Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray Reduces Covid-19 Viral Load By 95% Within 24 Hours
Written by Steven Hansen
The U.S. new cases 7-day rolling average are 8.1 % HIGHER than the 7-day rolling average one week ago and U.S. deaths due to coronavirus are now 44.0 % HIGHER than the rolling average one week ago. Today’s posts include:
- U.S. Coronavirus New Cases are 170,722
- U.S. Coronavirus deaths are at 1,470
- WHO experts say window for discovering COVID-19 origins is ‘rapidly closing’
- Why is the vaccination campaign so important to governments that they are increasing the pressure to such an extent?
- Real-World Study Links Pfizer Vax to High Risk of Myocarditis
- Covid: What’s the best way to top up our immunity?
- US COVID-19 Vaccine Approval Is ‘Seismic’ Shift for Legality of Mandates
- Moderna wraps full FDA approval request of COVID-19 vaccine
- ‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated?’ Not Really, Advocate Says
- Associated Press ripped after Fauci touts monoclonal antibodies: ‘Isn’t this the thing Ron DeSantis promoted?’
- 1 More Curve for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Disney
- Plus Many More Headlines …
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Hospitalizations Are The Only Accurate Gauge
Hospitalizations historically appear to be little affected by weekends or holidays. The hospitalization growth rate trend continues to improve.
source: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/covidnet/COVID19_3.html
Historically, hospitalization growth follows new case growth by one to two weeks.
As an analyst, I use the rate of growth to determine the trend. But, the size of the pandemic is growing in terms of real numbers – and if the rate of growth does not become negative – the pandemic will overwhelm all resources.
The graph below shows the rate of growth relative to the growth a week earlier updated through today [note that negative numbers mean the rolling averages are LOWER than the rolling averages one week ago]. As one can see, the rate of growth for new cases peaked in early December 2020 for Thanksgiving, and early January 2021 for end-of-year holidays – and it now shows that the coronavirus effect is improving.
In the scheme of things, new cases decline first, followed by hospitalizations, and then deaths. The potential fourth wave did not materialize likely due to immunizations.
Coronavirus and Recovery News You May Have Missed
Moderna wraps full FDA approval request of COVID-19 vaccine. – Fox
Moderna has completed a submission filing for full FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in individuals 18 and up, the company announced Wednesday. The biotech firm began submitting data for regulatory review in June.
Pending FDA review, the vaccine could become the second COVID-19 shot following Pfizer/BioNTech to win full approval, the next step beyond emergency authorization. Licensure involves rigorous review of additional data on safety, efficacy and quality, not to mention site inspections and independent FDA analyses.
“This BLA submission for our COVID-19 vaccine, which we began in June, is an important milestone in our battle against COVID-19 and for Moderna, as this is the first BLA submission in our company’s history,” Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement posted Wednesday. “We are pleased that our COVID-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93% through six months after dose 2.”
The company also requested a priority review designation. Moderna’s application for licensure included late-stage trial data from the COVE study, involving over 30,000 participants in the U.S. According to the company statement, most frequent side effects post-vaccination included ” pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, chills, nausea/vomiting, axillary swelling/tenderness, fever, swelling at the injection site, and erythema at the injection site.”
1 More Curve for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Disney – Motley Fool
Fall is when passengers start to skew older for the industry. Families with children in school or college find it hard to take a week or more off once the new academic years start in August and September. Autumn cruising is popular for retirees, taking advantage of unique itineraries and lower price points once the demand for young families dries up. In short, the CDC is recommending that older passengers to stay away regardless of vaccination status just as we’re heading into the the time of year when they make up the lion’s share of the target audience.
No one is saying it will be impossible to fill a boat under these new guidelines. They are merely recommendations for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Disney right now. No matter what you may think about when you conjure images of all-you-can-eat dining stations and midnight buffets, many older cruise passengers tend to be fit and active. However, the new guidance will make a slow season even more problematic for the industry.
A new wrinkle this week is that Royal Caribbean and Disney have followed Norwegian Cruise Line into requiring proof of vaccination for passengers 12 and older leaving out of Florida. Vaccination mandates run afoul of Florida’s stance on the matter, but a federal judge recently sided with Norwegian Cruise Line.
Royal Caribbean and Disney announced on Tuesday that they will be following Norwegian Cruise Line, but it’s not necessarily out of a desire to get into legal fisticuffs with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. They don’t have much of a choice. The Bahamas — where most cruise lines including Royal Caribbean and Disney have private islands that are popular ports of call — and St. Thomas aren’t letting ships in unless all passengers and crew members are vaccinated. As important as it may be to keep the tourism industry going in those hard-hit island nations it’s even more important to keep their citizens safe from potential COVID-19 outbreaks.
With Dr. Anthony Fauci saying monoclonal antibodies can help reduce the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 patients, some Associated Press critics are pointing to its story suggesting a political angle to Gov. Ron DeSantis, R., promoting the same treatment.
In its controversial report last week, the AP admitted the benefits of a Regeneron antibody treatment, but appeared to imply DeSantis was promoting the drug because a Chicago-based hedge fund that donated to a pro-DeSantis political committee also owns shares of the company.
Now that the White House chief medical adviser is touting the same treatment, DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw and other supporters of the governor mocked the AP for its earlier reporting.
“Wait isn’t this the thing Ron DeSantis promoted that the @AP tried to discredit?” asked “Relatable” podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey.
DeSantis himself responded to the AP’s apparent “smear,” penning an unusual open letter to the outlet in which he warned its reporting could undermine trust in the treatment.
“I assumed your letter was to notify me that you were issuing a retraction of the partisan smear piece you published last week,” DeSantis wrote. “Instead, you had the temerity to complain about the deserved blowback that your botched and discredited attempt to concoct a political narrative has received. The ploy will not work to divert attention from the fact that the Associated Press published a false narrative that will lead some to decline effective treatment for COVID infections.”
The AP report was one of several media attacks on the Republican governor in the past year. Perhaps most notably, CBS’ “60 Minutes” ran a now-infamous segment accusing DeSantis of giving the Publix grocery store chain priority treatment to offer the coronavirus vaccine based on its donations to his PAC. DeSantis demanded the show “admit” the narrative was false.
[editor’s note: IMO much of the politicization of the COVID treatments are stirred up by the media]
‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated?’ Not Really, Advocate Says – MedPage
Is the current COVID-19 surge a “pandemic of the unvaccinated?” No, according to Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH, pediatrician and co-developer of the “The Conversation: Between Us, About Us” project to encourage more people of color to get vaccinated.
“This is not a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Boyd said Wednesday at a virtual event sponsored by the Alliance for Health Policy. Instead, “what we really exposed during the vaccination distribution effort is just how unequal the United States is” when it comes to getting access to COVID-19 vaccines. She presented data from the New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that vaccine distribution was worse in Southern states, which also are where more Black and Latinx people live (the conversation is a joint project of the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Black Coalition Against COVID).
In addition to the vaccine distribution problem, “we also know this is an area of the country where access to insurance is not evenly distributed because these are states who have disproportionately been less likely to expand Medicaid,” she said. “So what that means is now 97% of adults in this country who live in the coverage gap, which means their income is too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to be eligible for the [Affordable Care Act] marketplace or premium tax credits — those folks who then just simply lack coverage — mostly live in the South,” particularly in states like Texas and Florida “which are states where we’re all seeing surges and we’re seeing lower rates of vaccination.”
Boyd noted that CDC data released Monday showed that a smaller percentage of Black and Latinx individuals in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated compared with whites. One barrier for many of these unvaccinated people is cost: although they know that the vaccine itself is free, “getting to that vaccination site requires gas in your tank, it requires bus fare. It might require a parking fee if you go to a public site in the community,” she said. “Getting to and from healthcare always costs money, and that is a concern for people who are low-income, and we’ve seen that people who are low-income are more likely to be disproportionately unvaccinated.”
Taking time off of work is another barrier, especially when it comes to getting children vaccinated, she continued; one poll found that 25% of all parents who had unvaccinated children, ages 12 to 17, said they would be more likely to get their children vaccinated if they were given paid time off to do so, she said. They would also be more likely to get vaccinated themselves “if their medical provider could come to their workplace to do it,” Boyd added.
The information gap is another problem for lower-income people. “We are also facing an information gap in communities that mirrors the health literacy gap that has existed in this country for decades, if not centuries,” she said. “People who have access to resources and healthcare tend to have access to credible information about health, and other communities do not. On top of that information gap, we are obviously also facing a disinformation campaign that’s been targeting communities of color, particularly Black folks, since the beginning of the vaccine rollout.”
… Boyd also urged people to stop using the term “vaccine hesitancy.” “People don’t have a kind of amorphous hesitation or reluctance to get vaccinated or to receive medical care,” she said. “Most of those who are unvaccinated in our country are not ‘anti-vaxxers’ — that is a tiny minority of the folks who are unvaccinated.” Many of the unvaccinated are actually children, which “obviously blows open the idea that the folks who are unvaccinated just hate medical care and vaccines. So if we’re not going to talk about hesitancy, it means you have to do the extra work to actually understand why folks aren’t vaccinated.”
Covid: What’s the best way to top up our immunity? – BBC
… There is clear evidence that adults who have not had any vaccine dose will have stronger immune defences if they do get vaccinated, even if they have caught Covid before.
But there are two big questions:
- do vaccinated adults need to be boosted, or is exposure to the virus enough?
- do children need vaccinating at all, or does a lifetime of encountering build a good immune defence?
The idea of regularly topping up immunity throughout life is not radical in other infections, such as RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) or the four other coronaviruses that infect people and cause common cold symptoms.
Each time you’re exposed, the immune system gets a little bit stronger, and this continues until old age, when the immune system starts to fail and the infections become a problem again.
“This isn’t proven, but it could be a lot cheaper and simpler to let that happen than spend the whole time immunising people,” said Prof Finn, who warns we could end up “locked into a cycle of boosting” without seeing if it was necessary.
However, he said the argument in children had “already been won” as “40-50% have already been infected and most weren’t ill or particularly ill”.
There are counter-arguments. Prof Riley points to long-Covid in children, and Prof Openshaw to nervousness around the long-term effects of a virus that can affect many of the body’s organs.
But Prof Riley said there was potential in using vaccines to “take the edge off” Covid, followed by infection, to broaden the immune response.
She said: “We really need to consider, are we just frightening people rather than giving them the confidence to get on with their lives? We’re close to just worrying people now.”
Of course, with cases continuing to rumble on, there may not be much choice.
“I’m wondering whether it’s inevitable,” said Prof Klenerman, as if the virus continues to spread then “there will be this ongoing boosting effect”.
Vaccine Mandates and the “Great Reset” – Mises Institute
Pressure on the unvaccinated grows. While the vaccinated in some countries are getting back some of their freedoms taken away by the covid interventions, the unvaccinated are not so well off. They are being targeted for discrimination. Access to public spaces and traveling is being made more difficult for them. In some countries there is even mandatory vaccination for some professions.
But why is the vaccination campaign so important to governments that they are increasing the pressure to such an extent? And who has an interest in the global vaccination campaign?
To answer these questions, it is necessary to analyze the prevalent vaccination narrative and ask who benefits from it. In doing so, the alliance of interests between the state, the media, the pharmaceutical industry, and supranational institutions must be addressed.
Let us start with the pharmaceutical industry. It has an obvious economic interest in the vaccination campaign. It makes enormous profits from widespread vaccination.
[editor’s note: this is a think piece that deserves a full read. I personally believe there is an over-reaction to COVID occurring where the actions are ahead of the science, and the powers then try to tailor the science to match the prior decisions]
Holes in reporting of breakthrough Covid cases hamper CDC response – Politico
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using outdated and unreliable data on coronavirus breakthrough infections to help make major decisions, such as who gets booster shots, according to three officials with direct knowledge of the situation.
The agency originally tried to track all infections in vaccinated people, from mild to severe. But in May it decided to focus on the most severe cases, saying that would allow it to better monitor overall conditions and make more informed, targeted policy decisions.
Forty-nine states are now regularly sending CDC information on hospitalized breakthrough patients. But more than a dozen told POLITICO that they do not have the capacity to match patients’ hospital admission data with their immunization records. Instead, those states rely on hospital administrators to report breakthrough infections. The resulting data is often aggregated, inaccurate and omits critical details for teasing out trends, such as which vaccine a person received and whether they have been fully vaccinated, a dozen state officials said.
The gaps in this crucial data stream raise questions about the Biden administration’s ability to spot and respond to changes in the virus’s behavior — such as the rapid spread of the Delta variant, which crowded out other strains — or vaccines’ performance. It also underscores the extent to which the CDC and public health departments across the country are still struggling to collect and study critical Covid-19 information 18 months after the pandemic began.
“I think it would be really challenging [for the CDC] to interpret the results or to interpret the data when you have only some jurisdictions reporting [breakthrough infections],” said Theresa Sokol, lead epidemiologist for Louisiana’s state public health department, which is working closely with the CDC on studies of breakthrough infections. “I know that there are some jurisdictions that don’t even have access to their vaccination data. They don’t have the authority or their permission.”
… “Nothing has changed since the pandemic began,” one senior Biden health official said. “We’re still dealing with this patchwork system — and it continues to fail us.”
Of particular concern for health officials now is how rapidly the Delta variant spreads, whether it is reducing the effectiveness of vaccines and whether it causes more severe disease.
WHO experts say window for discovering COVID-19 origins is ‘rapidly closing’ – The Hill
Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) who were tasked this year with researching the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China said in an article published in the science journal Nature that the window for ascertaining the origins of the virus is quickly closing.
In their article, the group of researchers detailed what occurred on their 28-day mission to Wuhan, China, the site of the first reported cases of COVID-19. They specified that their initial study was not expected to provide a definitive answer on the origins of the virus. Rather, it was designed to be the basis of further study.
“Crucially, the window is rapidly closing on the biological feasibility of conducting the critical trace-back of people and animals inside and outside China,” they wrote. “SARS-CoV-2 antibodies wane, so collecting further samples and testing people who might have been exposed before December 2019 will yield diminishing returns.”
“Therefore, we call on the scientific community and country leaders to join forces to expedite the phase 2 studies detailed here, while there is still time,” they added.
In their piece, the scientists named six specific priorities they feel should be addressed for phase two studies into the origins of COVID-19: Look for more early COVID-19 cases both in and out of China; conduct antibody studies to identify infections that were not reported early on; conduct trace-back and community surveys at wildlife farms that supplied animals to Wuhan markets; assess wild bats and other potential “reservoirs” or potential hosts of the virus in China or other countries; perform a detailed risk-factor analysis based on the antibody studies; and follow up on any new credible leads that have since come up.
[editor’s note: also read WHO Expert Criticises China for Pushing U.S. COVID Lab Leak Probe]
US COVID-19 Vaccine Approval Is ‘Seismic’ Shift for Legality of Mandates, Experts Say – Reuters
Formal U.S approval of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine will make it nearly impossible to successfully challenge mandates by employers, legal experts said.
The decision by the Food and Drug Administration to give full approval to the vaccine is “seismic,” said Brian Dean Abramson, an author on vaccine law.
He said it will become extremely difficult to challenge the FDA’s decision and the mandates that flow from it.
On Monday, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine became the first to secure full FDA validation, prompting calls for governments and private employers to make the shots mandatory.
COVID-19 vaccines have been available in the United States since December under the an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the FDA.
Language in the EUA law states that recipients must be informed of benefits and risks of the vaccine and given the option to accept or refuse it.
