3rd Oct 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=740 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

CNN The US government is awarding more than 266 million from the American Rescue Plan to expand the nations community and public health work force officials will announce Friday. The plans overall investment in community health outreach and health education workers totaling more than 1.1 billion is one of its crown jewels said Gene Sperling coordinator of the American Rescue Plan and a senior adviser to President Joe Biden. The funding comes as some public and community health workers have faced intense workloads backlash and burnout during the Covid19 pandemic and throughout other overlapping health emergencies including recordhigh drug overdose deaths the monkeypox outbreak and the reemergence of polio. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/30/health/public-community-health-workforce-grants/index.html 2nd Oct 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Guardian Changes in Covid19 policy settings always invoke mixed reactions and the national cabinet decision to stop isolation requirements for most people is one of the more substantial announcements since the opening of international borders and the end to supervised quarantine. Some of us have felt protected by rules others frustrated by them while the majority probably sit somewhere in the middle being reassured that they were there when needed and relieved when we can ease them safely. This is not about giving up or letting it rip it is about handing over to sustainable measures that will take us forward. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/01/ending-mandatory-isolation-does-not-mean-covid-is-over-but-we-need-to-move-beyond-short-term-fixes 2nd Oct 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Guardian Families of those who died from Covid19 have been barred from submitting individual testimony to the official public inquiry about the standard of care received by their loved ones during the pandemic the Observer can reveal. Instead the inquiry chair Lady Hallett is proposing they submit pen portraits to a private research company as part of a parallel Listening Project that will not have the power to demand the disclosure of documents or investigate claims about their relatives care. It would appear that Lady Hallett would rather outsource the grief of bereaved families to the Listening Project than engage with us constructively said John Sullivan whose daughter Susan died in March 2020 at Barnet hospital after being denied access to an intensive therapy unit because of her Downs syndrome and supposed cardiac comorbidities. The inquiry is becoming a farce and an exercise in coverup he said ahead of the first hearing on Tuesday. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/02/bereaved-families-fear-covid-inquiry-cover-up-after-ban-on-testimony 2nd Oct 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Chinese holidaymakers are bracing for more disruption during a weeklong break as the government tightens controls to contain Covid outbreaks before the Communist Partys top leaders meet in Beijing for a crucial political meeting. Passenger trips by road are expected to plunge by about 30 from a year ago during the National Day break according to government data. Prices of air tickets for the period are lower compared to last year and travelers are taking shorter journeys figures from hotel booking sites show. Cinema box office takings are expected to decline by more than 20. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-30/china-s-covid-rules-wreak-havoc-with-holidays-in-blow-to-economy 2nd Oct 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Hong Kongs former quarantine hotels are awash with empty rooms after the city axed its dreaded mandatory isolation rule for arrivals but kept other virus curbs likely to repel inbound tourists. The Ovolo groups Southside and Central properties had just four bookings left on Monday after logging some 1500 quarantine cancellations over the weekend said Mael Vastine director of operations in Hong Kong. Business has been impacted and it will take some time to recover he added noting that neither hotel had taken a new reservation in recent days. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-29/hong-kong-s-abrupt-quarantine-end-triggers-new-crisis-for-hotels 1st Oct 2022

Lockdown Exit

South China Morning Post Australia will end the mandatory fiveday home quarantine for Covidinfected people on Oct. 14 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday even as some doctors warned the move would put the public at risk. The decision to let Covidinfected Australians decide whether they need to isolate or not removes one of countrys last remaining restrictions from the pandemic era and comes about a month after the quarantine period was cut to five days from seven. We want a policy that promotes resilience and capacitybuilding and reduces a reliance on government intervention Albanese told reporters after a meeting of the national cabinet. https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3194349/doctors-criticise-australia-over-plan-end-home-quarantine 30th Sep 2022

