Kansas Crimson

Feral wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:29 am 2,074 Americans died of Coronavirus yesterday, the most in one day so far.

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick:

NEJM, April 10, 2020 Compassionate Use of Remdesivir for Patients with Severe Covid-19

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Remdesivir, a nucleotide analogue prodrug that inhibits viral RNA polymerases, has shown in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2.

METHODS

We provided remdesivir on a compassionate-use basis to patients hospitalized with Covid-19, the illness caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2. Patients were those with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who had an oxygen saturation of 94% or less while they were breathing ambient air or who were receiving oxygen support. Patients received a 10-day course of remdesivir, consisting of 200 mg administered intravenously on day 1, followed by 100 mg daily for the remaining 9 days of treatment. This report is based on data from patients who received remdesivir during the period from January 25, 2020, through March 7, 2020, and have clinical data for at least 1 subsequent day.

RESULTS

Of the 61 patients who received at least one dose of remdesivir, data from 8 could not be analyzed (including 7 patients with no post-treatment data and 1 with a dosing error). Of the 53 patients whose data were analyzed, 22 were in the United States, 22 in Europe or Canada, and 9 in Japan. At baseline, 30 patients (57%) were receiving mechanical ventilation and 4 (8%) were receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. During a median follow-up of 18 days, 36 patients (68%) had an improvement in oxygen-support class, including 17 of 30 patients (57%) receiving mechanical ventilation who were extubated. A total of 25 patients (47%) were discharged, and 7 patients (13%) died; mortality was 18% (6 of 34) among patients receiving invasive ventilation and 5% (1 of 19) among those not receiving invasive ventilation.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort of patients hospitalized for severe Covid-19 who were treated with compassionate-use remdesivir, clinical improvement was observed in 36 of 53 patients (68%). Measurement of efficacy will require ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled trials of remdesivir therapy. (Funded by Gilead Sciences.)

[...]

The age cohort for this group was mostly in the 50+ range--seems like a pretty high risk group that were treated with remdesivir.

Florida is significantly under-reporting the state’s COVID-19 testing backlog, a blind spot in the data that could obscure the pandemic’s size and hamper efforts to decide when it’s safe to end restrictions such as social distancing — even as Gov. Ron DeSantis touts the state’s transparency when it comes to coronavirus.

On its public website, the Florida Department of Health says about 1,400 people statewide are waiting for their test results. But that’s an undercount, the department acknowledged in response to questions from the Miami Herald. And it’s likely a massive one.

That’s because the state only reports the number of Floridians waiting to hear back from state labs, not private ones — and those private labs are completing more than 90% of Florida’s tests. The state website doesn’t say that its figures exclude the vast majority of pending tests for the novel coronavirus.

Two small, private South Florida healthcare providers told the Herald this week that they are awaiting COVID-19 test results for almost 800 patients. That number alone would increase the state’s official count of backlogged tests by more than 50%.

Not having the results from the backlog of testing means state officials can’t get a real-time picture of how deeply the disease has penetrated the population and when people might have hope of resuming their lives and getting back to work, said Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center.

“The key to ending the quarantining and social isolation is accurate information about where testing is, how fast we can expect tests to clear, and ultimately how fast we can expect to have a lot of testing,” Caplan said. “If the backlog gets enormous, then the public needs to know.”

In addition, by not acknowledging delays, the state may escape public pressure to resolve the backlog quickly. And there are other costs. People who are sick may still spread the disease without knowing it. Researchers and officials have less information to track infection patterns. Medical workers have to waste scarce personal protective equipment because they don’t know for sure who can expose them.

For epidemiologists, a backlog of tests means they cannot get a timely understanding of infection rates that help them predict when the peak is coming and when the disease is waning, said Derek Cummings, a biology professor with the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. Knowing how many people are waiting for tests is important information.

“If you have disruptions to testing and you have backlogs ... that obscures your view of how fast cases are growing and declining,” Cummings said.

In a statement to the Herald, Florida’s DOH said it was “not accurate” to call the number of people awaiting test results from Florida’s state labs a backlog.

“Awaiting testing represents the number of individuals for whom a test has been ordered but have not yet received results, including those who have not yet had their specimens collected for laboratory testing,” the department said. “There is no backlog currently associated with Department-coordinated COVID-19 testing efforts.”

The state health department did not answer questions about why it isn’t including the backlog of tests from private labs in its official count.

Florida contracts with commercial laboratories to process COVID-19 tests, and the state can request information on pending tests from those vendors. That means the state could be providing a fuller picture of the backlog. (The health department has refused to provide copies of the contracts to the Herald despite repeated requests since March 21.)

Private healthcare providers in South Florida say they have hundreds of cases awaiting results — a delay not being captured in state data.

On Friday, when the state health department said people in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties were waiting for results in 326 cases, a single provider in those counties, Community Health of South Florida, told the Herald it had more than 400 patients who haven’t been told if they’re infected or not.

Another provider, Larkin Community Hospital, said 392 of its patients haven’t gotten their results yet.

That’s almost 800 cases without results just from Community Health and Larkin — small players compared to South Florida’s biggest hospitals, many of whom are also doing testing but refusing to provide data to the Herald. (The private lab Quest Diagnostics processes tests for Community Health. Larkin processes tests at its own lab and also sends samples to a private lab in New Jersey.)

