Some positive news on the treatment front
- Thread starter lawpoke87
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Getting back on topic, it now appears that they are testing Pepcid as a treatment. And of course now there’s a run on Pepcid and it’s generics at the pharmacies.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...ly-tests-heartburn-remedy-against-coronavirus
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...ly-tests-heartburn-remedy-against-coronavirus
Told a lawyer friend last night that all these county health depts should hire process servers to track and locate. Gives these guys a job at a time when they’re slow and gives the heath depts people who are very good at tracking and contacting people.
On the vaccine front there’s an article in the WSJ stating we might see a vaccine rollout as early as the first of October. Probably wishful thinking but maybe some good news never the less.
Antibody testing can be purchased online now via Quest. Still gotta show up in person to get your blood drawn, but you can view results online
https://questdirect.questdiagnostic...response/b580e541-78a5-48a6-b17b-7bad949dcb57
https://questdirect.questdiagnostic...response/b580e541-78a5-48a6-b17b-7bad949dcb57
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I understand there is a group in town that will do it for $170 or so. I’m thinking about it. It’s not covered by insurance.
I may have missed this before, but it looks like Oklahoma has released a new dashboard for tracking data. It's there if you scroll down a bit
https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/
https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/
Positive news today: 321k tests were reported today and an average of over 200k per day for the week. Huge increases probably due to wider distribution of rapid-result tests. Positive test % nationally went down to 11% for the day
Long speculated on, but LANL has announced that they have isolated two distinct strains of COVID-19. The one coming out of China, and another that mutated in Italy/Spain and became much more virulent. The East Coast has been hit with the new strain, and the West Coast has been hit with the "old" strain. It helps explain why Seattle didn't turn into NYC.
They aren't yet sure if getting one will protect you from the other or if a vaccine (all of the vaccine research is currently on the older strain) would work for both. Here's hoping.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/n...cle_cf549a5a-8ef3-11ea-abca-8fa643b35e8c.html
They aren't yet sure if getting one will protect you from the other or if a vaccine (all of the vaccine research is currently on the older strain) would work for both. Here's hoping.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/n...cle_cf549a5a-8ef3-11ea-abca-8fa643b35e8c.html
Interesting. Do they offer any explanation for why the new strain wouldn't have made it to the west coast and around many other parts of the country fairly shortly after arriving on the east coast? It would have had an opportunity to spread for at least a month.
I haven't read the actual preprint yet, just the news article about it, so I am not sure. They do say that given time, the new strain tends to replace the old strain after it gets introduced. That suggests to me that they have done at least some analysis on some locations that they know started off with the old strain and are now dominated by the new strain. So perhaps it has, but it maybe it arrived after more severe lockdowns were in place? If I get a chance, I will read the full thing and post back here. They also say the new strain does not appear to be more severe or deadly, just a lot more virulent.
I have another paper to read this morning on a completely different topic that I am refereeing, so I probably won't get to it today.
Oklahoma reported another large batch of tests yesterday and the state's overall positive test % declined again to 5.2%. Assuming these are fairly recent tests, this means it has likely been as low as 3%-4% for the last week or two
I mean, this hasn't been peer-reviewed yet and it only got publicized today, but it's not "no" evidence of multiple strains:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.29.069054v1.full
Edit: Okay, so I read his article and he does address the LANL report. I am not well-versed enough in the field to comment authoritatively, but I will say the following excerpt from that article raises eyebrows:
"This isn’t to say that the Los Alamos study is bad or wrong—it comes from a respected team and presents interesting data. But the evidence it provides cannot distinguish between two equally plausible explanations—that the G-viruses were more transmissible, or that the G-viruses were just lucky."
It seems that the G-viruses 'just getting lucky' in multiple countries around the world is unlikely. Not impossible, but unliekyl
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There certainly could turn out to be multiple distinct strains but it doesn’t seem like that mutation getting “lucky” in multiple countries is any less likely than the other version getting lucky in multiple countries.
Not picking on your point or anything like that btw. I’ve just seen Nate Silver pose the question of multiple strains more than once and get pushback and then he retweeted the Atlantic article today. Seemed like a good addition to the topic.
The Atlantic article is well written, and he makes a good point. But I still wouldn’t say there is ‘no strong evidence’. I’d say there is direct evidence of mutation, and the jury is still out as to whether it is a meaningful one or not, but that there is at least some circumstantial evidence that it might be a new strain, if not proven.
I do kind of resent his addition of “Korber did not respond to comment on this article”. I am not saying it’s not true, and from Yong’s point of view that is likely exactly what happened. But as a lab employee, I am well aware that there are very specific protocols for talking to the press, and you have to get permission first to say anything at all to a journalist. That process can be frustrating and slow in the best of times, and I’d wager that is the problem here.
Evidence that perhaps one strain is more viral than the other, but also evidence that most states dealt with the same strain regardless of the state’s outbreak severity
“The coronavirus outbreak in New York City became the primary source of infections around the United States, researchers have found.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/...s-outbreak.html#click=https://t.co/rPWdKG1xaV
“The coronavirus outbreak in New York City became the primary source of infections around the United States, researchers have found.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/...s-outbreak.html#click=https://t.co/rPWdKG1xaV
More positives: Arizona has released their serology data and right now 3.5% of the population is showing antibodies. This is compared to .14% of the population who has tested positive for coronavirus so far. The comes out to 25x more people having it than they've been able to catch in testing.
