July 5 2020: News Wrap Up
A curated source of news on biotech, PCR, lateral flow & rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 and more.
Each month, the team at Biolink will gather for you the best articles, news and content we find and enjoy from around the web to keep you in the loop.
News
COVID deaths rise among unvaccinated, unboosted.
From the Sydney Morning Herald, an article about the changing dynamics of COVID-19.
Summary
"In Australia, where periodic lockdowns originally kept the death toll low, the transition to daily double-digit mortality has been rapid & old age is the most frequent risk factor for COVID-19 mortality. Increasingly though death rates have been rising in under vaccinated or unboosted cohorts. Comorbidities are also more common among the elderly. Almost 90% of Victorians over the age of 65 have gotten their third vaccination shot, and 46% have taken their fourth, winter dose."
Australia surpasses 10,000 Covid deaths as authorities warn of another wave of infections
The Guardian Australia reports on the country crossing a grim milestone: 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Australia.
"Australia has crossed the 10,000 Covid-19 fatalities mark, prompting officials to encourage people to be watchful about the illness. He cited the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants as spreading across the country. On Sunday, Queensland reported no new Covid deaths, despite the state's top health officer, John Gerrard, saying on Saturday that there was growing demand to reinstate mask mandates."
Australia to offer self-testing swabs to all women for cervical cancer screening
The Sydney Morning Herald reports about the future of home testing for HPV (human papillomavirus) for Australian women.
Summary
“Under a major change to the National Cervical Screening Program, women aged 25 to 74 will be able to collect their own sample to test for the human papillomavirus (HPV) rather than endure a speculum examination beginning July 1. More than nine in 10 people screened return a negative HPV result, the Cervical Cancer Screening Program data shows.
An estimated 900 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 237 died of the disease in Australia 2021.”
COVID-19 causes Your Body To Store Fat Differently
SkyNews suggests that COVID-19 fattens our cells to help fuel its viral invasion, with certain lipids growing to 64-fold their usual levels, according to new study.
Summary
"According to scientists, the virus that causes COVID-19 takes over the body's fat processing system, generating cellular fat stores that allow it to hijack the body's molecular machinery and cause sickness.
Advertisement "This is fascinating work, but it's only the beginning of a long road," said Fikadu Tafesse, the study's corresponding author and associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Oregon Health & Science University.
The study was inspired by discoveries that persons with a high BMI and illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes are more susceptible to COVID-19.
Scientists found a massive shift in lipid levels, with some fats increasing as much as 64-fold."
Queensland CHO says we should 'absolutely' treat flu like COVID-19
9News reports that Queensland Chief Health Officer urges us to look at and treat the flu the same way we do COVID-19.
Summary
Over 160 people are currently in public hospitals with the flu and 435 with COVID-19. The number of full respiratory virus infections we've seen so far this year in Queensland has been unprecedented," Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said."We have not been exposed to this virus for the last two, two and a half years."
Gerrard said Queenslanders should 'absolutely' treat the flu with the same caution as COVID-19.
"The days of going to work stoically, coughing and sneezing with a sore throat and fever because you're a good soldier, those days are gone."
Social
From the Saturday Paper:
More than two-and-a-half years into the pandemic, with at least half a billion infections, there is evidence that reinfection is not only possible but even worse for long-term health. | @SquigglyRick on the new phase of Covid-19. https://t.co/3IB7xI1sy4
— The Saturday Paper (@SatPaper) July 4, 2022