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Original poster

Lots of good news at the moment!

991 replies

FrugiFan · 21/07/2020 15:57

www.bbc.com/news/health-53467022
A trial of a drug which could reduce ICU admission by 79%, and is already in use for other things so doesnt need human trials for side effects etc.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53469839
Promising news about one of the many vaccines in production.

Hospital admissions have not increased, more than 2 weeks after pubs and restaurants reopened.

Lots of reasons to think positive at the moment Smile

OP posts:
Thread gallery
18
Layladylay234 · 18/08/2020 08:58

More good news

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1320683/uk-coronavirus-news-latest-second-wave-death-toll-infection-rate-herd-immunity

Ps Please don't feed the troll!

Pomegranatepompom · 18/08/2020 10:26

There is absolutely no point in engaging - there are some with self serving agendas.

Hope everyone finds calmness and joy in their day today.

Ps I work in paediatrics, those figures are wrong. Last week we had no covid + patients.

Thisismytimetoshine · 18/08/2020 10:34

@Layladylay234

More good news

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1320683/uk-coronavirus-news-latest-second-wave-death-toll-infection-rate-herd-immunity

Ps Please don't feed the troll!

God, that is good news Smile Especially in the face of schools reopening in three weeks and two of my kids having to face the Tube again...
Feeling slightly calmer now.
TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 18/08/2020 15:26

I feel like the idea of herd immunity must have some relevance otherwise there would have been a stronger rise in cases as people started mixing again over the last few months. It is the only theory which really makes sense to me at the moment. I don't think it's the case that everyone is meeting outside and keeping their distance and I don't think the fact it's summer could be having quite this big an impact.

I went to the gym today. I am taking huge comfort from the fact only 0.05% of people in this country have the virus at the moment. It was amazing to do something so normal, to be honest. A friend's wife has just been sectioned for severe mental health problems which he said have significantly worsened during lockdown - this will have a major impact on his life for several reasons and to be honest he looked broken hearted. So I felt really lucky to be getting out and doing something so normal and I am going to continue to try to find other ways to have some fun. Life is short and it's safe in so many ways.

KitKatastrophe · 18/08/2020 16:54

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8637821/amp/More-infectious-coronavirus-mutation-good-thing-says-disease-expert.html?__twitter_impression=true

Herd immunity news is fantastic. On a related note this article suggests the current prevalent strain is more virulent but less deadly

TheKeatingFive · 18/08/2020 18:14

On a related note this article suggests the current prevalent strain is more virulent but less deadly

This makes a lot of sense.

Beebityboo · 18/08/2020 18:17

Would that mean that getting the less deadly strain would give you immunity to all of the strains?

Jrobhatch29 · 18/08/2020 18:18

God I hope that's true!

Alex50 · 18/08/2020 18:24

@Jihhery which hospital? Please give the name, I can then see the numbers on the NHS website?

Alex50 · 18/08/2020 18:25

@Jihhery please back up your statement with data?

TheKeatingFive · 18/08/2020 18:48

Would that mean that getting the less deadly strain would give you immunity to all of the strains?

I don’t know.

However that is how certain other diseases work. Smallpox/Cowpox. I read somewhere that it’s how the Chinese treated the bubonic plague.

KitKatastrophe · 18/08/2020 19:27

@Beebityboo

Would that mean that getting the less deadly strain would give you immunity to all of the strains?
The article would suggest yes as the difference is very slight so immune system would react to them in the same way. They would be similar enough for the immune system to "recognise" the similar virus.

Coronaviruses tend to evolve to become less dangerous, not more so. This is because a mutation which makes them more deadly would kill the host before the virus can spread much, meaning that particular strain would not get far. Eventually this coronavirus may just be another strain of common cold.

www.popsci.com/story/health/covid-19-coronavirus-mutates-changes/
This article is a nice one around mutations. Relatively old in covid terms (march 2020) but the science is still relevant.

Jenasaurus · 18/08/2020 22:34

Some more good news

TeaInTheGarden · 19/08/2020 00:02

That’s a brilliant video I just watched the whole thing.
My husband had very mild Covid in March and has antibodies. I had a cough at the same time but tested negative for antibodies. I’m now more convinced than ever that I have had it and have loads of killer T cells instead of antibodies 😆

chri55ie · 19/08/2020 00:37

I have to say that was one of the best videos I've watched. A great round up of positive news. Thanks for sharing

Alex50 · 19/08/2020 07:52

Such a good video, I will be sharing it everywhere.

Derbygerbil · 19/08/2020 12:48

@Layladylay234

Given that 7% or so of people in the U.K. have antibodies, and the worst hit hotspots are well above 50%, I think the idea we have herd immunity is fanciful, and it’s possible to find a doctor who’ll support almost anything- there was one the other week in the US who sought to explain that sex problems could be due to demon sperm!

It is clearly good news that hospitalisations are very low, and infections aren’t shooting up, but outbreaks can take a while to brew once you’ve got infections down to low levels (it took a couple of months from January to get to March’s levels), and the Government are focussing in now on potential hotspots before they spread out of control. We’ll see when schools go back and autumn comes.... But the best way to get a second wave is to assume it’s all over.

Jrobhatch29 · 19/08/2020 13:04

Is it not becoming clearer that antibodies are not a reflection of the total amount of people that have had it though? It probably isn't loads more but it isn't everyone. There is loads of things to consider:
-Some people don't produce antibodies so will never show up in a survey. We know some people fight it off with T cells and a T cell test has been developed. We don't know the ratio of people that use antibodies to T cells. There are lots of reports of people with positive tests but negative for antibodies.
-I don't think you can compare across countries reliably as they are not all using the same test. Aren't some more reliable closer to the initial infection and some more reliable a while after? If you used a different test in a different place would it alter the results?
-The timing of the survey. If it was closer to the peak you might pick up more people who still have antibodies. If it is further away you might miss people who no longer have them.
Antibody surveys seems like a snapshot of the situation at the time but don't seem to allow for any of these factors.

Theluggage15 · 19/08/2020 13:11

Yes, I think that’s one of the reasons they’re excited about the Oxford vaccine. It produces a strong T cell response and while the antibodies may fade in months the T cells remain in circulation for years.

vera99 · 19/08/2020 13:20

How's this for good news when you have a world beating track and trace - Wuhan pool party this week !

DeclutterTheUtility · 19/08/2020 13:24

John Campbell posted a video full of all the good news coming out of studies on immunity this very day.

It sounds like very good news indeed.

Derbygerbil · 19/08/2020 14:04

Is it not becoming clearer that antibodies are not a reflection of the total amount of people that have had it though?

I agree.... that’s why I accompanied the 7% UK figure with the much higher figure elsewhere rather than saying 7% had been infected.

Given that substantial portion of the population (10s of millions) have been socially distancing very or fairly carefully since mid-March, it’s hard to see how we could possibly have herd immunity across the population .

feelingverylazytoday · 19/08/2020 14:36

DerbyGerbil it's unlikely to be 'across the population' , just in hotspots that were hard hit early in the pandemic. London, NYC and Lombardy, eg. 20% seems to be the magic number at the moment. Infections start to fall when 20% are positive for antibodies. This has been observed too many times for it to be a coincidence. That level of cases seems to be enough to slow transmission down considerably.