Coronavirus Thread

[bobongo]

Major new treatment?:

Coronavirus drug hailed as game-changer after trial finds it cuts chances of severe illness

A "game-changing" treatment for coronavirus could cut the chance of serious illness by 80 per cent, research suggests. Trials using an inhaled protein, commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, found patients who were given it were more than twice as likely to recover during the treatment...

www.yahoo.com

A "game-changing" treatment for coronavirus could cut the chance of serious illness by 80 per cent, research suggests. Trials using an inhaled protein, commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, found patients who were given it were more than twice as likely to recover during the treatment period than those given a placebo. Stays in hospital were cut by one third, according to the study of Southampton hospital patients. The treatment, from biotech firm Synairgen, uses a protein called interferon beta, which the body produces when it gets a viral infection. The drug, known as SNG001, is inhaled using a nebuliser in order to stimulate an immune response. Richard Marsden, the chief executive of the company, said: "We couldn't have expected much better results than these."

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Something I have wondered for a while is just what we define as a "child". Is a 10 year old a child? Probably. What a bout a 16 year old with a beard? Is that an "adult"? Obviously I am speaking biologically and not sociologically. the data is seeming to suggest that postpubescent "children" are more vulnerable than prepubescent, but maybe still slightly less than "adults".

That would explain why day cares have not be shown to be super spreader locations. But also, why we shouldn't treat middle and high schools the same as day cares and elementary schools.

I can't remember how many times my wife and I got sick with the grunge type things when our kids were in pre-school and elementary school. Know lots of other sick parents.

Maybe this virus is different........ I don't think we really know how much spreading of COVID will happen.

But that age kid's hygiene is stupendously bad.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Best day since July 12th. Hopefully we will start to see a crest. Next couple of weeks should tell us alot. This is the week I was sort of expecting things to plateau if people started to change behavior based on the surges that started to be noticeable publicly in late June. Then next week is probably when we would start to see some negative effects from July 4th (possibly running into the 1st week of Aug) if that is going to happen.
If we can start to get things to plateau and move downward in the next 2 weeks that would be a good sign.

Mondays tend to be light reporting days, but that 13.7 is still a nice number compared with the 14.8 last week. Long way to go though to get back below the 5% mark.

In S.C., our number today was 50% less than yesterday and 50% less than Monday a week ago. We also tested less. BUT! Testing less isn’t necessarily an issue if it’s because less people feel sick and are asking for a test. 1 day does not a trend make, but a streak does start with 1. Hope springs eternal. So do kangaroos.

 

[dtm1997]

Use Social Distancing.

Wear a mask.

 

[LibertyTurns]

A "game-changing" treatment for coronavirus could cut the chance of serious illness by 80 per cent, research suggests. Trials using an inhaled protein, commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, found patients who were given it were more than twice as likely to recover during the treatment period than those given a placebo.

How’d you like to be the placebo dude?

 

[RonJohn]

How’d you like to be the placebo dude?

Taking the placebo wouldn't be bad if the test drug is found to be harmful. I think with the chloriquine arguments many people fail to understand the purpose of clinical trials.

 

[bobongo]

How’d you like to be the placebo dude?

Well, look on the bright side - at least you get a tasty sugar pill.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Taking the placebo wouldn't be bad if the test drug is found to be harmful. I think with the chloriquine arguments many people fail to understand the purpose of clinical trials.

If you’re offered an experimental treatment you get to make a choice, accept or decline. In an experiment, you get no choice. There’s a difference & you unwittingly consented to have no treatment in the latter. I guess that’s good for some. I’d never take that deal.

 

[RonJohn]

If you’re offered an experimental treatment you get to make a choice, accept or decline. In an experiment, you get no choice. There’s a difference & you unwittingly consented to have no treatment in the latter. I guess that’s good for some. I’d never take that deal.

I believe there is a requirement for informed consent to use someone in a clinical trial whether they receive the experimental treatment or the placebo. The people who receive the placebo don't get no treatment, they get the standard treatment that people not in the clinical trial would receive. If you don't sign up for the clinical trial, you will receive the same exact treatment as someone who gets the placebo. If you sign up for the clinical trial you might or might not get an unproven drug on top of the normal treatment. It isn't like they don't give any medical care to the placebo portion of the trial.

