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Coronavirus Tidbits # 24 3-30-20
Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Coronavirus Tidbits #24 News: My new post How Much Should You Worry About Your Pets? A Cat Was Confirmed To Be Infected With COVID19 By Its Owner ~ ~ ~ From Orban to Kaczynski, Wannabe Autocrats Love the Pandemic In Hungary and Poland — as in Israel and elsewhere — liberty suddenly seems cheap. Even in a pandemic, it shouldn’t be. bloomberg.com Hungarian legislature adopted an “empowerment law” (which sounds very much like the 1930’s “enabling act” which led to Hitler’s rise. Orban can now rule by decree, with…
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Coronavirus Tidbits # 23-3-29 20
Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Coronavirus Tidbits # News Fauci predicts millions of coronavirus cases in US, and more than 100,000 deaths Trump now agrees to extend the social distancing recommendation until the end of April, after recently saying he wanted the country “opened up and raring to go” by Easter" ~ ~ ~ This morning's WTH? Pay cuts and withholding back pay for some doctors and nurses as they battle on the front line of #COVID19 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/27/metro/coronavirus-rages-doctors-hit-with-cuts-compensation/?event=event25 via @BostonGlobe ~…
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Coronavirus Tidbits # 21 3-28-20
News: Best news of the day: ‘Going full-on MacGyver’ – U of MN doctor creates makeshift ventilators to battle COVID-19 Even better, in some ways, he’s also made the plans OPEN Source and will be updating here Physical Prototype Video: https://youtu.be/3ssVoWEVxw4 CAD Prototype Video: https://youtu.be/RpEqtGa2vTI Diagnostics: Rapid diagnostic tests are winning approval, like this 5-minute coronavirus test by Abbott Laboratories that won emergency FDA approval The problem is that we don’t yet know enough about the accuracy of the tests, known as sensitivity and specificity? In particular, is a negative test really negative. Until we know more, many ID experts recommend assuming someone who has symptoms is infectious, even if the test is…
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Coronavirus Tidbits #20 3-27-20
News Wondering if you should seek care for suspected COVID-19? Apple and CDC have a new app and symptom checker with a decision tool. https://www.apple.com/covid19 When can we stop the social distancing? We can’t…at least until there is widespread testing. Then you could monitor and slowly loosen restrictions in selected areas. “To consider letting off on social distancing will require sharp decline in cases, widely available rapid diagnostics wherever pts get clinical care, the right PPE available to all HCWS who need it, safe and good hospital capacity to deal with all pts with COVID.” Tom Inglesby, Johns Hopkins Here’s a thread by Scott Gottlieb that explains more: Our path…
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Coronavirus Tidbits # 19 3-26-20
News: This is very exciting to me and the best news of the day. I met David Fajgenbaum at a conference to launch CURE ID, the Drug Repurposing program I’ve been excited about. Go watch this video, starting at ~3:42:14 of his remarkable story. He’s translated that drive into #COVID19 research now and his team has done remarkable work extracting data in just 6 days! Also go watch ~31:40” for a 10 minute talk from Shira Strongin (I’ve written about her and rare diseases before) on her life before and after a repurposed Hail Mary drug for her rare disease. I’ve been excited about drug repurposing for years for its potential to…
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Coronavirus tidbits # 18 3-25-20
News: One doctor’s straight talk about the coronavirus strikes a chord with anxious Americans This is an excellent, very short clip. Highly recommended Emily Landon https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/20/emily-landon-coronavirus/ Perspective: The coronavirus economic downfall will affect those who can least afford it https://www.zmescience.com/science/the-coronavirus-economic-downfall-will-affect-those-who-can-least-afford-it/ Why you should stay at home: My friend Shira is a superstar with her advocacy for patients with #RareDiseases, and is the founder of Sick Chicks. She posted this selfie partying with her parents. They have a remarkable sense of humor, generosity, and resilience. Let’s keep them and all the #vulnerable folks in our lives safe. Diagnostics: Companies, countries, buying robots to increase testing https://www.zmescience.com/science/spain-coronavirus-robots-92253552/ Drugs: Another chapter in why…
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Coronavirus Tidbits # 17 3/23-24/20
Coronavirus Tidbits # 17 3/23-24/20 News I wrote a new post; I hope you will check it out here. Immigrant Detainees Are Sitting On A COVID-19 Time Bomb – First Infection Reported Mutating? The coronavirus is not mutating significantly according to scientists who are closely studying the novel pathogen’s genetic code. That relative stability suggests the virus is less likely to become more or less dangerous as it spreads, and represents encouraging news for researchers hoping to create a long-lasting vaccine. https://wapo.st/3aj046V https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/health/coronavirus-sars-cov-2-structure/ ~ ~ ~ At a time when we desperately need more doctors… “The status of more than 4,200 foreign doctors who were chosen to do medical residencies in…
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Coronavirus Tidbits Updates # 16 3-22-20
Coronavirus Tidbits #16 3/22/20 News Key message and perspective: Minimizing unnecessary contact with others can be an act of care and compassion…Your solitude can be a source of strength and self-reflection through this crisis. Your absence can be the gift of life to thousands of susceptible people and their families. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/im-a-canadian-quarantined-in-italy-my-message-self-isolate-now_n_5e76661dc5b6f5b7c54549dc Good to remember: We’ll Meet Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5C4meGkNyc Diagnostics: ? Counterfeit COVID19 tests confiscated https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus/2020/3/19/21187269/counterfeit-coronavirus-covid-19-tests-confiscated-ohare-airport Drugs: World Health Organization (WHO) announced a large global trial, called SOLIDARITY It's a global megatrial of the four most promising coronavirus treatments: remdesivir: an experimental antiviral compound chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, anti-malaria medications a combination of two…
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Coronavirus Tidbits # 15 3-21-20
With the help of the two Michael Stones, my website, https://www.drjudystone.com/politics-science-and-other-assorted-musings/, will be much more useful. It now has Google site search. Thanks, guys! (No idea what just happened w formatting here) News Health officials in hard-hit areas of the U.S. have a new message on coronavirus: Don’t get tested ~ ~ ~ STAY HOME! or physically away from others “One of the things that terrifies me now is, as this is spread in the west is, there’s this sense of invulnerability among millennials.” Millennials aren’t taking the coronavirus seriously, warns WHO’s Dr. Bruce Aylward https://ti.me/3bgRJ3Y by Sara Paglia photo Carlos Del Rio Doctors are desperate…
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Coronavirus tidbits #14 3/20/20
Updated today’s post on loss of smell: UK ENTs now say if you develop that symptom, you should self-isolate. First US immigration agency employees test positive for coronavirus A staff member at the Elizabeth, New Jersey, facility and one other at an undisclosed location has been confirmed https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/coronavirus-us-immigration-detention-center Op-Ed: Asian countries that have been successful in containing the virus without locking down society, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, routinely use masks. As of March 17, the three countries together had fewer than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus — despite having close connections to China’s Hubei province, So what needs to be done here in the United States? Cover your face.…
