No, COVID-19 Is Not Like The Flu

"We have a much better understanding of the nature of COVID today. COVID damages the inner linings of the blood vessels."

"[COVID] causes inflammation of the blood vessels that can increase the risk of blood clots. We know it can, over time, lead to increased risk of having a heart attack, stroke, heart failure and things like that."

"Since cardiovascular disease can be silent, it's important to get your blood pressure checked and do further screening for cardiovascular disease if there are concerns."

"The severity of the infection doesn't seem to make a difference. These complications can occur even in people who have very mild symptoms. The big surprise is how much this can affect younger people. Studies are showing that even young, active people can experience heightened risk of these complications."

"So the benefit of vaccines far outweighs the risk when it comes to COVID, especially now we realize hos COVID can be so insidious and harmful for our cardiovascular system."

"The message here is you don't want to get COVID-19 if you can help it."

Dr. Peter Liu, chief scientific officer/vice-president research, University of Ottawa Heart Institute

Foam cells, which accumulate within arteries to form plaques in atherosclerosis, proved particularly susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2. Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock

We've lived with SARS-Cov-2 for over three years, ever since it surprised the world with its lightning-fast infection, moving through the planet with amazing ease, infecting populations and leading to a panic within governments, desperately seeking answers from the medical community, urging scientists to decipher the virus that was bringing havoc and sickness and death, burdening hospitals beyond their capacity to care for desperately ill people.

 

That panic is gone. We understand that the virus causing COVID is here and it will remain a threat to people's health as it continuously evolves, becomes more infectious, but somewhat less immediately lethal than the original strain. Yet its impact on human health as it mutates and appears less of a threat has led to a prevailing attitude that like the seasonal flu, it's nothing to be all that concerned about. The cautions of the first year from medical experts to isolate, mask, perform strict hygiene protocols have given way to alert-fatigue.

 

Even when new strains appear that once again are responsible for a resumption of mass infections showing up in waste water as a warning that communities are facing another epidemic resulting in new vaccines designed with the new strains at target, the uptake on vaccines being urged to keep the vulnerable up to date on their immunity levels now fails to convince people they are needed. The message seems to be that since the virus is endemic it's no more threatening than another flu virus.

 

But while during the early pandemic the scientific understanding was that the virus represented a respiratory disease, that perception has now changed, with experience showing that it is also a vascular disease, placing people at heightened risk for heart attack and stroke. COVID-19 is now viewed as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, joining ranks with high cholesterol and diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking.

  

The research team members say they have long known that infections such as the flu can increase risk for heart disease and heart attack, but the sharp rise in heart attack deaths is like nothing seen before. Photo by Getty.

 

People with pre-existing cardiovascular risk factors are of course susceptible for a worsening of their conditions as medically vulnerable, but the general public is also at greater risk with COVID onset. Infectious disease specialists now link increased risk of myocardial infarction along with heart rhythm abnormalities, heart failure and myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) with COVID-19 infection of recent vintage. Additionally, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines too can increase myocarditis risk. Even so, the risks associated with COVID are seen to be much grater than potential risk from the vaccine.

The risk of myocarditis was found over seven times higher in people who had been infected with COVID-19 than in those who received the vaccine, according to a 2022 study published in Frontiers of Cardiovascular Medicine. As well, the risk of developing a blood clot after an infection with COVID-19 is multiple times greater than after inoculation with  COVID vaccine. Neurological systems of the body are also affected by COVID-19.

Complications from COVID can be reduced by vaccines, even at infection. The tried-and-true masking and attention to public health advice are also seen to be effective in reducing risk of infection. Over 11 percent of Canadians following COVID infections have experienced long time COVID symptoms. Children vaccinated against COVID-19 were less likely to be left with long COVID, which can last for years, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature.

"I don't think we are going to get rid of COVID, so we need to protect ourselves against it", commented Dr. Liu.

In the year before the pandemic, there were 143,787 heart attack deaths; within the first year of the pandemic, this number had increased by 14% to 164,096.

The excess in acute myocardial infarction-associated mortality has persisted throughout the pandemic, even during the most recent period marked by a surge of the presumed less-virulent Omicron variant. 

Researchers found that although acute myocardial infarction deaths during the pandemic increased across all age groups, the relative rise was most significant for the youngest group, ages 25 to 44. 

By the second year of the pandemic, the “observed” compared to “predicted” rates of heart attack death had increased by 29.9% for adults ages 25-44, by 19.6% for adults ages 45-64, and by 13.7% for adults age 65 and older.

