Some prominent biotech companies report upbeat indications regarding possible coronavirus vaccines that have begun human trials around the world. Biotech firm Moderna, based in Massachusetts, saw its stock jump 20% on news that their experimental vaccine showed considerable efficacy. From the Washington Post:
The eagerly-awaited data provide a first look at one of the eight vaccines worldwide that have begun human testing. The data have not been published in a scientific journal and are only a preliminary step toward showing the experimental vaccine is safe and effective.
The company’s stock, along with the Dow Jones industrial average, soared on the report that eight participants who received low and medium doses of Moderna’s vaccine had blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies that were similar or greater than those in recovered covid-19 patients. That suggests, but doesn’t prove, that it triggers some level of immunity.
An effort led by the University of Oxford, in partnership with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, plans to have millions of doses of vaccine available by fall. Last week, those researchers disclosed that more than 1,000 patients had already enrolled in the initial trial of its vaccine, which began in late April.
A Chinese company, Sinovac Biotech, recently published a study in the journal Science showing that its vaccine protected rhesus monkeys against infection and is currently being tested in 144 people. Two other safety trials are ongoing in the U.S., led by Pfizer and Inovio Pharmaceuticals.
Vaccine experts have said that these accelerated development timelines are theoretically possible, but extremely optimistic — and depend on everything going right. They stress that it will be crucial to gather convincing data the vaccines are safe and effective before using them broadly — and the new data are promising but preliminary, from the earliest phase one trials that test safety in healthy people.
RuPaul (left) raised $100K for Planned Parenthood on ‘The Price Is Right’ Some news items you might have missed: • Billboard: Emmy Award winner RuPaul (above) raised nearly $100,000 for Planned Parenthood during a special nighttime edition of the long-running game show, The Price Is Right. • Reuters: Albania’s leading psychologists’ organization has prohibited members from practicing so-called “conversion therapy” which aims to make gay people straight. Albania joins Germany and Malta as the third country in the EU to ban the practice. • PBS News Hour: The venerable news outlet interviewed 74 former staffers for Joe Biden in regard to Tara Reade’s allegations that the former vice president sexually assaulted her in 1993. None of the people interviewed said that they had experienced sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by Biden. All said they never heard any rumors or allegations of Biden engaging in sexual misconduct, until the recent assault allegation made by Reade. • The Advocate: As a huge fan of the 1970s sci-fi series The Bionic Woman, I found this article, exploring why the show resonates so deeply with feminist and LGBTQ audiences, fascinating. • HuffPost: Taking a page from his dad’s playbook, Eric Trump insisted in an interview that COVID-19 will “magically” disappear — after Election Day. He claimed that the coronavirus that has killed 312,000 people around the globe — including nearly 90,000 Americans — is a ploy cooked-up by the Democrats to stop Donald Trump from rallying his supporters at campaign events. • New Music: Eurovision’s 2018 champion Netta is back with her new song “Cuckoo”, a devastating heartbreaker of a ballad that feels eerily poignant given the state of the world currently. The song debuted as a part of Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light which aired in 46 countries and included this touching video of Netta performing the track with a custom-made music box. The studio recording of the single is also available now. The track is a noticeable departure for the Israeli artist/composer/songwriter who has become famous garnering over 1 billion streams globally for her bombastic, colorful, and high-adrenaline pop songs like “Toy” which led to her win at the Eurovision competition.
Brian Lee Hitchens (screen capture/WPTV) A Florida man thought the coronavirus health threat was “a fake crisis” that was “blown out of proportion” and “wasn’t that serious.” And then he and his wife contracted COVID-19. “I thought it was maybe the government trying something, and it was kind of like they threw it out there to kinda distract us,” Hitchens told local news station WPTV. In a lengthy Facebook post, Brian Lee Hitchens shared how the pandemic affected he and his wife’s lives.
Many people still think that the Coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too and not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious.
We kept on watching the news and kept on hearing about the spreading of the Coronavirus and to be honest I didn’t really think nothing of it. I still thought it was being blown out of proportion until about 4 and 1/2 weeks ago when I started to feel sick and once I started to feel sick I stopped working and stayed home.
Yes, I came down with the Coronavirus and a couple days later after I started to not feel good my wife started to not feel good and we stayed at home quarantined and my wife did go to the hospital to get tested and they told her yeah you probably have the coronavirus so go home and quarantine yourself.
Well a few days went by and we both started feeling worse and worse and worse to the point where we barely had any energy left to do anything and all we want to do is sleep. So three weeks ago Sunday we decided not to play around with this anymore and I had just enough energy to drive us to the hospital Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and we both got confirmed that we had the Coronavirus.
