Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #48

[astheworldfallsdown]

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson to 'recognise' hero Captain Tom Moore after he raises £18m for NHS

Captain Tom Moore, the Second World War veteran who has raised more than £18m for the NHS, will receive recognition for his "heroic efforts" from the prime minister, Downing Street has said.

The 99-year-old originally aimed to raise £1,000 through his JustGiving page to help the fight against the coronavirus pandemic - but his actions have now led to a petition for him to be knighted after donations rocketed.


Responding online to the Change.org petition, Number 10 said Boris Johnson "will certainly be looking at ways to recognise Tom for his heroic efforts" after the online campaign received more than 500,000 signatures.

Cpt Moore has been walking 25m lengths of his family's garden in Bedfordshire and originally set himself the target of 100 laps, reaching his goal on Thursday.

He has vowed to carry on for as long as the donations keep coming in. The challenge to walk 100 laps was to mark his upcoming 100th birthday on 30 April.

A Number 10 spokesman wrote on Change.org: "Tom has captured the heart of the nation with his heroic efforts and raised an incredible amount of money for hard working NHS staff.

 

[katydid23]

Apartment living where stairs and front doors are shared perhaps.

Yes, there are a lot of high-rise modern apartments here. And elevators are a problem, in my opinion.

That's what my daughter and her bf worry about. >>Using the elevator or the stairwells---you don't know if the person right before you, has the virus. I told them to use wipes when they push the buttons and to use masks when they ride the elevator.

They signed a year lease for this expensive new apartment building because of all the great perks it has. Gorgeous gym, nice pool, great game room, amazing business offices with printers and conference tables, etc...recording studio, which my daughter needs for her work....

But now they are stuck paying top dollar for all this things they cannot use anymore..I know there are worse problems but this is an expensive lesson for them....

 

[tresir2012]

Yes, there are a lot of high-rise modern apartments here. And elevators are a problem, in my opinion.

That's what my daughter and her bf worry about. >>Using the elevator or the stairwells---you don't know if the person right before you, has the virus. I told them to use wipes when they push the buttons and to use masks when they ride the elevator.

They signed a year lease for this expensive new apartment building because of all the great perks it has. Gorgeous gym, nice pool, great game room, amazing business offices with printers and conference tables, etc...recording studio, which my daughter needs for her work....

But now they are stuck paying top dollar for all this things they cannot use anymore..I know there are worse problems but this is an expensive lesson for them....

Can they ask for a rent reduction for not being able to use those communal spaces? That would seem fair right?

 

[katydid23]

Can they ask for a rent reduction for not being able to use those communal spaces? That would seem fair right?

That's what I asked them. They are going to ask about it. My husband said they should look at their lease contract first---it may have some small print in there covering the building owners from having to do that. IDK


ETA; I should add, their lease is up in June. So they had the use of those perks until last month.

But they have to decide if they want to renew their lease or not. Maybe they should renegotiate the price, if they decide to stay.

 

[girlhasnoname]

In one case, a child was placed with a relative when both parents were hospitalized with COVID-19. In another, a teenage girl became the sole caregiver for her brother and mother — both sick with the virus. And the mother of an at-risk child developed suicidal thoughts and had to be counseled remotely.

As the coronavirus disrupts every aspect of daily life, New Jersey's most vulnerable children are being put in danger in new ways as the systems relied upon for years to uncover and prevent abuse have been severely hobbled, virtually overnight.

Child welfare workers who normally rely upon in-person visits to detect abuse have been forced to rely upon phone calls and video conferences. Teachers and coaches, often the first to spot abuse, are no longer interacting with at-risk children because schools have been closed. And calls to the state’s child abuse hotline have fallen off dramatically while children are isolated with their families, having little interaction with outsiders whom they might tell about a problem.

Calls about abuse and neglect to the state hotline are down 32%: There were 5,117 referrals last month compared with 7,501 in March 2019. The commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, Christine Norbut Beyer, said March “is traditionally one of our highest reporting months.”

Spergel said even children who are not abused could develop behavioral issues as the pandemic drags on and parentsunder stress argue with each other. Children are not going to say they are angry or depressed, he said, but may display aggressive behavior or other symptoms, such as overeating.

'Suffering in silence': Coronavirus is a major challenge to NJ's child protection system

This really breaks my heart, but it helps put things in perspective.

 

[squareandrabbet]

Yes, there are a lot of high-rise modern apartments here. And elevators are a problem, in my opinion.

That's what my daughter and her bf worry about. >>Using the elevator or the stairwells---you don't know if the person right before you, has the virus. I told them to use wipes when they push the buttons and to use masks when they ride the elevator.

They signed a year lease for this expensive new apartment building because of all the great perks it has. Gorgeous gym, nice pool, great game room, amazing business offices with printers and conference tables, etc...recording studio, which my daughter needs for her work....

But now they are stuck paying top dollar for all this things they cannot use anymore..I know there are worse problems but this is an expensive lesson for them....

They should be getting a free-something at this point. Tell them to contact the management company. Almost every membership I have that I can't take advantage of in-person (gym, cheap Broadway ticket purveyor, movie theater loyalty pass), has voluntarily paused my membership fees during this time.