Cedar Sinai Medical Center

Long-Term COVID Vaccine Effects? Unlikely

"These are some of the most remarkably safe and effective drugs in medicine today."

"I can't think of even an obliquely plausible mechanism [whereby long-term effects of the vaccines might surface in the future]."

"[However], there is simply no reason to suspect that, after a year, or five, or 10, that there is going to be some long-term consequences."

"I'm not even aware of a vaccine in current use that has long-term side effects."

"If there was something that was going to manifest in a delayed fashion it would be manifesting now, and it's not."

Dr.David Juurlink, head, division of clinical pharmacology and toxicology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto

"What it all comes down to is our tolerance for risk."

"And the human brain is sort of programmed to think that doing nothing is safer than doing something. That is not always an accurate assessment of risk."

"There's never been a case of a vaccine or immune response turning foul after that time point [about eight weeks after causing an immune response] fully and completely developed."

"The vaccine ingredients are long gone; it's the immune response that remains. And that immune response is only directed toward one thing [the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus]."

Dawn Bowdish, Canada Research Chair, aging and immunity, professor, McMaster University

Photo: MU Health Care

 

When Dr. Juurlink is asked to examine patients with rare side effects occasioned from drugs "Very often that's a delayed reaction", when an individual might be prescribed an antibiotic for a skin condition. Six weeks after, they might be admitted to hospital suffering damage to a major organ, such as kidney or lung. Dr. Juurlink has spent 35 years of his professional life in the study of drugs and side effects, witnessing the "weirdest of the weird". And he has no hesitation based on his experience, in drawing the conclusion that COVID-19 vaccines will have no long-term consequences.

Quite simply, in his experience and based on his professional expertise in that specific area, no convincing reason exists to believe those vaccines could pose long-term risks of any kind in the future. There are times when new drugs emerge on the market with side effects that manifest a presence after widespread use. In the case of COVID-19 vaccines there have been such complications; the blood-clotting syndrome linked with the viral vector vaccines AstaZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Rare, but higher-than-expected rates of heart inflammation associated with both Moderna and Pfizer's mRNA vaccines. In particular among young males and generally speaking, occurring following their second dose of vaccine. Unexpected side effects occur within days or weeks of inoculation. Sde effects from drugs can include cumulative toxicity when prescribed for daily use; months or even years, but vaccines are taken once. They have been used for close to a year, now.

 

Photo: Boston Review

 

The most frequently reported adverse reactions, according to Health Canada data include tingling and pricking sensations, pain at the site of the injection, headache, fatigue, hives, dizziness, numbness, fever and joint pain. There were 97 reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome, 594 of Bell's palsy, and 1, 111 reports of heart involvement within the 59 million doses administered up to October 22. A total of 208 reports of death following vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine have been registered, "not necessarily related to the vaccine".

A U.S. database that tracks adverse vaccine reactions found the majority of reports over a six-month period involved side effects deemed "mild and short in duration", out of the more than 298 million doses of mRNA vaccines given. The report based on side effects cited 4,472 reports of death certificates or autopsy reports. Heart disease was the main cause of death, followed by COVID-19. Up to 42 days following vaccination, deaths were 15 to 50 times less frequent than the expected background rates of death from all causes per million vaccinated people.

Of 20,818 individual reports (representing 0.0365 percent of all doses administered), 5,394  were considered serious, representing 0.009 percent. Both in Canada and the United States (along with other countries) more women than men report side effects from COVID doses. Women account for the majority -- 74.8 percent -- of adverse event reports. It is unclear whether this is "due in part to health- care seeking behaviour" (women commonly likelier to report side effects to doctors) or to biological factors.

A noticeably higher risk of a brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was noted in a research letter recently published, compared to pre-COVID levels in women vaccinated with the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, particularly in the 30- to 59-year-old female group. Absolute risk, however was deemed to be a "whisper higher", based on raw numbers. Women, it was found, tend to experience more robust antibody responses to vaccines, according to experts.

The Ministry of Education said it intends to implement a vaccination status disclosure policy for publicly funded school board employees, as well as staff in private schools and licensed child-care settings. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Thin Edge of the Wedge

"[The study showed a small increased risk after vaccination.]" 

"However, these adverse events were dwarfed by the neurological disorders seen after testing positive for Covid."

"Guillain-Barre syndrome, myasthenia-like disease, subarachnoid haemorrhage, encephalitis, and Bell's palsy were all quite common, especially in the first two weeks after testing positive for Sars-Cov-2."

Professor Peter Openshaw, Imperial College London 

 

"There are risks clearly associated with the vaccine but there are more substantial risks associated with infection."

