Category: Corona Virus

Reported coronavirus cases decreased statewide and locally in the week ending Feb. 3.

Statewide, the number of reported cases went down to 2,792 from 3,192, a decrease of 400 cases. Thats a percentage decrease of 12.53%.

Locally, the number of reported cases went down to 66 from 87 in the week ending Jan. 27. Thats a decrease of 21, or 24.13%.

Overall, cases have dropped four consecutive weeks statewide, from 4,999 to 2,207 cases, which is a percentage drop of 44.14%.

Locally, the cases have fallen for four consecutive weeks, from 125 to 66, or a drop or 59 cases, which is a percentage decrease of 47.20%.

There were 552 coronavirus tests administered by health officials in the 10 communities covered by The Sun Chronicle with 66 positives, which is a percentage rate of 11.49%. Thats a decrease of 58 tests, which equals 9.5%

The communities covered are: Attleboro, Foxboro, Mansfield, Norfolk, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Wrentham.

The number of reported COVID-19 cases is not accurate, however, and the figure is surely higher because of the prevalence of home-testing kits. Not all the positive cases found through home-testing are reported to health officials. Also, many people who become ill dont bother testing as the virus has weakened and the symptoms caused by the virus are less severe.

For context, the highest number of new cases statewide for one week was recorded on Jan. 14, 2022, at 132,557.

The highest number locally for one week was 3,463, recorded on Jan. 13, 2022.

All told, since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the area has recorded 50,493 cases.

In the week ending Feb. 3 the case counts in the communities were:

Statewide, the number was 2,792 confirmed cases with 695 probable cases for a total statewide of 2,136,756 confirmed and probable cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The number of confirmed deaths statewide increased to 37, from the 29 recorded in the week ending Jan. 27, and the number of probable deaths fell to 0 from the two recorded in the week ending Jan. 27.

The number of confirmed deaths statewide since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 is 23,329, and the number of confirmed and probable deaths is 27,888.

A poll for the area was taken recently and the death total, with nine communities reporting, was 518.

Deaths caused by the virus, per community covered by The Sun Chronicle, are:

Most of the deaths were suffered by the elderly.

The average age of death caused by the virus is about 80, according to the states Department of Public Health.

Theres a new variant which is causing many of the cases known as JN.1. As of Feb. 3, JN.1 is estimated to account for approximately 91% to 94% of all currently circulating coronavirus variants, an increase from the estimated prevalence of 83% to 88% two weeks ago, according to the CDC.

JN.1 remains at high prevalence among variants in international travelers and wastewater viral levels, as well as in most regions around the globe. At this time, there is no evidence that JN.1 causes more severe disease.

Approximately 12.5% of all emergencydepartment visits in Massachusetts were due to acute respiratory disease including coronavirus, flu and respiratory syntactical virus (RSV).

There have been 100 deaths due to the flu this season 2023-2024.

Most hospitals and health clinics in Massachusetts and Rhode Island including Sturdy Memorial Hospital and all Sturdy Health facilities have re-instituted mask mandates in an effort to help keep the spread of COVID-19, the flu and other winter respiratory illnesses, down.

George W. Rhodes can be reached at 508-236-0432.

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Reported coronavirus cases continue to drop in Attleboro area and across the state - The Sun Chronicle

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Two years ago in early 2022, when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution visited Northeast Georgia Medical Center, 18 of the 24 beds in the intensive care unit (ICU) were filled with COVID patients. Under a maze of machines, tubes, and wires, patients wrestled with everything from dangerously low oxygen levels to heart problems to organ failure. Some were on the brink of death.

Today, far fewer people are dying or becoming seriously ill because vaccines and prior infections have bolstered their immunity and reduced the severity of illnesses. At a visit to the hospital on Feb 5, only three of the ICU beds were filled with COVID. And many of the hospitalized COVID patients only tested positive after being admitted for other reasons such as cancer surgery or appendicitis.

The latest preliminary data on weekly COVID deaths in Georgia show 14 COVID deaths for the week ending Feb. 3. Data from January, which is considered more reliable, shows around 50 COVID deaths a week in Georgia.

The number of new COVID hospitalizations in Georgia for the week ending Feb. 3 totaled 740, down from 834 the week before, marking an 11% drop.

