covid-19 update

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/hebrew-u-scientist-drug-could-eradicate-covid-19-from-lungs-in-days-635028

This may turn into good news, but the drug is not without side effects:

https://www.drugs.com/tricor.html

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/remdesivir-vs-hydroxychloroquine-guess-who-wins/

Death rates by country according to HCQ usage -

https://files.catbox.moe/y8a5x0.jpg

The more HCQ usage the lower the death rates, but also consider these comments:

"I think some more details will be required. For instance, the US and Japan look similar on the chart for CFR but the US has has over 120,000 deaths while Japan only has around 1,000.

"Also HCQ is not the only medicine that works as an ionophore. Japan uses Hinokitiol but there are others.

"Ionophores help with the transport of zinc into the cells where it can best interfere with the virus. So HCQ is not a complete medicine but it helps others to function. That is why when the HCQ-bashers "test" it, they use it by itself so it won't show much improvement."

Also -

"I don't see Australia on that chart. Oh wait... that's because Australia isn't using HCQ, and they've only had 123 deaths in a total population of 25 million. Awkward."

A vaccine for Covid 19 is coming but it probably will be next year before it can be available. There are multiple vaccine trial taking place all over the world. I also hope that more effective ways of treating a patient with Covid 19 will be realized.

The UK just announced that The Oxford Vaccine shows promise.

As we wait for new treatments come on line, countries should do everything that they can do to slow the spread.

Masks. Hand sanitizing. Social distancing. Vitamin D. Zinc.

worcester wrote:Masks. Hand sanitizing. Social distancing. Vitamin D. Zinc.

Worcester would a multi-vitamin that includes zinc be sufficient or do people need to take a zinc supplement.

Right now I wear a mask, use hand sanitizer and maintaining social distancing and taking a Vitamin D supplement.

HCQ did not do much for my wife. She had it after the Ivermectin. The Ivermectin worked within a few hours to stop her from vomiting after she would have 2 sips of water for the first 6 days.

HCQ needs to be taken when symptoms first appear WITh zinc. HCQ facilitates the cells' abilities to absorb zinc which prevents viral replication.

I understand, and thank you again! Bill

Great news from the NBA....ZERO players in the bubble of 346 tested positive for Covid-19. Zero. The NBA is running a health experiment vfc which could be an important example for the entire USA.

worcester wrote:Great news from the NBA....ZERO players in the bubble of 346 tested positive for Covid-19. Zero. The NBA is running a health experiment vfc which could be an important example for the entire USA.

Yes, a very favorable environment with clearly defined AND enforced protocols plus regular testing to identify the infection among their population.  It may be a great example but it is not one that can be implemented in this country.  I cannot help but be a bit cynical.

For basketball fans it is great news.  

Strong admonitions coming from the extraordinarily measured Dr. Fauci.
From Dr. Fauci.
“Chickenpox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.
Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.
HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.
Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.
So far the symptoms may include:
Fever
Fatigue
Coughing
Pneumonia
Chills/Trembling
Acute respiratory distress
Lung damage (potentially permanent)
Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)
Sore throat
Headaches
Difficulty breathing
Mental confusion
Diarrhea
Nausea or vomiting
Loss of appetite
Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)
Swollen eyes
Blood clots
Seizures
Liver damage
Kidney damage
Rash
COVID toes (weird, right?)
People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.
Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.
This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know.
For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:
How dare you?
How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30-year-olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.
How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:
Frequent hand-washing
Physical distancing
Reduced social/public contact or interaction
Mask wearing
Covering your cough or sneeze
Avoiding touching your face
Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces
The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.
I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.”

Thanks Worcester, this sums it up totally. I am sick of listening to how much of a pain in the ass it is to wear a mask everytime you leave home for a destination where people are...i.e. markets, stores, pharmacies. I have told my kids, do what you want, but just remember, if you do what I feel is a hazard to my health or that of their father, then they will have to stay away. My son is obsessed with making sure we are okay, my daughter, on the other hand, is listening to people who tell her that there is NO SCIENCE that supports the mask wearing. But, knowing that I will be adamant in my desire to stay safe, has listened to us for the most part and watches who she sees and where she goes. She has even closed her office (she is a therapist, yoga teacher and much more) and is operating out of her home. It is a struggle for her but she is doing what is necessary.

Your message is a scary one. I am petrified of this virus. I have never spent so much time in my home as I have this past year. Thanks for putting it into reality my friend, I hope others read and head.

Rosalie, Dr. Fauci may have overstated the need to do the following. He may be wrong, the virus may not be a continuing menace, but the cost of following his advice is so minimal, whereas the cost of falling ill to the virus is so great. Moreover, if everyone followed this advice for a month, Covid-19 would virtually disappear from the USA as it did in NZ.
Frequent hand-washing
Physical distancing
Reduced social/public contact or interaction
Mask wearing
Covering your cough or sneeze
Avoiding touching your face
Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

I applaud the NBA for devising such a strict in the bubble protocol and its 346 players for observing it rigorously. That said, living in the bubble is not that arduous an experience. Just ask my US Navy intelligence officer cousin who spent three month living alone on an iceberg North of Russia in a Cold War listening post, monitoring Soviet communications or 9 months at sea aboard a destroyer.

worcester wrote:Strong admonitions coming from the extraordinarily measured Dr. Fauci.
From Dr. Fauci.
“Chickenpox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.
Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.
HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.
Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.
So far the symptoms may include:
Fever
Fatigue
Coughing
Pneumonia
Chills/Trembling
Acute respiratory distress
Lung damage (potentially permanent)
Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)
Sore throat
Headaches
Difficulty breathing
Mental confusion
Diarrhea
Nausea or vomiting
Loss of appetite
Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)
Swollen eyes
Blood clots
Seizures
Liver damage
Kidney damage
Rash
COVID toes (weird, right?)
People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.
Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.
This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know.
For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:
How dare you?
How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30-year-olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.
How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:
Frequent hand-washing
Physical distancing
Reduced social/public contact or interaction
Mask wearing
Covering your cough or sneeze
Avoiding touching your face
Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces
The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.
I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.”

worcester

For many it has developed into a "Dammed if you do and Dammed if you don't" situation. While speculation is rampant, perhaps the jury needs a little more time to deliberate.

swish

Here is an interesting site to track vaccine development

https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker