Coronavirus Tidbits #97 11/22/20
Announcements:
First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I'm getting.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don't be shy about that.
News
‘People are going to die’: Hospitals in half the states are facing a massive staffing shortage as Covid-19 surges
STAT By OLIVIA GOLDHILL @OliviaGoldhill NOVEMBER 19, 2020
Hospitals in at least 25 states are critically short of nurses, doctors, and other staff as coronavirus cases surge across the United States, according to the industry’s trade association and a tally conducted by STAT. The situation has gotten so bad that in some places, severely ill patients have been transferred hundreds of miles for an available bed — from Texas to Arizona, and from central Missouri to Iowa.
Many of these hospitals spent months building up stockpiles of medical equipment and protective gear in response to Covid-19, but the supplies are of little use without adequate staffing.
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China has begun its first prosecution of a coronavirus citizen journalist
https://qz.com/1934288/china-begins-prosecution-of-coronavirus-citizen-journalist/
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Just off a conference call with Trump Administration vaccine distribution team. They confirmed that they have not briefed anyone on President-elect Biden's team and have no plans to do so.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) November 19, 2020
This is potentially catastrophic.
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Just an incredible milestone for the United States Senate: more Republicans have tested positive for COVID-19 than have accepted Joe Biden as the president-elect. https://t.co/seeosvq2yX
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) November 20, 2020
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This @rkhamsi piece makes a lot of sense to me. Health workers are being traumatized by a relentless flow of #COVID19 patients. But outside hospitals, the pandemic is invisible. Some people see only inconvenience, restriction, economic damage. https://t.co/9Tbjp9zvxE
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) November 21, 2020
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So proud to see our Women's Action Group recognized locally:
Diagnostics:
still an incredible, negligent lack of accurate testing.
For those getting tests before Thanksgiving: testing shouldn't give you a false sense of security. It takes 2-14 days after exposure to become infectious. You can test negative in the morning and be highly infectious in the afternoon.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) November 21, 2020
Drugs:
WHO advises against use of Gilead's remdesivir for COVID-19 patients in hospital
Gilead`s drug remdesivir is not recommended for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, regardless of how ill they are, as there is no evidence it improves survival or reduces the need for ventilation, a World Health Organization panel said
Oxford Covid vaccine could build immunity in older people – study
Phase 2 trial data shows strong immune response in over-70s and better tolerance in older adults
The trial demonstrated similar immune responses across all three age groups – 18-55, 56-69, and 70 and over.
The study of 560 healthy adults, including 240 over the age of 70, found that the vaccine is better tolerated in older people than in younger adults.
Devices:
Pre-symptomatic detection of COVID-19 from smartwatch data
We analysed physiological and activity data from 32 individuals infected with COVID-19, identified from a cohort of nearly 5,300 participants, and found that 26 of them (81%) had alterations in their heart rate, number of daily steps or time asleep. Of the 25 cases of COVID-19 with detected physiological alterations for which we had symptom information, 22 were detected before (or at) symptom onset, with four cases detected at least nine days earlier.
Using retrospective smartwatch data, we show that 63% of the COVID-19 cases could have been detected before symptom onset in real time via a two-tiered warning system based on the occurrence of extreme elevations in resting heart rate relative to the individual baseline. Our findings suggest that activity tracking and health monitoring via consumer wearable devices may be used for the large-scale, real-time detection of respiratory infections, often pre-symptomatically.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-020-00640-6
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Masks work. https://t.co/7hLFR75a0r
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 16, 2020
Epidemiology/Infection control:
The Lancet Microbe: Infectiousness peaks early in COVID-19 patients, emphasising the need to rapidly isolate cases
Systematic review and meta-analysis of three human coronaviruses suggests that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are most likely to be highly infectious in the first week after symptom onset, highlighting the need to identify and isolate cases early.
https://www.eurekalert.org/
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Asymptomatic infections
evidence suggests that about one in five infected people will experience no symptoms, and they will transmit the virus to significantly fewer people than someone with symptoms.
people should continue to use measures to reduce viral spread, including social distancing and wearing masks, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03141-3
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https://twitter.com/meganranney/status/1329221979258417154?s=20
Tips, general reading for public:
StayAtHome
Wash your hands.
Rinse and repeat.
Politics:
White House blocked a deal in October 2019 to pay for mental health services for migrant families who had been separated by the Trump administration, 2 current and 2 former senior admin. officials tell @NBCNews https://t.co/kXg0MLlLjN
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 19, 2020
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This morning, I asked @SenMikeShirkey if he would honor the will of Michigan voters in his meeting with Trump today. He responded by singing a hymn about being persecuted: pic.twitter.com/IQRXokq9F2
— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) November 20, 2020
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If there’s a more perfect statement of meat-packing plants' contempt for their employees in the time of Covid-19 I can’t imagine it. https://t.co/0yUJofIYxX
— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) November 19, 2020
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Tyson Foods suspended top officials at its largest pork plant on Thursday and launched an investigation into allegations that they bet on how many workers would get infected during a widespread coronavirus outbreak. https://t.co/Le5S4Rq3hY
— Arizona Daily Star (@TucsonStar) November 19, 2020
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The cruelty is the point...
White House blocked a deal in October 2019 to pay for mental health services for migrant families who had been separated by the Trump administration, 2 current and 2 former senior admin. officials tell @NBCNews https://t.co/kXg0MLlLjN
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 19, 2020
Feel good du jour:
pic.twitter.com/AwXA90yWMm . The best values given in childhood make a person great
— Chetan agarwal (@Chetanniketa) November 19, 2020
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https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1327714090828115970?s=20
Comic relief:
— Richard Feynman (@ProfFeynman) November 18, 2020
Perspective/Poem
Excellent perspective from Edward Norton!
...or that ‘chaos is what he loves’. The core of it is that he knows he’s in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy & this defines his every action. We’re seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for coverup & evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame
— Edward Norton (@EdwardNorton) November 20, 2020
...which is to create enough chaos & anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, & fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding. But he doesn’t have the cards. His bluff after ‘the flop’ has been called in court...
His ‘turn card’ bluff will be an escalation & his ‘River card’ bluff could be really ugly. But they have to be called. We cannot let this mobster bully the USA into a deal to save his ass by threatening our democracy. THAT is his play. But he’s got junk in his hand. So call him.
I will allow that he’s also a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft bitch who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest & trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead & dying
But his contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact isn’t about 2024, personal enrichment or anything else other than trying to use chaos & threat to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit. Call. His. Bluff.
Faith in the strength of our sacred institutions & founding principles is severely stretched...but they will hold. They will. He’s leaving, gracelessly & in infamy. But if we trade for it, give him some brokered settlement, we’ll be vulnerable to his return. We can’t flinch.
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Maddow: Don't get this thing. Do whatever you can to keep from getting it.
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) November 20, 2020
Rachel Maddow reveals that her partner, Susan, tested positive for Covid-19 and is still recovering, and implores viewers to consider their loved ones when they calculate their own Covid-19 risk. pic.twitter.com/oUz2DBLG63
Bits of beauty:
