Coronamonomania Thrives in Darkness, Part 49

In case you think I made up the part about the thing where I said the stuff about the Incompetent Blowhard being all about political messaging and zero about data and science, here is specific evidence, courtesy of CovidClarity on Twitter, that he could both care less about truth and is intentionally attempting to hurt children by keeping them out of school and extracurricular activities.  (Tweet)   The State was seeking to lie about children’s role in spreading the virus and how that might be linked to the ongoing disaster of a battle plan for LTC residents, a battle plan which by the way has resulted in a massive number of deaths in those facilities.  The IB is now focusing his lying on the Duante Wright situation, in which a known criminal with a history of having and using guns was arrested by an African-American cop and accidently shot, not that you would know that from listening to the Governor.  But I am sure he will get back to lying about the epidemic as soon as he gets a chance.

Speaking of lying, the latest responses to questions by Scott Johnson from the DOH are here.  The state was asked about why it hasn’t done more to open schools in light of research showing little spread among children.   First, DOH punted and said it was up to local school boards.  Then they tried to claim that there is a lot of spread in schools.  But the data they rely on is based on widespread asymptomatic testing which is almost certainly generating a huge percentage of false positives.  And the data actually does not show any greater level of cases now than in the fall wave when almost no schools were doing in-person learning.

And if you didn’t think that a lot of the public health guidance in regard to the epidemic is just made up crap, here is a study finding that three feet of social distancing in schools versus six feet made no difference in case rates.  Absolute pathetic performance by the CDC and others to come up with shit just out of thin air, that then ruins an entire population’s life.  (JCID Paper)

Children are both less likely to become infected and to have milder disease when they do.  But they still mount a robust adaptive immune response when they are infected, according to this study.  (Medrxiv Paper)  The children had a much stronger T cell response than did adults, along with a strong antibody one.  These responses persisted after 6 months at a greater level than found in adults.  Infection by CV-19 boosted the children’s cross-reactive responses to other coronaviruses.  And half of children who were not infected with CV-19 were found to have cross-reactive T cell responses to CV-19.

This study finds, as have others, that those over age 80 have a less robust response to vaccination than do younger persons.  The focus in the study was on antibody response, not T cells, and the research was done after just one dose.  In addition, there was a less significant response to B117 than to the original strain.  Points out the need to follow the two dose regimen, at least for those not previously infected.  (RS Study)

More on the comparison of adaptive immune response from infection versus that from vaccines. (Medrxiv Paper)   A very useful paper to understand potential differences.  In general, the vaccine prompted a stronger response against the spike protein and receptor binding domain than did natural infection.  It also prompted a cross-reactive effect against the original SARS and MERS.  The response after the first dose was variable, with some people showing a strong response, and others needing two doses to get to the same level.  People with prior infection had a stronger response to the vaccine.  It does appear that vaccination will lead to a more robust adaptive immune response than will natural infection alone.

Trying to figure out the true infection prevalence in a population?  Vaccination complicates that if the antibody test you use focuses on antibodies to the spike protein.  This study from the Twin Cities area tracked health care workers pre and post-vaccination program and found that you will need to use assays measuring reaction to the nucleocapsid protein to effectively distinguish vaccination from natural infection.  (Medrxiv Paper)

Back to the topic of whether and to what extent infection by the seasonal coronavirus may affect susceptibility to infection or seriousness of disease.  (Medrxiv Paper)   According to this work, antibodies from common coronavirus infections may not prevent CV-19 infection, but they do appear to lessen the extent of symptoms.  Not tested, apparently, was any effect of T cells, although the authors note that could be an explanation.

Like variant terrorism?  This paper from Denmark finds that in households, infection with B117 by an index cases appears to be associated with somewhat higher secondary transmission.  (Medrxiv Paper)