Back in September 2021, shortly after vaccines became available and a more contagious variant, delta, was circulating, there were a staggering 995 deaths during the week ending Sept. 4, 2021. And the peak of new COVID hospitalizations for Georgia was 5,600 for the week ending Jan. 9, 2021.

There are more treatment options today. And while the current omicron variants are considerably more contagious than prior variants, Northeast Georgia Medical Center doctors said they do not attack the lungs as aggressively as those earlier strains. But COVID remains a threat, especially for those who are older and who have weakened immune systems.

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

The AJC recently returned to the ICU and interviewed Glass and infectious disease physician Dr. Supriya Mannepalli about how the coronavirus has changed and how sick patients are managed now. The following is a Q and A with Mannepalli. Some of her comments were edited for length and clarity.

Q: Whats it like to be hospitalized with COVID now?

Mannepalli: I think from the earlier days to now, what we have seen is a change in the severity overall and less severity overall. But there are still patients who have other risk factors chronic medical conditions, immunosuppressive conditions who who not up to date with their vaccines, who do get sick enough to need to be hospitalized. But that number is much less compared to earlier surges we have seen in 2020, 2021.

Q: How many COVID patients are currently hospitalized at the Northeast Georgia Medical System?

Mannepalli: COVID patients in the entire health system are between 40 and 50 and this includes all of the hospitals and long-term care as well (the system includes five hospitals). This doesnt mean that theyre specifically here for COVID. Most of them are here for something else and test positive for COVID. But there are the ones who are here truly for COVID-related respiratory infections. Those are the patients with low immunity and other medical conditions, and not up to date with their vaccinations.

There are also those patients who are here for another issue and if they have comorbidities, the COVID diagnosis on top of what they are already dealing with can make a patient very ill and in need of ICU level of care.

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Q: What appears to make the biggest difference?

Mannepalli: I think the one thing I keep stressing is the importance of staying up to date with the COVID vaccines, and last I checked the uptake of the new vaccine is very, very low. Overall, maybe 20% across the U.S. So thats very low numbers, and especially those who are elderly, at high risk of developing severe COVID, its so important to stay up to date on your vaccinations.

(In Georgia, the vaccination rate is even lower. Only about 7% of Georgians have had the updated COVID-19 vaccine, according to the most recent figures from the state Department of Public Health.)

When it comes to oral treatments (such as the anti-viral Paxlovid, which can be taken at home) for those who are high risk in the outpatient setting, start it early so it doesnt progress to severe infection later on.

If they are here and admitted, our treatments are still primarily the antiviral remdesivir and steroids; if they require oxygen, that as well.

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Q: Is COVID now one of the multiple viruses you are dealing with along with the flu? What has that been like?

Mannepalli: One thing we are noticing is a severe flu season this year. Weve seen some patients with severe influenza infection and some with a secondary bacterial infection. Weve seen some very, very sick flu patients this season even some who needed to be intubated (to assist their breathing mechanically).

Most of those who are hospitalized for the flu were not vaccinated against influenza.

Vaccines can help. Even when they are not the perfect match (to circulating strains), they help prevent the disease.

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Georgia COVID update: Why some still get seriously sick and hospitalized - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has found that 5.8 million children have experienced long COVIDsymptoms of COVID-19 that have persisted long after the initial infection. The Nationwide research effort called the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative involved 10 pediatric hospital in the U.S., sought to provide vital information for doctors on the difficulty of diagnosing and treating post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) and to better understanding its trajectoryand persistencein these patients over time.

Results of the study are published in the journal Pediatrics.

At our Long COVID Recovery Care clinic, some patients have symptoms for two months and there are others whose symptoms have still not gone away two years later, said study co-author Sindhu Mohandas, MD, co-director, Immunocompromised Infectious Diseases Program at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

For this research, the RECOVER collaborators scoured the existing literature across a number of different areas of expertise to provide a comprehensive view of how long COVID has affected children and youth. Our goal was to summarize all available knowledge from those smaller articles, case reports and clinic-based studies on the full range of long COVID symptoms that we are seeing across the U.S., Mohandas stated.

The team found some common factors of long COVID risk among this population: 45% of long COVID patients experienced symptoms of the infection versus only 15% who were asymptomatic. Other factors increasing risk included older age, severity of initial infection, the number of organs initially affected, other underlying medical conditions, and higher weight.

Similar to findings of long COVID in adults, the most common symptoms in younger people include fatigue, persistent headaches, weakness, musculoskeletal pain, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and dizziness.

Further, between two percent and 44 percent of children experience brain fog after physical of mental effort, the well documented difficulties some long COVID sufferers have concentrating. The researchers note that brain fog and fatigue symptoms from long COVID are very similar to the symptoms myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which can last for six months or more.

Additional complications related to long COVID include the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes a month after initial infection and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). This condition is likely related to an abnormally strong activation of the immune system in combating the initial infection and can result is heart damage and other cardiovascular health issues.

Long COVID has also been shown to worsen pre-existing health issues in children, notably chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, which several studies have shown does not worsen during the initial infection, but often did worsen in the ensuing six months.

In general, the report noted that pediatricians are underdiagnosing long COVID. Some believe children dont get long COVID and others just dont know the signs and symptoms. I think the big added value to this published study is that it provides some of the characteristic fingerprints that pediatricians can use to recognize long COVID, noted co-author John C. Wood, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and investigator at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Originally posted here:

NIH Study: 5.8 Million Children and Youth Have Experienced Long COVID - Inside Precision Medicine

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Advocates accuse ICE of neglecting detainees amid January COVID-19 spike - The Bakersfield Californian

Representational Image

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, it brought with it fear and plenty of befuddlement. While it let some get away with a sniffle, it landed many in the hospital. And turns out, this diabolicity extends to all of the infernal coronaviruses in the trouble-making family.

The COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 is easily the most popular of the coronaviruses, for very obvious reasons, with SARS and MERS being other note-worthy names in the family. While these troublemakers can cause serious illness, there are plenty that cause the harmless common cold. But why the vast difference? A new AI study might have finally cracked the code, and it has everything to do with "zombie" virus bits.

Zombie viruses are exactly what they sound like fragments of the once lethal virus left after it was slayed. Now, a UCLA study used AI to track how SARS-CoV-2 gets broken down in the body. And turns out, when it comes to SARS-CoV-2, the broken bits of this particular virus look suspiciously like human immune system molecules. Then, these tiny impostors fool the body into overreacting, leading to that out-of-control inflammation we see in severe cases!

These zombie fragments are unique to SARS-CoV-2, and not found in its harmless cold-causing cousin. They even trigger similar gene expression as the whole virus, even though it's just tiny bits! This suggests they might be the culprits behind the variable severity of COVID-19, explaining why some people barely notice it while others are left fighting for their lives.

Interestingly, the study also points to individual differences in enzyme efficiency as another key player. How well you break down foreign particles can determine how mild or severe your illness is. Some people are enzyme ninjas, dismantling the virus effortlessly, while others struggle, leaving harmful fragments to wreak havoc.

While this study is a major breakthrough, there's still much to uncover. What exactly do these "zombie" fragments do? Can we target the enzymes responsible for creating them? Could this lead to new treatments for COVID-19 and other diseases? Only time and more research will tell.

However, this research offers a fascinating glimpse into why COVID acts so differently in different people. It also opens exciting possibilities for future treatments that target these "zombie" fragments and prevent them from causing harm.

**

For weather, science, space, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It's free!

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COVID-19 Zombie Viral Fragments Could Help Explain Why Some Infections Are More Severe | Weather.com - The Weather Channel

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Rutgers researchers work on breakthrough COVID-19 treatment | Video - NJ Spotlight News

For four years now, either as a physical virus or as a looming threat, the COVID-causing pathogen SARS-CoV-2 has been the elephant in every roomsometimes confronted and sometimes ignored but always present. While once we dreamed of eradicating COVID, now much of society has resigned itself to SARS-CoV-2s constant presencea surrender that would once have been unthinkable.

Worldwide, there were more than 11,000 reported deaths from COVID between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, and more than half of those deaths occurred in the U.S. In that same time frame, nearly one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization globally (although reduced testing and reporting means this is likely a vast undercount). In particular, epidemiologists are monitoring the newest variant of SARS-CoV-2, JN.1, and looking for any signs that it may be more severe than previous strains.

