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<title>13 April, 2022</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>COVID-19 on mind: Daily worry about the coronavirus is linked to negative affect experienced during mind-wandering but not during dreaming</strong> -
<div>
Despite a surge of studies on the effects of COVID-19 on our well-being, we know little about how the pandemic is reflected in people’s spontaneous thoughts and experiences, such as mind-wandering (or daydreaming) during wakefulness and dreaming during sleep. We investigated whether and how COVID-19 related general concern, anxiety, and daily worry are associated with the daily fluctuation of the affective quality of mind-wandering and dreaming, and to what extent these associations can be explained by poor sleep quality. We used ecological momentary assessment by asking participants to rate the affect they experienced during mind-wandering and dreaming in daily logs over a two-week period. Our preregistered analyses based on 1758 dream logs from 172 individuals and 1517 mind-wandering logs from 153 individuals showed that, on days when people experienced more worry, they reported higher levels of negative affect, and lower levels of positive affect, during mind-wandering. Only daily sleep quality was associated with affect experienced during dreaming: on nights with poorer sleep quality people reported experiencing more negative and less positive affect in dreams and were more likely to experience nightmares. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that: (a) COVID-19 related general concern, anxiety, and daily worry were not related to daily sleep quality; (b) individuals who experienced more negative affect during mind-wandering also experienced more negative affect during dreaming, and (c) negative affect during mind-wandering fully mediated the relationship between daily COVID-19 worry and dream affect at the between-person level. As such, daily COVID-19 worry is linked to the affective quality of mind-wandering but not to that of dreaming.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/bk4tn/" target="_blank">COVID-19 on mind: Daily worry about the coronavirus is linked to negative affect experienced during mind-wandering but not during dreaming</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Highlighting COVID-19 Racial Disparities Can Reduce Support for Safety Precautions Among White U.S. Residents</strong> -
<div>
U.S. media has extensively covered racial disparities in COVID-19 infections and deaths. In two preregistered studies, we examined whether perceptions of COVID-19 racial disparities predict White U.S. residents’ attitudes toward COVID-19 (and people of color). Utilizing a correlational design (N = 498), we found that those who perceived COVID-19 racial disparities to be greater reported reduced fear of COVID-19, which predicted reduced support for COVID-19 safety precautions. In Study 2, we manipulated exposure to information about COVID-19 racial disparities (N = 1,505). Reading about the persistent inequalities that produced COVID-19 racial disparities reduced fear of COVID-19, empathy for those vulnerable to COVID-19, and support for safety precautions. As the racial majority group in the U.S., White residents’ attitudes toward COVID-19 (and other future public health concerns) have the potential to considerably influence public health policies. These findings suggest that publicizing racial health disparities could create a vicious cycle wherein raising awareness reduces support for the very policies that could protect public health and reduce disparities.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/td4cs/" target="_blank">Highlighting COVID-19 Racial Disparities Can Reduce Support for Safety Precautions Among White U.S. Residents</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Model evolution in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein sequences using a generative neural network</strong> -
<div>
Modelling evolutionary elements inherent in protein sequences, emerging from one clade into another of the SARS- CoV-2 virus, would provide insights to augment our understanding of its impact on public health and may help in formulating better strategies to contain its spread. Deep learning methods have been used to model protein sequences for SARS-CoV-2 viruses. A few significant drawbacks in these studies include being deficient in modelling end-to-end protein sequences, modelling only those genomic positions that show high activity and upsampling the number of sequences at each genomic position for balancing the frequency of mutations. To mitigate such drawbacks, the current approach uses a generative model, an encoder-decoder neural network, to learn the natural progression of spike protein sequences through adjacent clades of the phylogenetic tree of Nextstrain clades. Encoder transforms a set of spike protein sequences from the source clade (20A) into its latent representation. Decoder uses the latent representation, along with Gaussian distributed noise, to generate a different set of protein sequences that are closer to the target clade (20B). The source and target clades are adjacent nodes in the phylogenetic tree of different evolving clades of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Sequences of amino acids are generated, for the entire length, at each genomic position using the latent representation of the amino acid generated at a previous step. Using trained models, protein sequences from the source clade are used to generate sequences that form a collection of evolved sequences belonging to all children clades of the source clade. A comparison of this predicted evolution (between source and generated sequences) of proteins with the true evolution (between source and target sequences) shows a high pearson correlation (&gt; 0.7). Moreover, the distribution of the frequencies of substitutions per genomic position, including high- and low-frequency positions, in source-target sequences and source-generated sequences exhibit a high resemblance (pearson correlation &gt; 0.7). In addition, the model partially predicts a few substitutions at specific genomic positions for the sequences of unseen clades (20J (Gamma)) where they show little activity during training. These outcomes show the potential of this approach in learning the latent mechanism of evolution of SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences.
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.12.487999v1" target="_blank">Model evolution in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein sequences using a generative neural network</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Genome wide screen of RNAi molecules against SARS-CoV-2 creates a broadly potent prophylaxis</strong> -
<div>
Expanding the arsenal of prophylactic approaches against SARS-CoV-2 is of utmost importance, specifically those strategies that are resistant to antigenic drift in Spike. Here, we conducted a screen with over 16,000 RNAi triggers against the SARS-CoV-2 genome using a massively parallel assay to identify hyper-potent siRNAs. We selected 10 candidates for in vitro validation and found five siRNAs that exhibited hyper-potent activity with IC50&lt;20pM and strong neutralisation in live virus experiments. We further enhanced the activity by combinatorial pairing of the siRNA candidates to develop siRNA cocktails and found that these cocktails are active against multiple types of variants of concern (VOC). We examined over 2,000 possible mutations to the siRNA target sites using saturation mutagenesis and identified broad protection against future variants. Finally, we demonstrated that intranasal administration of the siRNA cocktail effectively attenuates clinical signs and viral measures of disease in the Syrian hamster model. Our results pave the way to development of an additional layer of antiviral prophylaxis that is orthogonal to vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.12.488010v1" target="_blank">Genome wide screen of RNAi molecules against SARS-CoV-2 creates a broadly potent prophylaxis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-lineages BA.1 and BA.2 using a high-resolution melting-based assay: A pilot study</strong> -
<div>
The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide. As of March 2022, Omicron variant BA.2 is rapidly replacing variant BA.1. As variant BA.2 may cause more severe disease than variant BA.1, variant BA.2 requires continuous monitoring. The current study aimed to develop a novel high-resolution melting (HRM) assay for variants BA.1 and BA.2 and to determine the sensitivity and specificity of our method using clinical samples. Here, we focused on the mutational spectra at three regions in the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD; R408, G446/L452, and S477/T478) for the variant-selective HRM analysis. Each variant was identified based on the mutational spectra as follows: no mutations (Alpha variant); L452R and T478K (Delta variant); G446S and S477N/T478K (Omicron variant BA.1); and R408S and S477N/T478K (Omicron variant BA.2). Upon analysis of mutation-coding RNA fragments, the melting peaks of the wild-type fragments were distinct from those of the mutant fragments. The sensitivity and specificity of this method were determined as 100% and more than 97.5%, respectively, based on 128 clinical samples (40 Alpha, 40 Delta, 40 Omicron variants BA.1/BA.1.1, and 8 Omicron BA.2). These results suggest that this HRM-based assay is a promising screening method for monitoring the transmission of Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.11.487970v1" target="_blank">Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-lineages BA.1 and BA.2 using a high-resolution melting-based assay: A pilot study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Broadly neutralizing antibodies target the coronavirus fusion peptide</strong> -
<div>
The potential for future coronavirus outbreaks highlights the need to develop strategies and tools to broadly target this group of pathogens. Here, using an epitope-agnostic approach, we identified six monoclonal antibodies that bound to spike proteins from all seven human-infecting coronaviruses. Epitope mapping revealed that all six antibodies target the conserved fusion peptide region adjacent to the S2’ cleavage site. Two antibodies, COV44-62 and COV44-79, broadly neutralize a range of alpha and beta coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2, albeit with lower potency than RBD-specific antibodies. In crystal structures of Fabs COV44-62 and COV44-79 with the SARS-CoV-2 fusion peptide, the fusion peptide epitope adopts a helical structure and includes the arginine at the S2’ cleavage site. Importantly, COV44-79 limited disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 in a Syrian hamster model. These findings identify the fusion peptide as the target of the broadest neutralizing antibodies in an epitope-agnostic screen, highlighting this site as a candidate for next-generation coronavirus vaccine development.
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.11.487879v1" target="_blank">Broadly neutralizing antibodies target the coronavirus fusion peptide</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain facilitates neutrophil transepithelial migration and nanoparticle uptake in the mice airways</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2-induced infection is still dangerous. Mouse models are convenient to the investigation of virus- activated immune response mechanisms. However, mice are not proper model organisms to study COVID-19 due to decreased interaction affinity between the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) and mouse angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) compared with human ACE2. In the present study, we propose a mouse model that allows estimating the influence of SARS-CoV-2 on the immune system. To mimic the effects of RBD-ACE2 high-affinity interaction, mice received the ACE2 inhibitor MLN-4760. To simulate virus loading, we applied 100 nm particles suspended in the solution of RBD via the oropharyngeal route to mice. In this model, MLN-4760 application enhanced neutrophil egress from the bone marrow to the bloodstream and RBD attracted neutrophils to the luminal side of the conducting airway epithelium. By contrast, inert 100 nm particles were not potent to stimulate neutrophil recruitment to the conducting airway mucosa. Using this model, and by altering the dosage of the ACE2 inhibitor, nanoparticles, and RBD, one can adapt it to investigate different COVID-19 states characterized with mild or severe airway inflammation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.12.488042v1" target="_blank">The SARS- CoV-2 receptor-binding domain facilitates neutrophil transepithelial migration and nanoparticle uptake in the mice airways</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A high potent synthetic nanobody with broad-spectrum activity neutralizes SARS-Cov-2 virus and Omicron variant through a unique binding mode</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 continues to be a severe public health thread worldwide. The major challenge to control this pandemic is the rapid mutation rate of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, leading to the escape of the protection of vaccines and most of the neutralizing antibodies to date. Thus, it is pivotal to develop neutralizing antibodies with broad-spectrum activity targeting multiple SARS-Cov-2 variants. In this study, we first got a synthetic nanobody (named C5) which could interfere with ACE2 binding to SARS-Cov-2 spike protein and its RBD domain. The affinity matured format of C5 clone, named C5G2, has a single digit nanomolar affinity to RBD domain and inhibit its binding to ACE2 with an IC50 of 3.7 nM. Pseudovirus assay indicated that the monovalent C5G2 could protect the cells from the infection of SARS-Cov-2 wild type virus as well as most of the virus of concern, i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Omicron variants. Strikingly, C5G2 has the highest potency against omicron among all the variants with the IC50 of 4.9ng/ml (0.3 nM). We further solved the Cryo-EM structure of C5G2 in complex with the Spike trimer. The structure data showed that C5G2 bind to RBD mainly through its CDR3 at a vast region that not overlapping with the ACE2 binding surface. Surprisingly, C5G2 also bind to a distinct epitope residing in the NTD domain of spike protein through the same CDR3 loop, which may further increase its potency against the virus infection. Thus, this bi-paratopic nanobody may be served as an effective drug for the prophylaxis and therapy of the Omicron infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.11.487660v1" target="_blank">A high potent synthetic nanobody with broad-spectrum activity neutralizes SARS-Cov-2 virus and Omicron variant through a unique binding mode</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How the replication and transcription complex functions in jumping transcription of SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2). Although unprecedented efforts are underway to develop therapeutic strategies against this disease, scientists have acquired only a little knowledge regarding the structures and functions of the CoV replication and transcription complex (RTC) and 16 non-structural proteins, named NSP1-16. Results: In the present study, we determined the theoretical arrangement of NSP12-16 in the global RTC structure. This arrangement answered how the CoV RTC functions in the “leader-to-body fusion” process. More importantly, our results revealed the associations between multiple functions of the RTC, including RNA synthesis, NSP15 cleavage, RNA methylation, and CoV replication and transcription at the molecular level. As the most important finding, transcription regulatory sequence (TRS) hairpins were reported for the first time to help understand the multiple functions of CoV RTCs and the strong recombination abilities of CoVs. Conclusions: TRS hairpins can be used to identify recombination regions in CoV genomes. We provide a systematic understanding of the structures and functions of the RTC, leading to the eventual determination of the global CoV RTC structure. Our findings enrich fundamental knowledge in the field of gene expression and its regulation, providing a basis for future studies. Future drug design targeting SARS-CoV-2 needs to consider protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions in the RTC, particularly the complex structure of NSP15 and NSP16 with the TRS hairpin.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.17.431652v2" target="_blank">How the replication and transcription complex functions in jumping transcription of SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evolution of nasal and olfactory infection characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 infection in the upper airway and the subsequent immune response are early, critical factors in COVID-19 pathogenesis. By studying infection of human biopsies in vitro and in a hamster model in vivo, we demonstrated a transition in tropism from olfactory to respiratory epithelium as the virus evolved. Analyzing each variants revealed that SARS-CoV-2 WA1 or Delta infects a proportion of olfactory neurons in addition to the primary target sustentacular cells. The Delta variant possesses broader cellular invasion capacity into the submucosa, while Omicron displays longer retention in the sinonasal epithelium. The olfactory neuronal infection by WA1 and the subsequent olfactory bulb transport via axon is more pronounced in younger hosts. In addition, the observed viral clearance delay and phagocytic dysfunction in aged olfactory mucosa is accompanied by a decline of phagocytosis related genes. Furthermore, robust basal stem cell activation contributes to neuroepithelial regeneration and restores ACE2 expression post-infection. Together, our study characterized the nasal tropism of SARS-CoV-2 strains, immune clearance, and regeneration post infection. The shifting characteristics of viral infection at the airway portal provides insight into the variability of COVID-19 clinical features and may suggest differing strategies for early local intervention.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.12.487379v1" target="_blank">Evolution of nasal and olfactory infection characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An ACAT inhibitor regulates SARS-CoV-2 replication and antiviral T cell activity</strong> -
<div>
The severity of disease following infection with SARS-CoV-2 is determined by viral replication kinetics and host immunity, with early T cell responses and/or suppression of viraemia driving a favourable outcome. Recent studies have uncovered a role for cholesterol metabolism in the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle and in T cell function. Here we show that blockade of the enzyme Acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) with Avasimibe inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry and fusion independent of transmembrane protease serine 2 expression in multiple cell types. We also demonstrate a role for ACAT in regulating SARS-CoV-2 RNA replication in primary bronchial epithelial cells. Furthermore, Avasimibe boosts the expansion of functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells from the blood of patients sampled in the acute phase of infection. Thus, re-purposing of available ACAT inhibitors provides a compelling therapeutic strategy for the treatment of COVID-19 to achieve both antiviral and immunomodulatory effects.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.12.487988v1" target="_blank">An ACAT inhibitor regulates SARS-CoV-2 replication and antiviral T cell activity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19: final results from the DisCoVeRy randomised, controlled, open-label trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The antiviral efficacy of remdesivir is still controversial. We aimed at evaluating its clinical effectiveness in hospitalised patients with COVID-19, with indication of oxygen and/or ventilator support. Following prior publication of preliminary results, here we present the final results after completion of data monitoring. Methods: In this European multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomised, controlled trial (DisCoVeRy, NCT04315948, EudraCT2020-000936-23), participants were randomly allocated to receive usual standard of care (SoC) alone or in combination with remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir and IFN-beta-1a, or hydroxychloroquine. Adult patients hospitalised with COVID-19 were eligible if they had clinical evidence of hypoxemic pneumonia, or required oxygen supplementation. Exclusion criteria included elevated liver enzyme, severe chronic kidney disease, any contra- indication to one of the studied treatments or their use in the 29 days before randomization, or use of ribavirin, as well as pregnancy or breast-feeding. Here, we report results for remdesivir + SoC versus SoC alone. Remdesivir was administered as 200 mg infusion on day 1, followed by once daily infusions of 100 mg up to 9 days, for a total duration of 10 days. It could be stopped after 5 days if the participant was discharged. Treatment assignation was performed via web-based block randomisation stratified on illness severity and administrative European region. The primary outcome was the clinical status at day 15 measured by the WHO 7-point ordinal scale, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Findings: Between March 22nd, 2020 and January 21st, 2021, 857 participants were randomised to one of the two arms in 5 European countries and 843 participants were included for the evaluation of remdesivir (control, n=423; remdesivir, n=420). At day 15, the distribution of the WHO ordinal scale was as follow in the remdesivir and control groups, respectively: Not hospitalized, no limitations on activities: 62/420 (14.8%) and 72/423 (17.0%); Not hospitalized, limitation on activities: 126/420 (30%) and 135/423 (31.9%); Hospitalized, not requiring supplemental oxygen: 56/420 (13.3%) and 31/423 (7.3%); Hospitalized, requiring supplemental oxygen: 75/420 (17.9%) and 65/423 (15.4%); Hospitalized, on non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices: 16/420 (3.8%) and 16/423 (3.8%); Hospitalized, on invasive mechanical ventilation or ECMO: 64/420 (15.2%) and 80/423 (18.9%); Death: 21/420 (5%) and 24/423 (5.7%). The difference between treatment groups was not statistically significant (OR for remdesivir, 1.02, 95% CI, 0.62 to 1.70, P=0.93). There was no significant difference in the occurrence of Serious Adverse Events between treatment groups (remdesivir, n=147/410, 35.9%, versus control, n=138/423, 32.6%, p=0.29). Interpretation: Remdesivir use for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 was not associated with clinical improvement at day 15. Funding: European Union Commission, French Ministry of Health, DIM One Health Ile-de-France, REACTing, Fonds Erasme-COVID-ULB; Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE), AGMT gGmbH, FEDER “European Regional Development Fund”, Portugal Ministry of Health, Portugal Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation. Remdesivir was provided free of charge by Gilead.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.30.22273206v2" target="_blank">Remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19: final results from the DisCoVeRy randomised, controlled, open-label trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Detection of COVID-19 and age-dependent dysosmia with paired crushable odorant ampules</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Background Signs of anosmia can help detect COVID-19 infection when testing for viral positivity is not available. Inexpensive mass-produced disposable olfactory sensitivity tests suitable for worldwide use might serve not only as a screening tool for potential infection but also to identify cases at elevated risk of severe disease as anosmic COVID-19 patients have a better prognosis. Methods and Findings We adopted paired crushable ampules with two concentrations of a standard test odorant (n-butanol) as standard of care in several clinics as community prevalence of COVID-19 infection waxed and waned. This was not a clinical trial; a chart review was undertaken to evaluate the operating characteristics and potential utility of the test device as RT-PCR testing became routine. The risk of anosmia was greater in COVID-19 patients. Olfactory sensitivity was concentration-dependent, decreased with aging, and was sex- dependent at the highest concentration. Hyposmia was detected across a wider age range than expected from the literature, and tests can be optimized to characterize different age groups. Conclusions n-Butanol at 0.32 and 3.2% in crushable ampules can be used to characterize olfactory function quickly and inexpensively and thus has potential benefits in pandemic screening, epidemiology, and clinical decision-making.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.13.22271253v2" target="_blank">Detection of COVID-19 and age-dependent dysosmia with paired crushable odorant ampules</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Adaptive Olfactory Measure of Threshold (ArOMa-T): A rapid test of olfactory function</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Purpose: Many widely-used psychophysical tests of olfaction have limitations that can create barriers to adoption outside research settings. For example, tests that measure the ability to identify odors may confound sensory performance with memory recall, verbal ability, and past experience with the odor. Conversely, threshold-based tests typically avoid these issues, but are labor intensive. Additionally, many commercially available olfactory tests are slow and may require a trained administrator, making them impractical for use in a short wellness visit or other broad clinical assessment. Methods: We tested the performance of the Adaptive Olfactory Measure of Threshold (ArOMa-T) – a novel odor detection threshold test that employs an adaptive Bayesian algorithm paired with a disposable odor-delivery card – in a non-clinical sample of individuals (n=534) at the 2021 Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, OH. Results: Participants successfully completed the test in under 3 min with a false alarm rate of 9.6% and a test-retest reliability of 0.61. Odor detection thresholds differed by sex (~3.2-fold) and between the youngest and oldest age groups (~8.7-fold), consistent with prior work. In an exploratory analysis, we failed to observe evidence of detection threshold differences between participants who reported a history of COVID-19 and matched controls who did not. We also found evidence for broad-sense heritability of odor detection thresholds. Conclusion: Together, these data indicate the ArOMa-T can determine odor detection thresholds. The ArOMa-T may be particularly valuable in clinical or field settings where rapid and portable assessment of olfactory function is needed.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.08.22272086v2" target="_blank">The Adaptive Olfactory Measure of Threshold (ArOMa-T): A rapid test of olfactory function</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Inequities in COVID-19 vaccine and booster coverage across Massachusetts ZIP codes: large gaps persist after the 2021/22 Omicron wave</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background. Inequities in COVID-19 vaccine coverage may contribute to future disparities in morbidity and mortality between Massachusetts (MA) communities. Methods. We obtained public-use data on residents vaccinated and boosted by ZIP code (and by age group: 5-19, 20-39, 40-64, 65+) from MA Department of Public Health. We constructed population denominators for postal ZIP codes by aggregating Census-tract population estimates from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. We excluded non-residential ZIP codes and the smallest ZIP codes containing 1% of the state9s population. We mapped variation in ZIP-code level primary series vaccine and booster coverage and used regression models to evaluate the association of these measures with ZIP-code-level socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Because age is strongly associated with COVID-19 severity and vaccine access/uptake, we assessed whether observed socioeconomic and racial inequities persisted after adjusting for age composition and plotted age-specific vaccine and booster coverage by deciles of ZIP-code characteristics. Results. We analyzed data on 418 ZIP codes. We observed wide geographic variation in primary series vaccination and booster rates, with marked inequities by ZIP-code-level education, median household income, essential worker share, and racial-ethnic composition. In age-stratified analyses, primary series vaccine coverage was very high among the elderly. However, we found large inequities in vaccination rates among younger adults and children, and very large inequities in booster rates for all age groups. In multivariable regression models, each 10 percentage point increase in “percent college educated” was associated with a 5.0 percentage point increase in primary series vaccine coverage and a 4.9 percentage point increase in booster coverage. Although ZIP codes with higher “percent Black/Latino/Indigenous” and higher “percent essential workers” had lower vaccine coverage, these associations became strongly positive after adjusting for age and education, consistent with high demand for vaccines among Black/Latino/Indigenous and essential worker populations. Conclusion. One year into MA9s vaccine rollout, large disparities in COVID-19 primary series vaccine and booster coverage persist across MA ZIP codes.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.22273593v2" target="_blank">Inequities in COVID-19 vaccine and booster coverage across Massachusetts ZIP codes: large gaps persist after the 2021/22 Omicron wave</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Evaluate The Efficacy and Safety of Healthtone as Prophylaxis for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Rhea® Health Tone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Indonesia University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Functional Capacity in Patients Post Mild COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Rambam Health Care Campus<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aerobic Exercise in People With Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Conventional rehabilitation;   Other: Aerobic exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Circuit Training Program in Post COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Circuit Training Exercise Program;   Other: Aerobic Training Exercise Program<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Riphah International University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effect of Home-based Rehabilitation Program After COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Add-on telerehabilitation and home-based rehabilitation;   Behavioral: Home-based rehabilitation alone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
National Taiwan University Hospital<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 protein subunit recombinant vaccine;   Biological: placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PT Bio Farma;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta;   Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University, Semarang;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Hassanudin, Makassar<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness and Safety of SCTV01E (a Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine) in Population Aged ≥12 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01E;   Biological: CoronaVac;   Biological: Sinopharm inactivated COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: other approved COVID-19 vaccines<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tele-Rehabilitation in Individuals With Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Hacettepe University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of SCTV01C and SCTV01E (Two Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccines) in Population Aged ≥12 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01C;   Biological: SCTV01E;   Biological: mRNA vaccine manufactured by Pfizer or Moderna;   Biological: Sinopharm inactivated COVID-19 vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of Two Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccines in Population Aged ≥18 Years as Booster Vaccines</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01C;   Biological: SCTV01E;   Biological: Sinopharm inactivated COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: mRNA-1273<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Treatment Cascade Optimization Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Navigation Services;   Behavioral: Brief Counseling;   Behavioral: Critical Dialogue;   Behavioral: Referral and Digital Brochure<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center;   North Jersey Community Research Initiative;   University of Michigan<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Efficacy of Enoxaparin and Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Enoxaparin, Hydroxychloroquine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Beni-Suef University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 1&amp;2 Study to Evaluate the Safety &amp; Efficacy of Inhaled IBIO123 in Severe COVID-19 Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Evaluation of Rapid RNA Test for Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: rapid RT-LAMP test to detect SARS-COV-2 RNA<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Southampton;   West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust;   University of Oxford<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Non-inferiority Trial on Treatments in Early COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Sotrovimab;   Drug: Tixagevimab Cilgavimab;   Drug: Nirmatrelvir Ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona;   Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco;   Azienda Sanitaria-Universitaria Integrata di Udine<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 receptor and malignant cancers: Association of <em>CTSL</em> expression with susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2</strong> - CTSL is expressed by cancerous tissues and encodes a lysosomal cysteine proteinase that regulates cancer progression and SARS-CoV-2 entry. Therefore, it is critical to predict the susceptibility of cancer patients for SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate the correlation between disease outcomes and the expression of CTSL in malignant cancer tissues. In the current study, we analyzed CTSL expression, mutation rate, survival and COVID-19 disease outcomes in cancer and normal tissues, using online databases. We…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A multicenter, open-label, randomized, proof-of-concept phase II clinical trial to assess the efficacy and safety of icatibant in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and admitted to hospital units without invasive mechanical ventilation: study protocol (ICAT-COVID)</strong> - BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has quickly become a global pandemic with a substantial number of deaths and is a considerable burden for healthcare systems worldwide. Although most cases are paucisymptomatic and limited to the viral infection- related symptoms, some patients evolve to a second phase, with an impaired inflammatory response (cytokine storm) that may lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome and death. This is thought to be caused by increased bradykinin synthesis.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gegen Qinlian pills alleviate carrageenan-induced thrombosis in mice model by regulating the HMGB1/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling</strong> - CONCLUSION: Overall, we demonstrated that GQP could reduce inflammation-induced thrombosis by inhibiting HMGB1/NFκB/NLRP3 signaling and provided an accurate explanation for the multi-target, multi-function mechanism of GQP in the treatment of thromboinflammation, and provides a reference for the clinical usage of GQP.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Exposure and Outcome in practice: a retrospective cohort study between fibrinolytic suppression and hypercoagulability, the severity of hypoxemia, and mortality in COVID-19 patients</strong> - CONCLUSION: Increased inflammatory and pro-coagulant markers such as PAI-1, MP- Tissue Factor, vWF levels are associated with severe hypoxemia and major thrombotic events, implicating fibrinolytic suppression in the microcirculatory system and subsequent micro- and macrovascular thrombosis in severe COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Semi-Mechanistic Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Model of Camostat Mesylate-Predicted Efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, uses a viral surface spike protein for host cell entry and the human cell-surface transmembrane serine protease, TMPRSS2, to process the spike protein. Camostat mesylate, an orally available and clinically used serine protease inhibitor, inhibits TMPRSS2, supporting clinical trials to investigate its use in COVID-19. A one-compartment pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) model for camostat and the active metabolite FOY-251 was developed,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptide-Based Dual HIV and Coronavirus Entry Inhibitors</strong> - The continued HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide and the battle against emerging infectious diseases caused by coronaviruses underscore the need for the development of an ever-expanding repertoire of antiviral drugs. Entry inhibitors are of particular interest because of their potential to be used as therapeutic or prophylactic treatments for blocking viral invasion. HIV and coronaviruses utilize class I fusion proteins to facilitate their entry and membrane fusion. Discovery of a common hexameric…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Direct Thrombin Inhibition in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation</strong> - Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a widely used technique to provide circulatory and/or respiratory support in critically ill patients. ECMO treatment usually necessitates systemic anticoagulation. Unfractionated Heparin (UFH) is a commonly used anticoagulant in patients on ECMO support. In situations where UFH is contraindicated, alternative anticoagulation strategies can be applied, such as the use of direct thrombin inhibitors (DTI). Bivalirudin and argatroban are the most widely…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeted protein S-nitrosylation of ACE2 as potential treatment to prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - Prevention of infection and propagation of SARS-CoV-2 is of high priority in the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we describe S-nitrosylation of multiple proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection, including angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor for viral entry. This reaction prevents binding of ACE2 to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, thereby inhibiting viral entry, infectivity, and cytotoxicity. Aminoadamantane compounds also inhibit coronavirus ion channels formed by envelope (E) protein….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and ADMET analysis of levamisole derivatives against the SARS- CoV-2 main protease (M<sup>Pro</sup>)</strong> - Introduction: The new species of coronaviruses (CoVs), SARS-CoV-2, was reported as responsible for an outbreak of respiratory disease. Scientists and researchers are endeavoring to develop new approaches for the effective treatment against of the COVID-19 disease. There are no finally targeted antiviral agents able to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 at present. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the potential uses of levamisole derivatives, which are reported to be antiviral agents targeting the…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aptamer blocking S-TLR4 interaction selectively inhibits SARS-CoV-2 induced inflammation</strong> - No abstract</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Drug-Free Nasal Spray as a Barrier against SARS-CoV-2 and Its Delta Variant: In Vitro Study of Safety and Efficacy in Human Nasal Airway Epithelia</strong> - The nasal epithelium is a key portal for infection by respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and represents an important target for prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. In the present study, we test the safety and efficacy of a newly developed nasal spray (AM-301, marketed as Bentrio) against infection by SARS-CoV-2 and its Delta variant on an in vitro 3D-model of the primary human nasal airway epithelium. Safety was assessed in assays for tight junction integrity, cytotoxicity and cilia…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of Entry Inhibitors against Delta and Omicron Variants of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Entry inhibitors against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are urgently needed to control the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study developed a robust and straightforward assay that detected the molecular interaction between the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of viral spike protein and the angiotensin- converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor in just 10 min. A drug library of 1068 approved compounds was used to screen for SARS-CoV2 entry inhibition, and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Current Status of Research on High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL): A Paradigm Shift from HDL Quantity to HDL Quality and HDL Functionality</strong> - The quantity of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) is represented as the serum HDL-C concentration (mg/dL), while the HDL quality manifests as the diverse features of protein and lipid content, extent of oxidation, and extent of glycation. The HDL functionality represents several performance metrics of HDL, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cholesterol efflux activities. The quantity and quality of HDL can change during one’s lifetime, depending on infection, disease, and lifestyle, such…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Is Currently Known about the Role of CXCL10 in SARS-CoV-2 Infection?</strong> - Dysregulation of the immune response plays an important role in the progression of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A “cytokine storm”, which is a phenomenon associated with uncontrolled production of large amounts of cytokines, very often affects patients with COVID-19. Elevated activity of chemotactic cytokines, called chemokines, can lead to serious consequences. CXCL10 has an ability to activate its receptor CXCR3, predominantly expressed on macrophages, T lymphocytes, dendritic cells, natural killer…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral Effects of Animal Toxins: Is There a Way to Drugs?</strong> - Viruses infect all types of organisms, causing viral diseases, which are very common in humans. Since viruses use the metabolic pathways of their host cells to replicate, they are difficult to eradicate without affecting the cells. The most effective measures against viral infections are vaccinations and antiviral drugs, which selectively inhibit the viral replication cycle. Both methods have disadvantages, which requires the development of new approaches to the treatment of viral diseases. In…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SYSTEM FOR MONITORING COVID-19 PATIENTS USING A VIRTUAL TELEPRESENCE ROBOT</strong> - Attached Separately - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN356991740">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUE TO ANALYZE THE WORK PRESSURE OF PARAMEDICAL STAFF DURING COVID 19</strong> - Machine learning technique to analyse the work pressure of paramedical staff during covid 19 is the proposed invention that focuses on identifying the stress levels of paramedical staff. The invention focuses on analysing the level of stress that is induced on the paramedical staff especially during pandemic. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN353347401">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>基于SARS-CoV-2的S蛋白的疫苗及其用途</strong> - 本公开提供了基于SARS‑CoV‑2的S蛋白的疫苗及其用途，并具体涉及重组SARS‑CoV‑2刺突蛋白(S蛋白)及编码其的mRNA和DNA。本公开还涉及包含编码重组S蛋白的DNA序列的重组质粒。本公开的重组质粒经转录得到mRNA，其包含SEQ ID NO.12所示的序列。本公开进一步涉及包含前述mRNA的mRNA‑载体颗粒例如脂质纳米颗粒(LNP)和组合物例如疫苗组合物。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356073372">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CBD Covid 19 Protection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU353359094">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种双价可电离脂质化合物、组合物及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及核酸药物递送技术领域，特别是关于一种双价可电离脂质化合物、组合物及其应用。本发明提供多种可以递送核酸药物的可电离阳离子脂质，具备较强的可设计性、可生物降解性及高效的体内外转染效率，由其组成的脂质纳米递送系统用于递送mRNA，在细胞水平上，优于目前上市的产品，并且在动物水平也具有良好的递送效率，可以作为核酸药物的递送新的方法，促进核酸药物的发展。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356073405">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种双价可电离脂质化合物、组合物及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及核酸药物递送技术领域，特别是关于一种双价可电离脂质化合物、组合物及其应用。本发明提供多种可以递送核酸药物的可电离阳离子脂质，具备较强的可设计性、可生物降解性及高效的体内外转染效率，由其组成的脂质纳米递送系统用于递送mRNA，在细胞水平上，优于目前上市的产品，并且在动物水平也具有良好的递送效率，可以作为核酸药物的递送新的方法，促进核酸药物的发展。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356073406">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新冠肺炎CT图像分割方法及终端设备</strong> - 本发明公开了一种新冠肺炎CT图像分割方法及终端设备，方法包括获取待分割新冠肺炎CT图像；将该图像输入至训练好的分割模型中，得到新冠肺炎病灶区域的图像；其中分割模型包括依次连接的多个下采样模块和下采样模块对应的上采样模块；每个采样模块均包括依次连接的第一提取单元和第二提取单元；上述两个提取单元的卷积模块均为结构重参数化卷积模块。本发明的结构重参数化卷积模块为训练时使用多分支结构，加强模型表达能力，推理时使用单路结构，加快推理速度，快速得出诊断结果。同时，为从不同尺度特征图中学习分层表示，加强模型对图像边缘信息提取，并使梯度更快回流，上采样每一侧输出都连接混合损失函数，实现图像的像素级分割。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356073393">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种一步法核酸检测方法及其所用的密封性核酸检测装置</strong> - 本发明涉及一种一步法核酸检测方法及其所用的密封性核酸检测装置，该密封性核酸检测装置，主体为PCR管，包括管盖、管体，管体内分为三层，最下层为PCR冻干试剂层，是将PCR冻干试剂密封在第一石蜡层中构成；中间层为盐酸溶液；最上层为核酸提取试剂层，核酸提取试剂层与盐酸溶液之间通过第二石蜡层隔离；核酸提取试剂层中放置核酸检测所需的一步法核酸提取试剂。本发明实现同一PCR管内的空间隔离，做到只需一次加样，即可完成PCR检测，无需中间繁琐的核酸提取过程和核酸加样操作，反应完成后，也无需开盖分析，核酸提取和检测过程做到真正的零污染，且整个过程操作简单，大大降低了检测成本。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356042517">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vorrichtung zur Aufnahme von Proben</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Vorrichtung (1) zur Aufnahme von Proben, insbesondere Speichelproben zum Nachweis von SARS-CoV-2 Virus im Speichel, mit</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">einem Aufnahmebehälter (2) mit einer ersten Öffnung (4),</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">einer Verschlusseinrichtung (6), die an die Öffnung (4) des Aufnahmebehälters (2) angepasst ist, so dass die Öffnung (4) des Aufnahmebehälters (2) mit der Verschlusseinrichtung (6) verschließbar ist,</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">einer Probenentnahmeeinrichtung (8), die an einem ersten freien Ende (10) zumindest ein erstes Entnahmeelement (12) aufweist, mit dem die Probe entnehmbar ist, und wobei die Probenentnahmeeinrichtung (8) in den Aufnahmebehälter (2) einführbar ist, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Probenentnahmeeinrichtung (8) an einem dem ersten freien Ende (10) gegenüberliegenden zweiten Ende (14) mit der Verschlusseinrichtung (6) verbunden ist, so dass die Probenentnahmeeinrichtung (8) mittels der Verschlusseinrichtung (6) in den Aufnahmebehälter (2) einführbar ist.</p></li>
</ul>
<img alt="embedded image" id="EMI-D00000"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE356989422">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种氮化硅消毒喷剂</strong> - 一种氮化硅消毒喷剂，所述氮化硅消毒喷剂包括：氮化硅粉5重量份；溶剂50‑500重量份；增稠剂0.05‑0.6重量份；所述氮化硅消毒喷剂粘度为30 cP‑300 cP。本发明提供的氮化硅消毒喷剂能够杀灭包括新冠病毒在内的多种细菌、病毒，并且具有长效杀毒效果。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN356042429">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Prisoners in a Cellar in the Ukrainian Village of Novyi Bykiv</strong> - A pattern of indiscriminate violence committed by Russian forces appears to have taken hold in a number of towns and villages in the Kyiv region. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-prisoners-in-a-cellar-in-the-ukrainian-village-of-novyi-bykiv">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Surviving the Standoff with the Republic of Texas</strong> - Twenty-five years ago, an armed militia tried to secede. When will it happen again? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/surviving-the-standoff-with-the-republic-of-texas">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Complexities of Memory in “The Reëducation of Ji Zhihao”</strong> - In his youth, Zhihao spent nine years far from home doing mandated labor during the Cultural Revolution. Returning to the site provokes a mix of mourning and nostalgia. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-complexities-of-memory-in-the-reeducation-of-%20ji-zhihao">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Morning of Horror in New York City’s Subway</strong> - During rush hour in Sunset Park, at least ten people were shot, five of whom were critically injured, and six others were treated for smoke inhalation, shrapnel, and shock. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/a-morning-of-horror-in-new-york-citys-subway">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Most Popular Chess Streamer on Twitch</strong> - The former chess prodigy Hikaru Nakamura was widely disliked on the professional circuit. Then he started streaming. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-most-popular-chess-streamer-on-twitch">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The IRS has a big opportunity to fix the way Americans file taxes</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/ILnfKxQRgLljl7_OgdV37JWXtN8=/34x0:2701x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69720273/GettyImages_1332144820_copy.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen oversees the IRS and could lead tax filing reform efforts. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You shouldn’t need TurboTax to file your taxes. The IRS can and should make its own service.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9ULmIO">
As of this writing, Joe Biden’s big spending dreams are in limbo, if not completely dead. There’s still some hope of pulling out a narrow deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/04/dems-party-line-spending-manchin-00022362">deficit reduction and climate mitigation</a>, but Democrats’ dreams from summer 2021 of <a href="https://www.vox.com/22577374/reconciliation-bill-
biden-medicare-climate">a $3.5 trillion, 10-year spending package</a> appear over.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yqzwwW">
That means that Congress still hasn’t passed one of the Biden administration’s most important, if least sexy, spending priorities: a budget increase for the IRS.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CCwwNs">
Last year, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/business/economy/biden-american-families-plan.html">administration proposed an $80 billion funding boost</a> to the agency over 10 years as part of its “American Families Plan,” an <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/will-bidens-plan-reduce-tax-gap-increasing-irss-budget-
raise-300-billion">increase of more than 50 percent</a> to the agency’s normal budget. The <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57620">Congressional Budget Office</a> estimates that this would increase revenue by $207 billion, paying for the IRS spending while producing $127 billion to spend paying down the deficit or on other priorities. The Biden team is more optimistic, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/us/politics/taxes-wealthy-
natasha-sarin-treasury.html">estimating that could raise nearly $700 billion</a>, paying for itself nine times over.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/83u3NKgeu24U2iEWWzHpFWXuQQc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22779318/GettyImages_1300545680_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
President Biden delivered remarks on the need for his administration’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief legislation alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February 2020.
</figcaption></figure></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1PSsgG">
But it could also pay for an improvement to the tax system itself. While no one in the administration or Congress seems to be making much noise about this, a successful Biden push to fund the IRS could be a golden opportunity to force the agency to join the rest of the world in offering a free, easy-to-use service that all Americans can use to file their taxes.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<div id="zUkbwG">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WtlGXX">
The timing is auspicious for such an endeavor. As you may know, if you make $72,000 or less, you’re eligible for a free return through the <a href="https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers">IRS Free File</a> program, including software provided by Intuit, the company that operates TurboTax. If you make more, you’re eligible for <a href="https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms">Free File Fillable Forms</a>, an Intuit product.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nBdWZ0">
That system is now falling apart. Intuit is pulling out of its arrangement with the US government, which could mean the end of the only online tax filing systems available free of charge to all Americans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IKDKjr">
But this collapse may present an opportunity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lHhQkK">
For decades, the tax prep industry has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11417676/elizabeth-warren-tax-return-free-filing-tax-day-intuit-hr-
block-turbotax-automatic-simple">succeeded in preventing the IRS</a> from doing what the tax authority in just about every other country does: providing a free, effective, easy-to-use online service where all taxpayers can file their taxes. But it’s doing so just as the Biden administration is attempting to pour billions in new funding into the IRS.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vjqskf">
The end of Free File and the conversations in Congress around IRS funding could make this the perfect moment to dismantle our broken tax filing system and build something better.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z3K4cm">
Right now, Biden’s IRS spending plans don’t look in great shape. But Congress should revive them. Funding the IRS could not only pay for other priorities close to Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) hearts (like deficit reduction); it could help make taxes easier for everyone.
</p>
<h3 id="Nq9YaZ">
How to file your taxes for free, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B80gtO">
Right now, if you’re an American who wants to file your taxes without paying any additional fees to a private company or preparer, you have three options (besides limited “simple return” promotions by the big companies).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DFb88h">
You can role-play as someone living in the 1970s and print out the 1040 tax form, along with any associated schedules or forms for tax credits and deductions for which you may be eligible, and compute it all by hand, meticulously collating physical copies of your W-2 and 1099 income statements and any other documentation you need.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZywAZ9">
Your second option is only slightly less tedious: You can use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms">Free File Fillable Forms</a>, a free service implemented by Intuit that simply copies the physical IRS tax forms and makes them “fillable” so you can type in the numbers. It’ll even do some basic math for you. But you still have to manually enter everything, you can’t import PDFs of your W-2 or other statements, and it’s easy to get confused about exactly which forms you’re expected or required to fill out. I’m an IRS-certified tax preparer, and I gave up using the website this year out of frustration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q6CbLh">
Your final option is only available if you make $72,000 a year or less. In that case, you’re eligible for a free return on private tax software through the <a href="https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers">IRS Free File</a> program. But careful: You might get a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-just-tricked-you-
into-paying-to-file-your-taxes">ton of spam from whatever company you choose</a> trying to upsell you and get you to pay for fancier options. One investigation found that <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-and-others-
charged-at-least-14-million-americans-for-tax-prep-that-should-have-been-free-audit-finds">14 million Americans were charged by companies</a> for Free File returns that should have cost nothing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xBTsCH">
The IRS also <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers">funds community tax organizations</a> that can file returns for low-income people, but I can say from experience as a volunteer tax preparer that these groups are underfunded and overworked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0vIN7S">
This is an unacceptable state of affairs. Americans should not have to choose between these obviously inadequate and half-baked free options for tax filing and paying a private company. Paying taxes is a legal requirement, and it should be possible to easily do it for free. And it just isn’t possible right now; it’s no wonder that <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf">over 91 percent of individual returns filed in 2019</a> were filed through a paid preparer or a private online service. The current system almost forces you to pay for the privilege of paying your taxes.
</p>
<h3 id="TaByua">
Intuit, H&amp;R Block, and America’s broken tax filing system
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W4mfd7">
The Free File and Free File Fillable Forms systems can perhaps best be understood as a kind of peace treaty between the IRS and the private tax preparation industry, specifically Intuit and H&amp;R Block.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E7A7R9">
For years, the government leaned on those two companies to provide free tax services to Americans in need. But the basic problem with relying on private sector companies that provide paid tax services to provide free ones is that they will always have an incentive to make the free service worse and to make the paid one more attractive. That’s been the story the past couple of decades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QFWYzo">
In 2002, as part of a broader effort to improve government technology to take advantage of the internet, the Bush administration proposed that the IRS develop “an easy, no-cost option for taxpayers to file their tax return online.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AAAxxC">
This, as <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-
free">ProPublica’s Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel reported</a>, led to a massive lobbying push from Intuit, including a coordinated letter from Republican members of Congress demanding that the IRS not “compete” with private companies, with an implicit threat of reduced IRS funding if it did try to offer free filing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZeJC9s">
So the IRS, hamstrung by limited funding to start its own free filing program anyway, negotiated a deal with the tax preparers: The companies would offer low-income Americans free tax prep software, and in exchange, the IRS would promise not to set up a free filing program of its own.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/mZr5rCGBvT_mNTKtWgKVCfdUzkA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22778389/479264619.jpg"/> <cite>David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Blame the H&amp;R Block guy for making your taxes suck. Well, not the actor, he’s just doing his job. Blame the CEO, Jeff Jones.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5iA82X">
This is the system that has held from 2002 to the present. The IRS brags that 70 percent of Americans are <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-
utl/How%20to%20Free%20File%20Infographic_508%20FINAL.pdf">eligible for Free File</a>, but for the 2019 tax season, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf">only 4.2 million returns out of 157.2 million total</a> were filed through Free File, or 2.6 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P4Kkqy">
H&amp;R Block and Intuit succeeded in making the program a non- entity. In 2019, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/series/the-turbotax-trap">Elliott and Kiel</a> began documenting how the two companies were undermining Free File, from <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-
deliberately-hides-its-free-file-page-from-search-engines">hiding their Free File options from Google</a> results to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/intuit-turbotax-h-r-block-gutted-free-tax-filing-internal-memo">tricking their clients into paying</a> when they could file for free.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ebNTG">
Their reporting led by the end of the year to significant changes to the Free File program. The <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-
program-drops-agreement-not-to-compete-with-turbotax">IRS added an addendum to its deal</a> with tax preparers. The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6594563-Free-File-MOU-8-Addendum.html">new provisions</a> prohibited companies from blocking Free File search results and tried to reduce deceptive marketing, and, more crucially, dropped<strong> </strong>the ban on the IRS developing its own free file option.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zFXz5M">
This, perhaps unsurprisingly, led to backlash from the tax prep industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pdap9X">
Last year, <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/irss-free-file-partners-moving-forward-without-h-r-block">H&amp;R Block became the first preparer to leave the Free File Alliance</a>, meaning it would no longer provide free returns to all low-income Americans through the program. Intuit followed suit this July by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-intuit-will-leave-free-tax-filing-partnership-with-
irs">announcing it would pull TurboTax from the program</a> as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7DWJYg">
This doesn’t entirely gut the program — other services like TaxSlayer and TaxAct are still available — but it removes the program’s two most popular service providers. Most importantly, Intuit’s withdrawal throws the future of Free File Fillable Forms, which it develops for the Free File Alliance, into question. The software exists for the 2021 filing season, but it’s not clear it will continue to exist after that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZdhNaX">
This chaos is particularly important for low-income people. Some of America’s most important safety net programs exist as parts of the tax code, in particular the earned income tax credit (EITC) and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22543868/biden-child-tax-credit-july-15-monthly-
payment">child tax credit (CTC)</a>; so did the economic impact payments, better known as “stimulus checks,” last year. Having access to a free program to file taxes and access these credits is consequential for a lot of families.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B2VxIE">
But this chaos could also provide an opening for something better.
</p>
<h3 id="p41J32">
How Biden and the IRS can fix tax filing
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eofg69">
The IRS desperately needs to put together an easier-to-use, simpler way for people to file their taxes and access benefits free of charge. Accomplishing that, of course, is easier said than done. The IRS has been underfunded for decades and does not have sufficient in-house technical expertise to build a free file system on its own.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WyWTRN">
But there are signs suggesting that the limitations keeping the IRS from enabling free filing are falling away.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oZhFeN">
First, the agency removed the ban limiting it from offering such a product in 2019. Then the Biden administration made increased funding to the agency one of its top domestic spending priorities, as well it should — <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w27571">funding the IRS increases tax revenue and pays for itself several times over</a>. While the provision fell out of the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-
biden-business-government-and-politics-bills-4da016e1ab4d2331a0310391ecbc4d73">bipartisan infrastructure deal over Republican opposition</a>, it’s set to be used as a pay-for in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-
government-and-politics-personal-taxes-c80b07740f63853c78d41d900b265ed2">Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8i6Ar">
That could provide the funding necessary for the IRS to make free filing a reality — and Intuit’s withdrawal from the Free File program could provide some sense of urgency. “The problems with Free File lead me to conclude that it is time for IRS to develop the technology that will allow individuals to access our tax system with minimal burden,” Leslie Book, a professor of tax law at Villanova, told me, in a judgment that echoes many tax law experts I’ve spoken with.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hgJtc1">
In the near term, the IRS will need a stopgap measure for free tax returns next spring, especially if no provider in the Free File Alliance steps up to replace Intuit in running Free File Fillable Forms. The IRS will likely not have funding and staffing in time to set up an in-house program by then, which means that on a temporary basis it will likely have to repeat the Free File formula of relying on private preparers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RG36ab">
Daniel Hemel, a professor of tax and constitutional law at UChicago, has proposed a simple temporary fix: have the US government pay TaxSlayer, TaxAct, or any of the other remaining Free File companies on a per-return basis to prepare returns for taxpayers, at least low-income ones.
</p>
<div id="kavob9">
<blockquote class="twitter- tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Congress would say: “Hey TaxSlayer, FreeTaxUSA, &amp; anyone else who wants to get in on the game: We’ll pay you $10 for every valid Form 1040 w/adjusted gross income &lt;$100k e-filed via you, provided you also allow the taxpayer to file a free state return” 2/
</p>
— Daniel Hemel (<span class="citation" data-cites="DanielJHemel">@DanielJHemel</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielJHemel/status/1417936528836268040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rdY6dO">
Hemel notes that while this isn’t the same as having the IRS do things in-house, it’s also an improvement on the Free File model, in which tax preparers aren’t compensated at all for Free File returns and thus have tremendous incentive to upsell. “Under Free File, companies have literally nothing to lose if they try to upsell &amp; then you quit,” <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielJHemel/status/1417936536570638336">Hemel writes</a>. “Now, they’d be losing out on real revenue.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bg6SSE">
In the long run, though, there’s no reason to compensate private firms on a per-return basis. What the government could do instead is build its own free-to-use software for tax filers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rCRf51">
Nina Olson, who served from 2001 to 2019 as the national taxpayer advocate, a position in the IRS advocating for taxpayers and for improved customer service, has been proposing this for years, and today argues for it as executive director of the non-government <a href="https://taxpayer-rights.org/">Center for Taxpayer Rights</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A7jg0i">
Here’s how it would work: The IRS would start by putting out a request for proposals (RFP) for a new system to be built by private software/IT firms. That RFP could lay out a replica of today’s system, with full-featured software for low-income people and Free File Fillable Forms for others. But it could also just make the full-featured software available to everyone — and should, in my opinion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oFmqVr">
It could also create a simplified system for people who don’t owe taxes but are owed the earned income tax credit or child tax credit, to keep the IRS updated on how many children they have and what they’re earning so they can receive their full benefits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKSuFL">
As part of this process, the government would likely lean heavily on some in-house technical expertise. Groups like the <a href="https://www.usds.gov/">US Digital Service</a>, housed in the White House, and <a href="https://www.gsa.gov/about-
us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services">Technology Transformation Services</a>, a division of the General Services Administration (GSA) that provides technical assistance to federal agencies are home to software engineers and project managers who can help with designing the RFP and the procurement process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i0ZYTo">
“What Intuit’s leaving has done is created the momentum. There’s a vacuum now. The IRS is going to have to take some action. It’s an opportunity for US Digital Services etc. to see if they can be of assistance,” Olson told me in an interview last year.
</p>
<h3 id="w2Tp0C">
A world without tax returns
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KaG9uH">
The IRS could also go a step further from just free filing and experiment with pre-filled returns, an idea that has been floating around tax policy circles for decades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JzBMug">
The actual work of doing your taxes mostly involves rifling through various IRS forms you get in the mail. There are W-2s listing your wages, 1099s showing miscellaneous income like from one-off gigs, etc. The main advantage of TurboTax is that it can import these forms automatically and spare you this step.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oo6xuD">
But here’s the thing about the forms: The IRS gets them, too. When Vox Media sent me a W-2 telling me how much it paid me in 2020, it sent an identical one to the IRS. When my bank sent me a 1099 telling my wife and me how much interest we earned on our savings account in 2020, it also sent one to the IRS. If I’m not itemizing deductions (like 70 percent of taxpayers), the IRS has all the information it needs to calculate my taxes, send me a filled-out return, and let me either send it right back to the IRS if I’m comfortable with their version or else do my taxes by hand if I prefer.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A California ReadyReturn document" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OgDshcZYMQ1BogDj_Rc__pVlJ3I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22778395/Screen_Shot_2021_08_12_at_11.49.25_AM.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/200607goolsbee.pdf" target="_blank">Via Austan Goolsbee/Brookings Institution</a></cite>
<figcaption>
A sample return from California’s ReadyReturn pilot, which allowed for pre-filled returns to be mailed to most Californians, sparing them from filing themselves. ReadyReturn has since been folded into <a class="ql-link" href="https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-file/online/calfile/index.asp" target="_blank">California’s CalFile software</a>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="45RqU3">
This <a href="http://qz.com/628020/filing-your-income-taxes-is-a-pain-and-that-is-not-an-accident/">isn’t a purely hypothetical proposal</a>. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Chile, and Spain already offer <a href="https://www.oecd.org/tax/administration/36280368.pdf">”pre-populated returns”</a> to their citizens. <a href="https://priceonomics.com/the-stanford-professor-who-fought-the-tax-lobby/">California has experimented with a version called ReadyReturn</a>, in the face of intense tax prep industry opposition. While true pre-populated returns are over in the state, it does offer free filing software called <a href="https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-
file/online/calfile/index.asp">CalFile</a> that can pre-fill some information for taxpayers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9zlmRE">
Olson notes that an RFP from the IRS could demand that a free-file option enable pre-filled returns or, at the absolute least, automatically import forms that have been sent to the IRS associated with your or a family member’s Social Security number.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZMnb0A">
The steps needed from here are simple.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QjO2pO">
Congress needs to authorize more funding for the IRS. It also ideally would pass the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11417676/elizabeth-warren-
tax-return-free-filing-tax-day-intuit-hr-block-turbotax-automatic-simple">Tax Filing Simplification Act</a>, a proposal dating from 2017 and championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that would order the IRS to put together a free-filing system and to offer pre-filled returns.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qhOH5M">
The hardest steps toward simplification would involve fixing the tax code itself. In 2019, Olson in her capacity as national taxpayer advocate enlisted Book and other experts to <a href="https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JRC20_Volume3.pdf">propose changes to make tax code benefits easier to access</a>. They proposed simplifying the earned income tax credit so it was paid out without reference to how many kids a worker has, which could make it easier to pay out over the course of a year rather than at tax time. In exchange, the child tax credit would be enhanced and made bigger, repeating the experiment of 2021’s bigger child credit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0i5ckx">
A reform like this could make tax filing totally unnecessary for most low-income people. Eliminating breaks like the mortgage interest and charitable deductions would make returns unnecessary for most middle- and upper-middle-class people too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BPjXui">
But those are heavy lifts. A huge first step would be to simply fund the IRS adequately, have it pay private tax preparers to process returns for now, and have it hire a software firm to build a real free-file system with pre-filled returns. That would eliminate the tax prep industry’s stranglehold on our tax system and make the entire process vastly easier for Americans, especially low-income Americans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d9SaWA">
<em>Update, April 13, 2022: This story has been updated to reflect developments in the news.</em>
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The CDC’s new Covid-19 guidelines are facing their first test with BA.2</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/rvgWDL9D16an0JetJHR1AjOYYMw=/75x0:5170x3821/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70743804/GettyImages_1264183293t.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
People walk by a CDC billboard in New York City on August 5, 2020. | Noam Galai/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How will we know if they pass or fail?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IdHhYX">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ra0r98">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aTqeKa">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tLFF81">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tVwote">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0NNep6">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jEv2g4">
In late February, the CDC made big changes to its recommendations for monitoring and responding to Covid-19 surges. Now, as US cases are once more <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/12/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine?name=styln-
coronavirus&amp;region=TOP_BANNER&amp;block=storyline_menu_recirc&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Interactive&amp;variant=show&amp;is_new=false#experts-
say-it-is-unclear-whether-rising-cases-in-the-northeastern-us-are-the-start-of-a-larger-surge">on the rise</a>, these recommendations face their first test. But how will we know if they are working?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EfpkbK">
The CDC used to prioritize cases and positive tests to determine the Covid-19 threat level. Starting in February, the agency placed more weight on hospitalizations. The move invited a lot of <a href="https://www.vox.com/22959093/cdc-roll-back-mask-
mandates-pandemic-restrictions">scrutiny</a>, and it reflected changes in the CDC’s pandemic response goals: The agency is moving away from trying to eliminate transmission of the virus and toward reducing deaths and health care system strain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A5IvYD">
The hard truth, several public health experts tell Vox, is that determining whether they are effective will be difficult.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VFeFQY">
Even in the best-case scenario, where institutions follow the guidelines and the latest wave recedes, it would be hard to prove that the CDC’s framework deserves the credit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RgAS9A">
“We’ll certainly know if it fails,” said <a href="https://physiciandirectory.brighamandwomens.org/details/13177/jeremy-faust-emergency_medicine-boston">Jeremy Faust</a>, an emergency doctor and health policy expert in Boston. The guidelines face the same challenges many public health initiatives do: Failures are easier to spot than successes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OiMcVT">
As a <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2022/4/7/23012166/covid-19-ba2-variant-us-cases">new wave begins</a>, it’s worth setting some expectations about what these guidelines can reasonably do, and how easy or hard it will be to measure their success. Ultimately, we might never know how well the guidelines work — and even if they do work, the CDC might not get any credit.
</p>
<h3 id="7AeJEH">
What the new CDC guidelines changed, and why experts like them
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ngs9QP">
For the first two years of the pandemic, there were two main metrics for determining the pandemic’s severity: case counts and test positivity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x8AsIF">
Case counts were determined by summing up the positive results of PCR tests conducted in a given time period. And test positivity was determined by calculating the percentage of positive PCR tests. Together, these provided a rough, real-time picture of the Covid-19 threat, which public health agencies and institutions used to guide rollouts of testing programs, mask and vaccine requirements, and other public health measures.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yda939">
For as long as PCR testing remained vastly more accessible than home-based testing, this approach made sense. However, at-home tests became <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7113e1.htm">more widely available</a> over the latter half of 2021; because reporting those tests’ results <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/test-positive-home-covid-kit-local-
health-department-wants-know-rcna10109">is not mandatory</a> the way reporting PCR test results is, PCR results have become increasingly unrepresentative of the actual state of play.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HAMQoT">
The proliferation of home tests rendered the CDC’s key metrics “almost functionally meaningless,” said <a href="https://www.brown.edu/academics/public-
health/news/2021/11/new-leaders">Jennifer Nuzzo</a>, an epidemiologist and pandemic preparedness expert at Brown University’s public health school. And so, Nuzzo explained, the CDC needed to find a new method for taking the temperature of the pandemic in real time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kJZKax">
The February guidelines did just that, introducing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html">a new way</a> of estimating each county’s Covid-19 burden. The calculation is still partially based on the rate of new cases over the past week, but now it is based largely on the number of new hospital admissions due to Covid-19 and the percent of hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients. From this, the CDC assigns each county a “low,” “medium,” or “high” level of burden.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/v31SGJVkV-
qsGO0Gj71UrzSckBs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23385262/Screen_Shot_2022_04_12_at_4.13.56_PM.png"/> <cite>CDC</cite></figure></div></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
The CDC’s guidelines for various Covid-19 transmission levels.
</figcaption>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GyPG1e">
For each level, the guidelines offer a set of recommendations for institutions and public health departments, and a separate one for individuals. The specifics of the recommendations range from ensuring testing and vaccine access on the low end to calling in backup health care staff on the high end.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vl8gvD">
Some people <a href="https://www.vox.com/22959093/cdc-roll-back-mask-mandates-pandemic-restrictions">balked</a> at the change, in part because hospitalizations are a lagging indicator of transmission intensity, rising one to two weeks after cases increase. However, the model used to create the guidelines accounted for that lag and deliberately set hospitalization thresholds at a level to allow institutions a few weeks to prepare for a rise in deaths.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mL5BfK">
The new framework also reflected <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/science/Scientific-Rationale-
summary-COVID-19-Community-Levels.pdf">a change in the CDC’s pandemic goals</a>. No longer would the agency focus on eliminating transmission; instead, it would aim to prevent severe illness and death, minimize the burden on the health care system, and protect vulnerable people by using vaccines, therapeutics, and prevention strategies. The new estimates would help accomplish this by focusing on metrics that actually quantified the main indicators of health care system strain and setting the alarms to go off early enough to let public health authorities act.
</p>
<div class="c-float- right">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gmtt-
se3UtbnlIwYAs7TK21sNyA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23385625/US_COVID_19_Community_Levels_of_All_Counties.png"/> <cite>CDC</cite></p>
<figcaption>
The CDC’s analysis of Covid-19 levels across the country, as of April 7.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ohpU9Q">
Many public health experts felt the shifts were necessary, and organizations representing state, local, and county health officials reported <a href="https://www.vox.com/22959093/cdc-roll-back-mask-mandates-pandemic-
restrictions">broad support for the changes</a> among their membership.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jtln6S">
“A focus on hospitalizations makes a lot of sense right now,” said <a href="https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/justin-lessler-phd/">Justin Lessler</a>, an epidemiology professor at the University of North Carolina’s public health school. He expects that with increasing population immunity, each wave’s severity will likely decrease, making case numbers less relevant. As case numbers do an increasingly bad job of predicting hospitalizations and deaths, there’s just less incentive to focus on them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wUcRAF">
“We’d love to prevent infections, but that’s the hardest game of whack-a-mole,” said Nuzzo. However, she said, we can prevent severe illness and death, and “we can prevent our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, and that is absolutely critical.”