 

[GoldZ]

There seems to be an elephant in the room regarding how we "continue" (from last year) on-line education. It was a stretch to get the 'check in the block' that last year ended with an adequate level of education to most students. To me... the notion you can cover the material adequately for even a few weeks on-line is just crazy. Most school districts around me are now committed to on-line only for 1st 9 weeks of the upcoming school year.

I see this as similar to saying we are no longer providing transportation to school (busing); but everyone must get to school everyday on time. That's not an option. But we're setting up to educate everyone without a teacher physically present to interact with the students. The number of students with the appropriate level of support at home (at least 1 stay-at-home parent) to facilitate the learning is low. Most kids are going to be left behind. I get the pandemic means having children in school may be impossible until things get more under control. However... I see the options as binary. School like it has always been or no school at all. ...OR/UNLESS, you simply do not care about a minimum standard of learning over what will be close to 0.5 years of class (combining end of last year with 9 weeks upcoming).

I hear ya Fred, but the virus isn't binary and neither is the need to educate kids. So, we are left with choosing among less than ideal options. Imo, going back to school like it has always been, is the worst among the bad choices considering the current spike. The no school at all option sucks too, but I'd vote for an option of no school at all for a few months or even 6 months, when optimistically we have this under better control. Get in a 30-40% school year and then get back to a full year in 2021. If you lost 60-70% of grades 1-9 when you were growing up, how much would it have set you back?

 

[FredJacket]

I hear ya Fred, but the virus isn't binary and neither is the need to educate kids. So, we are left with choosing among less than ideal options. Imo, going back to school like it has always been, is the worst among the bad choices considering the current spike. The no school at all option sucks too, but I'd vote for an option of no school at all for a few months or even 6 months, when optimistically we have this under better control. Get in a 30-40% school year and then get back to a full year in 2021. If you lost 60-70% of grades 1-9 when you were growing up, how much would it have set you back?

I agree with all this... the last 2 sentences are huge unknowns. I have no idea how much it would have set me back personally. It definitely would have. I can't prove it; but I'd say who/how many/how much are 'setback' will vary a lot and IS the problem. Let's say most school districts across the country do a 30-40% coverage... at the end of this year, how in world do you evaluate the "what next"? It is a mess. No good answers. At least if you cancel school, a couple of things happen:
1) Parents are not on hook to be the "educator" in their household where nearly all (my assumption) simply do not have the capacity to adequately teach.
2) Once circumstances allow a return to in person instruction, the situation is more "known" as far as the collective progress of the students... and provides a better understanding to implement an instruction plan to go forward and hopefully "catch up".

 

[TooTall]

COVID-19 Status Report

These data represent confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

dph.georgia.gov

Gee how interesting, after weeks of cases going up:
ICU admissions down to 1.9%
Hospital admission down to 10.3%
Deaths down to 2.1%

Last weeks numbers:
ICU 2.1%
Hospital admissions 11%
Death 2.4%

See yall in 44 days when Toe Meets Leather!!

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I agree with all this... the last 2 sentences are huge unknowns. I have no idea how much it would have set me back personally. It definitely would have. I can't prove it; but I'd say who/how many/how much are 'setback' will vary a lot and IS the problem. Let's say most school districts across the country do a 30-40% coverage... at the end of this year, how in world do you evaluate the "what next"? It is a mess. No good answers. At least if you cancel school, a couple of things happen:
1) Parents are not on hook to be the "educator" in their household where nearly all (my assumption) simply do not have the capacity to adequately teach.
2) Once circumstances allow a return to in person instruction, the situation is more "known" as far as the collective progress of the students... and provides a better understanding to implement an instruction plan to go forward and hopefully "catch up".

My 8th and 9th grades were 2 of the most formative and important grades in my education. To have lost or delayed 60% to 70% of that time would probably have kept me from going to Tech, and possibly from even wanting to go to Tech. Keeping children out of school increases the frequency of child abuse and greatly increases the chances of juvenile delinquency. I personally think that ALL schools should be 100 % open in the Fall.

