Just curious, anyone have a plan, or preps for global pandemic?

[Sibiriak]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

I had that scratchy throat feeling like one gets at that the start of an infection.  [...] I emptied out 2 x 100 mg zinc picolinate capsules and mixed it ketchup and just swallowed it.

I've tried smaller amounts of zinc citrate mixed into dark honey (which has antibiotic properties of its own),  taking small amounts at a time and allowing to coat the throat.  Seemed to work,  but  of course I don't really know if it was actually doing anything.

[Gordo]

4 hours ago, Matt said:

How is your wife doing now, Gordo? Hope things have improved since...  Did she get test results back to see if it's COVID?
 

 

Just got the test results a few minutes ago, came back negative.  It could have been norovirus or the flu. She is doing fine and mostly back to normal. 

[Dean Pomerleau]

3 minutes ago, Gordo said:

Just got the test results a few minutes ago, came back negative.  It could have been norovirus or the flu. She is doing fine and mostly back to normal. 

Great to hear Gordo!

--Dean 

[TomBAvoider]

Good news Gordo! I still think caution is advised wrt. the test result. I just finished reading an article about a teenager who died from Covid-19 - he was brought to the hospital with classic CV-19 symptoms, critically ill. They tested him for CV-19 - the test came back negative. But the symptoms were so classic for a very severe case that they ran another test - this time the result was positive. C'mon. This is sh|t. You may as well flip a coin. Don't like the result? Just run it again, you'll get a different one. 

Anyhow, the most important thing is that your wife has mostly recovered. But as to whether she had the flu, noro or indeed Covid-19, I'd suspend judgment. YMMV.

[Ron Put]

I hope she's recovered, Gordo, whatever this was.

[Saul]

1 hour ago, Gordo said:

Just got the test results a few minutes ago, came back negative.  It could have been norovirus or the flu. She is doing fine and mostly back to normal. 

Mazeltov Gordo!

  --  Saul

[Saul]

48 minutes ago, TomBAvoider said:

Good news Gordo! I still think caution is advised wrt. the test result. I just finished reading an article about a teenager who died from Covid-19 - he was brought to the hospital with classic CV-19 symptoms, critically ill. They tested him for CV-19 - the test came back negative. But the symptoms were so classic for a very severe case that they ran another test - this time the result was positive. C'mon. This is sh|t. You may as well flip a coin. Don't like the result? Just run it again, you'll get a different one.  

Anyhow, the most important thing is that your wife has mostly recovered. But as to whether she had the flu, noro or indeed Covid-19, I'd suspend judgment. YMMV.

Hi Tom!

Not all Covid-19 test are the same.  There's a test for the virus' RNA, and an antibody test (showing that you have antibodies to the virus -- almost always indicating that you have, or have had, an infection).

If you test negative for the virus RNA test, you can be positive for the same test the next day -- meaning that you've become infected the next day.

  --  Saul

[Mike41]

Gordo Glad to hear your wife is in recovery!

[Shezian]

16 hours ago, Matt said:

It's been years since I was properly sick but last night I went to bed and I had that scratchy throat feeling like one gets at that the start of an infection. My sister had the same thing a few days ago. Maybe she must've brought it here when she visited. 

So anyway, I emptied out 2 x 50 mg zinc picolinate capsules and mixed it ketchup and just swallowed it. Didn't drink anything for a bit...  And then before I went to bed, I gargled some matcha and sliced up some garlic cloves to chew on.

Fell asleep and got only 4 hours sleep (probably a bit anxious...) and it was still there but hadn't gotten worse. Repeated the same thing again, did some work for 2 hours and then fell back to sleep.

Fortunately, when I woke up after a few hours, the scratchy feeling and mild soreness had gone away. 

I read that only 10% of people have sore throat as a symptom of COVID-19. So perhaps it's not that... 

I wouldn't normally get sick in the summer if I ever am. But I feel fine now. 

Why  did you eat the zinc instead of drink it?

[Dean Pomerleau]

There appears to be additional support for the theory that the strain of the virus that came to dominate in Europe and the east coast of the US has a mutation that makes it more virulent. At least according to this preprint from the folks at Scripps Research:

A tiny genetic mutation in the SARS coronavirus 2 variant circulating throughout Europe and the United States significantly increases the virus’ ability to infect cells, lab experiments performed at Scripps Research show.

“Viruses with this mutation were much more infectious than those without the mutation in the cell culture system we used,” says Scripps Research virologist Hyeryun Choe, PhD, senior author of the study.

The mutation had the effect of markedly increasing the number of functional spikes on the viral surface, she adds. Those spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells.

“The number—or density—of functional spikes on the virus is 4 or 5 times greater due to this mutation,” Choe says.

The spikes give the coronavirus its crown-like appearance and enable it to latch onto target cell receptors called ACE2. The mutation, called D614G, provides greater flexibility to the spike’s “backbone,” explains co-author Michael Farzan, PhD, co-chairman of the Scripps Research Department of Immunology and Microbiology.

