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More than 83 percent of Americans had COVID-19 antibodies before the surge of the Delta variant began, according to a new study of blood sample specimens by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).... ...The authors wrote that "estimated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence weighted for differences between the study sample and general population increased from 3.5% in July 2020 to 20.2% for infection-induced antibodies and 83.3% for combined infection- and vaccine-induced antibodies in May 2021."... ..."Despite weighting to adjust for demographic differences, these findings from a national sample of blood donors may not be representative of the entire US population," the...

As the Delta variant continues its global surge, experts are questioning whether the long-held goal of achieving herd immunity from COVID-19 through vaccination is still viable. Herd immunity is achieved when a certain threshold of the global population has either been inoculated against a pathogen or has recovered from infection. But whether or not it is achievable with COVID-19, with the regular emergence of more infectious strains, is up for debate. "If the question is 'will vaccination alone allow us to dampen and control the pandemic?' the answer is: no," epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea told AFP. He said herd immunity hinged...

A Texas man who had organized a “Freedom Rally” in protest of COVID-19 restrictions is now on a ventilator after becoming infected with COVID, according to his pregnant wife. ...The San Angelo Standard-Times had reported that Caleb had been hospitalized with COVID for more than a month, with Wallace telling the paper that her husband initially refused to get tested for the virus and tried his own vitamin regimen to treat himself rather than seeing a doctor. Most days his wife said that she and her three daughters FaceTime him in the hospital with the help of a nurse, though...

Even as the United States made the controversial announcement this week that it would begin to offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in September, scientists and public officials were scrambling to assess the rationale officials offered: that the vaccines’ protection against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is waning. As vaccines rolled out early this year, the pandemic coronavirus seemed to almost magically melt away in some countries. But now, as Delta infections surge in highly vaccinated countries that once seemed to have COVID-19 on the run, including Israel and the United Kingdom, many fully vaccinated people are wondering how protected they...

the first ten cases of the AY3 coronavirus strain based on the Delta strain had been found in Israel. The AY3 strain is based on the Delta variant, from which a number of further mutations have been found, including several considered more "virulent." Of those infected, eight had returned from abroad and two were infected inside Israel. ....This week, a representative of the Health Ministry in the Knesset said of the strain that it "causes concern and will lead us to lockdown" and expressed concern about the possibility of it being discovered in Israel, since it is a variant with...

Texas officials requested 5 refrigerated trucks to hold deceased COVID-19 victims, an NBC News report shows. Many hospitals in Texas are lacking available ICU space. A state official said the request for mortuary trucks was a precautionary move as cases increase in the state. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Texas officials requested five additional mortuary trucks to hold deceased COVID-19 victims, according to a recent NBC News report. Chris Van Deusen, the spokesperson for the Department of State Health Services, told NBC News that the request for more refrigerated vehicles did not come from a specific town or hospital...

Massive port backlogs continued to build for the seventh day in China at the world’s third-busiest container port. Vessels are being diverted away from Ningbo Meishan Container Terminal due to suspended operations following the COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak. This is having a profound impact on nearby ports in Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg. Port congestion in nearby Shanghai and Hong Kong is increasing once again due to the closure of the Meishan terminal at Ningbo port, a major port and industrial hub in east China’s Zhejiang province, which lies south of Shanghai. Last week, a dock worker at...

Nearly 100% of the coronavirus samples analyzed in Ohio in late July showed the highly contagious delta variant, Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said Thursday morning. “COVID-19 is now more contagious than the common cold or flu,” he said. In addition to being more contagious, evidence suggests that the viral load in patients in the early days with the delta variant is higher than when people were sick with other variants. Patients are getting sicker, faster, Vanderhoff said during his first press conference since Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to be the department’s head, beginning...

Duane DeHate started a TikTok to ask for prayers. He's struggling to recover from COVID after getting fully vaccinated. His initial reaction to Moderna was blood clots, but now has cysts and lesions on his kidneys and spine. He regrets getting the jab. 😥https://t.co/tiUzbEzAJL pic.twitter.com/NS4ubrR5I5— Kelly Bee 🐝 (@ke11ybender) August 14, 2021

For the past year and a half, we've been told repeatedly to rely on science. First, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told us not to wear masks; only those in medical settings needed them. Fauci then said we should wear masks. Then people were seen sporting several masks. We were told that there would be two weeks to flatten the curve; then the longer shutdowns came for what seemed like a lifetime. Scientists initially said that a vaccine could not be produced within a year; when it was, the vaccines were marketed as COVID-19 prevention by...

How does a once-great country become the complete mess America is today? The honest answer is we are all at fault. It's as easy for the left to blame conservatives as it is for the right to blame liberals. It's easy for the elites in cities to say Americans aren't working as hard as they used to and are getting fat off too much fast food. It's easy for regular Americans to look at the hypereducated urban elites and feel like they've sold out and left America behind to pursue profits in foreign markets. The problem is all of this...