 

[WreckinGT]

COVID-19 Status Report

These data represent confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

dph.georgia.gov

Gee how interesting, after weeks of cases going up:
ICU admissions down to 1.9%
Hospital admission down to 10.3%
Deaths down to 2.1%

Last weeks numbers:
ICU 2.1%
Hospital admissions 11%
Death 2.4%

See yall in 44 days when Toe Meets Leather!!

Why should numbers that are significantly driven by results from months ago be used to make decisions in the current climate when its pretty obvious that things are worse now than they ever have been? We are seeing positive test rates over 15% and 93% ICU overhead for COVID right now. Why should we ignore that?

 

[684Bee]

Why should numbers that are significantly driven by results from months ago be used to make decisions in the current climate when its pretty obvious that things are worse now than they ever have been? We are seeing positive test rates over 15% and 93% ICU overhead for COVID right now. Why should we ignore that?

Y’all’s numbers don’t jive. Are you looking at the same thing?

Positive cases being up isn’t the scary part to me. We are testing like crazy. I’ve been to several testing places recently and they are packed.

It also doesn’t scare me as much any more, cause we’ve gotten a lot better with treatment.

I know several people who have tested positive recently, and, at worst, their symptoms were like a bad cold or a regular flu.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Y’all’s numbers don’t jive. Are you looking at the same thing?

Positive cases being up isn’t the scary part to me. We are testing like crazy. I’ve been to several testing places recently and they are packed.

It also doesn’t scare me as much any more, cause we’ve gotten a lot better with treatment.

I know several people who have tested positive recently, and, at worst, their symptoms were like a bad cold or a regular flu.

Hospitalization rates and deaths are the most important. Cases only matter insofar as they can be leading signals of future hospitalizations and deaths.

This is a novel virus with no vaccine - its not going away or disappearing. We have multiple options for how to deal with it. We can follow the model of New York City and much of Europe, who had the virus ravage their country, infecting a large percentage of people, overflowing its hospitals, and resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. (New York has 1/4 of our entire country's deaths, for example). You'll end up with a quasi-herd immunity afterwards, but nobody knows how long that may last. Another option is to flatten the curve - extend out the timeline that you'll have to deal with the virus, but prevent hospitals from overfilling.

We've chosen the latter. When you barely have 1 percent of your entire country that has gotten the virus, there is still a long runway to go. While we've learned many things about this insidious virus along the way, a few key things have not changed:
1) Older people and those with significant immunity impairments (like being very obese, just to pick 1) are at a very high risk of severe complications if they contract the virus.
2) A tiny tiny fraction of 1% of everyone else has severe health complications from it.

We cannot and will not eradicate the virus. Those at risk need to continue to shield themselves and be careful. Everyone else should take logical precautions like wearing a mask, keeping your distance from people, and practicing good hygiene, so hospitals won't fill up. But everyone else should be able to continue living their lives. So far, large numbers of people in both those groups continue to behave irresponsibly.

 

[684Bee]

We cannot and will not eradicate the virus. Those at risk need to continue to shield themselves and be careful. Everyone else should take logical precautions like wearing a mask, keeping your distance from people, and practicing good hygiene, so hospitals won't fill up. But everyone else should be able to continue living their lives. So far, large numbers of people in both those groups continue to behave irresponsibly.

Exactly. That’s what I’ve advocated for since early March.

 

[TooTall]

Why should numbers that are significantly driven by results from months ago be used to make decisions in the current climate when its pretty obvious that things are worse now than they ever have been? We are seeing positive test rates over 15% and 93% ICU overhead for COVID right now. Why should we ignore that?

Those are total percentages for the virus. Why would you only look at a fraction of the number? You have to view the entire data range to see the effects. You just can't pick and choose what stats to follow.

And don't forget:
we don't have a number for the total number of tests administered
the covid-19 positive tests include; covids 1-18 and the common cold. So how accurate are the tests?

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Concerns arise as some receive positive COVID-19 results but never got tested

www.msn.com

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Concerns arise as some receive positive COVID-19 results but never got tested

www.msn.com

Liberty referred to some of those incidents recently. People want a fast turnaround and now they're complaining because they got their positive test result back months before contracting the disease. People complain about everything!