That language raised some uncertainty regarding employer mandates, which are usually considered legal, said Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Hastings Law. “With full approval, that is removed.”
Following the FDA announcement on Monday, CVS Health Corp, Chevron Corp – the second-largest U.S. oil producer – and Goldman Sachs issued mandates for some employees.
Legal experts said there already was a growing consensus that employers could mandate an emergency vaccine. During the pandemic, both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice issued guidance in support of vaccine mandates, provided exceptions were made for medical conditions and religious beliefs.
But emergency vaccine requirements have not gone unchallenged. At least a dozen lawsuits have been filed, mostly by students against colleges, but also by employees fighting allegations of wrongful termination for refusing a shot.
Real-World Study Links Pfizer Vax to High Risk of Myocarditis – MedPage
Though separate cohort found even higher risk with COVID infection.
The Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was found to be associated with a threefold increased risk of myocarditis, according to a real-world case-control study from Israel.
Vaccination had a strong association with an increased risk of myocarditis (risk ratio [RR] 3.24, 95% CI 1.55-12.44), as well as increased risks of lymphadenopathy (RR 2.43, 95% CI 2.05-2.78), appendicitis (RR 1.40, 95% CI 1.02-2.01), and herpes zoster infection (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.20-1.73), reported Ran Balicer, MD, of Clalit Health Services in Tel Aviv, and colleagues.
However, in a separate cohort, infection with SARS-CoV-2 was associated with a higher risk of myocarditis (RR 18.28, 95% CI 3.95-25.12), as well as other cardiovascular complications, including acute kidney injury (RR 14.83, 95% CI 9.24-28.75), pulmonary embolism (RR 12.14, 95% CI 6.89-29.20), and intracranial hemorrhage (RR 6.89, 95% CI 1.90-19.16), the authors wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
They noted that vaccination was “substantially protective” against anemia, acute kidney injury, intracranial hemorrhage, and lymphopenia.
Balicer’s group examined data from the largest healthcare organization in Israel to compare incidence of adverse events among vaccinated individuals versus unvaccinated individuals, and estimated the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on these adverse events.
Participants in the vaccination cohorts were 16 years old and older, had been in the health organization for a full year, had no prior COVID-19 infection, and had no contact with the healthcare system in the last 7 days. Notably, populations with confounders, such as healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents, or people confined to their home for medical reasons, were excluded.
Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray Reduces Covid-19 Viral Load By 95% Within 24 Hours: Study – ZeroHedge
A well known antimicrobial, Nitric Oxide, has been found to rapidly reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral load, knocking it down by 95% within 24 hours, and 99% within 72 hours, according to a recent study by researchers funded by England’s NHS foundation trust and SaNOtize Research & Development Corporation – a Canadian biotech company currently conducting Phase II trials of a nitric oxide nasal spray.
A group of 80 adults (18-70 years) with confirmed (Alpha strain) Covid-19 infections were divided into two groups, with half receiving nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS) that were self-administered 5-6 times daily for 9 days.
The study found that mean viral load was significantly lower in the NONS group by a factor of 16.2, in what the study’s authors described as an “accelerated decrease,” while nearly half of those who completed a post-study questionnaire reported feeling better vs. 8% of the placebo group.
Mean SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration was lower on NONS by a factor of 16.2 at days 2 and 4. A rapid reduction (95%) in the SARS-CoV-2 viral load was observed within 24 hours, with a 99% reduction observed within 72 hours with NONS treatments. -Clinical efficacy of nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS) for the treatment of mild COVID-19 infection.
What’s more, there were no serious adverse reactions from the nasal spray.
According to SaNOtize Chief Science Officer, Dr. Chris Miller, the nasal spray is a ‘post-exposure’ prevention akin to hand sanitizer.
“If you are outside, around people, and could be infected, you could use the spray and reduce the number of viruses in the nose, before it is becoming a full-blown infection. We have shown that even when people have a very high load of virus, the spray can significantly reduce the viral load,” Miller said in May.
