Continuing coronavirus happenings (Part 4)

Article - Cell Host & Microbe

An atlas of continuous adaptive evolution in endemic human viruses

Kathryn E. Kistler, Trevor Bedford
October 24, 2023
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2023.09.012

Highlights:

  • Ongoing adaptive evolution in human endemic viruses is largely in surface proteins
  • Immune evasion drives continuous adaptive evolution in many endemic human viruses
  • Antigenic evolution occurs in several viral families
  • SARS-CoV-2 is accumulating protein-coding changes faster than other endemic viruses :astonished:
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Our daughter and husband just got their shot, me and the wife are going this week.

That should help the numbers.

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Tldr;

Any mask (including a cloth one) is more effective than no mask at all.

N95 means that is at least 95% effective at stopping disease carrying particles.

Getting infected from a used mask is highly unlikely.

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In a day of explosive evidence, one of Mr Johnson’s former aides also said he thought Mr Johnson had questioned why the economy was being destroyed “for people who will die anyway soon”.

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Boris is turning 60 - best to stop feeding him or covering his healthcare.

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You first, de Pfeffel.

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An interesting report on what the pandemic revealed about ventilation, varying government standards, and how some companies/agencies are addressing problems in buildings:

I found it encouraging that Amazon was highlighted - maybe they’ve learned the importance of HVAC in warehouses after multiple cases of injury/death due to lack of any air conditioning.

Another report on masking:
ETA: Oops, it’s already above posted by @anon36155390

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Covid inquiry: Read the private WhatsApp messages from inside Downing Street

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Licking the outside is still not recommended.

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While true, it should be pointed out that licking random objects is, in general, not recommended.

Chicago Bulls What GIF by NBA

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Aw, but daaaaad.

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That could explain a lot


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We have a family of wild kids on our street, the youngest, about 5 years old, came to our door on Halloween to thank us for the candy bags. He had a big plastic something or other in his mouth. I asked him what that was, he didn’t know. Where did you get it? He found it. You might want to not put it in your mouth. He didn’t see the problem.

Don’t put your lips on that thing. What the hell is that?

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 the title of my new podcast :studio_microphone:

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Grandma always said “You gotta eat 2 teaspoons of dirt a day to stay healthy.” Of course, that was back in the day of healthy dirt, so


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In October, the state agreed to pay Fiscus $150,000 to settle the case. In addition, top health officials agreed not to disparage Fiscus, and Fiscus agreed not to disparage state officials. Additionally, Fiscus is required to refrain from commenting if she is asked about the lawsuit, negotiations, or settlement.

$150k to silence her. I am not criticizing her, she has the right to move on and live her life. But this is outrageous that she was fired for upholding the law and gets chicken feed in the settlement.

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When I was small, my father would occasionally tell us “My mother always said you have to eat a pound of dirt before you die.”

I was too young to understand that he was trying to reassure us not to worry if we dropped our cookie or something on the floor. Instead I thought it meant that when you got really old and it came your time to die, you’d have to go out to the backyard and eat a pound of dirt before you’d be allowed to die. I spent years dreading that far-off day when I would have to go out and eat all that dirt.

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