They admitted us right away and we both went to ICU. I started feeling better within a few days but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on the ventilator. I was never put ventilator and started feeling better feeling stronger never had terrible aches and pains just weak and exhausted.
Even now I am feeling better. A lot better then a few weeks ago. I still have COVID-19 and some pneumonia in my lungs and we’ve been here 3 weeks as of yesterday.
As of today my wife is still sedated and on the ventilator with no signs of improving. There were a couple times were they tried to start weaning her off the ventilator but as soon as they’ve done that her oxygen level dropped and they had to put her back on the ventilator full time.
My wife has been sick before in the past quite a few times and she always fought through to get better but now after 3 weeks I have come to accept that my wife may pass away and the peace I have about it is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be going home to be with the Lord.
But I also do believe in miracles and I’m holding on to the chance that she may get healed. But if not I am thankful for her I know we’ve been married for 8 years.
So think about what I wrote and think about if this thing is a fake crisis. This Coronavirus affects people differently. My wife has suffered from different physical ailments which she has overcome before but she sure is struggling and the doctors have said they have had a tough time getting her better.
This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts. We don’t have to fear this, and by heeding the advice doesn’t mean that you fear it – that means you’re showing wisdom during this epidemic time.
Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn’t and perhaps I’m paying the price for it now. But I know that if it was me that gave it to my wife I know that she forgives me and I know that God forgives me.
Whether man forgives me or not that’s out of my control, but as long as I have the assurance that God forgives me and my wife forgives me I am good.
So just think about what I said and if you have to go out, please use wisdom and don’t be foolish like I was so the same thing won’t happen to you like it happened to me and my wife.
In a subsequent post, Hitchins shares that he is continuing to recover. His wife is reportedly stable, but still sedated and on a ventilator. Here’s his interview from his hosptial bed in Jupiter, Florida, with local station WPTV.
Give your brain a mid-day break and enjoy this spoof of Broadway genius Bob Fosse’s “Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity. Taking iconic movements from the first section of the dance number – “The Aloof” – old and new Fosse dancers offer their vision of daily life in quarantine. Being a Fosse dancer and having tackled “Rich Man’s Frug,” I think this is pretty fun.
So you can see the dance references, here’s the BRILLIANT original choreography from the 1969 film version of the musical starring Shirley MacLaine.
Five upstate regions of New York state became eligible to start phase one of reopening businesses on Friday. Additionally, the western region which includes Buffalo can start to reopen beginning Tuesday. More from the New York Times:
The region around Albany needs only to hire more contact tracers before it can enter “phase one.”
In the regions that can restart, construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade can resume. Retail businesses that sell clothing, electronics, furniture, books, sporting goods, shoes, flowers, jewelry and some other types of goods can open for curbside service.
Other activities that are allowed to operate include drive-in movies, landscaping and gardening services and “low-risk recreational activities” like tennis.
Mr. Cuomo also encouraged sports teams in the state to start planning to hold games, but without fans in attendance.
As those areas of the state get back to work, the only regions left to become eligible to entering phase one are the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio told the New York Times he expects New York City to satisfy phase one criteria sometime in the first half of June.
Super-smart guy Doug Sosnik, who was White House political director during President Clinton’s successful reelection race, writes for Axios:
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s most likely paths to 270 Electoral College votes:
1. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona: Biden wins all three states — his best option, given the political environment. (see above)
2. Michigan and Pennsylvania + two congressional districts — Nebraska-02 and Maine-02.
3. The Rust Belt: Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
4. Michigan and the Sunbelt: Biden carries Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina.
5. Florida +1: Biden carries Florida, getting him to 261 electoral votes. A win in any of the other battleground states would put him well past 270.
The bottom line … Biden’s best strategy:
• Make putting Michigan out of reach for Trump the top priority. • Lock up Pennsylvania. • Prioritize winning Arizona, Maine-02 and Nebraska-02. • Focus remaining resources on Wisconsin, North Carolina and Florida.
