China Abandons Zero Covid Policy

This past weekend, China abandoned its previous policy of fighting for zero percent of covid inflicted patients in its country. This new movement has been brought on by widespread protests, international pressures, and media highlighting the mistreatment of large portions of the country’s population. 

As China breaks down its covid barriers, many citizens are also reentering international travel centers. The world is responding with increased precautionary measures surrounding border entries. 

Public Outcry Influences Scrapping the Zero Covid Policy

As countries begin to observe increased travel from China amidst the scrapping of their strict covid lockdown measures, there have been many discussions over precautionary measures to prevent covid spikes. 

China has been experiencing severe surges in positive covid cases over the past six months, with current case numbers well over 30,000 with more than 5,000 positive cases added daily. The alarming increase in cases was partially responsible for the ambitious policy targeting a zero percentage of infection across the enormous country.

The zero covid policy consisted of extraneous lockdowns, travel restrictions, public zoning, and widespread testing mandates. Although many media outlets are blocked and restricted within the country, some videos that made it to the western world shined a light on the egregious lockdown procedures officials were enacting across Chinese cities. 

Many people were forcibly locked into their apartment buildings, grocery stores, and even taxis when officials determined there was a positive case. The public outcry began to heighten with widespread protests, international media pressure, and significant losses of lives due to unforeseen complications associated with strict lockdown measures. 

Protests Arise From Strict Lockdowns

Protests are not common in China, with its strict unitary and communist government. However, amidst many rigorous and extensive lockdown measures, protests began to gain traction in many large Chinese cities. 

Many citizens began to protest after being forcibly locked into their apartments for the 14-day quarantine period outlined by health officials like the CDC. There appear to be many instances where the people locked in the building had to struggle for food and water, as they could not access necessary resources themselves, relying entirely on government subsidies that were few and far between. 

Several recorded examples of people getting arrested after attempting to leave their apartments, and many others suffered injuries and even death in the mandated lockdowns. 

Significant protests began after a fire broke out in a locked-down apartment building in late November, killing ten people and injuring many others. This was the second major fire disaster in the nation amidst these severe lockdowns. 

The Chinese public outcries and comments on social media calling for justice, demanding to understand if the lives were lost due to the covid restrictions hampering rescue efforts. Of course, many points to the inability of fire rescue to adequately approach the 15-story high-rise where the fire began due to roadblocks and covid infrastructure at the building’s base.

Chinese covid protocols were categorized into risk levels, and it is still unknown which level of restriction this building faced at the time of the emergency. Local officials said in a statement that this block was on a low-risk enforcement level, meaning residents could leave their buildings provided they self-monitor and avoid gatherings. However, local communities around the compound shared the building had recently been placed under stricter enforcement potential making it more difficult for residents to evacuate quickly. 

Efforts to quell the fire were also hampered by cars in the parking lot with dead batteries from sitting so long, preventing the fire trucks from getting close enough to disperse water on the upper floors, which were also engulfed in flames. 

China’s New Covid Protocols

China has responded to the increasing pressures to reassess its protocols and has released new forms of restrictions to combat covid. 

• People are no longer required to relocate to state facilities or quarantine if they or someone they have contact with test positive for covid. 

• China has also ended its mass testing program, which means it will no longer have an accurate assessment of its ongoing cases. 

As of November, Chinese officials also released statistics that they have successfully vaccinated almost 40% of people over 80 years old with two doses of covid vaccines. These people are in the demographic for the most risk of severe covid complications. 

Precautionary Measures Applied to Chinese Flights and Tourists Across the EU and USA

Some EU countries have responded to the entrance of many Chinese tourists with mandatory testing despite controversies over its injustice and political motivations. Many argue that mandatory testing is not an effective use of resources or time due to the high vaccination rates already prevalent across Europe. 

The decision to implement testing continued, though, as there have been constant misrepresentations of current infection statistics by China and unknown information on the rise of new variants due to a lack of data. 

Chinese officials suggested that these restrictions are politically motivated and threatened to retaliate against unjust policies. 

The United States of America has also enacted its policies toward incoming travelers from China. US officials cited a need for adequate and transparent covid data for the decision to require entry tests. The decision is also backed by scientists who want to allow time to slow the disease's spread via travel and identify any potential new strains. 

The consensus is shared by many areas of the world as other countries, including Japan, Australia, India, Taiwan, and Malaysia, will require any travelers arriving from China to test negative for covid. 

How Will Traveling Look To and From China in 2023

1. Travelers entering China will no longer have to quarantine, as anyone arriving previously had to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in a state facility. Some cities may still enact a form of quarantine for international and domestic travelers as their populations may be more vulnerable to the effects of covid. 

2. The EU calls for European-wide mandatory testing for all travelers from China, with many countries already enacting their policies. The USA, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and many more will be joining the European country's testing mandates. 

3. Many Chinese will likely be traveling this year as they have had some of the most severe and strict lockdowns during the pandemic. Many citizens will have to renew their passports as almost three years have passed since tourism was open in the country.  

4. It needs to be clarified how many cases China is currently facing and what kind of variants travelers may be spreading abroad. The scrapped mandated testing and misreporting of data have led to many inconclusive reports concerning the accuracy of covid infections. 

New Molnupiravir Covid Antiviral Treatment

Molnupiravir is a new antiviral treatment currently in Phase III of its clinical trials in the United Kingdom.

It was developed by the private company Mavenir Therapeutics and is ideal for people infected with HCV who have already completed therapy with an appropriate antiviral agent.

Molnupiravir Covid Treatment Advances In The Fight Against The Pandemic

Molnupiravir covid treatment is an antiviral drug that is effective in its treatment during the pandemic.

Early drug trials have shown a rapid onset action against the virus, and patients tolerate it well.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also approved its use for treating influenza A H1N1 virus infection in adults aged 18 years or older, including pregnant women.

Molnupiravir may also be used to treat other strains of pandemic flu viruses, including seasonal flu; however, there is currently no data from clinical trials that support this use.

Side effects from this treatment are typically mild and include headache, body aches, sore throat, cough, and fever which usually resolve within seven days after beginning treatment. The effects will become more evident as its use becomes more prevalent. However, rare cases have been reported where patients develop a severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia or death.

How Molnupiravir Covid Works To Combat The Virus

Molnupiravir is an antiviral medication given to patients twice a day for five days while infected with the omicron variant of Covid. 

The pill is taken by mouth daily and selected for patients with a higher risk of death or severe hospitalization from Covid, many with underlying ailments associated with age or other health conditions.

While early trials appeared to aid the recovery of treated patients significantly, the data still does not correlate with any significant decreases in covid associated death rates or hospital admissions. 

Side Effects Of Covid Drugs And How To Minimize The

Covid drugs can cause various side effects, some of which have been serious and others with unknown long-term consequences.

Be sure to speak with your doctor or pharmacist about any potential side effects before starting this treatment, as there are many types of recovery aids to help those outside of high-risk categories.

Side effects of the new medication can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain which should all be communicated to your primary physician. 

Some people taking the drug have also experienced changes in their mood or behavior, but any increase in anxiety or depressive symptoms should be addressed immediately by a doctor.

Make sure to notify your doctor if you are using other medications concurrently that could interact with the Covid drug(s) you are prescribed.

Consult a healthcare professional if there is unexplained weight loss or increased appetite when using this coronavirus therapy. The drug has also been shown to react differently with diabetic patients with an increased risk for hypoglycemia and low blood sugar, which may impair the body’s renal function. 

The Current Status Of Covid Treatment And Future Prospects

The current status of this new Covid treatment is highly effective against the virus, with a 95% successful recovery rate in the usual two-week recovery period.

Critics of the therapy suggest many of the unwanted side effects make this treatment undesirable for patients outside high-risk categories. 

There has been significant research in the past few years to find new and better ways to treat Covid, which may improve the success rate even more in the future, and this is just one of those treatments.

Prospects for Covid treatment are very positive as new technologies are being developed all the time.

Patient Outcomes Following Administration Of Covid Therapies

Covid antiviral treatments have resulted in a marked decrease in patients developing illness complications and death.

The use of Covid therapies has also led to a significant reduction in the spread of the virus, meaning that fewer people are affected by it at any time. The resulting decrease in the transmission is due to the shortening of the recovery period and lessening the duration of transmissible symptoms like coughing.

While some risks are still associated with using Covid therapies, these have been significantly reduced over time as researchers continue to develop new ways to prevent severe complications from the pandemic virus.

Patients who receive Covid therapy often experience faster recoveries than those patients who do not receive treatment.