</p>
<h3 id="W6gIU8">
How we’ll know if the guidelines are failing
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lxKaHB">
At the moment, the CDC’s US outbreak severity map shows most counties in green, indicating they have a low community burden of infections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pmde87">
But within the last month, a handful of counties have changed color to yellow or orange, indicating medium or high Covid-19 levels. Those color changes are intended to provoke public health authorities to make changes, like ramping up testing programs for asymptomatic people and restricting visitation in high-risk settings like nursing homes and prisons. Mask requirements are also on the menu, Nuzzo said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lwGK5u">
The timing here is key: The color change is intended to happen early enough to provoke policy changes in time to prevent hospital bed shortages.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D2Bd4b">
Here, we could see clear signs if the guidelines were failing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5zOuxm">
If a county goes from green to orange, there should be time to flatten the curve before there’s a big strain on resources. “If we see hospitals overflowing and the CDC’s mask thresholds had not been met, that would be straightforward, incontrovertible proof that [the guidelines] failed to achieve the objective,” said Faust.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="A hospital corridor with a person in scrubs in the foreground writing on a pad." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IwRqqpOug5QbxpXNn7PNYYEW1mU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23385317/GettyImages_1384427724t.jpg"/> <cite>Mario Tama/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
A lab technician working at the Providence St. Mary Medical Center on March 11, 2022, in Apple Valley, California.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZpFJke">
Other red flags would include signs that state and local public health authorities and policymakers are not using the metrics to make decisions. That could suggest a number of problems, including a lack of health department resources, burnout among key personnel, a lack of trust in the CDC’s methods, or insufficient political will to follow the metrics and implement the changes the guidelines suggest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xdUdmV">
After all, while the CDC’s guidelines are authoritative, they are not requirements; ultimately, state and local governments can do what they want.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vKZKCQ">
“It’s not the metrics, necessarily, that I think are the thing to test, but it’s how we choose to respond to a change in the metrics,” said Nuzzo. “That’s the wild card.”
</p>
<h3 id="kjrPWl">
Why detecting the guidelines’ success is harder
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gluRJd">
To determine whether the guidelines are doing their job, we first need to define what it would mean for them to be successful — and that’s currently an open question, said Lessler.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ocbyx0">
For the CDC’s recommendations to be successful, state and local public health authorities need to use them as the basis for their policy recommendations; policymakers need to act on those recommendations; people and institutions need to follow those recommendations; and the recommendations need to have the desired effect of reducing transmission and increasing access to vaccination and treatment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4wI7zn">
But just knowing where the guidelines are being implemented and where they are not is a challenge due to the decentralization of our public health system. Although Covid-19 <a href="https://www.kff.org/report-section/state-covid-19-data-and-policy-
actions-policy-actions/#policyactions">policy</a> <a href="https://www.multistate.us/issues/covid-19-policy-
tracker">trackers</a> exist, differences in the particulars and the enforcement of different policies impede connecting the dots between mitigation efforts and outcomes. There are 3,006 counties in the US, and it’s hard to keep track of the policies in place in all of them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eWUx9w">
“One of the arguments for a diverse public health system is it becomes a laboratory,” said Lessler, “but that’s only true if there’s some sort of central tracking and good reporting of what’s actually being trialed.” In a sense, the CDC’s new guidelines are an experiment in which results cannot be compiled in one place.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/-mmjyhDqGnajNPhUA2IG6z1W10A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23385338/GettyImages_1366126418t.jpg"/> <cite>Spencer Platt/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
People walk through Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on January 21, 2022, in New York City.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D6AseE">
Another complication in evaluating the success of the guidelines is that individuals nationwide do what they think makes the most sense for themselves, regardless of local policy. That’s not necessarily a sign of anarchy. The CDC’s guidelines actually recommend that people use the agency’s suggested metrics to guide individual choices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mbauRa">
However, individual action tends to happen late in a surge, only “when things are obviously really bad,” said <a href="https://healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/people/joshua-salomon">Joshua Salomon</a>, a health policy professor at Stanford University. For example, people in a county where hospitals are overflowing might choose to wear masks even if their governor has forbidden mask mandates. Individual actions like this happening at a large scale change the outcomes, making it even more challenging to link those outcomes with policies.
</p>
<h3 id="kutsvz">
It will be hard to know if guidelines are working if the BA.2 wave is small
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nnPQyY">
There’s another major challenge to evaluating the new guidelines: If the burgeoning BA.2 omicron subvariant wave of Covid-19 is small, the guidelines may not face a big test at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fy3nDq">
Cases have been rising in the US, and hospitalizations are now rising in several northeastern states, albeit far <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">more slowly</a> than during the explosive wintertime omicron BA.1 wave. The sluggishness of BA.2’s spread (so far) may be attributable to the large number of people who have retained some immunity following infection during that earlier wave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PK7xd7">
If BA.2 does not end up producing a large surge of infections in the US, “that will be a welcome surprise,” said Salomon, but “it won’t necessarily be validation of the new community guidance.” Our health care system can’t be threatened — and the CDC guidelines can’t be tested — by a surge that doesn’t happen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7WXi7">
Of course, a big test might be just over the horizon if a variant worse than BA.2 comes into play.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mwY2bM">
Even if the CDC’s guidelines help prevent disastrous outcomes, people may see the absence of catastrophe as evidence that the guidelines were unnecessary, not as evidence that they worked. Those situations are just as confusing as when people credit public health policies for good outcomes that would’ve happened anyway.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfuXzb">
“If the CDC throws a mask mandate on and if things appear to get better, even then that will be correlation, not causation,” said Faust. “It’ll be really hard to tease out.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The secrets hidden in sewage</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="The view from inside a pipe with water flowing out to a grassy area with trees." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NxmqtnG4paSqMbJp1MbutSdacWI=/532x0:5865x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70743717/GettyImages_1169117045.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The potential for human waste to tell us about what is happening with our community’s health extends far beyond Covid-19. | Getty Images/EyeEm
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wastewater can help us monitor Covid-19. What else can it tell us?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vF15Kg">
The first signs of <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2022/4/7/23012166/covid-19-ba2-variant-
us-cases">the most recent Covid-19 waves</a> have often been <a href="https://bangordailynews.com/2022/04/05/news/nirav-
shah-wastewater-data-show-covid-may-be-on-the-rise-again-in-maine/">detected in our sewers</a> instead of nasal swabs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YBFjE1">
But in the future, the potential for human waste to tell us about what is happening with our community’s health could extend far beyond <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">the novel coronavirus</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UgZhqt">
“This has been its coming-out party. We’ve realized the power in this pandemic,” John Dennehy, a biologist at the City University of New York who has been assisting with NYC’s wastewater surveillance program, told me. “Now there’s great interest in developing an infrastructure to sustain this capability beyond the pandemic.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IN5VvB">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/23005271/sewage-wastewater-surveillance-covid-19-biobot-
analytics-pandemic">Sewage surveillance</a> is becoming more valuable right now as conventional testing is becoming less transparent. More people have been using rapid at-home tests and might not report results to a public health agency. That means the number of positive cases being reported by official sources might not actually provide a full picture of what’s happening with the pandemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l0bRWh">
But no matter how or if they’re testing, infected people — whether they have symptoms or not — flush out the virus when they go to the bathroom, leaving viral RNA that can be detected in wastewater samples. It requires careful collection and testing, but sewage can provide a less biased look at the viral trends in a given community.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwi0L4">
Science has not yet reached the point where we can say that X amount of viral load in a community’s sewage means Y number of people are infected in that community. But still, knowing which way viral loads are trending is useful. If they are going up, even before the number of positive tests starts increasing, it could in theory allow public health authorities and the local health system to start preparing for a surge. If they are going down, public health officials (and the general public) can be confident that any waning in official case numbers is real and not the byproduct of, say, less testing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BfoJ6g">
So far, health authorities have not been using wastewater levels to trigger a public health response — ordering people to mask up again once viral loads hit a certain level, for example. But experts say a more direct link between sewage surveillance and public health policies might be established in some places in the coming year.
</p>
<h3 id="kM9K5F">
Covid-19 has shown the value of public health sewage surveillance
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ps3tl">
The pandemic has revealed the potential for wastewater surveillance — and the shortcomings in the current US infrastructure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iVYWfB">
Dennehy told me that his team in NYC had noticed an unusual iteration of the virus back in November, but it wasn’t until South Africa announced the presence of the omicron variant in people there a month later that they realized they had been seeing the mutations that would soon start a new wave of infections worldwide.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k7LrQX">
South Africa has been commended for its genomic surveillance system, which is what allowed it to be the first to identify omicron as a threat, even though, as the New York example shows, the variant was likely already present in other parts of the world. The US, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22225012/us-sequencing-covid-19-variants">lagged behind other countries</a> for much of the pandemic in that work, and integrating sewage into that surveillance system remains a work in progress.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uJsd8J">
Before the pandemic, using wastewater for disease surveillance was not unheard of, but it was generally limited to monitoring for diseases like polio, where the appearance of any amount of virus would be cause for alarm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C7KkpL">
Covid-19 has shown that wastewater can provide an even more nuanced and varied picture of a community’s health. Since researchers showed the ability to detect the coronavirus in sewage in early 2020, wastewater surveillance has spread across the globe. More than <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-
tracker/#wastewater-surveillance">470 sites</a> in the US and <a href="https://ucmerced.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c778145ea5bb4daeb58d31afee389082">nearly 3,400 sites worldwide</a> are reporting the amount of virus they are detecting in the waste we flush.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t2kddS">
Wastewater has its limitations, including challenges with proper collection and adjusting for the concentration of human waste in the sewage. Some rural areas don’t have a community wastewater system, relying instead on individual homes’ septic tanks, which makes broad monitoring impossible. Across Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska, <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance">only two wastewater sites</a> are reporting their coronavirus levels to the CDC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="snDlnz">
Setting up a strong wastewater monitoring program also requires political support and coordination between public health departments, environmental agencies, and local water authorities, which may not be accustomed to working together.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CDvQsb">
In spite of those obstacles, sewage monitoring has become more integrated into the global pandemic response over time. And experts don’t expect it to stop there. They are already imagining how else we might use all the information that can be gleaned from our waste to get ahead of future outbreaks and target public health interventions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1i2yPK">
“Most people believe wastewater testing is not going away,” Marc Johnson, a University of Missouri virologist who has helped lead that state’s wastewater monitoring program, told me. “It’s too nice of a tool. It can give us an unbiased readout of a community’s health, without having to worry about individual patient confidentiality.”