L-R Former President Barack Obama, Donald Trump After Barack Obama offered some veiled criticism of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic during two virtual commencement addresses he gave on Saturday, Donald Trump responded today calling the former president “grossly incompetent.” For over three years, Obama refrained from any comment on the Trump administration despite Donald Trump blaming the former president for a multitude of issues. Those include claims of “broken tests” for the coronavirus (a virus that didn’t exist when Obama left office) and “bare cupboards” of federal medical supplies three years into the Trump administration. But during an online speech to 2020 graduates, Obama referenced the current efforts to end the coronavirus health threat without using Trump’s name. “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing,” Obama said during Saturday’s speech. “A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” On Sunday, Trump was asked by reporters about Obama’s comments as he entered the White House. “Look, he was an incompetent president, that’s all I can say. Grossly incompetent,” said Trump. It goes without saying that Obama dealt with H1N1 so well that most Americans forgot about it. He also handled Ebola so expertly that only two people contracted it within the U.S. and they both recovered. And, of course, Obama gave Trump a thriving economy and a comprehensive pandemic response plan. Some conservatives denounced Obama for saying anything at all pointing to a tradition of previous presidents withholding criticism of their successors. But, Trump has spent three years blaming Obama for everything he possibly can, which is also, a break from tradition. My take is: Trump set the tone with his attacks on the previous administration. At some point, you do begin to reap what you sow. So, there’s that…
Trump responds to Obama’s speech: “Look, he was an incompetent president, that’s all I can say. Grossly incompetent.” pic.twitter.com/bgkbMFvURr
Obama gave two coherent, inspirational speeches to 2020 graduates that didn’t include mispronounced words, suggesting that people inject disinfectant, self praise, or covfefe. Trump’s Ivy League response: Obama bad And that is why Trump watched those speeches & didn’t give them
Former Vice President Joe Biden (photo via campaign)Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, issued this statement today in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Today, on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, I stand with LGBTQ+ people and their allies around the world to celebrate and champion the inherent dignity and worth of all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Around the globe, including here at home, brave LGBTQ+ activists are fighting for equal protection under the law, freedom from violence, and recognition of their fundamental human rights. The United States should have their backs. We belong at the forefront of this struggle — speaking out, standing strong for our most dearly held values. We should be sending a clear message that bigotry is bigotry, prejudice is prejudice, and hate is hate, no matter where we find it. American leadership must mean moral leadership in the fight for equality for all. The Obama-Biden Administration took unprecedented steps to ensure that our government delivered real progress on the promise of equality, both at home and abroad. From signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to supporting marriage equality, we fought to advance the civil liberties of LGBTQ+ people in the United States and, for the first time ever, established the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality as a foreign policy goal. Instead of building on this progress, the Trump-Pence Administration has done everything it can to undermine LGBTQ+ rights: giving safe harbor to hate and rolling back protections for LGBTQ+ persons, blocking the ability of transgender individuals to openly serve their country, denying LGBTQ+ people access to critical health care, and failing to address the epidemic of violence against transgender people, among other odious policies. Today, many LGBTQ+ people in the United States live in fear, and LGBTQ+ activists in other countries, who are often fighting desperately for their rights and personal safety, are no longer sure that the United States is their friend and ally. As President, I will reinvigorate and expand U.S. efforts to advance the human rights of LGBTQ+ people at home and around the world. The United States will again be a beacon of hope for people anywhere in the world who suffer violence and discrimination for the simple fact of who they are or who they love. We will strengthen the coalition of countries determined to eliminate discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Anything less would be un-American.
AstraZeneca plans to make as many as 30 million doses of coronavirus vaccine available to the U.K. by September and has committed to delivering 100 million doses this year. The U.K. would be the first country in the world to get access to the AstraZeneca vaccine. From Bloomberg News:
The vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford will get 65.5 million pounds ($79 million) of funding, U.K. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said today in a statement.
The inoculation is already being studied in humans and could reach late-stage trials by the middle of the year. Another 18.5 million pounds will go to Imperial College London as trials accelerate.
Drugmakers are scaling up to make a Covid vaccine before the shots are fully tested, so inoculations will be ready as soon as possible. No vaccine exists yet for Covid-19, which has killed more than 312,000 people globally and infected 4.7 million.
The U.K. has the second-deadliest outbreak after the U.S.
Drake Jensen (center) in his music video ‘Burn the Floor’ (screen capture) Out country artist Drake Jensen’s latest music video, “Burn The Floor,” is an upbeat, infectious, country/dance confection. “‘Burn the Floor’ was the result of country music imagined in a different way,” Jensen shared with The Advocate. “I really feel this is my strongest offering to date, and I created it with the ideology that I have had for years since starting my musical journey: that country music is for everyone. As long as there was a voice to send the message.” The music video for the new single, filmed at the Kinki Lounge & Kitchen in Ottawa, Canada, is a celebration of LGBTQ diversity featuring a wide-ranging spectrum of community members all celebrating as one. In a statement, Jensen said the inclusivity of the video was part of the message:
“There has been a lot of divisiveness within our community as we tend to sub-categorize each other. My answer to this was to create a song that would be completely inclusive and then invite the gay community of Canada’s capital to film the video. The result was an outburst of fun with so many different members of our community, all of who help make up our beautiful rainbow, where we all party the night away together as one.”
Some prominent biotech companies report upbeat indications regarding possible coronavirus vaccines that have begun human trials around the world. Biotech firm Moderna, based in Massachusetts, saw its stock jump 20% on news that their experimental vaccine showed considerable efficacy. From the Washington Post: 