Overall, patient outcomes following the administration of Covid therapies are very positive and demonstrate clear benefits for both infected individuals and society as a whole.

Lessons Learned From Molnupiravir Covid Trials

1. Antiviral treatments are not a cure-all and should always be combined with other therapies to take advantage of their potential best.

2. New, more effective antiviral treatments are being developed continuously, and patients should remain informed about available options.

3. Many different side effects can occur when taking antiviral medications, but most tend to be mild and short-term.

4. Patients need to remain as active as possible while on an antiviral medication to reduce the risk of complications from the virus or the treatment itself (i.e., build-up of drug resistance).

Monkeypox Silently Spreading Around the World

Officials are on high alert as monkeypox outbreaks continue to appear in various parts of the world. These new cases are particularly alarming because of the high transmissibility, and amidst the ongoing covid-19 pandemic still crippling many parts of global society. 

The Monkeypox virus is historically localized to western and central regions in Africa, but scientists think they have traced the current spread to an outbreak in 2017. The World Health Organization has recorded 643 cases in more than a dozen countries. The rapid outbreaks suggest the disease may have undetected transmission, allowing it to spread and appear simultaneously in different locations. The 2017 outbreak resulted in clusters of cases in Singapore, Africa, Israel, and the UK.

Other experts disagree with initial findings stating we do not know how long this virus has spread. Initially, it was thought the disease spread from direct contact with an infected animal like a rodent; however, reports now suggest there are sustained transmission events between humans and back to animals. The rapid transmission between humans and animals contributes to the inconclusive of the outbreak’s origins. If outbreaks continue expanding, it is likely to be transferred from humans into other wildlife populations outside infected regions, resulting in additional undetectable transmissions to larger global populations. 

Most historical breakouts of monkeypox ended after a short period of transmission between humans, while recent cases in new places and populations are cause for concern. The former 2017 cluster was prevalent in men and appeared as lesions on genitalia transmitted through sexual contact. The current outbreak appears as lesions on various parts of the body, and the sexual transmissibility of the disease is inconclusive and not fully understood. This virus is similar to smallpox but much less deadly with treatment. Poverty-stricken areas may experience higher rates of complications resulting in deaths due to the lack of accessible resources. 

The US Centers for Disease Control continues to monitor its spread because it is too early to understand its origins or long-term impacts fully. The response may escalate if it evolves into a human-born pathogen spreading directly to the immunocompromised, young, and elderly, where it will cause the most severe damage. Still, many people following the news coverage and disease investigations feel the stress, as daily life has only recently returned to a sense of normalcy.

If the covid-19 pandemic proved one thing, the world is poorly prepared to deal with any global disease outbreak. Humans have few options to prevent widespread outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases effectively. Officials not wanting a repeat of the global pandemic over the last two years are approaching these cautionary cases with the utmost urgency and attempting to instill measures to prevent another global catastrophe.

Did You Know The Black Plague is Still Around?

Amidst the global pandemic and coronavirus outbreak these last few years, something not discussed often in the media is the continued presence of the black plague. Many people think the bubonic plague is a thing of the distant past, but that is not true, and there are reported cases every year. If you did not know it was still around, do not worry because it is unlikely to be the cause of any future pandemics due to advances in medical technology and our understanding of disease transmission. 

The bubonic plague, also known as the black death, originated in central Asia, where climate change forced many rodents out of grasslands into more populated areas. These rodents carried fleas infected with the Yersinia pestis bacteria responsible for the disease. The disease was spread through flea bites or exposure to an infected person’s open wounds. In the incredibly overcrowded cities across Europe, frequent exposure was widespread and aided the rapid spread of the disease. After being infected with the bubonic plague, a person could expect an 80 percent probability of mortality within eight days. 

The disease killed millions of Europeans during the middle ages of the mid-1300s. This disease spread rapidly through crowded cities of Europe, which were often extraordinarily unclean and full of rodents that quickly transmitted it to people. In the 1300s, very little was known about how diseases were transmitted, and there were few treatment options available to compromised people. This plague is responsible for the most significant death toll compared to any other epidemic throughout human history, killing between 75 to 200 million people worldwide. Those numbers are significant because the world population was around 370 million people and faced constant reductions by other factors like natural disasters, famines, and war. The people of Europe did not recover to their former status until almost 200 years later, in the 16th century. 

