Corona Virus Knowledge Articles

With laypeople seeming to know everthing about the Corona Virus and Covid, the real experts - virologists, front-line doctors and health care workers are surprisingly unsure, while steadily learning from evidence during their daily experiences. Such actual insights and conclusions allows non-experts to piece together their own judgement on behaviour, risk, medication and governmental policy.

The Antivax-Industry (and Movement)

Skeptics of vaccinations have been around since Edward Jenner performed his first vaccinations. Since 1998, when former gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published a falsified study driven by financial interest linking the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, the media latched on and spread doubt upon the safety of vaccines. Quacks pounced upon this money-generating opportunity. Since then, Wakefield's paper was reviewed and retracted, his co-authors distanced themselves from it, and he was barred from practicing medicine in the UK. The onset of Covid in 2020 with a slew of vaccines developed in record time gave the antivax-industry a whole new audience and Wakefield appears to be one of if not the opinion leader driving that community. The damage to society, health and economy of millions of people wordwide is immense.

From Jenner to Wakefield: The long shadow of the anti-vaccination movement In 1998 a medical furore broke out when The Lancet published an article by Andrew Wakefield questioning the benefits of the MMR vaccination which was being given unquestioningly to children throughout the UK.

Brian Deer's 2004 film on Andrew Wakefield This is the full version of Brian Deer's November 2004 film on Andrew Wakefield, "MMR: What they didn't tell you."

Vaccines: A Measured Response What is the science behind the anti-vaccine movement, and is it any good? Let’s find out!

Impfgegner - Wer profitiert von der Angst? Vor rund zehn Monaten startete die weltweite Corona-Impfkampagne. Zahlreiche Impfgegner steuern dagegen. Wer sind diese Menschen? Welche Motive verfolgen sie und wovor haben sie Angst? Um das besser zu verstehen, werden am Beispiel des britischen Arztes Andrew Wakefield, einer zentralen Figur der Anti-Impf-Bewegung, die Entwicklungen innerhalb der Impfgegnerschaft dargelegt.

The MMR vaccine and autism Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud

The Wakefield Paper which started it all The Lancet Volume 351, Issue 9103, 28 February 1998, Pages 637-641

Long Covid

Long covid: What science has learned about the loss of smell and taste

A pair of new studies describe the effects of long COVID, with one estimating that half of hospitalized patients have at least one persistent symptom 2 years after infection

People who have even a mild case of Covid-19 may have accelerated aging of the brain and other changes to it, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. It is believed to be the largest of its kind. It found that the brains of those who had Covid-19 had a greater loss of gray matter and abnormalities in the brain tissue compared with those who didn't have Covid-19. Many of those changes were in the area of the brain related to the sense of smell.

Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore: Influenza, polio and more have shown that infections can change lives even decades later. Why the complacency over possible long-term effects of COVID-19?

Count the cost of disability caused by COVID-19: Focusing only on cases and deaths hides the pandemic’s lasting health burden on people, societies and economies.

My ‘Long Covid’ Nightmare: Still Sick After 6 Months: A Times reporter caught the coronavirus during the New York City outbreak last April. But the acute phase of the illness was just the beginning

6 Months After Leaving the Hospital, Covid Survivors Still Face Lingering Health Issues: A large study of patients from a Wuhan, China, hospital showed that a half-year later, three-quarters were struggling with problems like fatigue, depression and diminished lung function

Some Covid Survivors Haunted by Loss of Smell and Taste: As the coronavirus claims more victims, a once-rare diagnosis is receiving new attention from scientists, who fear it may affect nutrition and mental health

What If You Never Get Better From Covid-19? Some patients could be living with the aftereffects for years to come. Recent research into another persistent, mysterious disease might help us understand how to treat them

‘I Feel Like I Have Dementia’: Brain Fog Plagues Covid Survivors. The condition is affecting thousands of patients, impeding their ability to work and function in daily life.

‘They Want to Kill Me’: Many Covid Patients Have Terrifying Delirium Paranoid hallucinations plague many coronavirus patients in I.C.U.s, an experience that can slow recovery and increase risk of depression and cognitive issues.

I can't shake Covid-19: Warnings from young survivors still suffering

Oregon woman has battled coronavirus symptoms since March. The 37-year-old resident of Keizer, Oregon, has battled the symptoms of the coronavirus for more than four months. She's had to put her life on hold, but only feels a little bit better

Corona Virus Knowledge, Spread, Symptoms, Demography

Have I dodged Covid and what does it mean?

This invisible Covid-19 mitigation measure is finally getting the attention it deserves

Household spread of Covid-19 is common and quick, a new CDC study finds

Inside the B.1.1.7 Coronavirus Variant: At the heart of each coronavirus is its genome, a twisted strand of nearly 30,000 “letters” of RNA. These genetic instructions force infected human cells to assemble up to 29 kinds of proteins that help the coronavirus multiply and spread

How to (Literally) Drive the Coronavirus Away: What’s the transmission risk inside a car? An airflow study offers some insight for passengers and drivers alike

C.D.C. Warns the New Virus Variant Could Fuel Huge Spikes in Covid-19 Cases: The more contagious version, first identified in Britain, is expected to spread widely and lead to further strains on an already overburdened health care system

What Does a More Contagious Virus Mean for Schools?The coronavirus variant discovered in Britain is more easily spread among children, as it is among adults. Current safeguards should protect schools, experts said, but only if strictly enforced

One Mask Is Good. Would Two Be Better? Health experts double down on their advice for slowing the spread of the coronavirus

The Future of the Coronavirus? An Annoying Childhood Infection: Once immunity is widespread in adults, the virus rampaging across the world will come to resemble the common cold, scientists predict

For a Healthier 2021, Keep the Best Habits of a Very Bad Year: Our 7-Day Well Challenge will show you how to build on the healthy habits you learned during pandemic life

How the Coronavirus Hacks the Immune System: At a laboratory in Manhattan, researchers have discovered how SARS-CoV-2 uses our defenses against us

New California Variant May Be Driving Virus Surge There, Study Suggests: Researchers found that the variant originated in California and showed up in more than half of samples tested last week by researchers in Los Angeles

Could a Smell Test Screen People for Covid? A new modeling study hints that odor-based screens could quash outbreaks. But some experts are skeptical it would work in the real world

Scientists target coronavirus immunity puzzle: A new effort is under way to understand how the immune system responds to coronavirus

Coronavirus loss of smell: 'Meat tastes like petrol'

Coronavirus smell loss 'different from cold and flu' say European researchers who have studied the experiences of patients

Older Children Spread Virus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds. The study of nearly 65,000 people in South Korea suggests that school reopenings will trigger more outbreaks.

How Exactly Do You Catch Covid-19? There Is a Growing Consensus. Surface contamination and fleeting encounters are less of a worry than close-up, person-to-person interactions for extended periods

Coronavirus pandemic could cause wave of brain damage, scientists warn. Experts at the University College London (UCL) were the latest to describe that Covid-19 could cause neurological complications including stroke, nerve damage, and potentially fatal brain inflammation -- even if the patients didn't show severe respiratory symptoms associated with the disease.

I got Covid-19 two months ago. I'm still discovering new areas of damage -- Richard Quest. Like many others, I am now coming to realize that I am living and suffering from the long tail of Covid-19

'Silent spreaders' may be responsible for half of Covid-19 cases, study finds. Transmission via people with no symptoms, or during the few days before symptoms are apparent, is a primary driver of Covid-19 spread, the study found.

Coronavirus Is Airborne, 239 Experts Say in Letter to W.H.O. For months, many scientists have been saying the virus lingers in the air indoors. The W.H.O. maintains the research is still inconclusive.

San Francisco doctors who volunteered to help in New York during Covid-19 outbreak have now returned home. They describe some of the terrifying scenes they saw, and note that many patients were in their 40s and 50s

These people have been sick with coronavirus for more than 60 days. Doctors aren’t sure why

Flush carefully. Study suggests coronavirus could spread in spray from toilet

16 friends all test positive for coronavirus after an outing at a Florida bar

Genes May Leave Some People More Vulnerable to Severe Covid-19 Geneticists have turned up intriguing links between DNA and the disease. Patients with Type A blood, for example, seem to be at greater risk.

