Coronavirus - Overall
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@pakman said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Godder said in Coronavirus - Overall:
The Economist compares current death rates to average death rates in a lot of places. A lot of places have an unexplained increase in deaths due to an unknown source which the Economist thinks is probably the current epidemic.
What isn't really publicised is the number of deaths which weren't caused biologically by CV, but were caused by lack of medical treatment because of CV.
One could say because of the pandemic, but not of CV.
Agree, although I guess that still serves to illustrate the danger of CV - not that it's particularly dangerous in most individual instances but that it can overwhelm most health systems with volumes of infections, leading to more deaths than the individual cases would normally suggest.
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@pakman said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Godder said in Coronavirus - Overall:
The Economist compares current death rates to average death rates in a lot of places. A lot of places have an unexplained increase in deaths due to an unknown source which the Economist thinks is probably the current epidemic.
What isn't really publicised is the number of deaths which weren't caused biologically by CV, but were caused by lack of medical treatment because of CV.
One could say because of the pandemic, but not of CV.
I don't think it makes much difference does it? Whether they are Covid victims directly or as a result of not enough facilities to treat other illnesses that are normally treatable. Good statistics would help, but that seems unlikely in the middle of a pandemic.
I think it's important also to factor in that in perfect conditions with sufficient medical resources very few people would die of the virus. That is not the death rate that is of concern, it is probably less than 1%. The concern is those who would be treated but can't be because of lack of capacity.
My view is that this is what people who talk about the flu death rate are missing. Yes the pure death rates are similar with both viruses, but the hospitalisation rates are not similar.
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@Damo said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@pakman said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Godder said in Coronavirus - Overall:
The Economist compares current death rates to average death rates in a lot of places. A lot of places have an unexplained increase in deaths due to an unknown source which the Economist thinks is probably the current epidemic.
What isn't really publicised is the number of deaths which weren't caused biologically by CV, but were caused by lack of medical treatment because of CV.
One could say because of the pandemic, but not of CV.
I don't think it makes much difference does it? Whether they are Covid victims directly or as a result of not enough facilities to treat other illnesses that are normally treatable. Good statistics would help, but that seems unlikely in the middle of a pandemic.
I think it's important also to factor in that in perfect conditions with sufficient medical resources very few people would die of the virus. That is not the death rate that is of concern, it is probably less than 1%. The concern is those who would be treated but can't be because of lack of capacity.
My view is that this is what people who talk about the flu death rate are missing. Yes the pure death rates are similar with both viruses, but the hospitalisation rates are not similar.
It's not that clear that hospitalisation is very effective. In particular, ventilation has been shown to be a poor treatment. CPAP and proning seems much more effective. What is the case is that CV is very tough on the elderly, perhaps the straw which breaks the camel's back.
And the fear tactics of most countires' campaigns is clearly causing big problems, both for acute and chronic sufferors of other diseases.
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN -3.30% and Sanofi SA SNY 1.56% said Monday they will shut down part of a study exploring whether their arthritis therapy could treat certain hospitalized Covid-19 patients because the drug looked unlikely to help them.
An early look at ongoing trial results indicated the therapy, named Kevzara, wasn’t helping patients who were hospitalized with a severe form of Covid-19 but don’t require a ventilator’s assistance with breathing, the companies said.
The study will continue, however, for an even sicker set of hospitalized Covid-19 patients who require the help of ventilators or other high-flow oxygen support, the companies said.
In the second, sicker group of patients, the drug showed a relatively small potential benefit over placebo—substances with no actual pharmaceutical effect—though that will need to be confirmed in the ongoing study, the companies said. Results are expected in June.
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In a stunning display of what a lockdown can achieve in the short term:
Vietnam has reported just two new infections in the last 10 days, both students who returned from Japan last week. The country of more than 95 million people hasn’t reported a single death from the virus. Most of its 270 confirmed cases have recovered.
Crucial to preventing a large outbreak in Vietnam was an aggressive quarantine regime that involved housing tens of thousands of people in military barracks, university dormitories and other state-run centers. When a person was confirmed to be infected, many of their close contacts, including those showing no symptoms, were quarantined in state-run facilities or hospitals rather than their homes where they might infect elderly family members.
All those who returned to the country from overseas in the last month were also required to stay in these places for 14 days.
In early April, when the country had reported less than 250 cases, nearly 45,000 people were quarantined in government facilities. That number is now down to about 11,000, while just over 40,000 are isolated in their homes, comprising largely of the contacts of a confirmed patient’s close contacts.
