1,328 (+20.3%)
🔹RSV: 2,832 (+7.0%)

#COVID19nsw @auscovid19

Source: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/reports.aspx

image/png
image/png

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

"A new study based on German data shows that SARS-CoV-2 caused a 21% excess of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) during the winter of 2022-23."

"Adults 30 to 39 hit hardest"

"Decision makers need to be aware of this burden to adapt and create new policies with the goal of reducing infection incidences."

Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19-caused-21-excess-respiratory-infections-last-winter-analysis-finds

Study: https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(24)00128-0/fulltext

#COVID19 #sarscov2 @auscovid19

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 1 month ago to auscovid19

WA weekly COVID update: 1 April to 14 April 2024

🔸In this fortnight, COVID-19 indicators suggests that community transmission is increasing.

🔹PCR cases only: 523 (+25%)
🔹Deaths: 9 (-18%)
🔹Hospital: 96 (+25%)
🔹ICU: 3 (unchanged)

#COVID19WA @auscovid19

Source: https://www.health.wa.gov.au/articles/f_i/infectious-disease-data/covid19-surveillance-report

image/png
image/png
image/png