More flexible spikes allow newly made viral particles to navigate the journey from producer cell to target cell fully intact, with less tendency to fall apart prematurely, he explains.  

--Dean

[BrianA]

Covid-19 may trigger the onset of diabetes in previously healthy people

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/12/covid-19-may-trigger-onset-diabetes-previously-healthy-people/

[BrianA]

Report Suggests Some “Mildly Symptomatic” Covid-19 Patients Endure Serious Long-Term Effects

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2020/06/13/report-suggests-some-mildly-symptomatic-covid-19-patients-endure-serious-long-term-effects/

[Saul]

Charming.

  --  Saul

[Ron Put]

2 hours ago, BrianA said:

Covid-19 may trigger the onset of diabetes in previously healthy people

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/12/covid-19-may-trigger-onset-diabetes-previously-healthy-people/

As noted before, this kind sensationalist headline pops up during most seasons, but it's really found fertile ground with Covid-19. It means nothing to the vast majority of people, but fear is great as clickbait.

Diabetes linked to flu

"Since the 1970s, researchers have suspected that viruses may provide this trigger, as type 1 diabetes often sets in suddenly after an infection. Enteroviruses and rotaviruses were both implicated; something about these infections confuses the immune system enough to make it attack the pancreas. But the picture remained unclear."

Boo!

Edited June 13, 2020 by Ron Put

[rudolph marcus]

On 6/9/2020 at 2:36 PM, Saul said:

Hi Matt!

Just today, the WHO released a statement that asymptomatic individuals -- even if unknowingly infected -- are poor at transmitting the disease.  I heard a statement from a prominent physician at NYU, Dr. Segal,  interpreting the WHO statement:  Dr. Segal notes that people who are actively sick with the disease cough and sneeze -- which makes transmission easy -- but that asymptomatic carriers obviously produce less droplets.  Dr. Segal noted that the massive lockdowns that have occurred worldwide probably have been excessive, causing more damage to the world economy than prudent.

  --  Saul

Hi Saul,  Doctors Zeke Emanuel and Dave Campbell discuss the confusion over the WHO's remarks. Aired on 06/09/2020.

 

[Gordo]

Face Masks May Be The Key Determinant Of The Covid-19 Curve, Study Suggests

[Gordo]

Scientists hail dexamethasone as 'major breakthrough' in treating COVID-19

(Note, when you look at the details, its really not all that impressive, but still better than remdesivir)

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Gordo

[Gordo]

Huge new spike in global deaths has finally showed up after the big ramp in infections:

But still looking decent in the US:

Has there ever been this many SARS-CoV-2 related headlines on the top of drudge before?

Model Now Predicts 200,000 U.S. Deaths by October...
NON-WHITES ACCOUNT FOR 64% OF CASES...
16 Friends Test Positive After Night Out At Florida Bar...
Deaths in Nursing, Long-Term-Care Facilities Top 50,000...
Businesses ask patrons to waive right to sue if they get ill...
Coughs, Sneezes Fill Bystanders With Fear...
The ultimate covid-19 mystery: Why does it spare some and take others?
FEDS: DOGS should socially distance to avoid catching...

NEW CHINA OUTBREAK RAISES FEARS FOR WORLD
SCHOOLS SHUT, FLIGHTS HALTED
SIX US STATES SEE RECORD JUMP IN CASES
FAUCI: I WOULDN'T GO TO TRUMP RALLY

 

Another Covid Cover Up In China? BBC Reporter Says Numbers Don’t Add Up In New Outbreak

Footage shows residents being rounded up with hazmat suited officials barking orders.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Gordo

[mccoy]

Yes, the recent outbreak in Peking has gained wide coverage in the news today, as well as a new outbreak in Germany...

[Ron Put]

On 6/14/2020 at 3:10 PM, rudolph marcus said:

Hi Saul,  Doctors Zeke Emanuel and Dave Campbell discuss the confusion over the WHO's remarks. Aired on 06/09/2020.

The same "confusion" about Covid-19 transmissibility was present in the WHO briefing on March 3, 2020, but back then it was adopted by the opposition media to push for lock-downs and hound, denigrate and attempt to destroy the career of anyone who mentioned the coronavirus in the same breath as the flu. Note the statements at about the 4:40 mark and later the repeated admonitions to the West to follow the Chinese example. Shortly after these and similar WHO statements and opposition pressure, Italy changed its position and imposed the first Western lock-down.

 

Now, from Sibiriak's neck of the woods comes news of the new model by the Imperial College "experts" which tells us that their Nostramadus-quality predictions "saved at least 3 million" lives:

Now Imperial College scientists behind flawed Covid-19 advice claim lockdown saved 3mn lives! It’s unscientific, self-serving BS

After scaring governments into ordering shutdowns that trashed our economies, the scientists are now hailing themselves as saviors. But even their own new paper reveals that countries which didn’t lock down fared just as well.