Although the WHO declared an end to the COVID public health emergency in May 2023, the organization has emphasized that the pandemic isnt overits just entered an endemic phase, which means that the virus will continue to circulate indefinitely. Throughout the past four years, Maria Van Kerkhove, now interim director of the WHOs Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, has helped lead the agencys response to COVID. Scientific American spoke with Van Kerkhove about entering the fifth year of a pandemic that many want to ignore despite its permanent impact on lives around the world.

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

How would you describe the overall state of COVID at this point in the pandemic?

COVIDs not in the news every day, but its still a global health risk. If we look at wastewater estimates, the actual circulation [of SARS-CoV-2] is somewhere between two and 20 times higher than whats actually being reported by countries. The virus is rampant. Were still in a pandemic. Theres a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.

Lack of access to lifesaving tools such as diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines is still a problem. Demand for vaccination is very low around the world. The misinformation and disinformation thats out there is hampering the ability to mount an effective response. So we feel theres a lot more work to do, in the context of everything else[we no longer have a] COVID lens only, of course, but using masks for respiratory pathogens that transmit through the air is a no-brainerplus vaccination, plus distancing, plus improving ventilation. People are living their life; were not trying to stop anyone from doing anything, but were trying to work with governments to make sure they do that as safely as possible.

We dont know everything about this virus. Even in year five, theres still a lot of research that needs to be done.

Whats it like emotionally to be so deep in trying to understand and respond to the pandemic?

Its pretty incredible. I mean, I cant believe were entering year five of COVID.

There are some massive mental health impacts, globally, that were not dealing with. Im dealing with my own, which Im only now starting to reflect upon. I didnt give it a chanceI didnt have the opportunity to give time to itbut now Im actually taking some time because this is not normal. The COVID pandemic was not normal. This amount of death is not normal. It didnt have to be this way.

Instead of What should we have done differently? I say, What can we do differently today? I feel so determined to really keep this marathon up. Maybe its not in the news, but our work hasnt stopped. Its heavy, I would say. Its a lot, and I dont want to sugarcoat it.

You mentioned the mental health impacts that were neglectingwhat would you like to see the world do on that front?

I am very pleased to see the global focus on mental health and really recognizing the unintended consequences of the interventions that many countries put in place [to contain the virus]. Theyve had massive impacts: societal impacts, social impacts, economic impacts and mental health impacts. Access to mental health services is improving, but it has a long way to go. The wait lists to see mental health professionals are very long, and these experts are not available in every country. I think the stigma associated with mental health is decreasing, and I think thats important. The isolation and the loneliness that weve seen, the social anxiety people have [when] coming back togethera lot of this needs to be evaluated. Theres a lot of room for improvement.

I also dont think weve mourned the loss of the more than seven million livesthat we know of. [The figure is] probably three times higher. This virus has touched every single person and family, and its changed the trajectory of peoples lives. People who were forced to remain home and in violent situations, children who were out of school, some of whom will never go back, especially young girls who were married off or have children nowthis has changed futures. People are resilient, but I dont think weve really mourned the loss.

Do you have advice for people looking to strike that balance between taking preventative measures but also living their life, particularly amid governmental complacency?

Were asking you to stay home if youre unwell but also seek medical care if you need to seek medical care. Get tested so that you can get the right treatment course. Wear masks when youre in crowded places. If youre going to be around older people, test yourself before you go; use a self-testthings such as that.

But thats not enough. Governments need to provide tests, and those tests need to be available either at a reduced cost or free. Masks need to be available. If I say, Get a test, where are you going to get one? Can you afford one? If I say, Make sure you get treatment, where are you going to get that?

Its not enough for me to tell individuals [these things]. What I tell my own family, what I say publicly, is Take measures every day as a precaution. But its also our work as WHO to work with governments to ensure that they keep up the surveillance [of viral threats], that they keep up good communication, that they provide treatments, that they provide tests, that they provide vaccines and that they improve ventilation.

So its a two-sided coin, what we want individuals to do and what we want governments to do.

Do you have any predictions for COVID in the coming year?