Also, I just found out that my management company has let us waive our mortgages for a couple months (pushing them to the end of the payment term, of course); and have a list of guidelines as long as your arm for things people can and cannot do. This list includes such things as "wear a mask in any common area", "don't even ask if you can share an elevator", "if you get a delivery person, wait until the delivery person is out of the hallway and in the elevator before you leave your apartment to pick up the delivery"; and has even taken the drastic step of temporarily (?) removing benches in the building common areas.

 

[tresir2012]

Deleted Dupe.

 

[cody22]

" It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood,
It's a beautiful day for feeling good,
Would you be,
Could you be,
My neighbor.......From at least six feet awaaaaaaay ."....... Good morning little masked buckaroos and buckarettes.... Yall have a very safe and happy day.............moo

 

[tresir2012]

I watched my father scrape the butter wrapper with a knife, sliding the knife sideways to ensure the foil didn't break and no butter was left behind, my mother fill the pantry with 2 years of food. We called it hoarding and frugality, but maybe it was learned behaviour from a time when that was necessary?

In the past it was necessary to guard against a bad harvest year. However as imports from overseas countries helped supplement home grown food that became less urgent IMO.

ETA regarding the butter wrapper, my mother would line a cake tin and bake with it to get every bit off it.

 

[Tillicum]

In the past it was necessary to guard against a bad harvest year. However as imports from overseas countries helped supplement home grown food that became less urgent IMO.

ETA regarding the butter wrapper, my mother would line a cake tin and bake with it to get every bit off it.

I always fold mine and put them in the freezer, then use to grease my pans before baking.

 

[jjenny]

Florida man Joseph Edward Williams was let out of prison early due to concerns of a Coronavirus outbreak and murdered a man the next day.



Man released from jail because of COVID-19 accused of killing someone the next day

How about keeping them prisoners where they belong? It's not like we don't have other things to worry about right now. It's not like they are going to be protected from covid if they are released-it's everywhere.

 

[tresir2012]

'My housemate refuses to social distance'

This makes me mad.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

According to yesterday’s (Pritzker) press conference, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota now have a formal partnership to reflect their regional collaboration regarding reopening our states. I expected a regional coalition, but not one this large. We will each have our own plan but with the same priorities.

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[tresir2012]

The negative is, it's highly unlikely the company can quickly make enough of it for everyone with covid. It's also given by an IV, so not going to be possible to prescribe for home use. My guess is, if it actually works, it would be good to prescribe to people when they first starting to get symptoms, to stop it from developing into an worse case. And that's not going to be easy with an IV drug.

Here's an article that is informative about Remdesivir, although it is a more than a month old. I'll see if they have an update.

Hopes rise over experimental drug's effectiveness against coronavirus

Wow this is today.


Stocks jump as US drugmaker Gilead raises hopes of Covid-19 treatment - business live

More details about the Gilead Sciences trial that is boosting stock markets, from my colleague Rob Davies.

Optimism surrounding a potential new treatment for Covid-19 has boosted the FTSE100 stock index, amid claims that a drug called remdesivir has spurred rapid recovery in 113 patients.

A University of Chicago hospital participating in a study of the antiviral medication, made by US firm Gilead Sciences, reportedly found that nearly all patients suffering fever and respiratory symptoms were discharged within a week. The report, by healthcare publication Stat News, spurred hopes among investors that lockdowns around the world could be eased.

The University of Chicago recruited 125 people into a clinical trial, according to the report, 113 of whom tested positive for Covid-19, with all of them receiving daily remdesivir doses. Two patients died but most of the rest have already been discharged after their symptoms eased significantly.

In a video obtained by Stat News, Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease specialist overseeing the study, said it was hard to draw conclusions because remdesivir is not being compared against results from a group taking a placebo drug.

But certainly when we start [the] drug, we see fever curves falling.

We have seen people come off ventilators a day after starting therapy. So, in that realm, overall our patients have done very well.

Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days. We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three.

You can read the full story here:

FTSE 100 boosted amid optimism over potential coronavirus drug

Read more


This is even more interesting. A Chinese drug company copying the API of Remdesivir two months ago (12th Feb 2020) before WHO had even declared it a pandemic.

Coronavirus: China's BrightGene Manufactures APIs of Gilead's Remdesivir


Chinese drug developer BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co., said it has successfully manufactured the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of remdesivir (GS-5734), the Gilead Sciences antiviral candidate being tested in China human clinical trials as a treatment for 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus. [BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology]


A publicly traded Chinese drug developer, BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co., said today it has successfully manufactured the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of remdesivir (GS-5734), the Gilead Science antiviral candidate being tested in China human clinical trials as a treatment for the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus.

“[BrightGene] actively responded to the national call to fight the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic, and recently successfully developed and synthesized the technology and preparations for the drug synthesis of [remdesivir] technology,” the company stated today.

“The company successfully imitated the development and production of [remdesivir] APIs by virtue of its technical accumulation in the development of high-end APIs and special injections,” BrightGene added in its statement, issued through the Shanghai Stock Exchange. “The company has produced [remdesivir] bulk drugs, and the batch production of Remdesivir preparations is in progress.”

