The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently completed a study that analyzed serum samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Results of the study indicate that certain white-tailed deer populations in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania were exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
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Continue reading Oral Antivirals Could Transform the Treatment of COVID-19
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Ridgewood NJ, the US has confirmed 2 cases of SARS-CoV-2 caused by the Omicron variant of concern (VOC). The first case was confirmed by California state health and US CDC officials on the afternoon of December 1. That patient is a fully vaccinated (not boosted) teacher from San Francisco, who returned from a trip to South Africa on November 22 and tested positive on November 29. The patient’s symptoms were mild, and they are recovering at home. The second case was confirmed today in a fully vaccinated man who traveled to New York City to attend the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center from November 19-21. That patient has since recovered. In both cases, officials are conducting contact tracing but have not yet identified linked cases. More Omicron cases likely will be confirmed in the US over the coming days, especially considering the second case—who did not travel outside of the US—indicates Omicron is spreading within the nation. Additionally, domestic viral sequencing has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic, increasing the likelihood that other cases will be identified.
Continue reading Voters Worry About Vaccine Side Effects, Oppose Federal Mandates
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Ridgewood NJ, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on November 8 announced positive results from a Phase 3 clinical trial of its combination monoclonal antibody REGEN-COV for SARS-CoV-2 prevention. The trial—jointly run with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—enrolled SARS-CoV-2-negative individuals who lived in the same household as someone who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 within the prior 4 days. Participants received either one 1,200mg dose of REGEN-COV, administered via 4 subcutaneous injections, or a placebo.
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Ridgewood NJ, a major health concern of Americans is whether COVID 19 infection can lead to long term negative health effects. The Journal of the American Medical Association published large, elegantly designed French study that analyzed the association between purported long COVID symptoms and “self-reported” COVID versus serologically confirmed COVID. The results: “A serology test result positive for SARS-COV-2 was positively associated only with persistent anosmia,” that is a loss of smell.
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Washington D.C., the administration of US President Joe Biden today announced the details of 2 policies covering more than 100 million workers in an effort to get more people in the US vaccinated against COVID-19. The first rule, issued by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), applies to employers with 100 or more employees and requires them to ensure their workers are either fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for SARS-CoV-2, for which employers are not required to pay. The rule also requires employers to provide paid-time off for employees to get vaccinated and compel unvaccinated workers to wear a face mask while at work. Employers who willfully do not comply with the mandate could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation, with the possibility of multiple citations per business. The second rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), requires all healthcare workers employed at facilities that participate in Medicaid and Medicare—approximately 76,000 facilities nationwide—be fully vaccinated, with no option for testing but allowances for medical and religious exemptions.
Continue reading Biden Administration Mandates Vaccination for Employers with 100 or more Employees
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New Brunswick NJ, people who have had severe or long-lasting cases of COVID-19 are more likely to have high levels of an important antibody needed to fight against future infection, according to a Rutgers study.
The findings were published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
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Ridgewood NJ, in a study published July 14 in Nature, researchers describe a newly discovered “super antibody” capable of protecting against SARS-CoV-2 and a group of related coronaviruses, called sarbecoviruses. The antibody, named S2H97, is believed to work by attaching to a section of the ACE2 receptor binding motif on the virus spike protein that is only exposed when a sarbecovirus is attempting to enter a cell. S2H97 was able to prevent the spread of multiple sarbecoviruses between cells in a lab, and the antibody also protected hamsters from infection with SARS-CoV-2 isolated from the initial Wuhan, China, outbreak. Researchers further described the antibody as a pan-sarbecovirus due to its broad efficacy across the sarbecovirus subgenus. The description of a usually hidden antibody binding region in the ACE2 RBM is important because it could be used as a target for future vaccines and therapeutics. Additionally, a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine could be used to prevent outbreaks from as-of-yet-undiscovered members of the Coronaviridae family of viruses.
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Ridgewood NJ, a new CDC MMWR report explores safety precautions that can be taken indoors to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In particular, the combination of portable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaners with universal masking policies appears to be very effective in preventing transmission between people in close-contact indoor environments. Previous studies have shown that HEPA air cleaners, portable or built-in, can greatly reduce aerosol transmission in indoor environments.
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Hackensack NJ, Bergen County’s ongoing Wastewater Testing program indicates that concentration levels of COVID-19 have demonstrated a steady decrease since April 2021.
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Ridgewood NJ, For over a year anyone who raised the possibility that the coronavirus originated from a leak out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology was accused of everything from racism to conspiracy theorizing.
Continue reading US Media COVID Coverage Tool of Chinese Propaganda?
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Ridgewood NJ, now to answer the one COVID questions we have all really been wondering about but were just to afraid to ask . According to the U.S. Geological Survey the risk of human-to-bat transmission of coronavirus is very low.
Continue reading Researchers : Low Risk of Human to Bat Transmission SARS-CoV-2
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Ridgewood NJ, Pfizer has started stage one clinical trials on an oral pill designed to be an early intervention for Covid-19. The pill has demonstrated potent in-vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. It can be used with other antivirals to create a treatment that complements vaccination. The pill is a protease inhibitor. It binds to a viral enzyme to prevent the virus from replicating in the cell. More information about the clinical trials will be shared on April 6.