We dont do predictionswhat we do is we plan for scenarios. Our concern is a variant thats highly transmissible, that is more severe and that has significant immune escape, which [would mean that people would] really need to get revaccinated right away. And thats one of the scenarios that we plan for, which is why systems have to be in place that you can scale up or scale down.

And of course, the worry is complacency. The worry is reduced fiscal space, mental space and political space to talk about COVID in the context of everything else. I am not suggesting that the world drop what its doing and focus [only] on COVID. That is not what WHO is suggesting. Were saying, Please dont drop the ball. The virus is here. Its evolving. its killing. Its causing post-COVID conditions [also called long COVID]. And we dont know the long-term effects. Its a virus that is here to stay.

I read that half the global population has a major election this year. How does that play into the COVID landscape?

Its always an election year. Absolutely elections play a role because [theres a risk of] outbreaks, and certainly COVID has been politicized. This has been a major factor in the past four years. But pandemics outlive any election cycle.

All of the COVID interventions have been politicized and with huge amounts of misinformation and disinformation that spreads faster than viruses. And misinformation, disinformation and politicization kill.

Are there any other things youd like people to know about COVID right now?

I think its important that we continue to talk about it. We understand you dont want to hear about it. I dont want to talk about it. But we need to because theres more we can do. We cannot prevent all infections. We cannot prevent all deaths. But theres a hell of a lot more that we can do to really keep people safe and save them from losing a loved one.

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Rampant COVID Poses New Challenges in the Fifth Year of the Pandemic - Scientific American

An estimated 5.8 million children nationwide have dealt with theeffects of long COVID,from common symptoms such as fatigue and cough to neurological and autoimmune conditions,according to a new report from Columbia University's Irving Medical Center.

While the majority of young people who get COVID-19 recover quickly, some experience symptoms that can persist for months and even years, although the data on these cases, experts say, is still emerging.

We're behind in people understanding and really recognizing that [long COVID] does actually happen in children, saidDr. Melissa Stockwell, a pediatrician and chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia, whoco-authored the report. As pediatricians, we're really concerned about that because, for some kids, it could be mild. But for others, there's highly debilitating symptoms that are really affecting their quality of life. It's hard to attend school or focus when they're in school. It's impacting their ability to play with their friends and do all the activities that we know are really important for their development.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long COVID as ongoing health problems four or more weeks after initial infection.

The estimate of 5.8 million with long COVID is based on the fact that nearly 20% of adultswho reported contracting the virushad symptoms three months later, and about 18% of all COVID cases were children, according tofederal surveys analyzed by the CDC.

There are no definitive blood tests or bio markersthat allow doctors to test for long COVID, nor is there data on how many New Yorkershave dealt with the condition,although Stockwell suspects the number is sizable.

The scientific community has acknowledged an urgent need to understand more about [long COVID] in children, according to the report, which will be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.Although [long COVID] can affect any individual, populations deserving specific focus include children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, children with medical complexity, andthose with prolonged debilitating symptoms.

The majority of published research on long COVID has focusedon adults, with limited information on the pediatric population. Ongoing research, Stockwell said, will examine why some children develop the long-term ailment and others do not.

There are only about a dozenpediatric post-COVID-19 programs nationwide, including one in Brooklyn. Stony Brook University's post-COVID Clinic in Lake Grove has seen roughly 1,500 adult patients, officials said, but does not see children.

The Columbia study indicates that fatigue and malaise are the most common manifestations of pediatric long COVID, along with shortness of breath, respiratory andgastrointestinalissues, difficultyconcentratingand mental health concerns.

But the study also finds that children living withlong COVID can face less common conditions, including type 1 diabetes; brain fog; chronic fatigue syndrome; autoimmune diseases such aslupusand multisystem inflammatory syndromein children, which results from a hyperinflammatory response to the virus observed two to six weeks after infection.

Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Childrens Hospital,said it's likely the virusjump-starts the potential for severe illness in manylong COVID patients.

I don't think of it as one illness, she said. I think you have a potential to have a problem in your future, perhaps an autoimmune or arthritis problem or a neurological problem. And this virus jump-started that potentiation for illness into a real illness.

Concetta Van Winckel, of Fort Salonga, said her 9-year-old daughter, Evelyn, has finally recovered after suffering with the symptoms of long COVID for about seven months.

When Evelyn tested positive for COVIDin October 2021, she had pain in several parts of her body, along with fatigue, her mother said. The fatigue failed to immediately subside and the pain, which went away for about a week, returned worse than before, preventing the fourth-grader from being touched at all, she said.

After monthsof physical and occupational therapy, acupuncture and massage treatment,Van Winckel said, Evelyn isnow 100%, although I think sometimes emotionally she's a little bit different.

And while Evelyn, who is taking part in an ongoing Columbia study on pediatric long COVID patients,is now healthy enough to play soccer goalie, the fear of a re-emergence is ever-present.

We don't know what will happen if she gets COVID again,Van Winckel said. We still live in fear of that.

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.

See the article here:

An estimated 5.8 million children have had symptoms of long COVID, study shows - Newsday

By Katheryn Houghton February 5, 2024

ITS BEEN REVEALED THAT FAUCI BROUGHT COVID TO THE MONTANA ONE YEAR BEFORE COVID BROKE OUT IN THE U.S!

An ad from the Matt Rosendale for Montana campaign

A fundraising ad for U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) shows a photo of Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, behind bars, swarmed by flying bats.

Rosendale, who is eyeing a challenge to incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, maintains that a Montana biomedical research facility, Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, has a dangerous link to the pandemic. This claim is echoed in the ad:

Its been revealed that Fauci brought COVID to the Montana one year before COVID broke out in the U.S!, it charges in all-caps before asking readers to Donate today and hold the D.C. bureaucracy accountable!

The ad, paid for by Matt Rosendale for Montana, seeks contributions through WinRed, a platform that processes donations for Republican candidates. Rosendale also shared the fundraising pitch on his X account Nov. 1, and it remained live as of early February.

Rosendale made similar accusations on social media, during a November speech on the U.S. House floor, and through his congressional office. Sometimes his comments, like those on the House floor, are milder, saying the researchers experimented on a coronavirus leading up to the pandemic. Other times, as in an interview with One America News Network, he linked the labs work to covid-19s spread.

In that interview clip, Rosendale recounted pandemic-era shutdowns before saying, And now were finding out that the National Institute of Health, Rocky Mountain Lab, down in Hamilton, Montana, had also played a role in this.

Rosendales statements echo broader efforts to scrutinize how research into viruses happens in the United States and is part of a continued wave of backlash against scientists who have studied coronaviruses. Rosendale is considering seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Tester, in a toss-up race that could help determine which party controls the Senate in 2025. Political newcomer Tim Sheehy is also seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate.

Rosendale proposed amendments to a health spending bill that would ban pandemic-related pathogen research funding for Rocky Mountain Laboratories and cut the salary of one of its top researchers, virologist Vincent Munster, to $1. The House has included both amendments in the Health and Human Services budget bill that the Republican majority hopes to pass. A temporary spending bill is funding the health department until March.

We contacted Rosendales congressional office multiple times with emails, a phone call, and an online request asking what proof he had to back up his statements that the Montana lab infected bats with covid from China before the outbreak. We got no reply.

Kathy Donbeck, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Office of Communications and Government Relations, said in an email that the ads claims are false. Interviews with virologists and a review of the research paper published shortly before Rosendales assertions support that position.

Where This Is Coming From

Rosendales statements seem to stem from a Rocky Mountain Laboratories study from 2016 that looked into how a coronavirus, WIV1-CoV, acted in Egyptian fruit bats. The work, published by the journal Viruses in 2018, showed that the specific strain didnt cause a robust infection in the bats.

The study did not receive widespread attention at the time. But on Oct. 30, 2023, the study was highlighted by a blog called White Coat Waste Project, which says its mission is to stop taxpayer-funded experiments on animals. Some right-wing media outlets began to connect the Montana lab with the coronavirus that causes covid.

Rosendales office issued an Oct. 31 news release saying the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China shipped a strain of coronavirus to the Hamilton lab. Our government helped create the Wuhan flu, then shut the country down when it escaped from the lab, Rosendale said.

Its a Different Virus

Rocky Mountain Laboratories is a federally funded facility as part of NIAID, the nations top infectious disease research agency, which Fauci led for nearly 40 years.

According to the study and Donbecks email, the Montana researchers focused on a coronavirus called WIV1-CoV, not the covid-causing SARS-CoV-2. Theyre different viruses.