Lockdown Exit

ABC News Theyre known as the Silent Generation Australias elders often have a reputation for copping hard knocks on the chin without complaint but theyre also among our most vulnerable. While the COVID death rate in aged care has significantly decreased in 2022 the number of total deaths has increased exponentially Advocates say not enough people are aware of the trauma still happening in aged care. Residents are torn between fearing the outside world and wanting to be a part of it. Its because of that vulnerability many of their lives have been slower to return to a preCOVID normal. When the COVID19 pandemic began in 2020 Australians united to protect each other. During the first two years the country was devastated to see almost 900 deaths from the illness in aged care. That figure made up about 40 per cent of the 2220 deaths recorded during the same time frame. Floral tributes and homemade signs of hope were tied to fences of lockeddown aged care facilities where residents could only peer through the windows. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/aged-care-living-with-covid-deaths/101485820 30th Sep 2022

Lockdown Exit

The New York Times Physician Burnout in the United States Has Reached Distressing Levels New Research Finds https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/health/doctor-burnout-pandemic.html 30th Sep 2022

Lockdown Exit

Regulation Asia Hong Kong has scrapped hotel quaratine stays as a requirement of its Covid19 quarantine practice. https://www.regulationasia.com/hong-kong-scraps-hotel-quarantine-requirement/ 26th Sep 2022

Exit Strategies

Sydney Morning Herald Modernas promise of a combined coronavirusinfluenza shot throws down a challenge to Australian biotech giant CSL as the next heat of the vaccine race threatens to be a disruptor. The chief of US pharmaceutical Moderna Stephane Bancel says CSL is at risk of losing its competitive edge in the influenza vaccine market once MessengerRNA technology takes hold in the industry and a cocktail of mRNAs becomes available. Bancel who was in Melbourne this week to visit the site of his companys planned vaccine manufacturing plant at Monash University said Modernas vision for the Australian market went well beyond its current coronavirus vaccines. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/large-disruptor-moderna-s-promise-of-vaccine-cocktail-could-be-a-threat-for-csl-20220927-p5blf7.html 2nd Oct 2022

Exit Strategies

Evening Standard The UK is blind to new Covid variants which could cause a devastating new wave health experts have warned. Covid infections in the UK have risen by 14 per cent in a week according to the Office for National Statistics in a sign that the autumn wave of infections is underway. More than 1.1 million people in the UK tested positive for the virus in the week ending September 20 up from 927000 in the previous week. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/covid-coronavirus-london-uk-variants-omicron-test-winter-booster-jab-dose-b1029640.html 2nd Oct 2022

Exit Strategies

South China Morning Post Companies that have left Hong Kong may not return soon even if all coronavirus travel curbs are scrapped one of the citys biggest business chambers has warned after a survey it conducted revealed 10 per cent of responding firms have permanently relocated. Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce CEO George Leung Siukay on Sunday urged the government to promptly lift all Covid19 entry restrictions and called for lowering thresholds for talent schemes to avoid further losing out to Singapore. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3194568/coronavirus-departed-companies-not-looking-back 2nd Oct 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Around twothirds of adults in the United States do not plan to get updated COVID19 booster shots soon according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation KFF a health policy nonprofit organization. Only a third of adults polled said they either already received the updated shots or plan to get the booster as soon as possible the poll found. The PfizerBioNTech and Moderna Inc shots updated to target more recently circulating Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus as well as the original strain were authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last month. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-thirds-us-adults-dont-plan-getting-covid-boosters-soon-poll-2022-09-30/ 1st Oct 2022

Exit Strategies

The Guardian Australias vaccination advisory body is investigating whether to expand the availability of the Novavax Covid jab amid concerns tens of millions of doses could be wasted due to recommendations it not be used as a general booster shot. It comes as a review of Australias Covid vaccine procurement found the former Coalition governments actions were consistent with other highincome countries but warned of a potential shortfall in Moderna unless the Labor government orders more supply. The review by respected public servant Prof Jane Halton said Australia had not reached what she called Covidstable where regular ebbs and flows of the virus could be predicted https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/28/australias-covid-vaccine-review-recommends-expansion-of-novavax-eligibility-amid-fears-of-moderna-shortfall 30th Sep 2022

Exit Strategies

Belfast Telegraph Covid19 testing to identify asymptomatic healthcare workers and hospital visitors is set to be paused in Northern Ireland. Relatives of care home residents and hospice patients will no longer be automatically required to take a test as of Monday. However those who are displaying symptoms will still have to take a test and are not permitted to visit a care setting. The Department of Health said the move is in line with the Test Trace and Protect Transition plan. The strategy published in March 2022 committing to keeping arrangements under review and focused on introducing proportionate and targeted rules. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/covid-testing-rules-in-northern-ireland-to-change-for-healthcare-workers-and-hospital-visitors-42029304.html 30th Sep 2022