A new paper from the team of Imperial College modelers who scared the hell out of governments around the world, published yesterday by Nature, claims “major non-pharmaceutical interventions, and lockdown in particular, have had a large effect on reducing transmission” of Covid-19....

-----

1 hour ago, mccoy said:

Yes, the recent outbreak in Peking has gained wide coverage in the news today, as well as a new outbreak in Germany...

Yep. Perhaps the former Swedish chief epidemiologist Johan Giesecke has a good point...?  See 4.20 in this video interview:
 

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Ron Put

[Todd Allen]

On 6/17/2020 at 12:24 PM, Gordo said:

Huge new spike in global deaths has finally showed up after the big ramp in infections:

Much of that spike was due to India reporting 2000+ deaths for the day when they had previously been tracking around 400 daily.  I've seen no explanation yet but assume it is a "correction" similar to ones we have seen in several other countries where a bunch of deaths occurring outside of hospitals over some period of time are suddenly recognized as Covid-19 deaths and added in to a single day's count.  Still without that spike it does look like there is a slight increase in global death rate.  If the strong steady growth in new cases isn't merely a testing artifact the increase in death rate should accelerate soon. 

[Gordo]

Lots of unpleasant coronavirus updates today:

• A new study by Chinese researchers has found that a surprising number of nurses from Wuhan who were infected with the virus haven't developed antibodies, suggesting that herd immunity in China is virtually non-existent (study seems questionable to me, all it really shows is that asymptomatic cases probably don't develop antibodies)
• California Gov Newsom signs EO making mask wearing mandatory
• Cali sets another record high with 4,233 new cases
• 13 Texas longhorns football players test positive as Fauci says 2020 football might not happen
• Italy reports uptick in deaths
• Cuomo mulls quarantine on Fla. as NY reports 29 deaths
• Texas reports 7th straight record hospitalizations; Arizona reports record jump in cases
• 23 US states seeing rising case numbers
• Florida "has the makings of the next epicenter"
• Global case total tops 8.3 million
• Deaths top 447,000
• Tokyo reports 41 infections
• World reports record jump in new cases, deaths
• India reports record jump in new cases (12k+) as Fitch cuts rating
• Indonesia reports record jump, surpassing Singapore's case total

Edited June 18, 2020 by Gordo

[TomBAvoider]

If we don't develop immunity - or develop it for only very short periods of time - then the Swedish strategy has to be looked at again. Incidentally, it appears that "herd immunity" is developing much more slowly in Sweden (16%) compared to other countries like Italy (Lombardy region above 50%), and behind schedule. 

But if there is no herd immunity to be had, then there are three main takeaways - huddle at home waiting for a vaccine... impractical, IMHO, because I don't have much faith that an effective vaccine will be developed anytime soon (probably years and years), and then it might be no better than some of these flu vaccines which still result in widespread illness and death. Second, you could just throw up your arms and open everything up and let Darwin take over and try to live a normal life insofar as possible. Or - which I suspect will end up happening - resume life, but with all sorts of onerous limitations (CA's mandatory masks look like might become the norm).

[Gordo]

PA has been doing the mandatory mask thing for a while, I don't think its that big of a deal.  But it is hard talking to people when you can't see lips moving sometimes 😉

If the choice is between an annoying but perhaps "can live with it" plague that never goes away, vs. all out China style war to stamp it out completely so we have severe short term pain but wipe it out and never have to deal with it again, which do you choose?  But is the later really a choice?  I mean it would pretty much have to be done worldwide, simultaneously, and with everyone on board and in agreement about it - seems kind of impossible to me.  I remember seeing some video clip of Bill Gates talking about having everyone just buy 30 days worth of food, and do total and complete shutdown/isolation for 30 days which in theory would wipe out almost any pandemic plague (I don't remember if he said that as a hypothetical, before SARS-CoV-2 even arrived, or if it was recent).  If you really thought it could be done and would work, 30 days doesn't seem all that bad.  But there are probably too many people that either wouldn't or couldn't do it.

 

 

[Todd Allen]

44 minutes ago, TomBAvoider said:

But if there is no herd immunity to be had, then there are three main takeaways - huddle at home waiting for a vaccine

This might depend on the definition of immunity.  Someone might not gain adaptive immunity as measured by an antibody test if their innate immune system shuts the virus down so efficiently that an adaptive immune response is unneeded in which case the person is still effectively immune and unlikely to spread the virus.

On the other hand if immunity is weak or short lived due to rapid viral mutation vaccines may not help as much as hoped.

I think the best alternative is to eat healthy foods in moderation, manage stress, adopt good sleep habits, get active, get sunshine and address whatever other issues are contributing to poor health.  Other than staff in hospitals with inadequate PPE people in good health seem to rarely develop severe disease from Covid-19.