Eric writes:
I’m just an astronomer who has been listening to TWIV since February, but I know this one. The first letter indicates the date range when it was discovered (S means Sept. 16-30) and the second letter indicates the order discovered within that date range (O means the 14th object discovered because I is omitted). See https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/info/DesDoc.html for more details.
Eric Schulman
Co-discoverer of minor planet 1993 GZ
Anonymous writes:
Free Covid-19 rapid testing provided by the City of Vienna at the Austria Center Vienna
As you may have heard in the local news, the city of Vienna has established another centre for free COVID-19 rapid testing at the Austria Center Vienna. Results are provided in 15 minutes.
Alternatively, a drive-through testing facility is available in the underground garage beneath the venue. You will receive a confirmation of your test result on the spot, which is valid for 24 hours.
For more information please visit https://www.acv.at/en/rapid-testing/
Cameron writes:
Dear Dr Racaniello et al,
Thank you for your fantastic podcast, it has been a tremendous resource for me this year and I have directed a number of other people to it, including scientists, doctors, policymakers, and some med students. I am a former sensory and cognitive neuroscientist, now studying medicine. I had to pause my TWiV habit whilst preparing for examinations, so apologies if this has already been covered (we just finished our year down here in the Australia). I have what I hope/think is a fairly simple question about vaccination and testing. I have had trouble working out exactly which RNA segments the various SARS-Cov-2 pcr tests target with their primers, but if it is the spike protein, is there a concern that vaccines which rely on inducing expression of spike could induce false positive tests? As far as I can tell, this would be all of the vaccines… as you have pointed out, the eggs are all in the spike basket, so vaccines with a genetic payload must either include or induce mRNA encoding spike. Certainly including everything we currently have data on… AZ/Oxford, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna. I have read that the vaccine trials use PCR… so this must not really be happening. Is this because the primers are targeted at RNA encoding a protein other than spike, or parts of spike that are not included in the vaccine, because the rna/protein expression induced by vaccination is low level/for a limited time, or something else I’m not thinking of? I could imagine a similar question being relevant in immunological testing, if such testing was targeted at antibodies to spike or the spike protein itself. So, a similar follow-up question: will vaccination render serological surveys difficult/impossible? Thanks for considering, and thanks also for all your work disseminating good information to the general public.
Dr Cameron McKenzie, PhD
Joint Medical Program (1st Year)
University of Newcastle
Fj writes:
Dear Team TWIV.
Love your podcast and listen regularly. We are thankful and relieved you are doing what you do. You have been an island of reason in a sea of hysteria these past few months and our primary source of reliable information on the disease.
There are many questions, but this is the one I am sending, and I hope it is not too basic : why were they able to create a vaccine for this particular coronavirus? Did I understand correctly that most coronaviruses have no vaccine?
Thanks.
PS We will still listen to your podcast when the pandemic is over…
Frances (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)
Fj
Brandon writes:
Tony Fauci is among this year’s nominees for Time’s Person of the Year. Essential workers, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Taiwan Prime Minister Tsai Ing-wen, German Chancellor Angela Markel, and U.S. President Elect Joe Biden are also among the nominees. At the time of writing, essential workers and Tony Fauci are in the lead by a wide margin. Polling can be found at the link below:
https://time.com/person-of-the-year-reader-poll-2020/
Vr: I’d pick essential workers
Janet writes:
For repeated ‘A’s: Chopin’s Prelude no. 15, op. 28 (raindrop prelude); maybe not 33 per phrase but I haven’t counted!
here’s Horowitz
Allen writes:
Link 1: Possibly of interest to Twivers. Counterintuitive window opening in cars may reduce Covid risk.
Link 2: Useful graph from Pfizer on difference between vaccinated and anti-vaxer (placebo) Covid acquisition
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/10/1013914/pfizer-biontech-vaccine-chart-covid-19/
From NEJM The graphic (below), released by Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, shows the difference in covid-19 infection rates between the people in their trial who got a novel gene vaccine and those who got a placebo.
PFIZER/BIONTECH/NEJM
The volunteers who were given a placebo shot appear as the blue line. The ones who got a vaccine are in red. Each time either line jumps up, that’s when a new covid-19 case occurred.
What the data shows is that during the first week after getting their shots, both groups of people kept getting covid-19 at about the same rate. But after that, the lines start to separate. And they just keep separating and separating.
That’s the result of the vaccine taking effect, which usually takes a few days and gets boosted by a second dose. After two weeks, hardly anyone with the vaccine was getting covid-19. But the disease kept striking those who got the placebo with clockwork regularity.
Chelsea writes:
Hello Vincent et al.,
I have a question as we head into the holiday season, those of us in the warmer climates have moved our small (6-10 people) family gatherings outside. I’m wondering if it is safe to attend these? Have there been any studies done on outdoor transmission of SARS-CoV-2? I know you all say “the plural of anecdote is not data”, however I have heard of outdoor transmission happening and have also heard the opposite. I’m not getting a clear answer here from anywhere I look so I’d like to hear your thoughts. If I do attend a family gathering, I plan on wearing a mask even if outdoors. I think I will be the only one wearing one because everyone believes if we’re outdoors it’s unlikely we can catch Covid. Would love your expert opinion. Just wanted to say I love your show and listen to it all the time, even when I’m procrastinating and should be studying :).
A Pre-Nursing Student in Berkeley, CA
Chelsea