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Covid-19 miscellany

crazyfingers said:
Keith&Co. said:
My corporation has been slowly filtering people back to the buildings. That's paused in many locations.
Plus we need to wear masks even in our cubes. Only if alone in a closed office, or while eating or drinking can you take your mask off.

So, i need to go to Costco for a few of those 5-gallon barrels of cheese puffs. They don't specify 'while eating meals,' or anything....
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I have been in the office about 6 times since 2009. No plans to pick up the pace. Not going until I know that everyone in the office is vaccinated. No need to go.
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Curses on your entire houseboat.
 
Where I work has shifted. They wanted people to get vaccinated, then paid us to get vaccinated (time and bonus), now with the latest CDC stuff, there is a penalty on the health insurance premium unless you get a physical annually, however, they've added needing to be vaccinated to that list. Also everyone now needs to wear a mask indoors, unless at your desk, separated from others. I ain't masking at work, so I'm back home working remote.

Meanwhile Canada plans on reopening still, the US is listing places that aren't safe for Covid for people going overseas... while we are the largest hotspot on the planet. The world is almost to the point of giving up now it seems. Once Australia is inviting Americans, no quarantine, then we know it is over.
 
South East Queensland comes out of lockdown this afternoon, as the Chief Health Officer (the fantastic Dr Jeanette Young) is confident that there are now zero Covid patients not identified and quarantined.

Sadly, a taxi driver in Cairns (1,700km north of Brisbane) has tested positive, and so that city has now gone into lockdown for at least three days.

We have demonstrated that a fast, strict lockdown, combined with mass testing and detailed contact tracing, can stop an outbreak of Covid Delta in just eight days, even in a densely populated urban centre (Brisbane has a population of about 2.5 million).

The first case was positively identified on Thursday, the 29th of July, and lockdown started on Saturday 31st at 4pm. It will finish at 4pm today, Sunday, the 8th of August. Total cases in the cluster to date are just over 100, and likely to rise by a few per day over the next few days amongst the quarantined families of known cases.

Of course, if any new cases pop up, we may need to repeat the exercise. Perhaps several times.

Masks are to remain mandatory, so that any new outbreaks are limited in size before they are detected.

Meanwhile NSW continues to demonstrate that a slow, soft lockdown is utterly inadequate in the face of the Delta strain. "Gold standard" Gladys Binchicken's attempts to protect the economy is a total disaster, and has not only failed to protect citizens' lives and health, but has also failed to protect the economy either. A result she could have predicted from overseas experience, or by listening to her scientific advisors and placing their opinions above those of ignorant politicians and political supporters. Today alone, over 300 new cases were reported in NSW, with an unknown number (reports vary from 'at least fifty' to 175) having been infectious in the community.

The borders between NSW and other states remain closed, with exemptions only for essential workers who can show a recent negative test, and who have not visited a declared 'hot spot' in the last 14 days.

A woman who escaped from quarantine on the Gold Coast by forcing open a screen door and climbing between balconies has been located, arrested, and charged with a number of offences. She will remain in police custody until the completion of her quarantine order, and will then face court on those charges which include two counts of failure to meet bail conditions in regard to prior convictions, and three charges relating to her escape from quarantine. She is understood to have tested negative for Covid at this time.
 
bilby said:
Meanwhile NSW continues to demonstrate that a slow, soft lockdown is utterly inadequate in the face of the Delta strain. "Gold standard" Gladys Binchicken's attempts to protect the economy is a total disaster, and has not only failed to protect citizens' lives and health, but has also failed to protect the economy either. A result she could have predicted from overseas experience, or by listening to her scientific advisors and placing their opinions above those of ignorant politicians and political supporters. Today alone, over 300 new cases were reported in NSW, with an unknown number (reports vary from 'at least fifty' to 175) having been infectious in the community.
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And yet zero reaction from the media. Weird. This time last year, every AM radio station in Sydney was telling their audience that Victoria is completely fucked and Dan Andrews needs to resign. Now, not a peep from Ben Fordham, Ray Hadley or Sky News etc. I'm utterly perplexed as to why.

Also, still no word on the authoritarian Police/Army/Black Ops helicopters that TSwizzle was bullshitting on about which is a bit disappointing. It would have broken up the monotony at least.
 
Looked into the use of colchicine for covid, from REAL sources.

https://www.tctmd.com/news/colcorona-mixed-results-colchicine-nonhospitalized-covid-19

COLCORONA: Mixed Results for Colchicine in Nonhospitalized COVID-19
The trial missed its primary endpoint, but an analysis confined to PCR-confirmed infections was more promising.
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seems like the study was maybe underdosed as treating patients too late

Even with lower patient numbers than planned, “we nevertheless believe that our results are clinically persuasive,” Tardif and colleagues write. “Given the absence of orally administered therapies to prevent COVID-19 complications in community-treated patients, the burden on healthcare systems caused by hospital admissions, and the benefit of colchicine in patients with PCR-proven COVID-19, we propose that colchicine is a safe and inexpensive anti-inflammatory agent that could be considered for use in those at risk of complications.”
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In an accompanying editorial, Clark D. Russell, MBChB (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), points out that the dose used in COLCORONA (0.5 mg twice per day for 3 days, then once per day for 27 days) was slightly lower than that used in another autoinflammatory disease (familial Mediterranean fever), and that the patients enrolled in the study likely don’t represent the highest-risk patients for severe COVID-19 (the median age was 53 years in the treatment group and 55.4% were women).

