First homegrown Covid drug approved in India

Why All Eyes Are On 2-DG, The New Drug That India's Launched Against Covid-19 | News 18 India - Kenneth Mohanty:

May 20, 2021 - " A surge in serious cases during the devastating second wave of Covid-19 in India has been accompanied by desperate efforts ... to seek out every last lead on promising treatments and medications that can save the lives of their loved ones. Amid the despair and confusion comes 2-DG, the indigenously developed Covid-19 drug launched in collaboration with a defence lab....

"2-DG, short for 2-deoxy-D-Glucose, was developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) — a lab that is part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) — in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad. The drug is a result of laboratory experiments launched in April 2020 that found this molecule was effective against SARS-CoV-2 virus and inhibited viral growth. 2-DG comes in powder form in a sachet and is to be taken orally after dissolving it in water.

"The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), which is the national drug regulator, approved its emergency use on May 1, the Ministry of Defence said earlier this month. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan released the first batch of the drug on May 17. According to the defence ministry, clinical trials have shown that the drug helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.

"It works by accumulating in the virus-infected cells of patients and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and energy production. The ministry said that 'its selective accumulation in virally infected cells makes this drug unique'. It added that a higher proportion of patients treated with 2-DG were found to display 'RT-PCR negative conversion' and that the 'drug will be of immense benefit' to Covid-19 patients.... It is to be used as an adjunct therapy, which means it can supplement the primary line of treatment for such patients....

"Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said on May 19 that commercial launch of 2-DG and its supply to government and private hospitals will begin some time in mid-June. It added that the price per sachet will be fixed with a view to making it affordable for as many patients as possible and warned against attempts to pass off fake and illegal products as the 2-DG drug. The defence ministry had said that 2-DG is derived from a generic molecule that is an analogue of glucose and, hence, 'can be easily produced and made available in plenty in the country'.

"Phase-II trials conducted on 110 patients between May and October, 2020 showed that the drug was safe and led to significant improvement in the recovery of Covid-19 patients. The defence ministry said that patients administered 2-DG 'showed faster symptomatic cure than Standard of Care (SoC) on various endpoints' and that there was a median difference of 2.5 days in achieving normalisation of specific parameters as compared with the standard care protocol.

"The Phase-III clinical trial, which was held for 220 patients between December last year and March 2021, reported that a significantly higher proportion of patients (42% vs 31%) improved and could be taken off supplemental oxygen by Day 3 compared with those who received standard care. A similar trend was seen in 65+ year patients....

"While 2-DG has been explored in cancer therapy, its use for Covid-19 treatment needs to be studied further, The Indian Express cited experts as saying. Doctors have also pointed to the small sample sizes of 2-DG’s clinical trials while suggesting that more data should be awaited before the drug can be confidently said to check the course of Covid-19 infection in patients."

Read more: https://www.news18.com/news/india/why-all-eyes-are-on-2-dg-the-new-drug-that-indias-launched-against-covid-19-3757100.html

Third pastor arrested in Alberta

Calgary pastor arrested after breaking pandemic gathering rules for months | CBC News - Sarah Reiger: 

May 16, 2021 - "The pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in southeast Calgary has been arrested after months of encouraging congregants to break COVID-19-related public health rules. Pastor Tim Stephens is just one of a number of people arrested and/or charged in the past few weeks in Alberta after the United Conservative government brought in new protocols in early May to increase enforcement against COVID rule-breakers.... The heightened enforcement comes 14 months into the pandemic and after weeks of Alberta having the highest number of active cases per capita in Canada. 

"Police said Stephens was arrested for organizing a church service on Sunday at Fairview Baptist Church, in violation of a Court of Queen's Bench Order that requires organizers of events to comply with public health restrictions. Stephens was proactively served last week with a copy of the court order, which was obtained by Alberta Health Services.

"Police said AHS had been attempting for weeks to work with the church to address the ongoing public health concerns at the site.... Stephens has previously been fined and ticketed for defying public health regulations by holding over-capacity gatherings and not enforcing mask use. Churches are currently limited to a maximum occupancy of 15 people, in order to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Alberta.... There have been multiple outbreaks at churches around the province during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only one church outbreak is currently active.