Aziz Sheikh, professor, primary care research and development, University of Edinburgh

 

"The really big message from this is these are very rare neurological events that might be associated with the vaccine."

"But there is overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine against serious illness."

"I also work as a GP and we want to make sure people are taking up the vaccine and booster jabs, and by doing that we will protect the health of the nation in the best way we can."

Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Rare neurological conditions may occur after Covid vaccination, but the risk is far higher in people who catch Covid, new research suggests.  Getty Images

While Britain used its own home-grown anti- COVID vaccine developed by researchers at Oxford University, the vaccine drew controversy and suspicion right from the word 'go' a year previously when

Europe in particular began to question its safety and efficacy, withdrawing its use altogether finally. A casual onlooker might be forgiven for thinking briefly that this was a bit of pay-back for Britain having the gall to leave the EU through Brexit. But there were legitimate issues seen with the vaccine, as for example its impact on the heart, and blood clots, albeit in rare instances particularly seen in some age groups.

 

Now Oxford University has completed a research project finding that Guillain-Barre syndrome episodes have been linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. They found as well that Guillain-Barre can result as a complication from COVID-19; again in small numbers, but greater than what occurs as a result of inoculation with the vaccine. Guillain-Barre is a condition affecting the nerves, manifesting commonly as numbness and pain in hands and feet.

 

With no connection to the Oxford scientists who had created the vaccine, a group of academics from Oxford conducted some research, finding that for every ten million doses administered in Britain 38 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome surfaced -- in comparison with a non-COVID, non-vaccine baseline. On the other hand, 145 excess cases per ten million people were seen to have occurred, after testing positive for COVID.

Data was extracted from over 30 million people in Britain, used to assess how people's chances of developing adverse neurological complications were, due to the vaccine, or/and the virus. An individual inoculated with AstraZeneca was found to be close to three times likelier to develop Guillain-Barre syndrome two to three weeks following inoculation -- in comparison with never receiving a vaccine dose.

If an individual was infected with COVID, the risk was found to be significantly higher, some five times as likely to develop the condition, within a month of testing positive. According to the research results, 15 to 21 days following the AstraZeneca dose, individuals can be 29 percent more at risk of Bell's palsy than normal. In contrast, within a month of testing positive for COVID, an individual becomes 34 percent more likely to develop Bell's palsy.

The study showed that following the first dose of vaccine, there were:

• 38 extra cases (compared to the baseline risk of getting the condition) of GBS for every 10 million adults having the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine
• 60 extra cases of haemorrhagic stroke (a bleed in the brain) for every 10 million adults having the Pfizer vaccine

For people who had a coronavirus infection on the other hand, there were approximately:

• 145 extra GBS cases per 10 million with a positive test
• 123 extra brain inflammation disorder cases like encephalitis meningitis and myelitis per 10 million people
• 163 extra cases of myasthenia-like disorders (immune conditions affecting the nerves and muscles) per 10 million people

A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered to a patient. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A Growing Litany of Serious Woes Post-COVID

Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D.  Cleveland Clinic

"Identifying how COVID-19 and neurological problems are linked will be critical for developing effective preventive and therapeutic strategies to address the surge in neurocognitive impairments that we expect to see in the near future."

"While some studies suggest that SARS-CoV-02 infects brain cells directly, others found no evidence of the virus in the brain."

"We discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly altered Alzheimer's markers implicated in brain inflammation and that certain viral entry factors are highly expressed in cells in the blood-brain barrier."

"These findings indicate that the virus may impact several genes or pathways involved in neuroinflammation and brain microvascular injury, which could lead to Alzheimer's disease-like cognitive impairment."

"Ultimately, we hope to have paved the way for research that leads to testable and measurable biomarkers that can identify patients at the highest risk for neurological complications with COVID-19."

Feixlong Cheng, researcher, Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic

"It's a kind of mental cloudiness -- like you're in a daze."

"You hear a lot about it with mild out-patients, but we also see it more severely in the ICU."

"Hallucinations and confusion are commonly experienced during all sorts of severe illnesses."

Joseph Khabbaza, pulmonary and critical care physician, Cleveland Clinic

People with long haul COVID experiencing cognitive issues may not find much comfort in the conclusions reached by researchers in a new study out of the Cleveland Clinic, published in the journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. But researchers managed to reveal a close network relationship between COVID-19 and Alzheimer's. The study revealed that an overlap between the virus and the brain changes may be causing those cognitive issues.