In many ways, Caplan said, testing data is as important to get right as the number of hospitalizations and deaths resulting from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“It tells us what the risks are to hospital workers and what the general incidence is of who survived,” he said.

[...]

Perfect Trump soldier:

Dude's a total loser. Always has been.

ChalkRocker wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:21 pm Dude's a total loser. Always has been.

Is he still doing his KU-bashing radio show?

HouseDivided wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:30 pm

ChalkRocker wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:21 pm Dude's a total loser. Always has been.

Is he still doing his KU-bashing radio show?

Got canned.

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:48 pm

HouseDivided wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:30 pm

ChalkRocker wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:21 pm Dude's a total loser. Always has been.

Is he still doing his KU-bashing radio show?

Got canned.

What a shame.

HouseDivided wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:54 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:48 pm

HouseDivided wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:30 pm

Is he still doing his KU-bashing radio show?

Got canned.

What a shame.

lol

Stunning negligence, week upon week of incompetence, and missed opportunities:

A Florida man demonstrates how not to use gloves or touch your face...oh wait, that's the Governor!!!







https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desa ... 41a6ba3a6f

jhawks99 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:26 pm

HouseDivided wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:54 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 8:48 pm

Got canned.

What a shame.

lol

I see he's still using his WHB handle. Douche.

seahawk wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:19 pm A Florida man demonstrates how not to use gloves or touch your face...oh wait, that's the Governor!!!







https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desa ... 41a6ba3a6f

Every "task force" presser I notice multiple things. A) They stand a lot closer than 6 feet away from each other. B) Some touch the podium and then other's touch it. C) Even Fauci is guilty of saying, "I was tested YESTERDAY" or someone says "I was tested a couple days ago - recently".

My response to A) ONE time I heard Trump say something to extent of that they are in a small room on a small stage and they really can't help but stand close to each other. BULL-SHIT! If it was important enough they could move it to a larger room somewhere or even in the same room they could stand/sit further apart form each other.

My response to B) As far as touching the podium, probably not that big of a deal but perhaps practice what you preach?

My response to C) As far as them saying I was tested yesterday, a couple days ago, whenever, is that not ignorance when the "medical experts" on the "task force" are telling us that often people are asymptomatic?
Because they didn't test positive yesterday or a few days ago that means they can't be / aren't positive today? ReallY?

China Reports 169 New Coronavirus Cases — Highest In 5 Weeks

China is reporting its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than five weeks, saying most of them originated abroad.

Officials said Monday that mainland China had 169 new confirmed cases of infection, with 61 of them described as "asymptomatic" COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The government said 98 of the cases were "imported" by people arriving from abroad. The total figure represents the highest number of new cases since March 6.

The increase has sparked concern about a second wave of infections in China, which was the original epicenter of the pandemic. The latest figures in China are just over 82,000, with 3,341 deaths, according to data released Monday by the National Health Commission. By comparison, the U.S. has the largest number of cases in the world — nearly 560,000 and more than 22,000 deaths — according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University...

In Global Times, an English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, an opinion piece lashed out at what it described as anti-China rhetoric and described its rebound from the pandemic in glowing terms.

"For the US, a country which has let the epidemic spin out of control despite clear warnings sent by China, China's anti-virus fight is indeed a miracle," the opinion piece said. "But for China itself, the outcome appears absolutely normal and deserved in view of the government's strong sense of responsibility for people's lives, the governing system's great ability of mobilization and the Chinese people's firm willingness to support all containment measures."

The American people look forward to the day when a "...resurgence in virus cases throughout the country..." approximates "...166 new cases in Tokyo on Sunday, bringing the total there to more than 2,000", in our nation's largest city.

Emergency Declared In Japanese Prefecture Hit By 2nd Wave Of Coronavirus Infections

...Hokkaido declared a three-week state of emergency in February that was lifted on March 19. The prefecture had begun to reopen schools and was even allowing carefully orchestrated public gatherings.

But the latest order reverses all that, asking residents once again to refrain from nonessential trips outside their homes and closing prefectural primary and secondary schools until May 6.

The directive comes amid a resurgence in virus cases throughout the country that prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week to issue a state of emergency for several other prefectures, in and around the capital, Tokyo, and Osaka.

Officials reported 166 new cases in Tokyo on Sunday, bringing the total there to more than 2,000.

For reference:

...Other updates from the governor’s (Cuomo) Sunday briefing:

8,236 new people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total statewide to 188,694.

103,208 of those people are in New York City, where 4,900 new positive cases were reported on Sunday.

The number of people newly hospitalized, 53, was “the lowest number since we started doing these charts,” Mr. Cuomo said. The total number of people currently hospitalized statewide is now 18,707.

189 new patients were admitted to intensive care units, bringing the statewide total to 5,198.

110 more patients have been intubated, for a statewide total of 4,449.

1,862 people were discharged from New York hospitals...

"Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanopoulos has tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Stephanopoulos announced his diagnosis Monday on "GMA," nearly two weeks after his wife, actress and bestselling author Ali Wentworth, confirmed she tested positive for COVID-19.

Stephanopoulos, who shares two daughters with Wentworth, has been his wife's caregiver throughout her battle with COVID-19. Wentworth self-isolated in a room in the family's New York home at the start of her symptoms in order to try to avoid spreading the virus...

BUT HIS EMAILS.

jfish26 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:28 amBUT HIS EMAILS.

Glad I stocked up on proteins early on, but this ain't good: