COVID-19 (f/k/a "the Coronavirus")

[Coleman]

Plasma donations are already happening

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/us/plasma-donor-coronavirus/index.html

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

It was multiple felines all with COVID like symptoms.

It is a big deal.

There is emerging discussion/evidence that COVID has been in humans form months, maybe a year or more. Where it has mutated slowly from a poorly communicative (in humans) disease to be more infectious and dangerous.

Part of that process might be multiple passages between animals and humans. They know that the version circulating in humans has mutations compared to those in bats/pangolins that make it more infectious in humans. We just don't know what reservoir this was circulating in before those mutations occurred.

Won't be surprised if we see China seize on this type of news, as it could mean it didn't start there, but simply the final mutated versions erupted there.

Has this been published in any articles?  Would be curious to read.

[forgetful]

Has this been published in any articles?  Would be curious to read.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9

This was the primary paper. There has been discussion outside of the literature about what this all means.

[JWags85]

NY and CA deaths flat for a second day.  New hospitalizations and new ICU cases in NY down for a second straight day.

[Lennys Tap]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-health-coronavirus-disinformation-11586122093?shareToken=st6ac47d98e021409585a674b4b56088e2&reflink=article_email_share

WHO and China - where blame really belongs.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I just got off the phone with a customer in Mexico.  Everything in the country is shutting down until April 27.  I was expediting wire for them and they said wait until end of the month.

[Jockey]

Not terribly surprising...but do you have a link, or do you know what the side effects were? I did a google search and couldn't find anything....

https://www.politicopathy.com/2020/04/06/ama-president-has-a-stark-warning-about-trumps-coronavirus-treatment-advice/

[Jockey]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-health-coronavirus-disinformation-11586122093?shareToken=st6ac47d98e021409585a674b4b56088e2&reflink=article_email_share

WHO and China - where blame really belongs.

So, even if everything in the article is fact, what does that have to do with our leader screwing up the response here in the U.S.?

[injuryBug]

NY and CA deaths flat for a second day.  New hospitalizations and new ICU cases in NY down for a second straight day.

as are new cases

[rocky_warrior]

https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/carl-40-fick-kramp-och-syn-problem-av-coronamedicin/

How's your Swedish?

Google/Chome translate is better than mine, so I'll paste it here:

In the USA, for example, chloroquine, malaria medicine, has been highlighted as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus. President Donald Trump has argued that chloroquine is a possible "game changer". In France, corona patients have been treated with the drug and believed that several of them became healthy after six days of treatment, La Provence writes .

Also in Sweden patients with covid-19 disease have been treated with malaria medicine. Carl Sydenhag, 40, from Stockholm, is one of the people who received chloroquine.

On March 23, Carl Sydenhag tested positive for the corona virus after having a fever and breathing difficulties. At Södersjukhuset in Stockholm he received antibiotics intravenously and chloroquine.

- I was prescribed to take two tablets in the morning and two in the evening, says Carl Sydenhag.

But instead of getting better, he began to feel worse.

- I got cramps and a headache that I have never had before. It felt like I had stepped into a high voltage plant.

Affected vision
Carl Sydenhag says that his vision was also affected and that his peripheral vision was reduced. He then decided to read the package leaflet and saw that the side effects he experienced usually occurred in one in 100 taking the medication.

- Then I called the Poison Information Center which said that the dose I had been given was dangerous, so I stopped taking the tablets and went to the hospital again.

Once at the hospital, doctors thought that Carl probably received an excessive dose of the medication.

Today he no longer has any symptoms for covid-19, but believes that his vision is still worse than usual and that he still feels dizzy.

- But I feel much better than I did before. It may have been that the malaria medicine helped against the corona and I am very grateful for that, but you have to dose correctly, says Carl Sydenhag.

Has stopped giving chloroquine
Chloroquine has been given to covid-19 in several hospitals in Sweden. But last week, all hospitals in the Västra Götaland region stopped medicine.

- There were reports of suspected more serious side effects than we first thought. We cannot rule out serious side effects, especially from the heart, and it is a hard-dosed drug. In addition, we have no strong evidence that chloroquine has an effect at covid-19, ”says Magnus Gisslén, professor and chief physician at the infection clinic at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, to the Gothenburg Post .