Exit Strategies

The Guardian Tens of millions of people in the UK are being urged to have flu and Covid vaccines as soon as possible amid fears of a winter twindemic that poses a serious risk to public health. UK Health Security Agency UKHSA officials are braced for a resurgence in flu infections capable of causing severe disease in the coming months and are concerned it will coincide with the major wave of coronavirus that is already building. While Covid restrictions kept influenza at extremely low levels in the past three years the return to almost prepandemic levels of mixing in the UK means the virus is ripe to bounce back this season when immunity in the population is low. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/28/flu-covid-vaccine-winter-twindemic-fears-uk 30th Sep 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Canada will drop all COVID19 restrictions for travelers from Oct. 1 including vaccination and masking requirements for flights and trains the government said on Monday. The move is likely to boost the Canadian travel industry already booming after months of lull during the pandemic. Canadian carriers were also pressing for an end to mask mandates on flights citing thousands of incidents of noncompliance this year alone. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-remove-all-covid-border-travel-measures-oct-1-2022-09-26/ 27th Sep 2022

Partisan Exits

Mizzima News A weekslong COVID19 lockdown in Tibet has brought an expansion of already suffocating living conditions a rights group has said after a top regional official issued a rare apology this month over virus restrictions. Cities across Tibet have been under Covid curbs since the start of August with authorities mandating mass testing and keeping locals at home as China sticks to its strict zeroCovid policy. Complaints of chaotic transfers to mass quarantine facilities lack of supplies and poor quarantine conditions have surfaced on Chinese social media in recent weeks. The vice mayor of Tibets capital Lhasa issued a public apology earlier this month admitting to problems with how Covid had been handled pinning the blame on individual officials. But no meaningful remedial measures have been implemented to ameliorate the harsh lockdown and quarantine conditions the Washingtonbased International Campaign for Tibet ICT said in a report Thursday. https://www.mizzima.com/article/chinas-tibet-covid-19-lockdown-causing-extreme-hardships-campaigners 2nd Oct 2022

Partisan Exits

The Conversation COVID is an exceptional disease and was at its deadliest this year causing more deaths in Australia between June and August 2022 than at any other time. There have been 288 deaths from influenza so far this year compared to more than 12000 deaths from COVID. The number of deaths from COVID in Australia in the first nine months of 2022 is more than ten times the annual national road toll of just over 1000 but we are not rushing to remove seat belts or drinkdriving laws so people can have more freedom. Isolation flattens the COVID curve by stopping infectious people from infecting others and is a key pillar of COVID control. https://theconversation.com/if-you-think-scrapping-covid-isolation-periods-will-get-us-back-to-work-and-past-the-pandemic-think-again-191670 30th Sep 2022

Partisan Exits

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Rules forcing people to isolate for five days if they test positive to COVID19 will end from October 14 for everyone with support for some workers to be able to continue isolation if needed. Mandatory COVID isolation will end from October 14 Financial support will be continued for some workers to be able to isolate if needed The chief medical officer says it marks the likely end of the emergency pandemic response. States will determine how to implement the change but national cabinet agreed to continue targeted financial support for casual workers in aged care disability care Aboriginal health care and hospital care. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/covid-19-isolation-period-dropped-national-cabinet/101489566 30th Sep 2022

Partisan Exits

The Economist A paper published in PNAS an academic journal argues that covid19 inspired Chinese citizens to circumvent censorship and access sensitive content on banned websites. Although most VPN applications are blocked in China the researchers found one available on Chinas Apple App Store. They noted a sharp increase in downloads of the app sending its App Store ranking higher just as Wuhan and the wider Hubei province of which it is part went into lockdown https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/09/28/covid-19-inspired-people-to-circumvent-censorship-in-china 28th Sep 2022

Continued Lockdown

The Times Hundreds of Chinese residents in the southern city of Shenzhen have taken to the streets to demand an end to coronavirus lockdowns in a rare public protest against the zerotolerance Covid policies imposed by Beijing. Video from Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province showed angry citizens confronting police officers wearing blue medical protective gear including gowns face masks and plastic visors. Protesters chanted lift the lockdown and verbally and physically clashed with the police who attempted to contain them with metal barriers. Some threw water bottles at officers who made several arrests. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/protests-in-shenzhen-as-china-puts-it-into-snap-lockdown-over-covid-cases-l73t6zgpm 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature.com We evaluate Spikeantibody responses following BNT162b2 or ChAdOx1S vaccination amongst SARSCoV2naive adults across England and Wales enrolled in a prospective cohort study Virus Watch. Here we show BNT162b2 recipients achieved higher peak antibody levels after two doses however both groups experience substantial antibody waning over time. In 8356 individuals submitting a sample 28 days after Dose 2 we observe significantly reduced Spikeantibody levels following two doses amongst individuals reporting conditions and therapies that cause immunosuppression. After adjusting for these several common chronic conditions also appear to attenuate the antibody response. These findings suggest the need to continue prioritising vulnerable groups who have been vaccinated earliest and have the most attenuated antibody responses for future boosters. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33550-z 2nd Oct 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

