COVID-19 Pandemic -- Technology Links

COVID-19 Pandemic -- Technology Links

URL: http://www.EdwardMiller.com/COVID/links.html


Background & Explanation
  • These days there is so much non-objective "fake news" and incorrect information flying around that it is very difficult to separate fact from fiction, data from fantasy. Something had to be done to disambiguate.
  • This page provides links to important and timely -- and mostly well vetted -- technical information concerning the COVID-19 epidemic, including full URLs for all pages or documents cited. To emphasize the astonishing speed at which information is collected and analyzed, articles are in date-of-appearance order; the most recent (youngest) links are at the bottom of each category.
  • In many ways, the time-sequence given below is a very good illustration of the unprecedented international cooperation in combating the threat. A thrilling story as the details unfold.
  • This collection is not in any way intended to gainsay the very sophisticated Wikipedia article on Coronavirus Disease 2019. That Wikipedia page was started on 5 February 2020 by "Fungchilong"; it is updated many times a day by contributors/editors from all over the world. The page now has 339 references as of 27 April 2020.
  • It was pointed out in the most-recent issue of Science that after January 2020, there are over 50,000 preprints and fully-refereed articles on COVID-19. They call it an "onslaught!" Never has so much been written about one subject in so short a time. A tribute to the world-wide scientific community.

Highlights: Tracking The Epidemic
(Click on a highlighted keyword to navigate the page down to the relevant reference.)
Latest Developments (Most Recent At Top)
(Click on a highlighted keyword to navigate the page down to the relevant reference.)
  • A recent paper suggests that COVID-19 is actually a blood vessel disease, which would have some important implications.
  • In response to suggestions that the Wuhan lab released or created COVID-10, Prof. Zhengli Shi among others has published a preprint that traces the virus to the Chinese horseshoe bat. And China announces $2B to go to WHO for vaccine development.
  • A top-level panel of authors, including Dr. Fauci, advocates for a strategic approach to COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment.
  • Basic surveys with antibody tests have been done, but they may be unreliable according to one analyst.
  • Of particular interest to asthmatics, this paper shows asthma is not necessarily a risk factor.
  • Chinese Vaccine Developments
    • Perhaps the Chinese have a COVID-19 vaccine, one that is now ready to go into human trials.
    • Even better news is that a COVID-19 vaccine shows effectiveness in a 195-person clinical trial!
    • (It is unclear if this is the same group or same vaccine.)
  • A new orally bioavailable theraputic drug shows very good promise may soon go into clinical trials.
  • A study by two "mathematical biologists" suggests that the actual morbidity rate is 1/100 to even 1/1000 what we are seeing now, due to the vastly under-reported number of asymptomatic infections.
  • A statistical analysis out of Argentina that analyzes the data suggests that the peak of the pandemic happened on 15 April 2020 (+/- 3 days).
  • New work by DARPA's Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program envisions a "stop-gap" antibody clone that kick starts a persons own immunity response, making it possible to create herd-immunity by means other than catching and recovering from the virus.
  • The possibility of a dose-dependent response and the possibility of an "inoculation". This might explain the wide virus spread: if a lot of low-level infections are asymptomatic but also infectious then a lot more people are spreading the virus than just those with symptoms.
  • Dr. Ai in China, a whistleblower, who had worked with Dr. Li Weinliang, tried to alert people to the discovery of a SARS-like virus -- he later died from the Coronavirus -- and now she has disappeared.
  • This epidemic will be us for a long time, says The Atlantic, possibly as long as 18 months.
  • At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, delivery of a candidate vaccine with micro-needle patch appears to induce low-level epidermal responses and produce effective antibodies [albeit so far only in mice, but it's a start].
  • Sure enough, a lot of people are trying to cash in on the crisis, as the SEC Investor Alert makes clear. No big surprise here!
  • A basic resource is this one: the medRxiv and bioRxiv includes pre-prints (that are not necessarily peer-reviewed) is updated almost hourly. At 1 May 2020 there were 2,554 articles indexed.