The system relies on contact tracing to identify all those an infected person may have exposed. Health authorities publish widely read details of the person’s activities on government websites, newspapers and social media, for instance which restaurant they visited and how much time they spent
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@antipodean I'd have serious questions about the reliability of their testing and their autopsy procedures.
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Endpoints News has daily updates on trials and preclinical development.
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A Close Look at the Frontrunning Coronavirus Vaccines As of April 23
mRNA vaccines are pretty new and have never been approved before, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too much for clinical success.
There are no approved mRNA or DNA vaccines, and neither has ever been tested in a large-scale clinical trial for an infectious disease.
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@Rapido said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Using the Chinese counting method?
I'm sure they'll just burn a witch or two.
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@Tim said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Surely that's just a reflection on the countries doing mass testing and the costs of those tests?
And where is this!'China World?'
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@MiketheSnow Yeah that's a ton of it. I don't trust the numbers from Vietnam for example.
Maybe some of the poorer countries are in hotter areas or the southern hemisphere too.
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Story on Sky News this morning, really sad one about a 29yo who was volunteering as a carer, died of COVID.
Interview with his 25yo fiancee who stressed people have to stay home, we can't lift lockdown, calling people complacent. Was a bit uncomfortable with a clearly grieving person being on the soapbox like that, but fine.
Then, both interviewer and interviewee stressed that the victim was young and otherwise healthy. No mention at all of the fact they both probably have a BMI > 40 and obesity is a known COVID comorbidity
I don't mean to be callous, but it just feels like the media are almost gleefully seeking stories like this out to ram the "COVID = bad stay home forever" message down our throats. The poor guy died of a cardiac arrest as they tried to roll him over whilst he was on a ventilator.
Chalked up as a COVID death, but would that have happened to a person of normal weight? I guess on the other hand without COVID he could've lived happily to old age at that BMI, so it goes both ways.
Just found the whole narrative from Sky to be a bit misleading really.
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@TeWaio said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Story on Sky News this morning, really sad one about a 29yo who was volunteering as a carer, died of COVID.
Interview with his 25yo fiancee who stressed people have to stay home, we can't lift lockdown, calling people complacent. Was a bit uncomfortable with a clearly grieving person being on the soapbox like that, but fine.
Then, both interviewer and interviewee stressed that the victim was young and otherwise healthy. No mention at all of the fact they both probably have a BMI > 40 and obesity is a known COVID comorbidity
I don't mean to be callous, but it just feels like the media are almost gleefully seeking stories like this out to ram the "COVID = bad stay home forever" message down our throats. The poor guy died of a cardiac arrest as they tried to roll him over whilst he was on a ventilator.
Chalked up as a COVID death, but would that have happened to a person of normal weight? I guess on the other hand without COVID he could've lived happily to old age at that BMI, so it goes both ways.
Just found the whole narrative from Sky to be a bit misleading really.
Although hosted by @antipodean 's favourite Scottish Doctor and journo ABC's 'Coronacast' yesterday discussed how obesity is now THE number one comorbidity. And it is becoming likely that complications directly due to obesity, it's effect on the immune system most likely, are leading to a lot of the worst cases and deaths.
They did emphasize that it was unproven but the case was getting stronger.
Hence some of the previously identified comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease) may be less likely to have a direct effect, but are correlated because they are correlated with obesity.
Good thing I'm losing weight.
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@MiketheSnow said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Tim said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Surely that's just a reflection on the countries doing mass testing and the costs of those tests?
And where is this!'China World?'
Which brings me to @Tim 's post and my completely I'll informed speculation.
Poorer countries have:
- less vulnerable people (not as old, not as inclined to lifestyle afflictions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease)
- less organised and less efficient health and reporting systems
Just thunks.
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@MajorRage said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Obesity is a medical condition.
Hater.
Read this, and be educated.
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After Regeneron announced a setback on Monday with its research on the use of Kevzara in fighting the pandemic, hopes for the anti-inflammatory IL-6 class waned considerably. But now a group of researchers in France are cheering on a win in a controlled, randomized study of Roche’s rival Actemra, which has the same mode of action. And Roche cited it as part of the case for this drug as they push through their own Phase III.
News reports from France suggest solid evidence of success in Covid-19 patients, but there were no data to back up the boast.
What investigators did say was that in a randomized test involving 129 moderate to severe Covid-19 cases, the drug arm adding Actemra to standard of care did “significantly” better in reducing the number of deaths or need for ventilators at day 14. If that holds up, it would be a major advance for the field as the world anxiously awaits any evidence that drugs exist to fight the severe immune reactions triggered by the new virus.
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@nzzp said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@MajorRage said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Obesity is a medical condition.
Hater.
Read this, and be educated.
Good god that's a terrible article.