Coronavirus Tidbits #39 4/26/20
Announcements:
First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I'm getting.
Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don't be shy about that.
News
Pretty pathetic. As a result of Trump's press briefing 4/23/20 touting ingesting bleach as a possible treatment for COVID-19
We decided to take the step of posting this alert after receiving more than 100 calls to our hotline.
— Mike Ricci (@riccimike) April 24, 2020
"Donald Trump: (29:46) https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-press-conference-transcript-april-23
A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting, right? And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful."
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Bud Rose, the creator of UpToDate, which is essentially Google for medicine, but smarter and based on evidence, died Friday of #Covid19 complications statnews.com/2020/04/25/rem…
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Tom Hanks’ Blood Is Being Used to Develop Coronavirus Vaccine
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Trump expands battle with World Health Organization far beyond aid suspension.
Sad, stupid, but no surprise. He's been against NATO, WHO, and any cooperative international efforts since Day 1, a firm believer in American Exceptionalism.
This is not only petty and misguided but, like cutting CDC funding, will come back to bite us in the ass--infectious diseases know no such boundaries and we need to focus on mutual aid. More here.
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent lack of testing.
It gets worse, if possible...
REPORTER: A congressional subcommittee says that a lot of the coronavirus tests on the market haven't been approved for accuracy, and could be junk tests. Is that true? FDA COMMISSIONER HAHN: "We provided flexibility ... they have to tell us that they validated their tests."
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New York City’s Department of Health sent an alert to providers advising them against using antibody tests to diagnose prior covid infection or to assess immunity because of low reliability and high rates of false positive results.
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SCOOP: Here's something new about that Stanford COVID-19 antibody study.
— Stephanie M. Lee (@stephaniemlee) April 24, 2020
In an email I obtained, the wife of the professor leading it recruited people by saying an “FDA approved” test (it's not) would show if they could “return to work without fear.”
https://t.co/FQEY6zcbgE
Drugs:
Sorry. No big or promising advances, and some discouraging news about Remdesivir.
Devices:
Supportive info for using a face shield in addition to mask:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-24/face-shield-mask-coronavirus
Epidemiology/Infection control:
Why you’re unlikely to get the coronavirus from runners or cyclists
makes better arguments than the original--that you need to consider such things as amount of infectious particles, for example
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re: Immunity passports, WHO clarifies:
most people who are infected with #COVID19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection.
What we don't yet know is the level of protection or how long it will last. We are working with scientists around the world to better understand the body's response to #COVID19 infection.
=> no immunity passports
Tips, general reading for public:
StayAtHome
Wash your hands.
Rinse and repeat.
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Nice, easy explainer in picture book format about
What does the coronavirus do in the human body?
what health complications can arise, how the body fights back, and what you can do to keep yourself healthy. @FromTheLabBench: https://lifeology.us.lifeomic.com/static/ologies/healthcare/covid-19-in-the-body/index.html #COVID19
Politics:
At least two conservative groups backing TRUMP's re-opening push — @FreedomWorks & @libertycounsel — have applied for @SBAgov loans. FreedomWorks application is notable, since: 1) it opposed past bailouts. 2) it's organizing coronavirus protests. nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/…
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Medical supplier says FEMA seized 400,000 N95 masks destined for medical workers during the coronavirus pandemic, and has them ‘just sitting on a loading dock at JFK’ nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny…
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Trump further trying to undermine and sideline WHO
Feel good du jour:
Publix says it will buy fresh produce and milk from farmers
in Florida and southeastern dairies and donate the staples to Feeding America-member food banks.
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Fauci had joked that he would like Brad Pitt to play him on SNL.
Wish all of our dreams came true so easily...Pitt does play Fauci in this SNL open: https://youtu.be/uW56CL0pk0g and even thanks him and other HCWs at the end: “And to the real Dr. Fauci, thank you for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time. And thank you to the medical workers, first responders and their families for being on the front line."
Comic relief:
From The Archives: Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It’s Coronavirus Cure https://t.co/fma1bw04Ek pic.twitter.com/XigChhr5Ip
— The Onion (@TheOnion) April 24, 2020
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Randy Rainbow: #ASpoonfulOfClorox
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Perspective/Poem
“Individual interest should yield to a temporary sacrifice, in order to avert the public calamity.”
— Michael David (@MichaelDavid80) April 24, 2020
—Dr. Benjamin Rush, 1787 pic.twitter.com/7NpTyoBZMR
Bits of beauty:
More about Shooting Star, a spring ephemeral wildflower, (Dodecatheon meadia, here.