The Situation at 1 May 2020
  • Overall, there is reason to be cautiously hopeful.
  • The pandemic statistics as of 1 May 2020...
    • Worldwide, there are 3.276 million confirmed cases, with 234 thousand deaths (7.16% morbidity).
    • In the USA, there are 1.095 million confirmed cases, with 64,184 deaths (5.86% morbidity).
    • In Belgium, there are 49,032 confirmed cases, with 7,703 deaths (15.71% morbidity).
    • In San Francisco, there are 1,499 confirmed cases, with 25 deaths (1.67% morbidity).
    • There is widespread belief that the "confirmed cases" is a fraction of the total number of infections, which if true would mean that the morbidity rates are much lower.
  • There are ~50 serological/antibody tests under development, sadly with widely varying accuracy.
  • There are ~140 vaccine development projects worldwide, and a few of them are in clinical trials.
  • There is one statistical analysis that suggests the pandemic has already peaked at 15 April 2020 (+/- 3 days), with a much lower total death toll than earlier models predicted.
  • It is quite amazing -- and heartening -- to see how rapidly the worldwide scientific community has faced the problem and is prosecuting solutions.
The Situation at 1 June 2020
  • "Cautiously hopeful" was too generous, probably.
  • The pandemic statistics as of 1 June 2020...
    • Worldwide, there are 6,207 million confirmed cases, with 373 thousand deaths (6.01% morbidity).
    • In the USA, there are 1.794 million confirmed cases, with 104,450 deaths (5.79% morbidity).
    • In Belgium, there are 58,517 confirmed cases, with 9,486 deaths (16.21% morbidity).
    • In San Francisco, there are 2,558 confirmed cases, with 42 deaths (1.64% morbidity).
The Situation at 1 August 2020
  • Updates of this list of links effectively ended in mid-July 2020: There is so much going on, so many new papers and analyses published, to be able to keep up the pace as a part-time activity.
  • Here in San Francisco, the mortality rate and the case detection percentages are the best in the USA. This is due to immediate and conclusive actions by the local government and general adherence to published guidelines by the population.
  • The case-mortality rate in San Francisco hovers at just below 1.00%.
  • The Worldometer.info site gives very good details and is also highly navigable.
  • California is among the lowest overall mortality rate (deaths per 1M population) in the USA
The Situation at 1 November 2020
  • The case-mortality rate in San Francisco hovers at about 1.00% and the city leads the USA in terms of safety.
  • This New Yorker article How the Coronavirus Hacks the Immune System is a particularly well-done summary.
  • Vaccines and thereputics are "on the way."
  • We have to keep our fingers crossed.
The Situation at 15 April 2021
  • The case-mortality rate in San Francisco continues to hover near 1%, vs. the rate in Beligum of about 3%.
  • First-shots for Edward and Rita received 3 February 2021. Minor irritation at injection site, plus fatigue, but no serious side effects.
  • Second-shots for Edward and Rita received 3 March 2021. Minor irritation at injection site, plus serious fatigue and various aches and pains,
  • We are coming up on the 13-month anniversary of SF's "Shelter in Place" order of 16 March 2020, when this page was originated.
  • Current news articles are now discussing "achieving herd immunity" in the forseeable immediate future. That should spell "the end."
  • USA now vaccinating everyone 16+, and ~40% of people have had at lest one shot.

  1. General Information
    1. 16 March 2020: Substantial undocumented infection facilitates the rapid dissemination of novel coronavirus (SARS-COV2)
      • An international set of authors, fully peer-reviewed. Note 79% unreported cases, an early estimate.
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/13/science.abb3221
    2. 27 March 2020: Not wearing masks to protect against coronavirus is a "big mistake," a top Chinese scientist says.
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says#
    3. 27 March 2020: Bill Gates on CNN: State-by-state shutdown won't work [Video, 2:52]
      • URL: https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/03/27/bill-gates-coronavirus-town-hall-shutdown-april-peak-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/stories-worth-watching/
    4. 17 April 2020: How does coronavirus kill? Clinicians trace a ferocious rampage through the body, from brain to toes.