"'Restricting the church to 15 people — which essentially restricts the church from gathering — is against the will of Christ and against the conscience of many who desire to worship the Lord of glory according to his word,' Stephens wrote in a blog post following the updated restrictions earlier this month, add[ing] that he planned to continue to flout public safety laws.

"Since Alberta has seen increased enforcement against COVID-19 rule-breakers this month, those arrested and/or charged include:

• [Pastor] Artur and Dawid Pawlowski, two organizers of a Calgary church service who have been defying public health restrictions throughout the pandemic.
• Kevin J. Johnston, a Calgary mayoral candidate who's under a restraining order after threatening to arm himself and go to the homes of health workers.
• Chris Scott, the owner of the Whistle Stop Café in Mirror, and some of his supporters, who continued to defy public health orders.
• Ty and Gail Northcott, the organizers of a rodeo held to protest COVID-19 restrictions near Bowden.

"As well, Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church in the Edmonton-area has been on trial in May after officials said he repeatedly held in-person church services that ignored measures on capacity limits, physical distancing and masking."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/tim-stephens-fairview-baptist-church-arrest-1.6029078

Lockdowns take toll on Canadians' mental health

Losing sight of the COVID-19 finish line: How more lockdowns, cases blur hope | Global News: Rachael D'Amore:

April 24, 2021 - "After more than a year of isolation, distance and uncertainty, Canadians are maxed out. Vaccines are getting into arms ... but for some, that 'light at the end of the tunnel' touted by politicians and public health officials has dimmed recently....  After [Ontario] Premier Doug Ford’s announcement on April 16 ushering in further closures of amenities and activities, including some outdoors, Ontarians reacted online in a wave of sadness and anger. Some people pointed out that, this time, the 'rage and despair' felt more like a collective emotion than ever before.

"Roger McIntyre, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Toronto, said the collective feeling comes down to one thing: unpredictability. 'Chronic unpredictable stress,' to be exact. 'When you and I are told that the finish line is there, while we’re under chronic stress, it’s difficult but we try to accommodate it. But when you aren’t confident about where the finish line is, that, by definition, is unpredictable,' he said.... 'It’s the unpredictability that’s becoming the straw breaking the camel’s back for many people'....

"Since last year, Canadians have been told to stay apart to stop the spread of the virus, but the ability to be outdoors has generally provided safer alternatives for exercise, recreation and dining, among other things. Those options dwindled in the winter. As the second wave bore down, cold weather and renewed lockdowns forced people to stay at home. Even with summer on the horizon, those options are once again shrinking.

"The second wave of the pandemic intensified feelings of stress and anxiety, causing alarming levels of despair and hopelessness among Canadians, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) found in December 2020. That trajectory isn’t likely to improve as the country endures the third wave, according to Michael Anhorn, the CEO of the CMHA’s Toronto branch. 'Research has shown a fairly steady decline in mental health since the beginning of the pandemic. The longer it goes on, the more our wellness suffers,' he said.

"During the second wave, 40 per cent of Canadians who participated in a CMHA survey said their mental health has worsened — up from 38 per cent in the first wave. A separate report by HR company Morneau Shepell showed Canadians’ psychological health has steadily declined, hitting a negative score for a 12th consecutive month. That same report said the feeling of isolation is worse now than at any prior point in the pandemic.... Of the Canadians feeling the negative mental health impacts, 45 per cent are women, compared to 34 per cent of men, according to CMHA....

"Canada has maintained it will meet its goal of vaccinating all willing Canadians by September. There has been brighter news in recent days — more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine are coming, eligibility is gradually opening up to all adults in hot-spot areas in Ontario and Canada could see extra shots come from its neighbour the U.S. But recent announcements like Ontario’s — which took away considerably safer activities like camping, tennis and golf — make people think 'the goalposts keep changing,” said McIntyre.... 

"The ultimate goalpost is ending the pandemic. For many Canadians, it’s personal now, McIntyre said, like something as simple as having a normal summer....

