COVID News - October 29th
The global spread

• Study identifies biomarkers that could be used in a quick, inexpensive COVID-19 blood screening tool. David Wishart, head of The Metabolomics Innovation Centre at the University of Alberta, has spent a career uncovering what metabolites can tell us about our health. In collaboration with Western University he has found metabolites in the blood which could act as the foundation for a quick, inexpensive COVID blood test.
• A closer look at Canada's homegrown COVID-19 vaccine candidates. There is more than a hundred vaccines under way and a dozen or so from Canada. This is a good rundown of those homegrown efforts.  
• The U.S. President received remdesivir during his COVID-19 treatment . Listen as Matthias Götte talks about his work with the anti-viral drug: University of Alberta researchers closing in on remdesivir use.
• COVID-19 has ‘created a new paradigm for developing vaccines,’ says U of A Nobel winner. Canada is home to Michael Houghton, the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine. His work with Hepatitis C began long before the pandemic, but it led to some insights into COVID-19.
• LISTEN: Kids & COVID: A straightforward discussion with Stephen Freedman. Part 2 of our podcast with the U of C researcher is about as down-to-earth a discussion as you could ask for. A lot of common public health sense in here.
• New Canadian antibody study to investigate COVID-19’s spread, why it hits vulnerable. Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force is helping to look at demographic and socioeconomic groups often missed in other studies.

 

• The search for COVID-19 treatments: 32 clinical trials happening right now in Canada. New treatments and re-purposing existing treatments to stop or at least slow the progression of the disease.
• When it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, how good will be good enough? "Only" a 40% chance of a safety issue? With 200 vaccines being developed those odds might seem scary. However if the regulatory approval process proceeds as it should the best possible decisions should rule the day.
• Why COVID Outbreaks Could Worsen This Winter. With apologies to Shakespeare and the Duke of Gloucester, this winter will not be made glorious at all. Not only do know little about the seasonal nature of COVID-19, being cooped up indoors will likely enhance the spread.
• Sewage surveillance: How scientists track and identify diseases like COVID-19 before they spread. Instead of relying on testing individual patients to monitor COID-19, wastewater surveillance can spot the virus in larger population before it become an active outbreak.
• What’s in the air? Aerosol transmission drawing increased attention. How far, how fast, and how effective the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be spread through the air is an evolving piece of pandemic science.

 Myths and Misinformation