      • Very thorough examination of the "life-cycle" of the virus.
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes
    5. 24 April 2020: The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6489/395
      • Wuhan banned outbound travel 23 January 2020, China imposed restrictions 1 February 2020 and the USA banned inbound traffic from China on 2 February 2020 and from Europe on 13 March 2020.
      • From current evidence (in this paper) the restrictions did affect China, but for the rest of the world the response was too late.
    6. 26 April 2020: A statistical forecast of LOW mortality (< 400,000 deaths) due to COVID-19, for the whole WORLD.
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.26.20074377v1
      • If the statistics are correct -- and there is little reason to doubt them -- the worldwide peak was on 15 April +/- 3 days. Which is consoling in a sad sort of way.
    7. 29 April 2020: How the Coronavirus Pandemic Unfolded: a Timeline
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html
      • A very nice timeline from 31 December 2019 through 29 April 2020 of the spread of the virus.
    8. 1 May 2020: What the Proponents of "Natural" Herd Immunity Don't Say
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-herd-immunity.html
      • This probably will happen, but it will take a long time and it won't be perfect. A vaccine will be better.
    9. 11 May 2020: A strategic approach to COVID-19 vaccine R&D
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/08/science.abc5312
      • AAAS's publication of this important essay establishes the need for a global framework for vaccine development and deployment.
      • Note that Anthony S. Fauci is the 3rd author! NIH is the defacto lead organization.
    10. 13 May 2020: Evolutionary arms race between virus and host drives genetic diversity in bat SARS related coronavirus spike genes
      • URL: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.093658v1
      • One of the authors is Zhengli Shi, who is also know as the "Bat Lady" for her long history of investigation of corona-viruses connection to the Chinese horseshoe bat.
      • 18 May 2020: China announced allocating $2B for WHO vaccine development; wants full review after vaccine.
    11. 20 May 2020: Dfferent Approaches to a Coronavirus Vaccine
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/20/science/coronavirus-vaccine-development.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
      • A very good summary of the main paths for developing an effective vaccine.
  2. Virology
    1. 29 January 2020, CDC, USA: Genomic characterization and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding [PDF]
      • There are indications that the genome's RNA had been fully sequenced by the Chinese in late December 2019
      • URL: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/genomic-characterization-of-2019-nCoV-Lancet-1-29-2020.pdf
    2. 11 March 2020: Early dynamics of transmission and control of COVID-19: a mathematical modeling study
      • URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30144-4/fulltext
    3. 17 March 2020: Will Coronavirus Pandemic Diminish by Summer?
      • URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3556998
    4. 17 March 2020: Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1
      • URL: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973?query=featured_home
    5. 23 March 2020: Impact of changing case definitions for COVID-19 on the epidemic curve and transmission parameters in mainland China
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.23.20041319v1
    6. 30 March 2020, The Atlantic: The Four Possible Time-lines for Life Returning to Normal
      • URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-social-distancing-over-back-to-normal/608752/
    7. 31 March 2020: Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/30/science.abb6936
    8. 2 April 2020: Is China Underreporting Its Coronavirus Figures?
      • URL: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/morning-brief-china-under-reporting-coronavirus-figures
      • This is critical: without accurate data (positive or negative, no matter) you can't combat the virus.
    9. 2 April 2020: Missing: Wuhan Whistleblower Doctor Who Alerted Colleagues Over CCP Virus
      • Is this a real mystery novel/movie in the making? Wait and see!
      • URL: https://www.theepochtimes.com/missing-wuhan-whistleblower-doctor-who-alerted-colleagues-over-ccp-virus_3294934.html
    10. 2 April 2020: A highly conserved cryptic epitope in the receptor-binding domains of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV
      • The connection between SARS and SARS-2 ought to help make a vaccine available more rapidly.
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/02/science.abb7269
    11. 14 April 2020: Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/14/science.abb5793
    12. 14 April 2020: Patient-derived mutations impact pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20060160v1
      • Mutations don't affect pathogenicity, but there are > 11 variations the induce varying viral loading, up to a 270-fold difference.
