I subscribe to many National Parks Facebook pages. Zion and Shenandoah National Parks are reporting that people are still flocking in groups to popular hiking spots.
Here in far western LA County, people were crowding the trails on Saturday due to a really nice weather day in a rainy month.
Mono County (Mammoth Lakes, California) has closed all hotel and motel accommodations to travelers.
There’s a new episode of the TWIV (This Week in Virology) podcast out today . Very informative.
NYC mayor: “We’re about 10 days away now from seeing widespread shortages” of supplies
Mayor Bill de Blasio described a dire situation in New York City this morning on CNN as hospital supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic run low.
"We're about 10 days away now from seeing widespread shortages of ventilators, surgical masks, the things necessary to keep a hospital system running. We have seen next to nothing from the federal government at this point. We have seen — we've made this plea publicly, privately, letters, phone calls, very — very little has arrived," de Blasio said. "The military has not been mobilized. The Defense Production Act has not been utilized in any way I can see. Not just for New York City, New York state, for a lot of the country, it feels like we're on our own at this point. We're not seeing action from the federal government."
De Blasio said April is going to be worse than March regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in New York.
“If we don’t get more ventilators in the next 10-days people will die,” de Blasio said.
He went on to urge the President Trump to sign an order to mobilize the military to distribute ventilators and to have manufactures making ventilators at maximum production.
The Defense Production Act: The Federal Emergency Management Agency describes the act as “the primary source of presidential authorities to expedite and expand the supply of resources from the US industrial base to support military, energy, space and homeland security programs.”
An executive order issued Wednesday afternoon indicated that the President will use the act to obtain “health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of Covid-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators.”
The order also states that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar may consult with other agency heads to determine “the proper nationwide priorities and allocation of all health and medical resources, including controlling the distribution of such materials … in the civilian market, for responding to the spread of Covid-19 within the United States.”
As I have been sent a dm for a link to the French randomized trial being discussed in the news and hers.
A video that in addition to other topics, examines treatment of coronavirus with chloroquine:
Here’s a great tech oriented info aggregator called tech crunch.
It lists dozens of very up to date advances and arrickes in tech response to covid. 19. Link brings you to the list up to this AM
https://techcrunch.com/pages/covid-19-updates/
If Someone’s has time and expertise to pick out the best articles or updates for here that would be great from my perspective.
@privatebanker did you read the French study? The researchers were measuring the reduction of viral load in Covid 19 patients when treated with hydroxycholoquine. The results of the reduced viral load outcomes were very positive. However, of the 26 patients they treated, 6 were excluded from the final study results (couldn’t have their viral loads tested) because 3 went to the ICU, 1 DIED, another left the hospital, and the sixth had bad stomach issues and requested to stop the treatment. By comparison, none of the control group died. By all means, there should be more research into this treatment, but certainly not enough is known about it for anyone to make broad generalizations about its success.
Tocilizumab and Remdesivir both seem promising for people with severe symptoms, and they are both in Phase III clinical trials.
Map of COVID-19 testing sites.
Interesting to see the distribution. Some places outside the hot zones, such as Alabama, Alaska, and Salt Lake City seem to be well set up for testing, despite having few cases.
How many passes are there in clinical trails? Does Phase III mean it is about to become available?
Thanks, @Qtinfo . I listened to episode 592 this morning and found it both informative and uplifting. The information is presented in a way that’s accessible for lay people (like me), and there is a combination of hard science people and clinicians. I love seeing the wide network that virologists and doctors have created, which they use to trade observations and ideas, to analyze data and set up research collaborations. That’s the uplifting part—experts in different parts of the problem combining their knowledge and constantly looking for answers.
For those interested in listening, the first few minutes is introductions, but then they get deep into the virus with their guests, and there is wide ranging information. They also fully admit what we don’t know yet (a lot). There is a little bit of what you might call dark humor about the limitations of the research so far, which probably comes from the frustration of wanting to help people now, but knowing they can’t jump to conclusions and must go through the science.
Topics include:
Symptoms of COVID-19, including diarrhea
The hydroxychloroqine study
Other clinical studies
Potential problems with clinical studies out of China
Increasing medical capacity
PPE
Medical ships, tents
Co-infection with other viruses
Secondary bacterial infections
Testing
Pregnancy, breastfeeding
Monoclonal antibody treatment
Italy
Effectiveness of flattening the curve
Respirators
Question of airborne particles
Questions from listeners
Good sites and links for learning more.
Serology, IGM, IGG
The importance of basic science research.
For a good analysis of the limitations of this study Jason Pogue posted a very good thread on twitter.
Take away:
More study is needed. HCPs around the world continue to use this combo, which will add to the data set.
NY is to start the trial on hydroxycholoquine and Zithromax on Tuesday.
@Qtinfo I’m not an infectious disease expert.
I’m following the summary of this study and potential upside by dr. alot of places. William grace at Lennox hill and others.
I would connect with him to debate. I don’t know enough. Lol.
People have dm me about so I posted.
Please carry on and be safe.
People are just not social distancing. Yesterday the Pavilions supermarket in Malibu had to close its doors because people were crowding in. The roads to the beach were backed up for miles. The beaches were full.
In Oregon, the same was happening. Roads to the beach and to the Columbia Gorge were packed.
I cannot believe how selfish and irresponsible people are being.
Not surprising. I just don’t think that our country will tolerate a lockdown/shelter in place for very long at all.
Beyond stressing the healthcare system in the immediate term, I am concerned about civil unrest. That’s what happens when millions of people are out of work (over 2 million unemployment claims estimated to be filed next week alone), their savings decimated, and the country in recession or depression. Has everyone seen the surge in gun sales?
If I knew any of these people I would publicly shame them on social media. Peer pressure works.
I take very little info as gospel or science or effective for me without a lot of research but I’m glad to hear of new developments to check out. Thank you for all for sharing info.
We are seeing a great response to social distancing but I do not live in a highly populous area. I have family in SoCal and it feels like they are just getting going with closures and requests for social distancing. Hopefully the population gets more serious for their own good if not the good of their neighbors as the days go on.
There are 5 steps in a clinical trial
Pre-clinical studies–studies in animal models
Phase 1 --safety studies --subtherapeutic doses given to healthy human volunteers to see if there are toxic effects (20-100 patients)
Phase 2–efficacy studies, therapeutic doses given to patients to see if the drug works and if there are side effects. Drug is presumed not to be effective (100 patients)
Phase 3–efficacy, effectiveness and safety studies --therapeutic doses given to patients to see if the drug works as expected. Drug is presumed to have some effect, though how much is unsure. Double blind studies are used to see how effective a drug is compare to standard treatments (300-3000 patients)
Phase 4–post market surveillance
Phase 3 does NOT mean the drug is about to become available.
@privatebanker I’m not debating. I’m just reading the results of the study that you posted and offered opinions about. Is that not what you wanted? I am confused.
But you’re right, we are on CC…this is not a place to get medical advice because what do we know? In fact, only medical professionals should be offering medical advice. To do otherwise is dangerous.