The Southern Hospital in Stockholm, where Carl Sydenhag received chloroquine prints for covid-19, has also decided to stop giving malaria medicine to corona patients, according to the Gothenburg Post.

In an email to Expressen, Hedvig Glans, section manager of the infection unit at Karolinska University Hospital, writes that chloroquine was given to the more oxygen-demanding corona patients and that a thorough investigation was done before the drug was used.

Furthermore, Hedvig Glans writes that the use of chloroquine has decreased.

"By following developments, the scientific compilations and studies in progress, the use of chloroquine phosphate is being re-evaluated daily, and this has currently been greatly reduced and is not used routinely." , writes Hedvig Glans.

[tower912]

Chatting with an army veteran about the anti malaria drug.  He said he was given it before shipping out to Afghanistan.   He, and many of his brethren experienced night terrors.   He said he would take his chances with the Covid rather than take that medicine again.

Side effects are a thing.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Here is an Opinion piece about about anti-viral and antibody drugs by Scott Gottlieb.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bet-big-on-treatments-for-coronavirus-11586102963?mod=e2fb

[rocky_warrior]

Chatting with an army veteran about the anti malaria drug.  He said he was given it before shipping out to Afghanistan.   He, and many of his brethren experienced night terrors.   He said he would take his chances with the Covid rather than take that medicine again.

Side effects are a thing.
[/quote

For sure.  I've not taken it - got the newer "good stuff"  that doesn't have many side effects, but heard stories about the original.  If you every meed to take anti-malaria medication - request Malarone.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Chatting with an army veteran about the anti malaria drug.  He said he was given it before shipping out to Afghanistan.   He, and many of his brethren experienced night terrors.   He said he would take his chances with the Covid rather than take that medicine again.

Side effects are a thing.
[/quote

For sure.  I've not taken it - got the newer "good stuff"  that doesn't have many side effects, but heard stories about the original.  If you every meed to take anti-malaria medication - request Malarone.

I just took this past November on my visit to India.  No side effects that I recall, but the nurse who administered did say there was another anti-malarial version that gave horrendous night hallucinations. 

[Silent Verbal]

NY and CA deaths flat for a second day.  New hospitalizations and new ICU cases in NY down for a second straight day.

With this and the positive news out of Washington state, are we beginning to see some of the first signs that social distancing is working?  I know it’s only two days, but man, three straight weeks of bad news has been a lot to take.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

With this and the positive news out of Washington state, are we beginning to see some of the first signs that social distancing is working?  I know it’s only two days, but man, three straight weeks of bad news has been a lot to take.

I think so too.  Also it seems to be working in Italy & Spain.

[JWags85]

Chatting with an army veteran about the anti malaria drug.  He said he was given it before shipping out to Afghanistan.   He, and many of his brethren experienced night terrors.   He said he would take his chances with the Covid rather than take that medicine again.

Side effects are a thing.

Ive had 3 friends take it before trips to Africa/India.  One had hallucinations, one was perfectly fine, one had a weird dream one night and that was it.  YMMV

[GooooMarquette]

With this and the positive news out of Washington state, are we beginning to see some of the first signs that social distancing is working?  I know it’s only two days, but man, three straight weeks of bad news has been a lot to take.

It seems pretty clear that it's working. The larger question is how long does it need to continue before we can safely go back to normal without facing a huge rebound in cases?

[Chili]

Chatting with an army veteran about the anti malaria drug.  He said he was given it before shipping out to Afghanistan.   He, and many of his brethren experienced night terrors.   He said he would take his chances with the Covid rather than take that medicine again.

Side effects are a thing.

I took it on a trip to Ghana in 2000. Really f***** up dreams. One night dreamt I murdered my best friend. So yeah, side effects are real.

[GooooMarquette]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-health-coronavirus-disinformation-11586122093?shareToken=st6ac47d98e021409585a674b4b56088e2&reflink=article_email_share

WHO and China - where blame really belongs.

It is clear that WHO and China deserve some share of the blame. But how that does excuse the Administration's long delays once it was apparent what we were dealing with, and POTUS' inconsistent messaging?

https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc

https://apnews.com/0463fb7ca88b47860819fe56495b2ebc

[rocky_warrior]

It is clear that WHO and China deserve some share of the blame. But how that does excuse the Administration's long delays once it was apparent what we were dealing with, and POTUS' inconsistent messaging?

https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc

https://apnews.com/0463fb7ca88b47860819fe56495b2ebc

Yes, it's clear China & the WHO messed up.  But it's a poor response from any nation to just say "don't blame our leaders".  And....enough on that.  I think we're all well aware of where we've been, and where this came from (some are in denial, but whatever).  Lets focus on the moving forward part...