    13. 16 April 2020: Asthma Is Absent Among Top Covid-19 Risk Factors, Early Data Shows
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/health/coronavirus-asthma-risk.html
      • This paper is particularly important for asthmatics -- that alone does not make you susceptible.
    14. 16 April 2020: The Infection That's Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients`
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/coronavirus-testing-pneumonia.html
      • Early un-detected pneumonia results in more-severe admissions to hospitals, which are correspondingly harder to cure due to the advanced state of the pneumonia upon presentation. The co-morbidity factor evidently amplifies the virus.
    15. 17 April 2020: Suppression of COVID-19 outbreak in the municipality of Vo, Italy
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.20053157v1
      • In two rounds, they tested 2,812 and 2,343 persons (85.9% and 71.5%) and found that 2.6% of the entire town was infected, but 43.2% and 32.2% were asymptomatic.
    16. 29 April 2020: Spike mutation pipeline reveals the emergence of a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2
      • URL: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.29.069054v1
      • Postulates a more-virulent strain of COVID-19, but more-virulent also means lower morbidity. There's a shifting balance between virulence and morbidity.
    17. 6 May 2020: The immune system of children: the key to understanding SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility?
      • URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30135-8/fulltext
      • Older people evidently don't build antibodies quite as quickly as do children, and very often co-morbidity factors take over and yield a negative outcome.
    18. 19 May 2020: Why do some COVID-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all?
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/why-do-some-covid-19-patients-infect-many-others-whereas-most-don-t-spread-virus-all
      • There seems to be no simple answer as to why infectees account for such a wide range of re-infections.
    19. 08 June 2020: Genomic surveillance reveals multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Northern California
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/06/05/science.abb9263
      • This study identifies Bay Area sources for COVID-19 ifections from genomic strains as arising from all over the world.
      • [Rita and Edward wonder if they were themselves super-spreaders: having made 14 airport transits, between 10 December 10 December 2019 and 24 January 2020, having visited England, Belgium, and Spain; and having attended 7 events with more than 100 people present within two weeks after returning to SF?]
    20. 09 June 2020: Analysis of hospital traffic and search engine data in Wuhan China indicates early disease activity in the Fall of 2019
      • URL: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/42669767
      • If these studies are correct, the COVID-19 virus was spreading as early as late-Summser 2019 -- August 2019 -- long before it was publically announced the Wuhan, China, authorities.
  3. Morbidity
    1. 3 April 2020: Using ILI surveillance to estimate state-specific case detection rates and forecast SARS-CoV-2 spread in the United States
      • This paper suggests that the actual mobidity is ~0.1%, not much different from the regular "flu". How could this be?
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.01.20050542v1
    2. 6 April 2020 Issue of NewYorker: How Does the Coronavirus Behave Inside a Patient?
      • Describes steps along the path toward a "dose-response curve" for COV-19. Very complicated reactions, highly specific to individuals.
      • URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/06/how-does-the-coronavirus-behave-inside-a-patient
    3. 17 April 2020: Rapid development of an inactivated vaccine for SARS-CoV-2
      • URL: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.046375v1
      • An attenuated virus vaccine against COVID-19 seems to work in a small (pilot-scale) study on monkeys.
      • Promising result, but may be too early to tell if this is going to work on humans, or at scale.
    4. 22 April 2020: Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area
      • URL: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2765184?
      • It appears that 21% of all hospitalized cases had a serious pre-existing condition, and this JAMA article presents the data in great detail.
  4. Detection of Virus [DMA/RNA, non-serological tests]
    1. 16 March 2024: News Item: COVID-19 SCREENING AND TESTING SUPPORT IN CALIFORNIA
      • URL: https://verily.com/
      • This is the Google Alphabet subsidiary that is offering screening in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in CA.
