Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #59

[CoverMeCagney]

Malaria drug 'does not save lives' from coronavirus

Breaking news in the UK

So according to that there's actually a slightly higher risk of death if you take it.

What a wild goose chase that one was. Thanks, Pres.

 

[jjenny]

I am amazed that at least some hospitals in the US started using anti-malaria drugs as a "standard of care" even though there was no actual evidence that the drugs are in any way helpful for covid.

 

[anneg]

I am amazed that at least some hospitals in the US started using anti-malaria drugs as a "standard of care" even though there was no actual evidence that the drugs are in any way helpful for covid.

I wonder if they are still doing that? Maybe as more information has come out, they have stopped. MOO

 

[KALI]

Tadpole, we are working daily. No, neither we or any other business I can think of can breakeven with 50% of business.

KALI

What's going on wrt your restaurant.
Are you able to just break even?
with the reduced customer numbers.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Indiana, US

12.5% positive test rate.

I think it was at 18 or so percent around May 11? If anyone knows if that's listed somewhere, let me know please.

I'll try to start posting this stat. It's falling almost every day.

ISDH - Novel Coronavirus: Indiana COVID-19 Dashboard

 

[tabitha111]

note from me: Some of this story is a bit alarming to me! BBM


Las Vegas reopening: Casinos downtown open coronavirus measures

Bobbi Carlisle, a Phoenix truck driver, waited next to the ribbon 15 minutes before the casino opened in hopes of snagging a souvenir piece. An employee who recognized her as the first guest to check in that morning pulled a piece out of his suit jacket pocket and gave it to her as a belated birthday present.



She turned 60 in February and had to postpone the celebration in Las Vegas with her sister and daughter five times as the coronavirus crisis dragged on and hotels were forced to cancel reservations.
(snip)

"It's just been months of us trying to get here,'' she said.

"Now we're here, and we're so excited,'' she said. "We're hoping to get a keno machine, and we'll play there for days.''

(snip)

Johnny Lujan, 29, flew in from Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, so he could gamble on the first night casinos reopened. He was last in Vegas the week casinos shut down in mid-March.


What brought him back?


"I love gambling," he said.


He beelined for a $15 roulette table the second the D Casino reopened and was scattering chips all over the place as the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling'' blared in the background.



Lujan did not wear a mask, nor did more than half of casino visitors, at least at the D. Visitors aren't required to wear masks, but employees must.



Lujan said the temperature checks required of hotel guests and casino visitors at the D "felt kind of weird.'' Hotel policies vary, but the D required temperature checks Wednesday each time a guest or visitor entered. The Golden Nugget down the street took hotel guests' temperatures only at check-in.

(snip)


Another night of Black Lives Matter protests in support of George Floyd, an unarmed Minnesota man who died in police custody, didn't scare Cary Reed and Debbie Fontenot from celebrating Las Vegas' reopening downtown.


The Louisiana couple, who stopped in Las Vegas on the way back from a funeral, arrived Monday night. That's the night a protester died and a Las Vegas police officer was critically injured in separate shooting incidents.


They were surprised to see the casinos closed and decided to stay longer so they could gamble.
(snip)


Major casino companies, including MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, will reopen Thursday morning. The famed Bellagio fountains will be turned back on, and the High Roller observation wheel will resume scenic rides.



If the experience downtown is any indication, they are likely to be packed, given pent-up demand.


One downtown casino official said Wednesday night was like a normal Saturday night, as if the coronavirus shutdown had never occurred: "Makes me wonder what Saturday night will be like."

 

[tabitha111]

interesting news article caught my eye today-

Bald men could be at higher risk of ‘severe’ coronavirus symptoms



Bald men could have a higher risk of developing severe Covid-19 symptoms, new research has claimed.

Carlos Wambier, a researcher at Brown University, told the Daily Telegraph he thinks “baldness is a perfect predictor of severity” of coronavirus.