[Silent Verbal]

It seems pretty clear that it's working. The larger question is how long does it need to continue before we can safely go back to normal without facing a huge rebound in cases?

Yeah, that’s definitely the question.  If we continue to see a downturn in cases throughout April, it’ll be a hard sell to the American public to keep the country shut down any longer than mid-May.  I’d expect limited capacity for places like bars and restaurants, malls, beaches, theme parks/zoos etc for most of the summer, where people can begin to live their lives again but also practice social distancing.  So, not “normal” per se, but closer to it than the dystopian nightmare we’re currently living in.

I’d also optimistically say we’ll see a truncated version of the NBA playoffs in front of no fans in late May/June, and possibly baseball after the All-Star break.

[GooooMarquette]

Yes, it's clear China & the WHO messed up.  But it's a poor response from any nation to just say "don't blame our leaders".  And....enough on that.  I think we're all well aware of where we've been, and where this came from (some are in denial, but whatever).  Lets focus on the moving forward part...

Agreed. Was just responding to the comment that WHO and China were "where the blame really belongs."

Regarding moving forward, below is a link to information about the program for expanded access to convalescent plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients:

https://www.uscovidplasma.org

As an aside, Mike Joyner (Principal Investigator for the study) is a friend of mine, and a great guy.

[GooooMarquette]

Yeah, that’s definitely the question.  If we continue to see a downturn in cases throughout April, it’ll be a hard sell to the American public to keep the country shut down any longer than mid-May.  I’d expect limited capacity for places like bars and restaurants, malls, beaches, theme parks/zoos etc for most of the summer, where people can begin to live their lives again but also practice social distancing.  So, not “normal” per se, but closer to it than the dystopian nightmare we’re currently living in.

I’d also optimistically say we’ll see a truncated version of the NBA playoffs in front of no fans in late May/June, and possibly baseball after the All-Star break.

Agree...but I also agree that some of your timetables are "optimistic." IMHO, we may have seen the last of basketball for the year, and I'm skeptical we will have much baseball. Even the NFL might start late. FWIW - Peter King is reporting that the NFL is going to delay release of the schedule in order to work on shortened season scenarios (12 or 14 games, with no preseason). In his "spitballing" based on what he's heard, it's possible that training camp may not begin until September, with opening games in mid-October.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/06/nfl-draft-combined-telecast-colts-fmia-peter-king/

• It’s likely the NFL schedule-makers, led by Howard Katz, will spend their extra time this month working on 12-game and 14-game schedule alternatives. Roger Goodell sometimes sounds like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he says inside NFL offices: “Hope is not a strategy.” In this case, the league hopes it can play a full 16-game regular-season schedule with a bye week. But nothing is certain these days. In the wake of the league saying the schedule would be released on May 9 at the latest, it would be foolish to sit on the schedule that could be ready by next week and not take the next five weeks to prepare for alternatives. That’s why I’m sure they are working on shorter, compacted schedules.

Spitballing: A 14-game schedule could be as simple as the league assigning every team one home and one road game on the weekends of Sept. 13 and 20, and if the season couldn’t start till the weekend of Sept. 27, those first two games could simply be lopped off the schedule, and each team would be left with seven home and seven road games. A more radical idea, if the season couldn’t start till mid-October: Opening night Oct. 15 at Kansas City, opening weekend continues on Oct. 18 and 19, a 12-week regular season, no byes, final regular-season games on Jan. 3. In that case, imagine the NFL scrubbing all preseason games and having training camps, likely closed to the public, beginning in early to mid-September. That’s five months from now. So much can happen to affect the schedule, obviously.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I put the chances of any sort of NBA or NHL playoffs at less than 10%.  Having the NBA playoffs at one site where everyone is quarantined, etc. is just not going to be feasible.  Unless they push it all the way to September, but by then, what is the point?

Baseball could start late, but even a 100 game season might be too much.  And it will start without fans.

Peter King's scenario is what I think the NFL might look like.  Though it might start without fans.  I think you will see something similar for college football.  Only conference games.