    2. 27 March 2020: Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6485/1444
  5. Detection of Antibodies [Serological tests]
    1. 27 February 2020: Singapore claims first use of antibody test to track coronavirus infections
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/singapore-claims-first-use-antibody-test-track-coronavirus-infections
    2. 11 March 2020: Development of a Laboratory-safe and Low-cost Detection Protocol for SARS-CoV-2 of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
      • URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32156101
    3. 19 March 2020: New blood tests for antibodies could show true scale of coronavirus pandemic
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/new-blood-tests-antibodies-could-show-true-scale-coronavirus-pandemic
    4. 31 March 2020 (Press Release): COVID-19 IgM/IgG Rapid Test
      • URL: https://www.biomedomics.com/products/infectious-disease/covid-19-rt/
      • BioMedomics, Morrisville, NC: RTP Commercial Firm Advertising Page that very truthfully explains false-positive and false-negative percentages.
      • WMM mentioned this.
    5. 27 March 2020: The FDA just okayed multiple 15-minute blood tests to screen for coronavirus, but there are caveats
      • URL: https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/27/the-fda-just-okayed-multiple-15-minute-blood-tests-to-screen-for-coronavirus-but-there-are-caveats/
    6. 27 March 2020, Abbott Labs: Detect COVID-19 In As Little As 5 Minutes
      • URL: https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/product-and-innovation/detect-covid-19-in-as-little-as-5-minutes.html
      • They claim they are ramping up production to deliver 50,000 test machines per day (unclear if that is machines, or sample kits)
  6. Possible Immunity Development
    1. 27 March 2020: How antibody tests work and could help fight the coronavirus (UK)
      • URL: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic-how-antibody-blood-tests-work
    2. 31 March 2020: Becton Dickinson, BioMedomics launch test to detect past, current coronavirus exposure
      • URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/becton-dickinson-biomedomics-launch-test-011549863.html
    3. 14 April 2020: COVID-19 Antibody Seroprevalence in Santa Clara County, California
      • URL: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463v1
      • The first widespread testing shows infections 50-85 times more than earlier reported. Almost two orders of magnitude!
    4. 22 April 2020: Antibody surveys suggesting vast undercount of coronavirus infections may be unreliable
      • URL: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/antibody-surveys-suggesting-vast-undercount-coronavirus-infections-may-be-unreliable
    5. 24 April 2020: Coronavirus Antibody Tests: Can You Trust the Results?
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/health/coronavirus-antibody-tests.html
      • NYTimes article, explaining that only 3 of 14 available antibody tests are reliable, and it points out the danger of a high false-positive percentage.
    6. 24 April 2020: "Immunity passports" in the context of COVID-19
      • URL: https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/immunity-passports-in-the-context-of-covid-19
      • WHO says, too early for an accurate "proof of immunity" -- but they are being very, very scientific and conservative. They don't say it is impossible, just not yet justified scientifically. Reasonable enough.
    7. 20 May 2020: ARS-CoV-2 infection protects against rechallenge in rhesus macaques
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/19/science.abc4776
      • Hurrah! Immunity has been demonstrated in monkeys, and moving on to humans!
  7. Novel and Unusual Approaches
    1. 2 May 2020 (5 March 2020 (30 March 2020)): DARPA Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3)
      • URL: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/darpas-firebreak-treatment-for-the-coronavirus
      • See also 30 March 2020: Voices from DARPA-- Preventing Pandemics
      • Only recently (2 May 2020), news broke that teams at Duke and Vanderbilt have narrowed their search to only five antibodies, which they have cloned and are aiming to try out as a "kick start" against COV-19.
      • The neat thing about this is you own body manufactures antibodies without actually having to have had the virus -- hence, instant immunity!
    2. 29 May 2020: Coronavirus May Be a Blood Vessel Disease, Which Explains Everything
      • URL: https://elemental.medium.com/amp/p/2c4032481ab2
      • This appears to be orthogonal to most other thinking, but the insights may be valuable in enhancing the understanding of COVID-19's biological processes.