Erykah Badu is singing the blues after unintentionally sparking Obama drama on social media. The soulful Grammy Award winner took to Twitter seeking the former first family’s forgiveness for being a "terrible guest" by posting pictures and videos of Barack Obama’s massive 60th birthday party in Martha’s Vineyard on Aug. 7. "Mr. And Mrs. Obama, Please forgive me 4 being the ‘terrible guest’ at such a sacred event for your family," Badu, 50, real name Erica Wright, tweeted Thursday. The "Window Seat" singer’s unauthorized social media posts showed the birthday boy with wife Michelle, 57, dancing mask-free among the hundreds...

As the US struggles to suppress the rapidly advancing coronavirus Delta variant, new evidence has emerged that the latest Lambda mutation — ravaging parts of South America — won’t be slowed by vaccines. In a July 28 report appearing on bioRxiv, where the study awaits peer review prior to getting published, researchers in Japan are sounding the alarm on the C.37 variant, dubbed Lambda. And it’s proven just as virulent as Delta thanks to a similar mutation making them even more contagious. The strain has been contained in 26 countries, including substantial outbreaks in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador. “Notably,...

Achieving herd immunity with Covid vaccines when the highly infectious delta variant is spreading is “not a possibility,” a leading epidemiologist said. Experts agree on several reasons why such a goal — where overall immunity in a population is reached and the spread of the virus is stopped — is not likely. Sir Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told British lawmakers Tuesday that as Covid vaccines did not stop the spread of the virus entirely — with vaccinated people still able to be infected and transmit the virus — the idea of achieving herd immunity was “mythical.”...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has called out the CDC for being “anti-science,” and it looks like there’s one more thing that he could point to today that would support his claim.There are two things that you look at when you are judging a virus — transmissibility and severity.While the Wuhan coronavirus is quite transmissible, it’s not as severe in effect as, for instance, Ebola which has a far greater lethality.But how transmissible is the new Delta variant that the Biden bunch are flipping out over?The CDC claimed on July 26 in a slide show presentation that it was as contagious...

For the last several weeks, we have heard nothing but doom and gloom from the media and the left when it comes to the spread of COVID-19’s latest threat, the Delta Variant. The variant, which began spreading in India late last year, has increased transmission rates over previous versions of the virus and has spread throughout the United States over the course of the last several months. The media, which has spun this as a red state spread (for the record, it is spreading equally as fast in blue states) has conveniently forgotten that of the top 5 states for...

The owner of a Santa Barbara surf school stabbed his 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son to death at a Mexican hotel and then left their mutilated bodies and headed for home, according to police. Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was detained at the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, trying to cross back into California from Tijuana, Mexico, after his wife, Abby, reported him and their children missing... Mexican officials tracked the three to the City Express Hotel in Rosarito on Saturday and video footage shows them leaving early Monday morning. Coleman returned alone later that morning and...

Though the comment received little more than a headline from the newswires, the White House acknowledged earlier on Wednesday that it has started to see COVID cases leveling off in the hardest-hit states.WHITE HOUSE SAYS U.S. HAS STARTED TO SEE SOME LEVELING OFF OF COVID-19 INFECTIONS IN STATES SEEING SURGETo be sure, the drop in cases, which typically portends a decline in hospitalizations and deaths, has arrived just in the nick of time for some hospital systems in Florida and Texas, which have reported seeing a surge in beds occupied by COVID patients. Still, South Carolina recorded the fourth straight...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all pregnant women Wednesday to get the COVID-19 vaccine as hospitals in hot spots around the U.S. see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated mothers-to-be seriously ill with the virus. Expectant women run a higher risk of severe illness and pregnancy complications from the coronavirus, including perhaps miscarriages and stillbirths. But their vaccination rates are low, with only about 23% having received at least one dose, according to CDC data. “The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible delta variant...

Ivermectin Wins in IndiaNews of India's defeat of the Delta variant should be common knowledge. It is just about as obvious as the nose on one's face. It is so clear when one looks at the graphs that no one can deny it.Yet, for some reason, we are not allowed to talk about it. Thus, for example, Wikipedia cannot mention the peer-reviewed meta-analyses by Dr. Tess Lawrie or Dr. Pierre Kory published in the American Journal of Therapeutics. https://www.thedesertreview.com/opinion/columnists/wikipedia-and-a-pint-of-gin/article_22ffa0d8-dde9-11eb-be75-d7b0b1f2ff67.htmlWikipedia is not allowed to publish the recent meta-analysis on Ivermectin authored by Dr. Andrew Hill. Furthermore, it is not allowed to...