Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #56

[HongKongPhooey]

Idk. Why would the death of a person who happened to test positive for Covid, but who actually died from cancer be classified as a Covid death?

Isnt it to do with Covid being a reportable disease? So every known case has to be reported.

In the *better* UK media, if someone well known dies of Covid they have sometimes reported they died "with" it, rather than "of" it.

But the words cant be used to explain every number, so maybe they just all end up in the total.

JMO, I'm not sure this is correct.

 

[tresir2012]

Seems like a day late and a dollar short? And I still don't get the point of combining two drugs each of which has potential for cardiovascular side effects.

Dr. Fauci explains it a bit.

" “We urgently need a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19. Repurposing existing drugs is an attractive option because these medications have undergone extensive testing, allowing them to move quickly into clinical trials and accelerating their potential approval for COVID-19 treatment,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. FaucI in a statement.


“Although there is anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin may benefit people with COVID-19, we need solid data from a large randomized, controlled clinical trial to determine whether this experimental treatment is safe and can improve clinical outcomes," the infectious disease expert explained. "

From Worldometers, there are presently over a million cases in the US, (25% of the world's cases). 16k of the US cases are serious.

Active cases 1,052,654
Serious or critical 16,240

Coronavirus Update (Live): 4,541,148 Cases and 303,636 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

 

[tresir2012]

I think the idea was that the two work together to create the desired effect (hopefully).

Kind of like if you are low on iron, you don't just take iron, but iron and vitamin C. The C enhances the absorption of the iron.

And if you need vitamin D, you don't just take vitamin D but D combined with K. Same thing, K helps make the D actually usable by the body.

IMO though I could google for links if needed.

I take combined Calcium and Vitamin D for same reason. Vitamin D contributes to absorbtion and utilisation of the calcium, it says on the bottle.

 

[tresir2012]

Why wouldn't an underlying condition, pushed due to COVID-19 to the point of triggering the person's death, count as one of the deaths from the pandemic? Maybe in a different sub-category than the "no other conditions" deaths, but still to be counted as a result of the pandemic. IMO

I posted a link yesterday that was saying there are CV19 deaths "due to" and deaths "involving" according to UK death statistics. So as CV19 is a reportable disease, even if it is a contributory cause to the death it must be included. 9 out of 10 CV19 deaths have an underlying health condition also. Only the death certificate would show the specifics. MOO.

 

[tresir2012]

And if you are still bored after the last article:

https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1343&context=jil

This one is

2007 Balancing Individual Rights and Public Health Safety during Quarantine: The U.S. and Canada

I am just going to let Americans and Canadians read these if you don't mind

 

[tresir2012]

This is what my students are saying in their end-of-term essays. That Americans, especially the youth, are selfish. One student questioned whether young Americans have a "worldview" at all, perhaps a "selfview," she said.

The entire class said that their eyes have been opened to aspects of American culture that they had not noticed before. Being young, they thought we were more unified. The older students did not think this (oldest is in his forties).

I agree with you completely, about how no matter what kind of pandemic plan we had, we wouldn't have been able to execute it as a nation.

I wonder what will happen next. We're about to be excluded from visiting the EU once it reopens, until we get a handle on our rising numbers. Even California is going in the wrong direction, a tiny bit, with our very soft reopening.

We shall see. Canada won't let us in. Mexico won't let us in. We are rapidly becoming a very large island, with a patchwork of different views on how to proceed.

Are your students mainly American or international or mixed? In general I think the under 50's with no underlying health conditions probable think they won't get it or die from it even if they do get it.

 

[tresir2012]

UK self-employed grant scheme attracts 110,000 claims in first hours


Big rush to apply for self-employed grant scheme

This is going to pay 80% of self employed profits averaged from the tax returns from the last three years. Started 2 days ago and applications are based on NI number. There are 5 million self employed persons in the UK.

 

[tresir2012]

East Coast rail line brings in mandatory reservations

Seems like a good idea.

Will coronavirus mean I have to pay more tax?

"It's still very early in the crisis, so it's impossible to tell how big the final bill will be. It could be as much as £298bn just for this financial year (April 2020 to April 2021), according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which keeps tabs on government spending.

That's an absolutely enormous sum.

To put it into context: before the crisis, the government was expecting to borrow around £55bn.

Schemes to support public services, businesses and individuals, such as the Job Retention Scheme (furloughing) will cost £123bn, the OBR estimates.

The government will also raise less tax than it hoped. Unemployed or furloughed workers pay less income tax, businesses pay less tax if their profits are lower, and shoppers pay less VAT if they buy less.

The final bill could be even higher. Leaked Treasury documents suggested the figure this year could be as much as £337bn."

So my estimate is about £ 5k per person in the UK to be borrowed or paid back in tax or funded by bonds.

Are there any estimates for the US?

 

[margarita25]

Italy's daily coronavirus death toll and new cases climb

“ROME (Reuters) - Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 262 on Thursday, against 195 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases rose to 992 from 888 on Wednesday.

It was the largest number of deaths in one day since May 7.”

 

[katydid23]

East Coast rail line brings in mandatory reservations

Seems like a good idea.

Will coronavirus mean I have to pay more tax?

"It's still very early in the crisis, so it's impossible to tell how big the final bill will be. It could be as much as £298bn just for this financial year (April 2020 to April 2021), according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which keeps tabs on government spending.

That's an absolutely enormous sum.

To put it into context: before the crisis, the government was expecting to borrow around £55bn.

Schemes to support public services, businesses and individuals, such as the Job Retention Scheme (furloughing) will cost £123bn, the OBR estimates.

The government will also raise less tax than it hoped. Unemployed or furloughed workers pay less income tax, businesses pay less tax if their profits are lower, and shoppers pay less VAT if they buy less.

The final bill could be even higher. Leaked Treasury documents suggested the figure this year could be as much as £337bn."

So my estimate is about £ 5k per person in the UK to be borrowed or paid back in tax or funded by bonds.

Are there any estimates for the US?

Rep. Russ Fulcher (@RepRussFulcher) | Twitter

Rep. Russ Fulcher
@RepRussFulcher
The Official Account of Idaho's First District Congressman Russ Fulcher. #ID01

"... CBO has already projected this fiscal year’s federal budget deficit to be $3.7 trillion and our debt-to-GDP ratio to be as high as it was during WWII, with federal debt held by the public reaching 101% of GDP.

The new bill, proposed this week, would add another 3 trillion to our national debt.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Wish me luck, folks. Not only am I down to 3 cigarettes in my pack and intend not to buy any more, but I’m also on new meds that are making me jittery. Great time to quit, right? I think I have some nicorette somewhere.

Yes, this is sort of OT, but let’s face it - I would not even be trying to quit if it wasn’t for this pandemic. Not that quitting at this point will do me much good if I catch the virus. But those first 3 days of lockdown all I could think was that I’m not ready to die and that I still have too much work to do in this world. And, well, smoking is a bit stupid when the thing you most fear is not being able to breathe.

Keep it up! I'm still struggling.

 

[Simply Southern]

Virginia continues to struggle with testing and reporting.

Criticism mounts as Virginia includes 15,000 antibody results in COVID-19 testing data

The Virginia Department of Health shared the new figures on Thursday, as it faced public criticism for muddying the state’s COVID-19 data by lumping together diagnostic and antibody tests. Many of the antibody tests on the market have not been vetted by federal regulators and do not measure the current spread of the active virus, unlike the diagnostic tests used by health care facilities.

In a tally by Johns Hopkins University updated Wednesday, Virginia ranked 47th in cumulative tests per 100,000 people since the pandemic started.

“If we’re going to be compared to all 50 states I want it to be apples to apples,” Mercer said at the Monday briefing. “It became clear other states are including serological testing. If you’re going to be comparing us to other states, and be critical of the volume of tests we are doing, and not comparing apples to apples, I think that’s grossly unfair.”

 

[margarita25]

Agriculture Department To Fix Disruptions In Nation's Food Supply Chain

“NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is promoting a federal response plan which distributes food to families, called the Farmers to Family Food Box Program.”

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The federal mental health czar is calling for more money to expand services to help people suffering amid the social isolation imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, as a new study estimates related deaths from alcohol, drug overdose and suicide could reach 150,000.

The new study, released Friday by the Well Being Trust and the American Academy of Family Physicians, factored in isolation and uncertainty when it calculated the expected deaths from suicide, alcohol and drugs, based on nine unemployment scenarios.

The likely toll from these "deaths of despair" was the loss of an additional 75,000 lives, the study found. Death estimates ranged from 27,644 if the economy recovers quickly, to 154,037 if recovery is slow.

Well, thats it. I'm dying one way or another from this. IMO, these numbers are vastly overblown, but represents one of dozens of major collateral damages of the federal response.

One point often overlooked by many including me, is a lot of collateral damage is unavoidable as people naturally modify their behavior in response to what they hear/learn. For example, restaurants were in trouble regardless of a shutdown.

Now, pour me another...

Coronavirus: Pandemic boosts suicide, alcohol, drug death predictions

It is so sobering (i know) to read this article. Collateral damage extends so far with addiction. The article seems to be referencing the US. But the predicted numbers may be international... i cannot tell. But hopefully our participants in all countries can keep us informed of mental health issues ... And always a reminder of how PTSD may become such an issue for health care workers.......

 

[weepingangel]

FDA Cautions About Accuracy Of Widely Used Abbott Coronavirus Test

The Food and Drug Administration is cautioning the public about the reliability of a widely used rapid test for the coronavirus. The test, made by Abbott Laboratories, has been linked with inaccurate results which could falsely reassure patients that they are not infected with the virus.

The Trump Administration has promoted the test as a key factor in controlling the epidemic in the U.S. and is used for the daily testing that is going on at the White House.

As first reported on NPR, as many as 15 to 20 out of every 100 tests may produce falsely negative results. A subsequent study released this week indicated that the test could be missing as many as 48% of infections.

The FDA issued the alert on the Abbott test "in the spirit of transparency," and said in a press release, it's investigating whether the false-negative results could be connected to the type of swab used during the rapid test, or the material the samples are being stored in when they're transported.

It also cautions that "any negative test results that are not consistent with a patient's clinical signs and symptoms or necessary for patient management should be confirmed with another test."

more at link

Massachusetts
With no recreational marijuana sales during pandemic, state and municipalities to see impact on tax revenue

Number of medical marijuana patients increases by more than 8,700 in April during pandemic

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Coronavirus Pandemic Update 70: Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, and COVID 19

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This one was very informative. The more we learn on how this virus actually works within the body the better..... He is truly a great lecturer... keeps bringing in and clarifying his previous illustrations, building a boat load of knowledge for us.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

FDA Cautions About Accuracy Of Widely Used Abbott Coronavirus Test
more at link

Massachusetts
With no recreational marijuana sales during pandemic, state and municipalities to see impact on tax revenue

Number of medical marijuana patients increases by more than 8,700 in April during pandemic

Very interesting information, regarding the marijuana industry and stores in Mass. Thanks. I guess I can see, on one level, that recreational stores would be considered non-essential.... however, it seems like that comparison with liquor/package stores would mean they could be open. Isn't Phase 1 in process in Mass already?

 

[tresir2012]

Some vaccine news.

Animal trial offers hope for coronavirus vaccine

Virus vaccine 'could be ready by end of the year'

French drug giant rows back after vaccine storm

 

[weepingangel]

The latest data comes as the state prepares to release the details of a phased reopening that could begin as early as May 18. Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday broke down the process into four phases — categorized in order as “Start, Cautious, Vigilant and The New Normal,” respectively.

Mass. officials announce 167 new coronavirus deaths, 1,685 more cases as state sees 3rd highest testing day

Supposed to maybe start possibly phase 1’ng to some degree May 18
Whatever that means. I think some restaurant goers and hair clients are going to be disappointed next week (Unless gov has released more details since I’ve checked last)

The recreational weed stores should have been left open. Imo. We’re the only state that closed them. I think They make decent tax $$$ so I’m surprised they gave that up. Maybe phase 2

Recreational marijuana is subject to sales tax at 6.25%, excise tax at 10.75% at the state level, and up to 3% tax at the local level. The local level tax is distributed to towns and cities that are home to recreational marijuana stores. Marijuana purchased by medical patients is not subject to tax.

Very interesting information, regarding the marijuana industry and stores in Mass. Thanks. I guess I can see, on one level, that recreational stores would be considered non-essential.... however, it seems like that comparison with liquor/package stores would mean they could be open. Isn't Phase 1 in process in Mass already?

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Cabinet set to approve easing of restrictions, but homeware stores not permitted to open

(Ireland)

CABINET IS EXPECTED to sign off today on the first phase of easing the Covid-19 restrictions.

Speaking to reporters before Cabinet today, Health Minister Simon Harris said regardless of what decision is made today about lifting restrictions, some things such as social distancing are going to have to remain a consistent part of our lives.

Asked if any of the Phase One measures could be delayed, or others in later phases brought forward, Harris said he would not prejudge what Cabinet might agree today but said the roadmap was designed so that only the safest measures will be undertaken first.

Phase One permits the reopening of hardware stores, garden centres, farmers’ markets, bicycle shops and motor garages, electrical and IT stores, as well as opticians.

While homeware stores were on the list of shops that could reopen, it is understood that they will not be able resume business on Monday.

Construction workers and gardeners are also set to be able to return to work on Monday.

As part of Phase One, people are advised to continue to stay at home, but they can travel up to 5km from their home to exercise.