“Further investigation in a higher-risk cohort might be warranted, aiming to recruit patients closer to symptom onset and possibly dosing colchicine closer to the recommendations for familial Mediterranean fever,” Russell writes. “This trial does, however, add proof of principle of two important therapeutic concepts—progression of COVID-19 lung injury can be inhibited to prevent hospital admission and anti-inflammatory therapy can achieve this.” On top of other evidence, he continues, COLCORONA supports the belief that there is a “window of opportunity” to intervene so as to derail the inflammatory trajectory of this disease, which has proved so lethal.

Tardif, too, stressed that timing is critical: “These results also demonstrate that prevention of the inflammatory storm with colchicine can affect the evolution of COVID-19 disease leading to hospital admission.”

Do these results support the use of colchicine in first-line management of nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients? “Probably not,” writes Russell. “The effect size was small and the NNT large.”
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This is from NIH

https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/immunomodulators/colchicine/
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Colchicine

Last Updated: July 8, 2021

Colchicine is an anti-inflammatory drug that is used to treat a variety of conditions, including gout, recurrent pericarditis, and familial Mediterranean fever.1 Recently, the drug has been shown to potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in those with coronary artery disease.2 Colchicine has several potential mechanisms of action, including mechanisms that reduce the chemotaxis of neutrophils, inhibit inflammasome signaling, and decrease the production of cytokines such as interleukin-1 beta.3 When colchicine is administered early in the course of COVID-19, these mechanisms may mitigate or prevent inflammation-associated manifestations of the disease. These anti-inflammatory properties (as well as the drug’s limited immunosuppressive potential, widespread availability, and favorable safety profile) have prompted investigation of colchicine for the treatment of COVID-19.
Recommendations

There is insufficient evidence for the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) to recommend either for or against the use of colchicine for the treatment of nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19.
The Panel recommends against the use of colchicine for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19
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This is the Greek study:

Study of the Effects of Colchicine in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19: The GRECCO-19 Trial

GRECCO-19 was a small, prospective, open-label randomized clinical trial in 105 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across 16 hospitals in Greece. Patients were assigned 1:1 to receive standard of care with colchicine (1.5 mg loading dose, followed by 0.5 mg after 60 minutes and then 0.5 mg twice daily until hospital discharge or for up to 3 weeks) or standard of care alone.6
Results

Fewer patients in the colchicine arm (1 of 55 patients) than in the standard of care arm (7 of 50 patients) reached the primary clinical endpoint of deterioration in clinical status from baseline by two points on a seven-point clinical status scale (OR 0.11; 95% CI, 0.01–0.96).
Participants in the colchicine group were significantly more likely to experience diarrhea (occurred in 45.5% vs. 18.0% of participants in the colchicine and standard of care arms, respectively; P = 0.003).

Limitations

The overall sample size and the number of clinical events reported were small.
The study design was open-label treatment assignment.

The results of several small randomized trials and retrospective cohort studies that have evaluated various doses and durations of colchicine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 have been published in peer-reviewed journals or made available as preliminary, non-peer-reviewed reports.7-10 Some have shown benefits of colchicine use, including less need for supplemental oxygen, improvements in clinical status on an ordinal clinical scale, and reductions in certain inflammatory markers. In addition, some studies have reported higher discharge rates or fewer deaths among patients who received colchicine than among those who received comparator drugs or placebo. However, the ability to interpret the findings of these studies is also constrained by significant design or methodological limitations, including small sample size, open-label designs, and differences in the clinical and demographic characteristics of participants and permitted use of various cotreatments (e.g., remdesivir, corticosteroids) in the treatment arms.
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Finally, long write up in the Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(21)00222-8/fulltext

This applies to the politics of bureaucracy in medicine. Is colchicine promising enough to give to patients?

What should happen to a doctor who prescribes it to a patient who meets the most appropriate criteria for its use? Revocation of medical license? Why is it ok-ish for outpatient use but not for hospital use?

How could a study like this run out of funds? Where are the priorities?

Some poster here could post a picture of a gout ravaged toe with a funny caption as a stupid way to get a zinger, as if colchicine can ONLY work for that condition.
 
thebeave said:
Is that a baby drop bear?
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It's a Tiger Quoll. Basically the marsupial version of a domestic cat - similar diet, similar size, similar behaviour.

They breed far more slowly than cats though, and are in danger of extinction due to habitat loss and competition from feral cats.

Supposedly they make equally good pets, but Australian law makes keeping them as pets pretty much impossible unless you're a zookeeper.
 