The genetics of the viruses are very different, and their behavior biologically is very different, said Troy Sutton, a virologist with Pennsylvania State University who has studied the evolution of pandemic influenza viruses.

In a review of media reports on the Montana study, Health Feedback, a network of scientists that fact-checks health and medical media coverage, showed the viruss lineage indicated that WIV1 is not a direct ancestor or even a close relative of SARS-CoV-2.

Additionally, the description of the coronavirus strain as being shipped suggests that it physically traveled across the world. Thats not what happened.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology provided the WIV1 viruss sequence that allowed researchers to make a lab-grown copy. A separate study, published in 2013 by the journal Nature, outlines the origins of the lab-created virus.

According to the studys methodology, the researchers used a clone of WIV1. An NIAID statement to Lee Enterprises, a media company, said the virus was generated using common laboratory techniques, based on genetic information that was publicly shared by Chinese scientists.

Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa professor who studies coronaviruses and serves on the federal advisory committee that reviews vaccines, said Rosendales claim is off-base.

He said Rosendales focus on where the lab got its materials is irrelevant and serves only to make people wary and scared.

Rosendales efforts to prohibit particular research at Rocky Mountain Laboratories appear ill-informed, too. Rosendale targeted banning gain-of-function research, which involves altering a pathogen to study its spread. In her email, NIAIDs Donbeck said the Rocky Mountain Laboratories study didnt involve gain-of-function research.

This type of research has long been controversial, and people who study viruses have said the definition of gain of function is problematic and insufficient to show when research, or even work to create vaccines, could cross into that type of research.

But both Sutton and Perlman said that, any way you look at it, the Rocky Mountain Laboratories study published in 2018 didnt change the virus. It put a virus in bats and showed it didnt grow.

And it had no effect on the covid outbreak a year later, first detected in Washington state.

Our Ruling

Rosendales ad said, Its been revealed that Fauci brought COVID to the Montana one year before COVID broke out in the U.S! The campaign ad and Rosendales similar statements refer to research at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories involving WIV1, a coronavirus that researchers say is not even distantly close in genetic structure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused covid-19.

Rosendales claim is wrong about when the scientists began their work, what they were studying, and where they got the materials. The researchers began their work in 2016 and, although they were studying a coronavirus, it wasnt the virus that causes covid. The Montana scientists used a lab-grown clone of WIV1 for their research. The first laboratory-confirmed case of covid was not detected in the U.S. until Jan. 20, 2020. Rosendales ad is inaccurate and ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire!

Viruses, SARS-Like Coronavirus WIV1-CoV Does Not Replicate in Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), Dec. 19, 2018

White Coat Waste Project, Horror Show: Shady Zoo Sent Bats to NIH to Be Infected With a Wuhan Lab Coronavirus, Oct. 30, 2023

MattForMontana X post, Nov. 1, 2023

Campaign ad, accessed Dec. 14, 2023

Rep. Matt Rosendale, House floor speech, Nov. 14, 2023

One America News Network, interview, accessed Dec. 14, 2023

Rosendale congressional office, Rep. Rosendale Reacts to Reports That Wuhan Lab Shipped Coronavirus to Fauci-Run Lab in Hamilton Prior to Pandemic, Oct. 31, 2023

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, History of Rocky Mountain Labs (RML), accessed Dec. 14, 2023

Email exchange with NIAID, beginning Dec. 14, 2023

Statement from NIAID provided to Lee Enterprises, accessed Jan. 2, 2024

Nature, Isolation and Characterization of a Bat SARS-Like Coronavirus That Uses the ACE2 Receptor, Oct. 30, 2013

Ravalli Republic, Rosendale Moves to Strip Rocky Mountain Lab Research Funding, Nov. 17, 2023

Interview, Troy Sutton, assistant professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at Pennsylvania State University, Jan. 5, 2024

Interview, Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology and professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa, Jan. 13, 2024

FDA, Roster of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, accessed Jan. 16, 2024

Health Feedback, 2018 Coronavirus Research in NIAID Montana Lab Is Unrelated to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Contrary to Claim by Fox Newss Jesse Watters, last accessed Jan. 17, 2024

Email exchange with OpenSecrets, an independent research group tracking money in politics, beginning Jan. 30, 2024

CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline, accessed Feb. 2, 2024

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Congressman Off-Base in Ad Claiming Fauci Shipped Covid to Montana Before the Pandemic - KFF Health News - Kaiser Health News

Following the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 there are now seven different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of those are associated with generally harmless common respiratory infections, but the other three (SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS) are much more dangerous.