The following are foreign headlines with hyperlinks to the posts
Two blasts at Kabul airport cause U.S. and civilian casualties, Pentagon says
The U.S. has helped to evacuate more than 82,000 people from Kabul’s international airport, including 4,500 U.S. citizens. About 1,500 Americans remain, as well as at least 250,000 Afghans who worked with the U.S.
The U.S., Britain and Australia told citizens to stay away from the airport, citing unspecified threats of a terrorist attack.
No Americans Have Been Rescued Outside of Kabul: Pentagon
The Taliban told women and girls to remain home while fighters were trained not to harass or harm them.
German study shows high protection from COVID-19 in over 80s with Pfizer vaccine
US says 1,500 Americans may still await Kabul evacuation
Japan halts some Moderna vaccine after contamination found
South Vietnam’s stay-at-home order puts brakes on factory production
Child mortality in England dropped significantly during COVID-19 pandemic
Air Canada Says Unvaccinated Employees Could Lose Their Jobs
Truck Drivers Vow to Block All Major Highways in Anti-Vaxx COVID Protest. “The truckies are going to shut down the country,” an Australian truck driver said in a video while citing false claims that COVID-19 vaccines are “poison.”
The following additional national and state headlines with hyperlinks to the posts
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Wednesday banning government entities from enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state regardless of a vaccine’s approval status with the FDA. “Vaccine requirements and exemptions have historically been determined by the legislature, and their involvement is particularly important to avoid a patchwork of vaccine mandates across Texas,” Abbott said.
Cruise lines require vaccinations and tests amid virus surge
U.S. covid-19 hospitalizations hit 100,000 for first time since January
Durable goods orders slip as supply chain disruptions persist
More people in Florida are dying of Covid than at any other point in the pandemic.
Delta Air Lines will require unvaccinated employees to pay an extra $200 per month for their health care plans.
Moderna said it completed the application for full FDA approval of its COVID vaccine, which is marketed as Spikevax abroad.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they would submit the remaining data for approval of their COVID booster shots by week’s end.
The third doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may start at 6 months from the last dose, rather than the previously announced 8 months.
Updated NIH guidelines for severe COVID-19 now say intravenous sarilumab (Kevzara) and tofacitinib (Xeljanz) can be used in combination with dexamethasone as alternatives to tocilizumab (Actemra) and baricitinib (Olumiant), respectively, if either of those are unavailable.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 are more susceptible to pre-eclampsia
15 percent of Mississippi K-12 students quarantined since start of school year: report
Judge rules Texas governor can’t enforce mask mandate ban
Florida’s New COVID Cases 30 Percent Higher Than Previous Peak in January
Health Chief: Children Now 36% of Tennessee’s Virus Cases
Nebraska is recruiting unvaccinated nurses to plug a staffing shortage.
Illinois will require masks indoors for everyone and educators must get shots or face testing.
U.S. Covid cases show signs of slowing, even as fatalities surge again
Today’s Posts On Econintersect Showing Impact Of The Pandemic and Recovery With Hyperlinks
August 2021 Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Insignificantly Slows
21 August 2021 New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI): Index Decline Continues
Second Estimate 2Q2021 GDP Growth Improves Marginally To 6.6%
21 August 2021 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Improves
Delta Surge Dampens Americans’ Appetite To Go Out
‘We Sent A Terrible Message’: Scientists Say Biden Jumped The Gun With Vaccine Booster Plan
Warning to Readers
The amount of politically biased articles on the internet continues. And studies and opinions of the experts continue to contradict other studies and expert opinions. Honestly, it is difficult to believe anything anymore.
I assemble this update daily – sifting through the posts on the internet. I try to avoid politically slanted posts. This daily blog is not an echo chamber for any party line – and will publish controversial topics unless there are clear reasons why the topic is false. And I usually publish conflicting topics. It is my job to provide information so that you have the facts necessary – and then it is up to readers to draw conclusions. It is not my job to sell any point of view.
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