However, other medical professionals have urged caution and said much more evidence is needed to support his claim.

According to the Telegraph, Prof Wambier conducted two studies in Spain, from which he concluded that a disproportionate number of bald men were taken to hospital with the virus.

Of the 41 patients he examined in his first study, 71 per cent of them had male pattern baldness, a higher percentage than the background rate for baldness in men of a similar age.

In a further study, which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Professor Wambier found almost 80 per cent of 122 male Covid-19 patients in Madrid were bald.

"We think androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway for the virus to enter our cells,” he said.

his research comes after evidence suggests that men are more likely to die from Covid-19 than women. Scientists believe that androgens, male sex hormones that can cause hair loss, could also increase the ability of the virus to attack cells.

{more at link}

 

[24Roses]

Iowa numbers today: We now have a total of 21,094 confirmed cases and 589 have passed away as of 11:00 a.m. 12,464 have recovered.Iowa COVID-19 Information Based on my post from yesterday, this should be IMO an increase of 388 confirmed cases and 10 more passed away. Here is my post from yesterday to compare. Iowa COVID-19 Information As of around 11:00 a.m. today we have a total of 20,706 confirmed cases and 579 have passed away. This is IMO an increase of 696 new confirmed cases and 13 deaths. 12,183 have recovered. Here is an article with slightly different numbers: 694 more COVID-19 cases and 14 more deaths reported And here is a news article from today: with slightly different numbers: 387 more COVID-19 cases and 11 more deaths reported over the last 24 hours
* I apologize if my links and previous posts that copied confuse anyone.

 

[anneg]

I had a telephone appointment with my primary care doctor yesterday. I had canceled several appointments (dental checkup and cleaning, getting my new hearing aids fitted, dermatologist followup visit) in mid March and have been reluctant to make new appts. BUT she told me she is very concerned about COVID cases increasing over the summer and about what will happen when flu season starts. She encouraged me to make appointments sooner rather than later. I have an in-person visit with her scheduled for early October.

My takeaway: (1) make appointments ASAP, (2) be careful indefinitely--masks, social distancing, hand washing--and (3) plan to stay home as much as possible during flu season if the coronavirus is still active. Not a happy prospect. But my husband and I are in our mid 70s and have pre-existing conditions that increase our risk.

 

[10ofRods]

Tadpole, we are working daily. No, neither we or any other business I can think of can breakeven with 50% of business.

I feel so badly for you. I just don't know what the solution should have been - or what we, as a society, are supposed to do to help. I've been looking into those hats with visors that allow a person to eat at a restaurant in relative safety - I see them in use in video of Paris cafés. Since I am the higher risk person in our household, my DH is pretty against going out to eat.

However, the younger people in our family are beginning to go to places with outdoor seating. Since we're all worried about transmission once school is back in session, it's hard for us to accept the further risk of going out to shop or dine.

I think it's horrendous that more focus isn't being brought to bear on the longterm economic consequences for "small" businesses, especially in the hospitality/entertainment sector, which is hardest hit.

San Diego will remain a major tourist destination within California and the instant the amusement parks can open, it will help all the other businesses. Maybe by then, you'll be allowed greater capacity. For me, personally, I find I'm just not as great at pivoting as I used to be. I am a veteran online teacher, but now I feel I need to do taped lectures to meet the need for the many students who don't want online. And I have absolutely no enthusiasm about it.

You have so much on your mind, I wish there was something we could do.

 

[10ofRods]

Can we believe anyone or anything?
Oh. I am sooooo becoming a very jaundiced, questioning, suspicious, pissed off person.
How can one figure out what is really going on, when we have continuous announcements that differ.
I think this is a grand conspiracy to drive us all crazy.
Kidding.
What this is....is Reprehensible reporting from "journalists" that don't do their job, spreading rumors on social media.
Damn them.
Their "non investigative reporting" is causing serious damage to the people here in the USA.
One more.
Damn the idiots who only read headlines.
Moo.