</p>
<h3 id="ak8HOB">
All the ways wastewater surveillance could help us improve public health
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5n5nNk">
For the foreseeable future, sewage surveillance could help the country keep ahead of Covid-19. Not only can the general trends — an increasing or decreasing amount of virus being found — give a warning about emerging or fading waves, but wastewater can also provide scientists clues about new variants that may soon appear.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WBsJnV">
After wastewater is collected and taken to a laboratory, scientists run the same kind of test that is conducted for an individual diagnostic PCR test. Beyond identifying whether or not the virus is present, the lab can also determine how much of it there is depending on how many testing cycles they need to run to detect it. (Fewer cycles means more virus.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CTtfsI">
Then scientists can also take the sample and analyze the genetic make-up of the virus found therein. If it’s different from the most common variant at the time, that may be a signal that another variant is lurking out there with the potential to take over. Johnson said that, in Missouri, his team has seen Covid-19 variants that have not been detected in humans yet. They may have found their way into the wastewater system from animals, he told me, and we know that animal-to-human transmission is one way for new variants to emerge.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oESWCe">
US scientists are also starting to use wastewater in more targeted ways to combat Covid-19. Dennehy said an NYC hospital had asked his team if they could start analyzing the sewage coming out of their facility specifically so they could get an early warning if the virus was appearing more frequently in their patients and staff. Continuous diagnostic testing would be expensive to maintain, and this population-level surveillance would allow the hospital to institute more rigorous testing only when the viral load in the wastewater suggests that it’s necessary.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zxJMGV">
That kind of creative approach can be applied to other public health problems as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kia0Nw">
Johnson described a similar proposal in Missouri prisons that want to monitor for tuberculosis outbreaks. They have asked for their sewage to be regularly tested for TB, which they could use to determine when to conduct individual diagnostic tests, which are both costly and logistically cumbersome.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="moWJrL">
“They don’t have to waste money on testing when they know there is nothing there,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UPWM6y">
Surveillance programs could watch for other pathogens, too, such as influenza, hepatitis, and norovirus for early warnings of emerging outbreaks. Julianne Nassif, an expert on wastewater surveillance with the Association of Public Health Labs, said we could also monitor for bacteria, viruses, and other microbes that are resistant to current treatments. Public health officials could try to get ahead of an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a nursing home, for example, with the information gleaned from downstream sewage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l39bbH">
Johnson envisioned communities monitoring for narcotics, to better tailor their public health campaigns. Wastewater could be tested to determine whether cocaine or opioid use is rising in a given sewage shed. It could even determine what kind of opioids are being used, which could be helpful to health departments. Widespread heroin use might require a different intervention than diverted prescription opioids or black-market fentanyl.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pn3lEl">
The possibilities sound almost endless, extending to research that could help us better understand human health. Dennehy described to me one hypothetical experiment that could be run with sewage monitoring, looking for the viral markers associated with colon cancer. By comparing the results from one community with, say, a nearby nuclear power plant and another community somewhere else, we could get a better understanding of how the surrounding environment affects people’s health.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mj9oKs">
But for all of this potential to be realized, these efforts would require sustained support. The CDC bet on the wastewater boom, launching a national Covid-19 surveillance system in the fall of 2020. But dedicated investments in infrastructure and a workforce would be necessary if the country were to begin conducting wastewater surveillance on a more permanent basis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AiFE3g">
In general, the US has not appeared <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-
covid19/2021/10/28/22748841/build-back-better-bill-details-covid-pandemic-public-health-funding">willing to make big investments in public health</a>. Scientists working on these programs hope that the same may not be true of wastewater surveillance, given the opportunities it presents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GUU2hs">
“We learned a lot of hard-won lessons with the Covid pandemic. We got caught with our pants down at the beginning. A lot of things that we did were too late,” Dennehy told me. “The hope is we can remember these lessons for the next time this comes around, which may not be that long.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rasputin and Rubik Star please</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Guru sizzles for Summer Friends</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian students qualify for the world’s largest paper plane flying competition to be held in Austria</strong> - Chennai hosts the India Finals of the world’s largest paper plane flying competition on a carpeted college runway. Now, the winners take their folding techniques to Salzburg</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andrew McDonald named head coach of Australian cricket team</strong> - Andrew McDonald has been named head coach of the Australian men’s cricket team on a four-year contract</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2022 | I am still learning as captain, says Jadeja</strong> - The CSK skipper made these remarks after his team opened its account on Tuesday with a 23-run win over RCB</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Protest in Mysuru seeking Eshwarappa’s arrest</strong> - AAP accuses BJP govt. of not acting on allegations of deceased contractor</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Akbaruddin Owaisi acquitted in 2012-hate speech cases</strong> - The court observed the evidence was insufficient and the accused was given the benefit of doubt, says the AIMIM leader’s lawyer</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CS for control rooms to monitor paddy procurement</strong> - Directs officials to formulate action plan for procuring the entire commodity</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: Paddy procurement begins in Godavari delta</strong> - Govt. sets target of 9.8 lakh MT this Rabi season</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>End of the road for Devaraja Market, Lansdowne Building ?</strong> - District heritage committee feels they have to be demolished to pave way for a new structure in their place</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine: The critical fight for ‘heart of this war’ Mariupol</strong> - Russia could be on the brink of fully capturing the city after a devastating, six-week assault.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine: Fugitive Putin ally Medvedchuk arrested - security service</strong> - Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian tycoon who is accused of treason, was pictured in handcuffs.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: What weapon killed 50 people in station attack?</strong> - There’s mounting evidence that cluster weapons, which can cause heavy civilian casualties, are being used in this conflict.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BBC reporter: Scale of destruction in Borodyanka, in Kyiv region is extraordinary</strong> - Anna Foster is in Borodyanka showing the scale of damage left behind in the Kyiv region.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Marine Le Pen says she opposes sanctions on Russian gas</strong> - The French presidential candidate says she is in favour of sanctions on Russia - except for energy.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Titanosaur nesting spot found in Brazil</strong> - Find suggests the titanosaurs didn’t need to migrate to favorable nesting sites. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847620">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Slaw Device is back: RH Rotor Pedals rule the skies—for $475</strong> - They may be expensive, but for flight-sim enthusiasts, they’re worth every penny. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847307">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tim Cook delivers speech railing against “data industrial complex,” sideloading</strong> - “Unintended consequences will be profound,” Cook claims. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847519">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As gonorrhea becomes untreatable, a repurposed vaccine may prevent it</strong> - The effectiveness is modest, but could still prevent a massive number of infections. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847628">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia’s Sandworm hackers attempted a third blackout in Ukraine</strong> - The attack was the first in five years to use Sandworm’s Industroyer malware. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847592">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Just a friendly reminder to show respect to Ramadan</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Yes, yes. I know we all like to have a good laugh about certain things. But Ramadan is a very important and sacred time for Muslims. And as a non-Muslim, I have since learned that we need treat it with some respect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
See, my next door neighbour is a Muslim. Ever since the start of Ramadan, I have been making jokes every time I see him. I’d say things like, “Hey! Lunch is on me today!” and “I bet you’d like a nice juicy steak about now!”. Sometimes I would walk to my car patting my belly after breakfast. When I went to get my mail the other day, I was eating an apple and ran into him. I took a big bite and said “mmm, so good” and laughed my arse off. Now, I though all this was just a bit of friendly banter. Just some ribbing going on between friends. But I clearly took it too far.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
See, just today he comes up to me and says “Brother, I just thought I would let you know, this Friday evening my family and all our friends will be breaking fast with a huge barbeque. We will have a goat on a spit. We will be grilling steak and lamb chops all through the night. We will be cooking high quality sausages. We will be using all sorts of spices and marinades. Even with us all there, there will be more meat then we can all eat. You are more than welcome to join us”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cheeky bastard knows I’m Catholic.
</p>
</div>
<!--
SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/177329387473893"> /u/177329387473893 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u2fncu/just_a_friendly_reminder_to_show_respect_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u2fncu/just_a_friendly_reminder_to_show_respect_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My girlfriend is one of a kind. She never says no to a shag, has great tits and even swallows.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But her bird collecting has gone far enough now.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/windowcleaneronmeth"> /u/windowcleaneronmeth </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u2neul/my_girlfriend_is_one_of_a_kind_she_never_says_no/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u2neul/my_girlfriend_is_one_of_a_kind_she_never_says_no/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A young boy says to his father “Dad, our maths teacher is asking to see you.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What happened?” The father asks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"Well, she asked me, ‘how much is 7 * 9?’ I answered ‘63’ , then she asked, ‘and 9 * 7?’ So I asked ‘what’s the fucking difference?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Indeed, what is the difference?” asks the father. ‘’Sure, I’ll go.’’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The next day, the boy comes home from school and says, “Dad, have you gone by the school?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Not yet.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well when you do, come and see the gym teacher also.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Why?” asks the father.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well we had a gym class today, and he asked me to raise my left arm, I did. Then my right arm, I also raised it. Then he asked me to lift my right leg, so I did. ‘Now,’ he says, ‘lift your left leg,’ so I asked, ‘What, am I suppose to stand on…. my cock??’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Exactly,” says the father. “Alright, I’ll come.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The next day, the boy asks his father “Did you go to the school?” “No, not yet.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Don’t bother, I got expelled.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Surprised, the father asks “Why did you get expelled?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well, they summoned me to the principal’s office, and sitting there were the math teacher, the gym teacher, and the art teacher.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“The fuck was the art teacher doing there!?” asks the father.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That’s what I said!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AdditionalMaterial10"> /u/AdditionalMaterial10 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u20odk/a_young_boy_says_to_his_father_dad_our_maths/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u20odk/a_young_boy_says_to_his_father_dad_our_maths/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>NSFW My Favorite Gilbert Gottfried joke</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
NSFW
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A man goes to see his wife in the hospital. She has been getting sicker and sicker and is clearly in the final days of her life. He goes to her and holds her hand and stares into his wife’s eyes and asks her if there is anything at all he can do for her. His wife can barely speak and her skin is pale, cheeks sunken. She asks her husband to please, fuck her in the ass. The husband is surprised at her request and asks her if she is sure. With the same weak voice she again asks him to fuck her in the ass. The man is unsure but wants to do as his wife asks. He gets up and closes the door and moves to the bed. He goes to his wife and starts fucking her in the ass. As he is fucking her she starts moaning loudly. The color is returning to her cheeks. She is getting louder and louder screaming out YES! Then suddenly the man gets off her, burying his face in his hands crying. The woman goes to him and tells him she feels amazing and asks what was wrong? The man sobbing, lifts his head and tells her “I could have saved my father.”
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RIP Gilbert, another comedy legend gone.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CorrectOrder"> /u/CorrectOrder </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u284ou/nsfw_my_favorite_gilbert_gottfried_joke/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u284ou/nsfw_my_favorite_gilbert_gottfried_joke/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>So, my girlfriend kicked me out of the house because of my bad Arnold Scharzenegger impressions. But don’t worry</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I’ll return.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MEforgotUSERNAME"> /u/MEforgotUSERNAME </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u26ssx/so_my_girlfriend_kicked_me_out_of_the_house/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u26ssx/so_my_girlfriend_kicked_me_out_of_the_house/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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