Considered a new finding and rare at one point in this ever-expanding saga of COVID effects on the human body physically and psychologically, those enduring COVID long-haul symptom cases now more commonly identified, inspired researchers at the Cleveland Clinic to set out to obtain a clearer understanding of the pathways through which the virus produces neurological complications. They succeeding in uncovering a relationship between the virus and Alzheimer's.

One of the debilitating symptoms experienced by long-haulers is often called brain fog ... a term describing the approximately ten percent of COVID sufferers with troubling symptoms remaining of their bout with the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID. This form of cognitive impairment, like delirium and hallucinations was believed at first to reflect the outcome of the battle waged by the body's immune system against the virus.

Setting out to explore any relationship between the virus and neurological diseases, the researchers made use of artificial intelligence to enable them to map underlying similarities across conditions, finding COVID-19 features a close network relationship with multiple neurological diseases -- notably Alzheimer's -- where an infection has the potential to lead to symptoms very similar to dementia. A search for associations was launched between the virus and the types of neuroinflammation and microvascular injury recognized in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers.

That search succeeded in convincing the researchers that the virus may conceive a stranglehold leading to neuroinflammaton and injury of the microvascular condition of the brain. Which in turn may lead to cognition impairment with stark similarities to the ultimately fatal disease of Alzheimer's. There are no good-news stories to be found associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus infecting with COVID-19.

New research has looked at cognitive symptoms associated with the virus. Getty

No End to the Complexities of SARS-CoV-2

"It's certainly much higher than what we would expect."

"[However, in the case of COVID-19], we are dealing with an inflammatory process that is secondary to infection."

"You would have to assume that if you got COVID and then three days later, you start to get symptoms of ATM, that the link is there."

"[In general, those who suffered severe ATM [acute transverse myelitis] may never recover fully."

"The short answer is we don't know [whether the vaccines could -- via a mechanism called molecular mimicry whee the injected foreign substances may resemble something in the body -- trigger an immune reaction damaging the body's cells]."

"One case per million people who received the vaccine, that would be a normal situation, but here, three cases in 22,000 people [test group in the vaccine trials] is too much."

Dr.Gustavo Roman, neurology expert, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas

Researchers linked covid-19 to a rare spinal disorder called acute transverse myelitis. Photo by Getty Images

The existence of a link between COVID-19 and a rare spinal disorder capable of causing paralysis and quadriplegia has been suggested in a new scientific review. Adults and a few children in several countries have been affected by that disorder where researchers in the United States and in Panama discovered 43 cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) among a global total of 86 million COVID-19 cases in 21 countries they are convinced is linked to a previous COVID-19 infection.

Getty Images

Of those cases three were found in trials to test the AstraZeneca vaccine. One of those three cases, researchers feel, may be directly linked to the vaccine itself. After reviewing all previously published scientific literature on ATM with the use of search terms to find mention of the neurological condition, with any conceivable connection to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers felt convinced that one exists. 

An inflammation of the spinal cord, which is what acute transverse myelitis is, is a rare condition; in any year it normally occurs in about 1.36 to 4.6 cases for every million people. Between March 2020 and January 2021, however 43 reported cases of ATM linked to COVID-19 infection, were found to have occurred in a diverse range of countries; the United States, Belgium, India, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, Panama, Moldova and Switzerland.

 

Iran had the highest incidence rate at seven cases among all nations, followed by Italy and the United States, each reporting six cases. When the search ended in January of this year, close to 86 million cases of COVID-19 had been assessed globally and scientists used that number to calculate the rate at which the condition occurred among COVID-19 patients to be a minimum of 0.5 cases per 1 million people. A rate that could be higherm taking into account the number of ATM/COVID-linked cases that might be unreported.

The condition can develop from a host of factors, from infections, external or internal trauma, internal blockages, a family history of neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis, reactions within the body's immune system, and in some instances, even vaccines. the condition could be caused by the virus directly attacking the spinal cord or by mimicking components of the body's own immune system gone amok to trigger a self-attack, the review posits.

The 43 cases reported in the review represented 23 men and 20 women, ranging from three to 73 years of age. The condition appeared between ten days to six weeks following the observation of COVID symptoms in 68 percent of the cases. This, according to the review, could indicate "post neurological complications mediated by the host's response to the virus." Diagnosed with ATM, patients can experience symptoms like body pain, sensitivity, muscle weakness, loss of bladder control and in severe cases, partial or total paralysis.

The review highlighted 58 percent of the patients showing tetraparesis, where an individual's four limbs suffer muscle weakness, along with total paralysis of the arms and legs. Predicting whether ATM could develop in someone who has COVID-19, is difficult: "Probably a predisposition in your genes [where] you tend to respond to or attack the nervous system in your body because of whatever your genes are", offered Dr. Roman.