Journalism is dead in America. IMO. I live north of you, but our area might as well not have journalists. We have no local papers any more and the LA Times only covers stories if they are major. Journalists used to do investigation and television news used to include some of that.

What I see is that "journalists" (stringers) just hop into action when there's an overturned tanker or a fire or a murder - they do not cover the economy at all well. It was never great in the US, as compared to, say, Germany or France. UK is pretty bad too, as media is not allowed to directly criticize politicians very well.

The stringers for our local news agencies are so young. I hate to be pessimistic, but so many of them lack the education to even know what to look for. They are pretty/handsome, they are confident with a mic in their hands, they know next to nothing about the economy or politics. They have to be led by the hand and fed stories. Even then, they don't know what to ask or who to talk to (and their managers don't care - it's not about journalism, it's about hits on the internet).

I think this lack of journalism is a huge problem in the background of all our other problems. I do try to write to the few good journalists (on twitter, naturally) who are doing their job and to retweet them, etc., but it's really just tossing crumbs into the wind.

 

[10ofRods]

U.K. Has More Coronavirus Deaths in One Day Than All EU Countries Combined

U.K. Has More Coronavirus Deaths in One Day Than All EU Countries Combined

Meghan Roos
14 hrs ago
...
The United Kingdom on Wednesday reported that 359 additional people have died after contracting COVID-19. The daily number is higher than the combined total of COVID-19 deaths that the 27 countries in the European Union reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) for its June 3 situation report on the pandemic.
...
Of the more than 382,000 people who have died of COVID-19 around the world, 39,728 have been U.K. residents, the Department of Health and Social Care reported Wednesday. The U.K. is second behind the U.S. on the list of countries that have reported the greatest number of COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.
In the EU, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium and Germany also rank among the top 10 countries in terms of COVID-19 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. Of the EU countries that sent updated case numbers to the WHO for its June 3 report, France had the highest number of new deaths, with 107 reported by Wednesday morning.
...
Most European countries still have tight restrictions in place to prevent travelers from bringing the virus into their communities, but Italy on Wednesday took a step none of the others have by becoming the first to reopen its borders to international travel.

By rate, UK is 2nd in the world after Belgium, while the US is in 9th place. UK has managed to get higher on the list than Spain, Italy or France.

Coronavirus deaths per million by country | Statista

Sheer number of deaths needs to be seen in context of total population. The US has tested about 2 million; UK has tested just under 300,000.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

So according to that there's actually a slightly higher risk of death if you take it.

What a wild goose chase that one was. Thanks, Pres.

Time to move on to Lysol & Clorox testing.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

By rate, UK is 2nd in the world after Belgium, while the US is in 9th place. UK has managed to get higher on the list than Spain, Italy or France.

Coronavirus deaths per million by country | Statista

Sheer number of deaths needs to be seen in context of total population. The US has tested about 2 million; UK has tested just under 300,000.

The UK has tested over 5 million people, the US almost 20 million. Your quoted numbers are, I think, for positive test results. It is likely both countries has millions more of untested cases; eg in the UK they only tested on admission to hospital, so loads of people have had it without getting tested and loads more will have been asymptomatic or just getting on with it at home.

Also do you know if the US is still underreporting on the care/home setting figures? Last I heard 17 states were yet to add those numbers to the national total.

I'm not convinced the UK's figures are right either, in fact I don't 100% trust ANY country on their statistics! The bigger and more accurate picture will take years to sort out and will be an interesting and scientifically crucial piece of history.

 

[jjenny]

Time to move on to Lysol & Clorox testing.

You have to find them first.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

OMG, as Nancy Grace would say... Bombshell alert. This is worse than bad. Credibility is shot, not to mention how this has affected health care all over the world.

Remember the papers that were landmarks in the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine (highest quality peer reviewed publications) that covered how Hydroxychlorquine didn't work, caused more mortalities, and WHO and much of the world pulled studies due to such.

The published papers have been retracted. The Harvard folks used a company called Surgisphere to do data... and it's come under fire.

WHO therefore has reinstated their hydroxy trials. I didn't see the WHO presser today... just found out due to Dr. Seheult video.

Also, issues with the Ivermectin studies that were referenced - now being pulled as to questions of Surgisphere.

This is not good for science, especially when the world depends on it.

@margarita25 @Henry2326

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The Guardian Surgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company

Surgisphere - https://surgisphere.com/2020/05/29/re...

The Lancet (Retraction) - https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.c...

STAT - Lancet, NEJM retract Covid-19 studies that sparked backlash

The Scientist - Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Brings Scrutiny to Surgisphere

WSJ - Hydroxychloroquine Studies Tied to Data Firm Surgisphere Retracted


Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-05/the-tiny-data-firm-at-the-center-of-the-hydroxychloroquine-storm

Science Magazine - A mysterious company’s coronavirus papers in top medical journals may be unraveling

MedPageToday - https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectio...

 

[tmar]

Dr. Anthony Fauci says large protests taking place across the country are 'a perfect set-up' for spreading COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Fauci says large protests taking place across the country are 'a perfect set-up' for spreading COVID-19

Grace Panetta
2 hrs ago
...

• Dr. Anthony Fauci said that many of the protests against racism and police brutality taking place across the country, involving congregation of large crowds, raises the risk for transmission of COVID-19.
• Fauci told DC-radio station WTOP on Friday that "it is a perfect set-up for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips that might turn into some surges."
• Fauci emphasised that while protesters have a constitutional right to demonstrate, people gathering closely together, chanting, and possibly not wearing masks increases the likelihood of more outbreaks.

 

[jjenny]

The paper might have been pulled from Lancet, but data from a large clinical trial came in-hydroxychloriquine does not help hospitalized patients in any way. This is an actual clinical trial, not retrospective studies based on a database (the reason Lancet paper was pulled is that database refused to allow third party verification).

“Today’s preliminary results from the RECOVERY trial are quite clear – hydroxychloroquine does not reduce the risk of death among hospitalized patients with this new disease,” University of Oxford epidemiologist Martin Landray, one of the study’s leaders, said in a statement. “This result should change medical practice worldwide and demonstrates the importance of large, randomized trials to inform decisions about both the efficacy and the safety of treatments.”
New study likely closes door on use of hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19

 

[Gardenista]

OMG, as Nancy Grace would say... Bombshell alert. This is worse than bad. Credibility is shot, not to mention how this has affected health care all over the world.

Remember the papers that were landmarks in the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine (highest quality peer reviewed publications) that covered how Hydroxychlorquine didn't work, caused more mortalities, and WHO and much of the world pulled studies due to such.

The published papers have been retracted. The Harvard folks used a company called Surgisphere to do data... and it's come under fire.

WHO therefore has reinstated their hydroxy trials. I didn't see the WHO presser today... just found out due to Dr. Seheult video.

Also, issues with the Ivermectin studies that were referenced - now being pulled as to questions of Surgisphere.

This is not good for science, especially when the world depends on it.

@margarita25 @Henry2326

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The Guardian Surgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company

Surgisphere - https://surgisphere.com/2020/05/29/re...

The Lancet (Retraction) - https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.c...

STAT - Lancet, NEJM retract Covid-19 studies that sparked backlash

The Scientist - Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Brings Scrutiny to Surgisphere

WSJ - Hydroxychloroquine Studies Tied to Data Firm Surgisphere Retracted


Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-05/the-tiny-data-firm-at-the-center-of-the-hydroxychloroquine-storm

Science Magazine - A mysterious company’s coronavirus papers in top medical journals may be unraveling

MedPageToday - https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectio...

what a hot mess

 

[jjenny]

what a hot mess

The drug still doesn't do anything good for covid patients, whether paper was pulled or not.