BrightGene acknowledged that its marketing of remdesivir “still needs to be authorized” by Gilead, adding, “There are many uncertainties in this process, such as drug approval.” BrightGene did not discuss in its statement what if any efforts the company has undertaken to pursue authorization from Gilead for the imitation product: “If the product can be approved for marketing, it will be supplied to relevant patients mainly through donations during the epidemic.”

“Therefore, considering production costs, pricing, sales volume and other considerations, this product is not expected to have a significant impact on the company’s operating performance in 2020,” BrightGene’s statement continued.

Shares of BrightGene closed 20% higher today on the news, rising to RMB 52.12 ($7.48) a share. The company has a market cap of RMB 21.369 billion (about $3.1 billion), according to Bloomberg.

BrightGene’s acknowledgement was the company’s second statement in recent weeks related to coronavirus. On January 28, BrightGene and its Founder and Executive Chairman Jiandong “J. D.” Yuan each donated RMB 1 million ($143,426) to the Wuhan Red Cross toward “urgently needed medical material procurement and personnel material protection.”

“The epidemic is a common enemy,” BrightGene stated, adding that the company “has always been with the people of the whole country, especially the people in Wuhan, where the epidemic situation is most severe, to overcome the difficulties.”

More at link.

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Anytime You Need A Friend: NHS choir releases incredible home-recorded single backed by Mariah Carey

Workers from dozens of hospitals have posted clips of themselves and colleagues dancing and singing while on breaks, showing how they are keeping each other lifted as they carry out their life-saving work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, members and friends of Breathe Harmony, the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS staff choir run by Breathe Arts Health Research, have recorded their version of Mariah Carey's 1993 hit Anytime You Need A Friend - with home recordings filmed on mobile phones during coronavirus lockdown, put together to create a rousing and emotional single.

In fact, the recording is so good that it has come to the attention of Carey herself, with the singer tweeting: "This brought tears to my eyes Thank you so much to all the people at NHS. We are so grateful to you ."

The song is now being released as a single, raising funds for two NHS charities.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Highly unlikely. More likely to get it by trailing along behind where someone else is breathing. But we still have to walk or other issues crop up.

And contact tracing would not be impossible everywhere. Cameras exist in many parks already.

But seriously, why can't people do what we've done in the schools since mid-January? Bring your wipes everywhere. Use them. Wear a mask if you think risk is up. Etc.

Getting this from a bench is low risk - but don't sit on one if you are that worried. All the rest of us going back to work is more worrisome - but we must. There are thousands of students waiting to matriculate into nursing or surgery or emergency medicine - and we have to go back to work.

We'll have to use new routines and have precautions. We cannot simply shut everything down except ER treatment for people with CV+. In fact, that phase has to end soon and people with detached retinas or needing cataract surgery need to be able to get those procedures.

I think we'll get to a moderate set of policies - and everyone has to sacrifice. If you don't want to sit on a park bench, fine. All of your human contacts should be traced anyway, and chances are - one of them will be positive. I see those as positives.

You would not believe what I've been going through with my elderly mother. After a trip to the ER (non cv19) she's on home health for wound care. Thank God because in the course of 7 days, I've left 3 messages at her doctor's office. No return phone call. They have never acted like this before.

 

[24Roses]

Iowa news from yesterday yet: Tyson defends conditions in Waterloo; activists calling for worker protections The whole situation with Tyson is one big mess IMO.
1 dead of COVID-19 in Black Hawk Co.; Tyson now classified as having 'outbreak' IMO-this info. is not reflected in yesterday's IDPH update because the cycle is 24 hrs behind. ETA-IMO-IDPH will be adding at least 41 cases from Black Hawk county in today's count this morning.
Black Hawk County reports first COVID-19 death, 150 casesIMO-the shierff of Black Hawk county is very frustrated. I listened. They expect another significant pc today.

 

[cody22]

Is it OK to start popping the WS popcorn this early in the morning ?...............I love this thread.......moo

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Coronavirus: UK hospital deaths reach 14,000 after 847 more patients die

Another 847 people have died with coronavirus in UK hospitals, taking the nationwide total beyond 14,000.

The Department of Health announced the latest increase, with 14,576 people with COVID-19 - the disease caused by coronavirus - now confirmed to have died in hospital across the four home nations.


The number of tests for the illness has also risen by 21,328 to 438,991, although this includes some people being tested more than once.

There have now been 108,692 positive tests in the UK.

Health authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also record their own daily figures, which may not tally with the government's total as they collate their numbers at different times throughout the day.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Wow....fascinating numbers.

Could it be viral load?

Here in Southern Cali, I am in some danger of being exposed to CV. But I think it would be a one time , freak exposure at this point.

I don't take a subway from home and back. I don't jump in taxicabs, sitting in a seat where 2 dozen others sat that same day. I don't walk down sidewalks in heavy crowded groups.

I am afraid that many patients in NYC had heavy viral loads when they got sick. And if you are exposed many times, with a few different types of the virus, you are screwed.

I brought this up well sometime ago. The days blend together.

I'm thinking viral load as well.