Why some coronaviruses are relatively harmless while others are incredibly lethal is still a bit of a mystery. Some answers lie in the proteins each individual virus uses to enter human cells, but what exactly makes SARS-CoV-2 so severe in some people and innocuous in others is unclear.

An impressive new study led by researchers from UCLA is offering a novel hypothesis to explain SARS-CoV-2 severity. Using an AI-driven machine-learning system the researchers discovered SARS-CoV-2 is broken down into fragments in a human body, and this viral debris can uniquely resemble endogenous peptides that overstimulate the immune system. This may play a significant role in the strange variable severity of disease from person to person.

The textbooks tell us that after the virus is destroyed, the sick host wins, and different pieces of virus can be used to train the immune system for future recognition, says corresponding author Gerald Wong.

But the story of a virus isnt exactly as simple as that. After a virus is neutralized by the immune system it is rapidly broken down, or dissolved, into tiny fragments. It has generally been assumed this stage of viral degradation was innocuous, but recent research has suggested some of these smaller viral fragments could trigger innate immune responses that account for severe disease associated with hyper inflammation.

To investigate this idea in the context of COVID, the researchers tracked all the possible peptide combinations that could be created through the degradation of SARS-CoV-2 proteins. They used a machine-learning system to measure the pro-inflammatory characteristics of all these potential peptides and discovered several of these viral fragments closely resemble molecules our immune system uses to heighten inflammatory responses.

We saw that the various forms of debris from the destroyed virus can reassemble into these biologically active zombie complexes, explains Wong. It is interesting that the human peptide being imitated by the viral fragments has been implicated in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and lupus, and that different aspects of COVID-19 are reminiscent of these autoimmune conditions.

The researchers then directly compared these SARS-CoV-2 viral fragments to debris that comes from a more harmless common-cold-causing coronavirus (HCoV-OC43). The fragments were very different, and the OC43 debris was found to not at all stimulate the immune system in the same way as SARS-CoV-2.

Even more interestingly, the researchers looked at what kinds of gene expression were stimulated by these SARS-CoV-2 viral fragments. These novel peptides were found to trigger similar patterns of expression to the full virus.

Whats astonishing about the gene expression result is there was no active infection used in our experiments, Wong notes. We did not even use the whole virus rather only about 0.2% or 0.3% of it but we found this incredible level of agreement that is highly suggestive.

So these findings may somewhat account for why SARS-CoV-2 triggers more severe disease than its common-cold coronavirus counterparts. But the study can only speculate as to why the viruss effects are so variable from person to person.

Here the researchers indicate the striking uniqueness in each individual persons enzyme efficiency could likely account for why some people dont even notice they have COVID, while others end up struggling in hospital. Essentially, each of us break down foreign particles differently, and these unique differences may be responsible for how mild our illness is.

... proteolytic degradation of SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be heterogeneous, as individual hosts display distinctive patterns of enzyme efficiencies varying routinely by fourfold to 50-fold, with protein expression being 'noisy' even at the single cell level, the researchers write in the new study. That proteolytic degradation of SARS-CoV-2 is expected to be drastically different among hosts may explain why the infection outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 are so heterogeneous, ranging from asymptomatic hosts to fatalities.

The idea that viral fragments can linger in the body and cause persistent longer-term health problems is still relatively new. Over the last few years there has been emerging evidence showing viral debris from influenza causing long-term lung disease in some people, for example. But what these findings actually mean for potential future treatments is still unknown.

Wong does speculate the possibility that diseases such as COVID could be treated by inhibiting the actions of certain enzymes that are responsible for breaking the virus down into its more harmful components. Of course, to get to that point there will need to be lots more work done to systematically study exactly how certain viral fragments are created.

The new study was published in PNAS.

Source: UCLA

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Zombie COVID particles may be responsible for lethal disease - New Atlas