Initially this may sound like bad news, but what it also means is that if the serology testing is accurate then Arizona's fatality rate is only 0.2%.
https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/...se-epidemiology/covid-19/dashboards/index.php
Initially this may sound like bad news, but what it also means is that if the serology testing is accurate then Arizona's fatality rate is only 0.2%.
https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/...se-epidemiology/covid-19/dashboards/index.php
One has to wonder, with the apparent importance of Vitamin D role in this virus' threat to patients if Arizona benefits from having a warmer dryer climate.
Could be. I also wonder about the demographics. Could it be that their median infected person is younger than other states? I just saw Colorado has also been doing serology testing as well and their numbers appear to be similar, but they also could have a younger median infection age.
People under 60 and healthy are at such a low risk, it seems like if we had made any real effort to protect nursing homes and other vulnerable groups we may not be talking about much of a deadly pandemic. Lots of failures in both parties at the state and federal level
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The story which hasn’t been covered is deaths and nursing homes. In several states in the north and northeast over half of the total deaths are from nursing homes. States who have done a poor job protecting the people in these facilities have seen the highest overall death rates.
Maddow has done an excellent job on this. If you are interested, your should check it out. It’s a great show a lot of nights.
The nursing home issue is everywhere. Two of the worst Covid outbreaks in the state were in nursing homes in Cleveland and Washington County.
It’s fair to criticize Cuomo and any governor. I hope you share similar criticism for the President and our own governor.
I don’t think Cuomo and the nursing homes is a black and white issue. https://www.politico.com/states/new...response-to-covid-19-at-nursing-homes-1282821
I agree she’s doing a good job discussing it. She seems to be the only person in the news even mentioning it.
Oklahoma reported 6,012 tests today and only 66 were positive, for a positive rate of only 1.1%. Wednesday thru today seemed to fairly consistently report all tests. For those four days the percentage was 2.2%. The trends seem pretty good
There are states in the northeast and Midwest where nursing home deaths make up over half of the states total fatalities. Cuomo executed an EO requiring nursing homes to take covid positive patients despite having adequate beds elsewhere NY now has 6K nursing home deaths and counting. Don’t mean to pick on Cuomo but I don’t know the details with other states.
We knew going in the risk this virus posed to the elderly. Some states have done a decent job protecting seniors. Florida comes to mind. Others like New Jersey and New York have struggled. I’m glad someone is talking about this issue. More in the media should. If for no other reason to prevent further infections in these facilities.
Canada is reporting something like 2/3 - 3/4 of all of their deaths are from nursing homes. Lots of countries have dropped the ball for some reason.
I understood why Cuomo got a lot of positive coverage early on, and the contrast in seriousness between him and Trump can only make him look good, but he has done (or not done) a few things that would have the media blaming him for thousands of deaths if his name were Ron Desantis. The nursing home issue hasn't been any worse in NY than other states though. It's a bi-partisan failure.
I understood why Cuomo got a lot of positive coverage early on, and the contrast in seriousness between him and Trump can only make him look good, but he has done (or not done) a few things that would have the media blaming him for thousands of deaths if his name were Ron Desantis. The nursing home issue hasn't been any worse in NY than other states though. It's a bi-partisan failure.
Aside from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and maybe Michigan have there been other states where we’ve seen thousands of deaths in those facilities ?
I don’t care if the Governor is a Pub, Dem or Ind. Intentionally brining covid-19 infected people into areas where the elderly live is an act which should be called out. It’s pure negligence.
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Not sure who "our"s is. I'm fine with how Abbott has handled everything so far in texas. Trump has and always will handle things terribly. But to think that if Texas' Abbott had done what Cuomo did.. you'd be hootin and hollerin that he's the worst governor ever. I'd hope you'd be consistent.
Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Utah reported 39% and above of their deaths in nursing homes.
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-...due-to-covid-19-in-long-term-care-facilities/
Opps, read the wrong column, Pennsylvania only had 845 deaths. Still a lot though.
Did he tell nursing homes they had to take back covid positive elderly like coumo? Thats all my argument was. If he did then they both suck. Its the statement policy im.referring to. Of course there will be a high percentage almost everywhere...covid kills the elderly disproportionately...
The percentage is high, not extremely high, but high in comparison to other states. It's just into the upper third of the other states.
80k deaths is not good.
How does that relate per capita with other nations?
What is the recovery rate for confirmed cases.
Has anyone died that did not have "underlying health issues". What are those issues?
How does that relate per capita with other nations?
What is the recovery rate for confirmed cases.
Has anyone died that did not have "underlying health issues". What are those issues?
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Interesting blog from an Comparative Immunologist and Professor of Biology (specializing in Immunology) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.(His degree was veterinary.) There is a more complete link about his background in the blog and more complete info at the end of the article he wrote.
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