City A.M. Moderna has reportedly refused a request from China to reveal the technology behind its Covid19 vaccine. The rejection prompted negotiations for its sale there to fall apart the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter. The US pharmaceutical company remains eager to sell its product in China after negotiations between 2020 and 2021 dissolved. China has relied on domestically developed vaccines since the beginning of the outbreak in late 2019 and currently procures none of its jabs with foreign companies. https://www.cityam.com/moderna-rejects-request-from-china-for-covid-19-vaccine-technology/ 2nd Oct 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Sky News Australia is lifting mandatory COVID isolation rules from next month scrapping one of the last remaining pandemic restrictions. The current fiveday home quarantine requirement for those who test positive for the virus will be lifted from 14 October. Announcing the move Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said We want a policy that promotes resilience and capacitybuilding and reduces a reliance on government intervention. Along with abolishing mandatory quarantine they will also be scrapping pandemic payments for casual workers with the PM saying it isnt sustainable for government to pay peoples wages forever. https://news.sky.com/story/australia-scraps-mandatory-covid-isolation-rules-but-experts-call-the-decision-illogical-12708105 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Sunday that as China ponders its COVID19 policies epidemic experts need to speak out and China ought to conduct comprehensive research and make any studies transparent to the public. Hus unusual call on Chinese social media for candour and transparency earned him 34000 likes on the popular Twitterlike microblog Weibo as well as frank responses from netizens in a normally tightly policed internet quick to censor voices deemed a risk to social stability. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/prominent-chinese-commentator-urges-covid-experts-speak-out-2022-09-25/ 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg A Chinesedeveloped mRNA Covid vaccine got its first ever emergency use authorization from Indonesian authorities a tentative step in Chinas efforts to gain ground on Western inoculations widely used around the world. The shot named AWcorna was codeveloped by Walvax Biotechnology Co Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co. and the Chinese military and has been cleared for use in people aged 18 and older Walvax said in a statement. The halalcertified vaccine can be used as either a primary or booster dose it said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-30/chinese-mrna-covid-shot-gets-approval-in-indonesia-media 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Medical Xpress A small team of researchers with members from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the MetroHealth System has found a link between children who contract COVID19 and an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. In their paper published in the journal JAMA Network Open the group describes their analysis of health records of children and adolescents during the pandemic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-09-children-covid-diabetes.html 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature.com Serial heart MRI scans conducted in previously well people with mild initial COVID19 illness suggest that lingering cardiac symptoms may be explained at least in part by ongoing mild cardiac inflammation. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02002-y 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Brisbane Times Direct research on the hearts of COVID19 patients who have died from the disease has revealed they sustained DNA damage in a way completely unlike how influenza affects the body. The finding gives researchers clues about exactly how severe COVID19 is affecting the body and also a potential way to detect who will be seriously affected by the disease in the future. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/unlike-flu-covid-19-attacks-dna-in-the-heart-new-research-20220929-p5bm10.html 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature.com Virologist Dave OConnor admits that he was getting desperate when he started asking dog owners for poo samples. For much of 2022 OConnor at the University of WisconsinMadison and his colleagues have been tracking a heavily mutated variant of SARSCoV2 the virus that causes COVID19. Early this year they discovered the variant in Wisconsin waste water drawn from more than 100000 people. Following the sewer system to eversmaller watersheds they narrowed the variants source to one particular area. OConnor and his team thought that the variant might be circulating in dogs in part because they found canine genetic material in the same wastewater samples. So they headed to the local dog park. It was the strangest request youre ever going to hear Hey were scientists. Can we just have that bag of dog poop that youre throwing away https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02996-y 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg Swedish scientist Karin Lore used to depend on China to keep her laboratory running. A professor at Stockholms Karolinska Institutet Lore studies the immune systems interaction with vaccines and safety tests on monkeys are a critical part of her research. But after Covid19 hit Beijing halted exports of primates central to her work amid concerns that live animals could contribute to the viruss spread. More than two years later monkeys from China are in increasingly short supply leaving Lore and scientists around the world struggling to complete their research. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-28/research-monkey-shortage-boosts-china-s-vaccine-development 30th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Cardiology Advisor Risk of myocarditis is higher following a SARSCoV2 infection than it is following a COVID19 vaccination and increases significantly in men under 40 years particularly following a second dose of mRNA1273 vaccine. The risk is still modest following sequential doses or a booster of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. These are among the study findings published in Circulation. Researchers sought to evaluate risk for myocarditis in younger people following sequential doses of COVID19 vaccine vs risks of myocarditis in all individuals who develop SARSCoV2 infection. https://www.thecardiologyadvisor.com/general-cardiology/myocarditis-risk-in-young-people-following-covid-19-infection/ 27th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech on Monday sought the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations authorization for an Omicrontailored COVID19 vaccine booster for children aged 5 through 11 years. The application comes just days after Moderna also applied for FDA authorization of its own Omicrontargeting shot in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years and children aged six to 11. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-seek-fda-nod-new-covid-boosters-children-2022-09-26/ 27th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it has authorized an additional five batches of Moderna Incs updated Covid booster shots made at a Catalent facility in Indiana after it deemed them safe for use. Last week the health regulator had allowed use of ten batches of Modernas updated booster shots made at the Bloomington Indiana facility owned by a unit of Catalent Inc which is currently not a part of the companys emergency use authorization. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-clears-additional-lots-modernas-covid-booster-amid-shortage-2022-09-26/ 27th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters French drugmaker Valneva said on Monday it is in talks with a potential partner on producing an updated version of its COVID19 vaccine that targets new variants of the disease sending its shares up. The French company has struggled to bring its COVID19 vaccine to market to compete with rival products from drugmakers such as AstraZeneca Moderna and BioNTechPfizer. Its shares have lost almost 80 since peaking at the end of 2021. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/talks-second-gen-covid-vaccine-could-fail-valneva-warns-2022-09-26/ 27th Sep 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Atlantic MECFS involves a panoply of debilitating symptoms that affect many organ systems and that get worse with exertion. The Institute of Medicine estimates that it affects 836000 to 2.5 million people in the U.S. alone but is so misunderstood and stigmatized that about 90 percent of people who have it have never been diagnosed. At best most medical professionals know nothing about MECFS at worst they tell patients that their symptoms are psychosomatic anxietyinduced or simply signs of laziness. While MECFS patients their caregivers and the few doctors who treat them have spent years fighting for medical legitimacy the coronavirus pandemic has now forced the issue. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/mecfs-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-doctors-long-covid/671518/ 26th Sep 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

BBC News Covid infections in the UK are rising and have topped more than one million according to official estimates. There has been a 14 rise in people testing positive which is the biggest weekly increase since the summer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63088223 30th Sep 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Mirror The UK is feared to be in the midst of another Covid wave as hospital admissions have jumped almost double in a week. Latest figures show the number of patients testing positive for coronavirus is up 48 compared to seven days ago. Fears have already been raised among the medical community the approaching colder weather could boost numbers. Now a total of 7024 people with coronavirus were in hospital as of 8am on September 28 according to NHS England. The number is half the 14000 in midJuly at the peak of the wave of infections caused by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the virus. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/covid-fourth-wave-fears-hospital-28113325 29th Sep 2022