Three of the 43 cases reported in the review had been found through vaccine trials testing efficacy and safety in Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom, of the AstraZeneca vaccine, leaving researchers to suspect the vaccine may have been the cause of ATM development in at least one of the cases, while the other two were dismissed once one was found in a person given a different vaccine, part of a control group. The other was of a person with an undiagnosed history of multiple sclerosis.

While the review and its conclusion results are uncommon, there have been a number of vaccines that have on occasion induced ATM and they were vaccines for polio, influenza, rabies, measles, hepatitis B, and rubella. The AstraZeneca vaccine incorporates a chimpanzee adenovirus carrying the COVID-19 antigen into the body's immune system which "may induce immune mechanisms leading to the myelitis", states the review int he online journal Frontiers in Immunology.

AstraZeneca offices in Cambridge, England. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

COVID-engendered Myopia

"I'm seeing kids who've come in and have been doing a lot of online schooling and their myopia is starting to creep up."

"[A 20/20/20 rule can help: Every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds...[It helps you refocus, relax the muscle and recalibrate the eyes."

Thomas-Alexandre Noel, past-president, College of Optometrists of Ontario

"It's the young children who've been cooped up inside. They've been on screens a lot, and in some cases it's not a choice because schooling has been online."

"For a child that's going to school, they're outside on their way to school. They have recess twice a day. There is lunch time. It's easy to get 90 minutes [outdoors]."

"I don't know how I'd manage if I had young kids at home. We're not pointing a finger at parents and saying, 'You've damaged your child'. It's just the circumstances."

Deborah Jones, clinical professor in optometry and visual science, University of Waterloo

With online learning, children are staring at computer screens for more hours each day. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

 

Chinese researchers tracked the eye tests of more than 120,000 children between the ages of six and 13 in the city of Feicheng in June of 2020, following the lockdown of over six months in the region. Their studies indicated rates of myopia during the pandemic were between 1.4 and three times higher than over the previous five years, before the pandemic struck. Their paper was published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

 

Rates of myopia -- short-sightedness -- have been increasing for several decades. Now, with the presence of the global pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 and associated increased focus on screens, the growing prevalence of the eye condition has accelerated. Eye experts are increasingly convinced there is a direct cause-and-effect between COVID, social isolation and serious eye strain among all age groups. 

 

An alarming increase in myopia has been seen in China, among children who had undergone lock-down and become home-bound as a result of the threatening infectiousness of COVID-19. A greater risk of developing more serious eye problems later in life, including glaucoma, detached retinas and macular degeneration attends the future health of the eyes of young children who develop myopia.

In people with myopia, light focuses in front of the retina rather than on it, so distant objects appear blurry. Anurag Papolu/The Conversation

Eyesight tends to stabilize as children mature; between the ages of 16 and 20. A child who is struck with nearsightedness in the early teens will have an improved chance of evading future serious eye problems, as opposed to a child whose myopia develops at age six or seven. A greater risk of developing extreme eye conditions threatens young children who develop myopia, so the longer it takes for the onset of myopia to develop the better the future of young children. 

 

A simple, practical solution is at hand, experts say. Ninety minutes daily of outside exposure makes a difference. For children in lockdown, likely at home with parents working from home who depend on screens to help their children keep occupied, that 90 minutes of outdoor exposure may be more difficult to attain. Even as the global pandemic is accelerating myopia rates, there is an acknowledgement that worldwide, greater swaths of populations are becoming short-sighted.

 

During this pandemic, kids are spending a lot more time online – and it may be affecting their eyesight.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2010, 28 percent of the world population was myopic, a situation set to increase, with predictions that bv the year 2050 half the world population will be myopic. "It's a massive increase and it begs the question, 'What has changed in the last few decades"? Professor Jones asks provocatively. "And, of course, one of the things is screens and the amount of screen time."

 

More accurately perhaps, it seems that working at short distances appears the reason vision is failing. Children whose eyes focus at short distances tend to hold their devices a mere few centimetres away from their noses. 

Many children are spending more time than ever in front of screens during the pandemic, in part for remote schooling, and experts worry it could lead to an increase in vision problems. John Moore/Getty Images

In the case of adults, too much screen time can lead to eye strain, most particularly so if eyes are of different strength. And then there is painful dry eye. Normally people blink 16 times every minute. When focusing on a screen, five or six times a minute may become the average blink time resulting in eyes becoming dry and irritated. That's when it becomes sensible to kick in the 20/20/20 formula.