      • The key difference suggested here is that the virus generally attacks blood vessals, not just specifically the epithelial cells in the lung (i.e. respiratory disease). If true, this puts COVID-19 in the same category as the Ebola virus -- not a pleasant thought.
  8. Treatments, Prophylactics, Theraputics, Vaccines
    1. 16 March 2020: NIH clinical trial of investigational vaccine for COVID-19 begins
      • URL: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins
    2. 18 March 2020: Israeli Research Center to Announce It Developed Coronavirus Vaccine, Sources Say
      • URL: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-coronavirus-vaccine-israel-biological-research-institute-develope-1.8665074
    3. 23 March 2020: As the First Coronavirus Vaccine Human Trials Begin, Manufacturer Is Already Preparing to Scale Production to Millions
      • URL: https://time.com/5807669/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna/
    4. 27 March 2020, EDITORIAL: COVID-19 needs a Manhattan Project
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6485/1407
      • Note: At least 44 vaccines in early-stage development. And, the number is growing.
    5. 27 March 2020: How hard is it to create an anti-viral treatment for Covid-19? Join our AAAS Community chat TODAY
      • URL: Gmail-to-EFM-2020_03_27.pdf (Local PDF file created from received Gmail message.)
      • Email received 27 March 2020 illustrating extreme interest among researchers.
    6. 1 April 2020: Microneedle array delivered recombinant coronavirus vaccines: Immunogenicity and rapid translational development
    7. 3 April 2020: Clues to COVID-19 coronavirus's vulnerability emerge from an antibody against SARS
      • URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200403103959.htm
      • Does "CR3002" antibody kill COVID-19?
    8. 4 April 2020: Receptor Recognition by the Novel Coronavirus from Wuhan: an Analysis Based on Decade-Long Structural Studies of SARS Coronavirus
      • URL: https://jvi.asm.org/content/jvi/94/7/e00127-20.full.pdf
      • This is a detailed structural study of SARS-COV-2.
    9. 6 April 2020: An orally bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human airway epithelial cell cultures and multiple coronaviruses in mice [Preprint; published Science Translational Medicine on 29 April 2020].
      • URL: https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/03/scitranslmed.abb5883
      • This works in cultured human epithelial cells and mice; is a real trial coming soon?
    10. 22 April 2020: Structure-based design of antiviral drug candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/21/science.abb4489
      • This is an important breakthrough in the constructive approach to an effective vaccine.
    11. 06 May 2020: Rapid development of an inactivated vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/05/science.abc1932
      • An actual vaccine! And what irony -- from a group in China! [Will the USA with its severely poisoned politics, dis-allow importation of this vaccine if it is proven effective?] i
    12. 13 May 2020: A noncompeting pair of human neutralizing antibodies block COVID-19 virus binding to its receptor ACE2
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/12/science.abc2241
      • An all-Chinese team focuses on virus specific neutralizing antibodies.
      • "The neutralizing antibodies themselves are also promising candidates for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment against COVID-19 virus." (Last sentence in paper.)
    13. 20 May 2020: DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/19/science.abc6284
      • A series of DNA-based vaccine candidates shows good effect in monkeys.
    14. 22 May 2020: Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine: a dose-escalation, open-label, non-randomised, first-in-human trial
      • URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31208-3/fulltext
      • A "recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine" goes into phase 1 clinical trials which showed COVID-19 immunity starting 28 days after the vacinnation.
    15. 05 June 2020: Sex hormones signal why virus hits men harder
      • URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6495/1038
      • Evidence suggests that men with "male pattern baldness" are much more likely to have severe consequences of COVID-19 infections.
  9. Derivative and Analytic Studies and Criticism Thereof
    1. 19 March 2020: Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance
      • URL: https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56
      • This article references a very sophisticated epidemic model, cited below.
    2. ~22 March 2020: Criticism of the Hammer and the Dance
      • URL: https://www.fiphysician.com/criticism-hammer-and-dance/
      • A more realistic discussion of the "Hammer and the Dance" paper, this paints a more optimistic picture.