"'You have people who will do just fine, they’ll flourish. Then you’ll have this large swath of society who don’t have a mental illness, but they’re not well, they’re tired, fatigued, apathetic. For many of this group, these feelings may be time-limited once our lives get back to normal,' he said. 'But we also know that for a lot of people, this is the first step of going into a depression and that this type of experience can often be a [portent]. We don’t want to catastrophize this because not everyone does, but we also can’t trivialize it.'"

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/7773180/covid-canada-mental-health-lockdown/

Lockdown protests banned in Nova Scotia

Premier says he's not backing down on lockdown rules — even if they limit individual rights | CBC News - Chris Hall:

May 15, 2021 - "Nova Scotia's Premier Iain Rankin says he'll continue to use every legal means available to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the province — even if the effort ends up limiting individual rights. The province obtained a court injunction Friday to halt a protest against its lockdown measures — which include keeping the border closed to non-essential travel and people attempting to move to the province, along with hefty fines for anyone caught travelling outside the zone in which they live.

"'I'll do whatever I have to do that's within the confines of the law and the public health emergency that we have in place to keep Nova Scotians safe,' Rankin told CBC's The House in an interview airing Saturday. 'I recognize that people really value their freedom, freedom of expression. And I believe in all those things. But you can't take away the freedom for individuals to be able to live in a society where they're not fearful of contracting COVID.'

"The injunction prevents a group called Freedom Nova Scotia from staging a planned protest rally today. The court order also authorizes police to use reasonable force in arresting anyone who takes part in one of these protests....

"The Canadian Civil Liberties Association wrote the premier this week to say that closing the border to the rest of the country violates mobility rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 'The Charter requires that when governments restrict rights, they do so in a manner that is minimally intrusive,' wrote association director Cara Faith Zwibel. 'In the current circumstance, self-isolation can be effectively paired with testing requirements to mitigate risk. Completely excluding Canadians from the province is neither necessary nor appropriate.'

"Rankin isn't backing down. He said it's clear that some people were ignoring the mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors entering the province.... 

"As of Friday, the province had more than 1,530 active cases of COVID-19 and 21 patients in intensive care. Nova Scotia has one of the lowest vaccination rates among the provinces; only about 30 per cent of Nova Scotians have received their first doses. That pace has picked up in recent days and everyone in the province aged 35 and older is now eligible to be vaccinated."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/iain-rankin-pandemic-nova-scotia-covid-lockdown-1.6017785 

Unofficial science growing in grassroots

Anti-Maskers “Practice a Form of Data Literacy in Spades”, Says MIT Study | Lockdown Sceptics - Cephas Alain:

15 May 2021 - "An unexpected side effect of the [COVID19] pandemic was the rapid and sustained development of a new set of grassroots checks and balances counterbalancing official scientific health narratives.... This may prove be one of the enduring legacies of the pandemic as its potential is much wider than a single area of concern. Apart from anecdotal evidence of this development there is now some research evidence ... in a preprint paper by Lee, Yang et al. of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entitled 'Viral Visualisations: How Coronavirus Skeptics Use Orthodox Data Practices to Promote Unorthodox Science Online'....

"The Lee, Yang et al. paper 'investigates how pandemic visualisations [of data] circulated on social media, and shows that people who mistrust the scientific establishment often deploy the same rhetorics of data-driven decision making used by experts, but to advocate for radical policy changes'. It refers to the opponents of lockdowns, social-distancing and face masks as 'anti-maskers', which is rather unflattering shorthand, but ... clearly shows that a mix of traditionally educated scientists and researchers, along with data specialists and interested members of the general public, have begun to work together systematically.... 

"The study provides good evidence to believe that, at least in some cases, a new collegiate form of narrative is emerging ... which is neither non-scientific nor pseudo-scientific but simply an alternative scientific narrative. Alternative, that is, to the one provided by official government-scientific and mainstream media sources.... There is room for alternative viewpoints because 

'data ... is not a neutral substrate.... Quantitative data is culturally and historically situated.... [T]here is no such thing as dispassionate or objective data analysis. Instead, there are stories: stories shaped by cultural logics, animated by personal experience, and entrenched by collective action.... 