Covid-19 isn't just a respiratory disease. It hits the whole body

Covid-19 baffles doctors with mysterious symptoms. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta highlights how Covid-19 is baffling doctors, seemingly triggering a number of health issues and mysterious symptoms all over the body

Teen woke up with 'fire in veins.' Doctor reveals virus links 14-year-old Jack McMorrow was hospitalized with a severe inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus. CNN's Don Lemon speaks with McMorrow and his father about their experience

Coronavirus particles spread by talking can remain in the air for up to 14 minutes, NIH researchers find. While it’s been long accepted that coughing and sneezing can transmit respiratory viruses through droplets, it’s less known that simply talking produces thousands of oral fluid droplets

Coronavirus mutations: Scientists puzzle over impact. Researchers in the US and UK have identified hundreds of mutations to the virus which causes the disease Covid-19. But none has yet established what this will mean for virus spread in the population and for how effective a vaccine might be

New York Times Free PDF Ebook on the Corona Virus

N.Y.C. Reports 38 Cases of Virus-Related Syndrome in Children. The inflammatory syndrome, which health officials said resembles toxic shock, has killed three children in the state, and Mayor Bill de Blasio urged parents to watch for symptoms

As European Countries Reopen Schools, Relief Combines With Risk Restarting classes is central to reviving economies. But how contagious are children, and could they be the next super spreaders?

Microdroplets pose coronavirus risk: In the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a new research reveals how tiny droplets carrying the virus can remain in the air for some time

Coronavirus found in men's semen. The new coronavirus can persist in men's semen even after they have begun to recover, a finding that raises the possibility the virus could be sexually transmitted, Chinese researchers said

Coronavirus patients describe symptoms that last a month or more. Some patients say they’re struggling to get back to their regular lives a month after getting diagnosed with the coronavirus. They say they’re still experiencing symptoms intermittently

Here's why experts worry about reopening restaurants. A study from China shows just how contagious the novel coronavirus can be in places like restaurants, where people spend prolonged periods of time

See how a mask affects how a cough travels: A lab at Florida Atlantic University is simulating a human cough to understand how far and fast cough droplets can spread

Dr. Gupta explains how difficult it will be to mitigate spread of the coronavirus in restaurants, one of the businesses set to reopen following governors relaxing orders in some Southern states

CDC director speaking to the Washington Post warned a second wave of the Covid-19 coronavirus this year could be worse because it will coincide with flu season

Bad News Wrapped in Protein: Inside the Coronavirus Genome

Experts: coronavirus can spread through talking or even just breathing: "While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing," according to the letter, written by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, chairman of a committee with the National Academy of Sciences

Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection. Doctors are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms

Eye Pain May Be Another Early Symptom. Google Searches Can Help Us Find Emerging Covid-19 Outbreaks, they can also reveal symptoms that at first went undetected

As with any other poison, viruses are usually deadlier in larger amounts

A “cytokine storm” becomes an all-too-frequent phenomenon, particularly among the young.

Doctors have observed neurological symptoms, including confusion, stroke and seizures, in a small subset of Covid-19 patients

Iceland lab's testing suggests 50% of coronavirus cases have no symptoms. Multiple studies that show that asymptomatic, or mildly symptomatic, people have played an important role in spreading the virus

Two Women Fell Sick From the Coronavirus. One Survived. The young medical professionals, who worked long hours on the front lines in Wuhan, first came down with fevers. Within weeks, both were in hospital beds, hooked up to IVs or oxygen machines.

R0: How Scientists Quantify the Intensity of an Outbreak Like Coronavirus and Its Pandemic Potential

24 Coronavirus myths explored

'Such a simple thing to do': Why positioning Covid-19 patients on their stomachs can save lives

NHS doctors have been warned to look out for a rare but dangerous reaction in children that may be linked to coronavirus infection. An urgent alert sent out to GPs said that intensive care departments in London and other parts of the UK have been treating severely sick children with unusual symptoms.

Beware of pets and animals: A tiger at the Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus

Masks

What You Can Do to Avoid the New Coronavirus Variant Right Now: It’s more contagious than the original and spreading quickly. Upgrade your mask and double down on precautions to protect yourself.

