Coronavirus Tidbits #73 8/13/20
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News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty
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
1 pm today: STOPPING PANDEMICS
CONVERSATION with Dr. Anthony Fauci and experts from National Geographic and ABC News, as well as Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, on why the pandemic is wreaking havoc on communities, and the lessons we can learn from pandemics throughout history.
https://stoppingpandemics.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1e16e79e9a4cb49603fdc2f43&id=7c1417e988
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Over 1,000 health professionals have signed a letter titled “Shut It Down, Start Over, Do It Right.” “We continue to lack a coherent national strategy to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” @meganranney on why she chose to help write & sign the letter
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“We seem to be choosing leisure activities now over children’s safety in a month’s time. And I cannot understand that tradeoff.”
— alissa ambrose (@alissa_ambrose) August 10, 2020
Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing by @HelenBranswell
READ: https://t.co/MVhu95BH1C pic.twitter.com/6pqj9y1yFK
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https://twitter.com/scopedbylarry/status/1293178908272017410?s=20
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Long after the fire of a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects can still smolder
As many as 1 in 3 patients recovering from Covid-19 could experience neurological or psychological after-effects of their infections
[I suspect some of the psychological effects are due to ICU psychosis, which is pretty common, especially in elderly patients. Also, separating patients from family and being cared for by unrecognizable health care workers who are masked, gowned, and gloved, undoubtedly has its own toll. Imagine if we had enough PPE so that families could be with their loved ones…]
https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/12/after-covid19-mental-neurological-effects-smolder/
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New Zealand inexplicably has new Covid-19 cases.
One hypothesis is very disconcerting if true…but we won’t know for a few days
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COVID-19: Herd immunity in Sweden fails to materialize
They did not lockdown the country, predicting that 40% of the Stockholm population would have had the disease and acquired antibodies by May 2020. However, the actual prevalence figure was around 15%. While clinical and research findings suggest that severely infected Covid-19 patients do acquire antibodies in the immediate and early recovery phase of their illness, antibodies are much less commonly found in only mildly ill or asymptomatic patients. This means they are very likely not to be immune, and so cannot act as a bulwark against further spread of infection amongst the community.
[Also, the economy did not tank less than countries that did lock down.]
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/s-chi081020.php
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New COVID-19 Cases in State Prisons Surge in July
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Good news of the day, though non-Covid: Nootkatone
CDC discovers active ingredient for development into new mosquito/tick insecticides and repellents. Nootkatone repels and kill ticks, mosquitoes, and a wide variety of other biting pests. Nootkatone is responsible for the characteristic smell and taste of grapefruit and is widely used in the fragrance industry to make perfumes and colognes. It is found in minute quantities in Alaska yellow cedar trees and grapefruit skin.
CDC has partnered with Evolva since 2014. In 2017, Evolva was awarded a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) contract with the key objective of advancing the development of nootkatone and nootkatone-based products for protection against mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and Zika.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0810-nootkatone-registered-epa.html also
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/health/tick-mosquito-repellant-nootkatone.html
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How to stop COVID-19 fuelling a resurgence of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
A focus on the coronavirus has disrupted detection and treatment of other infectious diseases. Governments and funders can do four things to avert a catastrophe.
AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB), three of the deadliest infectious diseases, together kill 2.4 million people every year, with TB alone responsible for 1.5 million deaths. And deaths from these diseases could almost double over the next year, according to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a consortium of donors that funds treatments. The reason: coronavirus.
https://www.nature.com/
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent lack of testing.
As @Nonstopdoc and @BethCameron_DC wrote, testing overloads driven by the Sun Belt surge are slowing test results around the country.
— Jeremy TEST/TRACE/ISOLATE – NO SHORTCUTS Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) August 12, 2020
In effect, Florida et al's reopening policies undermined others states' tracing efforts (which hinge on rapid results). https://t.co/tiytwL4OnB
Drugs:
Wondering about Russia's "licensed" #Covid19 vaccine? Read @Dereklowe. Says all that needs to be said. It is impossible to design, test and produce a vaccine for widespread roll out this quickly. https://t.co/JEMCMonkcl pic.twitter.com/RMTEBS4PKH
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) August 11, 2020
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Taxpayers paid for the research. US pays $1.5 billion to Moderna for 100 million doses of vaccine. When buying unproven drugs, why are we not requiring us to get our money back if they don’t work? – Andy Slavitt
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Pfizer signs on to produce Covid-19 drug Remdesivir for Gilead – @MedCityNews https://buff.ly/30KfezN Gilead Sciences said it would partner with companies in North America, Europe and Asia to manufacture the antiviral drug.
Devices:
Running Low on New N95s? Reach for These Alternatives
— Some worked almost as well in a lab study
Expired as well as fresh N95 respirators cleaned with hydrogen peroxide solution retained over 95% of fitted filtration efficiency, a small laboratory study found.
N95 respirators in the wrong size had around 90%-95% fitted filtration efficiency.
“Importantly, no documented SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks have been linked to settings in which surgical masks were assiduously used in lieu of N95 masks, which suggests that even if airborne transmission is a considerable contributor to SARS-CoV-2 transmission, surgical masks are likely sufficient to prevent it,” the editorialists Caitlin Dugdale, MD, and Rochelle Walensky, MD, (Mass General) wrote.