"Furthermore, Lee, Yang et al. observe: 'Most fundamentally, the groups we studied believe that science is a process, and not an institution.' That is precisely the point and nature of the scientific method. They add:

'While academic science is traditionally a system for producing knowledge within a laboratory, validating it through peer review, and sharing results within subsidiary communities, anti-maskers reject this hierarchical social model. They espouse a vision of science that is radically egalitarian and individualist. This study forces us to see that coronavirus sceptics champion science as a personal practice that prizes rationality and autonomy; for them, it is not a body of knowledge certified by an institution of experts.

'Having said this, we might submit that the study has also discovered characteristics which suggest that, whilst the more developed groups are egalitarian, they also mimic "institutional type" checks and balances on their members’ output. One might go so far as to say that they actually are a new form of "collective peer review" ... so far as they are providing critiques which are supported by the data. That is both internally, within the way this type of group operates, and as an "external examiner" of the work of others outside the group. This should naturally be differentiated from less considered groups which pluck ideas out of nowhere and generate mere propaganda. Some trained scientists and traditional institutions are more open to debate and other engagement than others. It is plausible to suggest that those who choose to engage, in an informal or more structured way, with the more developed groups might find it a positive process rather than a distraction to be avoided.'

"In the most scientifically/data literate groups, the following characteristics were observed by Lee, Yang et al. which, while linked to visualisations, have much wider application:

• There is a commitment to quality: 'we find that anti-mask groups on Twitter often create polished counter-visualisations that would not be out of place in scientific papers, health department reports, and publications like the Financial Times'....
• There is a commitment to openness: 'Among other initiatives, these groups argue for open access to government data (claiming that CDC and local health departments are not releasing enough data for citizens to make informed decisions), and they use the language of data-driven decision-making to show that social distancing mandates are both ill-advised and unnecessary'....
• There is an emphasis on ‘Critically assessing data sources’. 'Even as these users learn from each other to collect more data, they remain critical about the circumstances under which the data are collected and distributed. Many of the users believe that the most important metrics are missing from government-released data'....
• There is a recognition of context: 'Even when local governments do provide data, however, these users also contend that the data requires context in order for any interpretation to be meaningful.... Ultimately, anti-mask users emphasise that they need to apply this data to real-world situations'....
• There is an attempt to identify bias and politics in data: '[Anti-maskers] are… mindful to note that these analyses only represent partial perspectives that are subject to individual context and interpretation.... One of the things which the pandemic has revived interest in is the broad subject area of research bias which includes issues around reporting (or not reporting) and the nexus with the media'....     [gd emphasis]

"Overall, while still at a relatively early stage of development, this points to a new shape for the mounting of ever more credible challenges to the ‘new orthodoxy’ of lockdowns, social distancing, mask mandates in schools, business closures, and so on. It is a form of inquiry that is not predisposed to cover-ups and will not be restricted by the terms of the promised official public inquiry, or the one after that. It is science as dissent."

Read more: https://lockdownsceptics.org/anti-maskers-practice-a-form-of-data-literacy-in-spades-says-mit-study/

Read study here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.07993

Ontario care home report shows gov't failure

Ontario’s LTC report exposes the real COVID story — systemic government failure | Financial Post - Terence Corcoran:

May 05, 2021 - "One of the most influential concepts in modern economics is 'market failure.' Here’s a standard textbook definition: Market failure is a 'situation in which a market left on its own fails to allocate resources efficiently.' The concept is used to justify competition laws, trade restrictions, regulations, bureaucratic oversight, even government takeovers. Health care is one of the areas where private sector market failure is said to be endemic; government must fix the failure.

"As COVID-19 rips through the global economy, evidence of market failure is non-existent. What we have instead is ... [s]tate bungling, inefficiency, ineptitude, confusion, bad planning or no planning, ... on display in every COVID-stricken nation. The existence and scale of these failures has yet to be fully documented, but a new report from a local commission set up to investigate the province of Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) fiasco opens a small window on a global phenomenon: systemic government failure.