Symptoms from the bubonic plague caused a person to grow tumors around lymphatic systems in the neck, groin, and armpit. The tumors continued to spread, resulting in large blackening spots across a person’s body accompanied by fevers, vomiting blood, and ultimately death. Less common forms of the plague also appeared in pneumonic and septicaemic variations, killing their host even quicker with 90 to 100 percent mortality rates. Pneumonic plague symptoms infected the lungs leading to respiratory problems, fever, and cough. Septicaemic plague symptoms had a mortality rate close to 100 percent, progressing so rapidly the infected person may not have enough time even to develop the characteristic lymphatic tumors before death. 

Most people consider the black death to be an eradicated disease, but did you know it is still active, with hundreds of cases per year and isolated flare-ups around the world. The disease is still carried by prairie dogs, chipmunks, moles, squirrels, rabbits, and mice. Most modern cases of the bubonic plague occur in central Asia and Africa, but yearly cases are also reported from states across the southwestern United States. Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have the highest reported cases in the US, with most deaths only occurring after complications from the disease or lack of treatment. 

The black death is best treated with antibiotics after 24 hours of exposure, but infected people can still make a complete recovery as long as they receive treatment. Fatalities usually only occur when the disease is left untreated. It can run its course carrying a 30 to 90 percent fatality rate compared to less than 10 percent with treatment. 

Understanding past pandemics and epidemics are vital for preparing for and treating future events. If the coronavirus mortality rates were similar to the bubonic plague, the world’s population would have been irreversibly damaged. For comparison, covid19’s case fatality rate is approximately 1.2 percent for the 497 million people that have contracted the disease, an almost minuscule statistic among the global population now totaling more than 7.9 billion people.

Will Global Warming Cause Another Pandemic?

Amidst the already ongoing pandemic, new fears amount of increasing susceptibility toward ancient bacterias previously frozen in rapidly melting ice sheets at the poles. Ancient viruses, bacteria, and fungi from the past have laid dormant for millions of years, frozen under thick layers of ice. Many of these bacteria were not present on Earth’s surface at the same time as humans, and experts are unsure of the effects their reintroduction to the planet entails for humanity’s future. 

These ancient micro bacteria may include unknown species, previously eradicated pathogens, and certain types of robust bacteria able to survive immense amounts of environmental stress. Pathogens, viruses, dust, gas, and particulate matter settled into the glaciers and polar ice caps as they formed gradually over millions of years. Scientists are able to study the preserved microbiomes by sampling cores from deep within the frozen ground and ice. Frozen cores provide a snapshot of the Earth’s surface at various times throughout its history and include an array of vital environmental information. 

Each layer of the ice preserves atmospheric profiles, which scientists use to infer global temperatures, weather, composition, and more about ancient environments. The core samples give scientists a unique look into Earth’s prehistoric microbiomes for use as an indicator of future climate conditions. They study the microbiome’s genomics to understand better how these bacteria and viruses can survive in the extreme ice conditions, potentially useful for finding life on other frozen planets. Most samples are completely harmless and immediately destroyed after analysis to prevent global contamination. Still, there is always a fear of releasing a harmful microorganism if global temperature increases continue to melt the ice. 

Global warming has been a constant topic on the world stage during the 21st century as ice sheets melt, sea levels rise, and industrial emissions pollute the environment. Countries at the most immediate risk of climate change are low-lying areas impacted by sea-level rise. However, the threat of invading ancient pathogens could impact all of humanity. A child died, and twenty people were hospitalized in 2016 following the release of an ancient anthrax spore after thawing a section of frozen Siberian soil. 

This event ignited international worry that other deadly diseases could be revived, including formerly eradicated diseases like smallpox and the black plague. These human ailments could be potentially reanimated from frozen corpses trapped in the ice, dating back to early humans. Modern humans lack the immune defenses to fend off these deadly pathogens and are at even greater risk to unknown species. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that even if global temperatures are maintained to only 2 degrees Celsius increase by 2100, more than 25 percent of the global permafrost would still melt. Worst-case scenarios where global temperatures exceed 5 degrees Celsius would mean a catastrophic loss of up to 70 percent of the permafrost melted. To ensure minimal contact with potentially deadly ancient viruses, infrastructure, and human development must avoid newly thawed habitats. The released pathogens and viruses leach into the groundwater and saturate topsoil where humans could come into contact with them and transmit them globally.