  10. Commercialization
    1. 6 May 2020: Look Out for Coronavirus-Related Investment Scams - Investor Alert
      • URL: https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ia_coronavirus?mod=article_inline
      • The SEC does not suspend trading in a "pink sheet" stock for no reason. Inevitably, some people see this crisis as a lucrative business opportunity to be exploited. Yet, some of these firms may be legitimate (and their stock has been permitted to continue trading after a pause).
  11. Resources
    1. Epidemic Calculator
      • URL: http://gabgoh.github.io/COVID/index.html
      • Introduced very early, it is just the raw mathematics and thus may be misleading.
      • The website of the author: Gabriel Goh, who has a PhD in Mathematics from UC/Davis (2016) and now works for OpenAI in San Francisco.
      • The reference he used in the model shown in the page is the SEIR Model [Wikipedia].
    2. COVID-19 Projections
      • URL: https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections
      • This projection has sections down to the state level for the USA, and is updated daily.
    3. NYTimes: Coronavirus Deaths by U.S. State and Country Over Time: Daily Tracker
      • URL: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/21/upshot/coronavirus-deaths-by-country.html
      • This chart shows morbidity growth on a log-scale, and identifies the rate of growth.
      • At 1 June 2020, this data is no longer being updated; the page points to a different tracker.
    4. SF Chronicle: San Francisco Chronicle, Coronavirus Tracker
      • URL: https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/coronavirus-map/
    5. Johns Hopkins University: Coronavirus Resource Center
      • URL: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
    6. NYTimes: Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak
      • URL:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html#us
      • This page leads to many other supporting links and charts.
    7. Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance
      • URL: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
      • Has dynamically sortable tables up/down of all key statistics.
    8. Regional coverage in Belgium, EU
      • Gives city-by-city coverage in Belgium.
    9. COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv
      • 1000's of articles on COV-10/SARS-CoV-2, updated hourly.
      • At 3 May 2020, this combined search shows 2690 preprints since 1 January 2000 only on Covid-19.
    10. WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard
      • Very accurate worldwide statistics.

     


    Update History
    Monday 16 March 2020
    	San Francisco Shelter-In-Place order issued.
    Wednesday 18 March 2020
    	California Shelter-In-Place order issued.
    Wednesday 25 March 2020
    	Started file the accumulate interesting pages about COVID-19.  
    Thursday 26 March 2020
    	Moved it from SR to EdwardMiller.com for now.
    	Fixed on a format and made public.  Got all the links corrected.
    	Added link re structural basis for COVID-19 binding mechanism.
    	Added link to "Manhattan Project" editorial in Science.
    Friday 27 March 2020
    	Added two more links in diagnostic section
    	Found correct link for the NYT charts of deaths/day and correct that.
    	Added Email from Stanford research about chat 27 March 2020.
    Saturday 28 March 2020
    	Added links from Juris Borzovs and the model reference therein. 
    	Added link to Lancet article that uses stochastic methods.
    Sunday 29 March 2020
    	Minor corrections and additions.  Compacted format.
    Monday 30 March 2020
    	More links added; there are some positive signs as CA's numbers turn somewhat better.
    	Put links in increasing date order insofar as possible.
    	Added news about Abbott Labs machine released to the USA new media this afternoon.
    	Added CDC's paper on first release of the sequence on 29 January 2020.
    Tuesday 31 March 2020
    	After WMM chat added Bill Gates' interview on CNN.
    Wednesday 01 April 2020
    	Three more links including one from WMM.
    Thursday 02 April 2020
    	Added NewYorker article about dose-response curve of virus.
    	Added top-of-page summary and intra-page linking.  Corrected spellings.
    Friday 03 April 2020
    	Added in the Atlantic article, courtesy of WMM.  Scary stuff.  Factoids:
    		COVID-19	Smallpox
    		RNA		DNA
    		120 nm		300 nm 
    		27-34 Kbp	186 Kbp
    Saturday 04 April 2020
    	Did some basic updating; four papers added.
    Sunday 05 April 2020
    	Added statistics link from PTM.