"What happens when a government is left to its own devices is far worse than mere lost efficiency. In the year between March 2020 and April 2021, almost 4,000 elderly residents of Ontario’s long-term care facilities died from COVID-19, the result of decades of government neglect and policy failure — a tragic story documented in brilliant clarity in the final report of the province’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission. Chaired by former Superior Court Justice Frank Marrocco, the commission has delivered a scathing indictment of the province’s decades-long failure to heed provincial, national and international warnings that a COVID-like pandemic was inevitable.... 

"When COVID struck in early 2020 Ontario had no pandemic plan in place, nor did Ottawa. Over the years, through the 2003 SARS viral outbreak, the H1N1 events in 2009 and the Ebola threat of 2014-16, numerous reports and studies warned of the need to prepare for a serious killer pandemic. Nothing happened. By 2017, Ontario’s auditor general warned that the province was 'vulnerable to a large-scale emergency.' In 2019, a WHO-sponsored agency called on nations to prepare for the worst: 'A rapidly spreading, lethal respiratory pathogen pandemic'....

"At the same time, the province had earlier ordered its stockpile of emergency health supplies — amassed after the SARS 2003 outbreak — to be destroyed after it was discovered the supplies had expired. By 2019, millions of masks and other protective gear had not been replaced, leaving Ontario without essential protection equipment....

"The LTC commission also hints at the long-neglected cost-benefit problem. 'The economic cost of the pandemic has been significant, dwarfing the cost of proper pandemic preparation. Ontario’s gross domestic product declined by approximately $45-billion as a result of the pandemic. In addition, the province anticipates approximately $25-billion in additional expenses'.....

"The report is particularly relevant as insight into the limits within Canada’s health-care system. One of the important causes of Ontario’s high LTC death rate was the attempt to maneuver around a chronic problem, lack of hospital beds.... 'The number of acute care hospital beds in Ontario has stayed effectively the same for 20 years, at around 20,000 while the province’s population has grown by three million people. Ontario now has fewer acute care hospital beds per capita than any other province: 1.4 beds for every 1,000 people. That’s on par with Mexico, and half the number in the U.S. To accommodate the influx of COVID cases, the province decided to move hospitalized patients to long-term care facilities.....

"The COVID crisis, first and foremost, has revealed the failings of a government controlled health-care system. The long wait times and lack of hospital beds date back to the 1990s, when hospitals were consolidated in a move to cut costs."

Read more: https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-ontarios-ltc-report-exposes-the-real-covid-story-systemic-government-failure

NYC mayor offers free fries with vaccine

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tempts New Yorkers with free fries: "Mmm, vaccinations" | CBS News - Allison Elyse Gualeieri:

May 13, 2021 - "Want some fries with that shot? New York Mayor Bill de Blasio downed some Shake Shack fries during a virtual press conference Thursday, touting a new partnership to encourage New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

"'Free fries when you get vaccinated? I got vaccinated. You're saying I could get these delicious fries? Wait a minute, that there's also a burger element to this?' he said, snacking on fries and waving a half-wrapped burger during his daily COVID-19 update. 'I want you to look at this and think about — again, some people love hamburgers, some don't, and we want to respect all ways of life — but if this is appealing to you, just think of this when you think of vaccinations,' he said. 'Mmm, vaccinations. Mmm. I'm getting a very good feeling about vaccinations right at this moment.'

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12-15 Wednesday.... President Biden said earlier this month his goal is to have 160 million American adults fully vaccinated and 70% at least partially vaccinated by July Fourth. The CDC released updated guidelines Thursday on what fully vaccinated people can do, including not wearing a mask in many indoor situations....

"The partnership between New York City and Shake Shack will give people who are vaccinated at one of the city's mobile clinics a voucher for a free burger or sandwich or allow those who show proof of vaccination at one of the chain's New York City locations to get free fries when they buy a burger or sandwich through June 12.....

"The freebie touted in de Blasio's viral moment isn't the only one aimed at increasing inoculations. Unvaccinated New Yorkers headed to a Yankees or Mets game who get a Johnson & Johnson shot at the game will get free tickets. States, cities and businesses around the country are offering rewards ranging from beer and doughnuts to museum tickets and even possibly a $100 savings bond — and in Ohio, five lucky vaccinated residents will win $1 million in special weekly drawings."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-new-york-shake-shack-fries/