Coronavirus Tidbits #93 10/21/20
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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 text banking and GOTV efforts.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that.
News
This WP investigation, based on inside reporting, finds that Trump and like-minded advisers — in particular, Scott Atlas — have abandoned the war on the virus. They've decided to accept mass infection, and they've undercut measures to stop the spread. /1 https://t.co/LDWSvzQ6ta
— Will Saletan (@saletan) October 19, 2020
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Twitter removed tweet from Trump’s Covid Advisor, Scott Atlas, for misleading info:
This tweet from Dr. Atlas, the medical adviser closest to the president right now, has been flagged by Twitter for violating its policies about misleading info. Atlas, a neuroradiologist who doesn’t specialize in infectious diseases or epidemiology, is often seen without a mask. pic.twitter.com/H07rVASwZD
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) October 18, 2020
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And on the idiocy of promoting herd immunity:
"The route to herd immunity would run through graveyards." — @DrTomFrieden on the wrongheadedness of idea of letting #Covid19 spread unchecked.
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) October 18, 2020
It's not the only option. It's not a good option. https://t.co/f26drzcPWj
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Who Are the Scientists Behind the Great Barrington Declaration?
— All three have advocated against lockdown measures since the start of the pandemic
The Great Barrington Declaration, a statement written by three public health experts from Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford, encourages governments to lift lockdown restrictions on young and healthy people while focusing protection measures on the elderly. This would allow COVID-19 to spread in a population where it is less likely to be deadly, the authors state…
this strategy was strongly denounced by many in the scientific community…
The declaration was sponsored by the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian, free-market think tank headquartered in western Massachusetts. The Institute is in a network of organizations funded by Charles Koch — a right-wing billionaire known for promoting climate change denial and opposing regulations on business.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/89204?
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While Trump trash talks Dr. Fauci…
Trump: "Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths," before later saying it would be 700,000 or 800,000. "If there’s a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less." (CNN was given access to the call by a source.)
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 19, 2020
The NAM just awarded #TonyFauci a second citation — the first in the history of the Academy of Medicine, for "outstanding service as a trusted advisor to six Presidents" and "firm leadership in the #COVID19 crisis" —
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) October 19, 2020
1st ever to any scientist. Fauci: "I'm rendered speechless." pic.twitter.com/tnkGNfFs7N
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent lack of rapid, accurate testing.
The Trump administration is sitting on $9 billion allocated for testing at the insistence of Trump adviser Scott Atlas, MD. (The Washington Post) [Atlas shrugged.]
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Dual PCR and antibody testing helped one system keep going safely with surgeries
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/89194?
Drugs:
Flu shot may help protect against COVID-19
according to a Dutch study that found hospital workers who got a flu shot last winter were less likely to become infected with the new coronavirus. In test tube experiments, the researchers saw that last winter’s flu vaccine could prime healthy cells to respond more effectively not just to the flu, but also to the new coronavirus. When they analyzed COVID-19 rates among staff at their hospital, they found the number of infections was 39% lower among those who had gotten a flu vaccine.
https://bit.ly/35bqEgV (preprint)
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Interesting report that getting good night’s sleep for several days prior to flu shot improves antibody response
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/21/health/flu-shot-effectiveness-sleep-wellness/index.html
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By next year, the U.S. may have a handful of mediocre coronavirus vaccines. But people will struggle to know which to take and the availability of these options may hamper efforts to develop more effective vaccines. Some chaos and confusion “is inevitable,” Carl Zimmer writes. “But it didn’t have to be this way” ~ First, a Vaccine Approval. Then ‘Chaos and Confusion.‘ (The New York Times)
Devices:
SCOOP: FEMA threw out the Aventa-M ventilators Russia gave the US that were made by a sanctioned company, used a different voltage, and caused fires in Russian hospitals, killing 6 people. https://t.co/Rtf5xvMJhn via @BuzzFeedNews
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) October 19, 2020
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Our local health department is again asking for volunteers to sew gowns for the hospital…which of course, denies having any shortages.
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Masks:
Why Can’t America Make Enough N95 Masks? 6 Months Into Pandemic, Shortages Persist
Elastomeric masks:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/coronavirus-masks-elastomeric-respirators.html
https://hbr.org/2020/10/essential-workers-need-better-masks
Epidemiology/Infection control:
Good news–newborns needn’t be separated from their Covid positive mothers
https://twitter.com/MackayIM/status/1317979360113037312?s=20
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What’s the difference between an Orthodox Jewish wedding with 10,000 invited guests and a Trump rally? The wedding was shut down by #NYC. Because…WE ARE IN A PANDEMIC.
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) October 18, 2020
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How long does someone remain infectious, need to isolate?
Evidence review confirms CDC guidance about infectivity of novel coronavirus
OHSU-led research scours 77 studies worldwide about length of time COVID-positive people may be infectious
… suggests that people may shed virus for prolonged periods, but those with mild or no symptoms may be infectious for no more than about 10 days. People who are severely ill from COVID-19 may be infectious for as long as 20 days.
That’s in line with guidance provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirming recommendations for the length of time people should isolate following infection with SARS-CoV-2.
The review published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/ohs-erc102020.php
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Covid cases here in Allegany County increased by 35, and >100 so far in October
When you have most members of the Board of Ed and County Commissioners refusing to mask, what do you expect?
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Right up there with this one. pic.twitter.com/UgXn7UNee6
— Paul Sax (@PaulSaxMD) October 18, 2020
Tips, general reading for public:
StayAtHome
Wash your hands.
Rinse and repeat.
Pandemic pods are as safe as their least careful member — choose wisely and talk openly about risk behaviors https://t.co/cvPogp57kq
— Tim Lahey, MD, MMSc (@TimLaheyMD) October 19, 2020
Politics:
Lawyers say they can’t find the parents of 545 migrant children separated by the Trump administration. https://nbcnews.to/3jej2iD
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President Trump’s tax records reveal a previously unknown bank account he has in China, where he’s spent a decade pursuing business deals. He’s paid $188,561 in taxes there (as opposed to $750 here)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/us/trump-taxes-china.html
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At least 20 cases of COVID-19 have been tied to a Trump campaign rally and counter protests in Duluth last month, which theMinnesota Department of Health is calling an outbreak. (CNN)
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— Ward Q. Normal (@WardQNormal) October 18, 2020
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WashPost: Trump’s farmer bailout has given $21 billion to red counties and $2.1 billion to blue ones https://t.co/ccWWUgUjJk
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 20, 2020
Feel good du jour:
Tom Lehrer has generously put all of his work in the public domain!
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Comic relief:
Meet my #COVID duty colleague Dr Arup Senapati an ENT surgeon at Silchar medical college Assam .
— Dr Syed Faizan Ahmad (@drsfaizanahmad) October 18, 2020
Dancing infront of COVID patients to make them feel happy #COVID19 #Assam pic.twitter.com/rhviYPISwO
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https://twitter.com/SlenderSherbet/status/1316623274860781568?s=20
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https://twitter.com/RandyRainbow/status/1318352488911806466?s=20
Perspective/Poem
Bits of beauty:
https://twitter.com/zaibatsu/status/1315105405828247553?s=20
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