    Monday 06 April 2020
    	Per PTM, added in an SF Chronicle CA-only stats site that also shows national trends.
    	Also added JHU's dashboard.
    Tuesday 07 April 2020
    	Fixed typos
    Wednesday 08 April 2020
    	New item about effectiveness of treatment medicine.
    	California mortality is doubling every 6 days vs. Belgium at every 5 days.  Fixed spelling.
    Saturday 11 April 2020
    	New paper suggesting gross miss-interpretation of the data.
    Sunday 12 April 2020
    	Highlighted the 0.1% morbidity paper; seems to be verified.
    Wednesday 15 April 2020
    	More papers and Resources section; added URL.  
    Friday 17 April 2020
    	Moved constant stuff into Resources
    Saturday 18 April 2020
    	Added a couple of articles.
    Monday 20 April 2020
    	Rearranged undated stuff into Resources at bottom, all going to new tab.  Spellchecked.
    	Fixed grammatical errors pointed out by RCC.
    Tuesday 21 April 2020
    	New treatment observations at Bellvue in NYC.  Mutations are mostly benign, say Chinese researchers.
    Wednesday 22 April 2020
    	Questions about antibody testing accuracy.  New structure-based antiviral drug candidate.
    	https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20200331_04908361 -- Regional coverage in Belgium
    Thursday 23 April 2020
    	Added article saying 21% of hospitalizations had pre-existing condition.
    Saturday 25 April 2020
    	New vaccine out of China has early good results.  Linked in Belgium coverage.
    Sunday 26 April 2020
    	Immunity passport unjustified; 
    Monday 27 April 2020
    	New category for immunity (splitting the previously grouped category); fixed typos.
    Friday 01 May 2020
    	New statistical study. Started a status at 1 May section, but what to say, really?.
    Sunday 03 May 2020
    	Editing and updating.  Added DARPA study -- a truly novel approach!
    Tuesday 05 May 2020
    	New LANL study about mutations being more viral.
    Wednesday 06 May 2020
    	Travel ban paper from 24 April Science issue added.
    Thursday 07 May 2020
    	New vaccine by the Chinese (what irony!), plus insights on why children are more more resistant.
    Monday 11 May 2020
    	Added item about COVID-19 SEC stock halts, per RCC.
    Tuesday 12 May 2020
    	Added AAAS's policy policy forum paper which includes Fauci as an author.
    	Added AD's piece from the NYT on herd immunity.
    Wednesday 13 May 2020
    	New AAAS paper by chinese aiming for a anti-body based vaccine.
    Sunday 17 May 2020
    	New paper out of Wuhan, including Zengh-Li Shi as an author -- she's the "bat lady".
    Monday 18 May 2020
    	China announced $2B for WHO vaccine development; wants WHO review post-vaccine.
    Thursday 21 May 2020
    	China is going full-bore!  
    Saturday 23 May 2020
    	Two new reports from China re vaccines.
    	Added AD's item.
    Saturday 30 May 2020
    	Added in the paper from elemental+ suggesting a bizarre interpretation: it's a blood disease!
    	(A suggestion from Susi and David) 
    Monday 08 June 2020
    	Quiet week: some things changd.  Added possible EFM+RMB super-spreader possibility?
    Saturday 13 June 2020
    	Added male pattern baldness paper.
    Monday 15 June 2020
    	Backed up file to links.2020_06_15.html
    Wednesday 15 July 2020
    	Added WHO stats link.  This seems to be pretty accurate.
    Sunday 19 July 2020
    	Added worldometerss.info/coronavirus/ link.
    Saturday 26 September 2020
    	Final updates; too much, too fast to realistically keep up in a part-time activity.
    Thursday 08 October 2020
    	Added all-USA tracking page.
    Wednesday 11 November 2020
    	Updated with NewYorker article; time to close this off?
    Saturday 20 February 2021
    	Updated to situation at 15 February 2021; getting close to the end.
    Friday 19 March 2021
    	Fixed typos; near the end because we now have had our vaccine shots.