 

Post-COVID China Monopolizing Global Food Shipping Containers

A Chinese worker looks on as a cargo ship is loaded at a port in Qingdao, eastern China’s Shandong province.     AFP Contributor | AFP | Getty Images

"People aren't getting their goods where they need them."

"One of my customers ships eight to ten containers of rice every week from Thailand to Los Angeles. But he can only ship two to three containers a week right now."

"It's been like that since December. You're going to get not only a shortage of food but a shortage of everything."

"I would not be surprised to hear some beneficial cargo owners' freight rates for 2021-2022 shipping seasons double from previous years."

Steve Kranig, director of logistics, IMEX Global Inc. freight forwarder

"It's not possible to get the amount of volume we have here in Vancouver to return containers in those tight windows."

"Pulses [crops such as peas and lentils] in general are struggling getting on the ships."

Jordan Atksins, vice-president, WTC Group

 

"We know that some of the industry's largest and most consistent buyers of soybean containers in Asia over the years are now electing to buy bulk vessel supplies."

"And certainly like others, we had some booking cancellations."

"It's a bit of a perfect storm. You have pent up demand in Asia for agriculture products and that's at the same time you have a pretty substantial consumer goods demand in the U.S."

"When you add to that some of these labour issues, that's what really created the scarcity you are seeing."

Doug Grennan, vice-president, select global grain and oilseeds, Scoular Co.

The Global Food Trade Has Been Upended by a Container Crisis  Bloomberg

 

China is well ahead of the rest of the world in its initial recovery from COVID-19, accelerating its export economy and in the process willing to pay out huge premiums for containers. A situation that has made it quite a bit more profitable to have the containers returned empty, rather than normally refilling them on return. This has led to soaring freight rates increasing the cost of some foods. As an example, white sugar prices surged last month to a three-year high while delays in food-grade soybean shipments from the U.S. may anticipate higher costs for consumers of tofu and soy milk in Asia.

 

Carriers are now content to continue hauling shipping containers empty to China, the profit motive initialling that on the dotted line. Competition for the steel containers has resulted in Thailand unable to ship its rice, Canada stuck with peas, and India unable to offload mountains of sugar. While shipping empty boxes back to China as a profitable new enterprise has created backlogs and shortages where even some U.S. soybean shippers have had to fight for containers so anxious Asian buyers can be supplied.

 

Carriers usually make an effort to backfill shipping containers to maximize profit from shipping rates in both directions. The cost of carrying goods from China to thr U.S. comes in at close to ten times higher than the reverse journey, persuading liners to gain profit in favouring empty boxes rather than loading them, according to data. Three in every four boxes going back to Asia from the port of Los Angeles, the biggest for container cargo in the U.S., now travel empty, in comparison to the normal 50 percent rate.

 

Soybeans Ont. farm. Photo D. Ruttan/London Free Press

Canada, the second-largest producer of pulses in the world, is experiencing difficulty in meeting the new time limits to transport stuffed boxes at terminals onto ships, from three days to as little as seven hours. India was able to export only 70,000 metric tonnes of sugar, as the world's second-largest producer in January representing less than a fifth of the volume shipped last year. The largest producer of robusta coffee beans used to make instant drinks and espresso, Vietnam now struggles to export. 

Worldwide, foodstuff buyers cool their heels, while others have taken to halting purchases altogether. It is now conceivable that once the bulk of North American and European vaccinations have been completed and life returns to normal these high freight rates may be passed to these populations returning to cafes, restaurants and office towers, as a rude awakening of the fall-out still being experienced as a consequence of the turmoil caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Photo 130984715 © Hunterbliss - Dreamstime.com

China's vast demands on American crops meant to provide feedstock for a hog herd recovering from a deadly pig disease has come along faster than anticipated, making for a dire situation leading some buyers to cancel contracts choosing instead bulk shipping methods, commonly used for feed products, or in an effort to avoid high freight costs, delaying purchases. Yet, given the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus, it remains unclear how much of the increase in shipping costs companies may plan to pass on to consumers.

Refrigerated containers have also been impacted by the pandemic where in China, boxes have been piled up at ports while workers must comply with strict COVID-testing procedures as well as disinfection of meat and seafood products in the wake of China claiming that frozen food imports were responsible for the spread of the coronavirus. The volume of cold containers in the port of Dalian is such that there are insufficient power plugs for them. 

And then there is the issue of labour shortages as a result of the coronavirus spread slowing operations at ports and deleteriously impacting the container shortage. Demand for American agriculture products has been boosted by strikes in Argentina, affecting supplies to Asia, further increasing competition for boxes.

Shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles in California. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters files

"A 13-year-old boy developed red-violet lesions, described as ischaemic, on the toes of both feet. He became febrile and unwell and then tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The lesions became darker, some blistered, and they regressed over a few days. Similar acral lesions occurred in 22 children in Madrid, all of whom had normal coagulation tests and negative tests for lupus anticoagulant; six had skin biopsies, which showed a dense lymphocytic vascular reaction, with small vessel endothelial swelling, and sometimes focal thrombosis; only one had a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 at the time the lesions were apparent. A Chinese report of 7 critically ill patients with COVID-19, available in English abstract, described acro-ischaemic presentations, “including finger/toe cyanosis, skin bulla[e] and dry gangrene."

"A further report described a patient with COVID-19 who had “evidence of ischemia in the lower limbs bilaterally as well as in digits two and three of the left hand”, multiple cerebral infarcts, and positive antiphospholipid antibodies; however, antiphospholipid antibodies can be transiently positive around times of acute infections and acute thrombosis, but may be of no pathophysiological relevance^."

^{"The best current strategies for confronting large vessel thrombosis in COVID-19 are prophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin and treatment with full-dose low-molecular-weight heparin with monitoring of anti-Factor Xa. There are no strong hypotheses regarding the pathogenesis of the coagulant effect of COVID-19 to guide therapy. Until the results of masked randomized controlled trials are available, treatments directed against components of putative pathogenic pathways, such as interleukin and complement, should be regarded as experimental."}

^{CEBM University of Oxford} 

Picture: Francisco Avia

 

^{Thrombosis (blood clots) can be life-threatening, yet as a medical condition it is seldom spoken of outside the medical community. The emergence of COVID-19 could have a growing impact on that, given a recognized connection between COVID-19 and blood clots in some patients. The biggest risk factors for the development of blood clots have been certain cancers, surgery and hospitalizations. Clots can form in the leg or the lung; people with a family history or those who are inactive for prolonged periods are at risk of developing blood clots.}

^{And now, it is also known that COVID-19 can become a risk factor in a percentage of cases of the disease. The coronavirus is an illness that appears to be the cause of blood changes that can potentially form blood clots. In the pandemic's early days it was anticipated that quite possibly a high percentage of COVID-19 patients might experience blood clotting. Based on real-life studies researchers believe now that between five and ten percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients will develop blood clots.}

^{That rate can rise to 30 percent among patients in intensive care, however, a much higher number than pertains in the general hospitalized population. For the most part the risk is seen in hospitalized patients, and not those who remain at home. Needless to say, those who end up in hospital are suffering a more serious effect from the infection, so it makes sense they would stand a greater chance of developing blood clots. With this knowledge hospitalized patients receive a low dose of blood thinner which forms part of their therapeutic care.}

^{At the present time an international clinical trial is under study to discover whether a higher dose of blood thinner could conceivably improve outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Researchers in Ottawa recruited hundreds of volunteers to take part in a study to determine which treatments function best in reducing the risk of developing blood clots for COVID-19 patients to improve their outcomes; judging between the lower and the higher routine dose of blood thinner.}

^{Some of the findings about blood clotting in COVID-19 could possibly be applied to non-COVID-19 patients or those with other infections, according to Ottawa Hospital Research Institute associate scientist Dr.Lana Castellucci who is also a thrombosis physician at the hospital. Thrombosis affects roughly 100,000 Canadians annually, causing 10,000 deaths, according to Thrombosis Canada, which states the condition should be viewed as a health risk equal to high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke.}

 

Laser Surgery : Know The Risks

"My vision is considered 20/20, because I see the As, Bs and Cs all the way down the chart."
"But I see three As, three Bs, three Cs."
Geobanni Ramirez, Lasik patient

"Patients undergoing Lasik surgery should be adequately counseled about the possibility of developing new visual symptoms after surgery before undergoing this elective procedure."
Report on clinical trial, U.S. Food & Drug Administration

"We want the F.D.A. to warn the public that Lasik injures eyes and causes pain, vision problems and other persistent problems that cannot be solved -- and that you don't get these problems from glasses or contact lenses."
Morris Waxler, retired senior F.D.A. official

"No eye is optically perfect, and all eyes [with or without Lasik] have at least some degree of higher-order aberrations."
"These irregularities can cause visual distortions."
Dr. John Vukich, official, American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery

"There is nothing wrong with eyes that undergo Lasik except for the fact that they need glasses for distance."
"They [patients] see well before the procedure and ought to see equally well after the procedure. But they don't."
Dr. Cynthia MacKay, opthalmologist, Lasik critic

Anatomy of the eyeYour eye is a complex and compact structure measuring about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter. It receives millions of pieces of information about the outside world, which are quickly processed by your brain.