All the different types of face masks, and who should wear them during the coronavirus outbreak

Asia may have been right about coronavirus and face masks

Vaccine and Drugs

Bloomber Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines: Laboratory studies of mutations circulating in South Africa suggest they may dodge some of the body’s immune responses.

Which Americans can get a vaccine now? Here’s a look at the new guidance

Johnson & Johnson Expects Vaccine Results Soon but Lags in Production: The U.S. needs J.&J.’s one-shot vaccine more than ever. But the company is behind on manufacturing promises made in its Operation Warp Speed contract

What to Know About the World’s Top Covid-19 Vaccines

Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Works Against Key Mutation in Contagious Variants: It’s good news, but experts cautioned that the new variants from Britain and South Africa also carry other potentially dangerous mutations that have not yet been investigated

The virus spread faster in counties where large universities held classes in person

How Gamaleya’s Vaccine Works

How Nine Covid-19 Vaccines Work: Researchers are testing 64 coronavirus vaccines in clinical trials on humans. Here are explanations about how nine of the leading vaccines work

How Bharat Biotech’s Vaccine Works

Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’. Both companies acknowledged that their vaccines could induce side effects that are similar to symptoms associated with mild Covid-19, such as muscle pain, chills and headache

The quest to make a global vaccine in 12 months: The global quest to find a vaccine for Covid-19 has so far tended to focus on the clinical research, but manufacture and distribution also need to be considered.

The fiasco of the 1976 ‘swine flu affair’: With a pandemic looming, the US president announced a warp-speed effort to vaccinate every man, woman and child in the country. As Richard Fisher discovers, the mistakes that followed hold lessons for today.

Why we shouldn't get too excited about a vaccine. Science by press release: When the story gets ahead of the science

Past vaccine disasters show why rushing a coronavirus vaccine now would be 'colossally stupid'

In Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine, an Oxford Group Leaps Ahead. As scientists at the Jenner Institute prepare for mass clinical trials, new tests show their vaccine to be effective in monkeys

Coronavirus vaccine: when will it be ready? Human trials have begun – but even if they go well and a cure is found, there are many barriers before global immunisation is feasible

Coronavirus vaccines: five key questions as trials begin. Some experts warn that accelerated testing will involve some risky trade-offs

With record-setting speed, vaccinemakers take their first shots at the new coronavirus

RNA vaccines: an introduction

How to Make a Vaccine

Doctor on unproven hydroxychloroquine drug: You could lose your life

Germany testing tuberculosis drug as coronavirus treatment

Lockdown

Doctors and nurses fighting Covid-19 in Britain say they fear the devastating effect that lifting lockdown restrictions could have as they standby for a second wave

US may have to endure social distancing until 2022 if no vaccine is quickly found, scientists predict

Returning to work after his recovery from Covid-19, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recognized the difficulties presented by the lockdown but urged the nation to "keep going" amid fears of a second wave

Lockdowns shouldn't be fully lifted until coronavirus vaccine found, new study warns

In the absence if a vaccine, a strategy is to segment a country into zones and test all inhabitatnts: Quarantined Italian village turned into human laboratory

Deaths and Critical Cases

32 Days on a Ventilator: One Covid Patient’s Fight to Breathe Again. Jim Bello, 49 and healthy, fell gravely ill, highlighting agonizing mysteries of the coronavirus. Doctors’ relentless effort to save him was a roller-coaster of devastating and triumphant twists

29 Year Old Man was 10 Days On A Ventilator

Healthy 30-year-old teacher dies suddenly from coronavirus: Ben Luderer, a 30-year-old New Jersey teacher and coach, passed away only days after contracting coronavirus. Brandy Luderer, his wife, shares the heartbreaking details with CNN's Alisyn Camerota

A healthy 39-year-old DJ died of coronavirus. What his young widow and daughter want you to know

A Florida man dies days after hundreds of people exposed to coronavirus walked around the world's busiest airport

The coronavirus pandemic has taken an incalculable death toll. This series is designed to put names and faces to the numbers.

Switzerland

BAG: Neues Coronavirus