Republicans treated Covid like a bioweapon. Then it turned against them

Trump’s team reportedly believed that coronavirus would hurt Democratic states – and Democratic governors – worse. But the virus does not discriminate

Some of the most powerful conservatives in the United States have, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, chosen to sow disinformation along with mockery and distrust of proven methods of combating the disease, from masks to vaccines to social distancing. Their actions have afflicted the nation as a whole with more disease and death and economic crisis than good leadership aligned with science might have, and, in spite of hundreds of thousands of well-documented deaths and a new surge, they continue. Their malice has become so normal that its real nature is rarely addressed. Call it biological warfare by propaganda.

Call Jared Kushner the spiritual heir of the army besieging the city of Caffa on the Black Sea in 1346, which, according to a contemporaneous account, catapulted plague-infected corpses over the city walls. This is sometimes said to be how the Black Death came to Europe, where it would kill tens of millions of people – a third of the European population – over the next 15 years. A Business Insider article from a year ago noted: “Kushner’s coronavirus team shied away from a national strategy, believing that the virus was hitting Democratic states hardest and that they could blame governors.” An administration more committed to saving lives than scoring points could have contained the pandemic rather than made the US the worst-hit nation in the world. Illnesses and casualties could have been far lower, and we could have been better protected against the Delta variant.

At the outset of the pandemic, as Seattle and New York City became hard hit, Republicans apparently imagined that the pandemic would strike Democratic states and cities first, and certainly in 2020 Black, Latinx and indigenous people were disproportionately affected. To put it clearly, Republicans enabled a campaign of mass death and disablement, thinking it would be primarily mean death and illness for those they regarded as opponents.
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Call Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham the spiritual heirs of Lord Jeffery Amherst, the British military commander who in 1763 wrote to an underling, “Could it not be contrived to send the Small Pox among those disaffected tribes of Indians?” As the New York Times put it with characteristic mildness, “Mr Carlson, Ms Ingraham and guests on their programs have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.” Newsweek was more blunt, quoting Ingraham herself saying that the vaccine was an attempt to push an “experimental drug on Americans against their will – threatening them, threatening to deprive them of basic liberties, if they don’t comply.” The goal was to rile up the audience – and prevent them from getting vaccinated, while the evidence was clear that the vaccines prevent both disease in the vaccinated and the spread of disease. Vaccines are, incidentally, how smallpox was eliminated worldwide.

There is of course another angle to the conservative response to the pandemic. In far-right ideology, freedom – for white men especially – is an absolute goal. Even recognizing the systems in which we are all enmeshed might burden the free person with obligations to others and to the whole. Science itself is a series of descriptions of our enmeshedness: of how pesticides travel beyond the crops they’re sprayed on, of the way that fossil fuel emissions contribute to health problems and climate change, of how the spread of disease can be prevented by collective action. Rightwing ideology, after all, has emphasised the right to own and carry a gun over the right to be free of being menaced or murdered by guns, as thousands are in the US every year.

But just as the right to brandish guns is defended in the face of those gun deaths, so the right to contract and spread a sometimes lethal and often debilitating disease is defended as the antithesis of the responsibility not to do so. It’s safe to assume that the Republican leadership knows better, and that some of their followers do and some don’t. Some have chosen to engage in biological warfare; some are merely tools being used in that warfare. That is, some of them are unwitting corpses being catapulted over the walls, unconscious smallpox blankets; some of them are Amherst in spirit. Those using fake vaccine cards – as college students, and two recent travelers from the US to Canada have – are definitely Amhersts.
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ZiprHead said:
Trump’s team reportedly believed that coronavirus would hurt Democratic states – and Democratic governors – worse. But the virus does not discriminate
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This is the gene pool that thought AIDS had a sexual preference preference....
 
TomC said:
crazyfingers said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
Long-lasting Covid-19 symptoms rare in children https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58071898

This study is positive for children. 1700ish children, only 1 in 25 had symptoms for a long haul.
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4% strikes me as really bad.
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Me too. Really really bad.
But I'm not sure what "long term symptoms" means either.

I have long term symptoms of my conservative Christian upbringing. Waddya do?
Tom
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https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...th/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351
 
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I would like to see data in the asymptomatic and organ / blood clot issues.
 
Toni said:
TomC said:
Me too. Really really bad.
But I'm not sure what "long term symptoms" means either.

I have long term symptoms of my conservative Christian upbringing. Waddya do?
Tom
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https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...th/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351
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I read your link.

The most important sentence seemed to be
Much is still unknown about how COVID-19 will affect people over time, but research is ongoing.
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How such effects will play out in young people wasn't mentioned at all. I haven't got a firm opinion, since I'm not anything remotely like an epidemiologist. I don't claim to have professional opinions.
Tom
 
https://www.npr.org/sections/corona...unt-for-22-of-new-u-s-covid-cases-why-is-that

...
The number of children contracting COVID-19 in the U.S. is much lower than the record highs set at the start of the new year, but children now account for more than a fifth of new coronavirus cases in states that release data by age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's a statistic that may surprise many: Just one year ago, child COVID-19 cases made up only around 3% of the U.S. total.
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1/5th of new Covid cases are children! Thank you Faux Noise. Thank you Governor Abbot and Desantis! School is about to start and mask mandates are now illegal in those states.

The stupid, it kills.
 
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