In the  United States the Food and Drug Administration gave its considered and informed approval when the first lasers meant to correct vision came on the market. That was back in the 1990s; the technology has been popularly used for the past three decades and approximately nine and a half million Americans have elected to undergo the procedure, along with millions of others globally. These are people who believe in a quick fix making the need of eyeglasses and contact lenses to improve their vision obsolete.

Eye doctors performing the surgery assure the public that the procedure is guaranteed to give them total satisfaction. That assurance has resulted in a wide public acceptance and the perception that this surgery is indeed without concern, that the promise of improved eyesight and the abandonment of eyeglasses is a surety. Geobanni Ramirez, a 33-year-old graphic artist, has undergone his own epiphany and he begs to differ. Laser surgery has left him with light sensitivity, double vision and visual distortions that expose him to halos appearing around bright objects. Vehicle headlights are transformed into starbursts of blinding intensity.

He also experiences dry, sore eyes requiring drops every half-hour or so and the drops themselves burn. He has been left with poor eyesight such that even venturing out at night when darkness falls is concerning. Like the old dark humour that had a surgeon remarking that the operation he had conducted went very well; unfortunately the patient died, he has been told by his eye surgeon that his is yet another success story in Lasik surgery. An assurance that means nothing to him, but which complements the fact that prior to surgery he was never given a heads-up that permanent damage might occur following surgery.

Nearsightedness (myopia)With normal vision, an image is sharply focused onto the surface of the retina. In nearsightedness (myopia), the point of focus is in front of the retina, making distant objects appear blurry.

The Food and Drug Administration convened a meeting to discuss chronic pain and impaired vision leading to job loss and disability, depression, and in worst-case scenarios, suicides -- back in 2008 in the aftermath of Lasik. As for the complications vexing Mr. Ramirez and upturning his life post Lasik, the F.D.A.'s recent clinical trial concludes that such complications are anything but rare. Close to fifty percent of people with healthy eyes prior to Lasik surgery had the misfortune to develop visual aberrations for the first time in their lives, the trial revealed.

Of that number, close to one-third developed dry eyes, representing a complication capable of causing serious discomfort. Nonetheless there are many doctors whose professional careers revolve around Lasik surgery, and they dedicate themselves to convincing potential new patients that Lasik remains the safest procedure for eye correction, and that it is "exceedingly rare" that serious complications could arise from the surgery. Among these doctors there are some who may admit that post-surgery patients may require the use of eyeglasses at times.

Farsightedness (hyperopia)With normal vision, an image is sharply focused onto the retinal surface. But, if you're farsighted, your cornea doesn't refract light properly, so the point of focus falls behind the retina. This makes close-up objects appear blurry.

Still, most of these surgeons insist that any soreness, dry eyes, double vision and like conditions such as those experienced by Mr. Ramirez are temporary, and within months their effect is completely reduced for most patients. "Do bad outcomes sometimes occur? Yes. But the risk is extremely low", counters Dr. Eric Donnenfeld, a past president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Patient advocates disagree, however, and they have become vocal in their demands that the F.D.A. issue strong public warnings about Lasik risks.

Studies exist that suggest there may be an increased risk for long-term eye complications, including possibly earlier cataract surgery required by Lasik patients. As well as the potential for developing corneal ectasia, a serious vision-threatening condition. Lasik (laster-assisted in situ keratomileusis), in a fifteen-minute procedure, eliminates the requirement to wear glasses through the reshaping of the cornea, the clear, round dome covering the eye. The cornea focuses light on the retina at the back of the eye.

Lasik surgeons make use of an ultraviolent laser to reduce the cornea curvature for near-sighted people, and to accent the curve for those who are farsighted. According to Dr. Cynthia MacKay, an ophthalmologist who decries the procedure, this surgery has the potential to injure the eye because it severs tiny corneal nerves, thins the cornea thus making it weaker, and permanently alters the eye's shape. Should all this knowledge of possible side-effects and injuries stemming from the procedure be widely disseminated as its critics would like, the elective procedure would become far less popular.

LASIK surgeryDuring LASIK eye surgery, an eye surgeon creates a flap in the cornea (A) — the transparent, dome-shaped surface of the eye that accounts for a large part of the eye's bending or refracting power. Then the surgeon uses a laser (B) to reshape the cornea, which corrects the refraction problems in the eye (C).