Tie-on masks were better than those w ear loops in this cited study.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/88010?
JAMA Intern Med 2020; DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.4221.
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Wearing a neck gaiter may be worse than no mask at all
Epidemiology/Infection control:
Coronavirus transmission risk increases along wildlife supply chains for human consumption
The mixing of multiple coronaviruses, and their apparent amplification along the wildlife supply chain into restaurants, suggests maximal risk for end consumers and likely underpins the mechanisms of zoonotic spillover to people.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237129
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Source: https://t.co/weXVst3Oof pic.twitter.com/2shCwc5k8p
— Esther Choo, MD MPH (@choo_ek) August 10, 2020
Tips, general reading for public:
StayAtHome
Wash your hands.
Rinse and repeat.
Fraud Alert: How to Spot Scammers Posing as Health Department COVID-19 Contact Tracers
Do NOT click on links in messages claiming to be from the Health Department.
Legitimate contact tracers call, text, or email (and in some cases, come to your home) to say you may have been exposed to the virus, and to explain what precautions to take. They will also want to know who you’ve been in contact with and may have unknowingly infected.
In some states, contact tracers send a text message prior to calling, explaining that you should expect a call—from a specific number—about an urgent public health matter. There is never a link to click on, and never a number for you to call.
When they call, real contract tracers ask how you’re feeling, where you’ve been, and who you’ve been in contact with recently. They will also ask for some basic personal information, such as:
- Name and address
- Date of birth
- Occupation and work status
- Contact information and contact preferences
Five Questions You Should Not Answer
Here are five ways you can tell the difference between a real contact tracer and a scammer. According to the FTC, contract tracers will never:
- Ask for money or payment of any kind.
- Ask for your bank account or credit card number.
- Ask for your Social Security number.
- Ask for your immigration status.
- Ask you to click on a link in a text or email.
Politics:
https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1293678950569451520?s=20
Destroying the USPS to steal the election, hurting seniors who rely on medicines by mail…
83% of Etsy shops are run by women. Postal Service disruptions could devastate them. ‘If a customer’s package isn’t delivered relatively quickly … they will take it out on the business’
The GOP including $0 for the USPS, $0 for our elections, and $21,300,000,000 for the Pentagon in a COVID relief bill.
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Another stupid move – Security theater, appealing to his base
Totally useless given the number of cases we have in the US
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On Tuesday, the same day Florida marked a new daily high for deaths from COVID-19, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods banned his deputies from wearing masks on the job. More at @washingtonpost. https://t.co/eJR1i5kJBk
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) August 12, 2020
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San Quentin’s death toll translates to a mortality rate of about 767 people dying out of every 100,000 persons. https://t.co/zcARIKtdz7 pic.twitter.com/VeYYGYZ3HY
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 11, 2020
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In Tennessee, any felony conviction takes away your right to vote. https://t.co/DFctIcD61D
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 13, 2020
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https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/1293623370236301313?s=20
Feel good du jour:
Interesting background on Kamala’s family…makes me feel more positively about her and Biden for choosing her.
Shyamala Gopalan was a breast-cancer scientist who emigrated from India in 1960 to pursue a doctorate in endocrinology at UC Berkeley. Donald Harris is a Stanford University emeritus professor of economics, who emigrated from British Jamaica in 1961 for graduate study in economics at UC Berkeley.
And a younger sister who attended Stanford law school and became Executive Director, @ACLU of Northern California.
Heartwarming. Kamala’s Jewish step kids call her Momala. Sweet story:
https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a27422434/kamala-harris-stepmom-mothers-day/
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When Covid closed the library in Australia:
Staff called every member over 70 to see how they were doing and if they needed help with accessing any services, counseling support, tech help or anything else.
Comic relief:
Perspective/Poem
New Zealand has had remarkable success w Covid…We don’t hear much about Vietnam, which maintained a 99-day streak without community transmission of COVID-19, and it has 19.5x the population, 15x the population density, and 1/15th the GDP/capita of NZ.
Other successes we read little about – Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Mumbai slum (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/how-a-packed-slum-in-mumbai-beat-back-the-coronavirus-as-indias-cases-continue-to-soar/2020/07/30/da859532-d039-11ea-826b-cc394d824e35_story.html).
Bits of beauty:
2 Comments
Joe R McDaniel
My retired nurse wife mentioned that pulse oximeters are very effective diagnostic tools for COVID-19 and only cost $15 to $30 [and are built into Fitbit, etc. bands]. Between thermometer and oximeter, I suspect fairly effective screening can be done cheaply.
Judy Stone
I wish that were true, but I don’t think so. Here’s one study that found that only a third of patients needing hospitalization had a fever. https://www.physiciansweekly.com/covid-19-two-thirds-of-hospitalized-patients-presented-with-no-fever/ Others, as with everything Covid, find it more common, occurring in ~ 80%.
I’m a bit more enthusiastic about oximeters, especially because with Covid, people can have surprisingly low oxygen saturation levels without feeling short of breath. Even here, the JAMA study found only 27.8% needed supplemental oxygen at triage. Also, recent data suggests that oximeters are not as accurate for Black people.